Zallin's Cube

During last weekend's Swords & Wizardry session the group jumped into the portal to Zallin's cube. This is my take on the AD&D adventure Bzallin's Blacksphere from Dungeon Magazine 64 (1997). I started with a map of the Cube created in Blender directly matching the map in the adventure but with changes to the creatures encountered. But with the players taking longer than expected to reach the Cube I has an extra week to think about it and I made a number of changes. I got rid of all of the Lich Zallin's apprentices and added an evil temple. I just thought it odd that a Lich would have living apprentices and this campaign has had enough magic users of late.

Session 83: Zallin’s Cube

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).

With Fenris, Lantosh, and Aashdoshan still trapped behind the Statue trap in the circular chamber in Zallin's Tower the group pauses to confer. Lakima announces that he has an idea on how to easily enter and leave the room. He tells Aashdoshan to get everyone into the Tower in a Book. Then Lakima casts Glow minion and tells his summoned Glow minion to walk into the chamber and pick up the book and then return. The Glow minion walks through the doorway between the trapped statues and nothing happens. The Glow minion does not trigger the trap (having no consciousness). Lakima asks Palderus to show him the statue of the mage that he found. Palderus leads everyone around the tower to a dead end where a statue of a female mage stands facing the wall. Nearby is a locked trunk left in a dusty corner. A detect magic spell on the statue is inconclusive. Fenris manages to unlock the trunk and he finds traveling clothes inside it. A pair of boots and a cloak glow as magical in the range of the detect magic spell. The items are taken and put in the bag of holding.

The adventurers head up the curving stone steps to the next level. Here they find a large bedchamber occupying the entire third floor of the tower. The furniture in the chamber is covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs hang off of the bedposts. The party steps into the chamber and Aashdoshan who leads the way is attacked when a rug on the floor rears up and tries to smother him. He manages to duck past it as the rest of the adventurers slash and stab at the rug. In a few moments, the rug stops moving and lies in tatters on the floor. The room is searched but nothing of interest is found.

They head up to the next floor and find a blood-splattered wooden landing. Three doors enter onto the landing, two of which are open. Aashdoshan checks the blood and finds it sticky indicating that it is recent. One open doorway leads to a room open to the outside from a wide hole in the wall and ceiling. The room is buried in stone debris. Another open door leads to a shabby bedchamber. They find an iron stove that is still warm. The closed-door is opened to find another bedchamber. In this chamber, the stove still has a fire burning in it. While Fenris and Aashdoshan search this room, Lakima checks the other bedchamber again. He looks under the bed and is surprised to see a grey-skinned, hairless gnome looking back at him.

The gnome is terrified of them at first but he slowly begins to talk. He tells them that his name is Garlin. He is a member of a family clan of deep gnomes who are enslaved by Zallin the lich. Garlin says that he is too clumsy, so Zallin sent him and his brother through a portal to work as servants for the necromancer Zhargaunt. The puddle of blood on the landing was where his brother was killed by Zhargaunt. Garlin is terrified of defying the Lich Zallin but he does impart some information. He tells them that the Lich lives in a realm of his own making beyond the portal. While Fenris watches Garlin, Lakima goes into the second bedchamber and checks under that bed. He finds nothing but while crouching he spots a black leather spellbook hidden under a dresser. The spellbook of Zhargaunt the necromancer and custodian of the tower.

The gnome was an optional encounter I added to the tower in case the heroes did not understand the significance of the portal. Ideally, they would have interrogated the necromancer but last week they incinerated the necromancer before they had a chance to speak with him. The deep gnome when questioned dropped a clue to the nature of the portal.

The gnome is left hiding under the bed. Fenris asks if they should finish him off but Lakima tells him to let the gnome be. The group descends to the 3rd floor again. The adventurers decide that they need to rest and recover in Caster’s Ford before attempting to step through the portal. Aashdoshan casts dispel magic on the statue of the female mage but nothing happens. They leave the tower and recover Palderus’ flying carpet. Again, Lantosh and Lakima join Palderus on the carpet while the rest of the group enters the Tower in a Book. The carpet ride to Caster’s Ford is accomplished before the light of the day is fading. On the way to Caster’s Ford, Palderus explains that he must stay to watch the Blacksphere. By his calculations, it will breach the walls of his tower in less than a week. Before that happens, he will need to inform the mayor and get the area cordoned off. If the adventurers should fail in their task, he also needs to be ready to try and find more help.

The group goes over to the Church of St. John and pays for the healing services made available for adventurers. Then they get rooms again at the Blue Dragon Inn. Watches are set and they try to get some sleep. Late at night, Eathwund is disturbed by a fight in the hallway. He opens his door and sees a pair of men arguing over a debt.

“Is there a problem here”, he asks loudly.

The men make their apologies and quickly move back downstairs.

The next day the group of seven adventurers returns to the Tower in the forest. The clearing around the tower is littered with dozens of rotting corpses from their earlier visits. Aashdoshan takes the time to raise four of them as zombie servitors. Then the group makes their way to the third-floor portal chamber. The Glow Minion spell is cast and everyone enters the chamber in the book. Once they are out, they form a circle around the portal. Lakima counts out, “1, 2, 3” and everyone jumps into the portal.

They fall for a second and then feel the sense of dislocation as they suddenly land on a stone platform in a strange chamber. The floor is made of a mosaic pattern of different colored stones. The ceiling is lit by a continual light spell. In three alcoves facing them stand three ten-foot-tall frog demon statues carved from green marble. Domago lets out a cry of alarm and tries praying.

“I am cut off from the god of Law!” he says forlornly.

