BOOK THREE  














*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories 
*  is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will
*  be used or sold for profit.  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 7th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 8th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 7th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   6/12/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   early morning
Place:  Havenhill, in the Principality of Ulek
--------------------------------------------------------------------


                     XXXIX.  Oh, no!  Not Again!



  The party just spent several weeks training, spending money, and
in general living it up as a result of their recent activities.
One fine morning, they were awakened in their guest bedrooms in
the king's castle by a royal messenger boy.

boy:  Excuse me.  Excuse me! 
Belphanior:  (instantly awakens and bolts out of his bed, sword
  drawn)  Huh?!?!  What the hell?
boy:  I SAID, excuse me!
Mongo:  (rubbing his eyes)  This had better be good...(the others
  are all waking up now)
Ged:  <yawn>
boy:  I am a messenger from the Baron Trevor!
Ged:  Oh, yes.  He was the one whose kidnapped daughter we had
  inadvertently rescued from that fortress.
Mongo:  Hey, that was a lot of fun.
Belphanior:  You don't say.
Alindyar:  Ah, yes.  The fireball...
Rob:  (tangled up in his covers)
Peyote:  It's way too early for this, man.
Halbarad:  So, what brings you here this morning, friend?
Belphanior:  Yeah.  What the hell do you want?
boy:  The Baron requests your company.  The matter is urgent, for
  his daughter has been kidnapped once more!
Mongo:  Say WHAT?!?
Halbarad:  It cannot be!
boy:  But it is!
Ged:  How in Boccob's name did that happen?
Belphanior:  Oh boy, oh boy!  Someone to kill...
boy:  On the eve of her wedding night, which as all know was to
  be tonight-
Rob:  Hey, _I_ didn't know that.
boy:  -our dearest princess was taken from her bedchamber by a
  winged monstrosity!
Peyote:  No way!
boy:  Way.  The Baron is heartbroken.
Mongo:  Hm.  Lemme guess, he wants US to go and find her?
boy:  That is correct.  As you are now the premier heroes in the
  land, your party is the only sensible choice in the matter.
Rob:  Sensible?  Yes.  Up to the task?  Perhaps not.
Peldor:  (to Rob)  Good going, priest.  We need to hold out until
  he offers us the most money.
Rob:  ...
Ged:  Of course we will help.
Alindyar:  Shall we?
Halbarad:  Of course we shall!
Belphanior:  Well, there is the small matter of...compensation.
Peldor:  For out time, trouble, and risk of death, you see.
boy:  Of course.  Follow me to the Baron's manor and he shall
  discuss terms with you.
Mongo:  (grumbling)  He'd better have a hot breakfast waiting,
  then!  I'm not ready to get up yet.
Halbarad:  Go forth, boy.  We know where the good baron's house
  is.  We will be along presently.
boy:  Ah.  (scurries off)
Ged:  Here we go again...

  Soon, they were talking matters over with Trevor himself, over
a plentiful breakfast.

Trevor:  ...and so that's about all we know.  This strange, evil
  winged demon flew in and seized my daughter.  First a daylight
  kidnapping by bandits, now this!  What is going on?!
Belphanior:  At the rate you're going, the next time it will be
  a Duke of Hell himself who takes the girl.
Ged:  Hush.  You're not helping any.
Trevor:  Fortunately, the king's court wizards have been of much
  help.  They have scried for her, and found that she is within
  a fortress just inside the Pomarj.
Mongo:  Pomarj?
Belphanior:  Pomarj!
Ged:  There and back again...
Trevor:  But that was all they could do, before their spells of
  scrying were blocked or shattered.  They have also provided
  me with an enchanted arrow, which points to the princess at
  all times of the day or night.  See?  (holds up an arrow by a
  string - it points toward the east)
Rob:  Neat.
Trevor:  We have received no ransom demands, no messages, not
  one damned thing.
Mongo:  Maybe whoever took her is holding out for a while.
Trevor:  I cannot wait for that!  I must have her back!  Won't
  you help me?
Peldor:  What is our salary to be for this task?
Belphanior:  Yes, what?
Trevor:  Eh...um...err...
Peldor:  Come on, spit it out.
Trevor:  Well, my coffers are not very full right now.  I can
  only offer you ten thousand coins of gold.
Belphanior:  Ten thousand?!  Is that it?
Peldor:  Hmm, I have a lot of work to do here in town.  Could
  take weeks...
Ged:  Oh come now.  Monetary gain should not be our only form
  of motivation.  What of the doing of a good deed?
Peyote:  What of rescuing an innocent maiden from certain doom?
Alindyar:  What of the countless magical items and spells that
  such an evil winged demon, or the sorceror who controls it,
  is certain to possess?
Mongo:  Don't forget the great battles that we're sure to have!
Belphanior:  Items of magic...?  I had forgotten about those...
Peldor:  Hmm.
Trevor:  Well, I can try to locate something else of value to
  add on to that sum.  Something like magical items, weapons,
  armor, scrolls, potions...Hmm.  It could happen.
Peyote:  And monkeys-  oh, never mind.
Halbarad:  We accept your generous offer.
Peldor:  We do?!?
Ged:  And we shall leave today!
Peldor:  We shall?!?
Belphanior:  Oh, come on!  It will be great fun!
Peldor:  It will?!?
Trevor:  I cannot express my relief enough.
Belphanior:  Just have our reward waiting for us when we bring
  her back.
Peldor:  Umm...yeah.

  And so, the noble and self-sacrificing band prepared themselves
for another mission.  The Baron was able to pull a few strings 
with a local church, and procured ten flasks of powerful healing
potions for the party to take.  They bought new horses, stocked
up on supplies and rations, and left before noon.

Alindyar:  This ensorcelled arrow guides our way well.
Ged:  Yea...I sure hope that these holy healing potions were
  blessed by a god of Good.
Belphanior:  I sure hope that the baron has a decent reward for
  us when we return.  Otherwise, I'll have to keep his daughter
  and ransom her myself.
Halbarad:  You most certainly will not!
Belphanior:  Will too!
Ged:  Will not!
Belphanior:  Will too!
Mongo:  Hey guys, stuff it, okay?  Let's get where we're going
  and save our wrath for the kidnappers.
Rob:  (talking to his horse)
Ged:  I can see that this is going to be almost as much fun as
  last time.
Halbarad:  Let us ride.  (they do)
Belphanior:  Hey, wait!  Who are those?

  An armed contingent of Ulek's finest accompanied the party as
far as the border (the southern branch of the Jewel River) where
they paid some peasant to use his boat to ferry them across.  At
this point, the troops wished the party good luck and rode back
to the west.  
  The group rode for five days through the now-familiar stubby
grasslands that were the Pomarj.  One night, they were beset by
gigantic wolves (much to the wolves' eventual woe).  Another
night, a force of goblins attacked, and was summarily eliminated.
Such encounters were becoming trivial at best for this party by
now, especially with such mighty spells as fear, confusion, and 
lightning bolt at their disposal. 
  Finally, the arrow was pointing in the same direction without
any deviation; they knew that they were getting close.  They 
entered a range of largish hills, and before too long, the dark,
hulking form of a massive hill, almost a mountain, was visible.
Cut from the very rock of this land formation was a pair of tall
towers.  There was a large, drawbridge-type door between them at
ground level; it looked about ten feet wide and twice as high.
The towers rose about fifty feet above the party, while the peak
itself rose over three hundred feet.  Some vague figures manned
the tower tops.  There was a single barred window about halfway
up in each tower.  The rock faces around the towers and the door
were rough and sheer.  The enchanted arrow was unmoving as it
pointed steadily toward this place.

Halbarad:  We shall stay here for a time.  It would not do well
  for us to be spotted by yonder guards.
Mongo:  Fuck 'em!  I wonder if I could hit them from here, with
  my hammer.
Peyote:  In case you haven't noticed, dude, it's getting dark
  out here.  I say we go in when it's _totally_ dark.
Peldor:  Yah.  Good plan.
Belphanior:  Suits me.
Alindyar:  And I as well.
Mongo:  I bet I _could_ hit them up there.
Ged:  I could try to open the drawbridge magically.
Alindyar:  I am wondering if those guards have seen us down here.
Halbarad:  Ged, I will cover you while you work on getting that
  door open.  Shall we wait, say, thirty more minutes?
Ged:  Okay.  (digs out his spellbook)  Just let me know.
Mongo:  This waiting business is too much!  I want action and I
  want it now!
Peyote:  Quiet, dude.  You'll ruin everything.

soon...

Ged:  (creeping up to the drawbridge)
Halbarad:  (with the elf, watching all around)
others:  (just watching from their cover about a hundred feet back)
Ged:  (whispering)  shh.  we're at the drawbridge now.  i'll see 
  what i can do.  (begins casting his spell quietly)
Halbarad:  check.
Ged:  (concentrating on the portal)  ...

  The massive drawbridge creaked as its chains began to unreel...

Ged:  this is almost too easy.
Halbarad:  i agree.  that bridge is too loud.  someone should have
  oiled it properly.

  The drawbridge suddenly moved faster, as the Knock spell simply
displaced the teeth that held the coiled chains in place, but
failed to make any provision for the bridge to open softly.  The
massive, wooden, iron-bound slab fell to the ground with a loud
<THUMP> as dust and dirt billowed about!

Ged:  oh shit.
Halbarad:  however could we have been so stupid?
Ged:  why are we whispering?
Halbarad:  i don't know.

  Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared at the ten-foot wide, twenty
foot high opening revealed by the fallen drawbridge.  

mage:  You were foolish to come here!  Now pay the price!  (points
  at the pair, and a cloud of noxious gas came into existance all
  around them)  Such is the fate of all who dare to challenge us!
Ged:  <cough>  (reeling in nauseation) 
Halbarad:  <gag>  (likewise)

nearby...

Belphanior:  Oh shit!  There's a mage, and he just gassed them!
  (stands up)  Death!
Mongo:  Hold on!  (grabs the elf and hurls him out of the way)
  Stay out of my way!  (hurls his hammer at the figure, but
  misses, possibly because of the long range involved)  Fuck!
  I never miss!
Peyote:  Well, you've missed now, dude.
Belphanior:  Don't do that again.  (moves out of the rocky
  outcropping they've been hiding behind)  Uh-oh!  Incoming!

  With that warning, the elf leaped to one side as a forked 
bolt of lightning rocketed toward the group...





next time:  The party suffers the ill effects of high voltage,
  but lives to fight a mage and his ogres

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  I am sorry that this episode is so short.  Times are tough.  
  The survey results will appear at the end of the next posting, that
is, part 40.  They are interesting to say the least.
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories 
*  is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will
*  be used or sold for profit.  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 7th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 8th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 7th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   6/18/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   shortly after nightfall
Place:  an unmapped hill fort in the western edge of the Pomarj
--------------------------------------------------------------------


                     XL.  Breaking In



  The party was trying to get into a fortress carved from a rugged
hill/mountain at night, when...

Belphanior:  Incoming!

  With that warning, the elf leaped to one side as a forked 
bolt of lightning rocketed toward the group...

Mongo:  Holy shit!

                           _KRAK-OW!!!_

Alindyar:  Eep.  (not really in the forefront of the party, he
  is only slightly shocked, though knocked to the ground by the
  force of the blast)
Belphanior:  (manages to dodge the brunt of the blow due to his
  speed, but is still blasted)  Yagh!  You'll die for that!
Mongo:  (slow as always, he is caught full force by the bolt)
  ARGH!
Peldor:  (escapes serious harm)  Whoa...
Peyote:  (caught by most of the blast)  Electrifying!
Rob:  (escapes serious harm)  Ow!

meanwhile, in the midst of the stinking cloud...

Halbarad:  <cough>
Ged:  <retch>

meanwhile, back outside the cloud...

sorceror:  (just in the gateway exposed by the lowered drawbridge)
  Ha ha!  All of you shall die!  (begins casting another spell); he
  is about a hundred feet from the main party, while Halbarad and
  Ged and their gas cloud are about thirty feet from him)
Peldor:  (goes invisible)  I'll see if I can sneak up on that guy
  and put him out of our misery.  (leaves)
Peyote:  Hey, good idea, man.  (slips on his ring and also turns
  invisible, but stays nearby)  The invisible part, I mean.
Alindyar:  (starts casting a spell)
Belphanior:  (starts casting a spell too)  Better stay back for 
  now.  Another lightning bolt like that will get me for good.
Rob:  (casting a spiritual hammer)  Maybe I can hit him.
Peyote:  That's one major evil dude, there.  (draws his sword)
sorceror:  Too late, fools!  (launches magic missiles at the party)
Alindyar:  Ugh.  (hit by one missile, spell ruined)  Damn him.
Belphanior:  Agh!  (hit by another missile, spell ruined)  Fuck!
Rob:  Ouch!  (hit by a third missile, spel ruined)  Darnit!
Peyote:  Smart evil dude, too.
Mongo:  Ignore ME, will you?!?!  (throws his hammer at the mage,
  hitting him and knocking him over)  Hah!
Peyote:  Hey, good shot.
Mongo:  Thanks.  That'll teach him!
Belphanior:  (draws his sword)  Cover me, I'm going in.  (starts
  moving toward the gate)  We'd better take that bridge before
  somebody pulls it back up.
Mongo:  (catches his returning hammer)  Hey, be careful.
sorceror:  (gets up)  You'll DIE for that, dwarf!  (starts casting
  another spell)
Alindyar:  We really need to silence that man.
Mongo:  I agree.  (throws his hammer again, hitting the man in the
  doorway and knocking him back down)  Good enough?
Peyote:  He's not standing up again...
Alindyar:  Would you?
Peyote:  Good point.
Rob:  I think he's out for good over there...
Mongo:  Let's go find out.  (catches his hammer as it comes back)

  They quickly advanced on the fortress entrance.  As they passed
the (slowly dissipating) stinking cloud, there was a cry from the
sorceror's area.  A number of ogres were in that vicinity, and the
drawbridge was being raised.

Belphanior:  There's at least a dozen ogres there.  I wonder where
  Peldor is?
Alindyar:  (to the ogres)  Halt!
Mongo:  They're not listening, drow...(throws his hammer at one of
  the ogres, hitting it)  Hah!
ogre:  Argh!
Peyote:  If they get that drawbridge up, we're through...
Alindyar:  'Twill not happen...(casts a fireball at the gate)
ogres:  Huh?  AAA!

                            WHOOOOOSH!!

  The massive ball of flame exploded beyond the gate, torching
all of the ogres and the mage's body as well.  Rock and rubble
flew everywhere...the force of the explosion blew away the gas
cloud that was making Halbarad and Ged sick, and they stumbled
around, gagging.

Peyote:  Hoo boy!  You've done it now!
Belphanior:  I sure hope that Peldor hadn't gotten inside of
  there yet...
Rob:  But he was invisible!  We'll never find the body!
Mongo:  Won't matter much, with the heat that the fireball made.
  No body left to find...
Peldor:  (materializes)  I am here.  Any fool could have seen
  what was going to happen to those ogres.
Mongo:  Yeah, you're right.
Alindyar:  (regarding the ruined entrance)  Well, I suppose that
  is one mage whose spellbooks shall not be recovered...
Ged:  (coughing)  Huk.  What in Boccob's name is going ON here?!?
Belphanior:  Nothing much.  We just torched the whole entryway.
Halbarad:  Wonderful.
Ged:  Well, I suppose we'd better make the most of it.
Mongo:  Right on!  (charges for the smoking, jagged entrance)
Peyote:  At least this fortress won't be on fire.  It's made of
  stone, unlike the last one we fireballed.
Belphanior:  Enough talk.  Let's go!  

  They made their way to the shattered doorway.  Various bits 
and pieces of ogres were lying about.  There was a blackened
hallway beyond, and the entire back wall (with a throne/chair
at the end on a raised platform) had been blown over, revealing
a larger chamber behind.



                THE FIRST FEW ROOMS OF THE FORTRESS:

             BEFORE                                 AFTER

                                  N
             ______              W+E               ______
          __|      |__            S             __|      |__
       __|            |__                    __|            |__
    __|                  |__              __|                  |__
 __|                        |__        __|                        |__
|                              |      |         Radius of Soot       |
/                              /      /              |               /
|__                          __|      |__            v             __|
   |__                    __|            |__       ......       __|
      |__              __|                  |__ ..:    . :.. __|
         |__        __|                        |__  , <{" __|
            |______|                              |,;>"^~|  <- Rubble
            |  \/  |  <---- Throne & Back Wall    |  , ^ |
            |      |                              |      |
            |      |                              |      |
            |      |                              |      |    
            |      |                              |      |
            | o o  |                              |      |
            |_oooo_|                              |_    _|    
              |o.|o  <-- Ogres                      |  |
              oooo
               ^---- Drawbridge doorway -------------^


  Such was the extent of the damage wrought by Alindyar's fireball
spell.  As there were doors to the left and right, the group chose
to check these out first.  They picked the left doorway, and went
through it only to be met by a charging group of seven yelling and
angry ogres.





next time:  Into the dungeons... 

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  When something like a lightning bolt hits the party, you can
watch their reactions to determine whether they made their saves or
not.  That's all I really use those reactionary statements for - to 
rationalize how an individual could escape certain death by a bolt
of lightning...
  I didn't intend for the party to blow away the ogres and the whole
two big rooms behind them, though.  
  I have been having problems posting, since the :r FILENAME utility
isn't working right.  I got part 39 posted two days late by replying
to my post saying I couldn't post the whole story; the reply allowed
me to include the file and thus all was well.  We'll see what happens
today, with this posting.
  Sorry that this and the last posting have been so short.  At least
this one has something more...see below.   
***********************************************************************


Here are the results of the "Most Favorite/Least Favorite" 
poll that I conducted between episodes 38 and 40.  This
document will appear within part 40, but I am putting it
on tybalt by itself as well. 

>-

CHARACTER           + VOTES           - VOTES 

Alindyar              5.5               0.0
Belphanior            4.0               1.0
Ged                   2.0               3.0
Halbarad              0.0               7.0
Mongo                 6.5               1.0
Peldor                7.5               3.0
Peyote                1.5               5.0
Rob                   2.0               8.0 

Undecided             0.0               1.0


TOTALS               29.0              29.0     (a double check...)


   * Honorable Mention : Krug got one positive vote, but he's
       not a candidate anymore...

>-

  At first I insisted on only whole number votes but eventually gave
in to half-votes.  There are two ways to rank the results; simply for
the hell of it, I have done both below.
  These votes only reflect what I have received up to now, Sunday
5/17/92.

>-

METHOD#1 - SIMPLE MAJORITIES

Best Character           Worst Character 
--------------           --------------- 
#1 : Peldor              #1 : Rob    
#2 : Mongo               #2 : Halbarad  
#3 : Alindyar            #3 : Peyote 

>-

METHOD#2 - GOOD VOTES AS A % OF TOTAL VOTES RECEIVED 

Alindyar        5.5/5.5  = 100 %
Mongo           6.5/7.5  =  87
Belphanior      4.0/5.0  =  80
Peldor         7.5/10.5  =  71 
Ged             2.0/5.0  =  40
Peyote          1.5/6.5  =  23 
Rob            2.0/10.0  =  20
Halbarad        0.0/7.0  =   0

>-

DEFINITE RESULTS:

*  People had the most to say about Peldor
*  Peldor was the most popular character, followed by 
     Mongo
*  Those who commented on Alindyar had only good things to
     say about him
*  Halbarad was by far and away the least popular character
*  Alindyar was the only one to get NO negative votes
*  Halbarad was the only one to get no positive votes
*  Using method #2 above, I think that Alindyar had the
     most favorable response, all things considered
*  WINNER: Peldor         LOSER: Rob 


>-

READERS' COMMENTS ABOUT THE INDIVIDUALS (basically verbatim):


ALINDYAR:  Plays neutral well; reserved yet decisive;
interesting attitude toward the group and life; must
be more to him than we have seen so far; laid-back;
unknown details of his life must be interesting; says
"'Tis" too much; intelligent; non-munchkin  

BELPHANIOR:  Interesting; seemed to kill a lot for a
neutral-aligned character; immoral; mean streak; 
corrupted; cynical; completely lacking in morals;
in the middle of all action; mover & shaker in the
group; quirky; nasty; more than a little loony;
"he's the one who will get the whole party into some
bad trouble someday"; versatile  

GED:  Well-played multi-class character; gutsy;
keeps trying to do the right thing; whiner, and
suspicious; gets neat spells; nasty to others
sometimes; unoffical leader of the group; the
best balancing force of good in the group; all
around useful   

HALBARAD:  Too goody-goody; not enough profile or
personality; silent and competent; enigmatic; gets
overshadowed by Ged; not ranger-ish enough; too
low-key; too vague; uninteresting; not fleshed
out enough; good solid character considering
what we've seen of him    

MONGO:  Loves his hammer; good battle and dinner
attitudes; dedicated to the group; dominant; good
approach to dealing with enemies; well-defined;
most type-cast; enthusiastic; tank; great to take
to a party; inspires confidence; "He is to the
party what Terry Pendleton is to the Braves"   

PELDOR:  Good; hands-down sneakiest one; looks
after himself; annoying; keeps the game lively
though some may not like it; arrogant; boasting;
personable; good eye; cocky; backstabbing; self-
serving; contrasts the others; has a personality
all his own; active; well-meaning but covers his
own hide; unethical; interesting; "he is what he
is, but he takes so much joy in it that you can't
help but be swept along"; flamboyant; hilarious;
undeserving of sympathy but a good role-player;
cool; cocky; smart; well-defined; most classic
thief ever; great guy!  

PEYOTE:  Consistent; one-dimensional; slang is
bad; anachronistic; uninteresting and undruidic;
nice speech patterns; affable; exotic; likeable;
"he irritates me"; just hacks away; cares but
not too spectacular    

ROB:  Has an interesting habit of blending into
the nearest wall; pseudo-NPC/potted plant; has
his moments; innocent; ignorant; dedicated to
the group; not as incompetent as he acts; dumb;
never does or says much; humorous, in an unwitting
way; dorky; befuddled; clumsy; deserves and needs
sympathy; least interesting; hard to tell apart
from Ged (!?); unassertive; magical; inquiring;
nice guy who is so naive that you have to like
him; good for a joke; "likeable in a way that 
Dirty Harry, Arnold, etc could never hope to
be"  

>-

  So, what DOES it all mean?  I got a lot of good comments
during this survey.  A lot of readers actually like all of
the characters.  Several expressed interest in seeing all
eight characters' histories, not just the winner and the
loser. 
  Okay, okay.  You win   :)    I'll do them all.  Yes, all
eight adventurers will be profiled soon.  I think I will
devote an entire posting to the profiles, to get them all
together in a single place at a single time.  You must be
warned, though; these will be in prose, not narrative format,
but I never thought my prose was THAT bad...
  This survey taught me a lot about the way I have been 
portraying the characters.  I thank you all.  My comments
on the actual, individual players appear now, below - I am
making these to try and explain some of the character-to-
player relationships.  Perhaps the information below will
help put things in perspective.  

>-   

A DM's COMMENTS ON THE PLAYERS: 

Alindyar:  Okay, his player was an oddball.  He often consumed
  an entire jug of wine during the course of a six-hour night
  of play.  He really did play the character quietly - silent,
  effective, and with a love for illusionary magic.  He also
  took pains not to do anything strongly evil or good, rather
  he was just a sideline observer who contributed his fair share
  to the party.  This player was much older than any of the rest
  of us, and had a lot of good advice for us all. 
    He graduated in late 1989 after being at Tech for over six  
  years.  He is currently working for an architecture firm in
  San Francisco, California.  

Belphanior:  A good friend of mine, that player.  He was fairly
  calm in real life - I think that he used the character to act
  out things he would never really do.  Smart guy, too - he had
  two character sheets, one with all the thief stats deleted so
  that he could leave that sheet visible to throw suspicions of
  his true thiefly nature out the window.  Like Alindyar, this
  player pretty much played his character the way I have shown
  in the postings.  Good role-player.  
    He graduated in 1991 with a CS degree, and works in Atlanta.

Ged:  A very good friend of mine, still in school here.  He set
  out from the start to play Ged as an arrogant, suspicious, and
  quick-to-snap-at-others sort of character.  I know for sure
  that he was (is) extremely pleased with the way he stuck to
  that idea.  Ged intentionally became the party asshole - and
  loved every minute of it.  Some readers have figured out that
  his attitude was meant to be that way, which is good.  He was
  one of the better role-players in the group, too.
    He will graduate in 1993 with an EE degree, and perhaps go
  on to pursue graduate school, perhaps become a professional
  sand volleyball player. 

Halbarad:  This fellow was strange.  He was a die-hard gamer,
  no doubt about it.  He gamed fully twice as much as he went
  to classes or studied.  The guy just did not care about his
  schoolwork.  Anyway, at first, he played Halbarad the ranger   
  fairly well, assuming a leadership position of sorts.  He 
  seemed to be watching out for the party, to make sure that
  they didn't do Evil things.  After a point, though, he never
  seemed to have much to say or do.  Maybe he realized that
  he should have graduated by then, I'm not sure.  I have to
  admit, I have actually made the character appear _better_
  than he really was; yet, he still lost in votes.  I try
  to base his behavior on those first few adventures, when
  he was the most interesting.  
    He actually did graduate, in 1990, with pitiful grades in
  Physics.  I have no idea what he is doing these days, except
  that he has no job and lives somewhere in Atlanta. 

Mongo:  Another of my better friends.  He was a little withdrawn
  but played Mongo the dwarf with great fiery flair.  I think
  that he never missed a gaming session.  I have represented the
  character almost exactly the way he played it, I think, and I
  am glad to see that I can portray one of the best ones so well.
    The player got married in 1991, and graduated in March 1992.
  He is working in the Atlanta area.

Peldor:  With Ged's player, this fellow was my best friend here.
  The three of us constantly go out to eat, to movies, sporting
  events, etc. together - even once to Florida for spring break.
  This player acts just like his character in real life, except
  that he's 90% honest and doesn't steal things.  I have never
  seen him get angry.  Ever.  The job he did of role-playing
  Peldor the thief was the best I have ever seen (and there were
  other very good ones in this party).  Everything you see in my
  postings is something that he really did or said in the games.
  I wish that you could all meet this person.
    He will graduate at the end of 1992 with an AE degree, and
  I wish him the best of luck after that.  He will be the best
  man at my wedding, of that I am sure. 

