pogre's story hour Zandyrium -episode 66- (5/10/2006) A short update.

[pogre]

Zandyrium
Episode 63

Thrashing through the water, the adventurers watched as the giant sea devil Leviathan came closer and closer. Heinrich quickly said a prayer and cast Walk on Water on himself and his comrades and soon they were all streaming towards the surface like dry corks under water. The pain of the bends hit them as they were about to leave the sea and then something more painful struck them.

It was a massive, dark, evil shout that burst into their brains like a blood vessel popping behind their eyes. The voice was unadulterated, pure evil screaming in vengeance.

I know you and you will serve me!

The utter hatred etched in the words was nearly overwhelming, but as the adventurers bobbed up to the surface they quickly windwalked away from the swirling maelstrom.

*****
No one could speak for a long time. The implications of the encounter with Leviathan had rattled the entire group. Finally Wassabe spoke up, “So, that was a big fish.”

Ginny and Mercutio chuckled, but Justinius said, “This is much more sinister than I had suspected. It will require some deeper research. I would like Mercutio, Wassabe, and Githraldul to come assists me. Ginny and Heinrich can report our findings to the Thray city council.”

“What about me?” Thoren asked.

“What is your preference?” Justinius asked.

“I will stay with Ginny and Heinrich,” Thoren replied.

“I should like to come with you and help in your research,” Morguhn stated.

“You are, of course, welcome,” Justinius replied.

“Be careful Justinius,” Heinrich said. He suspected this research would not meet with his approval if he knew exactly what Justinius planned.

*****

Justinius, Mercutio, Wassabe, Githraldul, and Morguhn now found themselves in the lower level of the Zandyrium Gravitas Morte Temple courtesy of Justinius’s Word of Recall.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Mercutio asked.

“What is your plan?” Morguhn asked.

Justinius pulled forth a massive gem from his cloak. The sapphire reflected the lamplight of the temple in dazzling brilliance. Wassabe let out a low whistle.

“Oh no,” Mercutio gasped.

“I plan on using this to get some information,” Justinius said.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Wassabe quipped with a smile.

“Actually I will be calling a certain Erinyes to visit,” Justinius replied.

“Not her,” Mercutio’s voice betrayed a sense of dread.

“Yes,” Justinius admitted.

“She said she would kill you the next time you called her,” Mercutio objected.

“Thus, the reason for your presence. It is not stupid.”

Justinius began the ritual of calling and in short order the faint odor of brimstone filled the cellar as a six-foot tall beautiful creature with wings appeared. Rage filled her dark eyes as she spat out, “What is the bargain?”



Justinius held forth the dazzling sapphire, “information.”

“It’s always information,” Naja Nivyah replied. She let her wings fold behind her body. There was a dark menace in the slight movement that unnerved many of the adventurers. “The nature of the information?”

“I need words on Boethricus, Leviathan, Mammon, and Orcus,” Justinius replied steadily.

The Erinyes nostrils flared and her eyes lit up at the mention of the names. She reclined in the most lewd and lascivious pose the adventurers had ever seen. “Why don’t you give me what I want Justinius? Plant your seed, and I will tell you every secret you desire and more besides.”

Every man in the room felt instantly drawn to the devil, their base instincts calling him to the Erinyes. Justinius maintained his composure, “You know I cannot. Do you reject the bargain?”

“I should tear out your heart for that rejection,” Naja furiously retorted.

“Do you reject the bargain?” Justinius replied calmly.

Naja Nivyah snatched the gem away from Justinius, “The information will be limited to the worth of this gewgaw.”



“You must answer my questions fully or I shall have my friends destroy you for violating the bargain,” Justinius replied calmly.

Naja Nivyah eyed the assembled group cautiously. She knew she might be able to last a couple of seconds, but she also realized besides the might of the Sacred Revealer of Gravitas Morte she was facing two highly skilled arcane casters and a couple of fighters of renown. Justinius’s threat was legitimate and real.

“What must we do to stop Leviathan?” Justinius asked.

“That is an unanswerable question,” Naja Nivyah replied.

“How do we stop his activities on this plane?” Justinius rephrased his question. “In particular, I am concerned with the sudden appearance of the whirlpools.”

“Leviathan is not the source of the whirlpools. Leviathan is merely a manifestation.”

“What is the source of the whirlpools?” Justinius rephrased his question again. Justinius was struggling to keep an air of frustration from creeping into his voice.

“The vortices are the result of pinpoint infernal gates that draw essence from the surrounding prime,” the Erinyes smiled wickedly knowing the answer was not nearly complete enough for Justinius.

“I suspected as much, but who or what is creating these gates?” Justinius asked.

“The cult of Mammon,” Naja replied.

“I find your answers lacking!” Justinius complained.

“How odd, I was thinking the same of your questions,” Naja replied smugly.

“Who in the cult of Mammon is creating these gates, and therefore, the whirlpools?” Justinius’s voice was rising just slightly.

“The trio of malevolent hags of Krakenhold at the Temple of Leviathan,” Naja Nivyah answered.

“And this Temple of Leviathan is located where?”

Naja Nivyah described the location and the adventurers quickly realized they were practically on top of the temple the previous day.

“Is Leviathan still on the prime?” Justinius asked.

“I do not know, but I should not think so. The power to do the summoning was very taxing on the hags. I would assume they are recovering from the task.”

“So they are a weakened state?” Justinius asked.

“Yes, but they are still very powerful. They have yet more summons at their disposal.”

“Like what?” Justinius asked.

“Boethricus,” Naja answered.

“Boethricus? How can they summon him?” Justinius asked.

“He is bound to them because of a bargain,” Naja Nivyah answered.

“Whom else is Boethricus bound to?” Justinius asked.

“I do not know.”

“Where is Boethricus’s undead army?” Justinius asked.

“I am not aware of one.”

“I need to get a message to Orcus. Who is his main high priest on this plane?” Justinius asked.

“You ask the question as though a Demon would have an organized cult,” Naja smiled mockingly.