Lakima tells the group that they are likely in a dimension or realm that is separated from the Material Plane preventing the gods from providing aid. A look around the chamber reveals five plain doors made of wood that is painted green. Lakima points to one and tells Fenris to investigate. Fenris listens at the indicated door and tells everyone that he can hear the wind from outside and a scuttling sound. Everyone gets ready as Fenris checks the door. Then one of the zombies opens the door. In the room beyond, directly across from them they see a portal to another realm. The portal is made of iron and is enclosed in a 15-foot diameter circle standing on its end. Blue mist swirls in the portal and the howling of the wind can be heard. Suddenly, their attention is drawn to a 6-foot-long spider perched in a translucent spiderweb spun amongst piles of furniture. The spider is covered in gray hair with a silver hourglass patch of fur on its back. The creature chitters at them and begins to move quickly toward them.

“Stay back, it looks poisonous!”, Alrix shouts at everyone.

They try to attack with arrows, darts, and sling bolts to little effect. Then Alrix casts Magic Missile and blasts the spider just before it reaches Eathwund and three of the zombies. The spider screeches in pain. Domago and several of the zombies strike the spider and then Eathwund chops off one of its legs with his sword. Finally, the barrage of missiles from the rest of the group brings it down. The adventurers search some of the furniture they find piled in corners of the chamber but do not find anything of interest.

Carefully the group chooses another door and advances down a short hall to a new door. Fenris listens and says it is quiet. A zombie opens the door and they see the back of a thick red tapestry blocking the way. The zombie pulls aside the tapestry and they see a huge chamber. The floor is covered in red tiles and in the center of the chamber is a huge statue of a demon (18 feet tall). Now that they can see the tapestry, they see it depicts Hellish politics. Large armies of demons fight at the behest of demon lords against one another.

Seemingly, unaware of them, a man in a simple brown robe can be seen polishing the idol with a cloth. He appears young and has shaved his head in the style of a monk.

“Hey, you what are you doing!” Lakima shouts at the man.

The monk is startled and drops his cleaning cloth. He takes a few steps toward Lakima then halts as he sees more adventurers entering the room.

“Who are you! Who is your Master?” the monk demands. Lakima tells the man that they are mercenaries. The monk asks who they serve and Lakima responds that they are their own masters. The monk seems taken aback for a moment but once he sees the number of people confronting him, he turns away and begins shouting.

“Intruders!”

Aashdoshan hurls a dagger at the monk’s back striking him. Lakima follows that with several darts and the monk falls dead. But the shouts have alerted more monks. Four doors open into this temple area and four monks quickly enter the chamber. One monk directs the others to attack and all four rapidly run toward the adventurers.

Lakima is struck by the open fist of a female monk and he is stunned by the blow, dropping to his knees. Eathwund slashes one monk with his sword opening a deep, bloody wound. The monks are unarmored and clothed only in thin robes offering no protection. Aashdoshan orders the four zombies forward to protect him. Alrix turns into his feathered snake form and constricts around the leader of the monks holding and attempting to crush her. She strikes at Alrix with a powerful open-handed blow and stuns him. He slumps down releasing her. Two of the zombies are smashed apart by monks while trying to defend Aashdoshan but the tide soon turns. The monks are unable to get past Eathwund’s heavy armor and the monks find they cannot dodge his sword thrusts. With each slash of his sword, Eathwund inflicts tremendous damage.

Lantosh pulls Lakima to safety away from the leader of the monks. Aashdoshan finishes her off with a barrage of magic missiles. Soon the last of the monks fall. The adventurers look about and wait a moment to see if any more monks will arrive on the scene. Everything is quiet. The temple is splattered with blood and bodies.

Aashdoshan tells the group that he will be back shortly. He gives the Book of the Tower to Fenris and instructs the remaining two zombies to protect Fenris then he vanishes into the book.

After a few seconds both Lakima and Alarix recover. Lakima walks about the demon idol in the center of the room. Though it is unmarked he is fairly certain it is a representation of the demon lord Isclaadra. One of the more powerful demon lords of the abyss. He steps over to a lectern or altar in front of the statue to check it. As he examines the lectern, he sees an eye appear in the side of the lectern, followed by a mouth. Realizing instantly that it is a mimic he leaps aside as the mimic attacks. Lakima casts Charm Monster but the spell fails to affect the mimic. Domago, Lantosh, and Eathwund all strike the mimic with strong blows. Then Alrix appears and bites the mimic injecting lethal poison into the gooey mass. The mimic chokes and dies.

Aashdoshan suddenly materializes from the Book looking somewhat refreshed. He glances at the puddle of mimic flesh on the floor and looks up with a questioning glance. Then he shrugs and asks if they have searched the bodies yet. A search is made of the bodies and the nearby rooms. They find a silver ring, a pair of potions, and a room with a shelf full of prayer scrolls written in infernal. Aashdoshan drags all of the dead monks into a pile and deposits them into his tower.

Accusations

With this post, I am caught up on the campaign again. This past week's session we had the full complement of players (five). The players took longer than I expected which was great. With a few more people in the session, there was considerably more role-playing.

Session 82: Secret of the Blacksphere, Part II

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).

Looking for information on the mysterious blacksphere, some members of the Company of the Black Dragon went to see the wizard Zallin in his tower in the Ruvean woods. Unfortunately, whoever resided in the tower did not like visitors, using magic and undead zombies and wights to drive them off.

Back in Caster’s Ford, the entire Company meets in Paderus’ tower. They decide to return immediately to the forest tower. In hopes that the occupant will not have time to prepare more spells. They arrive and walk up to the tower that now seems deserted. Fenris checks the only door and unlocks it. The door eases open. Inside they find a few storerooms and a kitchen on the ground floor. There are some signs of occupancy but it also appears a little abandoned. Sacks of flour are inhabited by vermin in the kitchen. A run of stone steps curls up the outside wall of the tower to the second floor. Here they find an imposing oak door with a black iron lock. Fenris tries to unlock it but finds it is beyond him. The stair continues up to a third floor. The center of the tower is a circular chamber behind the locked door. A hallway winds around the outside wall of the tower with empty bookshelves filling the space. Lakima starts down the hallway and encounters the wizard Alrix described. A wizard in a dark robe, his features sunken and drawn. The wizard menacingly raises a wand and points it toward the adventurers.

“Begone at once from my tower trespassers!”