Peyote:  This person was older than all of us except Alindyar's
  player.  He originally arrived at Tech in fall of 1983, the
  same time as Alindyar's player by the way.  Within a year and
  a half, he had decided that it was not for him, and went into
  the Navy.  He returned to Atlanta in 1988 to finish a degree
  in Sociology at Ga. State.  The player was usually mellow,
  sometimes prone to fits of anger though.  He was also quite
  a major gamer, like Halbarad's player.  Often, though, he
  would complain to me that he wasn't getting enough chances in
  my campaign to do druidic things.  He was right, too.  The
  general uselessness of this character is not feigned in the
  least.  He did have a lax attitude, though, and often drank
  large quantities of beer during a game.  Peldor did this too, 
  but the difference was that he got better as the beer cans
  piled up; Peyote got worse.  I think that he based (bases)
  his life around the 1960's ideas and ideals rather than the
  modern ones.
    The player graduated from Ga. State in 1990 and now works 
  in the Atlanta area.  Together with Halbarad's player and
  Rob's player, he is trying to invent a good frp computer
  game. 

Rob:  Ah, Rob.  Let me start by saying that there was never a
  stranger person.  The player was at LEAST as bad as his 
  character.  He actually did walk into walls.  He would stay
  up all night playing computer games or rpgs and then go into
  a test the next day and ace it, without even studying.  He
  had a strange, computer-like mind - he once wrote a version
  of Tetris, from scratch, overnight.  He would take 23-hour
  quarters (that's about 9 classes, usually) and make all A's.
  The next quarter, he would do the same thing, but make all
  F's.  The guy took a bath about once every three days.  He
  owned an old Mustang that barely ran, and used to take it
  on long trips and have to stop on the interstate to fix some
  new problem.  He could sprint sub-6 minute miles at times,
  yet never exercised.  Truly one of a kind.
    The player missed a lot of games.  This is why he seems to
  be so quiet - often I, or someone else, would have to play
  his character.  The truly stupid things were always done by
  the player, though, like the acid-drinking and the attempt
  to plug the flamethrower.  Many of the other players urged
  me to get rid of him, but I held out hope for the player
  and the character.  He was the first to leave the party;
  you will have to wait a while for the details of that part,
  though.  He also had a bad memory, always forgetting every
  single thing of importance.  He often forgot to repay his
  loans for school - he owes various parties a total of over
  $30,000 still.  Oh, by the way, no, he never read Navero.
    The player never did get his degree from Tech either.  He 
  had to take some test to let one of his AP credits count, and
  he forgot to go to the test, and didn't get his degree petition
  signed in time.  He just went right to work.  I doubt that
  he ever cleared this matter up, and since Ga. Tech kills off
  one's credits if one is in school for nine years, the guy
  has until 1998 or so to take that test.  I bet he forgets
  and thus wastes all the money and time he spent here.  Oh,
  yes - he's married and has a baby daughter.  Funny how these
  things work out... 

>-

  I hope that you have enjoyed this lengthy addendum to the normal
posting #40.  The character histories will appear as soon as I have
time to flesh them out from the notes and facts that we made during
the campaign years.
*********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories 
*  is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will
*  be used or sold for profit.  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 7th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 8th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 7th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   6/18/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   shortly after nightfall
Place:  an unmapped hill fort in the western edge of the Pomarj
--------------------------------------------------------------------


                    XLI.  Taking Out the Trash



  The party ran into some more ogres as they advanced into the
bowels of the fortress...


                                   
                N              ______
               W+E          __|      |__
                S        __|            |__
   Party  ___         __|                  |__  
             |     __|                        |__
             v  __|         Radius of Soot       |
             __|  /              |               / 
      ______|:: __|__            v             __|
     |      |::|     |__       ......       __|
     |      |  | Ogre   |__ ..:    . :.. __|
     | Mess    |  Bunks |  |__  , <{" __|
     | Hall |  |        |     |,;>"^~|  <- Rubble
     |      |  |______  |     |  , ^ |
     |  ____|________   |     |      |
     |   Kitchen   __|  |     |      |
     |______      |     |     |      |    
            |_____|     |     |      |
                  |     |     |      |
       TOWER -->  |  *  |     |_    _|    
                   \___/        |  |    <----  Main Entryway
            


:  =  Party (facing the ogres coming out of the Mess Hall)
/  =  Door
*  =  Spiral Stairs going up



Belphanior:  (to ogres)  You will all die.
ogres:  Argh!  (they charge the party - there are seven of them)
Mongo:  Argh yourself!  (charges to meet the ogres)
Belphanior:  (casting a Taunt spell)
Halbarad:  Back, foul humanoids!  (charges with Mongo)
Peyote:  (holds back for now)
Ged:  (casting a Heat Metal spell)  Boccob strikes!  
Alindyar:  (casting a Summon Swarm spell)  Do not forget about me.
Rob:  (casts a Spiritual Hammer)  Maybe it'll work this time...
Peldor:  (unable to sneak around anyone for a backstab)  Shit.
Belphanior:  (taunting the ogres)  Nyah nyah!  Stupid shitheads!
ogres:  Reargh!  Kill dat elf!  (they try to get to him, but have
  a bit of trouble, as Mongo and Halbarad are in their way)  Argh!
Belphanior:  Ha ha ha!  You stupid shits!
Halbarad:  (chops an ogre twice, but misses with his dagger)
ogre:  egh...(perishes)
Halbarad:  What a nice battle axe this is.
Alindyar:  The swarm cometh...(a swarm of bugs appears amongst the
  main body of the ogre group)
ogres:  Agh!  Dem bugs!  Get offa me!  Aie!
Ged:  May Boccob melt your armor...
ogres:  (three of them)  Huh?  (their armor is slightly warm)
Rob:  (bashes an ogre with his magical force hammer)  Take that,
  you bully!
ogre:  Agh!  (wounded)
ogre:  (chops at Mongo, but his attack bounces off of the dwarf's
  plate mail)  Urg!  Die, dwarf!
Mongo:  (bashes the ogre, twice, crushing it to a miserable pulp)
  Never!  Out of my way, morons, I'm cleaning house!
ogres:  (terrified of the berserk dwarf)  Aie!

Halbarad:  (chops and stabs an ogre, wounding it grievously)  It
  pays not to be evil, foul ones!
ogre:  Ugh...(drops, clutching his gutted chest)
Belphanior:  (continuing to taunt the ogres as he moves toward
  the main battle)  Idiotic jerks!  Your mothers were halflings!
ogres:  Argh!  Kill that there elf!
Ged:  (casting a Light spell)
Peldor:  (still unable to do anything)  Hey, I wonder if there's
  any treasure around here?
Alindyar:  (pulls out his wand and blasts three ogres with magic
  missiles)  Have some sorcery, my friends.
ogres:  (three that were hit, anyway)  Hey!  That stung!
Mongo:  Ha!  (bashes another ogre, wounding it)  Move it!
ogre:  (hits Mongo, injuring him slightly)  Har!  I'll smash ya
  to bits!
Mongo:  No way!  (clunks the ogre again, felling it)  How many
  will it take to challenge the mighty Mongo?!?
Peyote:  Hey, dude, nice splatter effect.
ogre:  (slashes at Halbarad, nicking him)  Damn!
ogre:  (two of the three affected by Ged's Heat Metal spell -
  the third is dead now)  Agh!  The burning!
Ged:  Ah, I see that you now appreciate Boccob's blessed heat!  
  May you be blessed by Boccob's light as well!  
ogre:  (a different one)  Huh?  AAAA!  (the light spell is fixed
  on his eyes, and he runs into a wall and then another ogre)
  AAA!
Ged:  Heh heh.  Stupid humanoids.
Belphanior:  (trying to push his way past Halbarad and get an
  attack in)
Halbarad:  Watch it, there.  I'm busy here!
Belphanior:  Well, ex-CUSE me!
Halbarad:  Sure.  (continues meleeing with some ogre)
ogres:  (still being stung by Alindyar's swarm)  Aie!
Rob:  (bashes Halbarad's opponent with his spiritual hammer,
  wounding it)  Clear the way!  We have princesses to rescue!
Peyote:  Gee, this is no fun.  (looking over his character sheet)
  The Trip spell?  What's this for?
Rob:  Hey, I bet I know...

Halbarad:  (chops and stabs his ogre, finishing the job that Rob
  started last round)  Fall, miscreants!
ogre:  (drops)

  ...and so on, and so forth...within another minute, all of the
ogres were dead and the party remained only minimally wounded.
They advanced into a mess hall, and a kitchen was visible through
a doorway.

Peldor:  I'll scope the place.  (begins searching)

  They all checked both rooms, finding a lot of dirty cookware and
food items.  Peldor found a few small gems and decided to give them
all to the party when he realized that Ged was standing behind him.
Heading back out into the hallway, they went south and then east,
and entered a barracks.  This room had bunks for eight ogres, and
a lot of dirt and grime.  Notable loot included a gnawed bone tied 
to a topaz (who could know the strange ways of ogres?) and a sack
of nearly three hundred gold coins and nine corals.

Peldor:  Somebody was paying these ogres well.
Belphanior:  Well, let's find whoever it is, and get rid of them.
Peldor:  These corals are nearly worthless.  
Ged:  Well, we may use them someday, so shut up.
Peldor:  ...of course, let me be the first to point out that even
  the smallest gems have their uses.
Peyote:  Way to go, dude.
Rob:  We could always donate them to some good temple somewhere.

  To the south was a staircase going up about fifty feet to a 
viewing/guard level.  It seemed that the ogres had come down
from here and joined those from the mess hall and barracks to
try and repel the party.

Belphanior:  That means there are more from the OTHER side of
  this place, the second guard tower and such.
Halbarad:  We ought to go and check that area out then, before
  they trap us here.
Belphanior:  Let me stand at the front of the party.  That way
  I can cast a spell at any large group we find.
Mongo:  Bah!  Who needs magic spells?!
Halbarad:  The idea is feasible...
Ged:  (to Mongo)  It's a good idea, really.  Let him try it.  
  Besides, you can be there, ready to fight if need be.
Mongo:  Yeah.  Okay, let's go.
Alindyar:  (to Belphanior)  What spell shall you ready?
Belphanior:  The colorful spray...that's a good one.
Alindyar:  Indeed.  I shall prepare mine as well, just in case
  you are unable to stop our foes.
Belphanior:  Sure.  Just stay behind me, though.  At least I can
  defend myself if worse comes to worst.
Alindyar:  Surely.  (they both prepare their spells)

  Thus it was that the party went back into the star-shaped room
and approached its eastern exit...


                                   
                N              ______
               W+E          __|      |__
                S        __|            |__
                      __|                  |__  
                   __|                        |__    ____
                __|         Radius of Soot       |__|    |______
             __|  /              |               /  | CQ |      |
      ______|   __|__            v             __|  |____\      |
     |      |  |     |__       ......       __|   ____   | More |
     |      |  | Ogre   |__ ..:    . :.. __|   __|    |    Ogre |
     | Mess    |  Bunks |  |__  , <{" __|   __|       |  | Bunks|
     | Hall |  |        |     |,;>"^~|  |  | More Ogre|  |______|
     |      |  |______  |     |  , ^ |  |      Bunks  |  |      |
     |  ____|________   |     |      |  |  |__________|  |Empty |
     |   Kitchen   __|  |     |      |  |   __ __________  Ogre |
     |______      |     |     |      |  |     |          | Bunks|
            |_____|     |     |      |  |     |          |______|
                  |     |     |      |  |     |
       TOWER -->  |  *  |     |_    _|  |  *  |
                   \___/        |  |     \___/
                                      <----  Main Entryway
            


  As the group marched toward the door, it flew open, and a number
of ogres charged forth in full battle gear.

ogre chief:  (behind the main pack)  Kill them all!!
ogres:  Yah!  (they charge recklessly)
Belphanior:  Suprise!  (casts a color spray, downing three ogres)
ogres:  (the three - they fall unconscious)  ...
Alindyar:  There are yet more.  (casts his spell as well, dropping
  five more ogres)
Belphanior:  Fuck.  I'll be damned if you didn't outdo me.
Alindyar:  No matter.  
ogres:  (out of nine plus the chief, only one plus the chief remain)
ogre chief:  Argh!  Flee!  Flee!
Mongo:  (hurls his hammer, beaning the chief in the back of the head)
  Where the hell do you think YOU'RE going?!?
Ged:  (casts command)  STOP!
ogre:  (halts)
ogre chief:  ARGH!  What have you done to my troops?!?!
Belphanior:  (charging the chief)  Same thing that we're going to do
  to YOU!
chief:  (backs through the doorway)  Never!  (throws a dagger at the
  elf, hitting him in the shoulder)
Belphanior:  AGH!  That hurt, you fucker!
chief:  (hefts a giant axe; he is in the doorway so that only one
  party member may attack him at a time)  Die, elven scum!

Belphanior:  (slashes the chief, wounding him)
chief:  (chops at Belphanior, but misses)
others:  (somewhat behind Belphanior)
Peldor:  (slicing the other ogres' throats and taking their pouches)

Belphanior:  (misses the chief)
Mongo:  (throws his hammer around Belphanior's head, downing the ogre
  chief)
Belphanior:  Thanks a lot, pal.  I almost had him there.
Mongo:  You're wasting time.  We've got work to do - no time for you
  to play around here!
Ged:  Let's search this place and find whoever's in charge.
Belphanior:  And kill them.
Peldor:  (appears, with a bloody sword and a handful of moneypouches)
  Here you go, guys.
Ged:  Uh-oh.  What's he up to this time?  

  They searched the rooms, finding a few hundred more coins of gold
and a large, gem-encrusted amulet.  Mongo pointed out that the ogre
chief's dagger was very nice, and put it into the party's loot sack.
There was another tower on this side of the place, also now empty.
The chief's quarters (locked, but not for long, thanks to Peldor)
contained over three thousand gold coins in a big sack, and some gems
as well.  On one wall was a large iron key, which Mongo grabbed.  
Peldor and Ged searched the entire quarters for secret doors, but
found none.

Belphanior:  (looking at the big map)  I want to go back to the big
  star-room and look there. 
Rob:  Why?
Peldor:  I think he thinks there's a secret door somewhere in there.
Belphanior:  It seems to be likely, given the architecture of the
  room.
Peyote:  Cool.  Let's have a look.  (they go)

  Sure enough, there was one, at the northern wall of the big room.
The elf rotated the wall ninety degrees and exposed a short corridor
leading to a locked iron door.  The chief's key opened it nicely,
courtesy of Mongo, and the party took a moment to rest before going
around a U-shaped bit of passage and down some stairs.  Rob cast a
Continual Light spell on his weapon and covered the mace with a 
thick blanket for now - Mongo and Belphanior wanted to use infra-
vision for as long as possible.





next time:  The dungeons of the mad wizard

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  An episode a day keeps everyone happy!
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories 
*  is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will
*  be used or sold for profit.  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 7th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 8th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 7th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   6/18/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   somewhat after nightfall
Place:  an unmapped hill fort in the western edge of the Pomarj
--------------------------------------------------------------------


   XLII.  Giants, Wizards, Dragons, and a Princess in a Pear Tree



  The party is descending a darkened flight of stairs, shedding no
light but rather using infravision to see.  They are also trying
to be quiet, since there is no doubt that any people or monsters
that wait below are aware that the fortress above has been breached
recently...lightning bolts and fireballs tend to alert everyone.



Mongo:  (at the front of the party)  Here's an open area ahead.
Belphanior:  Also known as...a room...
                                 |
   ______________________________|
  |
  |                      %%%%%%%%%
  |                %%%%%%         %%%%%%                        ________
  |           %%%%%                     %%%                    |        |
  |           %                           %%%%_______          |__..____|
  |            %%%                              ____  \________|        |
  |__________     %         cavern         %%%%%%    \______\__  bedroom|
             |     %%                        %_____________    |        |
             v      %%                        _\________   |   |________|
 STAIRS --> |==|      %                      %    ______|  |______
   UP     __|==|__     %             %     %%  __|  *   ====   *  |__
         |        |    %       %%%%%%%%%%%%   @                      |
DOOR --> |__ .. __|    %    %%%               |                      |
            |  |       %%%%%     ________     |     *          *     |
            |  |                |        |    |       wizard's       |
   _________|  |________________| store  |    |         hall         |
  |   ______    ______    ______\   room |____|     *          *     |
  |  |      |  |      |  |      |         __  |__                  __|
  |  |      |  |      |  |      |__   ___|  |__  |__            __|
 _|  |____  |  |    __|..|__       | |__       | |  |__      __|
|         | |  |   |        |____  |__  |______| |__   |_.._|
| empty   | |  |   | spider  __  |_ __|             |   |  |
|   room  |_|  |   |  room  |  |___$                |    \  \
|          ____|   |________|      |    ettin       |______\  \
|         |                        |      room      \________/
|_________|          N             |                |  
                    W+E            |________________|
                     S
\ or ..  = DOOR
    $    = SECRET DOOR
   *     = PILLAR
    @    = SECRET TUNNEL TO ENTRY ROOM
 ====    = EVIL GOD STATUE

Mongo:  Hmph.  Empty.  Well, at least there's a door going somewhere
  else.
Belphanior:  High ceiling - almost twenty feet, looks like.
Mongo:  Giants, you think?
Belphanior:  Who knows?
Mongo:  'Cause I'm itching to fight some giants!
Peyote:  And there I thought you were just itching.
Halbarad:  Expose the light, please.  Some of us cannot see here.
Rob:  Okay!  (pulls the blanket off of his mace, illuminating the
  area with the powerful spell effect)  Wow, that sure is bright.
Alindyar:  (covering his eyes)  Could you not move to a more frontal
  position within the party?
Rob:  (looking around)  Huh?  Oh, sure.
Peldor:  (searching the small room)  Nothing interesting here.
Belphanior:  (listening at the door)  I can't hear a fucking thing.
Mongo:  Well, open the door then.  (he does so)
Halbarad:  Behold, there are three ways.
Peyote:  A four-way intersection.  Awesome.
Mongo:  How's that?
Peyote:  The symmetry of it all, dude.
Mongo:  Oh.
Alindyar:  How enlightening.
Belphanior:  Let's go this way.  (heads down the right passage)
Mongo:  Hey!  (barreling after the elf)  Wait up!
Halbarad:  Hm.  A large empty room.  One exit.  This area smells
  like an orcs' lair.  Maybe worse.
Mongo:  That's for sure!  Phew!  Wonder how long it's been since
  anybody cleaned this place?
Peldor:  (searching the room)  I don't think there's anything in
  here either.  I wonder why all these rooms are empty.  They 
  must have heard that the mighty Peldor was coming and fled in
  terror.
Ged:  No doubt.  Word of your deeds has surely spread to the ends
  of the earth by now.
Mongo:  Well, I'm checking out this way.  (heads out the exit...
  and soon comes back to the four-way intersection)  Just a big
  loop...
Belphanior:  Well, that eliminates all of the ways except the 
  eastern one.
Halbarad:  East it is, then.  (they move to the east)
Belphanior:  Look, the corridor goes right as well as continuing
  straight.
Mongo:  Both ways have doors to break down.  Let's go south.  (he
  wanders down the southern passage)
Belphanior:  Hold!  Let me check the door.  (listens at the old
  wooden door)  Still no sounds.  This waiting business is driving
  me crazy. 
Peldor:  (sheathes his sword, becoming invisible)
Mongo:  (opens the door)  Uh-oh!
Halbarad:  What?  What is it?
Belphanior:  Spiders!  Big fat juicy spiders!  (leaps into the room,
  hacking madly at the nearest spider)  Yaaaaaa!
Mongo:  Look out!  Here they come!  (swings at a spider that is 
  scuttling toward him; the thing is some three feet wide)  Get the
  hell away from me!
Halbarad:  (moves into the room)
Alindyar:  Spiders.  How...interesting.

Belphanior:  (stabs a spider, wounding it)  Die, web-creeper!
Halbarad:  (chops and slices a spider)  Beware their poison!
spider:  (badly wounded, bites feebly at the ranger but misses)
Ged:  (fires three magic missiles at Belphanior's spider)
spider:  (reeling)
Belphanior:  Thanks for the air support!
Peyote:  (invisible due to his ring, he moves into the room)
Mongo:  (smashes a spider with his hammer)  Don't even think about
  biting me, creepy crawler!  Us dwarves have really good poison
  resistance.
Peldor:  (trying to get around Rob, who is in his way, and enter
  the room)  Come on, move it, priest.
Rob:  Eh?  (holds his mace high)  I wonder if I could stick this
  weapon into one of the spiders' eyes?
spider:  (bites at Mongo, but his armor easily protects him)
Mongo:  I told you not to DO that!  (delivers a crushing blow to 
  the offending spider, splattering yellow guts everywhere)
Alindyar:  These are abnormally large specimens.  I wonder where
  they originated from?  (blasts Halbarad's spider with three
  missiles from his wand, slaying it)  Ware, ranger!
Halbarad:  My thanks.
Peyote:  (materializes as he nearly cleaves a spider in two)
  Who cares?  Let's just keep from getting poisoned here!

Belphanior:  (slices his opponent, slaying it)  So much for those
  creatures.  (to DM)  Is it possible to milk the venom from the
  spiders? 
Mongo:  Whew!  What a battle!
Halbarad:  Surely you jest.
Peyote:  No, and don't call him surely.
Halbarad:  <groan>
Peldor:  (still invisible, looking for treasure)  
Ged:  Hey!  Where's that thief?!
Mongo:  (wiping spider juices off of his armor)  Check the webs,
  there.  That's where the loot would be.
Alindyar:  ...as well as our friend Peldor.
Belphanior:  (checking in the webs)  Look!  Silver!  
Mongo:  (stepping gingerly through webs looking for more spiders)
  I think this is a busted sack of gold, over here!
Peldor:  (pocketing some of the small change here and there)
Belphanior:  I have a chest!
Peyote:  Not nearly.  You're way too skinny.
Belphanior:  No, you idiot.  (holds up a small metal chest)
Peyote:  Oh, my bad.
Ged:  Peldor!  Show yourself!  We need you to get into this
  chest!
Peldor:  (materializes as he unsheathes his sword slightly) 
  Okay, okay.  I'm here.  (bends over the chest)  No problem.
Mongo:  (stuffing the loot into a sack)  Someone check out that
  exit passage there.
Belphanior:  (still pulling coinage from the webs)
Halbarad:  (searching the rest of the room)
Peyote:  (helping Mongo)
Rob:  (wanders toward the short hallway)
Ged:  Hey!  What are you doing?!  At least wait for me!  (he
  follows the other priest)  Don't get too far away from the
  chamber.  Who knows what is wandering through this place?
Rob:  (comes up on a blank wall after about thirty feet)  Eh?
  What's this?  (while pushing on the wall, he manages to 
  slide it aside)  Huh?  Oh my...
Ged:  What is it, fool?  Holy...back!  Get back!
Rob:  AAAAA!  (he is grabbed and pulled into the room beyond
  the secret door)  
Halbarad:  (running)  What is it?  What is going on there?
Ged:  Giants!  Make that two-headed giants!  Make that TWO two-
  headed giants!  And they've got Rob!
Mongo:  Huh?!  (drops the loot and the sack, and hefts his
  war hammer as he charges into the short passage)  Hang on,
  priest!  I'm coming!
Belphanior:  (also rises from his web search and runs for 
  the room)  Not alone, you're not.
Halbarad:  (charges into the large room, to see a pair of
  huge - thirteen foot tall - two-headed humanoids leering
  at him; one of them is holding Rob like a rag doll.  They
  have backed up about ten feet from the secret door.)
giant-thing#1:  Har har!  (swats Rob aside like a flea, and
  he flies off into a wall)  Hey, more of 'em!
giant-thing#2:  Dinner here, Pat!
Mongo:  (barrels over Ged and runs up next to Halbarad)
  Holy shit!  Ettins!
ettin#1:  Dinner!  Good smell, too, Joe!  We get 'em all!
  (its second head begins arguing with the first head)  No,
  _I_ is Pat!  
ettin#2:  Yup.  You get dwarf, Pat, I get little man.  We 
  killum and then we eatum!  (its second head nods stupidly)
ettin#1:  Duh, okay Joe.  (the pair lumber toward the secret
  door)  Me hungry!  (other head speaks up)  Me too!  (first
  head)  Shaddup!  Me is the head in charge!  (second head)
  Are not!  (first head)  Am too!  (second head)  Are not!
Mongo:  (braces himself)  You are great enemies of us and all
  adventurers!  But I will not yield!  (raises hammer)  Come
  and meet your doom!
Halbarad:  (swinging his axe)  Face us and perish, evil ones.
Belphanior:  (arrives behind Ged)  A spell!  (begins spell
  casting)  That is what we need here!  And I have just the
  thing...
Ged:  Good call.  (also begins spellcasting)

Halbarad:  (chops at his ettin twice, hitting once, and slashes
  it with his dagger, nicking its mangy hide)  Fall, beastly
  one!
ettin#2:  Don't hurt none!  (second head)  Naw.  (both of the
  ettin's arms pummel the ranger, knocking him to his knees)
Halbarad:  Argh!
ettin#2:  We hammer you into da ground, don't we, Pat?
ettin#1:  Yep.  (second head)  Hey, _I_ is da king here!  (first
  head)  Shaddup, you.
ettin#2:  (its second head still nods and grins in a moronic way)
Mongo:  Fuck this!  (hurls his hammer twice at his opponent,
  once at each head, at close range)  I'll shut both - all four -
  of you up for good!
ettin#1:  Argh!  (second head)  Argh!  My nose busted!
Mongo:  (catches his hammer momentarily)  It's gonna get worse,
  shithead.  A LOT worse.
Belphanior:  (launches a Melf's Acid Arrow at ettin#2...the
  player rolls a 20!)  Yes!  Direct hit!
ettin#2:  ARGH!  (hit right in the face by the acid)  ARGH!
  CAN'T SEE!  (other head)  Duh, I can still see.  Elf dies for
  that.
Ged:  (walks up beside Mongo)  Hey ettin!
ettin#1:  (wiping blood out of all its eyes)  Whuzzat?! 
Ged:  (raises his hands and blasts the monster with a fan of 
  flames)  Here, have this token of Boccob's displeasure.
ettin#1:  (burnt somewhat)  Argh!  Elf dies too!  (second head)
  Yeah, kill elf!  (the thing's different hands flail quite
  independently of one another)  Argh!  Die!  
Ged:  Watch out!  It's out of control!
Mongo:  (hit by one arm, though the other doesn't hurt him 
  through his armor)  Agh!  Now you tell me!
Peyote:  (enters the room, invisible once again)  Hmm.
Alindyar:  (enters the room)  Hmm.  At least the monsters are
  becoming more challenging as we explore further.  (begins 
  spellcasting)  A sign of a true evil leader, this is.
Peldor:  (back in the spider room, he looks at the treasure
  scattered around, and at the short passage going into the
  ettin room)  Hmm.
Rob:  (lying in great pain in a corner of the ettin room)  ...

