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Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9297719" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 47: PROCTOR LIBROS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 11</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Orchid, elf druid 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 20 March 2024</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"I disagree," replied Chaevaris, as the five heroes stood at the edge of the hole the slain purple worm had dug up from a depth even lower than the basement level of the abandoned guard post.</p><p></p><p>"But Elfy, adventure beckons!" argued Alistair. "There's a whole level down there, just waiting to be explored!"</p><p></p><p>"And that level will still be there tomorrow," reasoned the elven archer. "It was only unearthed when the purple worm that you slew - good job on that, by the way, guys; sorry I missed out on that - dug a tunnel up from below. So what are we likely to find down there? Undead, oozes, maybe some traps..."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe some treasure," added Ageratum.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, maybe, but the treasure won't be going anywhere either. And we'd all be better off after a day's rest, when Orchid can have a full complement of spells again, and ones more suited to a dungeon environment."</p><p></p><p>"I wouldn't mind that part of it," admitted Orchid. "Some of the spells I still have on hand today would be fairly useless that far underground - like <em>entangle</em>."</p><p></p><p>"It would seem you've been out-argued," pointed out Harlan, slapping the young sorcerer good-naturedly on the shoulder. "We'll go check it out tomorrow. In the meantime, we can spend the rest of the day giving the guard post a thorough exploration, to make sure we haven't overlooked anything."</p><p></p><p>Alistair sighed, but eventually faced the obvious: he wasn't going to go checking out the unearthed tunnels today after all. Maybe that was why Elfy Danger Silverleaf traveled alone: so nobody could put a damper on his enthusiasm to get the job done! The sorcerer looked over at the two dead bodies of the men they'd come to rescue, and who had already been dead when they arrived that morning. "What about those two?" he asked. "Anybody have a <em>gentle repose</em> spell?" He asked the question to the assembled group, but he was looking specifically at Orchid.</p><p></p><p>"You'd want a cleric for that, not a druid," she responded. "Or maybe even a wizard - I don't recall."</p><p></p><p>"Hmmph!" snorted Alistair in irritation. "Well, they're not getting any fresher; I'm going to cast <em>shrink item</em> on them, turn them into cloth until we get back to Ghourmand Vale. Beats storing them in our extradimensional dwelling, stinking up the place where we all have to sleep." As Alistair went about his spellcasting, the others headed back upstairs, Harlan leaving the sorcerer with a warning not to do any exploring down the worm's shaft on his own. Alistair merely rolled his eyes and promised he would resist the temptation, then returned to his spells. Shortly thereafter, Boris and Oleg were each both a small fraction of their size and now made entirely of cloth. Alistair deftly rolled them up and stuffed them into an empty potion vial, which he then stoppered - turning them to cloth, as he feared, had done nothing to diminish the stench of death already wafting from their decomposing bodies (although that might have been the worm - but no, they'd been dead longer than it had).</p><p></p><p>The next morning, Alistair was practically champing at the bit. "I've summoned Ogilvy," he announced to the others as they took positions around the hole in the floor where the purple worm showed up. "He can carry Chaevaris's bullseye lanterns so we can all see--oh! Wait! Better yet, I can cast a <em>darkvision</em> spell on each of us!"</p><p></p><p>"Slow down, there," suggested the archer, as she lit her lantern and felt it taken from her by the <em>unseeen servant</em>. Ogilvy, at his master's direction, shone the light down the worm's tunnel, showing it to be about 40 feet in length, nearly vertical, and ending in the ceiling of a chamber below. It looked like the floor to that lower chamber was about 50 feet below them. But Alistair was in no mood to slow down; he was already casting spells: two <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spells to get all five of them into a shared mental link, a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself, a <em>flame arrow</em> spell on the group's assorted ammunition, and the aforementioned five <em>darkvision</em> spells. <Whoa!> Alistair broadcast over the link. <This is way better than the light from the lantern!> He had Ogilvy extinguish the lantern's beam so it didn't screw up their ability to see in absolute darkness.</p><p></p><p>Orchid started casting some spells of her own: a <em>barkskin</em> spell on each of the five, a <em>longstrider</em> spell upon herself, and then a <em>greater magic fang</em> spell upon herself as well, anticipating she'd probably be wildshaping into an animal form sometime during their explorations. Shushitan, the usual recipient of that spell, was up in the stables with the other mounts, enjoying a snack of rotting chimera as he watched over his charges. Ambrose was up there as well, as Alistair didn't want to hamper his grackle familiar by confining him in what could well be tight, cramped subterranean spaces.</p><p></p><p>Harlan cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell upon himself, then followed it with a <em>bull's strength</em> on himself and a <em>bless</em> spell on the group. Chaevaris busied herself tying one end of their 50-foot length of silk rope securely to a piton hammered into the floor. Ageratum slapped her magic bracelet and slid into the comfort of <em>invisibility</em>, then offered to go down the rope first. Once she was 40 feet down, she activated the <em>spider climb</em> ability of her <em>cloak of arachnida</em> and secured herself upside-down on the ceiling.