"Return of the Rod of the Seven Parts" - D&D

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 66, “A Friend from A Far Away Place”, September 28, 1018, 12:35 A.M.

As Cassie signals for Fiona to wait on her spell, and for Narg and Mojo to hold off on their valiant charge into the room, new voice suddenly speaks up from the corner behind them. It softly says “You’re right, it is a trap.” Narg pivots around, Nargblade in hand, and sees himself facing an elvan teenage boy dressed as a fighter. “Who are you?” Narg asks. “A friend,” the boy replies.

Uncertain of how to proceed, Narg signals across the doorway for Mojo and Fiona to pull back, as he does the same with Fiona and the boy. They move back towards the staircase, slightly descending to be out of sight from the hallway. The group all look towards this boy, except for Fiona, whose cat familiar (coincidentally, also named Ebony) has alerted her to the presence of the other black cat sitting on the same staircase, the familiar recognizing this cat’s scent from before.

The handsome elvan boy is wearing a suit of elvan chainmail, with a blue silk tunic over it. A sheathed longsword hangs on his belt, the hilt covered over by a handkerchief. A longbow and quiver of arrows hangs on his back. “This is a trap?” Narg asks. “Yes,” the boy answers, “Those two are not really Morgarth and Roger, just a pair of hobgoblins polymorphed to look like them. Roger, his chimera, and both of his mages are now in the great hall balcony waiting for you to ambush those by the truck.” “Who are you, and how do you know all this?” Serita demands. “I was sent here to help you,” he replies. “Who sent you?” asks Lannon. The boy answers “The King of Phlooredah.” “Matthan!” Narg exclaims. “No, not Matthan, I’m from the future,” the boy states.

The boy pulls a ring from his finger, tossing it to Lannon and saying “Check it.” Lannon examines what is clearly a Silver Moon team ring. The ring shows evidence of his unique craftsmanship, but he is sure that is not any of the ones that he has ever made up until now. The dwarf exclaims, “It looks legit.” The boy gives further evidence that the Great Hall held a trap, in saying “Just now you only saw two giants in that room. Haven’t you noticed that these giants are always in groups of ten? The other eight were waiting behind the wall near the throne area as part of the ambush.”

Fiona gestures down the staircase to the other cat, asking the boy “Did you bring her with you?” “Who?,” asks the boy. Her cover clearly blown, the Hengeyokai now resumes her human form , sans clothing, the party instantly recognizing her from before. “Oh, Ebony Shadow!,” the boy exclaims. The Hengeyokai is momentarily startled that this child who she has never met before knows the Common translation of her name, especially since she had not previously told this to the members of the Silver Moon.

Ebony Shadow states in barely intelligible Common “The Hengeyokai Elders asked me to follow you, and help if needed.” “OK,” Narg states, turning his attention back to the boy. Fiona pulls an extra cloak from her pack, handing it to the naked archer-ranger. Ebony puts it on, but appears rather indifferent about her lack of attire.

“So,” Cassie says to the boy “You’re a future member of the Silver Moon, and you knew to come here now?” “Yes,” the boy answers, “In my original timeline this was both a day of great victory and of tragic loss. The tragedy occurred when you changed into the enemy ambush, which my King sent me back here to prevent. He told me specifically when and where to go. “Are you saying that your King was a member of the Silver Moon?” Mojo comments. “Yes,” the boy replies. “This is too heavy, let’s think about it later,” Lannon comments.

Narg asks the boy “Where is Morgarth right now?” The boy answers “Right now he would be in the deepest sub-basement, preparing to depart momentarily on a flying vehicle.” “Let’s go,” Narg yells, and charges down the staircase, the rest of the team following.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 67, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”, September 28, 1018, 12:45 A.M..

While the Silver Moon and their two newfound allies are descending the staircase, Ebony Shadow states “I do not have any weapons.” The cautious Hengeyokai is again surprised by the elvan boy, who without hesitation hands her his bow and quiver of arrows, saying “Here Ebony, you can use these.”

Serita uses her Boots of Speed to pull ahead of the others. Taking this idea as a suggestion, Cassie throws a Haste spell onto the rest of the team. As a result they make very good time descending down nearly one hundred feet of stairs. As they near the bottom Lannon quaffs a Potion of Giant Strength.

At the bottom of the staircase is a twenty-by-forty foot room, with a doorway on the far wall into an even larger room. Blocking the doorway is a group of ten of the trow, the elephant-footed giants. Serita can hear the sounds of some type of engine coming from inside of the larger room. She casts Faerie Fire spells onto the giants. The others soon reach the bottom of the stairs, and all charge at the giants, who charge at them as well.

Serita attempts to slip past the giants, but is blocked. She barely dodges a kick from one of them, and would have been hit if not for her magic boots. Mark, Narg and Mojo charge into the fray, weapons extended. Aradyn lets loose arrows, as does Ebony Shadow. Cassie tosses a Magic Missile spell. Fiona then very effectively casts a Fear spell, which causes three of the giants to turn and run away, back into the larger room behind them.

With the giants distracted by the fighters and mages Lannon uses his magical boots to climb up the wall, and his hide-in-shadow ability to move to the far corner along the ceiling and get behind the giants.. Aradyn and Ebony are both successful with most of their arrows, as the fighters continue to slash into their foes. The first of the remaining seven giants then falls.

Lannon moves unseen up from behind one of the overconfident giants, and gets in a strength-heightened backstab for enough damage to be fatal. Deciding that he likes this new level of power he moves in and soon takes out another one.

A giant gets a solid kick into Narg, propelling him back and into Mark, which leaves Mojo by himself with three giants converging in on him. The elvan boy yells “MOJO!” and charges in to assist the fighter, drawing his longsword.

Mark helps Narg back onto his feet, and see the foolhardy boy as he charges the foes. Both Mark and Narg immediately recognize the sword that the boy has drawn from its sheathe as being the exact same sword as the ‘Nargblade’ that Narg is holding in his own hand. The boy takes a swing at one the giants, totally missing, as Mojo nearly gets stomped by the other two giants.

A very loud explosion then erupts from the large adjacent room next door, causing the entire room to heavily shake. A massive cloud of dust immediately bellows out of the large room and into the room where the fight is taking place, temporarily blinding everybody and making it hard to breathe. This creates enough of a distraction that all three giants miss hitting Mojo and the elvan boy this round.

Cassie and Fiona work together to coordinate spells that bring down one of the remaining giants, leaving only the three surrounding the pair of elves. Meanwhile, Serita is finally able to get to the doorway to the next room. She sees a huge square chamber, approximately one-hundred feet square, with side buttresses supporting the massive roof timbers rather than having columns within the room itself. In the very center of the room is a large dark blue aircraft, that takes up nearly the entire length of the room.

The sleek, aerodynamic craft has jet engines attached to each wing, as well as what appear to be a missile on each wing. It has a large X on it, and resembles the diagram of the X-51 Jet Fighter from the flight manual that Oterel had stolen from Morgarth the previous month. [DM’s note: A local discount store had just marked down the action figure version of the X-Men’s Blackbird aircraft from the recent X-Men movie, which I couldn’t resist buying and working into the module as a prop. The scale of the jet model worked great with the 25mm miniatures].