Belphanior:  (casts another spell)  Heh heh.
Halbarad:  (chops ettin#2, but misses with both dagger attacks)
  Damnable humanoid!  I shall fell you yet!
ettin#2:  (still somewhat blinded by the still-burning acid) 
  Eyagh!  (swings a huge arm at Halbarad, but the ranger easily
  ducks the mighty blow)  Yargh!  Stand still, flea!
Halbarad:  No flea has a bite like my axe here...
ettin#2:  (second head)  I still see you, manling!  (bashes the
  ranger with its other arm, knocking him into a wall hard)
  Should have shut up.
ettin#1:  I is Pat!  King of da ettins!  (lands two blows on
  Mongo)  Har har!  (the monster is still on fire from Ged's
  spell...)  Ouch.
Mongo:  Why won't you two SHUT THE HELL UP?!?!?  (lands one
  hammer blow, cracking the ettin's thigh bone)  I'll take
  you down a foot at a time, if that's the way I have to do
  it!  (his other hammer blow misses)
Ged:  (pulls out his magical sling and a sling bullet, he starts
  swinging the weapon)  I've always wanted to try this.
Belphanior:  (trying to sneak around ettin#2)
ettin#2:  Har!  We sees you, elfy!
Belphanior:  Oh.  Well, then...(lunges out and taps the monster
  on the side, discharging a significant magical charge)
ettin#2:  YEAARGH! 
Belphanior:  Hmm.  Not enough.  I'll have to use a more powerful
  spell next time.
ettin#2:  Shaddup!  (swings at the elf, forcing him to dodge
  rather than crack jokes)  Kill all of you!  Kill, kill, kill!!
Peyote:  (moves in to replace the wounded Halbarad)  Hey, dude.
  You'd better pay attention to ME now...(hacks the ettin with
  his huge sword, wounding it seriously)
ettin#2:  Agh!...I is dying.
Rob:  (shakily gets to his feet, and moves toward ettin#2 with
  his mace raised high)  For the glory of Trithereon...
Ged:  (swinging his sling above his head, see Rob approaching)
  Uh-oh.  He'll get creamed for sure.  Better change targets.
  (now aims at ettin#2 rather than the other)
Alindyar:  (sends a phantasmal force at ettin#1)
ettin#1:  (seeing a gigantic spider sailing towards him)  Huh?!
Ged:  (launches his sling bullet at ettin#2, rolling all but
  maximum damage)  Yes, by Boccob!
Peyote:  Maximal, dude!
ettin#2:  <CRACK>  Urk.  (falls)
Ged:  (dancing about in glee)  It works!  It really works!  Son
  of a-
Alindyar:  (pleased that the elf finally found a weapon that he
  likes)  I am truly happy for you, my friend.
ettin#1:  (swatting at Alindyar's illusion, he destroys it)  Da
  fuck...?
Mongo:  (circling ettin#1)  Okay, Pat, or whatever you want to
  call yourself.  Let's end this.
ettin#1:  You again!  Die, dwarf!  Hunh?
Mongo:  (looking at the monster quizzically)  What the hell's
  wrong with you?!?
ettin#1:  Hg?  Urg!  Urk!  (a sword point appears through its
  chest)  Argh...gurgle gurgle.  (dies)
Peldor:  (becomes visible)  Have no fear, it is I.

Mongo:  It's about friggin' time you showed up, thief!
Ged:  I figured that he'd be back there playing with the treasure
  still.
Peldor:  Bah.  Let the legends note my unswerving loyalty to my 
  companions.
Ged:  I doubt that, but thanks anyway.
Peldor:  Any time.  (searching through the ettin's rags)
Halbarad:  (stumbles up to Ged)  Agh...I need some magical aid.
Mongo:  Come to think of it, I think I got a rib or three busted
  just now too.
Rob:  (limps over to Halbarad and casts two spells of healing upon
  him from his scroll)  I hope this helps.  (casts two of his own
  spells upon himself)  Ahh.  So much better.
Ged:  (casts two healing spells on Mongo)  How bad are those ribs?
Mongo:  Bah.  Better already.  I've had enough healing.  Let's
  find what loot these big dummies had, and move on.

  The gigantic humanoids carried no treasure, but there was an old
iron chest in one corner of the room.  Peldor opened it (no trap -
ettins aren't too bright, you know) and the party confiscated a
number of thousands of gold and electrum coins, an elaborate but
beaten carving, a suit of disassembled plate mail armor, a spear,
and some loose gems.

Mongo:  I can't carry all this shit!  We're going to have to leave
  some of it!
Peldor:  I'll help carry the treasure.
Ged:  Ha!
Alindyar:  I volunteer the use of my magical sack, here.
Peldor:  That's awfully generous of you.
Mongo:  Fuck it.  I trust him.  Any objections?
Peldor:  Hey, let the drow take the loot, I could care less.
Ged:  (glaring)
Peyote:  I say we check that area to the north.
Halbarad:  Momentarily; we need to take what we will of these 
  giants' items.  In case someone is slain, of course.
Ged:  Of course.
Peyote:  These things can be expensive, you know.

  To the north was a storeroom, which had a few items of note but
none of interest.  Its exit led into a passage that the group had
already explored, so they took the other exit from the ettin room,
the one leading east.  It ended in a door.

Peldor:  Aside, dwarf.  Let a professional take over.
Mongo:  Hey!  I can kick that door down better than you can!  But
  go on about your sneaky, silent ways.  It won't matter - I'll
  still bust the shit out of whoever attacks us.
Peldor:  Ngh.  Locked, but no big deal.  Stupid needle traps.  I
  have long outgrown such childish toys.  Here, it's open.  What
  lies beyond...?  (opens the door)

  They saw a huge hall, well over a hundred feet long and about 
that in width.  At the far end was a huge statue of some vile
diety; in a small chair in front of this abomination sat a robed
human.  A few pillars decorated the giant hall; its roof was
about thirty feet high.  A pair of giants stood close to the
party, one to either side.  They were no less than eleven feet
in height.

robed man:  Who in the hell are you people?!
Mongo:  (in his best booming voice)  We are here to take back a
  princess!  Are YOU the one who kidnapped her?!?!
robed man:  Oh, I see.  Geez.  Where do you people come from,
  anyway?  (produces a wand)
Belphanior:  Hey!  No fair!
mage:  All's fair in love and war.  And this is most definitely
  war.  (aims the wand at the party; a bolt of lightning blasts
  forth and scatters the adventurers)  Haha!  Rend them limb
  from limb, my giants!
Hill giants:  (move up toward the party)  Har har!

Alindyar:  (saves, knocked back)  Agh!
Belphanior:  (saves, knocked aside)  Fuck!  Fuck!  Someone dies
  for this!  (begins spellcasting)
Ged:  (saves, knocked back but begins spellcasting)  You'll pay
  for that...
Halbarad:  (fails, stunned)  Lightning bolts...
Mongo:  (saves, gets up slowly)  Grr...
Peldor:  (saves, goes invisible)
Peyote:  (fails, knocked aside)  Whoa, dude!  Agh!
Rob:  (saves, begins spellcasting)  Huh?
Peldor:  (sneaks away)
Mongo:  (goes early for a change)  Hah!  (hurls his hammer with
  great force at the mage)  Take that!
mage:  Bah.  I am protected from missiles- <KLUNK!>
Mongo:  Obviously not this one.  Jerk.  (catches his hammer)
mage:  Agh!  You'll roast for that, dwarf!  (begins spellcasting)
hill giant#1:  (grabs Peyote and shakes him)  Hah hah!
Peyote:  Dude!
hill giant#2:  (swings a huge sword at Mongo, hitting him)  Har!
Mongo:  Argh!
Belphanior:  (launches Melf's Minute Meteors at the giant who
  has Peyote)  Let him go, you fuck!
giant#1:  Agh.  Bee stings.  (tosses the half-elf aside)  Time
  to die, elf.
Ged:  (casts haste on everybody except Rob and Alindyar)  Come on,
  guys!
Mongo:  Aha!  I'll get him for sure now!  (targeting the mage)
mage:  I beg to differ.  (casts a spell...a number of large, black,
  rubbery tentacles spring from the floor all around the party)
Alindyar:  !
Belphanior:  (grabbed by one, saves, it burns him slightly and then
  disintegrates)  Ouch!
Ged:  (grabbed by one, saves, is burned before the tentacle dies)
  Argh!  That hurt!  I've got to have that spell!
Halbarad:  (snared by two - saves and fails, and one tentacle is
  still wrapped around him)  Agh!  Help!
hill giant#1:  (snared by one, saves; the thing burns him and dies)
  Ouch.  Thanks a lot, master.
Mongo:  (snared by two, saves twice, they burn him and die)  Shit!
Peyote:  (snared by one, fails to save)  Agh!  It's crushing me!
hill giant#2:  (snared by two, saves and fails, snared by one)
  Agh!  I'm gotten!
hill giant#1:  (runs over to help his friend)
Mongo:  (runs over to help Halbarad)  Hang on there, pal.
Belphanior:  (regards Peyote, but quickly decides to help him and
  begins sawing at the half-elf's black tentacle)  Hmph.
Alindyar:  (casts darkness of a 15' radius on the two hill giants)
giants:  Huh??
Rob:  (casts silence of a 15' radius on the mage at the end of the
  chamber)  Try and cast spells NOW.  Ha!
Alindyar:  A noteworthy casting, priest.  I commend you.  (grabs
  his magic missile wand quickly)
mage:  (gaping stupidly within his sphere of silence)

Belphanior:  (manages to free Peyote)  Don't say I never helped
  you.
hill giants:  (in the darkness, manages to free the bound one)
Mongo:  (manages to free Halbarad)  There you go...now where's
  that funny-looking wizard?
Belphanior:  (still hasted, of course; sprints for the mage)
mage:  (mutely points his wand at the elf, letting fly another
  bolt of lightning as he gloats wordlessly)
Belphanior:  Oh shit.   <KRACK!>  (fails his save, and is stunned
  and floored)  Agh!  (the lightning bolt flies off into a wall) 
Mongo:  Don't do that again!  (hurls his hammer at the mage,
  hitting him hard)
mage:  (screaming wordlessly)
Alindyar:  (blasts the mage with three magic missiles from his 
  wand)  Why will he not fall?!
Ged:  Right behind you, pal.  I've had enough of this.  (raises 
  his hand)
Mongo:  Eh?  (catches his hammer)
Ged:  (fires three more magic missiles at the mage, knocking him
  to the ground, where he does not get up)  Well, that got HIM.
  If he gets up again, I'm giving him the lightning bolt.
hill giants:  (emerging from the darkness)  Huh?  
Halbarad:  Your evil master is slain!  
hill giants:  Hmm.  We leave nicely, no fight.  Deal?
Belphanior:  (fingering his sword, but even he is not anxious to
  fight two nearly-full strength hill giants)
Halbarad:  Go now, and do not look back.
Alindyar:  Or you will meet the fate of your master.
Belphanior:  Yeah.  Stay and die.
giants:  Ho-kay.  (they run away)
Ged:  Hey!
Peyote:  No conflict...the peace of it all.
Halbarad:  Why should we fight them?  This way, they will go out
  there into the Pomarj and kill some orcs or something.  Whyever
  should WE care?
Ged:  Hmm.  Makes sense.  Hey!  HEY!  (looking at the dead mage's
  body)  I see that, Peldor!  I see that wand floating there!
Peldor:  (becomes visible)  I was just checking his stuff out,
  to make sure he was dead and all.
Ged:  Sure.  Sure!  Get back here before I blast you!
Peldor:  Geez.  (tosses the wand aside)  I can't even use that 
  stupid wand anyways.

  The party recovered the wand, some robes, and a ring from the
slain sorceror.  Alindyar and Peldor split Peldor's potion of
extra-healing (maybe he was feeling guilty) while Ged, Peyote,
and Rob cast healing spells on the four main fighters (who were
the four most injured, coincidentally).  The party was still in
sore shape, but searched the room.  Mongo and Halbarad decided
to move the statue, and it was good that they did, for it slid
aside (after some work) to reveal a rough-hewn passage.  They
all readied themselves and entered this new, odd-smelling
tunnel.  Most of the party was still hasted, too, and this 
turned out to be a good thing...

Mongo:  (entering a huge cave)  Hey, Rob!  Bring that light up
  here!  There's something moving around ahead!
Belphanior:  Something big...
Ged:  (prepares a spell on a hunch)
Halbarad:  This cave must be open to the sky - I can see the
  starry night sky up there.
Mongo:  What the FUCK is that up ahead?!?
Rob:  (moving forward, mace held high)  Huh?
Halbarad:  By the gods...
Belphanior:  Fuck!  Fuck!  It's a dragon!

Dragon:  (lifting its huge, finned, green head)  GREETINGS, MORTAL
  WORMS.

Mongo:  Oh shit!

Dragon:  YOU ARE JUST IN TIME FOR DINNER.  (grinning as it rears
  its head back and opens its mouth) 

Alindyar:  (backing up rather quickly)
Rob:  Gee, a dragon!  I've never seen one of these before!
Ged:  Out of my way!  Now!  MOVE!  (runs out and launches his
  lightning bolt at the dragon)  Boccob!

Dragon:  EH?  <CRACK!>  (the dragon...FAILS its save!)  REAAARGH!!

Ged:  Yes!
Mongo:  Just swell.
Peyote:  It's not so bad.  He's got a nice chunk burned out of his
  head, there.
Dragon:  RRRRRAAARGH!!!!  YOU SHALL ALL _DIE_ FOR THAT!!!
Peyote:  Of course, he's really pissed off now...

Mongo:  Fuck, no!  (throws his hammer, hitting the monster hard
  in the chest)
Belphanior:  (trying to find his thunder and lightning staff
  while running to one side)  Oh shit, oh shit!
Peldor:  (goes invisible and runs off)
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)  Somebody DO something! 
Peyote:  (trying to find his wand of wonder)  Shit!  Shit!  This
  is definitely a desparate situation!
Halbarad:  (about to charge the dragon)  I will die fighting.
Dragon:  TOO LATE, MAN-CHILDREN.  <WHOOSH>  (breathes a cloud of
  greenish gas all over everyone but Peldor)
Alindyar:  (saves, now at -7 hp)
Belphanior:  (saves, now at -1 hp)
Ged:  (saves, now at 1 hp)  Uh-oh.
Halbarad:  (fails, now at -2 hp)
Mongo:  (saves, now at 9 hp)  Fuck!  FUCK!
Peldor:  (out of the cloud's range, going for a backstab)
Peyote:  (fails, now at -15 hp)
Rob:  (saves, now at 4 hp)
Dragon:  HAHAHAHAHA!

Rob:  (dragging the unmoving bodies back out of the way)
Ged:  Uh...
Mongo:  Now I'm REALLY pissed off!  (throws his hammer again, but
  it bounces off of the dragon's hide harmlessly)  FUCK!!
Peldor:  (invisibly moving in on the dragon)
Dragon:  (turns toward the thief)  OH, GIVE ME A BREAK.
Peldor:  Umm...(discovered, he runs madly at the huge monster,
  and slashes it, actually scoring a flesh wound)  Die?
Dragon:  YES, YOU WILL DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS FOR THAT, ROGUE.  (picks
  Peldor up in one giant claw)
Peldor:  (being crushed slowly)  Argh!
Ged:  (thinking hard)
Mongo:  Put him down!  (throws his hammer again, smacking the
  dragon in the head)
Dragon:  ARGH!  YOU WILL BE THE NEXT, DWARF.
Ged:  (steps forth and points at the dragon)  Burn!  (his ring 
  creates a shower of burning sparks on the huge monster's head)
  Burn, you miserable son of a bitch!  Burn!
Dragon:  REAAARGH!  THAT HURTS, ELF!  AAARGH!
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)  Do tell.  Try this hammer again, 
  you big fuckin' lizard!  (throws the hammer again)
Dragon:  (hit in the belly)  ARGH!  Argh!  argh!  argh.  ....
  (rolls over and hits the rock floor of the cavern with a huge
  THUMP)
Ged:  I don't believe it!  We killed the thing!
Mongo:  (exhausted)  Yeah.  But look at us...

  Alindyar, Belphanior, and Halbarad were at death's door, while
Peyote was a bit further in than that.  Rob did what he could
with his few remaining spells, but everyone needed to rest, and
they weren't even in a safe area yet.  Thus...

Mongo:  I'm going to check out this exit.  It looks fairly open -
  maybe it leads to a side room.  (goes wearily)
Rob:  (with Ged and Peldor, carrying the comatose over to the
  exit which Mongo just went through)  I guess we're the lucky
  ones, eh?
Ged:  I guess so.
Peldor:  Victory doesn't taste so sweet now, does it?
Ged:  It sure doesn't.

  Mongo came back shortly with news of a nicely decorated bedroom
(almost certainly the wizard's), and that was all that the others
needed to hear.  They retired to this sizable, defensible area
and barricaded the door, and set up a sort of camp.  In the bed
was a familiar, drugged princess; on a small table nearby were
a number of half-composed ransom demands.
  The next day, the priests performed much healing, and then all
of the adventurers (except Peyote) began taking careful and rapid
stock of their newly found treasure, with the help of Ged's detect
magic and identify spells.  The princess chatted with Peldor, whom
Ged did not want anywhere near the treasure pile.



THE TOTAL LOOT:

topaz, ~600 gp, ~3000 gp, ten corals, misc. other gems
~2600 gp, ~4400 ep, carving
~2200 sp, 83 small silver rings, 322 gp
~18000 cp, ~13000 sp, ~9000 gp, ~5000 ep, ~900 pp, 14 large gems,  \
   goblet, necklace, amulet, earrings, statues (3), bracelets (5)  / 
                                                                \/  
dagger of throwing, +3                                         /
human-sized plate +4, spear +2                               /
wand of lightning, ring, robes +3                          /
potion of fire giant strength              \             /
potions of extra-healing (2)                 \           |
potions, useless (4)                           \         |
potions, poison (2)                              \       |
scroll (druidic - 6 spells)                        \  DRAGON'S
rod                                                /    PILE
amulet                                           /
longbow +2                                     /
bottle                                       /
flute                                      /
two huge diamonds         \
crossbow                    \
spell book (12 spells)       > WIZARD'S CHEST
longsword                   /   
ancient scroll            /



  The adventurers gathered what (all) they could carry and left
the fortress.  No one or no thing saw fit to bother them this
time.  Just over a week later, they trudged into the city of
Havenhill and into Baron Trevor's castle (the guards had been 
told to let them in if they ever came back).

Halbarad:  (leading the party into the baron's conference room)  
  Greetings, good Baron.  We have your daughter.  (she runs into
  her father's arms)
Baron Trevor:  Oh, thank the gods!
Peldor:  No, thank us.
Halbarad:  And thank Peyote here, who is still dead from our battles.
Baron Trevor:  We will have to see what we can do about that...





next time:  Training, Resurrection, Treasure, and Flashbacks

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  This episode is dedicated to Dan Parsons, author of Navero,
for his stories which eventually inspired me to write mine. 
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 7th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 8th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)  <DEAD>
Rob, 7th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   6/28/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   early morning
Place:  Havenhill, capital of the Principality of Ulek
--------------------------------------------------------------------


                       XLIII.  Intermission



  The party is in Havenhill, resting and sitting on quite a large 
pile of treasure.  Their friend, the Baron Trevor, has persuaded
the king of the Ulek Principality to find a priest who is capable
of raising the (nine days dead) half-elf, Peyote.  They are in
the king's guest room, waiting for such a priest.

Ged:  I hope he finds a priest who follows the ways of Good.
Belphanior:  (wishing this whole process would speed up so the 
  treasure could be divided)  Yeah.
Halbarad:  Speaking as one who has been in this situation, I can
  say that Peyote would agree with you, grey elf.  No evil priests
  will do here.
Alindyar:  Ah, here comes the good baron now.
Trevor:  Hello, my friends.  (the king comes in with him, along
  with two priests wearing white robes)  This is his Highness,
  whom I believe you know.
Halbarad:  (bowing)  Your Majesty.
Belphanior:  (imitating the ranger)
King:  These are priests of Trithereon, who I have brought to aid
  you in your time of need.
Rob:  (kneels)  Greetings, O exalted ones.
priests:  Greetings, disciple.
Mongo:  (bored silly)  Ho-hum.
Trevor:  They have agreed to help your deceased friend there, in
  view of your group's services to our nation and to Trevor.
priests:  (examining Peyote's corpse, they begin chanting)
Ged:  (thinking of the day when he will have such power)
Peldor:  (thinking of picking the king's pockets)
Alindyar:  (he only appears to be watching in fascination; actually,
  he is wondering what manner of winged creature originally stole
  the princess, and whether or not it will be back)
Rob:  (awed)  Aren't they wonderful?

Peyote:  (quivers)  grk.  ost.  BrglQVNKPRNSBLAAAA!!  DUDE!  (sits
  straight up)  How gnarly!
priests:  This one is alive and well.
Peyote:  Walive and ell!  I live once more! 
priests:  Of course.  We have brought you back from the realm of
  death.
Peyote:  Most excellent.
king:  Well, I guess we'll leave you to your own devices now.  (he
  and the others leave)  Good luck.
Peyote:  Thanks, dudes!  (stands up, but falls, still weak from the
  spellcasting)  Ugh.  I sure do reek...
Belphanior:  Okay!  Let's divide the magic up now.
Mongo:  Damn good idea!

Ged:  (rolling the die)  A 20!  Yes!  YES!  Roll, drow.
Alindyar:  (only gets a 7)  Hm.  So be it.
Ged:  Hahahaha!  That book is MINE.
others:  (rolling; the only notable roll is Ged's high one though)
Mongo:  Let's do it.


THE MAGIC ITEM PICKS:

Ged:  spell book, rod, human-sized plate +4
Belphanior:  wand of lightning, longsword, potion of extra-healing
Peldor:  mage's ring, dagger of throwing
Alindyar:  amulet, robes
Halbarad:  bow, bottle, spear +2
Rob:  flute, potion of extra-healing
Peyote:  druidic scroll, ancient scroll
Mongo:  crossbow, potion of fire giant strength

  As could be expected, the adventurers split up again to seek out
training within Havenhill.  The city was becoming quite familiar to
them - almost too familiar.  The monetary treasure was sold and
divided into eight rough shares (most of the group used it for the
necessary training).  For over a month, they pursued their various
means of training...

  Alindyar doffed his measly +1 robes in favor of his new +3 ones.
He learned some new spells from the same mage in Havenhill that he
went to last time, as he trained in the wizardly arts.  He also
researched his amulet, and found that its purpose was to protect 
his life force.  Intrigued, the dark elf decided to wear the item
at all times, as one never knew what could happen next.
  Belphanior trained for a few weeks with the fighters' guild.
He also copied a single spell from a scroll to his spellbook.  His
new longsword seemed to have no unusual powers, so he tossed it
in his backpack and forgot about it.
  Ged spent weeks in seclusion as he transcribed the evil mage's
spellbook into his own.  Though he was not yet ready to learn
other new spells, he revelled in the power of those copied over
from the book.  Next he examined his rod, and found that it was
enchanted to absorb spell energies - a useful item indeed!  His
new plate mail was ignored; he opted not to wear it, but rather
to save it for some future henchman.
  Halbarad practiced with his new bow and spear.  When he opened
his bottle, it produced great quantities of thick smoke, so he
closed it rather quickly.  The ranger longed for the excitement
of the open road - this city was too small for his liking.
  Mongo practiced a bit with his new crossbow.  It was speedy but 
he grew bored with it quickly and went back to the hammer as his
main distance weapon.  He decided to use the crossbow for really
long-range shots, and tossed it into his pack.
  Peldor spent some time at the thieves' guild, then went to have
his ring examined.  It turned out to be a powerful item, granting
its wearer the power to move objects with his mind.  The ambitious
thief practiced a bit with this ring in preparation for the next
time that such powers would come in handy.
  Peyote spent a few days relaxing from his resurrection before
drooling over his new scroll, which had some decidedly powerful
spells on it.  The other scroll was a map of sorts, which he 
decided to show to the party when they regrouped.
  Rob again shut himself in the temple of Trithereon, praying
and communing with his god.  He was told that he should take 
a more active interest and role in the party's doings, and he
listened carefully.  He examined his new flute (he had long 
been an avid flute player in his spare time - really!) and was
delighted to find that it had the power to produce spell-like
effects when played by one skilled with it.

  Finally the party regrouped in their guest room in the baron's 
mansion...

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/4/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   midday
Place:  Havenhill, capital of the Principality of Ulek
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Mongo:  So, what do we do NOW?





next time:  A new quest.

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  Below are the character backgrounds that I promised.  They
turned out to be longer than I expected, so there are only the
first four in this posting.  The last four will come next.  I will
be on vacation from this Friday (5/22) to Sunday (5/31) so no new
postings will appear in that time.  So, until June, farewell...