“Give me the name of a priest,” Justinius replied.

“There is a man named Grayfell in the Saracen deserts. He mucks about in ancient tombs and has built a temple to Orcus. He is very powerful. He may already have become a lich.” Naja paused for a moment and then said, “I have more than fulfilled this bargain.”

“I think not, but in a show of my appreciation I will bind you for only one further question,” Justinius replied. “What infernal power is the Pulanti family in Zandyrium aligned with?”

“What makes you say they are aligned with an infernal power?” Naja Nivyah replied.

“I sense a darkness about them,” Justinius replied.

“Interesting,” the Erinyes replied.

“And?” Justinius queried.

“And nothing. I am not aware of their associations, if any with higher powers. The bargain is fulfilled.”

“Agreed,” Justinius admitted.

The Erinyes was gone in a gray puff that left of sickening sweet odor of burnt flesh behind.

“Let me recap what we have learned to make sure I understood what she was saying,” Githraldul said. “The Mammon cultists are responsible for the whirlpools for a reason we do not yet understand. Boethricus has bound himself to the leaders of this cult, the three malevolent hags of Krakenhold. The hags somehow summoned a higher devil, Leviathan, to face us and the summoning has left the hags in a weakened state. If we were to go after the hags they would be weakened, but would probably summon Boethricus to their aid.”

“You have made some reasonable assumptions, but be careful in drawing too many conclusions from the information it has shared,” Justinius cautioned.

“I think we may need to talk to her further,” Wassabe said. “Perhaps you should offer my seed as part of the bargain?” Wassabe gave a loud laugh at his own suggestion.



“It seems we need to strike a blow against Krakenhold from the information we have gained,” Mercutio said ignoring Wassabe’s comments.

“Considering their weakened state we might corral Boethricus in the bargain,” Morguhn noted.

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Wassabe countered, “You may recall he nearly wiped us out last time.”



“We need to make haste to the city wall so Mercutio and Morguhn can teleport us back to Thray to meet with Heinrich and the others,” Justinius stated.

“Right after I go see Sara down at the Barrel,” Wassabe said.

“We do not have time for your whoring before we go,” Githraldul retorted.

“Exactly so,” Justinius nodded in agreement.

“I’m really sick of these skewed priorities you fellows have,” Wassabe sulked.

to be continued...

 

[Old One]

Woot!

Pogre,

Good update and great props...still waiting to win that lottery . We just need to fly you and your gear down to the next NC Game Day...

~ OO

 

[pogre]

Pogre,

Good update and great props...still waiting to win that lottery . We just need to fly you and your gear down to the next NC Game Day...

~ OO

I may come down there some Summer - sounds like fun!

A short update this week. The adventurers quickly overwhelmed the obstacles I set before them last week. In a sure sign of my rustiness – I forgot my camera. I’ll try to remember this week

Zandyrium
Episode 64

The adventurers informed the Thray Council of their findings and proceeded back to the whirlpool. Windwalking out to the whirlpool, the group’s casters proceeded to weave an impressive collection of beneficial spells. The adventurers headed down to the bottom of the ocean where they found an ancient dilapidated temple and numerous shipwrecks. One of the krakens that had attacked the party earlier surprised them near the temple.

Fortunately, the entire group had Freedom of Movement cast upon them and the kraken’s tentacles were of no use against them. The kraken was quickly overcome and Justinius spied some creatures laying in ambush in the main temple thanks to true seeing.

The adventurers approached the temple at the ready and saw several pieces of armor get up and move towards them. Suddenly, vicious claws whipped out from the armor as eight of these armored crabs attacked. Freedom of Movement again saved the day as none of the crabs could grab the adventurers. The crabs were resilient, but quickly defeated. A search revealed a strange pendant on one of the crabs that resembled an eye.

The adventurers headed to the back of the temple where they found a huge hole in the floor. Some sort of force field that was keeping water out covered the hole, but the adventurers realized they could all get through. Mercutio cast Feather fall on all of the adventurers and they slowly sank down the long shaft.

When the adventurers hit the bottom of the shaft they found themselves in a dry chamber. A large black cauldron was bubbling and an orange fire threw its light around the chamber. Three heinous hags each gripped a large stirring stick and cackled as the group entered. There were 30 plus skeletons arrayed before the hags and more piles of stinking rotten corpses surrounding them.

Justinius quickly blasted most of the skeletons away, and despite the hags’ combined spell casting might, the largest of the trio was quickly defeated. Sensing she was overmatched, the Sea Hag, a sorcerer of some skill, snapped a calling stick and none other than Boethricus din Woad arrived on the battlefield. The other two hags fell in quick succession and Boethricus, realizing he too was overmatched teleported away from the fray.

The adventurers explored the area finding some treasure and then Mercutio disintegrated the black cauldron. The adventurers heard a loud pop and soon were crushed by millions of gallons of water. Thanks to their numerous buffs, including water breathing they were able to survive. A later investigation revealed that the destruction of the cauldron also halted the numerous whirlpools that were disrupting the trade routes.

The group reported back to Thray where the council greeted them as heroes. They headed back to Zandyrium for some rest and research.

Justinius had saved the head of the most powerful of the three hags and shared a plan with Mercutio, “I propose to strip this skull. Place runes on it and have Morguhn place a Magic Mouth spell upon it with a message for the follower of the Hated One.”

“Orcus?” Mercutio asked.

“Yes,” Justinius hissed with hatred. “The erinyes said the follower mucked about ruins deep in the Saracen desert. I need for you to deliver the skull.”

“To where?” Mercutio asked.

“The ruins,” Justinius responded impatiently.

“The desert covers the remnants of an entire civilization. There are ruins everywhere,” Mercutio protested.

“Surely there are some more prominent than others,” Justinius suggested.

“The cities during the times of the Sphinx Lords were reputed to be several times the size of even Zandyrium at its height and there were dozens of them.”