Serita sees that the remains of a stone wall on the far end of the room, in the direction that the aircraft is pointing, that has just been destroyed by some type of explosive device. Stone debris is now littering the floor both before and behind the wall and jagged pieces of stone protruding from the edges. Behind this wall she sees a long eighty-food wide corridor, with a thirty foot high ceiling. The corridor continues as far as she can see.

Back in the first room, Mojo gets a solid hit into one of the giants, while the boy swings again and misses. Mojo then gets kicked squarely by one of the other giants and goes flying across the room and into the back wall. Narg and Mark both charge back into the fight, to keep the boy from being stomped. Meanwhile, as the giant is unaware of him Lannon decides to move in from behind. His successfully backstabs, dropping his foe, but is presence is them noted by the two remaining giants. However, a combined assault from Mark and Narg drops a second giant. The final giant, who has already been weakened by several of Aradyn and Ebony’s arrows, then becomes the target of attack from everyone left in the room. It doesn’t survive the next round.

The jet engines now begin to ignite, and start to send a pillar of smoke and flames out from behind them and into the large room. Serita dives back through the doorway of the other room, yelling for everyone to “Duck”. They hear the sound of the aircraft moving away and down the long tunnel. The smoke quickly subsides, and the party all charge the next room. They can now see the jet plane rapidly exiting the long passageway and out from the side of the hill that the castle sits upon. Serita immediately grabs a hold of both Cassie and Fiona and teleports the three of them away.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 68, “They’re Back!”, September 28, 1018, 12:55 A.M..

The trio of female half-elvan spellcasters, Fiona Cassie and Serita, teleport up to the dragon tower where they first entered the castle from. “Get ready to throw your most powerful spells” Serita states. They do not have to wait, as the jet airplane rises up from the side of the hill and into their line of sight. Unfortunately, it is also about a third of a mile away, well out of range of their spells. It flies off into the distance, away from the castle. “Damn, it got away,” Fiona states. Serita says “Maybe not. Let’s stay here for a while, in case it decides to come back and attack the castle.”

Meanwhile, approximately 250 feet below them, the others are checking out the room that the jet plane just exited. Along the side wall are several empty barrels that apparently had contained fuel for the aircraft. The other thing of interest is along the back wall near the corner. There is a chair and computer table, with a personal computer not unlike the one in Alton’s home, however rather than being linked to a computer monitor it is attached to a large dark glass screen, ten feet wide and eight feet high.

Mojo sits himself down in the chair, and begins hitting buttons, asking the others to “Get Lono out of the bag, he spent more time with these things on the planet Carvel than I have.” Lono and Hiroshi are both pulled from the bag and are told what has taken place. The computer begins to boot up, but then asks for a security password. The group begin speculating what the password might be, trying phrases “Megalomaniac” and “World Domination”, but neither work.

Up above in the tower the three half-elvan spellcasters suddenly see that thee jet plane is now returning towards the castle. They prepare spells, in anticipation of it either landing nearby or attacking the castle itself. Instead, it flies straight towards the hill tunnel where it had exited from. Serita grabs the other two to teleport back down to the sub-basement. Below, those in the cave now hear the plane as it begins to enter the tunnel, and they all rush back to the next room to get out of its way.

The plane's braking thrusters activate as it slowly flies into the main room and then stops. It then hovers several feet above the floor using its horizontal thrusters. Side thrusters then activate, and it makes a 180 degree turn, so that it is now again facing the entrance again.. The landing gear then extends downward, and the thrusters gently lower it to a stopped position. Serita, Fiona and Cassie have teleported back in the room join the others behind the doorway to the next room. Deciding that it is best to temporarily remain hidden, the group backs up, leaving only Aradyn peering around the doorway to tell the others what is happening.

After a few rounds pass until the door to the jet opens, and three people exit. One is recognized as Morgarth. The other two are the cleric Davvid and druid Dratakke from Barthrock’s team. Davvid is using both of his hands to hold his shield directly in front of him. None of these three have apparently seen the Silver Moon members yet. This trio proceed directly over to the computer console with the large screen. Before Morgarth can touch the keyboard the rangers Aradyn and Mark both jump out from the doorway, bows extended, and order the trio to freeze. The other members of the Silver Moon then move out into the larger room, with the spellcasters now preparing to throw spells.

Morgarth turns to Davvid and Dratakke and orders them to protect him. Only then does Davvid lower his left arm holding the shield, revealing his right hand holds the handgun that he had taken from Alton the previous month. Davvid points the gun directly at Morgarth’s head and states “I don’t think so.” The entire room becomes silent, as the Silver Moon tries to evaluate exactly which side everyone is on.

Narg orders the three of them “Don’t any of you try to cast any spells.” Dratakke replies “None of us have any spells to throw, we flew through the anti-magic barrier.” Lannon warns his party “Be careful. He may be lying.” Cassie adds "We saw it fly away, but can't say exactly how far it flew before it turned around and came back." Narg softy tells the archer Aradyn “Keep targeting the guy with the gun.”

Cassie orders the trio to move away from the computer and to come over towards the members of Silver Moon. Davvid continues to hold the gun about a foot from Morgarth. The Silver Moon are a bit surprised by this turn of events. As the trio get closer Cassie softly says “Be careful guys, Lannon is right, this may be a trick”. The archer Aradyn says “Don’t worry, if he starts to point that gun anywhere else I’ll plug him.”

“Whose side are you on?” Fiona asks Davvid. Aradyn echoes this, saying “Yes, what transpires here?” Davvid answers “Morgy had a Stone Skin spell cast on himself, so we had to wait until we passed through the barrier before I use this weapon to stop him.” “And you made him fly back here?” Fiona inquires. “No,” Davvid replies, “The Ragnor pilot did that on his own. We’re not sure why.” Dratakke adds “Yes, Morgy was surprised by that too. After we had passed through the barrier the creature then refused to listen to his commands.”

Much to everybody's surprise the jet engines then start up again. Everyone quickly backs up through the doorway to avoid the backwash from it. Davvid, Dratakke and Morgarth continue to keep some distance from the party.. The jet then taxis back down the tunnel and flies off again.

Narg tells Davvid “OK, give Morgarth to us.” Davvid answers “No, not until my team leader Barthrock instructs me to do so. Get him, we’ll wait here.” Narg instructs Mark to “Go get Barthrock,” However, before anyone can leave to go get Barthrock something unforeseen occurs.

[Tune in for our next chapter, which will present a major plot twist, as the Silver Moon discovers the origin of Morgarth!]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 69, “The Origin of Morgarth”, September 28, 1018, 1:05 A.M..

The Silver Moon stands facing two of Barthrock’s team, who are holding Morgath at gunpoint. Narg had instructed Mark to get Barthrock, but before the ranger can leave the room something else happens.

