Oh, THAT Magic Pool!

After their adventures in Renneton, Wolfgang and Gerrilynn rejoined Vulpio, the elves, and the caves below the moathouse.  Among the oddities retrieved from the mold caves, was a peculiar chime which, when struck caused previous locked doors or hidden doors to reveal themselves and open.  It proved to be equally effective on portcullises.

Opening the portcullis gave Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Vulpio access to several new strange rooms.  They rescued Johnny, who the prisoner of a fearsome-looking ogre.  They encountered and destroyed a dozen zombies.  And they found a trapdoor leading up to the moathouse garrisoned by Burne’s men.  This encounter could have been a disaster if Gerrilynn had not responded quickly to gently but firmly transfix the soldiers.  The party disappeared back down the trapdoor and prayed that the experience would serve to further discourage dungeon exploration by the Burne and the people of Hommelet.

Reviewing her map, Gerrilynn determined that they should return to the crypt that they had discovered earlier.  It was an expansive place, with rows and rows of vaults, many of them smashed open.  And there were ghouls.  After destroying the ghouls, Wolfbang noticed a trail of gold that led into a small hole in the wall, so small that it could be accessed only be crawling.  Smelling a rat, Wolfbang remembered what his friends had told him about their beautiful home deeper in the dungeon.  And so they crawled into the hole. . .

Gerrilynn could not make a map, but after crawling in circles for what felt like hours, the party came to a nearly vertical tunnel, slanting both up and down.  Based on everything they had heard, down seemed the right way to go.  The tunnel was long and seemed to get even narrower.  Torches were too dangerous, but Wolfgang still carried his magical light stone.  After another hour of crawling, they heard sounds—squeaking sounds.  And suddenly there were rats everywhere—scratching, nipping, squealing, but clearly running from something else.  The party let them pass by and waited for what was coming next—a greasy, stinking badger.  Wolfgang stunned it with a flash of light and then said a few words to soothe and distract it.  The badger told Wolfgang of the fantastic meal that he had just missed, but after persistent but gentle questioning answered that yes the tunnel widened further ahead and yes he would lead the way and yes he would like a treat that was even better than rats once Wolfgang had a chance to get it out of his sack.

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At last the human emerged from the twisting rodent warren into a large natural cavern.  A little exploration suggested that they had discovered an entire network of caverns, but they were most intrigued by the well-finished corridor that led about fifty feet to a twelve-sided room with a dodecahedronal-domed ceiling.  There were letters on the ceiling- elvish, but backwards.  And in the middle of the room there was a stone pedestal, over eight-feet high so that no one could see the top of it.  But they found a way up and found a large basin.  When water filled the basin, the water reflected the letters on the ceiling.  (Wolfgang thought that maybehe’d been there before.)  This was the magic pool that the elves (and Burne) were looking for.

Although logic suggested that there was a human-sized passage between these caverns and the dungeons of the moathouse, the leaders of the party felt they would prefer to go back the way they came and crawl through the dark, twisting rodent-infested tunnels.

That’s what they did.  The elves were grateful and entertained them for weeks or months.  When Wolfbang and Gerrilyn returned to the surface world, they found that the leaves had turned.

Wheel of Evil

Play Report: Wheel of Evil by Faster Monkey

It’s not often that I get to run a game for 4 PCs over a couple two-hour sessions so when I do, I like to pull out something special and Wheel of Evil did not disappoint.  Branded as a Dungeon Crawl for 4-6 characters of levels 3-5, I decided that with henchman, it was an appropriate challenge for lower-level characters:

Cinderblock, 1^st level thief
                Cinderblock’s NPC henchman Dithaniel, 1^st level fighter

Gruber, 2^nd level fighter
                Gruber’s NPC henchman Falden, 1^st level fighter

Wolfgang, 4^th level druid
                Wolfgang’s menagerie (black bear, wolf, fox, hawk, rat)

Gerilynn, 4^th level cleric
                Gerilynn’s henchman Ehlark, 1^st level fighter/cleric
                Gerilynn’s henchman Caitlynn, 1^st level ranger

Wolfgang and Gerrilynn decided they needed a little space from their elvish patrons.  Renneton, a town a few days ride away from Hommelet and famous for its fine cheeses, had advertised for heroes, and was willing to pay them in stock options—shares in the profits of the annual cheese sale.  The assignment, as explained by the local priest, Father Desmond, was straight forward, from a practical if not an ethical point of view.  The town of Renneton used a local cave for aging cheeses and been doing so for centuries.  Now strange little monsters, presumably from deeper in the earth had found their way up and been found to be stealing and destroying cheeses.  These creatures were only about three feet tall and cowardly in battle, but also thoroughly wicked and treacherous, “Kobolds” they were called locally.  And they needed to be dissuaded somehow from stealing the human’s cheeses.  Father Desmond brought the party to the caves and provided them a map, showing the upper caverns where cheese was prepared. He had gone missing in the caves overnight, pursuing the kobolds after a raid.  He also introduced them to Harzar, foreman of the cheese guild.  Before going below, the party to look around the cheese preparation areas and tool to the cheesers.

Cinderblock noticed that the other cheese workers seemed uneasy around Harzar, treating with not only the deference due a superior, but with veiled revulsion.  Although he didn’t like to talk about his experiences, he had become even more thoroughly dedicated to his job.   

The party learned that a few kobold were being held prisoner in a storage room, and asked to meet them.  “Little good it will do you,” the cheesers said, “they can’t talk human or elvish, only their nasty monster talk.”  The kobolds expressions were plain enough—they looked miserable and bitter and glared at their captors and whispered among each other.  The cheesers explained that a week ago, a wandering magician had offered to translate the prisoner’s speech.  No useful information, only the highly dubious claim that the kobolds blamed the humans for ruining their food.  “If they like their food so much, why they stealing ours?”  Gerrilynn asked what the kobold’s ate and the cheesers shuddered and shook their heads.  “Don’t even want to think about it.  That would be a good question for Father Desmond, right Bert?  Why killing these monsters would be any different than killing a prowling wolf, I can’t see.  No offense, your woodiness.”  Gerrilynn shared some of her own food and the kobolds eat it hungrily—except the cheese which they flung back in her face as if it were an insult.

Gruber asked about what weapons of powers the kobolds had.  The men laughed.  “Spears and rocks and these.”  A clay flask.  “Smell it.  Careful, not too close.  We reckon they fill it with their own piss and if they can get a jump on a man they would smash it on his head.  Who knows what it might do?  Bless us, no one here has had to find out.”

Nosing around a little more, Cinderblock learned that some of the cheesers had a sideline business in moonshine.  And that the Cheesers Guild was preparing an extra-large cheese, a five-foot diameter wheel that would be shipped to the King of Alyan.

At last the party was ready to proceed. They lit torches and, as they proceed beyond the makeshift barrier the cheesers had assembled against the kobolds, Cinderblock assumed the job of continuing Father Desomond’s map.  Soon, the party came to a fork in the tunnel, and peered into what must have been a cheese storage room, now a jumble of broken shelving coated with dust.  The party decided to explore the room further and found a deep fissure.  Wolfgang asked his rat Alexis to climb down and report what he found.  As Alexis disappeared beyond the light of the torches, he squeaked that he had found a mass of blue and pink cheese.  Then there was a rat-scream and silence.  A cloud of blue and pink dust exploded from the fissure; Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Gruber fell into a deep slumber.  Caitlynn and Cinderblock found that they could barely rouse them enough to mumble a few words before falling back into sleep.  Caitlynn, despairing of how to explain what had happened to the rat when Gerrilynn and Wolfgang woke up, climbed down into the fissure holding a torch.  She saw the blue and pink gelatinous mold that the rat had described as cheese.  She slipped into it up past her knees and felt herself being sucked under.  Cinderblock climbed down and helped pull her out.  The party decided that the rat would fend for himself for now and that the sleeping humans should be carried to safety.

The heroes found their way back out of the caves and by the time they got back down the hill to town and to the inn, everyone was awake and walking under his or her own power.  Talking over their misadventures and laughing down the many jokes at their expense, the heroes supped in their room (“Yes, we’ll all get plenty of sleep tonight!”) and made a plan.  The plan involved urine, seven wineskins full of it, plus seven more wineskins full of raw material in case they needed more.  No one remembers who first suggested it, but everyone agreed the kobolds didn’t have any use for cheese and seemed to know something more about what they were really up against.

Sure enough, the horrible pink and blue mold that had swallowed Alexis the rat had a tougher time digesting urine.  It took four wineskins, plus the bladder contents of five humans and a wolf to the job, but the urine turned the mold into cool, sweet-smelling steam.

The deep dark hole inspired some debate as to whether they were forgetting their charge to eradicate kobolds, but a lit torch that found the bottom about 50 feet down settled it.  Rope and iron spike time.