           A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ADVENTURERS' PASTS
                          (part 1 of 2)



>-

Alindyar

  As the enlightened few know, the Underdark is the name given to the
vast complex of caverns far beneath the world's surface.  The term
originally referred to the central cluster, hundreds, nay, thousands
of miles long, of such caverns and passages.  Over the centuries, it
has come to represent any deep, dark region below the sunlit world
that most are familiar with.  Anyhow, the Underdark as a rule is at
any given time crawling with many sorts of beings.  There are the
mindless creatures, both large and small, which roam in search of
food.  Then there are the intelligent, yet weak humanoids and other
things, which group together for mutual safety and survival.  The
most respected and avoided creatures in the Underdark tend to rule
their black caverns and cities and manipulate the other denizens of
the area as they see fit.  Of these - the kuo-toa, the duergar, the
illithids, and such - the drow are the most feared, and the most
dominant.
  These ancestral cousins of surface elves were, as many know, driven
from the surface millenia ago, due to conflicting views and actions.
While they are as evil as the blackest demon, they also have created
strange, powerful magics and weapons during their ages under the 
world.  Drow wizards and priests are as powerful as they are evil.
The dark elves' sprawling cities are scattered here and there about
the lands below.  Such huge complexes are always found alone, for 
there is enough conflict inside the walls of these places for any of
the dark elves to be happy.  A war between two or more such cities
would surely be chaotic beyond belief.  There are a number of clans
(families) within each city, and these vie for control of each other
and the city in general.  Life in an Underdark drow city is violent,
bloody, and often short.
  However, one dark elf in every ten thousand or so either does not
have, or else loses, the desire to follow in the footsteps of his
or her family and race.  Such an individual almost always becomes
an outcast, a fugitive from the others, for it is impossible to
hide such feelings for lengthy amounts of time in a drow society.
  In one such area, the sprawling city of Dril'ithzan'abaar, there
was a drow whose thoughts were as described above.  This fellow,
one Alindyar, of the Rillsifane familty lineage, was born well over
a century ago.  From birth, he seemed gifted - for he had an uncanny
mastery of certain types of magical energies.  However, it was soon
obvious that the fledgling mage had no desire either to slay others
or to worship the dread Lolth.  His elders tried to reprimand him
and force him to follow in their path, but although he showed some
signs of understanding, inside his own mind young Alindyar cared
not for what he heard.
  One night, while most others slept the sleep of the damned, the
drow gathered his few possessions and left the city with a caravan
bound for other parts (such caravans went from place to place in
the Underdark, operated by bands of renegades who traded goods and
information between drow cities).  It was a simple matter for him
to tell them that he had a mission to attend to; by the time they
deduced the truth, Alindyar was somewhere within another drow city.
  In this manner, the youth traveled from place to place, changing
caravans as the need arose (or as he was driven away).  He visited
over a dozen dark elf cities in this manner, his stays ranging from
a week to a decade in length.  His most recent sojourn was in the 
city called Barr'bazithan by some; in this place he worked at a magic
guild as an apprentice for nine years.  Alindyar found a sponsor
mage who did not care where his student came from, and learned not
only about spellcraft but also about the flora and fauna of the
Underdark.  It was also here that the drow first heard stories of
the world above, a place where one could fly upwards forever without
hitting a rock ceiling.  He immediately yearned to see this new and
fantastic place, and read everything he could find and talked with
those who had been there.  
  Eventually, after his first nine-year apprenticeship was over, the
aspiring mage was told by his mentor that he would have to compete
in a series of trials with the other students - trials that resulted
in death for the losers.  No coward, Alindyar nevertheless guessed
that his particular specialty area of magic was weaker for this sort
of contest than others' were.  It also occurred to him that his own
views did not necessarily agree with those of his mentor, and it was
even possible that the fellow wanted to find out which of his many
students were the most ruthless.
  In any case, Alindyar again gathered his items, and with a number
of ideas of what the surface world would look like, he left the city
and followed the most likely path to the surface.  After ascending
for two days, the drow emerged into a moonlit night.  He gazed at
the stars for many moments before realizing that he had made the
right decision.  Looking around, he noted that he was in a forest;
trees (which he had never seen before) surrounded him at every turn.
  Alindyar wanted to put as much space as possible between himself
and his point of entry on the surface.  He fled deeper into the
forest, and journeyed by night, resting during the daylight hours
whenever possible.  The light of the sun weakened him, such that 
he found it necessary to wear a thick robe, which made him very
hot and uncomfortable.  After a few days he felt that he could at
least survive in the sunlight, however.
  One night soon after his arrival on the surface, Alindyar left
the forests and made his way toward civilization.  He quickly found
that he was in an unsavory region, for there were bandits and evil-
doers everywhere.  Encountering one such band, the drow managed to
persuade them that first, he had nothing of value, and second, his
spellcasting abilities could be a great asset to their activities.
Despite some yelling and name-calling (and three dead bandits), 
the bandit chieftan agreed, and thus it was that the dark elf was
brought to the city of Fax, in the Wild Coast.  When his companions
went to a tavern and got drunk that night, Alindyar decided to go
to another inn - the Green Dragon Inn.  It is noteworthy that, even
after a couple of days, he grew tired of his companions' constant
racial insults and slurs.  It was all too obvious that few on this
surface world would easily accept a dark elf.
  The drow was sitting quietly, in disguise, at a table in one dark
corner, when a number of strange individuals began congregating at
his table and one nearby.  Alindyar sat there quietly and watched 
and listened, and the rest, as they say, is history...
  (Needless to say, the drow chose the company of the Adventurers 
over that of the bandits)
  Alindyar is currently very happy with the party.  He not only has
protection from those who would discriminate against him for no real
reason (and with violence), he also has something more important by
far:  true friends, friends he can trust not to stab him in his
sleep, friends who he can converse and travel with freely and happily.
The drow feels closest to Ged, probably because of the magic that 
they both love so dearly.  He also likes Halbarad and Peyote, feeling
that they always do (or at least try to do) the right thing.  The
dark elf trusts and respects Mongo, although the dwarf is a bit too
violent for his tastes.  He doesn't really care for Belphanior's
company, because the elf is much too violent for his tastes.  Rob
is, to Alindyar, simply a useful, well-meaning fool.  Peldor is one
who is likeable, yet must be watched carefully; Alindyar has had
several metaphysical discussions with the thief already, though.
  Alindyar tries, whenever possible, to learn about the ways of the
surface-dwellers - their customs, their lifestyles, their languages.
He is trying to fit in above ground as well as he can.

>-

Belphanior

  The Wild Coast region is well-known for its violent and chaotic
inhabitants.  Over a century ago, one such inhabitant-to-be was 
abandoned in a slum within the city of Badwall, one of the major
populated areas of the region.  The youth was unusual in that he
was elven; the elves are not given to discarding their infants in
wild areas.  Whether the two-year-old babe was truly, purposely
left in that ramshackle stone hut, or his parents were slain and
then he was stashed there, remains unknown.  The infant was found
and adopted by the street people of the city, and grew from a babe
into a child in their care.  
  As might be expected, children (even elven ones) coming of age
in such a place would have to learn to survive early in life.  The
wayward youth, called Belphanior by those protecting him, was no
exception.  He learned to steal, climb walls, hide in even the most
meager of shadows, and other such useful talents.  Not only did the
young elf learn these things, he _excelled_ at them.  Even more
remarkable was the youth's skill and speed in battle.  Whether he
was using true weapons, improvised ones, or his bare hands, the
elf-child was a formidable opponent.  He learned things much more
quickly than any of his peers on the street, and for that matter,
he was larger and stronger than even the human waifs.  Soon, they
came to respect him, and then to fear him.  The elf was extremely
aggressive, and allowed none to challenge or intimidate him.  One
time, a street bully pulled a knife on him; Belphanior had slain
the offender within the space of ten seconds.  No one ever gave
him any trouble after this incident.
  The elf came to realize that he was destined for greater things.
He went to the thieves' guild to seek instruction, and was accepted
rather quickly as an apprentice.  He was assigned to a particular
man, one Nerkon, a cruel and unforgiving master.  Often the young
elf would complete a task and still be chastized for not doing a
good enough job.  The only reason that Belphanior tolerated this
was the fact that Nerkon had once learned a bit of the ways of
magic.  The vile man was no master, to be sure, but he knew some
of the more basic spells - knowledge that could come in handy at
times.  Belphanior continually pestered the thief to show him 
how to wield sorcery, until finally Nerkon agreed and began to
instruct him in the mystical arts.  
  Nerkon was careful to only show the elf the most rudimentary of
spells; he never suspected that not only was Belphanior a very
quick learner, but also the elf was pretending less mastery of
magic than he actually had.  As his knowledge of spellcraft grew,
Belphanior's confidence grew as well.  Finally, one night Nerkon
was howling in a mad rage, drunk with liquor as well as mindless
rage.  He grew angry at the elf and made the mistake of swinging
a fist at him.  Belphanior broke a bottle over the thief's head,
rendering him unconscious, and then took a jar of poison, coated
a dagger with it, and nicked Nerkon's arm after placing the 
weapon into his other hand.
  The next day, Belphanior explained to the guild the terrible
drunken rage of the deceased thief, how he must have poisoned
himself in his inebriated state, and such things.  The guild was
not particularly angry, for few had truly cared for the cruel
man.  Even better, when they searched Nerkon's room for his old
spellbook, never finding it, they assumed that the suspicious
and crafty ex-thief had hidden it elsewhere, and let the matter
drop.  Belphanior waited cautiously for a full week, then went
to the place where he had hidden the spellbook under a false
stone and recovered it.  Pleading grief, he told the guild that
he wanted to leave the city for a time to see the rest of the
world, and thus did so without incident.  If any of the guild
members truly cared, none ever mentioned it.  As things turned
out, the elf outlived all of the members of the guild anyway,
for he was elven, and what passed as years to humans were mere
moments for him.
  Belphanior came to the city of Fax, and after many patient
years of preparation and planning, he had set up a supply store
which was the front for his fencing activities.  Operating on
an agreement with the thieves' guild of Fax, the elf became
somewhat wealthy over the next few years, and invested his
money wisely, buying several small homes to serve as hideouts
in times of need.  One such place was unknown even to the 
guild, for the elf was suspicious of everyone.  He hid his
money in a number of locations, so that he would always have
some in times of need.
  There came a time, however, when Belphanior truly _did_ wish
to get out of the cities and civilized regions, and journey to
new and exciting places.  Thus, he began frequenting taverns
and inns, listening keenly for tales of quests and other job
opportunities.  He finally found what he was (or thought he was)
looking for in the Green Dragon Inn, when a typical-seeming
discussion led to violence and a mission was declared.  Joining
this group, the elf collected his various possessions and money
and departed Fax with this merry band...
  As the months have gone by, Belphanior's enthusiasm for his
adventuring party has waned somewhat.  He still looks forward
to finding new and interesting people (and sometimes robbing or
killing them), but has become slightly more self-serving and
power-oriented in the last year or so.  He likes Peldor, since
they often share common motives, and would actually enjoy a
nighttime excursion with the thief.  He respects Ged and Alindyar
for their magic, and Mongo for his fighting prowess, but does
not necessarily agree with any of their opinions.  The vile-
tempered elf used to dislike the priest, Rob, but has come to
appreciate his hard-headedness and determination to succeed in
the face of greater odds - traits that Belphanior tends toward
as well.  He actively dislikes Halbarad and Peyote, whom he
thinks of as "the goody-two-shoe pair", and would like to be
rid of them, permanently if possible.
  Nevertheless, the chaotic elf is learning that aggressiveness
and violence will not solve every problem every time.  Whether
he grows less chaotic or not, only time will tell.

>-

Ged

  The elves are among the most noble of the races on the world, and
among them, the grey elves (faeries) are most exalted.  These proud,
often haughty members of perhaps the most ancient race known to man
(or elf) typically stay in strange, elegant cities in the heart of
peaceful lands, there to grow incredibly old and learn things much
beyond the ken of mortals.  Often, these elves become legendary
figures to those non-elves who know of them.  One such grey elf
had origins unlike any others of his kinfolk.
  Born over a century ago in the land of Celene was a grey elf named
Ged (this is a shortened form of his true Elven name, which is nine
syllables long).  This individual, from early childhood, proved to
be more intelligent and perceptive than others of his kind - a born
mage, said the elders of the young lad.  While it is true that he
had such aptitude, it is also known that Ged harbored an intense
interest in the elements of nature - the wilderness, other lands,
and faraway places.  He expressed an interest to his parents to go
out into the world, and so when a rare opportunity to visit the
family's cousins far to the east arose, young Ged was allowed to
come along.  He and a number of his kin journeyed via powerful
magic to the distant Isles of Spindrift, hundreds of leagues to
the east, farther even than the Aerdian continent.
  Upon seeing the open water around the islands, the elf was at
once instantly and irrevocably enthralled.  He frolicked and swam
in the water at every opportunity, much to the amazement of his
parents, who considered the possibility that their young son was
possessed by some strange being.  Anyway, as might be expected
of an elven vacation, the trip lasted for several years.  When he
was told that it was time to return to Celene, Ged pleaded and
begged to be allowed to stay in the islands.  His parents knew
that he was a responsible child, as they knew that he was safely
among relatives, so they let him stay in the Spindrifts with his
kinfolk, despite the odd nature of his wish.
  For forty years, Ged remained in the area, learning everything
he could about sailing and the ways of the open sea.  He became
close friends with a colony of aquatic elves, sometimes staying
with them in their underwater homes via the use of magic spells
and enchanted seaweeds.  When he was not in the water, he often
explored the other islands.  As he grew up in an environment that
he truly loved, Ged resumed his studies of spellcraft, finding
that he not only enjoyed sorcery, but he wanted to learn more.
An odd aspect of his interest in magic was his desire to learn
the priestly spells as well - it was not just magecraft that he
liked, but also the more holy magics.
  Researching the various theologies, Ged found exactly what 
he was searching for in the religion of Boccob.  This diety not
only combined the best aspects of magi and priests, but was also 
a lenient god.  The ideologies and ways of Boccob captivated the
elf, as he practically worshipped magic anyway - and Boccob WAS
magic.  Thus is was that Ged began his pursuit along two very
different, yet in this case related, paths.  For years he was
involved in research along this vein.
  There came a time when he desired to see still more of the 
lands of the world, their cultures, their religions, and of 
course their magic.  Somewhat reluctantly, Ged bid his cousins
farewell, and boarded a ship sailing for the main continent.
After arriving onto the shore weeks later, the elf wandered
the lands as his whims changed, taking in all aspects of the
cultures around him.  It is noteworthy that he did not care
much for the decadence that he found within most of these
places.  He resolved to do what he could to rid the world of
evil beings in the future, as he recognized that he was not
yet powerful enough to deal with everyone he wanted to.
  Eventually he made his way into the treacherous Wild Coast
region, and happened into the nearest city, Fax.  As he passed
a local bulletin board, Ged noticed one sign requesting help
for a mission.  Intrigued for some unknown reason, he went to
the specified place at dusk - the Green Dragon Inn.  There he
became involved with a certain group of wanderers and lunatics
who sought to complete the quest of a dead man...
  Ged is comfortable with his position within the party right
now.  He seems to have the respect of all of the other party
members, perhaps due to his age and experience.  His constantly
changing whims, desires, and goals allow only three things to
remain constant:  his lust for magic, his desire to further the
cause of Good (via Boccob), and his love of the seas and oceans.
Having been raised exclusively among elves, he still remains
suspicious of all others.  This is especially true within the
party, where one of the other elves is quiet and a drow besides,
and the other is practically psychotic.
  His closest friend in the party is Mongo - the only one of the
good-aligned adventurers whose personality is compatible with
his own.  Ged detests Belphanior, because of his tendencies to
kill others.  He tolerates Halbarad and Peyote, thinking them
well-meaning but insipid.  Peldor is not to be trusted with any
form of treasure, but in the party's battles he has won the elf's
respect.  Ged does not care for Alindyar, due to the history of
the drow as a race, but has learned that his companion does not
fit the stereotype of the dark elf.  As for Rob, well, Ged has
long since decided that the priest is only occasionally sentient
and as such must be watched closely.

>-

Halbarad

  Furyondy, greatest of the benevolent nations of the Flanaess,
has long been at odds with its evil neighbors to the north.  At
times, the border towns are subject to attack from these other
lands, and such conflicts are usually quite bloody.  One small
town used to exist there, called Jharek.  It was a nice little
place, a center of bustling activity and commerce.  One young
lad who lived there was called Halbarad.  A bright boy, he was
innocent and happy, as most young children are.  Unfortunately,
his town was on the northern edge of the land, so it was no great
suprise when humanoids from the evil lands to the north descended
upon the area one morning.  The entire town was massacred - the
eight-year old Halbarad only survived because he hid himself away
in a hole and covered himself with dirt.  Orcs were never known
for their intelligence.  
  Emerging from his shelter hours after the humanoids left, the
heartbroken youth vowed at that moment to exterminate the entire
orcish race, singlehandedly if need be.  He foraged through the
ruined town, finding food, water, and a sword, and journeyed 
southward.  In the first city he arrived at, Halbarad went to
the warriors' guild and told them his story.  He also expressed
his desire to learn the art of weaponplay.  Feeling only pity
for the waif, one of the grizzled old warriors adopted the boy
as his son, for the veteran's actual children were long gone,
having made their way into the world as warriors.  
  For the next sixteen years, Halbarad practiced with all sorts
of weapons.  He grew to be a strong, level-headed young man,
deadly in combat yet using his brain at the same time.  His old
mentor and foster father turned out to have been a woodsman,
and he eagerly passed on his skills and experience to his pupil.
  Upon the death of the veteran, Halbarad decided to move on.
He saw to the old man's possessions, giving them to good causes,
and left Furyondy, moving southward.  His activities between this
point and the party's formation in Fax are unclear, but one thing
is certain: no orc crossed his path and lived.
  Halbarad is currently unsure of his role in the party.  He used
to lead them, it seemed, but others have stepped forth recently
to wear that mantle.  He is good friends with Peyote, and not
only because of their common love of the wilderness.  They are
the only ones who can actually get along with each other at any
time, in any situation.  Halbarad does not like Belphanior at
all, for obvious reasons.  Sometimes he wishes that the elf 
would accompany him into orcish lands, to serve the greater
good.  The ranger respects most of the others (except Peldor)
for their various abilities; he has grown particularly fond
of having Mongo at his side leading the party into battle.  He
always keeps a careful eye on the thief, and does not trust
him even as far as he can throw him.
  Halbarad has come to accept that even orcs have a right to
live, and will not usually slay them until they declare their
hostile intentions.  His hatred of the orcish race is balanced
by a love for all animals, which did not truly manifest itself
until his second year with the party.

>-

< Mongo, Peldor, Peyote, Rob  will appear at the end of part 44...>
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/4/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   midday
Place:  Havenhill, capital of the Principality of Ulek


                     XLIV.  Ye Olde Parchment



  The party has been in Havenhill for quite some time.  However,
the time has come to move on, as the party is gathered around a
tavern table, eating dinner and listening to Peyote ramble on...

Peyote:  Okay dudes, here's the deal.  (holds up a very ancient 
  scroll that he got as part of his share of the last loot)
Mongo:  So?  So what?  What's it say?
Peyote:  Well, you see, I have long had an aptitude for languages
  long forgotten by modern folks.  
Alindyar:  Ancient languages.  What is the significance of that?
Peyote:  You see, this scroll is written in old Oerdian, one of
  the long-lost tongues of our forefathers.  And it supposedly
  leads the way to a legendary artifact of eons past - the Rod
  of Life and Death.
Ged:  Eh?  
Rob:  Sounds evil to me.
Halbarad:  What is this thing you speak of?
Belphanior:  Talk about the death part.
Peldor:  (thinking about the other treasures sure to be found with
  such an artifact)  
Peyote:  Here's what it says:



-------------------------------------------------------------------
  KNOW YE, O ILLUMINATED ONES, THAT EVEN THE GODS THEMSELVES HAD   |
NEED OF MORTAL SERVANTS.  FOR SUCH ONES, THE DIETIES CONSTRUCTED   |
MANY ITEMS OF SURPASSING POWER.  THE CELESTIAL ROD WAS ONE SUCH    |
ARTIFACT.  POSSESSED OF THE POWER TO SHAKE THE HEAVENS AND TO
SHATTER ARMIES, THE ROD CHANGED HANDS AS ITS BEARERS MET WITH
VIOLENT ENDS OVER THE CENTURIES.  THERE CAME A TIME, THOUGH, 
WHEN A MORTAL USED THE ROD TO CHALLENGE THE GODS.
  THE GODS LAUGHED, AND OBLITERATED THE FOOL ON THE SPOT WITH A
BOLT OF POWER THAT SUNDERED AN ENTIRE CITY.  THE ROD, NOT MADE
TO TAKE SUCH DAMAGE, WAS BROKEN INTO FIVE PIECES BY THE MIGHT
OF THE GODS' WRATH.  THESE FRAGMENTS WERE SCATTERED TO THE ENDS
OF THE OERTH, BUT EACH STILL RETAINED GREAT POWERS.
  ONE OF THE FIVE PIECES CAME TO BE IN THE POSSESSION OF THE
DWARF ARANOR THE MAD.  WHEN ARANOR BUILT HIS GREAT CRYPT AND
PASSED FROM THIS WORLD, ALL OF HIS WORLDLY TREASURES WERE ALSO
SEALED AWAY IN THE DARK PLACE - INCLUDING THE SINGLE BIT OF THE
CELESTIAL ROD THAT HE POSSESSED, ALSO KNOWN AS THE ROD OF LIFE
AND DEATH.
  KNOW YE FURTHER THAT, SOME THIRTY LEAGUES TO THE WEST OF THE
CAMP OF LOFTWICK, SOON TO BE A MAJOR CITY, IS THE SOUTHERN LEG
OF THE GREAT CRYSTALMIST MOUNTAINS.  NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE
PEAKS IS A SHRINE, A SMALL BUT SACRED PLACE WHERE CREATURES BOTH
GOOD AND EVIL FEAR TO TREAD.  ANY WHO MEDITATE AT THIS MOST HOLY
OF PLACES BY THE LIGHT OF THE FULL MOON, WILL AT MIDNIGHT BE
SHOWN THE WAY TO ARANOR'S TOMB.                              
  AND IN THAT PLACE LIES POWER AND WEALTH BEYOND IMAGINING.  
                                                                   |
                                            Epicurus the sage      |
                                                 302 C.Y.          |
-------------------------------------------------------------------


Ged:  Well how about that?
Belphanior:  Power to shake the heavens...hmm.
Mongo:  302 Common Year?!  That's over two hundred and fifty YEARS
  ago!!
Peyote:  That's a long time, man.
Halbarad:  Too long, perhaps.  This place sounds evil to me.
Belphanior:  Of course.  That's precisely _why_ we should go there.
  Think of all the evil that we can rid the world of.
Halbarad:  Hmm.
Alindyar:  What manner of place is this...Loftwick?  Where can 
  it be found?
Rob:  Loftwick!  That's...let's see...(pulls out a map)
Ged:  Hey!  Where'd you get that nice map?!
Rob:  I bought it at the cartographer's shop.  Nowhere that any of
  YOU would ever go.  Hmm.  Loftwick is now the capital of the land
  known as the Yeomanry.
Peldor:  It's come quite a way from being a "camp", it seems.
Alindyar:  'Twould seem so.  Shall we undertake this quest?
Ged:  I wonder if the scroll is authentic?
Mongo:  Everyone's heard of old Aranor.  He was crazier'n a loon!
  That was one dwarf who meddled in things he shouldn't have.  The
  legends of our people say that he was taken from this world to
  a realm of madness and chaos, never to return.  But they never
  said anything about any tomb...
Peyote:  Well, dude, that's definitely authentic Old Oerdian on
  that paper.  And the parchment seems real enough.
Mongo:  A dwarven tomb!  I'm in.  Think of the architecture...
  (goes starry-eyed)  
Peldor:  Think of the loot!
Ged:  Let's check this place out.  I for one am sick of being in
  Havenhill, and Ulek. 
Alindyar:  And artifacts can always come in handy.
Peyote:  Right on, dude.  If we don't get out of here, they'll
  find some new rancid quest for us...
Halbarad:  Let us get out items together, and depart then.
all:  Yea!





next time:  The journey to the Shrine

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  Here are the other four character histories.  


           A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ADVENTURERS' PASTS
                          (part 2 of 2)



>-

Mongo   

  Many of history's legendary warriors and heroes have been dwarves -
perhaps due to the race's overall hardiness and strength, perhaps due
to their peculiar brand of stubborn bravery.  Among the members of 
Clan Thunderhead, of the Flinty Hills dwarves, there has never been
a dwarven hero to rival the ancient legends.  Until now, that is.
There is one member of the clan who, at his present rate, will soon
have a list of feats sufficient to bring a gleam to the eye of even
the most bored dwarven child.
  Born over three score years ago, Mongo Thunderhead was aggressive
even as a youth.  His father, and his father before him, were great
warriors, well-respected among the clans of the Hills.  His brothers
(there were four) were also warriors.  Raised in such a family, the
dwarf soon became skilled in battle, at the same time growing to be
tall and powerful (for a dwarf, anyway).  In his childhood, Mongo
never lost a contest of strength with his peers.  Though all dwarves
are aggressive and loud, Mongo took these traits to an extreme.  He
was constantly seeking new challenges and foes, as well as being 
quite verbal when he had an opinion about any matter.  Once, he was
on patrol when he ran into five goblins in an abandoned tunnel...
rather than retreat and ensure his safety, Mongo charged the group
of humanoids, and beat them all within minutes, yelling and cursing
the whole time while ignoring every wound inflicted upon him.
  While he had always had a love of battle and weapons, the dwarf
also learned about some other things.  Among his favorite hobbies
were weaponsmithing, armoring, and mining.  Though fairly skilled
at the first two, Mongo held a greater love for the third.  He 
showed an early aptitude for digging and mining, as it not only
interested him, but was practical considering his environment.
The young dwarf developed a good eye for underground construction
and tunneling, skills that were sure to help him later in life.
Oddly enough, he also found that he enjoyed the myriad combinations
made possible by a thorough mastery of the culinary arts.  As the
other dwarves wondered about their kinsman (kinsdwarf), Mongo 
demonstrated constantly that he was able to spice up even the most
insipid meal.  His comrades' teasing never stopped him, though -
at a whim, he could hold his own in any sparring match with any
weapon.  His father saw great promise in all of his sons, and was
proud, even as _his_ father, Mongo's grandfather, was slain in
battle with humanoid tribes underground.  That particular series
of skirmishes went on for many years, and eventually, the humanoids
were driven away or exterminated.  The significance of this for the
young Mongo was that it enabled him to gain years of intensive
experience in real, bloody battle - and showed him that not all
battle is glorious and without a price.
  After decades in the Flinty Hills, Mongo's already thin patience
wore down to nothing.  He grew bored with what had become, for him,
a sedentary lifestyle.  Besides, hadn't all the dwarven heroes of
legend traveled the world to find new and glorious adventures?
Of _course_ they had!  And so would he, for the time was right.
With this in mind, Mongo and a dozen of his like-minded clansmen
packed up, slung their weapons over their shoulders, and headed to
the south.  They traveled for six years, and for various reasons
one or the other of the dwarves left the group.  By the time Mongo
arrived in the Wild Coast region, there were only two others left
in his party, and this pair decided to set up an armory in a nearby
town.  Mongo himself spent a month checking out the city of Fax,
and was about to leave for more exciting areas when he encountered
a group of freebooting adventurers.  He actually had stopped in the
Green Dragon Inn to have one for the road, and had no idea about
the posted announcement that drew the others.  Anyway, he helped
the group defeat some murdering thugs and promptly decided to join
them on their mission.
  Mongo is usually in a good mood, even when he appears grumpy.
He is the party's big gun and he knows it.  Their reliance on him 
to anchor all melees has made him proud if not egotistical.  The 
dwarf gets along great with Ged, and the two have become fast 
friends.  He lumps Peldor and Belphanior into the same group - 
untrustworthy, lying scoundrels.  He respects Halbarad and Peyote, 
if only for their combat ability.  Mongo has no real opinion of 
Alindyar, since it's all he can do just to accept the drow as a 
non-evil individual.  He thinks of Rob as a confused yet powerful 
priest, and tries to stick up for him most of the time.  
  Though he is aggressive and loud, Mongo is by no means careless.
He sees perfectly the advantages of thieves in the party, likewise
for mages and priests.  He is a bit greedy for money as well as any
magic items, whether he can use them or not.  The high point of his
recent life has been the acquisition of his prized dwarven hammer,
which has proven invaluable in combat situations.  If Mongo has any
weakness, it is his sometimes blind eye to the rampant chaos within
the party - he tends to let others worry about such things while he
finds another unexplored dungeon area to wander into.