</p><p></p><p>Even from that angle, there was plenty for the little halfling to see. A set of double doors along one wall of the chamber had been smashed in; she assumed that was how the worm had made it to this chamber in the first place. Another set of double doors, this one intact, stood on an adjacent wall. But there was a man, human by the look of him, standing behind a counter in front of four statues. Looking in Ageratum's general direction - the halfling got the idea he couldn't see through her <em>invisibility</em> spell - he gestured with his hands to the statues behind him. Ageratum opted not to move any closer to this weird, silent man - his skin seemed awfully tight on his face, which didn't have any kind of expression; was he undead? - but she could see the statues were, in order, a wizard perusing a tome in his hands, a cleric in the robes and trappings of Boccob pointing at a scroll he held in one hand, a druid examining a leaf-covered branch, and a cloaked figure peeking through a barely-open door. Each was pretty much life-size, assuming these were all humans. Ageratum noticed a bit of metal on the plinth of the last statue (the one closest to her), and it looked to her like some sort of bracelet. From what she could see, it seemed as if two of the other statues also had bracelets lying at their feet. Could it be these the silent figure was indicating?</p><p></p><p><em>Ah, screw it!</em> decided Ageratum. She passed on her findings to the others through the telepathic link and then, still on the ceiling and still invisible, walked through the open doorway with the smashed-through doors. That, she saw, led to a trapezoidal room which opened to a smaller room filled with crushed stones and chunks of rubble. No doubt this was directly under the collapsed stairs they had found past where they found the corpses of Oleg and Boris. There was a spot of wetness atop a large chunk of stone; thinking it might be a gray ooze or some other amorphous blob-monster (and seeing no other way out of those two rooms), she returned back the way she had come.</p><p></p><p>Harlan, by that time, had used his <em>ring of feather fall</em> to glide safely to the lower floor, and the undead cleric - for the paladin could see right away this man was no longer alive - held his hands to the side, indicating the bracelets. Instinctively, Harlan detected the man's aura and saw the tell-tale darkness of evil spread throughout it. Of course, that could simply be a result of his undead status; of note, the cleric had yet to make any threatening gestures. "Do you speak?" Harlan asked the man, but got no response. Well, that was in itself an answer of sorts.</p><p></p><p>Harlan stepped aside as he saw the rope flailing about, to make room for Chaevaris as she climbed down its length and leaped the final couple of feet, landing nimbly. She too was invisible, as Harlan surmised when he heard her land but saw nobody there. Shortly thereafter, Orchid climbed down, this elf fully visible, and then Alistair came down last of all. He had Ogilvy clinging to his back, if the bullseye lantern floating beside him was any indication, but the lamp's shutter was closed.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum wandered down the wall and over to the intact set of doors. Seeing no obvious traps, she opened one, and the room beyond was obviously a library, with 20-foot-high books in a room whose ceiling rose five feet above their tops. Wheeled ladders were stationed nearby, as a means to reach the highest shelves, but immediately before the double doors, carved into the floor, was a five-sided holy symbol of Boccob, God of Knowledge and Magic. A fountain of sorts rose up from the middle of this carving, with water cascading out of the top of a small goblet and spilling over into a larger goblet beneath it. Several empty cups sat on a shelf on either side of the fountain, and another of these silent, undead clerics stood at the fountain's side. With an expressionless face, it indicated the goblets with a hand, despite apparently not being able to see the invisible halfling.</p><p></p><p>Harlan had stepped closer to the first attendant, by the statues. By concentrating, he was able to detect the evil he'd sensed was indeed focused upon the undead in the Boccobian robes, and not the statues, which seemed harmless. Likewise, the bracelets at their base did not give off any waves of evil. Chaevaris came up beside him, looking at one of two bracelets at the vase of the druid statue; at this range, she could see it was a human male druid carved in stone. The bracelets were metal, made to look like a circlet of intertwined vines. Curious, she touched one, with no ill effects. <Should I try putting it on?> she asked Harlan over the link.</p><p></p><p><He seems to be indicating we should do so,> Harlan replied to the invisible elf at his side.</p><p></p><p><They all detect as magic,> Orchid commented as she too approached. "Abjuration and divination, fairly low-level. I'm going to put one on.> Reaching for one of the ones at the druid statue's feet, she placed it over a slim wrist. <No noticeable harm,> she advised the others.</p><p></p><p><I don't know about this,> worried Alistair, approaching with hesitation. <It seems like we should be destroying evil undead...but these are Boccobians! I'm trying to learn more about Boccob, now that I've come to terms with being a sorcerer. It seems like showing up at a hidden library and destroying the aides is a bad way to get in good with the Boccobian faith....> Still, Alistair reached down and picked up one of the bracelets at the feet of the statue of the wizard examining a tome. He placed it gingerly around his wrist and was pleased when no immediate ill effect manifested. Once he had done so, the undead attendant shifted position and waved his hands towards the double doors to the library, as if indicating Alistair should enter. Still somewhat worried, he headed over that way. Harlan grabbed up the other bracelet from the wizard statue's plinth and followed suit, approaching the second attendant.</p><p></p><p>Upon the paladin's approach, the undead cleric dipped a cup into the fountain and proffered it to Harlan. A quick glance at the cleric's aura showed that he too was evil. But before the half-elf could drink it, a secret door in the wall opened up and out stepped another undead (equally as evil, Harlan noted absently), this one in a more warriorlike attire, with heavy armor and a longsword in hand. He looked towards the door as if in puzzlement, although no expression showed on his face. Ageratum felt a magical effect trying to overflow her senses, but managed to ward off the <em>aura of despair</em> coming from the undead fighter.