Lakima tells the wizard they wish only to talk, but prepares a spell just in case. The wizard angrily shouts again for them to begone and then raises his wand. A moment before the wand can be activated, Lakima creates a wall of iron blocking the hallway. He waits for the sound of Lightning or Magic missiles but hears nothing at first. Then he hears a faint tapping on the iron wall from the other side. Fenris moves up the staircase looking to see if there is another way to get around behind their adversary. Just then the wall vanishes in a sparkle of magic. The wizard stands on the other side the last vestiges of a dispel magic spell lingering in the air.

Again, the wizard raises the wand but Lakima calls out, “Wait! We want only to talk! If you continue this, we will be forced to kill you!”

The wizard pauses but keeps his wand ready. He bids Lakima speak. Lakima questions the wizard asking if he is Zallin if he owns this tower if he created the blacksphere in Caster’s Ford. The wizard responds that he knows nothing of a blacksphere and that this is his tower. He does not dispute that he is Zallin. Lakima asks the man about his former apprentice Palderus and the wizard claims to have never heard of him. He fumbles the name deliberately a few times. Lakima asks the wizard about his time in the Tower of the Resident mage in Caster’s Ford and the wizard says he recalls little of it.

The heroes confer and doubt begins to grow. Perhaps they have been set up. Maybe Palderus wanted them to kill this wizard who might be rivals. Or maybe Palderus is under a charm person spell and was instructed to betray them? They carefully back away down the stone steps and take their leave from the tower. The adventurers stop to confer outside the tower. Fenris tells them that he went up to the third floor and found a large, well-furnished bed chamber that looked like it has not been used in decades. Everything was covered in cobwebs.

They hear howls from the nearby trees and three undead wolves raise into the clearing toward them. As they get nearer, Lakima casts Lightning Bolt and destroys all of them. He looks back at the tower and sees the second-floor shutters snap shut.

The adventurers walk back to Caster’s Ford debating whether to confront Palderus or try to investigate his activities. They arrive in the late afternoon and decide to head to the Blue Dragon Inn. They take a table in the tavern and eat a meal. Lakima buys a round of drinks for everyone in the tavern. A group of what appear to be four adventurers nearby salute them for their generosity. Lakima heads over to talk to them. He meets a shabbily dressed middle-aged woman named Lyris who is clearly a magic user. He learns she has studied a few times with Palderus when learning new spells. She relates that she finds him to be a bookish magic user but a good sort. She has nothing bad to say about him. Asking about rumors regarding demons or Palderus does not turn up any leads. As it grows dark the tavern becomes busier. Lakima suggests they get some rooms for the night. Aashdoshan goes to talk to the innkeeper Geflion. Geflion asks him if they again will be sharing a single room, one eyebrow raised. Aashdoshan asks for two rooms.

That night Aashdoshan and Fenris retire into the Tower in the Book. Eathwund and Lakima take a room and Alrix, Lantosh, and Domago take another room. Expecting trouble, they set up watches. The noise of the tavern gradually dies down as people head home or to their rooms. On Domago’s watch in the middle of the night, he hears quiet footsteps in the hallway. The steps stop at the room’s door and then he hears the sound of someone trying to pick the lock. Domago quietly shakes Lantosh awake and tells him. Lantosh whispers for Domago to pull open the door while he stands by with his war hammer. The door flies open and they catch a sneak thief red-handed kneeling at their door his lock pick dropping from his surprised fingers. Lantosh swings his war hammer at the thief’s head narrowly missing and smashes the door frame. The thief scrambles back landing on his rear in the hallway. A moment later all five of the adventurers are awake and in the hallway.

Lakima questions the man and it is quickly apparent he was not sent by anyone. He saw Lakima buying drinks for everyone and wanted a cut. Lakima pulls out the Quill of Laminae and touches the thief on the arm. The thief vanishes into Lakima’s book. Lantosh goes a little pale at the fate of the thief and backs away into his room. Domago attempts to reconcile the thief’s fate with his beliefs and also returns to his room.

The next morning the group decides to confront Palderus. They arrive at the tower and are let in. Palderus curiously asks if they found anyone at the tower? Lakima and Aashdoshan pepper Palderus with increasingly suspicious questions. Palderus starts to become alarmed and begins to back away. Lakima checks Palderus for enchantments and finds none. Palderus makes an impassioned defense of his character and seemingly wins the group's trust once again. He also offers to journey with them to the tower to confront the wizard who may be Zallin. Lakima suggests that the wizard might actually have recently transformed into a Lich. To Eathwund that does not sound quite right but he cannot recall what sounds off about it.

Palderus walks with a limp and is clearly feeble, but he tells the adventurers that he can take them to the tower on his magic carpet. This way they can get there quickly and he will not have to walk. Lakima and Eathwund join Palderus on the carpet and the rest of the company join Aashdoshan in the Tower in a Book. The carpet rises and floats out of the tower, Palderus closes and locks the door behind them. Some locals marvel at the flying carpet as it swoops overhead. In a half-hour, they arrive again at the tower.

The carpet settles in the clearing and everyone emerges from the Book. Aashdoshan leads a parade of skeletons out of the Book. As they confer on an approach, a voice calls out from the tower, “You were warned, leave now or die!” All of the adventurers feel a compulsion to leave but all but one is able to fight it off. Domago turns and walks away. Lakima looks at Palderus and asks if he has Dispel magic. The library mage nods, and with help from his book casts the spell on Domago. Domago is now able to shake off the compulsion and rejoins them. They look at the tower and see a dark figure at the second-floor window. Lakima calls for the figure to surrender immediately. But there are only shouted threats. Lakima casts Lightning bolt through the window followed a moment later by a fireball spell cast by Aashdoshan. The tower reverberates with blasts and explosions, smoke belches from the window.