The center of the room suddenly erupts in a bright light, and a plant begins to grow. The plant increases to about ten feet high, with three large flowered petals branching out from it and leaning towards the ground. The plant then starts to glow and dissolve, being replaced by a being that looks to be the Demigod Finder Wyvernspur, with each of the three petals becoming three humans. Two of the humans are male and dressed as mages, the third being an armored female fighter.

The older of the human mages casts a spell, and from his hand grows a large hand made of glowing energy, which reaches over and grabs Morgarth. The Silver Moon spellcasters immediately counter with spells, Fiona throwing magic missiles at both Morgarth and the hand, which appear to have no effect. Cassie throws a magic missile into the mage casting the hand, which also dissipates before striking him. Serita attempts a Faerie Fire on all four of the visitors, which also fails to work. Seeing that Morgarth’s head is still protruding from the energy fist holding him, Cassie throws her Feeblemind spell, which does work, reducing he Arch Mage to a babbling idiot. Mark, Mojo and Narg start to move forward, weapons drawn.

Before anyone can throw another spell Finder Wyvernspur speaks, saying “Stop, we are all on the same side.” Narg replies “Then tell us what is going on.” Finder answers “These three people with me are from the World of Oerth, from the City of Greyhawk.” “And you’ve come to kill him?” asks Mojo. “No, to save him,” says the younger of the mages. This comment increases the level of tension in the room, with Lannon saying “Guess again, he’s ours.”

The younger mage says “Let me explain. My name is Khelben Arunsun, known as Khelben the Younger, and my grand father Khelben the Elder worked with the Council of Eight, a powerful mage’s guild that Morgarth was a member of. At that time Morgarth was known by the name Mordenkainen.” Several of the Silver Moon recognize that name, as there are known Magic-user spells that had been created by this same man. Khelben continues “He and my grandfather were close friends. Thirty years ago they went on a mission together to Hell, where Mordenkainen was thought to have been destroyed.

The woman then speaks up in a commanding voice, introducing herself as Lady Valderesse Sharn, the senior paladin of Greyhawk’s Knights of Holy Shielding. She stands over six feet in height, wearing a full suit of plate mail that lacks any time or adornment. She is of undermineable age, having a youthful appearance, however a detailed look reveals lines around her sparkling green eyes and a few strands of white intermixed into her shoulder length auburn hair, giving the hint the she is older than her initial appearance. She says “From what Finder has now told us, Mordenkainen’s death and destruction at that time was not the case. The Prince of Hell apparently corrupted his soul with evil, and deposited him here on this world, under the name of Morgarth. If we had been known this, we the heroes of Greyhawk would have come here long ago. We are sorry that our negligence in this matter has caused grief and tragedy to your world.”

The younger mage continues, “We have now come to return him to our world, and then cleanse the evil from his soul.” Lannon speaks up “Wrong answer, he’s ours.” The paladin speaks again saying “Well, right now we appear to have him. It is very unlikely that you will be able to break him from the Bigby’s Grasping Hand spell that now holds him, especially when Bigby himself is the one who has cast it.” Narg looks at the older mage, and says “You’re Bigby?” The white bearded mage nods, maintaining his concentration on the spell still holding his former ally. Bigby stands nearly six feet tall, wearing a simple gray hooded robe. A pack is on his back, with a wooden staff strapped to the side of it.

“And how exactly will you save his soul?” Cassie asks. Finder speaks up now, saying “I will do that. My sphere of power is that of transformation, from corruption and evil to that of good.” Mojo blurts out “No way. We earned the right to kill him.” The paladin replies “If is soul can be saved, then death is not the answer. We are mindful of your efforts and grateful for the sacrifices that have brought you here. It is reasonable that you should be compensated for your efforts.”

Bigby gestures to his backpack, and the two other Greyhawk heroes begin to remove some items. The party are handed a small spell book. Bigby speaks for the first time, saying “This is one of my travelling spell books. It contains all eighteen of my disembodied-hand spells.” He then follows this up with the awful pun “Only a handful of these have previously made it to this world.” His two colleagues also disseminate a few other magic items unique to their own world.

Despite being given this reward, the party members are less than thrilled with this outcome. Narg says to finder “For his sake, this had better be the last that we see of him.” Finder says “I’m sure that it will be". he then begins singing a spell. Finder, Morgarth, and the Greyhawk heroes then turn back into spheres of light, merge together, and disappear into the floor.

[DM’s note: Information on the characters from Oerth was derived from the World of Greyhawk AD&D1E hardbound book and the AD&D2E World of Greyhawk boxed set.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 70, “The Best Villains Always Come Back!”, September 28, 1018, 1:05 A.M..

The party starts to complain about not having gotten a chance to destroy Morgath. The boy from the future says “Not a problem, you’ll get a chance again tomorrow.” “What do you mean?” Aradyn asks. The elvan boy answers “Finder will screw up, and call on you guys to bail him out.” “Something to look forward to” Fiona sarcastically comments.

Sound and light from the large screen on the wall then interrupt the conversation, as the computer suddenly comes on. The party hears laughing, and heads back to that section of the main room to see what is on the screen. Filling the whole screen is the image of the face of one the violet hued Ragnor flesh golems, who is apparently behind the controls of the jet fighter plane. The Ragnor has a wide grin plastered across his face. Smiling is something the party has never seen on one of these robotic flesh golems do before. It is also gleefully exclaiming “Gone, He’s Gone, I’m Free at Last!”

The Ragnor then focuses on the screen, apparently now seeing the party, and says “I guess I should thank you Silver Mooners for finally ridding me of Morgarth. For three long years my mind has been suppressed in this body, under his control.” Cassie immediately pieces this information together, also taking into account the current mannerisms and facial expressions of the creature. She states “Vaughn!”, the name of the villain and former partner of Morgarth who was killed by the Silver Moon in the year 1015. (Vaughn was the one with the device that brought Alton and the 20th century vehicles from Alton’s world.)

“Well of course I’m Vaughn, who else would I be?” the Ragnor answers. Several of the party are shocked by this revelation. He continues “When you destroyed my body I had arranged it so that my consciousness would be transferred into the closest Ragnor. Morgarth and I had created these creatures together, but what I did not know was that he placed a control in them to blindly obey his every command. For three long years I have been a spectator rather than a participant in his schemes, with no control over this body. The only time I had any control was after Morgarth first traveled through the Anti-Magic Shell. But I did not act in time, not realizing that the freedom was only temporary. I was determined to act this time before it was too late, which is why I turned this craft around and brought him back to you. Only now, after you have finally destroyed him, has my full consciousness asserted itself.”

“And you’re planning to now come after us?” Narg asks. “Hardly,” Vaughn answers “If I wanted to destroy you now I would simply needed to fire the weapons on this vehicle into the castle. I must admit, I thought about doing that, but the risk is too great that Morgarth’s body might somehow survive and come back as a lich. His return would be detrimental to you as well as me, so I will entrust you to destroy his body and make him permanently gone.” Lannon comments “That plan didn’t seem to work all that well with yours.” The Ragnor ponders this, and counters with “Oh yes, that, well I suppose I should still be angry with you for destroying my body, but today I am in too good a mood. This current body should work nicely for me, especially after I make a few more modifications to it.”