“There has to be a way to find him. He is a magician of no base talent,” Justinius said.

“There may be a way. In an ancient wadi, deep in the desert there is a wise sage named Khubsheth. He knows much of the desert and the great Sphinx Lords who ruled ages ago. We could go ask him,” Mercutio suggested.

“A trip to the desert,” Justinius mused, “Very well, but first I must do some research.”

“Oh no, not Naja,” Mercutio protested.

“No, a different kind of research,” Justinius replied. “Will everyone be ready to go in a fortnight?”

“I should think so, but Morguhn has his nose buried in spellbooks at Silcrass’s. He may need more time.”

“Fine, let’s meet at the Barrel in three weeks then,” Justinius said.

To be continued…

 

[Richard Rawen]

This:
“Criador’s spell books.”
“Any other treasures in here?” Wassabe asked.

“I’m not sure you understand,” Heinrich began, “These books have numerous enchantments and spells of upper valences I have not even heard of before.”

“Yeah, yeah, good for Morguhn and all that,” Wassabe replied.

“Wassabe, these books are worth more than the richest merchant fleet in Zandyrium,” Ginny said.

“Oh,” Wassabe answered. “That’s a pretty good haul then.” Ginny laughed.

A groggy Thoren started coming around, “Any treasure?”

“Nope, just a couple of books,” Wassabe replied.

“Damn,” Thoren grumbled.

And:
Silcrass began gently turning the pages. Coos and gasps started coming from the Aranea.

“By the gods!’
“I have never…”
“The power…”
“I have never even heard of this…”

Silcrass continued on in this way for some time as did an equally delighted Morguhn.

“I’ve never seen one of those before,” Wassabe whispered to Ginny.

“What? A powerful spellbook?” Ginny responded.

“No, a spider-gasm,” Wassabe replied.

Had me on the verge of tears, I was laughing out loud and for once was happy not to have customers in the store...
Thanks for these and other great laughs in the midst of a very fun story, I'm looking forward to more!

Blessings,
Richard
M < > <

 

[spacehulkster]

"and they slowly sank down the long shaft"

yeah!

 

[pogre]

Zandyrium
Episode 65

Morguhn moved around Silcrass’s lair to another of the book chambers. He had already spoken to the Aranea about creating a better, more secure place for the tomes, and it annoyed him to have to avoid the Ettercaps’ chambers. “Couldn’t Silcrass find better babysitters?” Morguhn thought to himself. Finally, the dwarf found the book he had been seeking – the Thraegian Coast Covenant’s Ritual Tome. The power of some of the spells in the volume was dazzling. Just reading them made Morguhn’s head spin. He began daydreaming about an idea he had been toying with for some time – a new covenant of wizards. The dwarf’s muses were interrupted by the sounds of conversation from the entrance chamber. Silcrass was speaking common with someone. Morguhn moved towards them.

Morguhn emerged in the entrance chamber and found Silcrass speaking with Mercutio. “Mercutio, my friend, I was just thinking about you,” Morguhn interrupted.

“Ah, Morguhn, just the person I was coming to see,” Mercutio responded.

“I was just telling Mercutio about the progress of our young,” Silcrass added.

“Yes, yes, I’m afraid Silcrass rarely cracks a book these days. He is always checking after his blessed spiderlings,” Morguhn laughed. “Are you here to do some research with us?”

“Sadly, no,” Mercutio admitted. “Justinius wants to contact Grayfell the sorcerer in the Saracen desert.”

“Ah, I see, and he wants me to go with you?”

“It is not quite that easy,” Mercutio responded, “We’re not sure where he is. We have decided to visit the great sage Khubsheth. We could use your help.”

“This Greyfell, the erinyes said he was very powerful, correct?” Morguhn asked.

“Yes, and a follower of Orcus, I think…” Mercutio replied.

Morguhn interrupted him, “Do you think Greyfell is an arcane caster?”

“I’m not sure. Why would it matter?” Mercutio asked.

“I have been reading the rituals tome again,” Morguhn responded.

“And?” Mercutio queried.

“And a covenant can cast unbelievably powerful spells. We are talking earth shattering stuff,” Morguhn replied.

“Yes, I remember you mentioning that. I told you I’m in,” Mercutio replied.

“It’s not that simple. To create a covenant we must undergo a ritual of binding and set up the covenant’s laws – it’s very taxing,” Morguhn explained.

“Yes, yes, I’m still in,” Mercutio replied.

“It also requires at least five powerful casters,” Morguhn replied in a low voice.

“There’s the rub, eh?” Silcrass said.

“Not to sound vain, but I’m not sure if there are two more casters as powerful as us,” Mercutio added.

“You should not worry about sounding vain,” Silcrass said.

Morguhn smiled at Silcrass’s snipe before suggesting, “Naja Nivyah said Greyfell is very powerful.”

“And she said he has become a lich,” Mercutio quickly responded. The Saracen sorcerer did not like where this conversation was going.

“No, she said he may have become a lich,” Morguhn corrected him. “Besides lichdom is something generally in the purview of arcane casters. He might prove very valuable to us.”

“The man has built a temple to Orcus!” Mercutio argued. “This is someone you want in your covenant?”

“He’s a powerful caster who obviously is not afraid of a little research. Maybe he just needs direction,” Morguhn suggested. “Remember the old saying – ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’”

“Your mad,” Mercutio grumbled.

“We do need two more casters for the covenant,” Silcrass stated.

“So, just to be clear, you want me to deliver Justinius’s message. A message that is in the form of a hag’s skull engraved with runes and a magic mouthspell cast upon it that essentially threatens him into contacting Orcus. Then when he has digested that message I will just throw in a little aside like – hey, we’re making a new wizards’ club – do you want in?”

“No, no, appeal to his desire for power. Why else does one follow the dark arts? Greyfell is clearly looking for greater power. He may just need an alternative,” Morguhn suggested.

“Or he may be a loony demonologist. Although being loony is clearly not a problem for this covenant,” Mercutio replied.