The group quickly heads to the door and Fenris expertly unlocks it. They rush to the second floor, run around the hallway and find a smoking corpse of the wizard lying on the floor near the blasted window. Nearby bookcases smolder and smoke. Aashdoshan pokes through the remains and finds a Black key with a black crystal at one end. He tosses the key to Fenris. Fenris hurries over to the locked door on the second floor and tries the key. It works and he pushes the door open. Inside they see a circular chamber in the center of the tower. In the middle of the chamber is a pit from which hellish light emanates. To either side of the door just inside the chamber are a pair of stone statues of robed wizards. Suspecting a trap, Aashdoshan sends one of his skeletons into the room first and nothing happens to it. So Aashdoshan is the first to step into the chamber and between the statues. Both statues glow blue for a moment and spells of Feeblemind and Confusion strike Aashdoshan. Aashdoshan stops and stands dumbly at the lip of the pit.

Nothing else happens so the group takes a few moments to confer. Alrix casts Detect magic on the statues and tells everyone that they appear to be still active. Eventually, Fenris suggests he might be able to grab the top of the door frame and climb the stone wall to the ceiling, avoiding the statues. Since Fenris volunteers to do it no one stops him and he successfully manages it. He drops to a wooden desk with a flourish. At that moment four flaming skulls fly up out of the pit in the center of the room. A Flaming Skull flies toward Fenris and three head for the doorway. They ignore the helpless Aashdoshan.

A skull approaches Fenris and breathes a blast of flame onto the thief. Fenris screams and tries to run away with the skull following him. The other skulls breathe fire onto all of the adventurers standing in the doorway. Eathwund fires arrows at the skull and then switches to his Longsword. Domago leaps forward to strike one with his mace. Everyone is careful not to step near the statues. The flameskulls attack again breathing fire onto everyone in the hallway and Fenris. Fenris yells, “Get me out of here!” Lakima casts summon monsters and three elves armed with longbows appear. “Defend us!” he yells. The elves and Eathwund pepper the skulls with arrows. Alrix casts a Magic Missile at the one near Fenris destroying it. Eathwund continues to slash at the skulls with his sword. The next round of breath attacks disenchants all of the elves. One skull breaks away from the door and chases after Fenris burns him again. Lakima summons monsters again. This time it is three hulking orcs holding rusted swords. He orders them into the chamber. The orcs enter and most fight off the confusion trap. The one that appears confused attacks the nearest target which is a flaming skull. They provide Fenris with a brief respite before being consumed by flames. Alrix fires more magic missiles at the skulls. Eathwund smashes one skull near the door in half. Now the remaining two skulls are in the chamber chasing Fenris about, the badly burned thief desperately defends himself with his sword and smashes one of the skulls. Eathwund switches to his bow again and Domago uses his sling. Just as it looks like Fenris will be incinerated, Lantosh bravely leaps into the room, the statues flash with magic but he fights it off. He smashes the last flaming skull with his Warhammer.

A Dispel Magic is cast on Aashdoshan from the doorway, bringing the necromancer to his senses, Fenris makes his way to the doorway and begs Domago for healing. Domago casts a healing prayer on him. Lakima tells Fenris to stay where he is as he will join him. Lakima casts Levitate and gingerly float inside the chamber and up over the statues landing on the other side. He directs Fenris to a locked door while he busies himself checking the items on a desk. He finds several books on magic and places them in his Bag of Holding. Fenris works the door lock and finds an open chest full of gold and silver. Lakima cautions him that it looks like a trap. Fenris carefully checks and declares it safe. He starts grabbing handfuls of gold and silver coins and fills sacks that are placed in the Bag of Holding. Fenris searches the chest carefully but finds nothing else.

Lakima looks down into the pit. It appears to be a howling tornado of flames, except it makes no noise and does not give off heat. It does light the chamber with an orange flickering light. Fenris steps up beside him and tosses a silver into the pit. It vanishes about ten feet down. With the levitate spell still active, Lakima carefully hovers up to the ceiling and then down behind the statues managing to exit.

The adventurers confer over their next course of action.

Mystery of the Blacksphere

With a few local tasks taken care of in their last few sessions, it was time to send the players on another adventure. This one was hinted at at the end of the previous session. I rewrote a classic Dungeon Magazine adventure written by Chris Perkins. Bzallin's Blacksphere from Dungeon Magazine 64 (Sept/Oct 1997). This would be long before he worked at Wizards. The adventure was written as an AD&D adventure for levels 12-15. Converting AD&D adventures to Swords & Wizardry is fairly straightforward. The systems are not that different. But I had to make major changes because of the intended level of the adventure. I believe I have scaled it down properly to be playable by my players whose characters range from 6-9 levels. We shall find out.

In this session, the player who is the group leader could not make it to the game so I split the group early on so that his character was off-screen.

Session 81: Mystery of the Blacksphere

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).

At the end of their last adventure, the heroes received a desperate plea for help from the resident mage of the town of Caster's Ford.

Aashdoshan gives Lakima a spare key to the Tower in the Book and then uses one of his other keys to transport everyone who is going to Caster's Ford into the book. Unaware of what is occurring outside their pocket dimension the group settles down in the waiting area of the tower. Fenris busies himself in the kitchen and finds a Potion of Healing in the kitchen supplies. Aashdoshan wanders about the upper floors rearranging the dead he has moved into the tower. After just over a day, Lakima knocks on the door of the tower and is let in.

“We’re here, I have a room in the Blue Dragon Inn in Caster’s Ford”

Lakima tells everyone that they might as well wait in the tower. Except for Eathwund, he suggests Eathwund join him outside in the room so they can keep watches to ensure the book is not stolen. The night in the Inn is uneventful.

The next morning, Lakima, Eathwund, Aashdoshan, Alrix, Domago, Lantosh, and Fenris come downstairs into the tavern room for breakfast. Geflion, the owner, watches the long line of adventurers descend from upstairs with a puzzled look on his face.

“Wasn’t it a little crowded in your room?”

Aashdoshan hands Geflion a gold coin to ease his worries. Then they order breakfast. Lakima asks Geflion while they are being served about the local mage Palderus. Geflion tells them where the tower of the mage is located (a short distance away). Aashdoshan suggests they send a message to Palderus inviting him to meet them in the Inn. Just in case they cannot trust Palderus. After all none of them have met or heard of him before. Geflion tells Aashdoshan that he can send the pot boy to fetch the mage. Aashdoshan tosses a silver to Geflion who pockets it and sends off the boy.