Dithaniel was the first down and his scream, abruptly cut short brought Cinderblock down immediately after him.  A three-foot tall figure seemingly composed of mold had speared him with its skeletal claws.  In the ensuing battle, this mold man, and three others like it, proved to be skeletons completely grown over with mold.  The other three wineskins were used on these creatures before desperation intervened to prove that they could also be destroyed by normal weapons.  Horrified at what they had just experienced, there was some talk of climbing back up.  But the rope was lying on the ground.  At the top, Wolfgang’s wolf was howling and barking.  “What happened?”

“The stinky one.”  The wolf explained to Wolfgang.  “He cut the rope.”

“The stinky one?”  Harzer. 

“I bite him and he run away.”

                Although Wolfie was encouraged to go get help, no one wanted to wait for it. Dithaniel was dead, but Gerrilynn tended to the others and, after a brief and solemn ritual, Dithaniel’s belonging were distributed among his companions.  The heroes drank their wine, filled all the empty wineskins, and pressed on.

The tunnels through which they walked was spongy, glowing, pulsing mass of mold.  They prodded ahead to avoid walking on anything the horrible mass that had consumed the rat, and breathed a sigh of relief when they came to a large pool of clear water with no sign of mold.  Eschewing the stepping stones, Gerrilynn tested the water with her toe and then waded in.  The others followed.

On the other side they found themselves a cavern of mold so nauseating in its shapes, textures, smells, and sounds that it made everything else they’d experienced look like white stilton.  There were more of the walking mold men.  There was something invisible that paralyzed Wolfgang.  And there was Harzer.

In the ensuing battle, there were several casualties.  The mold men were easy to kill.  Harzer turned out to be the husk of a man—when hit a larger mold man stepped out and was taken out by Caitlynn and Falden.  But the party was endangered by numbers.  And by the globs of black pudding that seemed to be falling from the ceiling.  Falden and Caitllynn were killed by moldmen.  Ehlark was killed by a black pudding.

Someone noticed that an invisible force was pushing the paralyzed Wolfgang toward a particular part of the cavern.  Cinderblock did some reconnaissance and located a particularly complex patch of mold that seemed to be responding to the battle.  Lots of urine and a little moonshine later and that patch had been turned to gray flakes.  The moldmen collapsed. 

The black pudding continued to quiver and slither toward the party.  Cinderblock charged with his short sword.  The blobby thing shrank from blow but then expanded, enveloping the brave and resourceful rogue.

His companions killed the blobs from a safe distance.  There was treasure.  There were stolen cheeses that the heroes decided should remain with their fallen comrades. 

On the way out of the caves, the party encountered a band of kobolds.  Both parties agreed, happily, and in their own languages, that the mold was retreating.  After a mimed non-aggression pact the kobolds went deeper into the caverns and the humans went up to report their success.

The heroes mourned their fallen comrades (“Cinderblock, we hardly knew ye.”) and after the cheese auctions, redeemed their shares.

The Moathouse Grind

When Vulpio’s elven contacts learned that Burne, a human magician, was sending adventurers to explore below the moathouse, they summoned him and his friends Gerrilynn and Wolfgang with their own offer: don’t allow a long-buried evil return to the world.  Without being specific, Arethil, the elven priestess, told the party that she thought she thought there were darker powers involved, plotting and gathering strength deep below the earth.  The elves had a secret entrance to the dungeons beneath the moathouse.  They offered the party a safe base and asked them to explore.  If they could find the source of the power Burne was seeking, the elves would help them address it.  But if the enemy was who they thought it was, the elves didn’t want to alert their ancient foe to their presence; a gang of human explorers were unlikely to raise the same level of alarm. Speaking of humans, the elves warned Wolfgang & co. to avoid contact with Burne’s guards in the moathouse above, or for that matter any other humans.  If they could not be evaded, any humans should be dealt with diplomatically and brought to Arethil.  Gerrilynn thought this sounded ominous, but Arethil assured her, “If I wanted to kill them, I would leave that to you.”

The party came across a number of strange sights. A natural pool inspired curiosity, but bones on the bank warned them away.  The crypt, though quiet, seemed to offer nothing but dread and danger. They explored other tunnels.

Opening a door onto a blind wall seemed to trigger some type of alarm.  They encountered two groups of beast-men who attacked on sight.  These were fierce warriors, but between Gerrilynn’s divine powers, Wolfgang’s animal companions and Vulpio’s war hammer, the monsters were destroyed.  The party took a prisoner-- a hairy, shambling creature with claws and fangs. Gerilynn wanted to turn him over to the elves, while Wolfgang wanted to lead him to the wilderness outside and let him “run free.” Wolfgang won the argument, but Gerilynn won the dispute; on their way to the exit, the elves met them, congratulated them on their success—and took custody of the prisoner, throwing s net over his head and arms.  Wolfgang took this as proof that the elves would do the bugbear harm and that they should have done more to get him out.  But he turned over the prisoner.

The elves were grateful to have a prisoner, but most of all hoped to find the source of Burne’s new power.  So the party continued to explore.  Gerrilynn had made a comprehensive map and found they were confronted with a number of imperfect options.  There was the pool of dark water, in which something was lurking.  There was the crypt, which Wolfgang refused to explore.  And there was a portcullis barring the way down an otherwise safe looking passage.  The party reasoned that they were responsible for the portcullis being down—that the clanging sound they’d heard when opening a door the day before had been the sound of iron crashing down on the stone floor.  But they couldn’t figure out how to open it up again.  Wolfgang made friends with a group of rats who were eager to show him their home and the way down—if he could fit into the six-inch diameter hole in the wall.  They could not.

 

Maze of Nuromen (1 of 2)

Maze of Nuromen (now available as the Necropolis of Nuromen) is billed as a first-level adventure and involves the retrieval of an elven artefact from the ruins of the “Maze of Nuromen,” the lair of a long-dead wizard. As noted by 10-foot Pole, that set-up could be described as classic or cliché. While he praises the adventure, he suggests that it’s best for new players because they will not be put-off by its use of well-known elements. White Bear, an experienced if casual player, commented that this was one of her favorite adventures ever, that she really felt drawn into it and was thinking about it between sessions. Isa Girl Monkey, who has also been playing D&D for over five years also showed an enthusiasm while playing that she often keeps to herself. On the other hand, the other three players were children (11 years old) and thus relatively new to the game.

Because I have run this adventure, I’m writing this review as a play report, summarizing each of the five sessions, interspersed with advice on running the adventure and assessments of the product. Spoilers abound.

In the first session, the following PCs and NPCs entered the Maze of Nuromen through a steeply-sloped hole they’d found on the Island of Lost Dreams:

Wolfgang (PC- 3rd level druid)
Kirito (PC- 1st leverl ranger)
Gerrilynn (PC played by White Bear 3rd level cleric) with her henchmen Chickie (NPC 3rd level thief) and Caitlynn (NPC 1st level ranger).
Vulpio (PC played by Isa Girl Monkey) with his henchmen Mardiuw (NPC 1st level thief).

Most of these characters were close to levelling up and did so between sessions. A group of brand new 1st level characters would have a tough time—though admittedly we had no deaths at all over the five sessions.

As they entered the Maze, the party experienced their first near-death in the form a fast-moving underground stream cutting through room. Caitlynn was clumsy, slipped on a rock and was swept out of the room and into the darkness. Faithful Gerrilynn, stripped off her heavy armour and dove in after her. The others crossed the stream safely, and proceeded to explore the rest of the maze. Splitting the party—for the DM this is impossible to do perfectly. Even if you take each group into their room—the fact that you are bouncing between the two rooms lets everyone know that at least the others are alive. Nevertheless, this is kind of what we did, but with much airtime devoted to the main party. White Bear ran Gerriynn’s henchman Chickie so she wasn’t left out.

The party soon found themselves in what seemed to be the center of the Maze—an underground courtyard with two sets of metal doors—one bearing scenes of feasting and more feasting (or as I said “feasting and more feasting”) the other bearing scenes of “skeletons.” Suspecting reverse psychology, the party went for the “skeletons” door, but one of the gruesome faces on the door came to life and demanded a password. After many many attempts, the party, still fearing the “feast” door, exited through one of the prosaic wooden stores. They mapped well and after passing through some other rooms, found themselves in a huge fireplace that seemed to be shared with the feasting room. Kirito the ranger went through the fireplace to investigate. There was another room on the other side and Kirito caught whiff of a horrible stench—possibly the worst thing he’d ever smelled—and yet strangely familiar. Kirito covered his ears and slipped back into the kitchen, warning the others to do the same. Wolfgang understood. After they’d all moved a safe distance away, Wolfgang brought out his candles and everyone plugged their ears with wax and they returned to the feasting room, ready for battle.

Sure enough, the terrible half-women half-birds emerged from the rafters, their faces twisted in fury. As they circled, Wolfgang produced a small ball of flame and threw it at them, catching one and setting its greasy wings alight. Both monsters descended, and were met by the weapons of Vulpio and Kirito. With the others’ assistance, the harpies were destroyed.  