>-

Peldor

  Peldor the thief.  Rogue, scoundrel, party comedian, ladies' man.
A legend in his own mind.  But, in his head he carries perhaps the
most challenging riddle he has ever faced - that of his own origin.
You see, the thief awoke in the wilderness of the Wild Coast region
just one day before he met up with the party.  He was laying stark
naked in a field, and no one was nearby.  He had neither provisions
nor weapons, neither money nor memory.  Of course, basic aspects of
his personality were there - he quickly realized that he must have
exercised regularly; likewise he realized that his skills, abilities,
and training centered around those of a thief.  He was eighteen years
old and had absolutely no idea where he came from.  About all he
remembered was the word "Peldor", so he took that to be his name.
  Wandering in the wilderness, he came upon a camped caravan that
night (about three hours after awakening).  Despite the guards who
were supposed to protect the wagons against harm, Peldor was able
to steal a complete set of clothes, some food, and a sword.  The
latter item seemed almost natural in his hands, as if he had been
a great swordsman in some other time and place.
  Peldor made his way through the grasslands, eventually coming to
a large city, Fax.  Being dressed decently, he made it by the gate
guards and entered the place.  By the time he found taverns and inns
in their row on Main Street, the thief had gained a number of coins 
and jewelry items from passers-by.  Hungry, dirty, and out of food, 
he chose an inn and went inside to have a hot bath and an equally
hot meal.  After cleaning himself up (actually, he paid two wenches
to do this task for him...), Peldor went down to the common room 
for dinner, and later, as he was about finished, a number of people
just came and picked his table to congregate at.  Listening but not
talking, the clever rogue realized that he had a golden opportunity
to join a competent-seeming group of adventurers and perhaps better
his own lot.  Therefore, he joined the party at its formation, and
has been an active member ever since...
  Peldor has the rare distinction of being well-accepted among the
party even though they all know his occupation.  This is no doubt
due to his charm and wit, his creative blend of humor and irony,
and/or his extreme usefulness and skill as a thief.  He actually
doesn't think Ged is a bad fellow (though he'll never admit it).
He is good friends with Belphanior, as might be expected, and also
gets along reasonably well with Mongo and Alindyar.  He really
could care less about the others, but nonetheless strives to keep
their lives interesting with his dry wit and pranks.  It is most
noteworthy that he would never knowingly inflict harm upon any of
his companions without major provocation - a fact which they all
remain blissfully unaware of.
  He is quite happy in the party, and not just because of the
amount of treasure he has come across while in their company.  He
has found, in the group, the anchor that he needed to adjust and
blend into a world that he knew (and remembered) nothing about.
He is constantly trying to remember his own origin, and has even
come up with a number of theories, most of them involving gods and
humility.
  Within his first week with the party, he had built (regained?) 
the personality he exhibits, and things have been moving so fast 
since then that he hasn't really had time to seek answers to his 
enigma.  Occasionally, however, he does have strange dreams which
he can never remember much about.  Examples of scenes from these
dreams:  lightning flashing through the skies, odd landscapes in
seemingly alien worlds, babbling peasants milling about, a ship
of metal sailing through a rainy ocean, a bloody war between men
and demons.  Whether these dreams have any real significance or 
are simply products of a twisted mind remains unknown, for now...

>-

Peyote

  Growing up in the southern reaches of the Vesve Forest, the
young half-elf known as Peyote (not his original name) was well
insulated from the conflicts with the evil inhabitants of Iuz 
and the Bandit Kingdoms.  Born to a human father and an elven
mother, the youth was raised by the forest folk.  These people,
the woodsmen and benevolent demi-humans of the woods, did not
share in the common, petty racial squabbles typical of crossbred
children such as the half-elf.  They accepted him rather than
frowning upon him, as might have been expected.  The problem 
was, he himself did not really care for any of them.  He wanted
to go out and see the world, and often was caught in the forest
at night, far from his native area, wandering about with no
real motive.  It was not long before most of the folk of the
Vesve came to ignore him.
  A rebellious child, he never did become the warrior that his
father wanted him to be.  This originally was because of his
own attitudes, but in the long run, was due to his involvement
with a traveling band of outcasts.  This troupe, known by many
names and misnomers, was made up of those who were uncomfortable
in any city, and chose to live their lives constantly on the 
move.  The group consisted mostly of strange, merry humans but
there were a few elves in it as well, and even a dwarf and a 
gnome.  Calling themselves simply the Traveling Ones, they came 
through the Vesve and were greeted flatly by most folk there.
Their apparent interests revolved around worship of the sylvan
gods and the gods of hunting and the wilderness (chiefly the
diety Obad-Hai, on this world).  They advocated neither good
nor evil, neither law nor chaos, preferring to remain outside
of these extremes altogether.
  He was instantly attracted to these rebellious, odd folks.
He spent much time with them, rather than at home - incurring
the anger of his parents in the process.  He began sharing in
their all-night parties and dances, which involved a significant
amount of unusual herbs and mushrooms.  Their exact nature and
effects remain a mystery, but one thing is certain.  After the
few weeks he spent with the wanderers, the boy's entire outlook
on life had changed.  Gone was the brash, immature child who
was always complaining about everything.  In his place was one
who was unwaveringly calm about everything, one who never acted
hastily - one who called himself Peyote, an odd name that his
parents did not care for.  Peyote ignored them, adopting the
mannerisms of the wild ones: worship of Obad-Hai, an unusual
diet, and a strange dialect.  He left the Vesve with them and
traveled for several years, visiting many lands and honing his
newfound druidic abilities.  Peyote also continued to get
better at weaponplay, but now his main interest was in his
druidic work - he retained the fighting skills more by instinct
than anything else.  
  As was typical of all members of the Travelers, Peyote left
after a number of years to pursue his own interests.  They
last saw him in Fax, a wild city in a wild land.  The half-elf,
confident in his abilities, decided that it was time for some
new traveling companions, and inquired around town.  Filtering
through the rumors and wild leads, he came to the Green Dragon
Inn to find adventure - and his hunch was right.  He has been
involved in several great adventures so far and there is no
sign of boredom ahead.
  Peyote is totally incapable of serious anger.  He tends to
sit back and take a moment to think things over, even if the
matter at hand is urgent.  Though his speech habits are all
but intolerable, he has become good friends with Halbarad the 
ranger, as they seem to share common interests most of the
time.  He gets along fairly well with most everyone else in
the party, being unable to anger any of them even if he
wanted to.  He has recently begun to wonder what greater
druidic goals he is accomplishing in this adventuring party, 
though, for most of their serious challenges take place in
dungeons and caves rather than forests and grasslands.  He
may well decide soon to seek greener pastures...

>-

Rob

  The priest known simply as Rob was born and raised in a totally
typical environment within the relatively peaceful land of Keoland.
>From an early age, he was groomed for the priesthood, for even as a
young lad he was kind, benevolent, and utterly harmless.  It is true
that his parents worried about their son almost as soon as he was
able to walk.  The child constantly walked into things, tripped over
them, and performed other equally mindless deeds.  Once, he guzzled
down an entire jug of castor oil, since he was so thirsty...
  Despite all this, the clergy of the most holy Trithereon assured
Rob's parents that the boy was an ideal candidate for priesthood.
>From age seven he lived, ate, and worked in the temple, learning 
all of the lessons and ideals of the high priests.  Despite his 
certain lack of common sense, he showed great intelligence, often 
learning in one day what others needed weeks to understand.  Rob 
stayed in the temples for twelve years, growing from a skinny, 
clumsy lad into a slightly overweight, clumsy young man.  In his
spare time, he studied other religions (so he would be better 
prepared to argue his own faith to the unbelievers) and learned 
to play the flute - perhaps the one thing that he was not clumsy 
at.  Rob also found that he had exceptional engineering skills, 
as long as he dealt only with paper and pencil - his attempts to 
actually invent or build anything inevitably ended in disaster.  
Undaunted, he continued to work on his side pursuits when possible.
  After his eighteenth birthday, the high priests decided that it 
was time to unleash their young alcolyte on the world.  Rob was told
to travel to the land of Nyrond and find a small town to start a new
temple of Trithereon in.  Rob bid the priests, and his parents, 
farewell, assuring everyone that he would found the greatest temple 
of all time.  Unfortunately, he got somewhat lost on the road to 
Nyrond, for before he knew what was going on, he was in the city of
Fax, on the Wild Coast.  Luckily, he arrived there in the daytime 
and somehow managed to avoid trouble.  Wandering around aimlessly, 
the priest saw an advertisement asking for noble adventurers.  In a
moment, years of carefully instilled rules were forgotten, and Rob 
made his way to the establishment specified in the posted scroll - 
the Green Dragon Inn.  And ever since then, he's been living in sin.
Well, not really - but it is doubtful that his high priests would
approve of his current company...
  Rob is really unsure of his proper place in the party.  He has
no real friends, and sometimes even gets taken advantage of by the
others.  Nevertheless, he has managed to contribute his share of
useful deeds (along with useless ones) and thus has no enemies in
the group either.  His main problem is that he has no attention
span - usually his mind is in a place far away from his body.  
Whether things will improve for him or not, only time will tell...

>-

NOTE#1 :  What do you think of the origins?  As might be evident,
          these were mainly fleshed out in my own head based on
          years-ago casual discussions with the players.  Some,
          like Halbarad's, were built from a couple of sentences
          that the player told me long ago.  Others, like Ged's,
          were joint products of my imagination and the player's,
          written with great emphasis on the player's past and
          present character work.  Still others, like Peldor's,
          were purposefully vague, per the player's requests.
            Are you happy?  Are you disappointed?  Let me know... 
NOTE#2 :  No more surveys, no more histories, no more of this stuff
          anytime soon.  I will be concentrating on pure Adventurers
          stories rather than filler material, so now that you know
          something about the players and the characters, just sit
          back and enjoy the ride!
NOTE#3 :  ALL FUTURE POSTINGS WILL BE IN rec.games.frp.misc RATHER
          THAN rec.games.frp !!!  This is due to the successful
          splitting of the old group; stories are theoretically
          supposed to go in rec.games.frp.archives but I'm still
          waiting to read the charters of the various groups. 
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/25/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   midday
Place:  Havenhill, capital of the Principality of Ulek



                     XLV.  The Shrine



  The party has departed Havenhill, in search of a mystical
shrine which may lead to a legendary crypt.  They traveled
for days, moving westward and southward through Ulek, then
Keoland, the Good Hills, and into the Dreadwood Forest (it
is perhaps of interest that Rob came from Keoland - but he
wisely stayed away from his home city this time).  
  In the Dreadwood, the party had to repel the attacks of
a band of odd werewolf-like creatures.  They also had their
first encounter with manticores, strange winged, bearded 
beings with lethal tail spikes...but the group survived these
perils and emerged from the dark forest into the Little Hills
(which divide the Yeomanry from Keoland).  From there they
entered the Yeomanry, making their way from small town to
small town until the capital, Loftwick, was reached.  This
had all taken about three weeks of travel time, thanks to the
fine horses the party had bought back in Havenhill.

Halbarad:  Well, there it is.
Peyote:  Loftwick, dude.
Ged:  Let's get in there and see what we can find out about
  this shrine.
Mongo:  I KNOW what we'll find out.  We'll find out that it's
  sacred, and that it's haunted.
Rob:  Spooky.
Belphanior:  I hope it's haunted.  I have always wanted to
  have a conversation with the spirits.
Rob:  You may get your chance - and you may regret it.
Peldor:  Bah.  Even in the spirit world, they have surely 
  heard of the deeds of Peldor.  No spooks will stop _me_.
Alindyar:  Yonder guards are hailing us.

guard:  Hey, you.  
Halbarad:  Greetings, noble guardian of this fine city.  
Ged:  ...sprawling metropolis that it is...(kicked by Peyote)
  Ow.
Halbarad:  We seek only a night of rest and relaxation in the
  taverns of great Loftwick.
guard:  Well, gee...
Halbarad:  Can you recommend a fine inn for us?  Surely fine
  guards such as you are would know the best places! 
Belphanior:  (whispering to Peldor)  Sheesh.  Does every party
  have to put up with someone like him?
Peldor:  Maybe.  Who knows?  
Alindyar:  It matters not.  The guard already points into the
  city.
Ged:  This is called a civilized entry.  Compared to the use of
  fireballs and lightning bolts, it's usually preferable.
Belphanior:  Bah.
Rob:  (he is trailing the group as they enter the city)  Hey,
  wait up!

soon, in the Dead Donkey tavern...

Ged:  So you're telling us that you actually KNOW of this shrine
  outside the city?!?
barkeep:  Yup.  No one knows what it's there for.  Someone built
  it long ago, and now and again people go out there.  Usually
  they come back, but sometimes...
Rob:  (leaning forward)  What?  Then what?
barkeep:  If you want MY advice, don't go there.
Belphanior:  Well, we don't really want your advice.  Hell, I
  _hope_ somebody attacks us when we go there.  It will make
  life interesting.
Peyote:  You are mad.
Belphanior:  (grinning)  Yep.
Mongo:  Well, I'm mad too.  Why the hell haven't we eaten yet?
Peyote:  (pulls out an unusual fruit and bites into it)  Mmm.
  Speak for yourself.
Peldor:  I could use a meal.
Ged:  Let's eat now, and head to the shrine tomorrow.  Barkeep,
  where is this place?
barkeep:  The path is well-trodden, yea.  Just go out the west
  city gate - it's a good day's journey out there.  The main
  path, that's the one.
Ged:  Thanks.  (slips the man a few gold coins)
Peyote:  (tosses his fruit core aside and starts eating a fat
  mushroom)  
Mongo:  What the hell's with you?  Where'd you get that stuff?
Peyote:  glmph.  (mouth full of food)  I've been hunting for 
  good fruits and herbs for a while now.  I just happened to
  find some I wanted a few towns back.
Mongo:  (grabbing a loaf of hot bread from a waitress)  Mmph!
  Good!  Better than mushy plant food!
Ged:  Dinnertime for Mongo...
Belphanior:  Bah, I say.  (leaves, and heads for a weaponsmith
  shoppe)
Halbarad:  (dealing with the barkeep for a couple of rooms)

the next morning...

Ged:  Ah.  How good of everyone to be up so bright and early!
Peyote:  Hey, dude, I don't know about you, but it's not often
  that I get a chance to bathe, what with traveling a lot and
  all. 
Alindyar:  Truly, we must make the most of these opportunities.
Peldor:  Even I agree with that.
Mongo:  Bath?
Halbarad:  Let us find our horses and ride.  Stableboy!

that night...

Peldor:  There it is!  I see the shrine ahead!
Mongo:  Geez.  What would we do without you and your great
  vision?
Peldor:  Hey, can I help it if I happen to have the best eyes
  in the party?
Halbarad:  (unslings his axe)  The place may not be unoccupied.
Belphanior:  Yeah, good idea.  (draws his sword)
Ged:  I don't see anyone.
Peyote:  Look at those awesome stones there!  This place is
  decidedly druidic.
Rob:  Well, it's getting decidedly dark.  (casts a continual
  light on a rock)  Ow.
Belphanior:  Hey!  (snatches the brightly glowing stone and
  pockets it)  Do you want everybody for miles around to see
  us?!
Rob:  Err...no.
Belphanior:  We don't need this to keep watch.
Alindyar:  I have been calculating, and guess what?
Ged:  I'll bite.  What?
Alindyar:  'Tis three days and nights until the full moon is
  due to appear...
Ged:  Damn.  We're early.
Peyote:  Thsi is a cool place.  (wandering around)
Mongo:  There's mountains nearby.  I can smell them.  Real
  close, too, like maybe a mile.
Rob:  This place feels weird...evil?
Peldor:  (scanning the small shrine)  I don't see anything
  lying in wait for us.

  Feeling safe for the moment, the adventurers took the time
to explore the place.  The shrine was a small circle of crude
stones, perhaps twenty feet in diameter.  The dirt within was
very dry, as if it had never rained nearby.  The party set up
camp, with Belphanior and Peldor taking the first watch.  
  Within the hour, sleep was interrupted.

Belphanior:  WAKE UP!!  WE HAVE COMPANY...!
Ged:  (wiping the sleep from his eyes)  I didn't know that he
  could talk that loudly.
Peldor:  (he and Belphanior are facing off against a group of
  twelve hissing humanoid shapes)  Help, guys!  There's too
  many of them!
Belphanior:  Whatever these guys are, they're rotting!  (he
  charges, slicing one creature full in the belly)  Yie!
Halbarad:  (axe and dagger ready, he approaches)  What?
Belphanior:  They don't bleed! 
Peyote:  Undead, dude.  Mama, the dead walk.
Belphanior:  Cool...
Mongo:  Kill them anyway!
Ged:  Allow me.  (steps forth)  Back, demons of the night!  I
  command you to CEASE!
ghasts:  (four cringe, and then scamper away)
Rob:  Oh, come now.  Allow ME.  You!  Dead-walkers!  BEGONE!!
ghasts:  (the other eight turn and flee as well)
Ged:  Hey, what power you have.
Rob:  The pure and holy power of the Retributer.
Belphanior:  Hey, stop them!  They're getting away.
Peyote:  So?  I say let them go.
Rob:  Yeah.  Do you want them back or something?
Belphanior:  They'll just come back when your power loses its
  grip over them.  We might as well get rid of them once and
  for all.
Mongo:  (peering into the darkness around)  Well, they're 
  gone.  I'll take my chances in the daytime, thanks.  I
  can't hit what I can't see.  And those guys give off no
  heat at all.
Ged:  Let's get back to sleep.

  Nothing else bothered them that night.  The next night,
however, during Rob and Belphanior's watch, the ghast-things
returned, with some friends.

Belphanior:  Holy shit!  WAKE THE FUCK UP, GUYS!  They're
  baaaaack!
Rob:  By the god...there must be two score of them!
Belphanior:  Shit.  We'll never turn them all.
Rob:  Ged, wake up!
Belphanior:  I'll get a spell ready.  No, can't do that,
  they're too close.  (grabbing his pouches)  Where did
  I put that wand?!?  Fuck!
Rob:  (raises his holy symbol of Trithereon, which begins to
  glow brightly)  BACK, O YE FOUL MINIONS OF DEATH!  GO AWAY
  FROM HERE!  GO BACK FROM WHENCE YE CAME!
Ged:  (joining the priest)  YEA, BACK!  YOU HEARD HIM!  BY
  THE POWERS OF GOOD, SCATTER BACK TO YOUR HOMES...ERR,
  GRAVES!  GO!
ghasts:  (about a dozen turn back - but many more than that
  do not.  They approach the shrine...)
Ged:  Shit!  Spell time!
Rob:  Spell?
Belphanior:  Hey, guys.
Rob:  Huh?
Belphanior:  Duck.  (fires a lightning bolt toward the mob
  of undead, who are conveniently in the same general area)

                           KRAK-OOM!!!

ghasts:  argh!  urk!  hiss!  (many of them are fried)
Belphanior:  Die, dead ones!  (blasts them again)  Ha ha!
Ged:  Well I'm glad that _someone's_ having fun here.
Peyote:  Crispy critters.
Peldor:  (looking around)  Can't a guy get a decent night's
  sleep around here?
Mongo:  (fires his hammer at a fleeing ghast, pulverizing
  it)  And don't come back!
Alindyar:  Mayhap we should have certain spells ready from
  now on.
Ged:  You got that right, pal.  From here on out, at least
  one mage needs to be on each watch.  And one of us priests
  too, if possible.
Mongo:  Hmph.
Peldor:  Gee, what am _I_ good for?
Ged:  Good question.  Let's get it back together, guys.  The
  night is still young.
Belphanior:  ...but minus a few dozen shambling dead.  Heh.

  Suprisingly, nothing molested the party the rest of that 
night and the next...and the next was the night of the full
moon.  By day the adventurers enjoyed the relative peace and
quiet of the secluded shrine, studying spellbooks, praying,
smashing rocks, observing the Crystalmist mountain range -
anything to kill time until the night fell.
  As it did, the solid white moon (Luna, not Celene, for the
smaller satellite seldom was full at the same time as its
large sister) shed a pale white light on the shrine area and
the party.  

Peyote:  Neat.  But it's still a good three hours till the
  witching hour.
Halbarad:  I would suggest that we all stay awake.  Just in
  case.
Peyote:  Yeah, man.  Just in case.
Peldor:  Bah.  Maybe if we stay here long enough, the great
  pumpkin will rise from the pumpkin patch...
Rob:  Pumpkin?
Ged:  Quiet, fools.
Belphanior:  You people are too scared.  Maybe the bogeyman
  will come out and get you.
Mongo:  Geez, this suspense is killing me.
Ged:  Cute choice of words.
Belphanior:  BOO!  Ha ha!
Alindyar:  At least I can tell the time from the positions 
  of the stars above.

the hours passed...about a quarter hour before the designated
  time, strange shadows appeared, flitting around the area...

Rob:  Yie!  
Mongo:  What the fuck...?  (swatting at the wisps)
Peyote:  What are they?
Belphanior:  (swinging his sword around)  I can't cut them!
Ged:  (casts Detect Evil)  They don't radiate evil, whatever
  they are.  Strange.
Alindyar:  Some form of shadow magic, no doubt.
Peldor:  (trying to talk to the shadows)  Maybe they are my
  long-lost brothers or something.
Halbarad:  This makes me uneasy.  I feel...odd.
Rob:  What's that?!?

  Suddenly, a deep wailing could be heard.  It was close yet
far away, above yet below.  There was no discernable single 
source.

Peyote:  Quick!  Get inside the circle of stones!  
Ged:  Why?  Maybe it's a trap.
Peyote:  I think it's a magical circle of protection.  (grabs
  Rob and Halbarad and drags them inside)  Come ON, man!
Alindyar:  (already inside)  I think the druid is correct...
Mongo:  (hops over the barrier)  Sure.
Peldor:  No argument from ME.  (joins them)
Belphanior:  (unsure of what to do, he reluctantly enters the
  stone circle too)
Ged:  All right, all right.
Peyote:  (casts Detect Good)  Hey, man, this place isn't evil.
  It radiates an aura of Good!
Ged:  Then why the undead?  Why the attacks?
Peldor:  Why ask why?  Maybe it was evil before and now it's
  good?  Who knows?  Who cares?
Mongo:  Yeah!  You tell 'em!
Alindyar:  'Tis just shy of midnight...

  The stones began to glow, and the wailing and shadows were
more active than ever.  Suddenly, the party saw a bright flash
of light from a peak to the west, in the mountain range...that
is, _some_ of the party saw it.

Mongo:  There it is!  That's the tallest peak in the range!
Ged:  How do you know that?
Mongo:  ...I don't know.  I just KNOW!  That's the mountain we
  need to go to.
Ged:  It is glowing!  I see it too.
Halbarad:  He is right.  I can feel it.  That glow is a sign
  showing us where to go.
Ged:  Hmm.  This all makes sense.
Rob:  I am getting the same idea.  I don't know how, but I,
  too, can see the glow.
Peyote:  You guys are nuts.  I don't "feel" anything here.
  And I sure don't SEE anything out there!
Alindyar:  Nor I.
Belphanior:  (holding his head)  Ouch.  What glow?  Agh.  My
  head is killing me.
Peldor:  (gazing into the mountains)  I can't see a darned
  thing.  Hmm.  (thinking that maybe thieves are immune to
  the vision)
Ged:  Err...it's fading already.
Mongo:  Yeah...but I can still feel that peak tugging at me.
  We have to go there.  I am sure that I know the way.
Halbarad:  Let us wait until the morrow.
Ged:  Fair enough.
Rob:  Look - the lighted part is gone now!
Mongo:  Gone, but not forgotten.  Boy, that was strange.
Belphanior:  You're telling me...

  The shrine no longer radiated power, but they slept inside
it anyway.  At morning, they moved into the mountains, where
Mongo and those who saw the beacon were sure they knew just
where to go.





next time:  the crypt

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/26/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   morning
Place:  The edge of the Crystalmist Mountain Range, just west
        of the city of Loftwick, in the Yeomanry



                    XLVI.  The Crypt is Found



  The party has been staying at an ancient shrine, where some of
their number witnessed a mystical signal from within the mountains
nearby.  Now it is morning, and after a somewhat restless night,
the group is ready to ride into the mountains to find the crypt
they are searching for.  

Halbarad:  Let us go and find this place.
Peyote:  I hope there's no monsters in the way.  I feel sick today.
Mongo:  Maybe it was that vegetable crap you're always eating.  If
  I had to try and digest that shit, I'd be sick too.  You need 
  some meat in your diet, for good muscle!  (flexes a bicep)
Peyote:  Hmph.
Ged:  Come on, guys.  Let's ride!  (they do)

  Half a day later, after lunch was had off of a mountain path, a
number of giant forms approached, shambling along the rocky road.