As they are just finishing up breakfast the boy returns to tell them that he knocked on the door of the mages’ tower repeatedly but the only response was from a crow perched beside the door. Aashdoshan takes out some parchment and writes a message addressed to Palderus and gives it to the boy – and he hands the boy a silver.

“He is just going to waste that”, scolds Geflion.

The boy returns a few minutes later. He tells them the door still did not open although the crow mocked him. He says he slid the message under the door. Aashdoshan suggests to the rest of the party that they wait an hour and then go over to the tower. Just as he is stating that an adventurer walks into the Inn and ducks as a crow flies in through the doors behind him narrowly missing his head. The crow circles the tavern room once and then lands in the middle of the table. The crow walks back and forth on the table squawking. Aashdoshan casts detect magic on the bird which allows him to see that it is its true form but it is also magical.

“Come at once, come at once!” it squawks

Aashdoshan calls the crow over to him and tries talking to it but it just repeats bits of what he says to it. Sighing in exasperation he tears a small piece off of a sheet of parchment and writes a tiny note to Palderus telling him to meet them at the Inn. He looks at the crow trying to see if it will allow the note to be tied to its claw when the crow reaches out and grabs the note. The crow flies up in the air and circles the room a few times. Aashdoshan uses a cantrip to open the front door for it and the crow flies out.

“That was unnatural!”, exclaims Geflion.

About ten minutes later an anxious middle-aged mage bursts into the tavern and heads over to the group’s table. He introduces himself as Palderus and shakes Lakima’s hand. He tells them he really needs their help but he cannot discuss it here. He needs to do it in private and he cannot leave the tower unwatched for long.

“Will you please come with me to the tower?”

Aashdoshan asks him to just tell them the problem. Palderus grabs the torn piece of parchment lying on the table and takes out a quill. He writes on it and hands it back to Aashdoshan. The words “annihilation sphere” are written on the parchment.

Aashdoshan asks where and Palderus tells him it is in his tower. There is some discussion back and forth between Alrix, Aashdoshan, and Lakima. Palderus grabs the parchment again and beneath his previous words he writes, “it is growing!”

The urgency now becomes apparent and the entire party of adventurers agrees to follow Palderus to his tower. The “tower” turns out to be an odd six-sided stone structure that is wider than it is tall. Palderus pauses before unlocking the door and warns them where the sphere is located and that they must not touch it. He then lets them in. In one corner of the tower, they see a dull black sphere, seven feet in diameter, seemingly stuck in the floor at its equator. The sphere makes no noise and does not move.

Lakima, Aashdoshan, and Alrix spend an hour discussing the sphere with Palderus, when it arrived (5 days ago), how fast is it growing (10-12 inches per day), and what was Palderus doing when it arrived (reading a book on ecology). They check it from below in the storage cellar and see the bottom half of the sphere. They try tossing a few pieces of wood into it and see them vanish without a sound or trace. As part of the discussion, Palderus mentions a note he found in a forgotten journal that belonged to his master Zallin. He takes the thin journal off of the shelf and reads the passage which theorizes that a Sphere of Annihilation could be made to grow if it has a connection to the void (negative material plane). When questioned about Zallin, Palderus says that he retired 20 years ago to a tower not far from Caster’s Ford in a forest. About 10 years ago the tower was attacked by fiends and no one goes near it now – local adventurers say it is haunted.

Aashdoshan and Alrix take turns trying to move the sphere with their minds. Some stories about spheres of annihilation suggest this is possible but they accomplish nothing. They even try having the entire group think together but nothing happens.

Lakima holds up the journal and says, “I will study this with Palderus, the rest of you see if you can find and talk to Zallin”. On second thought he asks Lantosh to remain in the tower with them just in case of trouble.

Aashdoshan, Eathwund, Alrix, Domago, and Fenris head off on foot west of Caster’s Ford up into the wooded hill’s locals call the Ruvean Forest. After just over an hour of walking, they see the tower poking up into the sky above the trees. The tower rests in the center of a clearing. It looks to be about 60 feet tall. It is 60 feet at the base but tapers quickly to be only 25 feet at the crenelated top. There are a few shuttered windows in the towers but no light comes from them. Near the top of the tower, the walls and roof are caved in from some terrific force. The clearing is disturbingly quiet.

“Leave this cursed place, or face death!” a voice shouts from a second-floor window of the tower. All of the heroes turn to go, but then Eathwund, Alrix, and Domago remember the urgency and they stop and step further into the clearing. Behind them, Fenris and Aashdoshan have turned their backs on the tower and are walking off toward Caster’s Ford.

Alrix walks well into the clearing and shouts at the tower. “We need to speak to Zallin, Caster’s Ford needs your aid!” There is no answer from the tower.

The ground near Alrix shudders and he sees an arm, torso, and head emerge. A zombie digs itself out of a shallow grave. Looking around him he sees dozens of zombies emerging from shallow graves all throughout the clearing around the tower. Eathwund and Domago rush over to protect Alrix. They shout at Fenris and Aashdoshan to come back. Fenris yell back at them, “We are not welcome here, let’s go!”

The zombies continue to move closer. Alrix tries yelling some more at the person in the tower. “Fine, you are making us do this!” He casts a fireball and incinerates four of the zombies. The rest of the zombies keep coming. Domago faces off against six zombies and presents his mace and shouts at them to begone in the name of St. Aleena. Five zombies are destroyed instantly by the power of his faith. At this moment they hear howling from the woods. Six undead wolves rush from the treeline toward the two groups. Three wolves head toward Aashdoshan and Fenris and three head toward Eathwund and Alrix.