Silcrass chuckled softly at the exchange and said, “Mercutio, if you have an opportunity to approach him.”

“It is not a problem,” Morguihn said. “Once you deliver the skull I can find him easily enough and I will arrange a meeting.”

“Do not pout, Morguhn, it’s very unbecoming,” Mercutio smiled. “I take it this means you are not coming with us?”

“Are you leaving soon?” Morguhn replied.

“I would not have disturbed you otherwise,” Mercutio answered.

“Ah, well in that case, I must decline.”

“Fair enough. I will see you both soon,” Mercutio replied.

“Farewell,” Silcrass said.

“Farewell friend, and take care of those young,” Mercutio said. In a flash, Mercutio was gone.

Morguhn turned towards Silcrass, “Do you think they will slay Grayfell?”

“Given their track record it is a distinct possibility,” Silcrass admitted.

“What a waste,” Morguhn complained.

“He is a demonologist.”

“There are not that many powerful wizards in the north. We must get the covenant going as fast as possible.”

“Why?” Silcrass asked.

“I don’t know. I just sense we are the new generation of magic and we must protect the north.”

Silcrass and Morguhn stood in contemplative silence for a short time before Morguhn stirred to return to his studies. “Do you want to dine soon?” Silcrass called after the dwarf.

Morguhn shook his head no and continued walking. He did not have time for a relaxing dinner. He had research to do.

*****

Justinius, Ginny, Thoren, Mercutio, Wassabe, and Heinrich prepared to head out to the desert. “Where is Gith?” Wassabe asked the others.

“I could not find him,” Thoren said.

“Everybody ready?” Mercutio asked. Before anyone had a chance to respond the group found themselves deep in the desert looking at a large chasm cut out of the desert floor. A path led down into the chasm. The sun streamed down into the chasm revealing a sandy floor dominated by a 200-foot long sphinx statue.

“Khubsheth is here?” Wassabe asked.

“Yes, he is usually found between the great paws of the sphinx statue I am told,” Mercutio replied.

“Sounds cozy,” Ginny said.

“Hold it!” Thoren barked back to the group, “there is a huge sphinx between the statue’s forelegs.”

“What does it look like?” Wassabe asked.

“It has a man’s head, a huge lion body, and feathered wings,” Thoren replied.

“That is an androsphinx,” Mercutio said, “and what’s more, that is Khubsheth.”

“Wait, Khubsheth is an androsphinx?” Justinius asked.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Justinius asked.

“It didn’t seem important,” Mercutio replied. The group continued walking towards the sphinx statue and Khubsheth. As they approached the huge androsphinx, he did not seem to take notice of them. Khubsheth was gazing straight ahead as though in a trance mumbling. Mercutio was the first to sound an alarm, “He’s casting defensive wards. Something very bad is up here!”

“Khubsheth we seek your knowledge and can offer you much in riches or knowledge in return,” Justinius called out.

The androsphinx roared to the attack. Immediately half the group ran in stark terror from the sphinx. Thoren and Justinius remained behind and valiantly tried to reason with the beast while it attacked them. It was to no avail and they were forced to retreat. The whole group headed back to Mercutio’s home village via teleport.

*****

“I thought you said Khubsheth would help us,” Ginny complained.

“I thought he would. I have never heard of Khubsheth attacking anyone,” Mercutio admitted. “Khubsheth has been part of the desert as long as there has been Saracens and I have never heard of anything, but his benevolence.”

“We had no chance with those defensive wards the sphinx had up. He’s just too powerful,” Thoren observed.

“He must have misunderstood our intentions,” Mercutio offered. “Perhaps he viewed us as a threat. I will journey back there tonight and approach him unarmed to ask the question.”

“I would like to come,” Justinius said.

“Fine, I should not think he will view the two of us as a threat,” Mercutio answered.

“Given the result of the last battle, I doubt he views all of us as a threat,” Wassabe interjected.

*****

Mercutio and Justinius teleported back to the chasm and in less than an hour they returned. Justinius was heavily bloodied.

“What in the Hades!” Ginny exclaimed.

“Looks like another well-executed plan,” Wassabe said.

“Be still Wassabe,” Heinrich ordered. “What happened?”

“Much the same as before,” Mercutio said.

“Except this time the sphinx was spouting off about some queen and blood and some other stuff,” Justinius added.

“It was a prophecy,” Mercutio stated. “We must do some research to see if we can gain some insight. I seem to recall a couple of desert histories in our library.”

“Yes, I will proceed with a sending to let Morguhn know you are coming,” Heinrich replied.

Sending from Heinrich to Morguhn at Silcrass’s lair:
Mercutio must come do some research. Please set aside any and all histories on the Saracen desert for him. Time is of the essence.

Sending reply from Morguhn to Heinrich:
Consider it done.

Heinrich administered healing to Mercutio and after a bite to eat the sorcerer teleported away. He arrived in Silcrass’s lair and began studying the books Morguhn had set aside for him. A couple of hours later, satisfied he had learned enough to know what was going on he teleported back to the group.

“There is an ancient prophecy about an evil sphinx queen named Ankharet. She apparently turned on her people and a great civil war ensued. The war caused the collapse of their civilization and the decimation created the Saracen Desert. The sphinxes managed to capture the queen, but the prophesied few who were to conquer her were yet to come. The prophecy says the way will be opened to these prophesied heroes by spilling the blood of Khubsheth.”

“Oh by the gods!” Wassabe exclaimed, “You have to be jesting. The only prophecy I have ever filled was the one involving a skin of wine and a trollop with an empty purse.”

“So we have to fight him,” Heinrich remarked quietly.

“I think so, yes,” Mercutio replied. “I think he must be killed.”

“How does this help us?” Justinius asked.

“This is prophecy – it is the divine law of the desert. We can return to our own goals after we have answered the call of destiny,” Mercutio answered. “Besides, we don’t know where Grayfell is anyway.”