Mongo:  Hey!  Look there!  Giants!
Halbarad:  So they are.  (unslings his axe)
Peldor:  I don't think they've seen us yet.  (moves off the path
  and into the rocks)
Ged:  (prepares a spell)
Alindyar:  (likewise)
Belphanior:  Hill giants...
Peyote:  Hey, guys, maybe they'll just walk on by.
Giant#1:  You there!  These are OUR mountains!
Giant#2:  Yeah!  And that means that you pay our toll!
Peldor:  (muttering)  I didn't see any sign with your names on them.
Giant#3:  Huh?
Alindyar:  What is the price of this toll?
Rob:  Quiet, don't encourage them.
Giant#4:  Price?  HAHA!  Everything!  Your stuff...is OUR stuff!
Ged:  Bah.  Turn back or die, idiots.  This is your first and last
  warning.
Belphanior:  What he means is, we take no shit from bandits.  Even
  giant ones.  (draws his sword)  Go ahead.  Make my day.
Giant#1:  KILL THEM!!  (they all start picking up large rocks)

Ged:  Okay.  I warned you.  (casts Evard's Black Tentacles in the
  giants' general vicinity)
Giant#1:  (snagged by two, fails both saves)  Huh?  Worms!  Argh!
Giant#2:  (snagged by one, snaps it)  Bah.
Giant#3:  (snagged by one, snaps it)  Ouch.  That stings.
Giant#4:  (snagged by two, snaps one of them)  Ow.  OW!
Giant#5:  (snagged by three, snaps two of them)  Get it off of me!
Giant#6:  (not in range of any of the tentacles)  Ha!
Alindyar:  I did not warn you, but that matters not.  (casts his
  Confusion spell on the giants)
Giant#1:  (saves, perhaps since it takes no confusion to realize
  that he is doubly troubled already)  
Giant#2:  (fails, stands confused)  Wuzzat?
Giant#3:  (saves, hurls a rock)
Giant#4:  (saves, bashes his remaining tentacle with his club,
  disintegrating it)  Now you manlings die!
Giant#5:  (fails, confused, wanders away as his tentacle continues 
  to crush him)
Giant#6:  (fails, confused, attacks giant#5)  
Giant#5:  (bashed by his comrade)  Argh!
Mongo:  (hit by the boulder of Giant#3, knocked back)  AGH!  Fuck!
Halbarad:  (charges Giant#4)  Meet your maker, fiend!
Giant#4:  Huh?  (raises his club, only to have it swatted aside by 
  the ranger's axe blow, which cuts deep as his dagger also scores
  a wound)  Yagh!  You'll die for that!
Belphanior:  (charges Giant#3)  Die, die, die!
Giant#3:  (meleeing with the crazed elf, takes a shallow cut)  
Peyote:  (casting a Giant Insect spell)
Rob:  (dashes into combat, swinging his magical mace)
Giant#2:  (still confused, becomes more so as Peldor sneaks up 
  behind him and inflicts a lethal backstab attack)  urk...
Peldor:  (becoming visible right when his sword left its sheath)
  Aha!  Peldor, master of the quick draw!  (turns, looks at the
  other combatants, moves in on the fallen, betentacled Giant#1)
Peyote:  There!  (completes his spell, and suddenly there are nine
  1 HD giant ants in front of him)  Attack those giants!
Giant Ants:  (commence doing so)
Rob:  (bashes Giant#4, assisting Halbarad)  For Trithereon!
Giant#4:  Argh.
Mongo:  (lifts the boulder off his chest, and gets in one hammer
  throw, smacking Giant#4 a mighty blow)  Fuckin' giants.
Giant#4:  ARGH!  (reeling)

Belphanior:  (slices Giant#3 again)  Who's laughing now, eh?
Giant#3:  (swats the elf, slightly bruising him)  Crap!
Giant#1:  (has succeeded in snapping one tentacle)  Hah!
Peldor:  (chops the sitting giant from behind, slaying him)  Aha!
  (swipes a pouch from the giant's belt before moving toward Rob
  and Halbarad, and Giant#4)
giant ants:  (some are biting the dead Giant#2)
Peyote:  No, not the dead giants!  Attack the MOVING giants only!!
other giant ants:  (biting Giants #5 and #6, the confused pair)
Giant#5:  (comes around, snaps his tentacle, and steps on a giant
  ant)  What the hell's going on?!
Giant#6:  (still confused, attacks his companion again)
Giant#5:  What the hell-?  Oof!  (knocked back by a club)
Giant#6:  (menacing Giant#5)
Halbarad:  (slices and dices Giant#4, finishing it off)
Peldor:  (diverts himself toward Giant#4, Belphanior's foe)
Rob:  (kicks a giant ant that was sniffing his foot)  Hey!
Alindyar:  (wand in hand, he blasts Giant#5 with four magical 
  missiles)  
Ged:  (runs forth and swipes Giant#5 with his morningstar, a good
  solid blow)  For Boccob!
Giant#5:  (slain, falls)  Urgh...
giant ants:  (biting various giants)
Rob:  (hits Giant#6, wounding him)  There!
Mongo:  Hold still, priest!  (fires his hammer at Giant#6, hitting
  him in the head)
Giant#6:  Ohh...where am I?
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)
Peldor:  (slashes Giant#3, wounding him)  I am Peldor, fastest blade
  in the west!
Belphanior:  What are you talking about?
Peldor:  Err...you're right.  Make that the world.
Mongo:  (hits Giant#6 again with his thrown hammer, slaying it)

Belphanior:  Yah!  (hit by Giant#3, he ignores the pain and stabs
  his opponent, killing it)  Hah!  Argh!
Mongo:  Hey!  They're all down!
Belphanior:  (cradling his arm)  I think my arm is dislocated...
Mongo:  Heh.  Just pop it back into that socket.
Rob:  (ministering to the wounded)
Peldor:  (robbing the dead)
Ged:  Watch it there, Peldor.  Make a pile for that stuff.
Belphanior:  Good idea, Mongo.  (runs into a boulder to fix his 
  arm)  YARGH!!  FUCK, THAT HURTS!!
Mongo:  Geez, I was kidding.
Belphanior:  Argh!  I wasn't.  I had a feeling that would work,
  though.  I've seen it done before.
Rob:  But the pain...
Belphanior:  Pain has its uses.
Peldor:  Here's the loot, guys.  Eleven small gems, a potion, a big
  sack of gold coins, another sack full of silver, a gemmed dagger,
  a couple pouches of platinum, a large opal, and three small gold
  ingots.
Mongo:  Good haul.  I'll need some help to carry all that shit,
  though.
Alindyar:  I once again offer the use of my magical bag...

  They rested, then continued onward for the rest of that day.  A
campsite was found at nightfall, and despite numerous precautions,
nothing unusual happened overnight, or the next morning either. 
Travel continued for the better portion of that day, and strangely
enough, a certain mountain peak stood out among all the others as
the adventurers moved on.  They reached a certain huge spire about
dusk, using a series of convenient mountain passes that Mongo was 
able to find.

Mongo:  Well, I'll be damned.  This pass looks to lead right into
  the friggin' mountain!
Ged:  There's got to be a door somewhere.
Halbarad:  'Ware of monsters nearby...
Peldor:  Check that out.  The path leads right into the sheer cliff
  face, there.  
Belphanior:  Hmmmmm.  Can you say "secret door"?  (starts examining
  the cliff face)
Peldor:  Could be.  (moves to help the elf)
Mongo:  (looking up)  Well, guys, we're definitely at the bottom of
  a mountain here.  This peak must go up for miles!
Alindyar:  (puts his hand over his eyes as he looks up)  Indeed.
Peyote:  One thing's for sure, dudes.  There's plenty of room for
  a whole dungeon inside this rock.
Belphanior:  Dammit.  There's nothing here.  Only solid rock.  Hmm.
Peldor:  He's right.  No doors here.
Mongo:  Are you sure?  (moves up and taps on the cliff face at his
  waist level, and at various places)  Hmm.  Some places here are
  more hollow than others.
Alindyar:  Mayhap the portal is magical...
Belphanior:  I have a hunch that there's a hidden door, behind this
  rock wall or something.  
Peldor:  Anybody have a pickaxe?
Mongo:  Pickaxe?  Well, actually-
Peyote:  You want to break through the wall?
Mongo:  It's not a half-bad idea.  I'm sure there's SOMETHING back
  behind this rock.
Rob:  I've got it.  (pulls out his flute)  Allow me.  (begins to
  play the instrument)
Ged:  Great.  This is classic.  What in the hells is THAT going to 
  accomplish?
Mongo:  I didn't know the boy could play the flute.
Peldor:  He's just full of suprises, isn't he?
Alindyar:  'Twould seem so.

  And then a most wondrous thing happened:  as the priest produced a
rhapsody of notes with the magical instrument, the rock wall began to
tremble, then shiver, and finally _melt_!  As the others watched in
amazement, and Rob continued playing, a large section of rock flowed
down onto the ground as mud, exposing a pair of gigantic metal doors.
Shortly, the spell effect stopped, as Rob's flute music ceased.

Rob:  Whew.
Ged:  ...?!  Where did you GET that thing?!
Rob:  The last adventure...remember?  I had it checked by a mage - it
  lets me cast extra spells when I play it.
Peyote:  Excellent!
Alindyar:  Truly a nice toy, if a simple one.
Ged:  Simple things for simple minds.
Halbarad:  (watching Mongo examine the newly-exposed doors)  Good 
  work, Rob.  Now we have our entrance.
Peldor:  (looking disgruntled)
Mongo:  Hmmph.  Don't you worry, thief.  There must have a good foot
  of hard rock hiding these doors.  There's no way in hell you could
  have found them.
Belphanior:  What metal is this?  I have not seen its like before.
Peyote:  Looks bluish, dude.
Mongo:  This is a mithril alloy, I think.  Strong stuff.  Expensive,
  too.  Count on a dwarf to make his doors out of it.
Peldor:  (checking the doors)  I can't find any keyholes or knobs on
  this blasted thing.
Ged:  Maybe it requires magic to open.
Mongo:  I have just the thing!  (digging in his pack)
Peyote:  What now?
Ged:  I have the knock spell...
Mongo:  This chime!  (holds aloft his magical chime)  Some sage told
  me that it has the power to open doors when I ring it.  And now is
  the time to find out!  (begins ringing the chime)
Peyote:  Wow, man.  Where have you guys been getting these things?
Ged:  (commenting quietly to himself)  Tends to happen when you pay
  attention to your magic item picks...
Halbarad:  By the Lady, the item works!  The doors open...

  With a deep grinding sound, the twenty-foot high doors swung open,
revealing a medium-sized cavern.  There were a dozen metal pegs in
the wall to the left, suitable for hanging clothes - or tying the
horses' reins, as Halbarad wasted no time in utilizing them for just
that purpose.  After securing the mounts, the party set up their
camp, and pulled the giant doors closed (they appeared to open 
rather readily from the inside).  
  There was a large boulder blocking what looked like a tunnel of
rough-cut rock leading away from this room.  The party decided to
camp, setting up watches of two people each to make sure that the
boulder didn't move and that nothing opened the metal doors.  They
all got a good night's sleep in the cavern, and on the morrow began
to consider moving the boulder.

Mongo:  Nah.  No problem.  Four of us should be able to push that
  baby aside.  (he, and Belphanior, and Peldor, and Peyote do that
  very thing, revealing the suspected tunnel)
Peyote:  (dumps a pile of horse oats and creates a big puddle of
  water in a depression on the cave floor)  Stay here, guys.
horse:  Neigh!
Halbarad:  I shall go first.  (bares his axe and dagger)  Light?
Rob:  (lights his mace with a simple spell)  I'll hold the torch.
  As usual.
Mongo:  (follows the ranger into the tunnel, as do the others)

  The tunnel went a short ways, curved to the left, and emptied
into a small room, with a single door in the northern wall.

                                  

                                 /==\   <----GREY ARCHWAY
                               /      \
                              |        |            N
            RUNES ROOM---->   |        |          W + E
                              |        |            S
                              |        |
                               \      /
                              ___\__/___  <----STONE WALL
                             |  *    *  |
                             |          |
            GOLEM ROOM---->  |          |
                             |  *    *  |  
                              \        /
                                \_.._/  <----DOOR
                                |    \
                              __|      \
                             |          |    
            ENTRY ROOM---->  |          |    
                              \        /
                                \_  _/
                                  \  \   <----PARTY'S ENTRYWAY
                                    \  \       (Goes south to cave)
 


Mongo:  Ah!  NOW we're getting somewhere!
Alindyar:  Interesting shape for a chamber.
Belphanior:  I feel uneasy.
Ged:  The aura of...Good is present in this room.
Halbarad:  I am ready to go on.
Mongo:  Yeah!
Peldor:  Bah.  This is just another boring room.
Peyote:  You can say that again.
Rob:  Unusual...
Ged:  What's that?
Rob:  This whole place.
Halbarad:  Ready?  (opens the door, revealing another similarly
  sized room with four large stone statues, one in each corner)
Rob:  Eep.
Statue:  TELL US THE NAME OF THE MASTER TO PASS.
other Statues:  (regard the party)
Alindyar:  These are _golems_!  Beware!
Belphanior:  (starts to ready a spell)
Statue:  HALT OR BE CRUSHED, ELF.  INTRUDERS, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION.
  ANSWER IT NOW OR LEAVE.
Belphanior:  (for once, a wise remark escapes him) ...
Mongo:  Aranor!  Aranor the dwarf is the Master!
Statue:  CORRECT, DWARF.  YOUR PARTY MAY NOW PASS.  (the other three
  golems move to help this one; they push a huge, thick stone slab
  aside to reveal a northern exit)
Halbarad:  Let us go.
Peyote:  I don't know about this.
Alindyar:  With haste...(they scamper through the doorway, which 
  remains opened - for now)
Belphanior:  (grumbling)

  The next chamber was a bit larger.  The entire floor was carved
with runes...an archway stood to the north, grey mists lingering 
within it and blocking any view beyond.

Ged:  Stay back!  Those runes may be a trap!
Alindyar:  Verily.  They seem odd, though.
Ged:  (casts Detect Magic)  Hmm.  No aura.
Mongo:  Hey!  These are _dwarven_ runes!  Old, too.
Peyote:  Well, what do they say?
Mongo:  Eh...let's see.  (puts his hammer back into his belt loop)
Peldor:  (to Belphanior)  Mongo the historian...
Belphanior:  Yeah.
Mongo:  (reading the runes carefully)  Roughly...


  GREETINGS.  IF YOU ARE READING THIS YOU HAVE MOST LIKELY PROVEN
THAT, FIRSTLY, YOU ARE NOT OF EVIL MIND, AND SECONDLY, THAT YOU 
HAVE SOME IDEA JUST WHERE YOU ARE.  IF ANY WHO READ THESE ARE OF
EVIL BEND, I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO LEAVE WHILE YOU REMAIN ABLE.  MY
LITTLE HIDEAWAY IS SOMEWHAT BIASED AGAINST THOSE OF EVIL, I MUST
SAY.
  SO!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  THERE ARE BOTH FABULOUS TREASURES
AND PERILOUS TESTS IN THIS PLACE.  FEEL FREE TO TAKE WHAT YOU CAN
FIND, BUT THERE ARE THREE RULES.  ONE: DO NOT ROB THE DEAD HERE;
THEY NEED WHAT LITTLE THEY HAVE AT THIS TIME.  TWO: DO NOT TRY TO
TAKE THAT WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED; I DETEST VANDALISM.  THREE:  BE
CIVIL TO THOSE OF BRONZE; THEY ARE MY GUARDIANS NOW.  BE WARNED -
IF YOU DO NOT OBEY THESE DIRECTIVES, YOU WILL NOT MAKE IT OUT OF
HERE ALIVE.
  OTHER THAN THAT, I WILL TELL YOU THAT THIS COMPLEX IS NOT ONLY
MY CRYPT, BUT ALSO A PROVING GROUND FOR THOSE WHO ARE WORTHY.  MY
EARTHLY TREASURES DO NOT CONCERN ME ANY LONGER, BUT THEY MAY BE
OF CONCERN TO YOU...

                                        ARANOR THE MAD
                                        C.Y. 275



Ged:  Sounds like fun.
Belphanior:  Evil?  I wonder if he means me?
Peldor:  Nah.  Couldn't be.  Not you.
Halbarad:  I would suggest that we proceed with caution.
Ged:  Brilliant.  (moves to examine the archway, sidestepping the
  runes)  What's this thing?
Alindyar:  I know not.  I believe it to be magical, though.
Mongo:  (gets out a rope and an iron spike)
Rob:  Yeah!  Do that.
Peyote:  Going fishing, dude?
Mongo:  Yeah.  (tosses the weighted rope through the arch, then
  pulls it back)  Nothing.  Hmm.
Rob:  Do you think it's safe?
Belphanior:  Someone has to volunteer to find out...





next time:  What lies beyond the arch

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/28/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   late morning
Place:  A crypt in the Crystalmist Mountains near the Yeomanry



                    XLVII.  Various Obstacles



  The party stands before a grey-misted archway in the third room
of the crypt.  Mongo has successfully reeled back an iron spike
tied to a rope, proving at least that no disintegration magic is
in effect at the arch. 

Belphanior:  Okay.  (walks up to the arch and examines it)  No
  energy, no runes.  (pokes his little finger into the mist)
Mongo:  Hey, watch it there, pal!
Rob:  Who knows what's behind that thing?
Belphanior:  I'm fine so far.  (puts his hand in, then his arm)
  Nothing's bitten me yet.
Halbarad:  Hmm.
Ged:  That can always change.
Rob:  (seriously thinking about pushing Belphanior all the way
  through)
Peldor:  Well, do we go or do we stay here?
Belphanior:  We go.  (leaps in, sword raised)
Peyote:  Well, that may be the end of HIM.
Mongo:  (raises his hammer)  Maybe something'll throw him back.
Rob:  Like you throw back a fish that you don't want?
Mongo:  Yeah, something like that.
Alindyar:  Who will go next?
Rob:  Go?
Belphanior:  (pops back through the archway)  It's okay, except
  for one thing.  
Mongo:  What's that?
Belphanior:  This.  (holds out his left hand, revealing a red 
  glowing rune on the back of it)  It appeared as soon as I
  went through the arch, and it won't go away.
Alindyar:  How quaint.
Halbarad:  Are you in pain?  Do you feel odd?
Belphanior:  Nah.  I just don't like it.  Probably because I 
  can't get rid of it.  It won't rub off, or anything.  (he
  scratches the glowing thing)  Damn it.  Someone dies for this.
Halbarad:  The portal seems safe enough.
Mongo:  Let's go.  No arch-ruin is going to stop me!  (leaps
  through the archway)
Peyote:  Is that like an arch-mage, or an arch-lich?
Rob:  Don't ask ME.

  Soon, the entire party had gone through the stone arch.  They
were in a four-way intersection of passages, one of the four
being a short tunnel leading to the arch they came through.
All of the adventurers now had a similar rune glowing on their
left hands.  Alindyar, Peldor, and Peyote had dull grey runes;
Belphanior had his red rune; Ged and Halbarad had blue runes;
Mongo had a green rune; Rob had a white rune.

Ged:  Hmm.  (to Halbarad)  It seems that _someone_ has grouped
  the two of us as having something in common.
Halbarad:  A lack of chaos, perhaps?

>  NOTE:  The party members are not all aware of each other's 
>    alignments, though some do suspect the basis of the runes'
>    colors...most of them prefer not to discuss the matter.

Alindyar:  Which way to go?
Mongo:  Let's go right.  I like right.  (meanders off to that
  passage)
Halbarad:  Wait for me!  (runs after the dwarf)
Ged:  Let's follow them.  (they all do, but not for long, as...)
Belphanior:  Look, a door ahead.
Peldor:  Let me check that out.  (examining the door and its lock)
  Not even locked.  Careless dwarves.
Mongo:  Out of the way, you.  (opens the door)
Rob:  What's up there?
Mongo:  Well, it's another short corridor.  Looks like it goes, oh,
  thirty feet and splits left and right.
Belphanior:  Ho-hum.
Halbarad:  (backs up Mongo as he moves south)

  Suddenly, from each side there appeared a gigantic snake's head!

Mongo:  (facing the right/eastern one)  What?!
Halbarad:  (facing the western one)  By the gods!  What a lizard!
snakes:  <hiss>
Belphanior:  (pushes past Peyote to stand by Halbarad)  Wow.
Peyote:  (backs up Mongo)  Dude!

Mongo:  Snakes!  I knew something was wrong here!  (as the monster
  nearest him is fairly close, he charges it rather than using his
  hammer as a missile)
Halbarad:  (braces himself and closes with the snake head nearby
  him; both tails turn around their corridors, out of sight)
Belphanior:  (moves in behind Halbarad)  Come on, move it!
Peyote:  (follows Mongo into melee)
Mongo:  (bashes his snake)  Take that, snakey!
snake:  (bites Mongo, but no poison damage is done)
Mongo:  Ouch!  You fucker!  Take that too!  (hits the monster 
  a second time)  That'll teach you to bite ME!
snake:  (reels a bit)
Peyote:  Oh, look at that!  He's just crushed.  (hacks the monster
  with his magical bastard sword, inflicting grievous damage)
Ged:  (just rounding the corner)  By Boccob's balls!  It's a snake
  as big as a house!
Peldor:  Two of them, actually.  (he can see no way to get in a
  backstab)  Damn.
Alindyar:  Mighty magic is called for here...
Rob:  Yea.
other snake:  (bites Halbarad)
Halbarad:  Agh!  (goes down fighting, chopping the snake once)  I
  am poisoned!  Urk...
Belphanior:  Out of my way.  (grabs the falling ranger and tosses
  him back)  Here, Rob.  Help him while I deal with this overgrown
  worm.
Rob:  (grabs Halbarad, laying him on the ground as he casts a spell
  on the poisoned man)  Hold on just a second longer, brave ranger.
Halbarad:  Gak.
Belphanior:  Yargh!  (charges the snake, slicing it once)  Get out
  of here, you scaly shitsucker!

Peldor:  (throws a dagger at Belphanior's snake, scoring a trivial
  wound)  Hah!
snake:  (snaps at Belphanior, but misses as the agile elf dodges)
Belphanior:  Whoa!
Ged:  (blasts Belphanior's snake with three magic missiles)  Take
  those tokens of Boccob's esteem!
snake:  (hisses loudly as small craters are burned into its head)
Belphanior:  (backs up)  Thanks for the cover.  (begins spellcasting)
Ged:  Any time.
Peyote:  (chops at the other snake again, but misses)  Huh?  What
  gives here?!
Mongo:  You missed.  (bashes the snake again)  Not like me.
snake:  Ssss!  (slams into the wall and dies)
Peyote:  Awesome!
other snake:  (also collapses after flailing for a moment)
Belphanior:  Huh?!  What happened?  Mine's dead too!  I didn't hit
  it _that_ hard.
Peyote:  How's Halbarad?
Rob:  He is fine.  I neutralized his poison...
Halbarad:  Many thanks, priest.  But for you, I would be a dead and
  bloated snake victim right now.
Mongo:  Hey!  These fuckin' things are blocking both exits!  We've
  got to move them out of the way!
Peldor:  Bah.  One of my caliber simply climbs over such obstacles.
  (he leaps atop on snake and crawls along its back, scraping the
  ceiling, after retrieving his dagger from the carcass)
Belphanior:  Good idea.  (also does so)
Mongo:  (squeezing between one dead snake head and the wall, moves
  along the corridor)
Halbarad:  Beware - the snakes may not really be dead.
Peyote:  So noted.  (he, and the others, move around or over the
  bodies)

  The party found that the snakes' room was actually one room...



       |  |     
       |  |     
       |  |  
______/    \____ 
______ main __  |  <----PASSAGE THAT THE PARTY CHOSE FIRST
      \room/  | |
   N   |  |   | |__________
  W+E  |  |   |__________ .|  <----DOOR THAT MONGO JUST OPENED
   S    ==  <--ARCHWAY   | |
                   ______| |______
                  |  ___________  |
                  |  ___________  |  <----SNAKE ROOM
                  |  ____   ____  |
                  |______   ______|
                       _/   \_
               . . . . . . . . . . . .
             . . . (SNAKE'S CAVERN). . .
             . . . . (FAIRLY BIG). . . .
               . . . . . . . . . . . .



  Even more surprising was the fact that the "two" snakes were one
creature - a gigantic serpent with a head at each end!  The limp
body in the first parallel tunnel connected the two heads.

Mongo:  Well, I'll be a son of a gun!  I've never seen such a thing!
Peldor:  Me either.
Alindyar:  What an odd serpent.
Belphanior:  That was one big motherfucker, in any case.  Took a 
  lot to kill the thing.
Halbarad:  Look, there is a cavern to the south.



  There sure was - a huge underground cave that was several hundred
feet wide and high.  Many small rats and fungi were present, the
former obviously food for the serpent, the latter probably food for
the rats.  The party searched the cavern extensively, to no avail;
there were neither exits nor treasures to be found here.  Heading 
back into the main, four-exit room, they chose the left/western 
passage next...
               |
               |____
                    |
           _____    |   |  |     
          |  _  |   |   |  |     
          | | | |   v   |  |  
          | | | |______/    \____ 
          | | |________ main __  |  <----PASSAGE TO SNAKE ROOM
      ____| |____      \room/  | |                    & CAVE
     |           |   N  |  |                             
     | arrow room|  W+E |  |  
     |____ . ____|   S   ==  <--Archway
          | |
       /  { }  <----spiked walls
. = door  |_|  <----secret door
         /   \
        |     | <---cylindrical room
         \___/



Mongo:  Pretty empty room, if you ask me.
Belphanior:  There's one exit, that door opposite us.
Peldor:  (checking for secret doors)
Halbarad:  (looking around)

  Suddenly, as Mongo and Halbarad reached the center of the room,
a hidden floor plate clicked.  Instantly, dozens of steel arrows
fired from the west and east walls at chest height, literally 
bombarding the party!  Luckily they managed to duck, avoiding a
number of the arrows.  About six seconds later, arrows littered
the floor, and all was quiet...