Hearing this, none of the Silver Moon opt to inform Vaughn that Morgarth is not dead and at the castle, but has been taken to another world instead. Serita asks “So what happens between us?” Vaughn replies “Since I need you to destroy that body I guess we have a bit of a truce.” “More like a temporary mutual parting,” Narg answers. “Have it your way,” Vaughn answers “I’ll say goodbye for now, as I need to get to my base before this craft runs out of fuel.” The screen then turns black.

Mojo’s pent up rage, combined from both loosing Morgarth without killing him and Vaughn’s unexpected return, finally reaches a breaking point. He goes ballistic, screaming out in anger, and throws his hammer into the screen which showers the room in broken glass.

[DM’s note: The Silver Moon’s previous killing of Vaughn, the climax of the gaming group’s 500th game, had been rather anti-climactic. Vaughn was invisible when Serita blew up the helicopter that he was approaching to escape, so the party did not get to actually see him die. They found his body during the following game and were disappointed that they missed his final moments. I knew at that time that I had to bring him back, and was waiting for an opportune situation to do so. OK, I’ll admit it, I’ve read far too many comic books.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 71, “Mojo signs up for NASCAR”, September 28, 1018, 1:15 A.M.

Sparks and smoke pour out of the large screen that Mojo has just destroyed with his hammer. Narg turns back towards the cleric Davvid and gestures to the handgun that he is holding, saying “That belongs to one of my party members, would you mind giving it back to me.” Davvid replies “I’ll put it away, but you don’t get it until my team leader Barthrock says so.” “Fair enough, let’s go find him,” states Narg.

The group heads back towards the staircase, climbing over the bodies of the ten dead elephant-footed giants. As they climb up the stairs Narg asks the young elf “So, future boy, what happens next?” The elf replies “I honestly don’t know. Things have now changed from my original history.” Narg counters with “What exactly? Come on, spit it out”. The boy reluctantly replies “Well, in my timeline your group was ambushed in the great hall, and you were killed.” “I was?” Narg states. The boy answers “Yes, Roger’s two mages cut you down with Lightning Bolts, and the Chimera then carried off your body. You were never seen again.” “And the sword you're carrying?” Narg asks. “You dropped it as you fell. My stepfather, the King, gave it to me before my Pooka brought me back. He thought I might need it to help prove to you who I am.” “And WHO exactly are you?” asks Mojo. “I’d really rather not say,” the boy answers.

The group quickly makes their way upstairs, deciding to go to the second floor balcony, to see what is now going on in the great hall. Narg makes a reference to Aradyn as “fletching breath” “Fletching breath?” asks Serita. “Yeah, it’s a new name,” Narg answers, “I was getting tired of Arrow-boy. I’m not sure if I like it yet.” Aradyn moves forward to the balcony railing, looking below. He heads back, stating that the only one in the hall is Barthrock, and that the truck is gone. Narg hurries back over to the railing, followed by the two members of Barthrock’s team.

The cleric Davvid tells Narg that he wishes to speak to Barthrock. Narg reluctantly agrees to this. Davvid stands and calls down to his team leader. Barthrock yells back up “Where is Morgarth?” Narg and Dratakke now both stand, saying “Gone.” Narg yells down “Where is Roger?” Barthrock answers “He and his team just left a few minutes ago in the vehicle. He’s heading down the hill from the castle right now.” “Let’s GO!” Narg yells, and leads his team back down the staircase and into the great hall.

They all run from the great hall into the front entranceway. From there they can see the truck exiting the castle grounds at the bottom of the hill. However, what immediately captures Mojo’s attention is another vehicle, a bakery truck, that is packed by the side wall of the front hallway. He rushes over and hops in, yelling for the team to get into the back. Serita and Narg both jump into the passenger seat. The group of Aradyn, Cassie, Fiona, Lannon, Mark and Timothy climb into back of the truck. Ebony, Hiroshi, Lono and “Futureboy” decide that the vehicle is full, and stay in the room.

Mojo fires up the engine, and drives towards the castle door and drawbridge. Barthrock rushes towards the driver’s seat as they are pulling near the door. Barthrock yells, “I think I know where they are going.” Mojo stops the vehicle, and says "Tell us on the way," as he grabs the half-dwarf by his tunic and pulls him up into the vehicle. This surprises Barthrock, not realizing that Mojo had the ‘exceptional strength’ needed to grab him like that. Barthrock says, “Hey, I never said I was coming with you.” Mojo answers “Well, you are now, so shut up and climb the rest of the way in.” Barthrock positions himself on the edge of the driver’s seat beside Mojo. The truck crosses the drawbridge and then picks up speed going down the hill.

They approach a large contingent of bugbears moving to block their path. Barthrock says, “Maybe it’s a good thing that I am with you. Stop and let me order these guys to let us pass.” Mojo stops down, and Barthrock gives them instruction to let the truck by, then to lock the gate and not to let anyone back in until they return. He says that to especially keep out Roger and any of his team.”

Mojo hits the gas pedal once the truck is beyond the main gate, and barrels down the rough road at between fifty to sixty miles per hour. Barthrock explains that the road leads to a river, which Morgarth used a large ship to bring in supplies and the bugbear army.

As they near the water they get a very good look at the ship, which Mojo declares “Looks like it also came from Alton’s world”. It is made of gray metal, and is about 140 feet long and 25 feet wide. Standing on the top deck of the ship are some members of the members of Roger’s team. The other truck is stopped near a ten-foot wide metal ramp leading up to the ship.

Lannon uses his Boots of Spider Climbing to climb up onto the top of the speeding truck. With perfect aim, he pulls out one of the flare wands and sends a flare directly into the ship. The flare smashes through a window of the ship’s bridge, strikes the metal wall inside of the bridge, and then explodes. Fireworks fly out in all directions, most ricocheting off the bridge walls and wrecking havoc inside, although several go flying out of the bridge and onto the ship as well. An explosion then erupts from the bridge.

A fireworks careen out of the open doorway of the bridge, and right into an enemy mage. The mage had been looking up to discern the sound of the approaching truck, with his back to the bridge doorway. It strikes him like a missile directly into his back, striking between the shoulder blades. This causes extreme pain as it burns into him, also causing his robe and hair to ignite. The second firework then strikes his legs, at the back of his knees, causing him to collapse outward. He falls onto the ramp and then rolls down it as a dying human fireball. All of this occurs within a couple of segments. Mojo announces “I think they know we’re here.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 72, “The Battle at the Ship", September 28, 1018, 1:45 A.M.