</p><p></p><p><Ageratum!> called out Alistair over the link. <Are you in the library?></p><p></p><p><Yeah, I'm right here in the doorway.></p><p></p><p><Are you wearing a bracelet? Not your invisibility one; one from the base of the statues.></p><p></p><p><What? No.></p><p></p><p><I'll bet that's what's causing the undead guy here some confusion: he senses someone in the library without a bracelet, but can't see you because you're invisible.></p><p></p><p><Hang on,> offered Orchid. <I'll bring you one.> The druid grabbed up the last remaining bracelet (from the statue of the planewalker looking through the door, although she'd assumed it was a rogue in a concealing, hooded robe) and held it out as she approached the double doors. Ageratum stepped back into the entry hall and put it on. <Thanks,> she said over the link.</p><p></p><p>Another secret door opened in a wall at the back of the library, and another undead cleric in Boccobian robes stepped forward, striding to the front of the library in a hurried pace. Alistair, by this time, had entered the pentagram and been offered a cup of water from the fountain. <Well, it can't be any worse than eating a sausage from a tomb,> he reasoned, and drank down the elixir. Immediately, he felt his senses become more tightly focused, as his body felt somehow strengthened. <The water's fine,> he told the others. <It seems like some kind of a study aid.> Harlan then drank down his own cup of the elixir, and Ageratum, now fully visible (after having deactivated her <em>bracelet of invisibility</em> and put on the "rogue bracelet"), stepped into the room and was offered a cup of her own, which she gulped down. Chaevaris and Orchid soon followed suit.</p><p></p><p>The head librarian, <strong>Andrew</strong>, cast a <em>resist energy</em> spell on himself as he approached from the back of the room. The five heroes, having all partaken of the elixir by that time, had noticed their bracelets gently "tugging" them towards specific bookcases, and allowed themselves to be led. It turned out the bracelets they wore were attuned to different topics - the wizard's bracelets worn by Alistair and Harlan, for example, led them to bookshelves of arcane knowledge, whereas Orchid's druid bracelet led her to a stack of tomes about various plants and animals. But then Chaevaris noted Andrew's approach, and the fact that among his Boccobian ornamentation on his robes, he wore a chalice on a chain around his belt. Harlan, seeing the undead cleric headed in their direction, readied himself to <em>turn undead</em> if needed.</p><p></p><p>"Hey," Ageratum said aloud to a nearby attendant - surprised to hear that a magic field throughout this hidden library turned down the volume of her words, making them no louder than a whisper despite her having spoken in a normal tone of voice, "can you lead me to the section involving rogue topics, like lockpocking?" She suspected her bracelet might be faulty, as it had led her to a shelf of books about other planes of existence. The undead attendant made no comment, merely walked away, leading the halfling to the smaller section of books she desired to see. But Andrew accosted her on the way there. "Halfling," he whispered aloud, "is the Pelorian your leader? I would speak to he who speaks for your group."</p><p></p><p>"Uh, yeah, sure," agreed Ageratum, leading the undead cleric Harlan's way. Harlan's hand drifted to the hilt of his longsword at Andrew's approach, but the half-elf listened to what he had to say. Andrew spoke at some length, going on about a mythical "end to all magic" that could occur at any time, but which could be defeated by a secret spell hidden within an artifact called the <em>staff of Darvax</em>. "I would have your team quest for this hidden spell, if you'd agree. You may all use this library to gain what knowledge you need to find the spell that will prevent the end of all magic."</p><p></p><p>Harlan explained the offer to the others, who all converged on the two, over by the pentagram. <What do you think?> he asked his team.</p><p></p><p><I say, I know these guys are all evil undead, but they've been fairly innocuous so far,> pointed out Alistair. <And I, for one, would hate to see an end to all magic.></p><p></p><p><Agreed,> added Orchid.</p><p></p><p>"Very well, then," Harlan told Andrew. "We will accept your quest."</p><p></p><p>"Excellent," replied Andrew, pulling a scroll from his robes and reading off the words inscribed there. He had apparently been speaking very literally about his "quest," for he cast a <em>quest</em> spell upon the half-elf paladin, one that held Harlan to completing his appointed task, or he'd suffer daily for failing to advance upon his goals. But immediately after the spell was completed, Harlan's bracelet started glowing, and it pulled him towards the back of the room. "Wait, where are you going?" demanded Andrew. "You should be heading back to the outside world, to seek the <em>staff of Darvax</em>!"</p><p></p><p>Harlan's bracelet had other ideas, however. It led him to the back of the library, to the secret door from which Andrew had first entered the library. The other heroes followed the paladin, but stayed outside as he entered the secret room, only to return almost immediately with a book in his hands. "Here's your secret spell right here," he said, flipping open the book and pulling out a folded page that had been placed inside. "The bracelet led me right to it."</p><p></p><p>Andrew's formerly expressionless face now held a rictus of extreme anger. "What are you doing with that book?" he demanded, the force of his voice being comically dropped down to a whisper by the magics of the library. Harlan's paladin senses told him the book he held was itself evil.</p><p></p><p><Are you following any of this?> Alistair asked the group.</p><p></p><p><Not a bit of it,> admitted Ageratum. <I'm getting out the <em>thieves' coil</em>, though, just in case we want to get out of here fast.> She opened her <em>bag of holding</em> and did just that, while Andrew continued to stomp their way, complaining, "You're wasting time!" The undead fighter, joined by a second one who popped out of another hidden door halfway down the library's length, flanked him, swords out.