“He’s right, this is something we must do,” Thoren added. Everyone stared at the fighter in surprise. “I mean it’s a prophecy.”

“Wait, hold on, Thoren I just received a divine prophecy: You must give all your gold to Wassabe so that he may retire and avoid all this desert nonsense,” Wassabe said.

“Shuddup,” Thoren retorted.

“Let us sleep,” Justinius suggested. “We can all discuss it in the morning. We will get nothing further done tonight.”

*****

The group enjoyed a morning repast of goat milk, honey, and hard, unleavened wafers. The plan was to teleport in right under Khubsheth’s nose and kill the androsphinx as quickly as possible. The group hoped the sage was not blessed with some sort of foresight that would allow him to shield himself with defensive wards ahead of time. Mercutio gathered everyone together and teleported to Khubsheth’s location.

Khubsheth’s roar proved ineffective, although the sphinx had shrugged off a couple of spells from the clerics, Thoren’s opening salvo had the beast in deep trouble. Attacking Thoren with great fury, Khubsheth soon had the fighter reeling. It was not enough. Justinius quickly fortified the fighter by sealing his wounds and Thoren soon had the sphinx down in a pool of blood.

As the lifeblood of the sphinx seeped into the desert floor it once again chanted the familiar prophecy to the group. As the sphinx gasped his last breath a corridor appeared leading down below the sphinx statue.

The corridor was a large structure 20 feet high and 20 feet wide. The floor was caked in dust, but Ginny took her time tracing along the dust for possible traps in the floor. The walls of the corridor were covered in fantastic murals depicting much of the sphinx empire’s history. Mercutio and Justinius already knew some of the history, but not all. The murals depicted a great sphinx army in a conflict with nagas. The sphinxes won the war thanks in large part to the heroism of their queen. The queen found a crown and she turned on her own people, creating a civil war. It was through great sacrifices that the queen was overcome and locked away. One of the parties responsible was Khubsheth.

Wassabe pointed out the mural’s portrayal of Khubsheth, “Hey! Didn’t we just kill that guy!”

“Yes,” Mercutio answered solemnly.

“But, it looks like he was on the good guys’ side,” Wassabe retorted.

“He was,” Mercutio confirmed. “He sacrificed himself as a test against us in service of the prophecy.”

“Just admit it Merc, you guys from the desert have just spent way too much damn time in the heat,” Wassabe quipped.

The murals continued revealing that in the future heroes would come and defeat the queen. If the realization they had killed a good being disturbed Wassabe, this mural really disturbed he and Thoren.

“Wait a moment! That’s us!” Thoren cried in recognition.

“Prophecy, my friends, prophecy,” Mercutio muttered in an almost chant like manner.

“That’s creepy,” Ginny admitted.

Further down the hall the group found a series of columns with runes inscribed upon them. Realizing the runes formed a puzzle the group solved it quickly and continued forward. The floor dropped out from beneath the group and they found themselves in another deeper corridor. Ahead of them was a large set of doors. They opened them revealing a wide long hallway. Flanking the hallway were 10 pedestals, five per side, each with a great sphinx resting upon it.



“This is quite the gauntlet,” Ginny observed

“Are they going to attack us?” Heinrich asked.

“You’re asking me? How do I know?” Mercutio replied.

Thoren was edging his way into the chamber.

“Thoren what are you doing?” Wassabe hoarsely whispered after the fighter.

Thoren turned around and winked at Wassabe. As Thoren edged his way further into the room the ten pairs of sphinxes’ eyes followed him, but the creatures showed no sign of reacting otherwise. Thoren waved at the rest of the group to follow him.

“I don’t like this,” Wassabe whispered as he walked into the room hunched over.

“For once I agree with you,” Ginny said, shifting her eyes from right to left, watching the sphinxes.

“I don’t think they are going to do a thing,” Thoren announced loudly as the rest of the group approached. “I think they are just an ancient honor guard watching the mighty heroes of prophecy march through to vanquish the evil queen.”

Just as Thoren finished his pronouncement the sphinxes attacked! Pouncing from their respective perches the sphinxes unleashed the fury of their four claws and vicious bites. Thoren and Wassabe were heavily wounded after the initial ambush, but Thoren was clearing a wide, bloody swath with his mighty axe. Once the group gained a little breathing room, the rest of the sphinxes were dispatched.

Justinius started examining the group’s wounds. “Something is not right here,” he commented. “These are not normal wounds.”

Thoren winced in pain as a bizarre disease wracked his body. Wassabe, Ginny were soon doing likewise. “This does not make sense,” Heinrich said. Heinrich cast true seeing and scanned the chamber seeing a concealed door at the far end, but more astonishingly, revealing that all of the sphinxes were in fact mummies covered by a great illusion! “They were all mummies!”

“Now I understand,” Justinius said. “We need to get out of here and rest. We need to remove the mummy rot or we’ll have a real problem shortly.” The entire group teleported back to Mercutio’s home village to recuperate.

*****

The square chamber had a huge mural painted on each wall again depicting the late history of the sphinx empire. Each wall also had a large door with an ancient sphinx riddle printed over it. A four-sided pyramid – each side with a triangular indentation and a horus-eye, dominated the center of the chamber.



Facing each door was a very large statue of different sphinxes. The group successfully answered the first riddle and made their way down to a room. The room itself contained another puzzle of sorts and the group way forced to fight a fiery bird and an iron serpent. The far end of the room contained a triangular symbol with a horus-eye. This clearly was a key of some sort that fit in the four-sided pyramid.

The next riddle was answered and going into another puzzling chamber the party recovered another horus-eye triangle key. The next wall started inauspiciously as Thoren incorrectly answered the riddle and the rock statue guarding the portal attacked the group. The sphinx construct was particularly tough and Thoren was the only one doing much damage. Ginny, Heinrich, and Wassabe tried to distract the beast while Thoren hammered it. Finally, a mighty blow from Thoren laid it to rest.

“I guess that was the wrong answer,” A smiling Thoren remarked through a sweat-beaded face.