Although he is under a compulsion to leave, Aashdoshan decides he does not want to run from the clearing. So, he uses his wand and fires magic missiles at the wolves nearest to him. Domago uses his faith again and turns the wolves near Aashdoshan causing them to flee into the forest. By this time Eathwund has become surrounded by zombies, he slashes through one with his sword causing it to collapse. Another, quicker undead creature reaches out to touch him, instinctively knowing this would not be good – Eathwund interposes his shield and shouts out, “I think some of them are wights, this is not going well!”

Alrix has also become surrounded by undead wolves and zombies. He decides that it has become too dangerous and he shifts into his natural form of a couatl, a 20-foot-long serpent with giant feathered wings. He wraps his form around one undead wolf and crushes it then he bites down on a zombie but finds his poison has no effect on it. Aashdoshan sees the wight trying to drain Eathwund and he casts a magic missile destroying it. Domago runs over and uses his holy presence for a third time destroying the remaining zombies. There remains one wight left which is decapitated by Eathwund.

“Can we go now!” Aashdoshan and Fenris call out from beyond the clearing. Alrix holds up his hands for them to wait. He flies up toward the open window in the tower and is struck by a string of magic missiles. Wincing, he looks in the window and sees an emaciated man holding a wand. The man looks very ill, almost dead. Alrix tries talking to the man again telling him about the sphere of annihilation and the danger to Caster’s Ford, but the man just slams the shutters of the window closed.

Alrix flies over to where the rest of the party has gathered just outside of the clearing. Domago demands to know what manner of creature he is? Alrix changes form again into his human guise. He explains his race and apologizes for not telling his new friends earlier. He tells them his story of how he arrived in the tower was completely true. He just left out a few details. Domago takes the time to cast Detect Evil on Alrix and tells him he is satisfied. He also casts all of his healing spells on Eathwund and Alrix who both got bitten by the undead wolves (and thankfully not poisoned).

The adventurers decide to head back to the town. It is clear to Domago and Alrix that Aashdoshan and Fenris are under a suggestion spell. Eathwund just shrugs.

A few hours later they arrive back in the tower. Lakima asks how it went in the tower and they tell him what happened. Lakima casts dispel magic on Aashdoshan removing the suggestion spell effects. Palderus does the same for Fenris. They confer some more and Alrix tells them that he suspects Zallin may have created the Black sphere. Palderus muses that he may be right but why would he target me? Alrix tells him it just might be someplace he knows well. Lakima notes that if they do not want to have to deal with the mage’s suggestion spell again, they should return before the mage has a chance to rest.

Trouble at the Sign of the Purple Bugbear

I have gotten 3 weeks behind on publishing session reports. So it would be best to get right into them. First up - a few weeks ago the players finally got around to discovering the secret behind the mysterious voice in the cellars beneath the Sign of the Purple Bugbear tavern. It has only been 7 months of in-game time and 1 year in real life. A long time ago, while tracking down a killer Red Cap they found a series of secret chambers deep beneath the town. But they encountered an angry Water Elemental and decided to leave to come back later. Months later in the game, one players' character has had enough with the disturbances beneath the Tavern he bought. Time to do something about it.

What I call, The Tomb of the Vampire Princess was an odd add-on to the DCC adventure, The Legend of the Ripper. The adventure is about the hunt for a Red Cap who is killing people in a town and disturbing old ghosts. But in the second half of the adventure, there is a Tomb of a Sea-Elf Vampire that is not really connected to the main adventure. I ran it pretty much as written.

Session 80: The Tomb of the Vampire Princess

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).

During a break of a few weeks, Eathwund hires some local laborers to knock down the bricked-up tunnel that exits his cellar. They also remove the dirt used to block the entrance to the old secret cellar. The rest of the Company of the Black Dragon and their new friend Alrix prepare to descend into the secret dwarven-built vault beneath the tavern. Fenris leads the way into the chamber. Almost immediately upon entering the large chamber, Eathwund here’s the woman’s voice in his head, “Find me… Free me!”

They check the inscription on the side of one of the pillars, “To enter her realm, speak descend in the language of the builders”. Aashdoshan calls out the dwarven word for descent and the pillar lowers to the floor and continues to descend revealing a shaft. The entire group of seven leaps on the pillar and descend.

The pillar comes to rest fifty feet below in a flooded hallway. They see an open door with a rusted lion-headed statue blocking the way. At the end of the corridor is the closed door. The last time they opened the door using a key stolen from the room guarded by the now motionless Iron Golem. But they no longer have the key. The mages argue over why one of them did not memorize the Knock spell. Lakima then takes the Cursed Helm of Free Action out of the Bag of Holding and asks for volunteers. When no one is initially willing to don it – Lantosh agrees. He places the helm on his head and stands there. Lakima orders Lantosh to open the door and he uses the Knock power of the Helm to open the door. Once the door slides completely aside Domago casts Remove Curse on Lantosh and helps him take off the Helm.

Fenris splashes through the water into the next hallway, Lantosh calls out a warning that the next door has a lightning trap. Lakima asks everyone to wait while he checks if it is still active. A Detect Magic cantrip reveals that the door is still trapped. Lakima tells everyone that if they time it correctly, he can dispel the trap when they open the door. Aashdoshan tells him that he should just be able to dispel the trap for about 10 minutes. He casts dispel magic on the door and Fenris gingerly opens it. Beyond Fenris gazes on a thirty-foot square chamber with a sandy floor. Another door across for him on the far wall. Before he can be warned he steps into the chamber and is slowed until he is barely moving. Lakima tells everyone that the chamber has an enchantment that makes it seem like you are crossing a desert. He does not know of any way around it. They will all just have to enter the chamber together. The entire group enters.

The company trudges across a sandy desert under a blazing sun for the next half hour. The edges of the room now appeared to be a half-mile distant. As they near the mid-point of the chamber, a Basilisk rears up out of the sand and attacks. This basilisk glares at the group with dull yellow eyes. Everyone feels sickened, and Lantosh collapses to the ground. Lakima responds by casting Lightning Bolt, blasting the basilisk in the head killing it. The huge beast collapses. Aashdoshan takes a moment to mark the skull of the creature with a glyph. Alrix asks what Aashdoshan is doing and Lakima replies that it is his way.