The only enemy that had been on the ship’s bridge was one of the Ragnor flesh golems, who was piloting the ship. Multiple fireworks hit the Ragnor for all of his hit point, causing him to then explode. The explosion destroys any parts of the bridge machinery that had survived the flare attack. The flare alerts the enemy to the party’s presence. The cleric Roger hops on a saddle strapped to the back of the Chimera, which had been magically enlarged so that it is now three times than when the party last saw it. The monster makes a strafing run at the truck.

The chimera’s dragon head takes a bite towards Narg as Roger uses his Staff of Wonder to create a large Stinking Cloud inside the cab of the truck. Rather than ducking back to avoid the monster Narg slams the creature’s face with his shield, then dives out of the speeding truck towards his foes. Flying through the air Narg gabs the Nargblade deep into the creature. This causes minimal damage to the monster, but does give Narg something to grab on to. Using the sword as a handle, Narg swings himself, feet extended, up and onto the Chimera. He manages to kick Roger full force, knocking him from the mount. Narg’s momentum propels him across the beast, and he falls to the ground after Roger. Narg lands atop of the evil cleric, the man cushioning the impact Narg’s fall. Deciding that Narg may need some help, and wishing to get away from the noxious odor now filling the truck cab, Barthrock leaps from the vehicle.

Inside the truck Mojo had been hit by the brunt of the cloud and is completely incapacitated by it. Serita immediately tosses up her Breathe without Air Ioun Stone, and grabs the steering wheel. Mojo had been steering the vehicle to ride up the ramp and onto the ship. Realizing that this would propel them directly into the burning ship’s bridge; Serita now turns the wheel sharply to the right to avoid the ramp. Given the velocity that the vehicle is travelling at it still strikes the ramp, but at an angle. This causes the truck to tip, as the two left wheels strike the ramp at an upward angle. The truck is propelled into the air as it also falls sideways. Just as the truck’s angle changes Lannon uses the Giant Strength that is still in his system from the potion to propel himself off of the truck’s roof and onto the ship’s deck. The dwarf flies directly into the enemy cleric who gets knocked onto the deck.

The truck flies off from the riverbank. It flies through the air into the fifteen foot space between the ship and the shore. It lands on its side with a large splash, and then begins to sink rapidly. By the end of the first round the driver’s side of the vehicle is the only party of the truck still not submerged. Serita climbs out onto it. She sees that Mojo is still incapacitated inside, and uses all of her strength to pull him out, as the truck continues to sink beneath her feet. The five in the back of the now submerged truck are also faring poorly. Aradyn, Fiona and the heavily armored Timothy were near the back doors and swim out of the truck before it goes completely under.

With the other seven of the party members now preoccupied, Barthrock, Lannon and Narg are greatly outnumbered by all of the remaining foes. However the odds soon even out as the senior enemy mage chooses escape over assisting his allies. He orders the mage Ashemmi to have here Ragnor bodyguard get them alternative transportation. He then grabs Ashemmi and teleports the two of them away. The Ragnor turns invisible, then exits the ship via the ramp. This leaves only two other foes on the ship with Lannon, a thief and a cleric. Back on the shore an unarmed Narg begins to pummel Roger, as Barthrock attacks the oversized chimera.

Back in the water, Timothy manages to grab the edge of the shore before the weight of his armor pulls him down. Aradyn and Fiona swim over to him and help to push the cleric up onto the shore. Further away, Serita is busy pulling the barely conscious Mojo through the water and towards the shore. Aradyn then realize that Cassie and Mark have not surfaced yet, so he dives down into the water to search for them.

Up on the ship, Lannon attacks the enemy cleric. With the benefit of the Giant Strength potion it does not take long for Lannon to defeat the clerics. Only then does the invisible enemy thief reveal himself, backstabbing Lannon for thirty-six hit points. The very wounded dwarf staggers then pivots around, striking the thief in the chest. Two sword swipes later the thief is quite dead. Lannon looks around, seeing no more enemies on the vessel. He then applies a healing salve onto himself.

Ten feet below the surface of the water Aradyn finds Cassie who is now swimming upward. Aradyn starts to assist her, but she waves him off, gesturing back to the truck, where Mark is still trapped. Aradyn swims down another twenty feet, where the truck is now lying on the bottom of the river. He swims into the back finding Mark’s unconscious body. He grabs his fellow ranger, and swims him up to the surface.

On the shore, Narg and Roger continue to fight each other, as Barthrock attacks the Chimera. Roger attempts to use his Staff of Wonder against Narg, but Narg is successful at blocking it. Narg manages to then knock the staff away from the cleric. Narg is then head butted by the Chimera’s goat head, but ignores it, staying focused on the cleric. The chimera turns its dragon’s head towards Narg for a breath attack just as Barthrock charges forward, swinging his sword and decapitating the dragon head.

Back at the river bank Serita has dragged Mojo to shore and leaves him there as she looks for her next foe. She then sees a Ragnor exiting the enemy’s truck, and hits it with a Faerie Fire to alert everyone else to its presence. Further up the bank, Fiona has pulled Timothy up onto the shore. She then tosses a Magic Missile spell into the now illuminated Ragnor.

Fiona and Cassie then help Aradyn pull Mark out of the water. Cassie and Timothy then give him a combination of cure spells and artificial respiration to try to get him breathing again. Aradyn retrieves a dry bowstring from a water-resistant pouch of his, and begins to restring his bow.

Lannon decides to exit the ship. Not wanting to leave the enemy bodies behind, he uses his enhanced strength to tosses them both onto the shore to search later. He then hurries down the ramp to assist Barthrock with the Chimera. Narg and Roger continue to fight each other until Narg manages to gets in a phenomenal swipe with the Nargblade, decapitating his opponent. Narg then goes to help Barthrock with the Chimera, converging on it simultaneous to Lannon. The three make short work of the mortally wounded monster.

Mojo has recovered enough to now assist Serita with the Ragnor, tossing his hammer into it. A second hammer toss causes it to then explode. Meanwhile, the invisible Ragnor has joined a final Ragnor that is inside of the enemy’s truck. The Ragnor communicates Ashemmi’s order to his ally. The truck starts up, and speedily drives around the Chimera. Narg unsuccessfully tries to stop it. The truck reaches the road, and starts to head away. A pair of Aradyn's arrows then strikes the rear tire. Both penetrate, but the tire does not immediately flatten. Aradyn lets two more arrows fly, another one hitting the same tire. The truck now comes to a stop.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 73, “Picking up the pieces”, September 28, 1018, 2:00 A.M.

Lannon begins checking the bodies of the deceased, stripping them of magic. Barthrock, Narg and Serita approach the truck, finding that it is now empty. Back by the river, Mark finally begins to breathe again on his own. The irony of the situation now becomes apparent, as Mark was the only one of the ten present who had the ability to change into an aquatic form, and he was the one who nearly drown. If any of them had thought of it Mark could have transformed and quickly saved them all, rather than having to have all of them work to save him. “This just isn’t your day,” Fiona says to Mark, reminding him that it was only this morning that he had had his hands cut off.