</p><p></p><p>"What's gotten you so upset?" Chaevaris asked Andrew, stalling for time as Ageratum placed the <em>thieves' coil</em> in a circle around the five heroes.</p><p></p><p>"You're not doing what you're supposed to be doing!" insisted Andrew, as Orchid got herself into position and readied the casting of a <em>wall of thorns</em> spell - she didn't like the way Andrew was bearing down on them, and saw him start to speak the words to some kind of spell. She didn't trust the crazy, undead cleric, so she cast the spell, surrounding the five heroes with a thick wall of nettles and piercing thorns - just as Andrew's <em>blasphemy</em> spell hit, dazing all five of them for a moment. In the brief moment of the heroes' senselessness, Andrew had successfully cast a <em>dispel magic</em> spell on the <em>wall of thorns</em>, causing it to disappear (and free the one undead fighter it had imprisoned). Alistair cast a <em>maximized lightning bolt</em> spell through his <em>metamagic rod</em> and hit Andrew straight on, but the spell had absolutely no effect - leading the sorcerer to believe it was entirely possible they were dealing with a lich. But before he could voice his suspicions, Ageratum pushed the activation button on the <em>thieves' coil</em> and the five heroes were suddenly back up in the stables with Shushitan and their mounts.</p><p></p><p>"Let's get out of here," suggested Harlan, calling across the planes and summoning Nova by his side. "I've had enough of crazy undead librarians." Ageratum pointed out their library bracelets were no longer on their wrists, apparently having teleported back to the statues in the entry hall when the heroes were no longer in the library. For that matter, the elixir that had increased their focus seemed to no longer be in effect; it, too, must only work inside the Boccobian library, they decided.</p><p></p><p>Alistair voiced his concerns Andrew was a lich. "That book might be his phylactery, then," suggested Chaevaris as she mounted up onto her horse, Talkacha. "It would explain why he was so mad you had it in your hand."</p><p></p><p>"The whole thing seems wacky," reiterated Ageratum. "Why cast a <em>quest</em> spell that leads you to a piece of paper right there in your own library? And if that was his phylactery, how could be possibly not know there was an extra, loose piece of paper in there?" Everyone agreed undeath probably mixed up the brain cells or something; no doubt this all made some sort of sense to Andrew.</p><p></p><p>"So what are we going to do about the hidden library?" Orchid wanted to know as the group exited the abandoned guard station and started back to Ghourmand Vale. "We're knowingly leaving behind a bunch of undead."</p><p></p><p>"There's a Temple of Boccob in Ghourmand Vale," replied Harlan. "When we get back into town we'll have a talk with their head cleric, see if he knows about the place and is okay with undead running the place. Then they can do whatever they want about it. Who knows? They might even hire us to come back and take them all out."</p><p></p><p>"I have another suggestion for when we get back to Ghourmand Vale..." began Orchid.</p><p></p><p>"Yes?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, we were too late to rescue Oleg, but I know the <em>reincarnation</em> spell. Since Alistair has his corpse, I could always cast the spell on Oleg and bring him back to life in a different body. I know it's not exactly the same thing as having rescued him before he was slain, but if he ends up still alive..."</p><p></p><p>"We'd get the extra 5,000 gold pieces!" cried Ageratum. "That's brilliant!"</p><p></p><p>"Assuming Oleg agrees," pointed out Alistair. "He could always come back as a kobold or something and be pretty miffed at us."</p><p></p><p>But, as it turned out, casting the <em>reincarnation</em> spell resulted in a bit of an upgrade for Oleg: he went from a dead human to a living half-elf, with a longer natural lifespan as part of the deal. He was more than happy enough to have been brought back in a new form and instructed his underlings to pay the Trained Professional Adventurers the extra 5,000 pieces of gold they'd been promised if they brought him back alive.</p><p></p><p>"You know," Alistair told the Guildmaster, "we could always have Orchid cast another <em>reincarnation</em> spell on Boris, if you'd like. We wouldn't ask for another reward, simply have you reimburse us the cost of casting the spell - a thousand pieces of gold."</p><p></p><p>"One thousand pieces of gold to bring back idiot who got us both killed," mused Oleg. "Hmmm. Tell you what - I think on it and get back to you."</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was a two-and-a-half-hour adventure session, played through in combat initiative order for the entire session (although there was no combat until the very last few minutes, so that was weird). As we told Dan at the end of the session, the adventure locale was very evocative and had a lot of cool components, but it was a shame he hadn't actually written an <em>adventure</em> for our PCs to go through in it. Vicki got a little mad at us on Dan's behalf (sticking up for her husband, fair enough), but even Dan admitted he hadn't really thought through this one. Apparently Andrew was an "accidental lich" (a major plot point from Logan's "The Durnhill Conscripts" campaign), although if that were the case it made no sense for him to have a phylactery, or to know the book was even his phylactery, and Dan only added the secret spell being hidden in the pages of the book because (as he confessed at work the next day) the whole deal with the mythical "cessation of all magic" is just a bunch of hokum that Andrew believes to be true, and after having have him cast a <em>quest</em> spell on Harlan, Dan realized there was no way for the paladin to complete the quest, as he was looking for something that didn't really exist. So he suddenly came up with a "solution" by having Harlan find the secret spell in the phylactery/book, although how a secret spell that's part of a nonexistent prophecy even exists in the first place doesn't make any sense at all.... We agreed this wasn't one of his better efforts.