After another half hour, the adventurers reach the far side of the chamber. A simple wooden door rests in a stone frame in a hillside of stone. Opening the door, they move into a short hallway. Fenris looks back through the door and sees only a thirty-foot square chamber with a sandy floor. The basilisk corpse is gone. Lantosh and Lakima check over the map from the previous foray into the vault and decide on the correct direction to go. Fenris is directed to open the door on the left. Lakima and Eathwund pass through into another flooded hallway.

Lakima hands Fenris his staff and tells him to check the depth of the water. It turns out to be only 2 feet deep. Lakima takes back his staff and steps into the brackish water. As he turns to the other party members, an enormous Water Elemental of sewer water rises up behind him. The water elemental misses Lakima who quickly moves behind Eathwund. Eathwund slashes at the elemental with his sword, cutting completely through it. Alrix conjures up magic missiles and strikes the elemental while Lakima swings and misses with his staff. The elemental changes targets and slams into Eathwund, badly injuring him. Seeing how desperate the situation is becoming, Alrix and Lakima both cast magic missiles at the elemental, and Eathwund strikes it again. Eathwund can see the elemental is starting to struggle to maintain its form. Alrix moves closer and hits the elemental with his magical battleax. Eathwund moves to one side and raises his shield expecting another strike but Lakima casts Zap and the elemental and it loses cohesion and vanishes into a mist of sewer water.

Once the fight is over, Domago rushes to Eathwund and does a few prayers of healing. Lakima and Aashdoshan explore a small side chamber and find the walls covered with frescoes and runes. Lakima casts Comprehend Languages from a scroll and discovers some of the histories of the place. He relates that Princess Iasmini is “imprisoned” in a tomb here. The runes warn that eternal darkness waits for any who would free her from the tomb. Aashdoshan presses Lakima for more details on the “reward” for releasing Iasmini.

Meanwhile, Fenris continues down the hall to another door. He checks the door carefully and then feels a stone settle slightly beneath one of his feet. He has just enough time to exclaim, “On no!” as the ceiling collapses on him. Stone blocks rain down on Fenris carrying him under the water. Domago, Lantosh, and Eathwund rush to the pile of rubble and quickly uncover Fenris and pull him to safety. Aashdoshan hands Fenris a potion of healing which the man quickly drinks.

Fenris gingerly steps over the rubble and shoves the door open revealing a small, circular flooded chamber. A stone sarcophagus lies on its back half-drowned under the foul water. In the corner of the chamber rests a stone statue of a sea captain. Aashdoshan hangs his lantern from the sword of the statue and moves to examine the coffin. The nameplate on the coffin has not been engraved and what might have been a religious symbol is chipped off. He asks everyone to leave the chamber so he can open the stone lid. Domago tells him that he is not leaving him here alone with this evil. Eathwund enters the chamber and tells everyone that he can faintly sense evil in the room. Lakima also enters and tells Aashdoshan that they will examine the room together. There is a brief argument between Aashdoshan and Lakima. Aashdoshan takes his staff and levers the lid off of the coffin and slides it into the water. The open coffin contains a skeleton with gems placed in its eye sockets and a necklace of shells about its neck. Everyone pauses for a few moments expectantly and nothing happens. Aashdoshan calls Fenris into the chamber. Fenris carefully plucks a gem from one of the eye sockets and examines it, then curses, “Useless trash” and he tosses the gem into the water. He pulls the necklace off the skeleton and tosses it aside as well. Several of the adventurers yell at Fenris asking for an explanation and he tells them the jewels are worthless crystals. Lakima pulls out his Wand of Secret Door Detection and tells everyone, “I think this is a ruse, a fake tomb.” His wand reveals a secret door on the far wall.

Aashdoshan quickly opens the door and sees a curving corridor beyond. Again, flooded with sewer water. In the hall before him, iron spikes cover the walls attached to a mechanism clearly designed to crush anyone who walks between them. A pair of skeletons hang, impaled on the spikes. In the distance, Aashdoshan sees a glowing bubble rise up out of the murky water trailing a tail that hangs in the water. The bubble bobs in the air just past the trapped portion of the hallway. Aashdoshan turns and raises the skeleton from the stone coffin and the two skeletons in the hallway. As the other adventurers watch, the skeleton in the coffin slowly rises up and struggles out of the coffin. It steps up beside the necromancer. The two skeletons impaled on the iron spikes struggle but appear unable to pull themselves off of the spikes. Aashdoshan orders the lone ambulatory skeleton to aid the other two. The skeleton walks through the water down the hallway. As the skeleton reaches the mid-point, the trap mechanism is sprung and the two walls of spikes quickly come together destroying all three skeletons. The mechanism then slowly begins to reset. As the spikes are grinding back to the walls, Aashdoshan wades quickly through the water and down the hallway. He bats the floating orb out of the way with his staff. As he passes the orb, he moves toward him. Aashdoshan catches a glimpse of a large chamber around the bend of the hallway lit by many flickering gouts of flame. A human-sized figure waits there in the water. Aashdoshan grabs the “tail” of the orb and tries to pull it toward the spikes, as he grabs it, the tail wraps about his arm and a stinger on the end of the tail drives itself into his wrist. He looks down and sees the spike is draining blood from his arm.

The rest of the adventurers are held back by the iron spike trap that has reset. Aashdoshan yells that he is okay, but Eathwund takes out his bow and fires several arrows into the orb, Lakima tosses three darts into it as well. Aashdoshan drags the floating orb into the spike wall as Alrix casts magic missiles at it. Finally, it bursts in a spray of water, sewage, and blood spraying Aashdoshan from waist to head. Aashdoshan struggles through the deep water toward the large chamber, and elven woman there calls out to him to come forward.