Halbarad:  (stands up warily; he has four arrows imbedded in him)
  Ouch.
Belphanior:  (stuck by two arrows)  Fuck!  Some great dungeon 
  this is!
Peldor:  (took three arrows)  Nice trap.  Agh...
Rob:  (took four arrows)  Ouch.  Look, there's an arrow in my
  arm.  (grabs the bloody missile)  OUCH!
Ged:  Dammit!  (only hit by two arrows)  Great job of finding
  traps there, guys!  We could have been pincushions!
Alindyar:  (pierced by three arrows)  Ach.  I feel like I am.
Peyote:  (hit by three)  Rude deal, man.
Mongo:  (totally unscathed)  Hey, guys?
Ged:  What?!
Mongo:  I didn't get hit by any of them.  They went right over
  my head...
all:  SHUT UP!
Mongo:  Geez.  It's not MY fault.
Rob:  (healing himself)
Ged:  (likewise)
Peyote:  (likewise)
Belphanior:  No healing for YOU, Mongo.  Heh heh.  (he thinks
  that it was worth his own wounds to get to listen to the
  party complain)  Nice trap.  Except I would have doubled the
  amount of arrows.
Alindyar:  Look there.  All of the arrow slots are at out waist
  or lower chest area.  This design makes perfect sense...to a
  dwarf.
Ged:  Useless!  I KNEW I should have memorized that damned
  protection from normal missiles spell!  I knew it!  But, no, 
  I had to have lightning bolt instead!
Peldor:  It's not my fault that we didn't find that plate.
Ged:  Don't waste your excuses on ME!  (casts a Find Traps on
  himself)  There!  No more suprises!
Belphanior:  (muttering to himself)  Neat arrows. (takes a few)
Rob:  (heals Peldor)
Peyote:  (heals Halbarad)
Ged:  Eh?  Oh.  (heals Alindyar)
Belphanior:  (sips some of his potion of extra-healing)
Halbarad:  Let us go on.  But...
Alindyar:  Yes?
Halbarad:  Peldor, check that door for traps, please.
Ged:  Why bother?  My spell reveals none!
Peldor:  Are you sure?
Ged:  Sure I'm sure!
Peldor:  But... 
Mongo:  Out of the way, then.  (opens the door, exposing a thirty
  foot long corridor with the middle ten-foot section's walls
  covered by inch-long spikes)  Yikes!
Belphanior:  Hmm.  A man-smasher.
Peyote:  Gnarly!
Mongo:  It looks like two giant meat tenderizers.
Peldor:  No door at the end, though.
Ged:  I see a trap...there!  (points to the section of passage)
Peldor:  Brilliant, priest.  And there I was, about to walk right
  through the passage...
Halbarad:  I might suggest that we avoid that area's floor.
Ged:  You might.  And I might suggest that the trap may be set
  off by anything passing through the walls.
Belphanior:  (throws a dagger through the spiked-wall area)  Hmm.
  That didn't trigger it.
Mongo:  Not heavy enough.  (tosses an empty wineskin through the 
  suspected area, still without incident)  These are _dwarven_
  traps, remember?  More clever than most...
Rob:  Maybe it's broken.
Alindyar:  Perhaps we should just fly through.
Peyote:  To hell with that!
Ged:  Send the carpet first, and see what happens to it.
Alindyar:  (not sure he wants to risk his flying carpet - but then
  realizes that otherwise he would risk both it and himself)  As
  you wish.  (unrolls the carpet)  Now wait just one minute here.
  Such carpets as mine do not function that way.  You must be
  _riding_ the carpet to use its magic.
Ged:  Oh.  Of course.  What a stupid design for a carpet.  When
  _I_ make one, it will be able fly without riders.  Yep.
Belphanior:  (pokes his secondary longsword all the way into the
  spiked area)  Still nothing.
Peldor:  I'm jumping for it.  Remember that the annals of history
  will commend the bravery of Peldor in all crisis situations.
Ged:  Shouldn't that be the _anals_ of history?
Peldor:  Very funny.  I don't see YOU taking any risks here.
Ged:  Can I help it if I have no wish to get mashed into a bloody
  pulp?
Peldor:  No.  (runs forth and leaps through, successfully)  Well,
  damn!  It worked!  (starts looking for secret doors at the end
  of the passage)  C'mon, guys.  Hurry it up.  I don't have all
  day.
Alindyar:  I am going through.  Who will join me?
Rob:  I will!  (jumps on the carpet)
Ged:  Try not to fall off.

  However, it was not fated that the party be smashed into pulp
this day.  They took turns riding through, avoiding the walls,
floor, and ceiling entirely.  By the time all were successfully
past the fearsome trap, Peldor had popped open a secret panel.
The chamber beyond was a thirty-foot diameter cylindrical room,
with its floor at the adventurers' level and its ceiling high
above.  The walls were slippery and slimy, flagstone all the
way up.

Peldor:  No exits here, either.  (peering upwards)  Awfully
  dark up there, isn't it?
Alindyar:  Yes, indeed it is.  I shall ride up with the carpet
  and hold the bright mace there, if someone will accompany me.
Rob:  (hands the drow his light-ed mace)  Okay.
Mongo:  I'll go.  (they get back on the magical carpet and then
  rise slowly upward)
Alindyar:  I cannot see a thing, for this fiery mace we use as
  a torch is blinding me.
Mongo:  There's nothing up there.  Wait!  I see a rope hanging
  on a peg.  There's a ledge all the way around, it's only a
  foot wide, and the peg is on a wall stone above it.  Wha...?
  Whoa!  STOP!
Alindyar:  (stops the carpet)  What is it?
Mongo:  There's a whole bunch of thin wires at the ledge level.
  That's about a foot above your head there. 
Alindyar:  Ah, I think I see.  They criss-cross above us, keeping
  us from rising further - and from getting that coiled rope.
Mongo:  I don't want to risk another trap.  Go back down.
Alindyar:  Surely.  (he lowers the carpet down and they brief the
  others on the situation)
Ged:  (looking up)  Yep, it's a trap all right.  My spell sees 
  it clear as day.
Peldor:  Take me up there.  I can try to disarm it.
Peyote:  We'll back out, just in case a big stone falls down or
  something.
Alindyar:  (he and Peldor go back up)
Peldor:  Ah.  I see.  (raises his hand)  I've been practicing with
  this in my spare time.  Let's see if it paid off.  (concentrates
  deeply)
Alindyar:  What item is that?
Peldor:  (watches the rope lift off of its peg and float toward
  him)  Yes!  (he guides it clumsily through the gaps in the wires
  and into his hands)  Aha!  Peldor comes through once again!
Alindyar:  Are we missing anything else?
Peldor:  (scanning)  No, I don't think so.  I really don't want to
  mess with these wires, either.
Alindyar:  As you wish.  (they go back down)
Belphanior:  What did you get?
Peldor:  This rope - a fine rope it is, too - what's this?  A note
  attached to the rope?  (opens the note)  I can't read this.
Mongo:  Gimme that.  (grabs the old bit of paper)  It says:  THE
  GOLD CANNOT BE TAKEN."  In dwarven.
Ged:  How useful that bit of information was.
Halbarad:  Well, it is time to return to the main junction...



  Shortly they were back at the four-way intersection.  The only
remaining unexplored passage led north, so they went that way.
                                                           |
                __ __ __ __ __ __ ==  <----secret          |
               |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|       door           |
    TOMBS----> |.. .. ..    .. .. ..|                      |
               |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|                      |
       secret door----> |  |                               |
        into tombs      |  |   <--------------------------- 
                        |  |     
                        |  |  
                   ____/    \____ 
  PASSAGE TO---->  ____ main __  |  <----PASSAGE TO SNAKE ROOM
   TRAPS &             \room/  | |                    & CAVE
    ROPE ROOM     N     |  |                             
                 W+E    |  |  
                  S      ==  <--Archway of entry...



Ged:  There's another trap ahead there, at that dead end!
Peldor:  Maybe you should have been a thief...

  They moved north, into the short dead-end passage.  Peldor 
quickly found and disarmed the secret door and its trap, an
insidious acid-from-the-ceiling job.  Behind the door was
a tomb, with thirteen individual coffin rooms.

Peyote:  Stellar, man.  It's the hall of the dead.
Ged:  (ready to turn undead at a moment's notice)  Where are
  they?
Rob:  (holy symbol in hand)  Who?  Oh, them.
Belphanior:  (sniffing)  I smell ozone in here.
Alindyar:  (examining the walls)  These walls are fashioned of
  some unusual stone/metal alloy.  Ore?  Mongo?
Mongo:  (feeling the walls)  Yeah.  I don't know just what it
  is, but your guess is right, I think.  It's some kind of ore.
Peldor:  (to Belphanior)  I smell a trap.
Belphanior:  Yeah.  Just this once, we'll have to be extra-
  careful.
Ged:  This whole area seems to be a trap.  Watch it.
Halbarad:  These doors are all unlocked.  (tries one)  It is
  a coffin room.
Ged:  I would suggest not bothering the coffins...
Peyote:  Right on, man.
Peldor:  Darn!  Can I at least look for secret doors in the
  coffin chambers?  Can I?  Can I?
Halbarad:  Probably.  Just stay out of the coffins.  I think
  this is what we were warned about.
Mongo:  (opening the individual small rooms one at a time to
  make sure there are no monsters inside)  These are the 
  tombs of dwarves.  Athor.  Durheim.  Tybalt.  Coramir.  I
  don't see one for Aranor, though.  Hey, guys, all of them
  are clean...
Belphanior:  Bah.  (puts his hand on a coffin)  <ZAP!>  Yeow!
  What the fuck?!
Peyote:  Phew.  Zapped by the dead.
Belphanior:  That damned coffin SHOCKED me!  (shaking his hand
  in pain)  
Ged:  I told you so...
Alindyar:  This message is clear - do not disturb the coffins.

  Shortly, all thirteen coffin rooms were checked thoroughly,
if the coffins themselves were not.  Peldor located a sliding
wall panel in one of the last tombs, which led to an upward-
sloping circular section of passage.


                     _____
               N    |  >  |  \
              W+E   | ^| v|   >  (rises 20')
               S    | ^|<_|  /
                      ^
                      |___ from tomb

  Thus, the party went up facing north, and ended up about twenty
feet higher, facing north after making a complete turn.  The thing
resembled a spiral staircase, except it was a ramp.  A bit further
was another four-way intersection.  A red glow was visible from
the northern passage.

                                  (red glow)
                                   
                                     |  |
                                 ____|  |____
                                 ____    ____
                          N          |  |
                         W+E         |  |  <----CURRENT LOCATION
                          S         (down)        OF PARTY...
                                       |
                                       v
                                  (staircase)



Mongo:  Hey!  I wonder what _that_ is?
Belphanior:  I can feel the heat from here...





next time:  Draco Gerus Bronzo

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/28/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   about afternoon
Place:  A crypt in the Crystalmist Mountains near the Yeomanry



                  XLVIII.  The Trials of Aranor



  The party is in the middle of a four-way intersection facing to
the north, where something is glowing red...



                                  (red glow)
                                   
                                     |  |
                                 ____|  |____
                                 ____    ____
                          N          |  |
                         W+E         |  |  <----CURRENT LOCATION
                          S         (down)        OF PARTY...
                                       |
                                       v
                                  (staircase)



Mongo:  Let's see just what the hell is doing that!  (strides away
  to the north)
Halbarad:  Perhaps it is a dragon.
Ged:  Don't say that...(they all follow the dwarf cautiously)
Peyote:  Don't even think it.

  The glowing passage led forty feet into a small cavern.  The entire
area where they stood was a wide, arcing ledge which overlooked a 
lake of lava far, far below.  There was no way to continue, as the
rest of this cavern was just empty air above the lake and the ledge
died out less than ten feet away in either direction.  The lava 
below bubbled and burned.

Mongo:  Cripes!  I'll be damned if that's not a thousand-foot drop!
Ged:  Well, let's be extra careful not to fall.
Halbarad:  Agreed.  Is there anything of interest here?
Peldor:  Doesn't look like it.
Belphanior:  (peering over the edge)  What a beautiful sight.
Peyote:  This place is too hot for lil' old me...(steps back)
Rob:  Gee.  (looking over the edge)
Belphanior:  Thinking about jumping?
Rob:  Eh?  No!
Belphanior:  Oh.
Alindyar:  Well, this chamber certainly explains the glowing effect.
Mongo:  Let's get out of here.

  They headed back into the four-way, and took the eastern route
(marked with an "X" below)...

                          
           
                               ......   <---LEDGE
                               \    /        (lava far below)
                                |  |  
                                |  |      
                                |  |       
                            ____|  |_______
                            ____   X____   |
                     N          |  |    |  | <---TRAP
                    W+E         |  |    |^^|________  # =chasm
                     S          |  |    |_____####_@| @ =teleport
                                    <---Entrance to the level
                                        
                                        
                                              
Ged:  I sense a trap!
Mongo:  What's that ahead?
Alindyar:  A trap?
Halbarad:  It looks like a row of spikes imbedded in the floor,
  pointing upward.
Belphanior:  Watch the floor.  If this really is what it appears
  to be, I'd hate to have one of you step on it.
Peldor:  Almost as bad as the rake trick, where you step on the 
  teeth and the rake handle flies up to hit you in the face...
Rob:  Hey!  That happened to me once!
Peyote:  I'm sure.
Ged:  Yep, that's the trap.  Dead ahead.
Peldor:  Okay, guys, stand back and I'll check it.  (he uses his
  ring to push on the floor in front of him, then a bit in front
  of that, and so on...)  Wha...?  (suddenly, a floor plate in
  front of the party pivots, on an axis about five feet on this 
  side of the row of spikes, and the spikes slash the air rather
  harmlessly as the floor plate spins around and around slowly)
Alindyar:  Interesting ring.  Is it for sale?
Peldor:  No.
Mongo:  What a stupid trap!
Belphanior:  That would only catch a certain breed of dungeon
  explorer... (casts a sidelong glance at Rob)
Alindyar:  We should simply use the carpet and fly over this
  obstacle.
Peyote:  Sounds good to me, dude.  (they spend a few minutes
  doing this, until all are over the trap and have turned left
  around a corner)
Mongo:  (the first one over, he has been examining a chasm in
  the floor ahead)  Hey guys!  Look at this!

  The chasm was about as deep as the previously encountered
lava pit.  It was some twenty feet in breadth, and its walls
seemed fairly steep.  The chasm spanned the entire width of
the passage.

Alindyar:  A mage's work is never done...(he and Mongo get on
  the carpet as the drow ferries both of them across)  I 
  shall be back presently to take the rest of you-  <blink>

Ged:  Holy Boccob!  What the hell happened?!?
Halbarad:  (hefts his axe)  They just...vanished!
Peyote:  Maybe it's an illusionary wall.
Rob:  We'd better hurry up and figure out a way across.  They
  may need our help!
Belphanior:  Someone get out the rope and spikes.
Peyote:  No can do, man.  Mongo always carries all that stuff.
Peldor:  I can try to move us across with my ring...
Belphanior:  I'll go!
Peldor:  Okay then.  Stand still there.  (concentrates)
Belphanior:  (lifted gently, he drifts over the lava pit and
  down onto the other side - and blinks out!)
Peldor:  Hm.
Peyote:  I sure hope you're not dumping us into some awful
  trap...
Halbarad:  I will go next.  We have no time to sit here and
  discuss this.  (he is lifted, and vanishes too)
Ged:  Me next.  (he is lifted, and carried to the end of the
  passage)  Hey!  I'm still here!
Peldor:  Wha...?
Ged:  <bump>  Ouch!  Watch it there!  You just rammed me into 
  a wall!
Peldor:  (looking at him)  So there's no real passage after
  the chasm.
Ged:  (wobbling in the telekinetic grip)  HEY!  Concentrate
  there!  I'm about to fall!  Bring me back to solid ground!
Peldor:  Okay.  (does so)
Rob:  Let me try.  (he too is levitated, but fails to blink
  out at the end of the passage)  What in the world?
Ged:  Maybe there's only a four-person limit.

meanwhile...

Alindyar:  (he and Mongo are in a small room facing a wall as
  Belphanior and Halbarad arrive)
Belphanior:  What's going on here?
Mongo:  Look.

  There was a mouth of stone on the wall; as they watched, it
spoke again.

magic mouth:  I ASK AGAIN:  WHAT HAS A BED BUT NEVER SLEEPS,
  AND RUNS WITHOUT ANY LEGS?
Halbarad:  Hmm.
Mongo:  Beats me.  Is it a-
Belphanior:  (puts a hand over the dwarf's mouth)  Shh.
Alindyar:  (conferring with Belphanior)  Yes...I see.
Halbarad:  What's that?
Alindyar:  (addressing the mouth)  'Tis a river!
magic mouth:  YES!  (burps, sending an old wooden bowl with a
  parchment attached to the floor at the adventurers' feet)

  Suddenly, the four were teleported away, landing on their
bottoms right behind the four who stayed...

Ged:  (turns around)  What?!  It's you again!
Mongo:  Naturally.  Who else were you expecting?
Alindyar:  We answered a riddle, and were given this bowl -
  and this parchment.
Peldor:  Give the paper to Mongo.
Mongo:  (reading)  Dwarven again...it says, "Beware the 
  circular room!"
Peyote:  Is anyone saving all these things?
Alindyar:  I am.  (tucks it away in a pouch, and puts the
  bowl in his bag)
Halbarad:  Well, I suppose that is all for this wing of the
  place.  Back to the main crossing?
Mongo:  Yeah.  (they go back there, again using the carpet
  to get across the spinning spike trap)
Ged:  So far we've gone straight, to the lava cliff, and 
  right, to the chasm and teleporter.
Peyote:  Now we go left, right?
Rob:  Huh?
Halbarad:  That is correct.  (they do)


                 _______
                |       | <- STATUE ROOM
                |  *    |_____
           _____|      /      | <- EMPTY ROOM W/CURTAIN
          |  __/_____/        |   
GIANT     | |       |__   ____|      |  |  <--- to Lava cliff
 FANGED   | |   door-> |.|     ______|  |____
  MOUTH--> ^           | |____|  ____    ____  <--- to Teleporter
                       |________|    |  |
                                     |  |  <--- entrance to level  
                                        


Belphanior:  Another door.
Ged:  My spell detects no traps.
Peldor:  Is the door locked?
Mongo:  Nope.  I guess they're expecting us.
Peyote:  Was that a joke?
Mongo:  Who, me?  Nah.

  The party entered a rectangular room, or presumably it was of
that shape, since a heavy curtain blocked one corner from view,
cutting diagonally across the room.

Belphanior:  (listening at the curtain)  I hear nothing.
Mongo:  You mages, get a spell ready or something. (peeks around 
  the curtain)
Peyote:  Well, man?
Mongo:  All clear.  There's a little statue there, but nothing
  moving.
Halbarad:  All right.  (he leads the group into another similar
  room, with _its_ corner cut off by the curtain; this new room
  had one exit)
Belphanior:  Nice statue.
Alindyar:  It appears to be a bird of some sort.
Ged:  What's this?  Engraved at the base-
Mongo:  And not in dwarven...
Ged:  -it says, "Don't touch me."
Rob:  Is it a trap?
Ged:  Don't you think I would have told you if my spell picked
  up any traps here?  Of course it's not a trap.  Then again,
  I wouldn't touch it, myself, either.
Peldor:  Look!  Its eyes are large rubies!
Belphanior:  Nice rubies too.
Peyote:  (to Rob)  A hundred gold says that he touches it.
Rob:  No way!  I know he'll touch it.
Peldor:  (to Belphanior)  They're all watching you.  Are you 
  going to bother it, or not?
Belphanior:  Um...I think not.  The warning is clear here.
Halbarad:  So be it.  (they open the unlocked door and move into
  a short corridor, turning left)  Holy...
Mongo:  What the fuck...?

  Before the group, the passageway gradually turned into a mouth
full of two-inch long teeth.  Inside this "bite area" the passage
continued onward.  The mouth was unmoving and appeared to be of
stone construction.

Peyote:  Quick, someone cast a Stone to Flesh!  Hah, just kidding.
Ged:  Ha.
Mongo:  We'd better watch it with this one.  (cautiously nears
  the thing)
Halbarad:  I think it is made of stone and will not attack us.
Ged:  Second that.  It's not registering as a trap.
Mongo:  Are you sure?
Ged:  Oh come now!
Mongo:  (looks around at the teeth and jumps in)
Rob:  Well, he made it through okay.
Halbarad:  (moves through)  It seems harmless enough.
Ged:  Go on, Belphanior.  Maybe it'll bite _you_.
Belphanior:  Bah.  (strolls through, unharmed)
Peyote:  Okay, let's go.  (he leads the others through)
Mongo:  That was supposed to scare us, I guess.
Halbarad:  What is happening here?  The passage is growing!
Belphanior:  (looking back, at the teeth that now seem to be 
  twice as big)  Hmm.  So it is.  
Ged:  Either that, or WE'RE shrinking.
Peyote:  Far out!
Alindyar:  The passage ahead goes for hundreds of feet...
Mongo:  Shrinking, my ass!  A tiny Mongo is still a dangerous
  Mongo!  (charges onward)
Halbarad:  Does anyone want to turn back?
Peldor:  Not yet...

  They moved on, and suddenly were in a "normal" sized passage
again.  Alindyar and Ged suggested that the whole thing was no
more that an illusion designed to scare the foolish.  The
corridor they were now in turned right, then left twice...



                                      | |______
              <--Stairs down          |______  |
           |^| ____      ____    _______     | |
           | |/    \____/    \__|       |____| |
           |_$      ____      __\   *    ______|
              \____/    \____/  |__   __| <---STATUE ROOM
               CONE     SPHERE     | |
      _____________________________| |
     0_______________________________| <---NUGGET HALLWAY



Mongo:  Another freakin' statue!
Halbarad:  This one is of a robed mage.
Peyote:  He sorta looks like you, Alindyar.
Alindyar:  Hmm.  What good taste the sculptor had.
Ged:  (examining the statue)  What's this?  (picks up a scroll
  at the statue's feet)  Hmm.
Alindyar:  What is it?
Ged:  (casting Read Magic)  This is the spell for turning stone
  into flesh!  What a treat!
Rob:  I wonder what its purpose is?

  The party moved on to the south, entering a long corridor
which also rose, like a ramp.  It was about a hundred-fifty
feet in length, and rose perhaps fifty feet over this span,
by Mongo's estimation.  The entire ramp was curved on both
sides, like a pipe sliced lengthwise.

Mongo:  (climbing slowly)  What's that at the top?
Peldor:  A dull glittering...no.  It couldn't be...
Halbarad:  Say, is it just me, or is that a huge golden nugget
  at the top of this ramp?
Peyote:  It's not just you, dude.  That's a nugget, all right.
Belphanior:  Gold, too.
Mongo:  That fucking thing must be ten feet wide!  It's worth
  MILLIONS!!
Alindyar:  Hmm.
Ged:  I think of it as a sphere, not a nugget - and this is a
  trough, not a ramp.  Get my drift?
Belphanior:  I see.  "The gold cannot be taken."
Rob:  And, "Do not try to move that which cannot be moved."
Peldor:  Damn.  That thar nugget could set us all up for life,
  know what I mean??
Belphanior:  And if it falls, it will splatter us all for sure.
Peyote:  For sure.
Mongo:  Damned thing must weigh tons.
Halbarad:  I think we should find another place to explore.
Peldor:  Fine.  But I'll be thinking about how I, er, we, can
  get that thing down from there.
Ged:  Fine, waste what precious brainpower you have.

  They descended the ramp/trough, returned to the statue room,
and took the western door.  Mongo stepped in...

Mongo:  HEY!  (floating off into the center of the room, which
  is a perfect sphere of thirty-foot diameter)  I'm floating!
Halbarad:  (also stepped off)  So am I.
Peyote:  Free fall!  (leaps off into space)
Belphanior:  (floating toward the bottom of the room)  Neat.
Rob:  (floating out, he hits a wall)  Ow.
Alindyar:  (floats out, gets on his carpet, stabilizes)  Hm.
Peldor:  (tries to slide down the side, but ends up floating
  upside down)  Yikes.  Hey look, there's a doorway out.
Ged:  How interesting this room is.  I wonder if Boccob 
  invented it.
Peldor:  (uses his ring to push off from the lower wall, and
  heads for the top)  What's this?
Mongo:  What did you find?
Peldor:  A...switch.
Ged:  Hey!  Don't touch that!
Peldor:  (just flipped the switch)  Whyyyyy....(they all fall
  sharply to the bottom, except Alindyar, and are bruised a bit)
Alindyar:  (on his carpet)  Fascinating.  A controlled effect
  of _reverse gravity_.
Peldor:  Whoops.
Ged:  You moron!  Don't touch anything else!  You may kill us
  next time!
Alindyar:  (sails up and flips the switch again, and everyone
  starts floating)  With a switch, no less.
Halbarad:  To the next room.  (they all manage to make their
  way into the exit corridor, where the gravity is normal)

  The next room was conical, pointing upward with a thirty-
foot diameter base/floor and a height of thirty feet also.
There was a carpet, upon which a table and four chairs were
resting.  On the table was a small box.

Ged:  No traps...oops, there goes my spell.  Too bad I didn't
  pray for a second one.
Belphanior:  (opens the box after discreetly checking it for
  traps)  Nothing in here but some crumbs.
Peldor:  Hey, let's look under the rug.
Mongo:  (moves the chairs and table with Halbarad's help)
Belphanior:  (pulls the carpet away)
Rob:  (watches)
Peyote:  Nothing.  Blank floor.
Alindyar:  Perhaps an illusion...
Peldor:  (taps on the floor, which vanishes in a two-foot
  square section, revealing a cavity beneath)  Yep.
Rob:  What are THOSE?  (pointing to some things in the hole
  that look like large, 6" wide biscuits)
Peyote:  Biscuits?
Mongo:  (sniffs one)  Hmm.  (takes a bite from one)  Not bad.
Ged:  They could be poisonous or something...
Mongo:  Just stale.
Peldor:  Give it to Mongo, he'll eat anything.
Belphanior:  (checking among the objects, finds nothing else
  in the cavity)  Let's go.
Rob:  But where?
Ged:  Search for secret doors...(several of them do, and Ged
  finds one in the western wall)  Hah.  Oh, look.  Stairs
  going down.
Halbarad:  Rob, your mace grows dim.  Why don't you use my
  lantern for a while?
Rob:  Okay.  (the ranger lights his powerful hooded lantern 
  and gives it to him)  Wow!
Mongo:  (stuffing a few of the biscuit-things in his backpack)
  Let's go!  (tromps down the stairs)

  The stone steps wound down for a while, and emptied into an
enormous cavern, easily a thousand feet or more on any side.
A huge shaft led out the opposite side, where a pile of all
sorts of treasure was stacked haphazardly and a large door
was visible.
  Between the party and the pile of stuff were five gigantic
bronze dragons.  One of them stepped forth heavily, shaking
the floor of the cavern.

Belphanior:  oh shit.
Dragon:  (in Common)  GREETINGS, ADVENTURERS!
Mongo:  Ulp...Hi there!
Dragon:  ARE YOU ENJOYING ARANOR'S LITTLE MAZE SO FAR?
Halbarad:  Quite.
Peyote:  Umm, what are you guys doing here?
Dragon:  WHAT IDIOTIC QUESTIONS YOU TINY FOLK HAVE.  WE ARE
  HERE TO GUARD CERTAIN...THINGS.  HAVING HAD NO VISITORS
  IN AGES, WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO HAVE DINNER.  WITH YOU.
Rob:  Ulp.
Peyote:  (quietly)  I hope that was a joke.
Dragon:  I HEARD THAT...
Other Dragon:  (lumbers up)  COME HAVE A CHAT WITH US.
Ged:  (steps forth)  I am Ged, priest of the mighty Boccob.
Dragon:  (the first one who spoke)  YOU MAY SIMPLY CALL ME 
  GARZITHRAXONITUS.
Alindyar:  Simply?
Ged:  Are we meant to go further, or leave here?  We have no
  wish to offend the great Aranor, after all...
GARZ... :  YOU MAY GO ON, VIA THOSE LARGE BLACK DOORS NEAR
  THAT PILE.  HOWEVER, WE HAVE AN ARRANGEMENT WHICH MIGHT
  INTEREST YOU.  WELL, ACTUALLY, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE SHOULD
  YOU WISH TO CONTINUE IN ARANOR'S MAZES.
Halbarad:  What might that be, O noble wyrms?
GARZ... :  AS WE ARE SOMEWHAT BORED OF WATCHING OVER THE SAME
  TREASURES FOR DECADES AT A TIME, WE REQUIRE ANY WHO WOULD
  GO ONWARD TO TRADE ONE OF THEIR MAGICAL ITEMS TO US, FOR
  ONE OF THOSE IN THAT PILE.
Peyote:  Come again?
GARZ... :  I THINK YOU HEARD ME, HALF-ELF.
Ged:  We would be...honored to participate in your game.
GARZ... :  OF COURSE.  IT KEEPS LIFE INTERESTING.  OH, BY THE
  WAY, WHO AMONG YOU IS CARRYING THE BISCUITS THAT I SMELL ?
Mongo:  Oh, me.  (quickly pulls out the three biscuits he 
  took and walks toward the dragon)  Here, take them.
GARZ... :  (snatches them away)  YOU LIKE THEM, DO YOU NOT?
Mongo:  Well...err...yes, I thought them rather tasty.
GARZ... :  MORTAL, YOU MAY BE SUPRISED AT THE EFFECTS OF OUR
  FOOD UPON YOU...BUT COME!  COME TO THE TREASURE PILE!