Underneath the harpies’ filth, the feasting room was lavishly furnished. The party filled their backpacks will gold and silver dinnerware and returned to the surface. They tended to their wounds and asked the elves whether maybe they’d heard anything from Gerrilynn and Caitlynn? No.  

Meanwhile . . . in the underground caverns . . .

After being dunked by the rushing stream and bounced against the walls of the winding tunnel, Caitlynn and Gerrilynn emerged in another cavern at least large enough to lift their heads above the water to breath and with banks wide and sandy enough that they could escape the stream’s current. As they dragged themselves from the water, calling out for each in the darkness, they heard voices, alien and menacing and the sound of footsteps echoing from all sides. The shock of being hit by something sharp, a spear or arrow from the darkness was almost a relief. Gerrilynn called out to Raud asking to halt their unseen assailants. After another volley of missiles, the attack ended. Caitlynn, judging by the direction from which the spears had come, felt her way across the stream and slew their transfixed enemies. Then the two adventurers collapsed into slumber.

The main party, accompanied by a new companion, Chrono the druid (PC-- 2nd level), continued to explore the Maze of Nuromen.  

One of the highlights was a large, overgrown garden. As a DM, I had some difficulty describing it—even though they were underground on an island, this garden grew in the sunlight and open air—on a shelf surrounded by a stone balustrade. Still, this place was very atmospheric—lots of strange plants with stinking fruits, twisting tiled path, and fountains with statues that spit and piss when someone steps on the wrong pressure plate. The monsters—fire beetles were something of an unnecessary distraction.

The party came upon another locked metal door. Wolfgang found a pickaxe and did his best to break the stone that framed the iron door, but was defeated. Chrono, feeling claustrophobic and nauseous, expressed his wish to return to the upper world. Chickie, who had been injured in the garden, also wished to escape the maze. The rest of the party escorted them to the room with stream and saw them safely across.

Meanwhile . . . Gerrilynn awakened and prayed for light to help her explore the cavern. She roused Caitlynn. They turned away from the stream and sought dryer ground. They followed a series of crooked tunnels into a large cavern with a box of jewellery in the middle. After testing that it wasn’t a trap or an illusion, they got closer and found among the other treasures, a silver and gold circlet that matched the elves’ description. Gerrilynn put the crown on her head and Caitlynn noticed an immediate change—the always compelling prophetess now seemed to take on an extra, elven layer of . . . charisma.

Wolfgang and the Rattling Bones

 

Vulpio, Mardiuw, Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Chickie, retreated with the elves deeper into the forest, and stayed there for several weeks. When the buds opened on the oak trees, the company returned once more to the Lake of Lost Dreams, and paddled to the island where they'd search out the crown of the elven prince.

The sought and discovered the ruined building where'd they found the statue, and descended underground by way. The halls below were quiet and empty.

And then they opened the iron door upon the chamber where the bones sprang to life. Gerrilyn raised her holy symbol. The front rank of skeletons turned away, impeding the charge of the others. Vulpio slammed the door and Mardiuw hammered a series of spikes to hold it closed.

And then, while the bones clattered against the door, the group made a plan. They hammered more spikes into the floor, a little distance from the door-- so that when the first spikes were removed, the door could be allowed to open I\just enough\I to let one skeleton at a time squeeze through.

Vulpio volunteered to stand in the breach, with Wolfgang standing behind him to destroy any skeletons that managed to force their way through. Vulpio swung his sword like a whirlwind, and the shattered bones and splintered shields piled up under his feet. He tired, and was knocked to the floor. As more skeletons pushed through trampling Vulpio underfoot, Gerrilyn once more raised her holy symbol and by the power of Raud drove them away. Mardiuw pulled Vulpio to safety, Wolfgang moved into the front rank and Chickie stood behind him. The skeletons charged again-- they were pulverized by Wolfgang's staff and laid low by Chickie's club. The pile of bones was so great that the spikes were knocked free and the door sprang open. The remnant of skeletons poured out. The party overcame them all and it was quiet, but Chickie was grievously wounded and Wolfgang exhausted to the point of delirium.

The group climbed back up the ladder, and returned to their boat. Halfway back to shore, they heard the telltale buzzing of the maverick pixies. With his last ounce of strength, Wolfgang framed their forms in purple light. Gerrilyn transfixed the pixies with a holy rebuke. Vulpio and Mardiuw shot them with arrows. They captured three living pixies and chased away the others.

The elves were heartened by the party's success in capturing the pixies. And Aemornion, after hearing the tale of their battle against two score living skeletons, expressed his confidence that they would persistently return until they discovered the lost crown.

Brief addendum: Wolfgang and Gerrilynn returned to the dungeon on the Island of Lost Dreams.  They fought and destroyed a pair of gargoyles.  In the process they shattered a dark mirror obsidian, breaking the curse on the pixies and revealing the entrance to the Maze of Nuromen.  They returned to the surface to be feted by the grateful pixies who were no longer corrupted by evil and hatred!

Wolfgang and the Lake of Lost Dreams

Having spent most of his money, Vulpio gave up his room at Gold Hill Inn and took to sleeping rough, hunting his food in the surrounding forest. One day in the gray light of dawn, hews roused by the sounds of whinnying horses and then solemnly musical voices. A group of elves explained that they sought his assistance. Something of theirs had been stolen, and although they knew where it could be found— on an island in the Lake of Lost Dreams— strong magic prevented the fey races from landing on it. Vulpio admired their fine mail shirts and their graceful horses. The elves promised one of each if he were successful. 

Vulpio convinced Mardiuw, one of the deputies of Gold Hill to join him in his quest and then went to Hommelet to seek out the assistance of his friends Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Chickie. Together, the party traveled to the Lake of Lost Dreams and met with the elves. The elves explained that they were looking for a bronze-and-silver statue—and maybe something else that they would describe if the party found the statue. The elves provided the party with two boats, and warned them that the island was inhabited by invisible beings that might seek to cause them harm. 

As the elves predicted, with no warning other than the sound of buzzing wings and an obnoxious cackle, the party was set upon by unseen foes. Wolfgang imbued them with a purple glow, making their general forms detectable—they were pixies, little people with wings like butterflies. Gerrilynn called on divine assistance to freeze two of the pixies in the air and drop them into the water while warning the others that they would suffer the same fate if they continued their attack. The other pixies swooped down to save their drowning comrades and flew away to the forest on the south side of the island.

The party turned their boat toward the north end of the island and landed in a thinly-wooded meadowland. Gleaming white marble stood out among the trees. At the white marble building, the party found both the missing statue and a ladder leading down into a dark hole.

The party returned to the shore of the lake with the statue, plus the news about the battle with the pixies and about the darkness beneath the marble ruins.

The elves gratefully welcomed the return of the stolen statue, rewarding the party with the promised treasure.

The elves were impressed that the party had driven off the pixies without killing any of them. They agreed that perhaps they could be rehabilitated and offered an additional reward for any pixies captured alive.

But the leader of this band of elves, Aemornion was most interested in what lay beneath the temple. He told the party of the human sorcerer who had lived on the island centuries ago. “The impatience and ambition that marks your kind once again followed magic into madness.” An elven prince visited the sorcerer, laden with gifts, hoping to persuade him that the arcane arts were best left to those whose lifespans allowed for deep mastery by slow accretion. But it was much too late. The sorcerer had already made another pact with darker powers. In the dungeons beneath his white marble palace, the sorcerer killed the elven prince and stole his crown.

The sorcerer’s demise, less than a year later, was wretched and complete. Most of his palace was destroyed, everything he owned—including everything he’d stolen— was sealed in the dungeons beneath, and the land itself became cursed.

Aemornion and his people hope to leave Alyan before the end of the next century, but not without the crown that had belonged to his brother.

Wolfgang, Thimbur, and the Reflecting Pools

While glad to understand the source of the strange noise under the Moathouse and thus to remove this excuse from posting a standing garrison, Burne's ultimate interest was, again, the magic pools.  The stomachs of Mapper and Roquelle were suffering the effects of raw potato consumption, but Thimbur, another long-term resident of the Inn was willing to take the job.  Wolfgang and Gerrilynn agreed that, this time, they would work harder to remember the magic pools.  Once again, Burne was represented by his apprentice Panyus.  And Chickie and Riff rounded out the party.

This time, the group avoided the gnomes. (And perhaps vice-versa-- the moathouse cellars were empty.)

Thimbur had visited the moathouse on his own and consulting his maps, he helped Wolfgang and Gerrilynn find the secret staircase that led to the caverns far beneath.  Wolfgang relocated the pool room and showed Panyus how by filling it with water, one with the proper background could read the words reflected therein and learn new spells.

Panyus showed his gratitude by testing one of the spells on Wolfgang, and confirmed that the young druid would willingly hand over his ashwood staff as a token of friendship.  Panyus returned the staff, and asked Wolfgang where they would find other pools.