Mojo approaches the truck. Narg turns to him, points to the tire, and asks; “Can you fix it?” Mojo finds the spare tire, and says “Well, on Carvel we just called triple-A when we had a flat, but I think I can take care of it. If you help this shouldn’t take too long, maybe half-an-hour.” Narg yells this back to the others, telling them to use the time to check the ship for more enemies or treasure, and to put the bodies in the bags of holding.

Mojo finds a toolbox in the truck-camper portion of the truck, and with assistance from Narg and Aradyn, manage to get the flat tire changed. The two of them complain to Aradyn throughout the process, as it was his arrows that flattened the tire. “Hey, somebody had to stop the Ragnors” the archer replies. Narg comments about wanting to get more information from “Futureboy”. Mojo comments “Don’t you mean Future Your-boy, he did have your sword.” “That’s one of the things I’d like to determine,” Narg replies.

Meanwhile, Lannon continues to rifle the bodies. Barthrock states that when this is all said and done he wants Roger’s body. The group inquires why, and he explains that “My team is from the Kingdom of Matharic, so is Roger. Morgarth’s Journal it states that they were plotting to take over the kingdom. My team has never gotten involved with politics, in fact we don’t even like our King, but being accomplices to treason is quite another thing entirely. Unfortunately, if it came down to his word against ours we would lose, as Roger’s family are all prominent priests and politicians, whereas my team is perceived as a group of lowly mercenaries. However, with the Journal, and Roger’s body to answer Speak with Dead questions, that will resolve the situation nicely.”

Cassie tells Barthrock that they have the Journal, which he can have once she makes a copy of the full text. Narg agrees to also give him the body, provided Barthrock promises that it will be permanently destroyed once the King is through questioning it. Barthrock does not see this as a problem, as his King will most likely want it destroyed too. He says that Roger’s family may want to resurrect him, but that if it first determined that he was a traitor they won’t raise any protest to the body’s destruction, not wanting to implicate themselves in his schemes.

Once the tire is repaired everyone hops on board, and they drives back to the castle. The bugbears guarding the gate tell Barthrock that a pair of the Ragnor monsters forced they way through about twenty rounds earlier, and headed to the castle. Mojo floors the truck, getting back up the hill to the castle at record speed. He drives into the Great Hall, where Barthrock’s cleric and dwarven fighter are waiting. The dwarf Tokrah yells out “They went downstairs a few rounds ago, our monk L followed them.”

Most of the Silver Moon charge downs the stairs. As they near the bottom they can hear the distinctive sounds of a helicopter's rotor blades. They arrive in the large room just in time to see a helicopter exiting the far end of the tunnel. The monk L explains how partway down the tunnel was a secret door, leading to a room where the helicopter was stored. The party check out the room, seeing a wheeled ramp that the aircraft had set on, the room having been build only to store the one flying craft.

Discouraged that it got away, the party head back upstairs. The members of Barthrock’s team tell the party that they have checked out the building, and it is secure from all enemies. In a private conversation, the cleric Davvid tells Narg and Mojo "Thank you for grabbing Barthrock on your ride out, and finally making him declare whose side he was on. Barthrock aspires to be a great hero, but his own personality always holds him back. He never wants to commit to either side of a conflict, trying to appear to be an ally of both sides, until it is clear who the winning side will be." “Well, he sure picked right this time,” is Mojo’s answer.

Looking to Narg, Davvid continues "Last month, on your Island he was truly inspired by your example. You kept the terms of our truce even after it was no longer in your best interest. You also negotiated the truce with him despite your anger at our holding your girl friend. You even asked for the release of two hirelings rather than her, pointing out that they were civilians rather than combatants. That said much about your character and integrity. Your comment then to Barthrock of ‘You lie down with dogs, you get fleas’ truly shamed him. He hoped that by protecting Li-Tak's daughters, and now assisting you here, you might forgive him for his prior actions. Still, he continued to have Morgarth and Roger think he was their ally, until you finally made him commit. This should make him realize that a true sign of a hero is the declaration of ones true beliefs from the onset. I thank you for helping to make my best friend a better man." Davvid also now complies with Narg’s earlier request, returning Alton’s handgun to him.

As it now nearing 4:00 A.M., and the group has been up for almost twenty-four hours, plus Aradyn, Lannon, Mark, Mojo and Narg are way down in hit points, so they decide to head back to the rear tower and get some sleep.

September 28, 1018, 12:00 P.M.

The vast majority of the party sleeps until noon. During this same time period Hiroshi returns to Li-Tak’s tomb to retrieve his daughter Kim-Sung, bringing her to the castle. Duegar and Hiroshi are left to stand guard at the tomb with the Hengeyokai, which is primarily an excuse to help keep the Hengeyokai from nearing the castle until the party is ready for them to do so.

On the subject of Hengeyokai, Barthrock explains that he has had a conversation with Ebony Shadow, and asked her to negotiate their departure with the Hengeyokai elders. In addition to the nearly two-hundred bugbears, Barthrock says that he now controls twelve of the elephant-footed giants, the nine that had been knocked unconscious by Cassie’s Fireball and the three that retreated from Fiona’s Fear spell. He says that he would like to be able to take them with him when he leaves. He convinced Ebony that without this monster army present to protect them, slavers would probably capture the half-Hengeyokai daughters of Li-Tak once they leave the anti-magic shell. He also pointed out that it would also be safer for the Hengeyokai to let the monsters just walk away rather than having to fight them. He has also asked Ebony to investigate the status of the ship, thinking that perhaps the giants could haul it out as a barge, to transport the contents of the castle.

Li-Tak’s daughters prepare a fine meal for “their rescuers”, the prophesied Silver Moon and their other protector's, Barthrock's team. The party sits down for the meal, and finally have a chance to talk.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 74, “Future Boy”, September 28, 1018, 1:00 P.M.

The lunch conversation immediately focuses on “Futureboy”. Mojo begins to press the boy about information about his future, and the King who sent him. The elvan boy is rather elusive with his answers, being reluctant to tell his full story. Mojo is unwilling to accept this, and a heated argument soon develops between the two of them. Mojo yells at the boy to disclose why his King sent him. The boy eventually reveals that “My King saw this point in time as a turning point in his own life, and thought that my changing it would be for the better.” “I don’t care what your King thought!” Mojo yells back. “Well you should!” the boy shouts. “Why!” Mojo yells back. “Because he’s you!” the boy answers. A brief period of silence follows, after which most of the Silver Moon burst out laughing. Lannon jokingly says, “Wait a minute. If Mojo is the king does that mean we get to kill him?”

Narg says, “OK, kid, now that you’ve spilled the beans you might as well tell us the full story.” Fiona adds, “You previously said that your King was your stepfather.” The boy says, “Yes, Mojo, my Mojo, was my stepfather. I was raised on Silver Moon Island, and was educated at the school on the Island. In addition to being a fighter with the Silver Moon Mojo was also one of the three Generals of the Phlooredah continent’s army, a position that kept him in close contact with Queen Jennifer. They eventually became lovers.” “Of course,” Mojo states matter-of-factly.