“We will need to be extra careful, I think the last few riddle answers not only opened the doors, but disarmed a trap or two. A luxury we do not have here,” Ginny remarked. The lithe rogue moved up to the door and picked the intricate lock.

======================SPOILER NOTE=======================
Up to this point I have been very careful not to post any big spoilers about the module (Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl #15 – Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen). Significant spoilers are required while narrating the next point in the story. If your DM may run this module in the near future, please skip down to the spoiler free marker a few lines down. Thanks
==========================================================

The group moved down a very long passage slowly as Ginny checked for traps the entire way. The passage concluded at a large stone door. Ginny announced that she was certain the portal was trapped, but that she believed she had disabled it. “That’s good enough for me,” Thoren stated and the fighter opened the door. The rest of the adventurers followed Thoren in and saw five large leonid creatures and one very large leonid beast with a key in its chest.

The door closed behind the group and there was an audible clunk of a bar falling in place inside the door. “I guess I missed that one,” Ginny said flatly. The leonids roared to the attack and nearly simultaneously a three-foot wide hole in the ceiling opened pouring sand down onto the party.

Thoren quickly dispatched one of the smaller leonids, but this only brought him to the attention of the largest beast. The largest leonid pounced on the fighter and bit him deeply in the neck, while its rear claws dug into Thoren’s torso savagely. Wassabe tried to beat the leonid off and Thoren made a gurgled cry for help. Justinius rebuked one of the earth elemental leonids and Heinrich cast a destruction spell at another that failed to take effect. Mercutio likewise bounced a spell off of one of the leonids.

The sand was up to the adventurers’ thighs and Ginny began to frantically search for some possible release button or lever. The greater leonid roared as it tore Thoren’s throat again and the fighter went limp as the life blood rushed for him. “Nice going you worthless holy good-for-nothing excrement ridden vermin clerical nincompoops – you killed him!” Wassabe shouted as he slashed at the leonid.

The sand continued cascading down and Justinius managed to finish one of the smaller leonids off with the aid of Mercutio’s sorcery. Still facing the big leonid and a couple of the smaller ones, Heinrich laid down a terrible blade barrier that chopped one of the smaller leonids to bits and forced the others back into the other half of the chamber. “That should hold them for a while,” Heinrich stated.

Wassabe spat sand towards Heinrich and Justinius, “Why didn’t you help him?”

“There’s no time for your foolish recriminations,” Heinrich stated in a low voice. “We will get his body and resurrect him tomorrow. Frankly, we have more pressing business right now.”

“Yer’ as cold as a cave fish with the heart of a golem,” Wassabe sneered at Heinrich.

“Where are they?” Mercutio asked.

“They are burrowing in the sand,” Justinius answered. “They can move through earth and sand as we can air.”

Heinrich allowed Mercutio to ready as many spells as possible before lowering the blade barrier. The sand was now up to the adventurers waists and Mercutio disintegrated the door to give the panicking Ginny a path out. Wassabe, Mercutio, and the clerics combined to take the last few leonids out, although Wassabe was heavily wounded in the melee. The adventurers grabbed Thoren’s body and the horus-eye key and left the chamber.
*****END SPOILER*****

Mercutio teleported everyone back to his village. There they rested and in the morning Thoren went through the painful process of resurrection. “One key to go,” Mercutio remarked and the group headed back into the crypt.

*****

Gathering the last key to the pyramid was tricky, but the group was helped along by Mercutio answering the last of the riddles correctly. They placed the four keys in the appropriate areas on the pyramid and the center of the room began to descend very slowly. The elevator floor went down and down and the group estimated that they were several hundred feet below ground. Finally, the floor lurched to a stop in the corner of a chamber.

The chamber was covered in the familiar murals of the sphinx histories. A large statue with an ornate crown dominated the middle of the chamber with two outstretched arms and hands. The hands were shaped as though they once held some objects. A pair of sarcophagi flanked the statue with gems on the lids. Another riddle indicated the statue needed two items placed in its hands before the way to the queen’s crypt would open.

Wassabe was lukewarm on the idea of this quest prophecy from the start; the prospect of going through yet more tests to face an even greater challenge irked him. “Why should we go through these tests? I say let the queen stay here another 1,000 years. We’ll be dead and gone and none the wiser.”

“The prophecy…” Mercutio began.

“Who says we have to follow a prophecy? Maybe this a trick of Boethricus or a greater evil power?” Wassabe sneered his lip as he enunciated the word prophecy.

“It is a prophecy of the desert and I am in it to the end. You are too, whether you like it or not. There are some things that are larger than us,” Mercutio started toward a set of northern doors.

“Wait you’re right!” Wassabe said. “Look here’s another prophetic saying:
Wassabe needs a whore,
Wassabe needs ale,
Mercutio is a great bore,
This prophecy will not fail.

“I’m certain the great bards of the north are all shaking at the prospect of the great Wassabe unleashing his tremendous poetic talents loose and rendering them penniless,” Mercutio retorted with a smile.

“The door is not trapped,” Ginny announced to the group. The adventurers moved down another length of hall and emerged in a large chamber containing an ancient half-dragon half-sphinx creature that tested them to their limits. Thoren and Wassabe both were nearly lost during the melee.

“Good heavens! If that was the queen’s daughter what do you think mama will be like!” Thoren said.

No one responded, but they were all concerned about the exactly the same thing. Ginny quietly retrieved the first rod-key that would fit into the statue’s empty hand.

*****

The second set of doors had led the group into a great maze covered in traps. Ginny had disarmed some, Mercutio had used magical windblasts to get rid of dangerous fogs, but occasionally some of the traps were sprung. Ginny nearly died under a rain of stone hammers and at one point the group was separated and had to find their way back to each other’s company. Judicious use of fly and teleport spells aided in their efforts.