Wolfgang answered that he didn't know of any, and that they hadn't delved any deeper.  Panyus was satisfied with this and ready to return to the surface. but Thimbur had a suggestion.  Just because Wolfgang hadn't found other pools didn't mean they wouldn't.  After slight hesitation, Panyus agreed and the group moved deeper into the caverns.

After some time they came to a strange cavern which seemed to have the site of a cave-in.  Most of the room was filled with fine red earth and huge chunks of sandstone.  The only obvious exits were three holes in the ceiling, reachable by a rope.

But as they were discussing their next moves, Thimbur began climbing up the pile of silt, soon sinking up to his hips.  Gerrilynn called out for him to stop.

"Stop what?" he asked, before disappearing completely.  Gerilynn and Wolfgang sprang to his rescue, trying to dig through the piles of dirt, and reaching into it trying to grab him.   There was no one sign of him.

But then Thimbur stepped simply stepped back out on the other side of the room.  "What are you saying?  I'm fine."

Clearly there was magic at work.  Thimbur took the torch and walked into the dirt pile and back-- the flame was completely unaffected.  Thimbur indeed claimed that there was no dirt pile at all, that they were all in a large circular cavern, and that he had found some tracks in the "hidden" part of the room.  Panyus also seemed to see through what he declared an "illusion" and suggested that it was some kind of test of one's mental prowess. 

Then Riff walked after him, oblivious to not only the pile of dirt, but to the on-going debate about it.

While Wolfgang and Gerilynn struggled to climb over boulders, Thimbur found a secret passage in the hidden part of the cave.  Wolfgang and Grilynn allowed themselves to be tied to the end of a rope and, after taking a deep breath were pulled into the "dirt" and through it into the passage that Thimbur had discovered.

The caverns beyond were much narrower, labyrinthine, and wet, seemingly still in the process of being carved by the constant slow trickle of water.  Following the flow of water, the party reached another regularly constructed chamber with a pool at its center.  Once again there was writing on the upper walls of the chamber, and as this pool was well-supplied with water, this writing was reflected at their feet.  But it was unreadable.  The letters were not deeply carved and the water wasn't still.

Wolfgang had recovered a glowing lens in one of his earlier adventures.  He placed it in on a platform in the center of the pool.  It's light reflected off the ceiling and made the writing in the pool readable.  Panyus was thoroughly pleased.  After conferring with Gerrilynn, he confessed the charm that he'd cast on Wolfgang and dispelled its effects.

The party set up watch so that Panyus could copy one of the spells from the pool into his spell book.  Thmbur, exploring the immediate area, heard voices and rushed back to warn the others.  Panyus used the magic of the pool to make Thimbur invisible.  Thimbur remained in the pool room while the others found places to hide in a narrow side passage.

Moments later a group of six large, shaggy, and fanged creatures entered the room, bearing heavy swords and spiked clubs.  One of them noticed that the pool was empty and pointed it out to the others with much enthusiasm.  They clapped their hands, licked their lips and salivated and then began peering down the side passages, shouting for silence.  When a moment of silence was achieved, Thimbur tossed a stone down one of the side passages that led away from where his friends were hiding.  The monsters eagerly charged down it. 

Thimbur followed.  He trailed the monsters through the cave to their lair, a narrow noisome cavern strewn with charred bones.  The monsters were searching their home with a mixture of rage and excitement, until they came above the half-eaten body of an earlier body.

Thimbur went back to tell the others.  They agreed they would ambush the monsters in their lair.

By the time they returned, the monsters had a fire going and were busy eating.  Thimbur, still invisible, circled around it, finding the one he'd identified as the leader.  He rushed forward  with his sword drawn and, tripped over a rock to land in the middle of the cooking fire.  The monsters jumped to their feet only to be assaulted with arrows and stones from Thimbur's friends.  Thimbur himself rolled on the floor to extinguish the flames.  As two of the monsters grabbed for him, they were transfixed by Gerrilynn's magic.

The remaining monsters rushed at the group in the hallway and Panyus unleashed his most powerful magic, suddenly growing two double his size and sprouting foot-long horns from his face.  The effect was instant, temporary, and probably an illusion, but the monsters turned and fled.

The party pursued all the way to a large cavern.  There the monsters turned and attacked, but were destroyed by arrows and magic.

There was a large pool at the far end of the cavern.  It did not seem to be a "magic" pool, but a natural body of water, large enough that they couldn't see the other side of it.  As Wolfgang approached to investigate, a seemingly insignificant puddle expanded to engulf him.  He was trapped inside a membrane of living water.  Panyus pointed his wand and blasted the strange being with magical energy.  It sizzled and evaporated.

Thimbur cautiously approached the larger pool.  He could see the pool reached to end of the cavern and beyond.  That is, it flowed into a deep underwater cavern that extended beyond where they could see.  The water was clear and there was a rope bolted to the bottom, perhaps a guideline for a swimmer to reach what lay beyond.  Deciding that there was something wrong with something so easy, the party explored other ways of exiting the room.  Gerilynn discovered a crawl hole, about three feet off the ground and less than two feet in diameter.  By use of Wolfgang's glowing lens they saw the tunnel went on for twenty feet before curving out of sight.  Thimbur, Wolfgang, and Panyus agreed that they would see where it led.

Thimbur led the way, holding his dagger in his teeth, Wolfgang followed with the glowing lens, and Panyus came behind with his wand.  This prevented them from raising the question of when they should turn around until it was too late.  The passage was twisty and rough, and seemed to narrow further.  But the further they went, the more they hated the idea of retracing their steps going backwards-- it was far too narrow to turn around.

When they did finally reach the end, they found another pool.  This one, unlike the previous two, was not on the floor but on the top of a platform.  Thimbur climbed up to take a quick look from the narrow lip of the pool.  The ceiling was reflected on the water.  But not the writing.

Wolfgang and the Noise under the Moathouse

Burne's apprentice Panyus and a few of Burne's guards ("The Badgers") escorted Wolfgang and his pets, Mapper, Roquelle, Gerrilynn and their retainers Chickie and Riff out to the Moathouse.  Burne's Badgers had made some improvements.  The moat had been dredged and its banks shored up, providing a fast-flowing stream that seemed inhospitable to frogs.  And they'd contructed a sturdy bridge to cross it into the Moathouse's courtyard.

But they refused to stand guard overnight.  Although they'd fixed up the upper level, they continued to hear strange noises coming from below: clanking and banging, and strange voices, sometimes whispering and other times shrieking and shouting.  The first order of business, before finding the magic pool would be deal with whatever was making these mysterious sounds.

Burne's Badgers unlocked the trapdoor they'd constructed to close off the dungeon.  They put down a ladder the adventurers could climb down into the darkness.  Wolfgang left Bruno and Wolfie to guard their retreat.   

Mapper, relying on maps he'd drawn on previous visits to the moat house, led the others through a number of empty chambers, asking Wolfgang and Gerilynn where they'd found the passage to the magic pool.  But before they had gone far in their exploration, the group heard the banging they'd been warned of.  They traced its source easily enough, a large room without a door, but obscured by a heavy curtain.  The party soot outside and listened.  There was a steady pounding sound, then an angry cry, and then silence.  The party waited, and heard whispering arguing in a language they didn't understand.

And then a small man with a long gray beard stepped out.  He wore a red cap and a leather apron stained with soot.  "Ah!  Visitors, what a happy surprise, welcome!  We were just about to prepare our supper, will you join us?"

The party accepted the offer, and were put to work peeling carrots and potatoes.  Two more gnomes, nearly identical to the first except for the colors of their caps (blue and green) joined in the preparations.  They sang in exaggeratedly loud voices, but not loud enough to cover the noise of large heavy objects being moved around in the room behind the curtain.  Roquelle asked about the noise. "Can we go back there?"

Red answered, "Noise?  What noise?  Oh, that noise.  One of my brothers has a very bad cold.    Listen to that cough-- sounds like a worn-out gearbox.  Very contagious, too I'm afraid, maybe I should have warned you before I invited you to supper . . ."

Gerrilynn answered that in fact that they had eaten recently and had come down for another reason.  "We're looking for a magic pool.  Or any pool."

The gnomes knew nothing about water, or magic, and to prove the point, showed the party where they kept their water barrels.  "Would have been near impossible to get it here without the Fallinator."

"Fallinator?"

"Blue!  They don't know who that is!  There's our mule, see, Fallin, the mule, the Fallinator we call him to encourage him on account of h's not any stronger than a normal mule and actually weaker.  Look here, I always say potatoes are best raw so I've prepared you a nice package here.  Don't let us keep you."

The party remained curious about exactly what was behind the curtain, but declined to impose any further on the gnomes.  And Panyus was satisfied that at least they had a general explanation as to the source of the noise.  The party climbed up the ladder to return to Hommlet and report  this small success.  Burne was mildly grateful for the news, but nowhere near satisfied. 

Like a moth to the flame . . .