</p><p></p><p>However, as I pointed out, if the Ghourmand Vale Boccobian clerics find undeath to be an abomination, they could always hire us to destroy the undead in the hidden library and bring all of the tomes and book back to the Vale, in which case he's pretty much got his next week's adventure already written. That's what he's decided will be our next course of action, so it looks like we'll be headed back to the ruins with the dead (and rotting) chimera, thieves' guild members, and purple worm next game session to do a little library cleaning.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9297719, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 47: PROCTOR LIBROS[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 11 Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 11 Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 11 Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 11[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Orchid, elf druid 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 20 March 2024 - - - "I disagree," replied Chaevaris, as the five heroes stood at the edge of the hole the slain purple worm had dug up from a depth even lower than the basement level of the abandoned guard post. "But Elfy, adventure beckons!" argued Alistair. "There's a whole level down there, just waiting to be explored!" "And that level will still be there tomorrow," reasoned the elven archer. "It was only unearthed when the purple worm that you slew - good job on that, by the way, guys; sorry I missed out on that - dug a tunnel up from below. So what are we likely to find down there? Undead, oozes, maybe some traps..." "Maybe some treasure," added Ageratum. "Yes, maybe, but the treasure won't be going anywhere either. And we'd all be better off after a day's rest, when Orchid can have a full complement of spells again, and ones more suited to a dungeon environment." "I wouldn't mind that part of it," admitted Orchid. "Some of the spells I still have on hand today would be fairly useless that far underground - like [i]entangle[/i]." "It would seem you've been out-argued," pointed out Harlan, slapping the young sorcerer good-naturedly on the shoulder. "We'll go check it out tomorrow. In the meantime, we can spend the rest of the day giving the guard post a thorough exploration, to make sure we haven't overlooked anything." Alistair sighed, but eventually faced the obvious: he wasn't going to go checking out the unearthed tunnels today after all. Maybe that was why Elfy Danger Silverleaf traveled alone: so nobody could put a damper on his enthusiasm to get the job done! The sorcerer looked over at the two dead bodies of the men they'd come to rescue, and who had already been dead when they arrived that morning. "What about those two?" he asked. "Anybody have a [i]gentle repose[/i] spell?" He asked the question to the assembled group, but he was looking specifically at Orchid. "You'd want a cleric for that, not a druid," she responded. "Or maybe even a wizard - I don't recall." "Hmmph!" snorted Alistair in irritation. "Well, they're not getting any fresher; I'm going to cast [i]shrink item[/i] on them, turn them into cloth until we get back to Ghourmand Vale. Beats storing them in our extradimensional dwelling, stinking up the place where we all have to sleep." As Alistair went about his spellcasting, the others headed back upstairs, Harlan leaving the sorcerer with a warning not to do any exploring down the worm's shaft on his own. Alistair merely rolled his eyes and promised he would resist the temptation, then returned to his spells. Shortly thereafter, Boris and Oleg were each both a small fraction of their size and now made entirely of cloth. Alistair deftly rolled them up and stuffed them into an empty potion vial, which he then stoppered - turning them to cloth, as he feared, had done nothing to diminish the stench of death already wafting from their decomposing bodies (although that might have been the worm - but no, they'd been dead longer than it had). The next morning, Alistair was practically champing at the bit. "I've summoned Ogilvy," he announced to the others as they took positions around the hole in the floor where the purple worm showed up. "He can carry Chaevaris's bullseye lanterns so we can all see--oh! Wait! Better yet, I can cast a [i]darkvision[/i] spell on each of us!" "Slow down, there," suggested the archer, as she lit her lantern and felt it taken from her by the [i]unseeen servant[/i]. Ogilvy, at his master's direction, shone the light down the worm's tunnel, showing it to be about 40 feet in length, nearly vertical, and ending in the ceiling of a chamber below. It looked like the floor to that lower chamber was about 50 feet below them. But Alistair was in no mood to slow down; he was already casting spells: two [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spells to get all five of them into a shared mental link, a [i]mage armor[/i] spell upon himself, a [i]flame arrow[/i] spell on the group's assorted ammunition, and the aforementioned five [i]darkvision[/i] spells. <Whoa!> Alistair broadcast over the link. <This is way better than the light from the lantern!> He had Ogilvy extinguish the lantern's beam so it didn't screw up their ability to see in absolute darkness. Orchid started casting some spells of her own: a [i]barkskin[/i] spell on each of the five, a [i]longstrider[/i] spell upon herself, and then a [i]greater magic fang[/i] spell upon herself as well, anticipating she'd probably be wildshaping into an animal form sometime during their explorations. Shushitan, the usual recipient of that spell, was up in the stables with the other mounts, enjoying a snack of rotting chimera as he watched over his charges. Ambrose was up there as well, as Alistair didn't want to hamper his grackle familiar by confining him in what could well be tight, cramped subterranean spaces. Harlan cast a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell upon himself, then followed it with a [i]bull's strength[/i] on himself and a [i]bless[/i] spell on the group. Chaevaris busied herself tying one end of their 50-foot length of silk rope securely to a piton hammered into the floor. Ageratum slapped her magic bracelet and slid into the comfort of [i]invisibility[/i], then offered to go down the rope first. Once she was 40 feet down, she activated the [i]spider climb[/i] ability of her [i]cloak of arachnida[/i] and secured herself