  The party meekly made its way to the huge pile, as the
other dragons batted their biscuits around before devouring
them hungrily.

GARZ... :  OH, INCIDENTALLY, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO VETO
  THE ITEM YOU WISH TO TRADE.  THINK NOT TO PAWN YOUR PUNY
  POTIONS AND SUCH UPON US.
Ged:  Of course not.  None among us would be so base as to
  do _that_...
Other Dragon:  FORM A LINE, PLEASE. 
GARZ... :  ONE AT A TIME, NOW.

Ged:  I'll go first, I guess.  (starts piling up pieces of
  his plate +4)  Is this enough?
GARZ... :  CERTAINLY.  PUT IT IN THE PILE AND CHOOSE AN 
  ITEM.
Ged:  (does so, taking some elf-sized chain mail)
GARZ... :  GOOD CHOICE, PRIEST-MAGE OF BOCCOB.  NEXT?
Peldor:  Um...I have nothing I wish to trade.
GARZ... :  HAVE I NOT EXPLAINED THE RULES?  YOU MUST GIVE
  UP AN ITEM.
Peldor:  But-
GARZ... :  NO ARGUMENTS, THIEF.  WHAT SHALL IT BE?
Peldor:  Geez.  (fuming)  Okay, take this!  (presents the
  pouch he stole from the dead giant days ago)
GARZ... :  THAT WILL DO.
Peldor:  (eyeing some boots)
GARZ... :  I WOULDN'T.  THOSE WILL CAUSE YOU TO DANCE FOR
  HOURS...HMM.  I REALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE TOLD YOU THAT.
  LET ME SUGGEST THAT RING AT YOUR FEET INSTEAD.
Peldor:  (quite irritated, grabs the ring)
GARZ... :  THERE YOU GO.
Peldor:  But I was just _looking_ at it...
GARZ... :  IT IS YOURS.  NEXT!
Peldor:  (very angry now, but silent, slips off his ring of
  free action and tries on the new one)
Peyote:  (displays his helm of underwater action)
GARZ... :  YES.
Peyote:  (puts the helmet onto the pile and grabs an odd
  hat)  Okay, dude.
Mongo:  (gives up his ring +1, gets a jug)
Halbarad:  (gives up his spear +2; gets a stack of thirteen
  arrows)  Ah.
Belphanior:  (another who doesn't want to do this; gives up 
  his dust of disappearance; gets a ring)
Alindyar:  (gives up his Quall's Token; gets a ring)
GARZ... :  A DROW?!
Alindyar:  I believe that you are sufficiently powerful to
  know that I am not evil...
GARZ... :  WELL SAID, ELF.
Rob:  (gives up his stone of dimunition; gets a cloak)

GARZITHRAXONITUS:  VERY GOOD.  YOU MAY USE THAT PORTAL,
  THERE, TO GO ON IF YOU WISH.
Ged:  We shall do that, most noble dragons.
ALL DRAGONS:  FAREWELL!
Peldor:  (refrains from comment)

  The party went through the large black doors and into an
intermediate hallway/chamber with several exits.

Mongo:  (closing the big doors)  Whew.
Peldor:  I'm going to get them for that.  Someday.
Ged:  Count your blessings.  At least you didn't get the
  dancing boots.
Peldor:  True...





next time:  Finale

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************





*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller.  Any resemblance to persons or characters
*  either real or fictional is purely coincidental.  Copying and/or
*  distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one 
*  condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit.
*  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*****

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 8th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/5rd/6th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 6th/6th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 7th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 6th/7th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 8th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   8/28/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   late afternoon
Place:  A crypt in the Crystalmist Mountains near the Yeomanry



                     XLIX.  Finale



  The party just...dealt with a quintet of bronze dragons in a
huge cavern.  Having left that place by a pair of double doors,
they are now in a hallway/room.



MAGIC MOUTH  ____                                 
    ^---> __|  __|       ^  <--- STAIRS DOWN      
         |  __|     ____| |                       
         | |__     |  ___/              N         
         |__  |    | |                 W+E        
      ______| |____| |__ _____________  S         
     [                  |  |  |  |   O|__         
     [______ . _________\                |        
        ____| |____     |              &&&        
       |   STATUE  |    |____       &&&           
       |    ROOM   |         |___&&&  <--- LAVA RIVER
        \_________/                                



Mongo:  Let's check this door here (moves toward the southern
  door)
Belphanior:  Check for traps...
Peldor:  Okay, okay.  (searches the door)  Nothing here.
Halbarad:  (opens the door)

  There was a fairly large room to the south, mostly empty
except for two statues "guarding" a small pile of items.  The
stony forms were of some kind of large reptillian creatures.

Alindyar:  How lifelike these statues are.
Ged:  What are those things there, in the pile?
Peldor:  Let's find out.  (looks at the stuff carefully, in 
  case of traps, before poking through it with his sword)
Belphanior:  (looking at the statues)  Maybe these were once
  monsters, who got petrified somehow.
Ged:  Maybe they're a trap.  Don't touch them.
Mongo:  (at the pile)  Let's see, what did we get here?
Peldor:  These three nice gems, plus a ring with a big gem.
  Also a small potion bottle, and a book.
Ged:  Book?  Let me see that.  (walks over)
Peldor:  ...and this strange arrow.
Belphanior:  (wondering about the statues, but not certain he
  wants to disturb them)  No gem eyes, in any case.
Mongo:  Well, let's get this stuff and go.  I was actually
  hoping for some battle, but oh well...

  The party left the statues (two petrified basilisks who, had
they been touched, would have come to life - but the party 
would never know that) and the room, and moved to the passage
to the north.  Nothing notable manifested itself until the 
tunnel dead-ended in another magic mouth.

Mouth:  (comes to life)  If you want the ultimate prizes, you
  must pass the red archway and defeat that which lurks in 
  the heart of the mountain.  (goes inanimate again)
Ged:  Hey, that's the first mention we've had of that rod-
  thing we came here to get.
Peyote:  Assuming that's what the thing is talking about.
Mongo:  Well, that's it for that.  Let's go back.
Halbarad:  What an unusual series of rooms.  I would almost 
  expect a monster any time now.

  Back in the main chamber, the party next headed into the
second tunnel on the north wall.  It led to a stairway going
down.

Mongo:  Down?  Let's check that door back there first, before
  we hit another level.
Ged:  I agree.  We might as well be consistent here.
Halbarad:  So be it.  (they head back into the main room)
Rob:  This is getting repetitive...
Peldor:  (checking the eastern door in the main room)  This
  one's locked.  (fiddling with the lock)  Good one, too.
Alindyar:  Can you open it?
Peldor:  Probably.  Damn.  This is a tough lock...
Ged:  Oh, come on.
Belphanior:  (steps over and watches)  What's the holdup?
Peldor:  This is just about the most intricate lock I've
  ever seen, that's all.  Aha!  Got it!
Mongo:  Good.  (opens the door)  What's this?!
Halbarad:  It looks like a workshop of some kind.
Mongo:  A smithy's shop, at that.

  The large room had many features.  There was a wide workbench
which was covered with a number of tools, jars, flasks, and
assorted gadgets.  Another table had several half-finished
weapons and smithing tools.  The eastern section of the room
featured a stream of lava, beyond which was a stone wall.  The
entry and exit points of the lava were small, and filled with
lava anyway, so nothing could fit through them.  The channel
through which the stuff flowed was clearly not a natural rock
formation.  There was a big cooling vat to one side, full of
dirty water.  Some closets stood open nearby, though they 
looked mostly empty.  In one was a thick, chain-mail like
robe, a pair of gloves, a helm, and a necklace on a peg.

Peldor:  Hmm.  Lots of neat stuff in here.
Ged:  Ah, to hell with it.  (casts Detect Magic)  Let's see
  what's what.
Alindyar:  Excellent idea.
Ged:  Okay...(looking around)  Wow!

  There were a number of magical things here, all of which 
the party collected.  Ged made sure not to let Peldor know
which ones were enchanted until someone else had their hands
on each item.  Two large jugs on the table had auras, as did
the water in the cooling vat (suprise!).  Also detected were
the gauntlets and the necklace, and two of the rings laying
on the worktable.  Mongo put all of these things in his sack.

Belphanior:  (looking into the vat of water)  Hey Halbarad!
  Bring that lantern of yours over here.
Halbarad:  The priest has it for now.
Rob:  (wandering over)  Here.
Belphanior:  (shining the light into the water)  I can see
  the bottom.  No monsters in this vat...(empties a flask
  and collects some of the magical water)  There.
Ged:  I wonder what's magical about it?
Mongo:  (thinking about how cooling vats are used to dip 
  weapons into)  Hmm.  (to DM)  I touch the water with my
  hand, checking to see if it's acid or something like that.
DM:  (to Mongo)  It's fine, just a little cold.  Besides, 
  Belphanior already touched it.
Mongo:  (to DM)  Okay.  I dip my hammer into the water then.
DM:  Okay.  
Mongo:  (pulls the weapon out)  Seems unharmed.
Ged:  Hey!
Mongo:  What?!
Ged:  The magical aura on that water just started fading!
Mongo:  Oops.  (loops the hammer back onto his belt)
Peldor:  Oh well.
Peyote:  So much for that.

  The party went back to the stairs, descending now to the 
third level of this place.  At the bottom of the stairway
was a short, twenty-foot long hallway leading up to a red-
stoned archway.  The mists within glowed crimson and blocked
any view of what was beyond.

Belphanior:  The red archway...
Alindyar:  Yonder magical mouth stated that we must pass
  through this and defeat some manner of creature.
Mongo:  Let's go then!
Halbarad:  Caution.  Who knows what lurks in the mists?
Ged:  (thinking about the best offensive spells he could
  use for different situations)
Peyote:  Well, dudes, what'll it be?
Rob:  I'm worried.
Peldor:  Oh, come on, guys!  We have to be _brave_ at times
  like this.
Belphanior:  I say we go in there right now.  (starts walking
  toward the arch)
Mongo:  Hey, wait up!  (ambles after the elf)
others:  (moving to follow them)
Belphanior:  Well, here goes...(walks into the mists)

  As the party went through the misty archway, they blinked
out and were teleported (?) to another place.  This new area
was a cave about the size of the bronze dragons' lair before.
The place's only unusual feature stood out immediately, about
two hundred feet from where the adventurers were teleported
to.  An enormous red dragon, bigger even than the largest of
the bronze ones, was sleeping on the cavern floor.  Its loud
snores sent plumes of smoke into the air periodically.
  There was no obvious exit for the group - the teleportation
effect had placed them in the middle of the room!  Thus, they
had no cover either...

Belphanior:  Holy shit!  (thinking about how dragons always
  are supposed to wake up when intruders approach)  Crap.
Mongo:  Son of a bitch.
Belphanior:  Shh.  Don't make any noise...
Halbarad:  (quietly standing there fingering his axe)
Peyote:  Dudes, we may be in for it now.
Dragon:  (stirs)
Ged:  (preparing a lightning bolt)
Alindyar:  This is _not_ good.
Rob:  (praying silently)
Peldor:  (actually thinking about trying to backstab the huge
  beast)  Hmm. 
Dragon:  (opens its eyes)  WHAT?!  VISITORS!  GREETINGS, SMALL
  ONES!  I AM CALLED CYNDER - BUT YOU MAY CALL ME...DEATH!
  (it rears its head back to breathe)
Mongo:  Oh shit.  (prepares to throw his hammer)
Peyote:  Scatter!  Maybe we won't _all_ die!
Peldor:  (invisible, he runs off to one side)
Halbarad:  (not running because he sees a certain futility in
  it)

Ged:  (fires a lightning bolt at the dragon)  Boccob strikes!
Dragon:  (struck head-on by the bolt of energy)  HA!  IS THAT
  THE BEST YOU CAN DO? 
Ged:  Uh-oh.
Dragon:  (still about to unleash its breath)  YOU SHALL ALL DIE! 
Mongo:  (launches his hammer at the dragon, but the weapon 
  bounces off the monster's incredibly tough hide)  Uh-oh.
Alindyar:  An ill omen.  (preparing a spell)
Peyote:  (has his wand of wonder out)  This is definitely
  ranked as a desparate situation!
Ged:  Uh-oh.
Belphanior:  Why did we have to come down here?  I can't 
  believe this. 
Rob:  I sure do wish we had somewhere to hide.
Belphanior:  Fuck that!  I just wish that dragon was somewhere
  else, _anywhere_ else!
DM:  (suddenly perks up)  What? 
Belphanior:  I said, I wish that dragon wasn't here.  That way,
  we wouldn't be about to get toasted.
DM:  (grinning evilly)

  Suddenly, the dragon, all hundred-plus feet of it, just...
vanished.  One moment it was there, the next moment it was gone.

Peyote:  Uh-oh.
Ged:  Where the hell did it go?!?
Peldor:  (pulled forward a bit by the sudden vacuum)
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)  Maybe the fucker went invisible!
Alindyar:  (having just completed his Fly spell, the drow is
  now airborne)  Hold for a moment.
Rob:  Something's fishy here...
Ged:  Damn right!  Where did it GO?!  Why hasn't it breathed
  yet?  Why, why, why?!
Belphanior:  (thinking long and hard)
Alindyar:  Let us see.  (casts Detect Invisibility from his
  aerial vantage point)  Incredible!  The beast is truly gone. 
Rob:  (to Belphanior)  Hey, didn't you just make-
Belphanior:  -a wish!  I just made a wish and it came true!
Ged:  You did WHAT?!?!
Rob:  He wished that the dragon wasn't here.  And then, it
  wasn't!
Halbarad:  By the gods!  Where did you get a wish spell, elf?!
Belphanior:  I have no idea.  (looking over his items)  Let's
  see, longsword, arrows, staff of thunder and lightning, wand
  of lightning, no...ring of spell storing - maybe!  No, it
  can't hold powerful spells.  Potions, potions, bracers of
  defense...gauntlets of dexterity, no.  Ring of wizardry, no
  way...second longsword.  SECOND LONGSWORD!  That's it!
Mongo:  Huh?
Belphanior:  (holds up the longsword he got as a late-round
  treasure pick recently)  This blade must have wishes on it!
  Son of a bitch!  I wasted a wish!
Ged:  Wasted?
Mongo:  Wasted, my ass!  If it got rid of that big, ugly
  dragon, it wasn't wasted at all!
Belphanior:  Argh!  I could have wished to control the thing!
  I could have wished for magic spells!  Anything!
Peldor:  (to Belphanior)  Hey, all's not lost.  There might
  be another wish in the sword...
Belphanior:  Hey, that's right.  I'll have to think and speak
  very carefully now, though.
Alindyar:  I wonder where the dragon _went_...?
Rob:  I wonder if this counts as "defeating" the thing, 
  like that mouth said?
Ged:  We're all fading out - I guess soooo....

  The party reappeared by the red arch, but now the mists were
gone, and a room was visible beyond.  An alcove was the only 
obvious feature here.                                   
                                   
                                  
                                      
        ALCOVE -->  __==__       
                 __|      |__   
     CHESTS --> |__$      $__# <-- RUNE ROOM
                 N  \_  _/
                W+E  *  *  <--- red archway
                 S   |  |



Ged:  ...ooo.  Huh?
Halbarad:  It seems that we are credited with the defeat of
  the monster anyway.
Belphanior:  We'd better be, dammit!  After I had to use up
  a wish...!
Mongo:  Quit griping and admit that it was well-used. 
Rob:  Where are we now?
Peyote:  Looks like some kind of shrine ahead.  (strolls up
  to the alcove)  What's this inside?
Disembodied Voice:  Well met, adventurers!  Having found a way
  to defeat the dragon Cynder, you have proven your mettle.
  Having bypassed the various traps in the complex above, you
  have proven your intelligence.  Having been allowed into 
  this place, and again when you got by the bronze dragons,
  you have proven your lack of blatant evil.  Any one of these
  qualities is good; all three are required of those who would
  wield a bit of the Celestial Rod.  The Rod of Life and Death,
  which I am about to bequeath to you, is but a fraction of
  what it could be, yet it is mighty still.

  The alcove contained a small gray metal chest, which opened
now to reveal a foot-long rod.  This item was fashioned of an
unknown alloy, also gray in color but not the same as the 
chest which held it.  Peyote picked up the item, which was 
cold to the touch.

Peyote:  Yow!  (almost drops it)
Disembodied Voice:  Use this item wisely.  It has some of the
  properties of the complete Rod, such as the power to heal
  many wounds and ills, the power to animate the dead, and 
  the power to slay the living.  Whoever wields it must be
  very careful, for the power therein is as great as it can
  be corrupting.  With that, I leave you to some of the other
  treasures of this place.  Since you have successfully made
  it here, you will be able to leave via the grey archway
  nearby with full memory of what has transpired in this
  place, and your runes will be removed.  Farewell, and best
  wishes...

Ged:  Hmm.
Peldor:  (already searching for a secret door, he finds one in
  the western wall, leading to a tiny room with three chests)
Belphanior:  (helping Peldor check for traps)  They are open!
Mongo:  Hey, there!  I saw that gem go in your pocket, Peldor!
Ged:  Wow!  (looking through the contents)  Opals, potions, a
  scroll, a book, boots, platinum coins, another book, a box,
  a fan (?!), more potion bottles, some javelins, a longsword,
  plate mail, leather armor too, a feather (another feather?),
  a chest, a metal bar, and a horn.  That's a lot of stuff.

  The party emptied the chests, and even found the hidden panel
in the bottom of one.  They were all somewhat laden at this 
point.  Peldor, pursuing a hunch, checked for and located a
second secret door in the eastern wall.  Beyond was another
small room, ending in a grey archway.  As they passed through
this, the colored runes on their hands tingled, and vanished
completely as the party was once again teleported.
  Much to their suprise, they appeared about a half-mile in
front of the main gate to Loftwick, in the light of the setting
sun!

Ged:  How convenient.
Belphanior:  (examining his hand)
Halbarad:  Let us bed down for the night.

  The party, suprised but not ungrateful for their magical
transportation to the city, found the inn they had stayed 
in before, and rented four double suites for a week's time.
The treasure stayed locked in a room with Mongo and Ged,
except for the Rod, which Peyote had developed a strange
affinity for and could not bear to be without.
  One complete night's rest, and a hearty breakfast later,
the treasure was spread out on a table in one of the rooms.
There was a significant amount of coinage, as well as gems
and jewelry items, and magic.  The latter category was
defined by Ged's use of the Detect Magic spell.


THE DIVISION OF THE LOOT:
    (magical items only are shown)
    (does not include bronze dragon swapped items)
    (choosing order determined by dice)

Peyote:  Rod of Life and Death, ring from armory, 3 javelins,
  jug from armory, potion
Ged:  Both books from final room, rope, scroll (stone to 
  flesh), potion
Alindyar:  Book (from before final room), wand, metal bar,
  jug, potion
Peldor:  Boots, leather armor, scroll, potion
Halbarad:  Gauntlets, horn, arrow, potion
Mongo:  Ring (other one from armory room), necklace, plate
  mail, potion
Rob:  Fan, magic chest, feather, potion
Belphanior:  Longsword, wooden bowl, box, flask

  Having divided their treasures, the adventurers next spent
many weeks going about the business of training.  Loftwick's
mage's guild made a hefty profit from the party, as each of
the adventurers wanted to be the first and only one to know 
just what his newest items were.  Summaries follow:


ALINDYAR:  The drow studied magical works for some time, and
  all for the purpose of gaining his single new spell - the
  Advanced Illusion.  He learned that his new book was a 
  treatise on the making of magical constructs.  His wand
  was more exciting to him at the moment, though, for the
  item had the power to generate illusions!  The metal bar
  he had chosen was made of pure adamantite, only the single
  hardest metal known to man, elf, or dwarf.  His jug, he 
  found by sipping, was full of a large dose of invisibility
  potion.  His singular potion was a healing liquor.  The 
  ring he had traded from the dragons was unidentifiable,
  but since he already had put it on, he didn't fret about
  it.

  "Adamantite.  Hmm.  Perhaps I can commission a powerful
   magic dagger for my frequent melee encounters."


BELPHANIOR:  The elf trained in both the magical and the
  thiefly arts, gaining a single spell also, Vampiric Touch.
  He learned that he had chosen a good item, a fabled sword
  of dancing, as well as a portable boat, and a bowl which 
  could summon creatures of watery nature.  No one was able
  to tell him anything about the flask he had, and thus he
  decided not to open it just yet.  Belphanior's ring, the
  one he had gotten from the dragons, had to do with the
  various animals of the wilderness, and so the elf traded
  this item to Halbarad for the ranger's baker's dozen of
  enchanted arrows.

  "This sword of dancing will come in handy, yessiree."


GED:  The grey elf studied both magic and Boccob's teachings,
  gaining the Stinking Cloud and Polymorph Self spells in the
  process.  He began to wear the chain mail he had traded
  from the dragons, and also learned that one of his books
  was a holy tome, which would take months to read, while
  the other was a powerful spellbook created by none other
  than Boccob himself!  Ged's rope was useful for climbing,
  with its various enchantments, and though Peldor begged
  and pleaded with the elf to trade him the rope, Ged was
  adamant and ignored the thief.  Ged copied the single spell
  on his scroll into his new spellbook; his potion was one 
  that he could not even use, so he gave it to Mongo.

  "I give you this potion of heroism for your heroic deeds."
  "Quit bothering me, Peldor.  You can't have the rope, and
   that's final.  Now go away, I'm busy."


HALBARAD:  The ranger was not yet in need of training, so he
  tried his best to identify his new items.  As stated, he
  made a trade with Belphanior.  He found (as he had suspected)
  that he was much stronger with his new gauntlets on.  He also
  had a potion of speed, but the arrow and horn were not at all
  conducive to attempts at identification.  Somewhat frustrated,
  the ranger spent most of his time exploring the city instead.

  "What an interesting city this is..."


MONGO:  The dwarf went to the warriors' guild to practice, in
  his spare time checking on his magic items.  The plate mail
  was easy - it was simply well-crafted magical armor, a true
  prize for Mongo.  His potion was simple too, an elixir that
  boosted its drinker's strength for a while.  The necklace
  was only found to have "some beneficial effect", but he 
  wore it anyway.  Mongo's new ring was a true gem, though-
  a ring which conferred resistance to fire upon its wearer.
  By sipping from the jug he got from the dragons, he found
  that it was full of several doses of healing potion.

  "Beneficial effect, my ass!  What the hell does it _do_?!?"


PELDOR:  The thief had no use for training at this point, so
  he too explored the city, casing out dozens of targets for
  burglary.  His new leather armor was simply magical; his
  potion was a rare type that reversed the effects of aging
  somewhat.  Peldor traded the scroll to Peyote for the 
  druid's hat - a good move, for the hat turned out to have
  the power to disguise its wearer according to his will, a
  useful power for the thief.  His boots, he found by doing
  various experiments, let him perform great leaps and 
  bounds.  On a not-so-good note, the ring that he traded
  from the dragons would not come off of his finger - and
  Peldor quickly learned that, although the item gave him
  the power to know any lie that he heard, it also forbade
  him from telling any himself!

  "I'm going to get those bronze dragons for this!"
  "Aw, come on, Ged!  Make me a trade for the rope."


PEYOTE:  The druid trained for both warrior and druidic
  skills.  His potion was one of super-heroism, while his
  jug was filled with healing elixir.  His new ring had
  power over the element of earth, and was quite powerful.
  The three javelins seemed to be simple magical weapons.
  Peyote found himself reluctant even to put his new Rod
  down, for the yearning which it created was powerful
  indeed...

  "Get away from my Rod, dude!"


ROB:  The priest was not yet ready to advance in the ways
  of the priesthood, but found a temple fo Trithereon
  anyway.  Rob was surprised when his prayers revealed to
  him that he was to return with all due haste to his home
  town in Keoland.  He found, with the help of his fellow
  priests and a sage, that his new fan could generate a
  powerful wind when used.  His chest was able to hold more
  on the inside than it seemed; his potion enabled him to
  have gaseous form for a time; and his feather was of some
  strange use that no one was sure of.

  "Back to Keoland?  But why?"



  It was many, many moons later when the party regrouped in
a tavern:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 9th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 6th/6rd/7th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 7th/7th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 7th level human ranger (NG) 
Mongo Thunderhead, 8th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 9th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 7th/8th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:   10/15/570 C.Y. (Common Year)
Time:   midmorning    
Place:  The city of Loftwick, capital of the Yeomanry
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Mongo:  Where's Rob this morning?
Alindyar:  He has apparently left this place - I found this note
  tucked under some of my possessions.      



----------
  Dear friends, 
    I am sorry to say that I have had to move on, at least for 
  now anyway.  Trithereon has told me to return to my homeland
  and speak with my superiors there.  I know not if he is angry 
  with me for something, or not, but one does not ignore the
  summons of one's god. 
    I have had the best of times with you over the last year,
  and sincerely hope that we will meet again someday.  I know
  that I was not always sensible in my thoughts and actions, but
  be aware that I always tried to do my best anyway.
    If you are ever in Keoland, inquire at the temple of the most
  holy Trithereon as to my whereabouts.

                                       Sincerely,
                                                   Rob
----------

Mongo:  What?!?
Alindyar:  That is all he left.  I suspect that he left the room
  we were sharing a few days ago.  I never pay much attention to
  his comings and goings anyhow.   
Peyote:  Well I'll be.  The dude's gone.





next time:  The new #8 man; the giants

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
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NOTES:  Rob's player was absent from every part of this adventure but
the last five minutes.  I have above rationalized his total lack of
attendance at the next few sessions we had.  Have no fear, though, he
WILL return (promise!).  The competency of the character in the last
cluster of postings was due to the pinch player we used - you'll see
more of him shortly too.
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