After a three-week overland journey, Mapper, Raquelle, Gerrilynn, Chickie, and Wolfgang (plus Wolfie and Bruno) found themselves back in Hommelet. It was dusk and almost immediately they were spotted by off-duty guardsman who recognized Wolfgang as the "One who killed Ponce!" Wolfgang, of course, did not back down from their challenge, but Gerilynn's soothing words and Mapper's coins were enough to keep the group moving toward Burne's tower. They were welcomed with pleasure but little warmth by Burne's sentries and Gerrilynn was suspicious. Mapper, on the other hand, seemed confident that everything was all right, and assured Wolfgang that Burne just wanted his help. Wolfgang himself, emboldened by his successful adventures in Gold Hill, followed the sentry into a small audience chamber. Gerilynn insisted that she be allowed to join him. The sentry did not object. “All you lot, just get in there.”

After a brief wait, the group was introduced to Burne's apprentice Panyus and then to Burne himself. After a few questions, Wolfgang gave Burne the information he had wanted and perhaps even more than he had hoped for, maligning his tutor Jaroo: It was Jaroo who had sent them first to the moathouse. Jaroo sent them to disrupt Burne’s plans. Jaroo told them that they should find a way into the lower levels and take what Burne was looking for. And when he found out guards had been killed, it was Jaroo who sent them into exile to go work for a crazy beekeeper.

Burne was pleased. He suggested to Wolfgang that he might clear his own name by repeating his testimony before the village council.

Wolfgang wavered—he didn’t hate Jaroo that much. 

Burne was willing to compromise—what exactly did they find under the moathouse.

Wolfgang and Gerilynn couldn’t remember. Nothing. Burne urged them to try harder. He gave them some refreshments and asked about their time in Gold Hill. Slowly, Wolfgang and Gerrilynn remembered. They’d found something, but it wasn’t something you could take. There was a room with a pool, and the associate the elf said it was magical.

Burne suggested that they should be able to find that pool again. And take Panyus with them so he could say whether it was magical. It might be dangerous, but if they were successful, he would urge that the council forgive the unfortunate misunderstanding.

They came to some kind of agreement. Mapper accepted a bag of coins.

White Queen Rising (the path not taken)

When Mapper and Raquelle arrived in Gold Hill, they explained little about where they had come from and why, but did say they were interested in meeting the young druid who lived with the wild animals in a hollow not far outside the trading post. With luck and patience, they found Wolfgang, and one fine morning, the three stood at the crossroads below the trading post, making each other acquaintance. As they were talking, they were distracted by a shadow moving across the ground and in their direction. At first it seemed like the shadow cast by a cloud sailing in the wind on an otherwise sunny day. But there was no such cloud. And the shadow was too completely black such that the weeds and stones disappeared beneath it, re-appearing moments later, seemingly unharmed. Mapper, and Raquelle found a hiding place behind a boulder while Wolfgang ran to summon his animal companions. As it drew closer, Mapper and Raquelle heard the sound of footsteps inside the shadow. They noted the ground lay trampled where the shadow had passed. They followed it into the Gold Hill trading post. It was market day, and about dozen people were gathered on the patch of trampled ground outside the caves.

The shadow stopped. From beneath it emerged three walking skeletons, carrying shield and wielding rusty swords. The day traders took refuge in the caves, calling for the deputies. The deputies answered the call, but didn’t go more than a few steps from the entrance to their own underground stronghold. Raquelle and Mapper shot at the skeletons from a good distance.

And then Lareth emerged from the Inn. He raised one empty hand to the deputies, saying,”Leave this to me.” In the other hand, he held his warhammer. He took in both hands as he approached the first skeleton. The skeleton slashed with its sword—Lareth deflected the flows with his steel gauntlets, and then smashed the skeleton to bits with a single blow. He dispatched the second skeleton with similar efficiency. He strode toward the third skeleton, but a large wolf got there first. The wof grabbed the skeleton in its jaws by the femur, and a bear swatted it to the ground. As the deputies charged out from their redoubt, Wolfgang sent Wolfie and Bruno back to the forest. The third skeleton stirrd as if to get up. Lareth, almost laughing, smashed its skull and it was still.

The people of Gold Hill emerged to stare and gawk. There were words written on the skeleton’ shields: WHITE QUEN RISING. Lareth made it clear that the meaning was plain to him, but he left the people of Gold Hill to speculate, seeking the private consultation of Wolfgang and Gerrilynn. “We need to do something soon,” he said. “We don’t want the White Queen to arrive here and . . .” He pointed at the deputies and local farmers, kicking through the bones “. . .have her think that we’re one of them.”

Wolfgang introduced Raquelle and Mapper to Lareth. He was very glad to meet them, and interested to know where they were from. “Not around here, I am sure?”

Amidst discussion about what to do about the White Queen, Wolfgang expressed once more his desire, to “just get out of here, away from these people.” Mapper encouraged the idea, “We could go to Hommelet.”

Lareth was interested. “You are from Hommelet? What’s the news there?”

Wolfgang was also interested. “But I got kicked out of Hommelet.”

“I knew there was something I liked about you,” Lareth said.

But Mapper assured Wolfgang that he would be welcome in Hommelet, that Burne actually needed his help and wanted to talk to him.

Lareth suggested that they should go to Hommelet together—“After we find the White Queen and take care of everything here, Hommelet can be next . . ”

Gerrilynn, as if startled by a disturbing insight, interrupted him, and ended the conversation curtly. “No, I really think we should go now. You can find the White Queen by yourself.”

So sudden and decisive were her words that no one argued and asked for explanation. After a quick last meal, the packing of their few belongings, and settlement of their accounts with the innkeeper, Gerilynn, Wolfgang, Raquelle, and Mapper departed from Gold Hill, turning their steps toward Hommelet. They saw Lareth at the crossroads. When they were nearly out of sight, he called, “Safe travel—and I’ll give my regards to Bandague.”

Lareth's parting comment gave the group much to talk-- and worry about-- over the next few days as they made their overland journey. 

Gerrilynn: "Bandague, I recognize the name . . . who was that?"

Mapper: "There was something oddly familiar about him . . . about Lareth.  I had the feeling he knew who I was."

 

The White Queen's Resting Place

Several days after the undead attack, Wolfgang returned to Gold Hill one morning, hoping to meet the formidable stranger.  He went to the tavern, sat with his friend Gerilynn the Prophet and ordered breakfast.  Soon they were joined by Lareth.  Lareth had heard about Wolfgang's adventures at the White Queen's palace and asked about the books and maps they'd found.  These Wolfgang was happy to share.

Wolfgang's breakfast was interrupted by a pair of deputies.  The Head Constable had his money.  Wolfgang, despite his lingering concern was eager to become rich and went with them to the Constables office.  Gerilynn and Chickie the Stick came along.  The Seargent on duty waved them by the front counter and into the Constable's shadowy council room.  The Constable himself wasn't there, but several other men were.  Wolfgang lost his nerve and announced that he'd overvalued the necklace.  "I meant to say it was worth more like two hundred gold pieces."  Was he sure?  An older men pressed him, asking why he had said the larger amount.  Without explaining, Wolfgang insisted he'd been joking about the extravagant sum.  Now all he wanted to do was leave.

"Sounds like you learned your lesson," came a voice in Wolfgang's ear-- and along with a punch in the back of the neck that sent him sprawling onto the table.  It was the Constable.  "Be off then, and consider that a warning."

Wolfgang hesitated and Gerilynn began to whisper a chant under her breath.  "What's that?" the Constable demanded, drawing his sword.  Gerilynn fell silent.

The Constable asked Wolfgang, "You sure you don't want your money?"  He was wearing the necklace and held it so Wolfgang could see it,  "Are you saying it's a present?  I've got the money waiting for you down in the treasury."

Wolfgang was torn, but Gerilynn pressed on him and at last he stalked out of the Constable's offices, muttering insults as he went.

Lareth was waiting for them at the inn.  He had a sympathetic ear for Wolfgang's misfortune and a chuckle for the young druid's insults about the Constable.  "Don't worry," Lareth said.  "He'll get his come-uppance when the White Queen returns."

Lareth explained that a powerful Queen had ruled that area long before the Constable, long before the gold vein had been discovered and played out, even before the village of Whitkey had been founded and fallen into ruin.  And she, the White Queen was coming back. The Constable, his deputies, all of Gold Hill would either submit to her or be destroyed.

"Was she good or evil?" Gerilynn wanted to know.

Lareth waved this question away. "She could be your enemy-- or he could be the enemy of your enemy-- what more do you need to know?"

From a practical perspective, they needed to know where to find the White Queen's resting place- so that they might be ready to greet her when she returned.  There was a map and they began to study it together.