The adventurers finally reached the center of the maze and found a great hydra chained there. Mercutio, Wassabe, and Thoren charged forward and were shocked as the beast breathed a cone of fog at them. Mercutio ran away, as did Wassabe, but alas, poor Thoren was too late and was soon transformed to stone. The adventurers, minus the petrified fighter had a council of war back in the hallway.

“We need to head back to the village and rest,” Mercutio said. “I am nearly out of spells.”

“I concur,” Justinius said. “But what of Thoren?”

“I want to try something before we go,” Heinrich stated. “I want to cast destruction at the beast.”

“It will bounce off of him,” Mercutio said.

“You’re probably right,” Heinrich admitted, “but I want to give it a shot.”

“No, what we need to do is I will cast a wind spell to keep the breath of the hydra off of us and Wassabe and somebody else will rush in to grab Thoren.”

A quick straw poll was taken and everyone agreed with Mercutio, but Heinrich was defiant, “I want to cast this one spell. It will not interfere with the execution of your plan.”

“And what if the beast turns you to stone?” Justinius argued.

“It is no greater risk than the plan already in place,” Heinrich argued.

“You’re on your own,” Mercutio said.

“Fine,” Heinrich replied flatly. The cleric prepared his greatest prayer and came out into view of the hydra. Heinrich unleashed the wrath of the god of victory in the form of a mighty destruction spell.

Now, it should not have worked and even Heinrich knew it. The hydra should have weathered this assault with relative ease. It was an unlikely ploy, and it worked. The hydra was utterly and completely destroyed. The normally somber Heinrich could not resist a shout of victory as the hydra dissolved completely. “Praise Siegphorus! Mighty God of Victory!” he shouted, his voice reverberating around the chamber.

Mercutio peered around the corner and just shook his head in disbelief. Ginny moved forward and after dealing with a number of complicated traps freed the second required rod-key. Thoren and keys safely in hand the group teleported back to the village to rest and restore the ossified Thoren.

*****

The adventurers stood in the great chamber of the sphinx queen. Here they would fulfill the prophecy or certainly die trying. The great sphinx queen employed numerous illusions and even undead allies to help her in the battle she too knew was coming. Heinrich had cast true seeing, which permitted him to act as the eyes of the group in the chamber. The Queen leaped down on Ginny and knocked her purposefully across the room. Ginny spilled backwards and hit a rune.

The rune burst and all of those in proximity to it were forced to resist the effects of a catatonic sleep. Wassabe and Ginny both succumbed. Mercutio unleashed a terrible storm of spells at the queen, but all of them bounced harmlessly away. She dived on the hapless sorcerer and with a couple of attacks he too was at death’s door and was forced to teleport away. Heinrich faced the terrible beast and even in the wake of failed spell after failed spell withstood her onslaught. Every time the great sphinx had him on the edge, Heinrich cast a prayer that would bring him back to full health.

Justinius did what he could to help, as did Thoren, but this was to be Heinrich’s fight largely. Mercutio also managed to penetrate the sphinx’s defenses with a couple of his spells, and slowly, ever so slowly, her defenses were dwindling. The queen withdrew from battle a couple of times to heal herself, but the adventurers dogged pursuit made this nearly impossible.

Mercutio cast fly on Thoren and this helped to turn the battle as the fighter added his might to the cleric’s efforts. Finally, a great crash from Heinrich’s mace ended the sphinx queen’s existence and she fell to the floor with a great crash her crown falling with her.

The walls and the floor of the tomb began to tremble mightily and large hunks of stone began to cascade down from the ceiling. Thoren rushed up and grabbed the great dark crown. The adventurers gathered everyone together quickly, including the dozing Wassabe and Ginny, and Mercutio teleported them all back to the village.

*****

“The crown is unbelievably evil and I believe it to be an artifact of great power,” Justinius announced to the group.

It had taken the combined efforts of several of the adventurers to convince Thoren to relinquish the crown and put it in a magical bag. Once Thoren did give up the crown he announced that he had felt a great power and burden lifted from him. Justinius had immediately begun his research on the item.

“It must be destroyed,” Heinrich announced. “We will take the crown back to the Temple of Siegphorus and there it will be destroyed.”

“That sounds like the wisest course,” Mercutio agreed.

“What if we were to sell the crown to the highest bidder and use the massive amounts of gold we received for the greater good?” Wassabe inquired. “I mean an ancient artifact like that has got to be worth a fair amount of booty.”

“Are you mad?” Heinrich cried in indignation. “You would unleash perhaps the most powerful evil artifact on the northern world for mere gold?”

“Hear me out,” Wassabe objected. “Mere gold can do a lot of good. I would pitch in to help establish a few nice orphanages or buy a bunch of coffins for poor folks.” He winked suggestively at Justinius with this last suggestion. “Plus, whoever buys it would have to use massive amounts of resources to do so and they probably would be evil…”

“Probably?” Heinrich replied incredulously.

“Yeah, they probably would be evil. So think about it, we would have the massive transfer of wealth from the evil side to good side and…”

“But they would have the crown!” Heinrich was nearly shouting.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Wassabe winked, “we beat it once, we know we could do it again.”

The rest of the group started laughing and laughing and even Heinrich joined in with his hearty guffawing. Wassabe pouted, “You know I am tired of being trapped with people with no imaginations and an inability to see the bigger picture!’

It was several minutes before the laughter died down again and the group made plans to take the crown to Heinrich’s patron temple.

*****

There was a flurry of activity as the group returned to Zandyrium. Wassabe naturally made a beeline for his favorite consort Sara’s place, but the rest of the group attended to serious business. Heinrich went to his temple and quickly learned that they did not have the wherewithal to destroy the crown. “It is an ancient desert item and the magic that created it may be lost to us,” his superior had cautioned. “Perhaps the best we can do is to try and seal it away forever.” Heinrich was not satisfied with this answer at all. He endeavored to do whatever it took to destroy it completely.

