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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1838804" data-attributes="member: 8530">Module # 130 - Game 1 - 10/31/04Module #130, “Into the Fire” by Grant and David Boucher, is from Dungeon Magazine #1   The module states “A small kingdom with a mountainous western border is assumed to exist; the DM should name the kingdom, its king, and its capital as desired”.   I have chosen to use “Istivin: City of Shadows” by Greg A. Vaugham & Erik Mona from Dungeon Magazine #117 for these elements, and will then follow up the adventure with one or more modules from the Istivin trilogy presented in Dungeon Magazine #117-119. Cast of CharactersFiona, female half-elf 8th Level Wizard (Celticwolf)Mojo, male elf 8th Level Fighter  (Enchantr)Mark, male half-elf 8th Level Ranger (player not online)Narg, male half-elf 9th Level Fighter  (Biz1489)Purge, male human 6th Level Monk (NPC) Serita, female half-elf 11th Level Druid  (Kriskrafts)Chapter 1, “On the Road Again”, May 25th, 1020:  On a sunny spring day, several of the adventurers are sitting around Jerry’s Tavern on Silver Moon Island.    The party leader Narg is celebrating the fact that he and his wife have finally agreed upon a name for their three-month old child, that being Curin. With Narg are his friends Mojo and Mark, as well as the druid Serita who has recently returned from the City of Jawltorn. The mid-day meal is interrupted by the familiar buzzing sound of Mojo’s combination magical communication device and bottle-opener.   “It’s the Queen Phone” Mark, Narg and Serita exclaim in unison.”    “I have to find a way to turn this thing off,” Mojo states as the buzzing sound increases.   “Just answer it,” Mark states.   Mojo flips open the corkscrew on the device and speaks into it stating “Hi Sweetie, what’s up?” Mojo looks up and says, “She has another mission for us.”  Narg states, “Can we get paid this time?  I’m tired of doing this for free.”   Mark tells him “Stop complaining.  You didn’t even go on the last one.”   Serita asks Mojo “What’s the mission?”    He relays back “Missing person, some Prince from one of the little kingdoms in the East Lordholding.”    “How long has he been missing?” the druid asks.   Mojo relays the question and then replies “Fifteen years.”   “And they’ve waited until now to call us?” Narg exclaims.   Mojo gets a few more details and then says goodbye.   He puts the corkscrew back in his pocket and says, “She wants us to go to a City State known as Istivin.  The King just discovered a clue to his long-lost son and wants someone to investigate.”  “Where is this place?” Serita asks.  Mojo replies “Along the boarder of the Zalpar Lordholding.”  “Aw no, we have to go hang out with those hippies,” Narg states.    Mojo replies, “Yeah, we’re to start at the Quan Hospice, where the Eludicators Adventuring Team hangs out.”   Serita says “Are we going to get paid?”  Mojo replies, “We should, she says the kingdom’s wealth comes from gold, silver and platinum mining.”They discuss who should go.   Narg volunteers to lead the group.  Serita says “Shouldn’t you stay home with your baby?”   Narg replies, “Nah, I just get in the way.”  Serita says that he shouldn’t desert his wife with a colicky baby.    Narg reluctantly agrees to hire a nanny to help her out while he is gone and sends a message over to Jamie, the headmistress of the school on the island.   Jamie arranges for one of the teenage hengeyokai girls to stay with Vallessa.  Jamie also gives Narg a shopping list of items to pick up that are needed for the school.All four decide to go but it is noted that they don’t have any wizards or rogues with them.   Serita heads over to the home of the wizardess Fiona to convince her to come along while Mark tracks down the monk Purge.    Objections are raised to Fiona bringing along her pegasus, but she points out that she knows how to cast a ‘Reduce’ spell, so it will fit into the Bag or Holding for travel.   Narg says “In that case we’re taking TWO bags of holding, I’m not traveling with any hay burner.” Mojo suggests bringing his new roommate, the drow elf ranger Ailsheir.  Narg exclaims “No drows!  And I can’t believe you gave him my old room!”    Mark says to Mojo “I thought you were going to take Narg’s old room and give yours to Ailsheir.”  Mojo says,  “I was, except that would have required me to clean his room and then move all of my stuff.   It was easier just to give it to the drow as is.”   “And he didn’t mind the mess?” Serita asks.   Mojo replies, “Well, before he joined us he had lived in the Abyss, Narg’s room was only a little worse.” Fiona and her mount get into one Bag while the four men climb into the other.  Serita picks up the bags and teleports the group to the Quan Hospice.    The Hospice is one of ten stone fortresses along the Zalpar Boarder Road, a 400-mile long roadway that surrounds the landlocked Lordholding.   While Zalpar places severe restrictions on travel within their lands but all people are free to use the border road, which is guarded and patrolled by the Zalparian dwarves of New Rockhome.   Travelers may also stay free of charge for up to a week at any of the hospices. Each of the Zalparian Hospices was built at a strategic location along the road, on easily defended higher elevations with visibility for tens of miles all around.   A trio of administrators consisting of a wizard, a scholar and a monk runs each hospice.   A dwarven military unit is also stationed at each hospice.   The Quan Hospice also serves as the home and headquarters for the Elucidators, one of the continent’s best-known adventuring teams.    Rather than maintaining a standing army the Queen has assigned the protection and defense of her Lordholdings to three different teams of adventurers.   The Eludicators are responsible for the three central lordholdings while the Silver Moon Adventurers look after the three southern lordholdings.   Unfortunately the Elucidators are currently out-of-commission so the Silver Moon has been doing double duty. Dominic, a gnome high priest of Ukko who serves as leader of the Elucidators, greets the Silver Moon Adventurers.   He escorts them all to the Hospice’s nursery, which is the reason why his team is currently unavailable.   Inside the nursery are the monk and former Silver Moon team member Ji-Do Kwan, his wife and wizardess Llynn, and their four-month old quintuplets.  Serita empties out of the bag-of-holding a large quantity of knitted baby clothes that Jamie had made for her new nieces and nephews.    Narg tells Ji-Do “My son is around the same age, I know what you’re going through.”  “Times five,” the monk replies.   Dominic thanks the Silver Moon for agreeing to take his team’s missions in the interim stating that, “Once the kids are toddlers and weaned we’ll be able to have the monks at the hospice watch them when the Queen needs us.”   Ji-Do says “Yeah, and when the kids turn five or six they’ll be moving to the school on your island.”   “We don’t need that,” Mojo exclaims.   “As if Jamie would let them go anywhere else for school,” Llynn comments. Mojo pulls Narg aside and says “We don’t need any more children on the island.”  Narg replies, “What do you mean?  I love kids, and you’ve got the majority of a softball team right here.”  Mojo answers, “Softball?  Look who these kids have for parents, a monk and a mage.  They’ll be a bunch of bookworms.   They won’t want to play ball, they’ll just sit on the bench and do mathematical equations in their heads.”  Narg repels “Well, I could use a good team statistician.”Dominic tells the party they should go get settled and he will talk to them over dinner.  Narg replies, “Good.  Then you can tell us about this petty little kingdom we have to go save.”  Serita adds “Well, it least it’s somewhere that we’re not in any trouble with.  There aren’t many places like that left on this continent.”   Mojo reassures her “Don’t worry, I’m sure that we’ll also wear out our welcome there in no time.” The Silver Moon adventurers are each shown to individual rooms.   Fiona locates the stables and gets her pegasus out of the bag before the reduce spell wears off.</blockquote>

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