upside-down on the ceiling. Even from that angle, there was plenty for the little halfling to see. A set of double doors along one wall of the chamber had been smashed in; she assumed that was how the worm had made it to this chamber in the first place. Another set of double doors, this one intact, stood on an adjacent wall. But there was a man, human by the look of him, standing behind a counter in front of four statues. Looking in Ageratum's general direction - the halfling got the idea he couldn't see through her [i]invisibility[/i] spell - he gestured with his hands to the statues behind him. Ageratum opted not to move any closer to this weird, silent man - his skin seemed awfully tight on his face, which didn't have any kind of expression; was he undead? - but she could see the statues were, in order, a wizard perusing a tome in his hands, a cleric in the robes and trappings of Boccob pointing at a scroll he held in one hand, a druid examining a leaf-covered branch, and a cloaked figure peeking through a barely-open door. Each was pretty much life-size, assuming these were all humans. Ageratum noticed a bit of metal on the plinth of the last statue (the one closest to her), and it looked to her like some sort of bracelet. From what she could see, it seemed as if two of the other statues also had bracelets lying at their feet. Could it be these the silent figure was indicating? [i]Ah, screw it![/i] decided Ageratum. She passed on her findings to the others through the telepathic link and then, still on the ceiling and still invisible, walked through the open doorway with the smashed-through doors. That, she saw, led to a trapezoidal room which opened to a smaller room filled with crushed stones and chunks of rubble. No doubt this was directly under the collapsed stairs they had found past where they found the corpses of Oleg and Boris. There was a spot of wetness atop a large chunk of stone; thinking it might be a gray ooze or some other amorphous blob-monster (and seeing no other way out of those two rooms), she returned back the way she had come. Harlan, by that time, had used his [i]ring of feather fall[/i] to glide safely to the lower floor, and the undead cleric - for the paladin could see right away this man was no longer alive - held his hands to the side, indicating the bracelets. Instinctively, Harlan detected the man's aura and saw the tell-tale darkness of evil spread throughout it. Of course, that could simply be a result of his undead status; of note, the cleric had yet to make any threatening gestures. "Do you speak?" Harlan asked the man, but got no response. Well, that was in itself an answer of sorts. Harlan stepped aside as he saw the rope flailing about, to make room for Chaevaris as she climbed down its length and leaped the final couple of feet, landing nimbly. She too was invisible, as Harlan surmised when he heard her land but saw nobody there. Shortly thereafter, Orchid climbed down, this elf fully visible, and then Alistair came down last of all. He had Ogilvy clinging to his back, if the bullseye lantern floating beside him was any indication, but the lamp's shutter was closed. Ageratum wandered down the wall and over to the intact set of doors. Seeing no obvious traps, she opened one, and the room beyond was obviously a library, with 20-foot-high books in a room whose ceiling rose five feet above their tops. Wheeled ladders were stationed nearby, as a means to reach the highest shelves, but immediately before the double doors, carved into the floor, was a five-sided holy symbol of Boccob, God of Knowledge and Magic. A fountain of sorts rose up from the middle of this carving, with water cascading out of the top of a small goblet and spilling over into a larger goblet beneath it. Several empty cups sat on a shelf on either side of the fountain, and another of these silent, undead clerics stood at the fountain's side. With an expressionless face, it indicated the goblets with a hand, despite apparently not being able to see the invisible halfling. Harlan had stepped closer to the first attendant, by the statues. By concentrating, he was able to detect the evil he'd sensed was indeed focused upon the undead in the Boccobian robes, and not the statues, which seemed harmless. Likewise, the bracelets at their base did not give off any waves of evil. Chaevaris came up beside him, looking at one of two bracelets at the vase of the druid statue; at this range, she could see it was a human male druid carved in stone. The bracelets were metal, made to look like a circlet of intertwined vines. Curious, she touched one, with no ill effects. <Should I try putting it on?> she asked Harlan over the link. <He seems to be indicating we should do so,> Harlan replied to the invisible elf at his side. <They all detect as magic,> Orchid commented as she too approached. "Abjuration and divination, fairly low-level. I'm going to put one on.> Reaching for one of the ones at the druid statue's feet, she placed it over a slim wrist. <No noticeable harm,> she advised the others. <I don't know about this,> worried Alistair, approaching with hesitation. <It seems like we should be destroying evil undead...but these are Boccobians! I'm trying to learn more about Boccob, now that I've come to terms with being a sorcerer. It seems like showing up at a hidden library and destroying the aides is a bad way to get in good with the Boccobian faith....> Still, Alistair reached down and picked up one of the bracelets at the feet of the statue of the wizard examining a tome. He placed it gingerly around his wrist and was pleased when no immediate ill effect manifested. Once he had done so, the undead attendant shifted position and waved his hands towards the double doors to the library, as if indicating Alistair should enter. Still somewhat worried, he headed over that way. Harlan grabbed up the other bracelet from the wizard statue's plinth and followed suit, approaching the second attendant. Upon the paladin's approach, the undead cleric dipped a cup into the fountain and proffered it to Harlan. A quick glance at the cleric's aura showed that he too was evil. But before the half-elf could drink it, a secret door in the wall opened up and out stepped another undead (equally as evil, Harlan noted absently), this one in a more warriorlike attire, with heavy armor and a longsword in hand. He looked towards the door as if in puzzlement, although no expression showed on his face. Ageratum felt a magical effect trying to overflow her senses, but managed to ward off the [i]aura of despair[/i] coming from the undead fighter. <Ageratum!