The boy continues “The Queen’s husband, King Matthan, died just prior to Queen Jennifer’s election for a third term as the continent’s ruler.” “Something we had a part in?” Lannon inquires. “I’d rather not say,” the boy answers. The lad continues “Shortly thereafter she and Mojo were wed in a private ceremony. For the next quarter-century I alternated living between Silver Moon Island with my mother and the royal palace with my Stepfather. In the year 1070, which was four years ago for me, Queen Jennifer died.” “What did she die of?” Serita interrupts. Fiona comments “She was married to Mojo, so probably boredom.”

The boy continues “She died of natural causes, she was then eighty-eight years old. The Lordholders gathered together to choose a new leader. They unanimously voted that King Mojo be allowed serve out the remaining four years of Jennifer’s current term.” “So your Lordholders are all insane,” Serita comments. The boy replies “Well, Mojo and Jennifer had co-ruled for over twenty years at that point, so it made sense. There also really was no opposition as the Silver Moon supported Mojo continuing, and by then six of the Lordholders were past or present members of the Silver Moon; seven if you also count Da’Bears (the Silver Moon’s spin-off group), which Lady Opal does not.”

“I don’t believe any of this” Mojo comments. “Wait just a minute here,” says Narg, “You’re saying that seven of the nine Lordholdings are ruled by members of the Silver Moon.” “Yes,” the boy answers. “Who are the Lordholders?” asks Mark. “We already know that Mojo and Opal are two of them," adds Fiona. “I probably shouldn’t say,” the boy states, “In your time two haven’t even been born yet, and another two are very young, so I would not want to say something that would change their destiny.”

“OK, so you brought us up to four years ago for you. How did you wind up here?” presses Cassie. He continues “By that time I was the human equivalent of fourteen and had recently graduated from the Silver Moon School, so began living full-time with my Stepfather. King Mojo instructed me in the fine arts of swordsman-ship and beverage appreciation.” Fiona comments “More the latter I’d say, based upon how poorly you used the sword against the giants.” The boy reluctantly agrees with this, commenting that “My Stepfather has been rather depressed since his wife’s passing, so he does tend to drink quite a bit these days.”

The boy continues “Last year, at a time when I was rather inebriated, the Pooka named Monty visited me. Only then did I find out that Narg had indeed perished in battle fifty-five years earlier.” Mojo very pointed and sternly states “And Narg was your father.” The boy finally admits, “Yes, my name is Narg Junior, named in my father’s memory.”

Lannon blurts out “Congratulations Narg, it’s a boy!” Serita comments “Hold on, if Narg died in this castle, and was never seen again, then for his son to exist that means Vallessa is currently pregnant!” “I wonder if she knows that yet?” comments Fiona. Narg Junior replies “Let me put it this way. You remember that last month when Morgarth's troops attacked the Island her Pegasus was nearly killed in the battle and she was badly injured, then she was kept as a hostage for several days. She wanted a piece of Morgarth just as badly as any of you, yet she never even suggested accompanying you on this mission.” “Yep, she knows,” comments Serita.

Narg is still in somewhat of a state of shock, and mutters “Well, at least it’s a boy…. I wonder if Hobbson (his valet) knows anything about taking care of kids.” “Hold on,” says Mojo, “If I was your stepfather then that means I was married to your mother.” The boys says “My mother, Vallessa, held out hope that Narg still lived, had been rescued by his Pooka, and would one day return to her. She remained faithful to him. But she also recognized that her son needed a father. She entered into an elvan “Parental Union” with my Mojo, officially making him my Stepfather.” “Figures, just my luck” comments Mojo, “All of the responsibilities of a marriage, but none of the sex.”

The boy continues his story “The Pooka Monty regaled me with many stories of my father and their journey’s thought time and space. He even brought me to watch a few of my father’s favorite sports teams play. I did not want to have to break this sad news of Narg’s death to my mother, and asked the Pooka about bringing me back in time to a point prior to my father’s death, to prevent it from happening. Monty said that he could indeed do this, but warned me about the problems with changing history. I decided to seek my stepfather’s advice about this. King Mojo said he would leave the final decision to me, but that if I were to ever do this I should do so now, while I was still young and impetuous. I told him I was committed to do this course. He then described the specific events that transpired at the time of Narg's death, and suggested the best time for my intervention. Finally, he handed me the Nargblade, saying, "You may need this to prove who you really are." His final words to me were "Go, save me from a life of responsibility." "Ah, finally something that sounds like me," Mojo comments.

A rather confused Narg is still muttering about how this will change his relationship with Vallessa. He states "The next thing you know it will be towels, the ones you can use and the ones you can't. I can't do this?" "What choice do you have?" Aradyn asks. Narg looks across the table and asks "Hey Barthrock, do you guys have any openings?" Serita sarcastically says, "Yeah, this guy is going to make a great father!" She then turns to Narg Junior and say, "OK, just tell me one thing. Do I ever find a man?" A smile crosses his face, and he says, "Yeah, you sure do!" The group waits in anticipation of her next question of who?, but she doesn't ask.

"What do I do now?" Narg rhetorically mutters, "I can't just show up from a battle with flowers and propose" "Why not?" asks Cassie. Mojo suggest to Narg that instead of flowers "Bring a bottle of good whiskey and a cheesecake, you might need them instead."

The discussion turns back to what to do with Li-Tak’s daughters. Cassie reminds them of their obligation to Li-Tak. Narg complains "Hey I never promised him anything." Cassie replies "That’s not true. When we accepted the map of this place we committed ourselves." Barthrock says "Look, my team has been putting up with Morgarth and his group for a long time now, waiting for you guys to come rescue them. You're not backing out of this now. Besides, it's not likely that the Hengeyokai will let us leave without them. Ebony Shadow said the Hengeyokai society would never accept them, as they are only half-Hengeyokai." "Like they're someone to be picky," mutters Lono. Cassie says "This is their land, they can make the rules. If they want the girls gone, so be it." Lono then turns to Cassie and says "Yeah, but all you want to do is marry them off to the ship’s crew." Serita answers "That's because none of you other men are ready and willing to commit to a relationship….NARG!"

Barthrock adds "Besides, you want to take that library with you, which technically belongs to the girls." Aradyn asks Barthrock "What makes you so sure the Hengeyokai will let us take anything? The half-dwarf replies "Because if the army doesn't go as guards Li-Tak's daughters will be captured by the slavers. Lono comments "So your threat is that if they kill your monsters the girls will all be taken away. Sounds like a win-win situation to me."

Cassie asks Narg Junior when he will be returning to his now changed future. The boy says “I can’t. Pookas are capable of traveling through time in a non-linear fashion, and normally could take me back, except I have now changed an event that led to my meeting him in the first place. A Pooka can only be bonded to one person at any point in time. Following Narg’s death Monty bonded with another person for fifty-four years, then came to me after that person died. That sequence of events has now been changed, as I prevented Narg’s death in 1018. I won’t see Monty again."