Wolfgang recognized the symbol of the rising sun in the right corner of the map, it's rays shining on three distinct places.  The Midsummer ray shone on a cross surrounded by a ring of trees.  The Midwinter ray shone on cave at the top of a mountain.  An intermediate ray shone on a spot at the base of the mountain.  A piece of parchment from the White Queen's Palace referred to a key of binding and loosing and of its hiding place.  Wolfgang told Gerilynn and Lareth  about his exploration of Whitkey with Sir Henry and Sir Henry's discovery of a powerful sword.  This sword, the group decided, was the cross marked on the map by the Midsummer dawn.  The next day, the group travelled to Whitkey and Wolfgang brought the others to the grove and the white stone from which Sir Henry had claimed the sword.  Gerilynn surmised that in the right conditions, the morning sun would illuminate the white rock, especially in the days before the grove had been planted and the church built around it.  It seemed unnecessary to puzzle over the full meaning of the map-- it plainly showed the cave (tomb?) lay directly north of the where the sword had been hidden.

But now, for the first time, Gerrilynn and Wolfgang appreciated the implied scale of the map.  While the immediate area was low-lying with some grassy hills, the ground rose to the north.  Gold  Hill, itself was noticeably colder than Whitkey.  But the real mountains-- like those shown on the map, lay beyond any of the roads or trails on which they'd travelled.  The jagged horizon cut by those mountains might be several days away.

The group returned to the Inn at Gold Hill to sleep.  

Wolfgang and the Bad Dream

That night, Wolfgang began to regret putting the Head Constable under a charm. The silver necklace, he considered was obviously worth much less than 5,000 gold pieces. If the HC was gathering sacks of gold to pay for silver, his advisors might realize he was under some kind of spell. Brooding over these faults, Wolfgang wandered out of the inn to breather fresh air, consult the stars, and try to eavesdrop on the drowsy deputies who were on night watch. He was the first to see it—a column of gleaming white figures marching up the path that led into Gold Hill Center. They were animated human skeletons, brandishing rusty swords, and trailed by lumbering zombies. Raising the alarm, Wolfgang made a dash for the woods and the nearby hollow where his animal companions lay hidden. As he reached the trees, he heard the deputies beating the alarm gong. He heard, rising above the general panic, a powerful voice announcing, “I know what to do.” By the time Wolfgang returned with Wolfie and Bruno, most of the skeletons had been destroyed by a a single man, the stranger in black robes named Lareth. He stood in the middle of the marketplace, wielding his Warhammer, surrounded by bones and shattered skulls. About a dozen deputies, crouching behind boulders and tree stumps, took opportunity shots at the advancing zombies. Residents crowded around the entrance to the inn, their panic, gradually overtaken by curiosity and admiration as Lareth destroyed the last of the undead foes. Bruin took down a straggling zombie, but no one noticed. Wolfgang decided not to return to the inn at all that night, but returned to the woods with his animals.

The White Queen's Palace

The Constable wanted to clear more of his land for grazing and planting, but the crumbling ruins of an ancient palace, overgrown and infested with vermin impeded his plans.  For the promise of ten gold pieces each, he assembled a sizeable company of adventurers:

Wolfgang, itinerant druid, and after three months in Gold Hill, nearly a long-term resident

Chronos, druid adept, charged by his leaders to go and check on what that Wolfgang is up to
Thoric, recently appointed Sergeant Constable who had led the successful expedition to the Harpy’s tower
Mark the Magician, who had also established his reputation at the Harpy’s tower
Sir Henry, self-styled knight and bearer of the long-lost Sword of Whitkey
McDowell, good-natured rogue from the mountains
Abner (" Bruiser"), a burly, headstrong warrior
"Thief", An honest, upstanding citizen
Elirond, Servant of the Church of Alyan
Circe, Mysterious Mage with an unknown backstory

The group of adventurers made their way to the ruins, rumored to have been a palace or fortress of the last monarch—a queen— of a long-gone kingdom.  The two-story building was shaped like an X and still generally intact, though overgrown with moss and overshadowed by towering oaks.  At Thoric’s suggestion, they began by circling the structure.

In making their reconnaissance, “Thief” stumbled upon the body of a hobgoblin, killed it seemed, by several puncture wounds.  While puzzling over what had killed the fiend, a hairy, bird-like creature dropped from the trees onto Elirond’s back, and stabbed its long, needle-like beak into his back.  “Get it off me, get it off me!”  Sir Henry drew his sword and neatly cut the bird-thing in two, making the withdraw of the beak a simple matter.  Elirond healed himself and they completed their circuit of the structure.

As there were no other easy entry points, Abner (the Bruiser) shouldered his way in through the front door.  The entire first floor of the structure seemed to be a single large room, dominated by the white marble statue of a beautiful woman.  In exploring the room, McDowell stumbled upon more dead hobgoblins.  Mark spotted the likely killers—giant spiders that patrolled the ceiling right above their heads.  Mark killed one of the spiders while his companions loosed their arrows.

When the spiders were dead, the party looked behind a curtain and found stairs leading both up and down.  They chose to climb up to the top floor of the tower.  In surveying the upper floors, some mebers of the party lingered to rifle through the extensive library, gathering up the most interesting looking maps, scrolls, and books, and Sir Henry found a shield.   In a desk, Wolfgang found a silver necklace.

Wolfgang also found a room that opened onto a balcony filled with nasty blood-sucking bird things.  Chronos called on the overhanging tree branch to assist him and it did—sending out green branches that ensnared the nasty vermin.  Circe lit a torch.  The green branches did not burn until they were doused with oil.  The bird-things burned more quickly, as did the rotten floor boards, the interior walls, and the dry books and scrolls.

The adventurers returned to Gold Hill to claim their rewards.  The Head Constable paid them and also offered them a free night at the inn.  Wolfgang offered the Head Constable first opportunity to buy the silver necklace, using his magic to make the suggestion that 5,000 pieces of gold would be a fair price.  The Head Constable heartily agreed.  Accepting the necklace, he asked Wolfgang to come to his office the next morning to claim his money.

Wolfgang and the Silence from the Tower

After the catastrophe with the singing bird-woman, Wolfgang committed himself to the mission of destroying it. Gold Hill sent out a plea for assistance and three adventurers heeded the call. Mark the Magician, was lured by rumors that the tower was originally constructed by a powerful wizard; he was told he could keep any magical artifacts recovered from inside. Korito, a lonely ranger of the wilds had tracked the hobgoblins to the area, and offered his services in driving them from the community. Finally, Thoric, exhibited natural leadership and was deputized as a sergeant and given a command of exceptionally brave six deputy constables. The newcomers listened to what Wolfgang had to say about the bird-woman—or as he called her a “harpy.” He explained that her hideous appearance was combine with a beautiful voice such that few men would be able to resist the sound of her singing. His propsed defense was a simple one—candle wax to plug their ears.

The group ventured toward the tower. They plugged their ears with wax as soon as they caught sight of its battlements above the treetops. They reached the tower without seeing anything. And of course, they heard nothing, but could not, without risk, confirm that there was anything to hear.

The tower had huge doors of thick wood, and was barred from the inside. They divided into two parties, with one group remaining to batter the door, while the others, circled the tower from the edge of the clearing. Those circling the tower caught sight of the Harpy peering over the battlements. Mark the Magician blasted her with a bolt of magic energy. She descended on the group and killed one of the deputies, while also sustained several wounds herself. She flew back up to the top of the tower. Covered by the deputy archers, Mark moved to edge of the clearing where he could shott the harpy again. This time, his magic killed her.

Using a combination of vines and ropes, practiced climbing skills and the assistance of others, most of the group climbed to the top of the tower. A few deputies, plus Wolfie the wolf stayed at the bottom. 

At the top of the tower, the group found the Harpy’s nest, a noisome nest of bones and filth. Under the debris, they found a trapdoor leading down into the tower. A couple of the archers removed the wax from their ears; doing so, they heard commotion from below. Hobgoblins had burst out of the bottom of the tower and had put the rearguard to flight. The group on top of the tower surprised the hobgoblins from above, quickly downing all of them. But very soon after, more hobgoblins attacked from inside the tower. But again, the heroes had the advantage of position. Mark directed his magic at the very large hobgoblin who seemed to be the leader. That monster’s sudden death put the others to flight. The party tended their own wounded, and ensured that their fellows on the ground had secured their position at the bottom of the tower. 

They were surprised to find no sign of hobgoblins in the first two stories of the tower. They found the undisturbed furnishings of the former inhabitant—even several portraits of the wizard himself. They made a careful room and deduced that a secret room existed somewhere in those top floors. They were not, however, able to find an entrance.

And of course, there were still hobgoblins to contend with. Attacking the hobgoblins from above and below, Wolfgang and his fellows quickly killed the remaining hobgoblins. They looted the chief’s treasure. The deputies noted several items that had once belonged to their fellows who had been ambushed in the forest. The group returned to Gold Hill in triumph, to be feted and rewarded by the Head Constable and the people of the community.