> called out Alistair over the link. <Are you in the library?> <Yeah, I'm right here in the doorway.> <Are you wearing a bracelet? Not your invisibility one; one from the base of the statues.> <What? No.> <I'll bet that's what's causing the undead guy here some confusion: he senses someone in the library without a bracelet, but can't see you because you're invisible.> <Hang on,> offered Orchid. <I'll bring you one.> The druid grabbed up the last remaining bracelet (from the statue of the planewalker looking through the door, although she'd assumed it was a rogue in a concealing, hooded robe) and held it out as she approached the double doors. Ageratum stepped back into the entry hall and put it on. <Thanks,> she said over the link. Another secret door opened in a wall at the back of the library, and another undead cleric in Boccobian robes stepped forward, striding to the front of the library in a hurried pace. Alistair, by this time, had entered the pentagram and been offered a cup of water from the fountain. <Well, it can't be any worse than eating a sausage from a tomb,> he reasoned, and drank down the elixir. Immediately, he felt his senses become more tightly focused, as his body felt somehow strengthened. <The water's fine,> he told the others. <It seems like some kind of a study aid.> Harlan then drank down his own cup of the elixir, and Ageratum, now fully visible (after having deactivated her [i]bracelet of invisibility[/i] and put on the "rogue bracelet"), stepped into the room and was offered a cup of her own, which she gulped down. Chaevaris and Orchid soon followed suit. The head librarian, [b]Andrew[/b], cast a [i]resist energy[/i] spell on himself as he approached from the back of the room. The five heroes, having all partaken of the elixir by that time, had noticed their bracelets gently "tugging" them towards specific bookcases, and allowed themselves to be led. It turned out the bracelets they wore were attuned to different topics - the wizard's bracelets worn by Alistair and Harlan, for example, led them to bookshelves of arcane knowledge, whereas Orchid's druid bracelet led her to a stack of tomes about various plants and animals. But then Chaevaris noted Andrew's approach, and the fact that among his Boccobian ornamentation on his robes, he wore a chalice on a chain around his belt. Harlan, seeing the undead cleric headed in their direction, readied himself to [i]turn undead[/i] if needed. "Hey," Ageratum said aloud to a nearby attendant - surprised to hear that a magic field throughout this hidden library turned down the volume of her words, making them no louder than a whisper despite her having spoken in a normal tone of voice, "can you lead me to the section involving rogue topics, like lockpocking?" She suspected her bracelet might be faulty, as it had led her to a shelf of books about other planes of existence. The undead attendant made no comment, merely walked away, leading the halfling to the smaller section of books she desired to see. But Andrew accosted her on the way there. "Halfling," he whispered aloud, "is the Pelorian your leader? I would speak to he who speaks for your group." "Uh, yeah, sure," agreed Ageratum, leading the undead cleric Harlan's way. Harlan's hand drifted to the hilt of his longsword at Andrew's approach, but the half-elf listened to what he had to say. Andrew spoke at some length, going on about a mythical "end to all magic" that could occur at any time, but which could be defeated by a secret spell hidden within an artifact called the [i]staff of Darvax[/i]. "I would have your team quest for this hidden spell, if you'd agree. You may all use this library to gain what knowledge you need to find the spell that will prevent the end of all magic." Harlan explained the offer to the others, who all converged on the two, over by the pentagram. <What do you think?> he asked his team. <I say, I know these guys are all evil undead, but they've been fairly innocuous so far,> pointed out Alistair. <And I, for one, would hate to see an end to all magic.> <Agreed,> added Orchid. "Very well, then," Harlan told Andrew. "We will accept your quest." "Excellent," replied Andrew, pulling a scroll from his robes and reading off the words inscribed there. He had apparently been speaking very literally about his "quest," for he cast a [i]quest[/i] spell upon the half-elf paladin, one that held Harlan to completing his appointed task, or he'd suffer daily for failing to advance upon his goals. But immediately after the spell was completed, Harlan's bracelet started glowing, and it pulled him towards the back of the room. "Wait, where are you going?" demanded Andrew. "You should be heading back to the outside world, to seek the [i]staff of Darvax[/i]!" Harlan's bracelet had other ideas, however. It led him to the back of the library, to the secret door from which Andrew had first entered the library. The other heroes followed the paladin, but stayed outside as he entered the secret room, only to return almost immediately with a book in his hands. "Here's your secret spell right here," he said, flipping open the book and pulling out a folded page that had been placed inside. "The bracelet led me right to it." Andrew's formerly expressionless face now held a rictus of extreme anger. "What are you doing with that book?" he demanded, the force of his voice being comically dropped down to a whisper by the magics of the library. Harlan's paladin senses told him the book he held was itself evil. <Are you following any of this?> Alistair asked the group. <Not a bit of it,> admitted Ageratum. <I'm getting out the [i]thieves' coil[/i], though, just in case we want to get out of here fast.