*****

Thoren wanted to place even greater enchantments on his armor. The problem was Justinius was too busy to take the time to do it. It was Ginny who suggested that he return to Verkorenvalt and have the master dwarven craftsman do it for him. Thoren had Morguhn teleport he and Dar to the valt and had an audience with the master armorsmith there. Thoren left a coat of armor crafted of Uberstahl for the armorsmith to work on and over 20,000 gold for his expenses. The Master armorsmith agreed to enchant the armor as a repayment for Thoren’s role in saving the northern dwarven people.

While he was at the valt the dwarves listened intently to Thoren’s tales of his exploits and drank much ale as he also learned some things. The vacuum of power created by the defeat of the northern giants had led to a new menace. Another set of giants, this time under a powerful storm giant were consolidating their forces. The dwarves feared it would not be long before the giants were once again a threat to Verkorenvalt.

“Verkorenvalt shall stand as long as Thoren breathes air!” Thoren proclaimed in a loud voice raising his great tankard of ale in a toast. The dwarfs all smashed their tankards together and cheered the mighty Thoren. Thoren almost secretly wished the giants would assault the valt the next day….

*****

Ginny was investigating the Vizier Cosimo Pulanti. She was using all of her wiles, familial connections, and subterfuge skills, but it was difficult to learn much about the man. Every move he made as vizier had been met with wide acclaim even from his critics. What she could not figure out is where his money was coming from. From what she could tell the Pulanti family’s business interests were still not prospering. She would have to dig deeper. It was pretty vague and ill defined at this point, but there seemed to be a connection to Thray….

*****

Justinius returned to the problem that had led them to the desert in the first place – getting his unique message to the priest of Orcus, Grayfell. Morguhn had approached him about not threatening the priest, but Justinius was not really interested in that. The cleric of Gravitas Morte’s greatest concern was trying to stop Boethricus din Woad. Mercutio was no longer able to help and so Justinius swallowed his pride and went to the temple of Virtua, the Norsiccan goddess of law and knowledge. Not only was she of the Norsiccan pantheon, but her followers were especially disdainful of those who worshipped the Thraegian gods.

Justinius liberally praised the deity and with a well-placed bribe/contribution was able to obtain a map of the six major sphinx city ruins of the Saracen desert. Now at least he had something to work with and began communing with his deity back in his home temple. The first few questions allowed Justinius to pin down the location of Grayfell to a certain set of ruins called Al Jequah Maheen. Further questions failed to further narrow the search, but Justinius was satisfied and moved on to other matters:

Q: Does Grayfell live?
A: Yes.

Q: Is Grayfell a lich?
A: No.

Q: Does Grayfell have a contract with Boethricus?
A: No.

Q: Does Boaethricus have contracts with any other in this world?”
A: Yes.

Q: Are they in Zandyrium?
A: No.

Q: Are they in Thray?
A: Yes.

Exhausted, Justinius fell back to contemplate what he had learned. Somehow communing always seemed to make things more complicated.

*****

Heinrich’s intensive research led him to an ancient forge at a place called Ad Sufar. Ad Sufar was apparently deep in the bowels of the earth and was dedicated to an ancient evil desert god called Quzah – the hammer. The cult of Quzah was long gone as far as Heinrich could learn, but he could not be sure the deity was. The evil crown would have to be taken back to Ad Sufar and smote three times with the hammer of Quzah. He knew it sounded far too simple….

*****

When Thoren returned to Zandyrium he spent a couple of days with Wassabe. “Has anyone see Githraldul?” Thoren asked.

“Nope, neither hide nor hair of the pointy eared one,” Wassabe replied. It was unlike the Elf to be gone for this long of time.

“He would contact us if he was in trouble wouldn’t he?” Thoren asked.

“I think we are the main reason the elf ever finds himself in trouble,” Wassabe quipped smiling.

Thoren frowned.

“Do not worry Thoren,” Wassabe reassured the fighter, “when he is ready Gith will return.”

To be continued….

 

[pogre]

Zandyrium
Episode 66

“I would like to visit the ruins where Grayfell is first,” Justinius said in a low voice to the assembled group. Thoren, Wassabe, Mercutio, Heinrich, Morguhn, and Justinius had assembled for a midday meal at the Barrel. The adventurers had given the proprietor so much business over the last few years he was more than willing to give them a private dining room to discuss their plans. Each member of the group had been sharing their ideas on what to do next.

“My only concern with going to see Grayfell first is that we will be toting along one of the most powerful evil artifacts in the Northern world to a powerful minion of Orcus,” Heinrich countered.

“I hear your concern, but I really do mean to just leave a message,” Justinius replied. “We can move on the forge at Ad Sufar and deal with the crown from there. That will give Grayfell and his minions time to absorb the message.”

“What does the message say?” Wassabe asked Mercutio.

“Something about Orcus and Boethricus,” Mercutio replied. “I’m not clear on all of the details.”

“What say you to the plan on the table?” Heinrich asked. “Shall we go to the Ruins of Al Jequah Maheen and then on to the Forge of Ad Sufar?”

“Aye,” came the reply in unison. The agreement was struck to depart for Al Jequah Maheen in the morning.

“What of Ginny?” Heinrich asked.

“She won’t be coming,” Wassabe answered. “She has some noble issues to take care of from what I understand.”

“What’s more important than destroying the most important evil artifact in the northern world?” Heinrich asked in a demanding tone.

“It is not so much about priorities as it is timing,” Wassabe replied.

Heinrich nodded sternly, but his disapproval was plain enough.

“At least we are not running off to kill Grayfell,” Mercutio offered to Morguhn.

“Not yet,” Morguhn replied with a smile.

 

[pogre]

So why the update to a campaign I declared dead some time ago?

Well, there is a good chance I will get back behind the screen for a few sessions this Summer.

Besides, the crash ate one of my updates

 

[spacehulkster]

"Yeah, yeah!" (much jumping and frolicking)
"Pogre's old story hour is here! The old story hour is here!"

Maybe someone can reach 16th level?!! :\

 

[pogre]

A Bump - so my son who was 5 when this campaign started can read it. He's about to turn 13.