The next day, Kiroto and Wolfgang discussed their adventures with Gerilynn. She asked about what treasure they had found in the Harpy’s nest and they realized that in the heat of the moment, they had forgotten to search thoroughly. The trio proposed to the Constables’ office that another group should make an expedition to the tower. The Head Constable praised them for their valor the previous day, but reminded them that the tower was under his jurisdiction. He would not send more men with them and in fact he forbid them from returning on their own. Gerilynn made a show of agreeing, but of course, the three adventurers decided they would disobey the HC and return to the tower alone. A quick trip to the top of the tower and back was likely to yield great profit with little risk. On their way out of Gold Hill, they were pursued by a single deputy. Delta, one of their comrades from the previous day, said he wanted to go with them. He didn’t want pay, he wanted a full share of whatever they found. Admiring his spirit and his frankness, they agreed.

The plan went as expected. On the way there, Topher asked for Kiroto’s assistance in dealing with some giant bees. Kiroto agreed, but the others convinced the ranger that recovering the treasure ensuring that there weren’t any more hobgoblins was more pressing.

Reached the tower, the group climbed up the outside as before. They fought off the giant flies that were devouring the harpy’s corpse and searched her nest. They collected hundreds of silver coins and also found a small pouch full of garnets.

Back in Gold Hill, things didn’t go so smoothly. Delta collected his share before they reached town and took off down the highway. Gerilynn, reading his cue, returned to town, but retired to her room at the inn. Kiroto and Wolfgang headed straight for the trading post to sell the gems and buy new weapons. The would-be sellers were ushered to a back room, and they were soon joined by the Head Constable and several deputies. Belligerent at first, Wolfgand and Kiroto at last had no choice, but to admit the obvious. They agreed to pay a “tax” on their unauthorized treasure-hunting. They proceeded to sell the remains of their booty and Kiroto acquired a new bow, but on both sides, good will was replaced by suspicion.

Wolfbang and the Song from the Tower

After a couple quiet days in Gold Hill, Chickie told Wolfbang that he had decided to stay a bit in Gold Hill. Following some conversations with Brau, he had come to understand that he was risking his lif to little purpose. While Wolfbang may be destined to do great things, he, Chickie, was replaceable. Not completely replaceable. Not replaceable to himself, and that was why he was choosing a new life, assisting Brau in the Divine Workshop. He was going to become an assistant blacksmith. Wolfbang protested- he did value Chickie’s contribution to the group’s efforts. But Chickie was sure: “This is where I need to be now.” The conversation was interrupted by a deputy’s announcement on behalf of the Head Constable, summoning the following individuals, should they be in the vicinity of the Gold /hill trading post or at their earliest convenience, to the office of the Head Constable for Gold Hill and the associated domain, one druid named Wolfgang, Gerilynn, Priestess of Raud, Vulpio. And that’s all.”

The constables were in a serious mood, following the lead of the Head Cobstable, who introduced the party to “Falcon, probably my best seargent, probably the one man who knows this area better than any other man.” Falcon had gone on patrol that morning with a group of eight men. Unlike the other seargents, Falcons liked to lead his patrols beyond the main road and well-traveled side paths, to seek out traces of hidden threats before those threats manifest themselves as something larger and more dangerous. That morning, he’d taken his men off the track completely, into the forest above Topher’s orchard. They were ambushed by beastmen, armed with swords and crossbows, armored for war. His lightly-armed scouts were outmatched, and those few who returned alive were lucky to do so. He needed a new group to return to the forest, to retrieve the bodies of his fallen men and to find out where the monsters were coming, why they had come. He had heard stories about some brave newcomers, about their success against evil and powerful foes. He wanted to ask them, as a group and individually, Wolfbang, Gerilynn, Vulpio, to lead a group of deputies on a scouting mission. After a little negotiation, all three agreed. By mid-morning, they had set off, in the company of seven deputies.

They followed the path past the Buseys homestead and reached Topher’s orchard. Topher offered them a taste of his cider and they lingered until early afternoon. Beyond Topher’s the track disappeared in the forest, and they wandered on the edge of the trees, not certain what they were seeking or if they actually wanted to find it. Vulpio stumbled upon the dead body of one of the monsters described by Falcon. It looked more muscular and powerful than the average man and had a green tint to its skin and features that looked not just ugly, but evil.

Gerilynn found heavy tracks that she reasoned were those of the monster’s comrades. These led deeper into the forest and higher into the rocky hills. As they climbed, the party glimpsed above the trees the top a ruined tower. They fell silent, listening to beautiful, unearthly singing that seemed to come from the top of the tower. Gerilynn urged caution, but few of the others heeded her. The laggards picked up their pace and two deputies sprinted ahead of her. She hastened to follow. As the group reached the tower, those who arrived first circled around it, searching for a way up. On one side they found several vines and began to climb. Gerilynn used her magic to hold Wolfgang and Vulpio in place and she did her best to persuade the deputies not to climb the vines. They didn’t even seem to hear her. All but two scaled the tower. They climbed with remarkable agility and soon reached the top. Despairing of what else to do, Gerilynn, with difficulty, followed them.

As she had expected, the source of the beautiful music was a vicious-looking creature, a woman with talons and wings of a vulture. The deputies stood around, mouths gaping, entranced by her singing.

Gerilynn attacked, calling on Raud to smite the foul creature with a hammer of righteousness. The bird-woman was struck by the spiritual hammer, and attacked Gerilynn, tearing the priestess with its talons as took to the air. Gerilynn realized she could not survive a fight alone with the creature and began to climb back down the vine. The bird-woman made another swipe at Gerilynn as it returned to its nest on the top of the tower, but did not otherwise hamper her retreat.

Back on the ground, Gerilynn freed Vulpio and Wolfgang from the transfixion spell she had placed on them. Free to move their limbs once more, they both rushed to climb the vines. Happily, they were, compared to the deputies, not very good climbers. Gerilynn climbed after them and pulled them down. After multiple falls onto the rocky ground, both men finally regained their senses. Giving up on the bird-woman’s still enraptured audience at the top of the tower, Gerilynn, Vulpio, and Wolfbang, plus the two strong-willed deputies who had not climbed the tower, returned to Gold Hill.

They gave a report to the Head Constable but did not claim any reward.

Wolfbang and the Bears

Wolfgang, Gerilynn, Vulpio, and Chickie continued to explore the Gold Hill area. They came upon other remnants of the area’s past. These included a dilapidated barn infested with giant bees and a once ostentatious, now ruined graveyard haunted by skeletons, zombies, and likely worse things. Nahnyuk forbade Valu from leaving the homestead. And he instructed Wolfbang to sell his donkey, intimating that ownership of domesticated animals compromised a man’s own wildness. (Wolfgang did tearfully sell the donkey at the Gold Hill trading post. Chickie bought it back.)

During the weeks they lived on Nahnyuk’s farm, they learned that he never harvested more than a frugal sample of his grapes and honey, though with proper equipment he might have a very profitable operation. Valu had explained that it was “for the bears.” People at the trading post—Brau, the traders, the constables—all confirmed that Nahnyuk never sold his harvest. One evening, near the end of the season, when the grapes were beginning to fall off the vine, and when the warm, still air was thick with their, sweet, winey smell, half a dozen black bears lumbered out of the woods, and through the briars to feast. They began in the vinyards, tearing down the vines as they devoured the fruit, crushing more feet than they consumed. The bears moved from the vinyards to the apiaries. As the invaders knocked over one of the hives and began shovelling honey and bees into their mouths, Nahnyuk scolded the onlookers, urging them into their huts. Wolfbang and the others listened to the buzzing of angry bees and the triumphant humming of the ravaging bears. When the sun set completely and darkness settled over the homestead, the bears finished gorging themselves and returned to the forest.

The next morning, Nahnyuk set Valu, Wolfbang, and the others to work. They righted the overturned hives, and they replaced broken vine poles. The sun was hot and the work was hard, but they were motivated by a sense of purpose. (Except for Valu, who was especially sulky and often absent.)

Late in the afternoon, the bears returned. There were more this time, and they were more deliberate, finding a tangle of half-wild grape vines that they’d missed the first time, and thoroughly tearing apart the hives. Again, they stayed until nightfall.

The next morning, Nahnyuk gave the same instructions to repair the bears’ damage. Or, as Gerilynn saw it, prepare another feast for bad-mannered guests who took no notice of proper table settings. So instead, first chance they got, Wolfbang and his friends followed Valu’s example and slunk off, certain they could find another way to spend the day.

So they returned to the ruined graveyard! On a previous visit, the party had encountered walking skeletons. These macabre constructs stood as guardians on the column-lined processional that bisected the graveyard. The party had fought and destroyed several of these on the day before the bears’ first visit; all were happy to discover that these bones had been laid to final rest at last. Other skeletons, from the other side of the graveyard, were driven away when Gerilynn presented the holy symbol of Raud. While Gerilynn held the skeletons at bay, the rest of the party approached a large tomb at the east end of the graveyard. There was a door in the tomb and the door was open. The party entered, Gerilynn still warding the skeletons. When Vulpio, Chickie, and Wolfbang entered the dark vault, zombies emerged from all sides. The living intruders raised their weapons to defend themselves against the undead attackers. Gerilynn turned to present her holy symbol to these new enemies—the zombies clambered back off the walls and into their individual tombs.