> She opened her [i]bag of holding[/i] and did just that, while Andrew continued to stomp their way, complaining, "You're wasting time!" The undead fighter, joined by a second one who popped out of another hidden door halfway down the library's length, flanked him, swords out. "What's gotten you so upset?" Chaevaris asked Andrew, stalling for time as Ageratum placed the [i]thieves' coil[/i] in a circle around the five heroes. "You're not doing what you're supposed to be doing!" insisted Andrew, as Orchid got herself into position and readied the casting of a [i]wall of thorns[/i] spell - she didn't like the way Andrew was bearing down on them, and saw him start to speak the words to some kind of spell. She didn't trust the crazy, undead cleric, so she cast the spell, surrounding the five heroes with a thick wall of nettles and piercing thorns - just as Andrew's [i]blasphemy[/i] spell hit, dazing all five of them for a moment. In the brief moment of the heroes' senselessness, Andrew had successfully cast a [i]dispel magic[/i] spell on the [i]wall of thorns[/i], causing it to disappear (and free the one undead fighter it had imprisoned). Alistair cast a [i]maximized lightning bolt[/i] spell through his [i]metamagic rod[/i] and hit Andrew straight on, but the spell had absolutely no effect - leading the sorcerer to believe it was entirely possible they were dealing with a lich. But before he could voice his suspicions, Ageratum pushed the activation button on the [i]thieves' coil[/i] and the five heroes were suddenly back up in the stables with Shushitan and their mounts. "Let's get out of here," suggested Harlan, calling across the planes and summoning Nova by his side. "I've had enough of crazy undead librarians." Ageratum pointed out their library bracelets were no longer on their wrists, apparently having teleported back to the statues in the entry hall when the heroes were no longer in the library. For that matter, the elixir that had increased their focus seemed to no longer be in effect; it, too, must only work inside the Boccobian library, they decided. Alistair voiced his concerns Andrew was a lich. "That book might be his phylactery, then," suggested Chaevaris as she mounted up onto her horse, Talkacha. "It would explain why he was so mad you had it in your hand." "The whole thing seems wacky," reiterated Ageratum. "Why cast a [i]quest[/i] spell that leads you to a piece of paper right there in your own library? And if that was his phylactery, how could be possibly not know there was an extra, loose piece of paper in there?" Everyone agreed undeath probably mixed up the brain cells or something; no doubt this all made some sort of sense to Andrew. "So what are we going to do about the hidden library?" Orchid wanted to know as the group exited the abandoned guard station and started back to Ghourmand Vale. "We're knowingly leaving behind a bunch of undead." "There's a Temple of Boccob in Ghourmand Vale," replied Harlan. "When we get back into town we'll have a talk with their head cleric, see if he knows about the place and is okay with undead running the place. Then they can do whatever they want about it. Who knows? They might even hire us to come back and take them all out." "I have another suggestion for when we get back to Ghourmand Vale..." began Orchid. "Yes?" "Well, we were too late to rescue Oleg, but I know the [i]reincarnation[/i] spell. Since Alistair has his corpse, I could always cast the spell on Oleg and bring him back to life in a different body. I know it's not exactly the same thing as having rescued him before he was slain, but if he ends up still alive..." "We'd get the extra 5,000 gold pieces!" cried Ageratum. "That's brilliant!" "Assuming Oleg agrees," pointed out Alistair. "He could always come back as a kobold or something and be pretty miffed at us." But, as it turned out, casting the [i]reincarnation[/i] spell resulted in a bit of an upgrade for Oleg: he went from a dead human to a living half-elf, with a longer natural lifespan as part of the deal. He was more than happy enough to have been brought back in a new form and instructed his underlings to pay the Trained Professional Adventurers the extra 5,000 pieces of gold they'd been promised if they brought him back alive. "You know," Alistair told the Guildmaster, "we could always have Orchid cast another [i]reincarnation[/i] spell on Boris, if you'd like. We wouldn't ask for another reward, simply have you reimburse us the cost of casting the spell - a thousand pieces of gold." "One thousand pieces of gold to bring back idiot who got us both killed," mused Oleg. "Hmmm. Tell you what - I think on it and get back to you." - - - This was a two-and-a-half-hour adventure session, played through in combat initiative order for the entire session (although there was no combat until the very last few minutes, so that was weird). As we told Dan at the end of the session, the adventure locale was very evocative and had a lot of cool components, but it was a shame he hadn't actually written an [i]adventure[/i] for our PCs to go through in it. Vicki got a little mad at us on Dan's behalf (sticking up for her husband, fair enough), but even Dan admitted he hadn't really thought through this one. Apparently Andrew was an "accidental lich" (a major plot point from Logan's "The Durnhill Conscripts" campaign), although if that were the case it made no sense for him to have a phylactery, or to know the book was even his phylactery, and Dan only added the secret spell being hidden in the pages of the book because (as he confessed at work the next day) the whole deal with the mythical "cessation of all magic" is just a bunch of hokum that Andrew believes to be true, and after having have him cast a [i]quest[/i] spell on Harlan, Dan realized there was no way for the paladin to complete the quest, as he was looking for something that didn't really exist. So he suddenly came up with a "solution" by having Harlan find the secret spell in the phylactery/book, although how a secret spell that's part of a nonexistent prophecy even exists in the first place doesn't make any sense at all.... We agreed this wasn't one of his better efforts. However, as I pointed out, if the Ghourmand Vale Boccobian clerics find undeath to be an abomination, they could always hire us to destroy the undead in the hidden library and bring all of the tomes and book back to the Vale, in which case he's pretty much got his next week's adventure already written. That's what he's decided will be our next course of action, so it looks like we'll be headed back to the ruins with the dead (and rotting) chimera, thieves' guild members, and purple worm next game session to do a little library cleaning. [/QUOTE]
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