As Aashdoshan disappears around a bend in the hallway, the rest of the adventurers eye the iron spike trap. Lakima summons magical creatures and two fey elves appear and bow toward him. Lakima orders the elves to run down the length of the hallway. When the elves reach the halfway point, the trap is sprung again crushing them. As the trap begins to reset, the remaining adventurers run past it. Domago with tears streaming down his face.

The entire group enters the large chamber and stops as they hear an enchanting song. The long chamber is lined with stone pillars, jets of flames issue from the mouths of faces carved into the stone pillars. At the far end of the chamber, a dais rises out of the sewer water. They can see a basin of clear water atop the dais. Before the dais, a lidless, flooded sarcophagus rests in the sewer water. Between the dais and the sarcophagus, a beautiful elven female sings to them. Her hair is wet and her skin has a bluish cast. They can see gills along her neck. While her song is beautiful, only Eathwund is completely entranced. He steps blindly forward toward her, hearing the words, “come to me” in his head. Lakima spots Eathwund advancing past Aashdoshan and he yells at Lantosh to hold him. But Eathwund easily pushes Lantosh aside. Then Lakima casts a Web spell on Eathwund greatly slowing his movement. Meanwhile, Aashdoshan walks towards the woman.

The woman tells the adventurers’ that she is Princess Iasmini of the Blue Spires. She thanks them for being fools and freeing her from her prison. Iasmini tells them that she has been imprisoned here, awake for hundreds of years by the “air-breathers” of Valn.

A Fanged Sea serpent twenty feet long rises up out of the water and confronts Aashdoshan stopping his advance but it does not attack. Aashdoshan gets down on one knee and pledges his fealty to Iasmini while Alrix continues to question her. Iasmini smiles at Aashdoshan and bids him to step forward. Aashdoshan stands and steps through the water toward her, the sea serpent lets him past. Eathwund continues to struggle to be released from the webs. As Aashdoshan steps close to Iasmini, she grabs him and bites down into his neck drinking gouts of blood. Aashdoshan feels his life force being drained. He makes a few gestures and cries out an incantation, a bead of fire springs to life in his hand. Across the room, Lakima realizes what Aashdoshan is about to do and he also quickly casts a spell. A Wall of Iron springs up in the chamber separating Aashdoshan, Iasmini, and the Sea serpent from the rest of the room at the exact moment that Aashdoshan releases a Fireball spell.

The fireball explodes knocking Aashdoshan and Iasmini away from each other and back into the water. The sea serpent is engulfed in flames but dives beneath the water and survives. Aashdoshan survives, partially protected by his Ring of Fire resistance, badly burned but the water quickly doses the flames. Iasmini rises up out of the water, injured and very angry. She yells at the serpent to strike down Aashdoshan. The Serpent strikes, but Aashdoshan manages to dive to one side.

On the other side of the wall, Eathwund breaks free of the webs but runs up against a Wall of Iron. Alrix calls out to Lakima to dismiss the Wall of Iron. Lakima tells him he cannot. Alrix asks how long will it remain up and Lakima tells him 2 hours. Alrix says, that we cannot wait that long and Lakima agrees, having already cast his Acid Finger spell. He begins to cut through the Wall of Iron. Meanwhile, the serpent strikes at and misses Aashdoshan once again. Aashdoshan summons forth 2 hobgoblins to defend him. The hobgoblins are quickly gutted and torn apart by Iasmini who now has transformed into a more bestial form and has long clawed hands. The serpent strikes a third time and kills Aashdoshan dragging his corpse under the water.

At about that moment, Lakima opens a big enough hole in the Wall of Iron to cast a Fireball through the hole. The fireball explodes in the enclosed space and a jet of fire bursts from the hole in the Wall of Iron almost striking Lakima who has to leap to one side. Smoke pours from the hole. Eathwund shakes his head and asks everyone what happened as he stares at the wall of iron that has suddenly appeared. Alrix peers through the smoking hole in the wall and sees that nothing is moving in the fire-blasted chamber beyond. Lakima summons a pair of dwarves on the other side of the Iron Wall and instructs them to locate Iasmini’s corpse. The dwarves find the corpse beneath the water and chop off her head. They also drive a wooden stake through her heart. Then the dwarves are instructed to find Aashdoshan. They find the dead necromancer still in the jaws of the dead Sea Serpent. The body is pulled free and placed on the dais out of the water. A few moments later the enchantment ends and the dwarves vanish.

The adventurers wait in the warm, smelly waters for two hours waiting for the iron wall to disappear. Once the wall is gone, the group searches the area beyond. Iasmini appears to be truly dead. Alrix notes that the sea serpent is native to his lands and not an evil creature. It was likely just controlled. They are unable to find any treasure or magic even after using a Wand of Metal Detection. Disappointed they prepare to leave. Lantosh stuffs Aashdoshan’s corpse in a large sack and picks it up. Again, they are confronted with the iron spike trap. Lakima reluctantly summons two more fey elves and instructs them to trip the trap. Once the trap begins to reset, they scamper past it. The desert room is traversed again – taking another hour of hard marching under the burning sun. Then they arrive back at the lift. No one can recall how the lift can be commanded to rise so Lakima casts rope trick on a fifty-foot rope and they use it to climb out of the dungeon.

Aashdoshan’s corpse is brought back to the cellar workshop beneath the Manor House. As Lakima, Fenris, and Eathwund watch Domago prays to St. Aleena and raises the necromancer from the dead. As Aashdoshan’s eyes flutter open he beholds Domago standing over him.

“St. Aleena still has a need for you!” he says.

After this foray, the heroes take some time to recover. Eathwund has the secret cellar hidden and bricked up again by workmen. The business at the tavern begins to pick up as many patrons and staff remark that the mood at the tavern is strangely brighter. The stuffed purple bugbear also brings in many curiosity seekers.

Several days after the events in the cellar, Lakima receives a letter addressed to “Lakima the grey, High Mage of the Edgerton Mages Guild”. It is from a mage called Palderus in Caster’s Ford asking urgently for his aid. Lakima asks his hippogriff trainer Derval if Gnomeat the hippogriff is ready for travel. Derval answers, “Yes sir!”