But now the skeletons, seized their advantage and began to advance across the graveyard. Gerilynn instructed her friends to prepare to fight the zombies, and as the skeletons neared her, she turned on them once more, calling on her faith in Raud to keep the walking bones away from her.

This time her friends were prepared to fight the zombies, assailing the animated corpses as they emerged from their cubicles. Showing neither fear nor pain, the zombies sustained the blows without flinching; those not destroyed clubbed the party with their rotten limbs. When the zombies pressed too hard, and Chickie and Vulpio had both suffered solids blows, Gerilynn once again turned her back on the skeletons and once again sent the zombies into hiding.

The skeletons moved much faster than the zombies and the party had but a moment to catch their breath before they had to face the zombies once more. Spot the dog and Wolfie were called into the tomb to assist their human companions. Spot, like a dog, gave all. He was killed by the last and largest of the zombies, just as the walking corpse was sent to its final rest by Vulpio’s crushing war hammer.

Gerilynn healed the party’s wounded, and all prepared to meet the skeletons, gathering rocks, fragments of headstones. The skeletons approached close enough to be destroyed by a volley of thrown missiles.

The party’s reward, if any, wasn’t found in the tomb. A rusty axe was their only trophy. Wolfbang observed there were other large burial monuments, but Gerilynn firmly opposed any thoughts of further exploration. They had all been injured by the zombies, Gerilynn was exhausted from warding the undead powers, and unless they returned immediately, they wouldn’t reach home until after dark.

So they returned to Nahnyuk’s homestead. The bears were there, and their bacchanal was bigger, louder, and more destructive than ever, but the party paid them little attention, collapsing into sleep before the party ended.

Did the ursine rampage go the whole night? Surely no, Vulpio was later say that once during the night he was awakened by the pounding in his head and heard nothing outside the hut. Nevertheless, it was bears and not headaches that awakened the party in the morning. They were close, very close. The crashing sound was that of a stone wall collapsing. They were not overturning beehives, but breaking into a hut. Valu screamed. Geriynn emerge in time to see a huge black bear, standing on its hind legs, tall as a grizzly, and holding Valu to its body. Gerilynn rushed to attack it, but two other bears blocked her away. As the others—Vulpio, Wolfbang, Chickie—emerged from their huts, Nahnyuk, standing in his own doorway, ordered them back inside. Vulpio ignored him and attacked the bears that had attacked Gerilynn. At first the bears simply avoided his blows, but after Vulpio’s war hammer connected solidly with a bear’s snout, they both attacked him with ferocity, swatting him back and forth with their claws until he fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the large bear carried Valu nto the forest. His screams became more distant. Gerilynn did not follow, but instead tried to help Vulpio. The bears relented and followed the larger bear into the forest. Gerilynn tended to Vulpio. He was battered, but not seriously wounded.

Nahnyuk did not offer any explanation for the bear’s behvior. He was subdued and showed no interest in repairing his homestead or in rescuing Valu. 

Gerilynn convinced the others that they should track the bears. They put on their armor, ate a quick breakfast, and set off. Gerilynn found the bear tracks easy to follow nd the party made their way through the forest for several hours, generally in a westward direction. In the afternoon, near a large briar patch, they met a man. Big and tall, with a thick black beard, this man was as wild as Nahnyuk in appearance, but he met the party with a clear gaze and understandable speech. Yes, he had seen some bears, and he thought he knew which way they had gone. He led the party north, first down the ridge toward the road, then across the road and up the ridge toward Gold Hill. Here, as dusk was falling, the stranger announced that he had lost the trail. “But normally, if bears do things, it’s for a purpose.”

The party spent the night at the Inn. Brau agreed that if Valu had been taken aay by bears he must be very frightened, but could give them little practical advice. A few off-duty constables overheard the conversation, and waited until Brau had returned to the kitchen to give their own advice: “Be careful what you tell that Brau woman, everyone knows she’s a witch.”

The next morning, the party reported Valu’s disappearance to the constable’s office. The deputies promised to send out additional patrols.

The party returned to Nahnyuk’s homestead They found Nahnyuk in his hut, and his bed, dead, and looking very peaceful. Chickie and Vulpio made a report at Gold Hill, and soon returned with Brau and one of her acolytes, plus the Head Constable and several of his deputies. Wolfbang and Brau conducted a burial service. Someone remarked that the land on which Nahnyuk had been living belonged to the Constable. The Constable assented, and announced his plans to “turn the plan to productive use—but no need to talk about that right now.” He assured Wolfgang & co that they continue to stay on the land “for the time being.”

The next day, Gerilynn convinced the otersthat they should resume their search for Valu. /they followed the same westward path that they’d followed the day before, This time, when they reached the briar patch, they stayed to investigate, and came across two berry-stained bears lounging in the sun. Wolfbang sent the others away and spoke to the bears. They knew about the boy and knew that he had gone with the big bears. The big bears lived on the top of the high ridge. They didn’t know why the big bears wanted to take Valu.

The party spent another night at the Inn. Wolfbang didn’t like the idea because of the deputies’ rumors about Brau. He was out voted, but he didn’t sleep well, and when he saw a cat in his room, his screaming woke up the others. Two of Brau’s assistants came running. Meanwhile the cat had disappeared. The assistants assured Wolfgang tat plenty of cat roamed Gold Hill and sometimes they wandered into guests’ rooms to beg food. After the sleepy assistants returned to their quarters, the cat returned, and showed himself to be Jaroo. Resuming human form, an impatient Jaroo suggested that Wolfbang should leave the bears alone and instead consider the question of who would guard the grove in Whitkey? Deflecting questions from Gerilynn, Jaroo assumed the form of a lizard and scuttled off into the shadows.

Gerilynn was not yet ready to give up. Remembering the briar patch bears’ information that the big bars lived on the high ridge, she suggested that the party venture into areas they had no yet explored. Besides the main path that led from Gold Hill back down into the valley, there were other, more narrow tracks that led higher into the hills. Choosing one of these, they travelled for about an hour until they came upon a sprawling homestead and a pair of goat herders, surrounded by their goats. These men introduced themselves as members of the Busey family. They did see bears from time to time, but did not see any bears traveling with a bear and had no interest in discovering where the local bears made their home. They showed little interest in conversation until Chickie mentioned their combat with the evil magician. The Buseys showed restrained interest in hearing more and invited the party to one of their houses for lunch.

The party joined their hosts for a simple, but large meal, during which other members of the extended family visited to hear about Valu in the bears. No one pretended to have any useful information. In time, the Busey clan revealed that they were concerned about the disappearance of one of their own. A young man named Hem had long shown that he had little aptitude for any of the tasks associated with keeping goats. Instead, he had studied ark magic and recently apprentice himself to a traveling magician. The Buseys were glad to know that the magician himself was dead, and said quick quiet prayers of thanks when they heard that in the midst of the fighting, Gerilynn had spared the lives of at least two of the magician’s compatriots. Based on his description, one of them may have been Hem. Maybe he would return one day or maybe he had heeded Gerilynn’s advice to go away and find a better life.

But the Buseys wanted more than hope, they wanted closure. Three men of the clan asked the arty to take them to Whitkey and show them where the battle took place. The party agreed.

There was little to show. The body of the magician as gone. There were no other dead. The party didn’t tell the Buseys about the wolves who laired in one of the ruined houses and who had scavenged the magician. Nevertheless, the Buseys were grateful to the party. Thy took their leave, promising to be on the lookout for Valu.

The party stayed in Whitkey, reasoning that they could not remain at Nahnyuk’s place indefinitely. Some of the buildings looked habitable. One of the most stable houses was at last ruled unsuitable because it was so dark, being thoroughly overgrown with vines and twisted trees. The inn, Gerilynn discovered, had a weak floor. She crashed through it into the cellar and was attacked by rats the size of cats. Wolfbang let a rope and Chickie came to her aid. Moving to the outskirts of the village, the party noticed the ruins of a tower on top of a rocky outcropping. They climbed the outcopping to investigate and found a hole in the rubble. As they began to light a torch to investigate, a greenish, clawed, undead thing burst out of the hole and attacked them. It as both faster and hardier than the zombies, and most terrifying of all, its toxic touch caused near instant paralysis. Both Vulpio and Gerilynn soon found their limbs frozen. The undead thing suffered wounds from Wolfbang’s spear and Chickie’s axe, but it seemed to barely bleed. Then Chickie was caught by a clawd hand and he too was frozen. For a moment, Wolfbang considerd flight, But then Wolfie clamped his jaws around the undead thing’s leg and pulled it to the ground. Wolfbang took this moment to plunge his spear through the undead thing’s chest and pin it to the ground, holding it there until it stirred no more.

Wolfbang draggd his friends down off the outcrop. After an hour or so, they recovered from their paralysis and they all returned to Gold Hill for the safety of the Inn.