"So, what will you do?" asks Serita. The boy answers "Well, I can't go back to the Island with you guys, that would be too weird. I could go and live with Da'Bears, as I don't really know much about them in this time. The only one of them I've ever really gotten to know is Lady Opal." Narg blurts out "You don't want to get caught up with Opal and her self-help group." The boy turns to Narg and says "Or I could go to the Kingdom of Narg, and spend time with your folks. I never really got to know my grandparents very well." "Sounds like a plan," answers Narg. [DM's note - the rest of the group saw this as a 'cop-out' from Narg’s player, as the new character would have made a fun addition to the other group.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 75, “Morgath’s Journal”, September 28, 1018, 12:30 P.M.

Barthrock again asks about the location of Morgarth's Journal. Cassie says that she has it in the Bag of Holding, but that they haven't opened it yet because it is covered with magical protection glyphs. Barthrock replies "You don't have to worry about those, the glyphs on it are fake, they were just painted on with magical paint. We've already deactivated the real glyphs that Morgarth put on there." "Lets read it" Fiona states. Cassie carefully removes the tome from the bag, opens the cover, and begins to read. The members of the Silver Moon gather around behind her, reading over her shoulder. The journal begins as follows:

“September 21st of the Year 1018 . It is with no small amount of trepidation that I have reluctantly decided, upon the advice of my new team of bodyguards, to commit my personal thoughts and plans to writing.” He then prattles on for several paragraphs, most of which concerns his distrust of most of his current companions.

The next section begins “How fortunate am I to have been blessed with he insight to connect the work of idealistic but fool-hearty geniuses. Between the writings of Derieki, the shortsighted but brilliant efforts of Li-Tak, and the warped but technologically savvy efforts of my late associate Vaughn, I now have world domination within reach.” He then praises the Prince of Hell for granting him enlightenment and perspective.

He then talks of the linkage between wizard and earth magic, writing “That crystals and precious stones were used for spell components seemed second nature to all, so why it took several millennia to make the connection of magic to the earth itself is unclear. Similarly, the druids and nature-clerics of the world knew of the magical powers of the earth, but never deduced that there was a linked association to areas also susceptible to strong Wizard Magic. Elementalologist mages came closest to the truth, but like the others, lacked the imagination to grasp the full forces available to them.”

He then writes of using geological mapping technology belonging to his associate Vaughn to identify twenty-three separate location on the world with very high concentrations of “both earth and wizard magic”. He wrote “Not surprisingly, powerful mages, high-level druids, nature-based high priests, or combinations of the three inhabited most of the other locations. These spell casters were there because of the magic potential, even though they had no idea why they were actually drawn to these places.”

He then references how he began investigating these different locations. It was there that he made associations with three other high-level spellcasters, the cleric Roger, wizard Etronne and druid Spring. Next he references the attack on his Phlooredah fortress three years ago by Oterel and the Silver Moon, where he was forced to flee the continent. Morgarth states that this proved to be beneficial in the long-run, as it led him to the writings of Li-Tak. He states that Li-Tak was “an absolute genius, being the first to actually make full use of the theory of magical convergence of energies of both wizard and earth magic, using powerful magic artifacts, to draw the full energies from below and project them outward.” It then describes in detail the anti-magic sphere, concluding that “Li-Tak did this great thing, for the misguided goal of protecting the disgusting human-animal hybrids that he had made!”

Next Morgarth talks about the Hengeyokai. He states that “These animals have been only a minor nuisance to me. With Spring’s assistance, we convinced these primitive creatures that I am a powerful deity, to keep them from this castle. Being a Druid, Spring had some curiosity about these creatures, and we captured fourteen of them for him to examine. We later used these, plus some of Li-Tak’s immediate offspring who we found in a form of sleep-stasis and released, for menial tasks around the castle. Why Li-Tak wasted his gifts on these creatures is beyond me. They have been adequate servants, but hardly worthy of the time and efforts that he devoted to them. So as not to waste our time having to keep an eye on vast numbers of these animals-hybrids who live beyond the castle itself I brought in bugbears to guard the outer perimeter.”

He references that he still has not located Li-Tak’s primary journal about the sphere, but found enough information from Li-Tak’s notes to figure out how to move the sphere to any of the other twenty-two locations with similar concentrations of Earth and Wizard magic. He and his three allies then brainstormed about the possibility of changing the sphere’s spell to something other than anti-magic, suggesting ideas such as sleep or charm. They also postulated the idea that if they could deduce how to create similar spheres on each of the six main continents, and then expand the size of each sphere, they could encapsulate the entire planet.

It was decided that they work towards this master plan, which meant that they needed to first establish the infrastructure of having a foothold at a convergence point on each continent. They already had this location in the Orient, and were soon able to establish strongholds on the two other continents where Roger and Etronne had each originally come from. Morgarth decided that Silver Moon Island would be the best convergence point of the three possible location on the Phlooredah continent, but would have to wait until he had the resources necessary to defeat “Narg’s Team”. In the meanwhile, he sent two of the controlled Hengeyokai to infiltrate and spy on the Silver Moon.

A possible convergence point on a fifth continent was the Forest Dawn Kingdom. The Ambassador of that land was a traveling mage named Hendry. Morgarth then logs in detail how he had the Prince of Hell capture and destroy Hendry’s wife, a lawful good high priestess. Morgarth then befriended the distraught man, tricking Hendry into then working for him.

The journal then states how the best location on the final continent was a place known as True Point Island, ruled by a powerful good-aligned Elementalist Mage True Point was allied with its neighboring Kingdom of Vestland, which was at war with the nearby Kingdom of Ostland. Morgarth discovered that the Silver Moon had twice intervened in the war on Vestland’s behalf, resulting in Ostland’s only two recent setbacks to winning. Morgarth approached the Ostland King about an alliance. The King offered Morgarth troops and funding to defeat the Silver Moon and agreed to give the Arch-Mage True Point Island following the war.

The next part of the journal details all of the events of the “Retake the Island” module from Morgarth’s perspective. It mentions his great disappointment that the Silver Moon won, especially since it cost Morgarth the lives of his key advisors Etronne and Spring. However, he writes that “while the attack itself failed I am encouraged by the successful test of moving the sphere and of sustaining it for five days at the alternative location.” He then mentions that he cannot do this again until he finds another high-level druid, as the spells to initiate the transference require the simultaneous casting of powerful druid and magic-user spells. He also states that he is “starting to loose control over the captured animal creatures, as it was Spring who had bound them to my will. With the druid gone they are now exhibiting some degree of free will. If this continues I will have to have them killed.”

The journal concludes by praising Barthrock's team, stating that they “have proven to be excellent bodyguards, intelligent and constantly on alert. I am grateful that this team won the competition. I should have realized after this team had successfully captured both Cassie-Andra and Mark during the initial assault on the island that they were a force to be reckoned with, and not merely fodder.”

The party finds much of this information very interesting, as it explains most of what had occurred. Several of the party take offense at the journal’s constant reference to the Silver Moon as “Narg's Team”. Serita says "Yeah, we've got to get us a better publicist".