5th Day of Goodmonth, CY580 - Finally free of the Scourge of the Slavelords

Today the group finally finished the last of the AD&D first edition super module known as Scourge of the Slavelords (A1 - A4), though, this last chapter (A4) didn't resemble much of the printed module. It's all to tie into the larger campaign.

A few days earlier, during the immediate chaos following the slavelord's defeat, Dame Gold and her party were rescued by a mysterious man named Ko, and thus avoided the horrific fate of the other slaves that were sacrificed to summon the Tarrasque. As the party was trying to escape the beast themselves, they ran into Ko who introduced himself as a member of her party and led the heroes to where they were hiding. They didn't spend very long before the tarrasque came crashing down the street and Dalec Clay, the heirophant druid that Cadwin had been seeking, revealed himself and, through an awesome display of power, opened a fissure in the ground, sending the beast into the magma below. Warning the party that this would not stop the beast for long, he urged them to be on their way.

Cadwin, having spent the last several months searching for this great mythic druid, did not want to leave. There were so many questions he wanted to ask. He wanted to stay and help Dalec on his mission, and learn his great secrets. "You must help your friends," he said "we will see each other again some day."

With that, the party hurried on their way, and they can see that time was running out. The earthquake did more than just open a fissure. The volcano that overshadowed Suderham, Mount Flamenblut, erupted with a gigantic explosion that was causing fiery meteors to rain all around. Sarril sent his familiar up in the air to investigate and received a report that the road up ahead was clogged with people rushing toward the docks trying to escape. Several fishing boats were tied up on the docks and some were starting to capsize as masses of people rushed to overload the boats. Fights were breaking everywhere and, to make matters worse, some kind of gray-skinned humanoids were crawling out of the water and attacking people, dragging them into the waters below. On the west end of the docks was a walled off and gated area behind which was a long dock with a large galley. This must be the Water Dragon as it was heavily guarded by town guards and elite soldiers in gold scale armor. The party decided to go as far as they could down the main road until they hit the crowds, then start cutting through side streets and around buildings. The had the following people in tow:

1. Dame Gold - Noblewoman and leader of the Town of Safeton

2. Thaddeus – A person with a dangerous reputation as a thief, never proven. Charming and witty.

3. His Excellency, Derish of Safeton – High cleric of Safeton (St. Cuthbert)

4. Bruthas Badenson – A merchant of some repute

5. Jack Knob – A dwarf who specializes in locks and safeboxes for the rich

6. Hammish of Drone – A sage, specializing in ancient lore, given to pessimistic musings

7. Mitgan – An artist of wide repute whom Dame Gold had commissioned to perform some work.

8. Ko - the man who rescued the group, and the party would soon learn is a monk, follower of Zuoken, who was investigating the Scarlet Brotherhood's dealings with the Slavelords

DMs Note: This session was setup as sort of a timed mission for the party to "get off of the island." Each turn, I rolled randomly for where a meteor would fall within the town, creating some risk for the party (they had a couple of close calls). Each turn I also rolled for each of the boats on the dock, including the Water Dragon, to see which boats would capsize (for the smaller boats) and which would leave. The longer the party takes, the less boats there would be. The party wanted to get to the Water Dragon, but if that wasn't possible, they would still need to find a way off the island.

As the party moved through the Scumslum toward the docks, I had random encounters I would roll for, as well as some planned encounters depending on where they decided to go. If the party spent enough time, they had the potential to get back all of their lost stuff, and a lot more of the the slavelord's personal treasure. But doing everything *and* escaping was unlikely, not that I actually expected this party to do that. That's not their way. When they have a goal, they go straight to it. They do not pass go. They do not collect $200. That's pretty much how this session went.

The party managed to simply avoid most encounters, making judicious use of the Sleep spell and other means. They were almost to the docks when they passed a warehouse with two Scarlet Brotherhood monks standing outside guarding, while others were inside gathering up crates of goods. Cadwin cast Charm Person on both of them and waved as the party walked by, content with avoiding a fight. It worked on the first one, but not the second, and a fight soon erupted. The two out front were soon joined by four more from inside. The monks, who were too unimportant to have magic items, were no match for super-strong Jarrus with double-longsword specialization. But they did slow the party down and do some damage. Cadwin asked the charmed monk what was going on in the warehouse and he answered that they needed to get out of town and were grabbing all of their goods. The party decided they didn't have time to search through crates (DM: It turned out to be a good decision because while some of their stuff and the the dead slavelord's stuff, was in those crates, had they spent the time to look, they would have missed the Water Dragon).

The party then moved up to the wall surrounding the far end of the docks. They approached far away from the gate and Cadwin cast Obscurement, which fogs a ridiculously sized 300 ft. radius. This created more chaos as neither the guards at the gate, nor the crowds of people trying to storm the gate could see more than four feet in front of themselves. The wall was short enough to allow Pontus to climb up and pull up the others from down below. It was at this point that Ko revealed his true nature as a follower of Zuoken and stated that his mission required him to go in another direction - to the Scarlet Brotherhood's boat. He wished the party well and then ran along the wall toward the east, taking out the guards on his way. The party then ran to the end of the long dock only to find loose moorings and no boat. (I had just rolled that round for the chance for the boat to leave and it did).

There was a moment of confusion before the DM reminded the players that they can only see four feet in front of themselves due to the Obscurement spell, so they really don't know where the boat is. Cadwin then dismissed the Obscurement spell, revealing the rear of the boat a mere 6 feet away and slowly drifting toward the center of the lake. This is where having a thief/acrobat and a barbarian in the party really came in handy. Both were able to make the leap to the boat, ropes in hand, and quickly tie off the ropes to the boat. Dame Gold's group was able to start reeling the boat back to the dock while the rest of the party jumped over.

On the boat were four elite Gold Scale militia, the Gold Scale Commander, and the dark-elf slavelord known as Edralve. Although Jarrus had a longsword in hand, the rest of the party had only clubs, and Sarril and Cadwin had only a limited number of first and second level spells. This was shaping up to be a tougher fight than the six slavelords a few days ago, and only two party members stood at the end of that one.

The commander sent the four guards from the bow of the boat to the stern to intercept the party. This gave Edralve time to prepare and watch the fight from a distance. If the party survived, she would be able to deal with them in a weakened state. Using Prayer and a few other clerical spells, she was able to boost the fighters. The fight took a long time, partly because the logistics of the boat only allowed for two on two fighting, keeping Jarrus and Pontus engaged while the spellscasters provided what little aid they could, and partly because these elite soldiers were 9th level fighters with 54 hit points each.

While the fighters engaged, Cassius jumped overboard and swam to to the bow so he can sneak aboard and backstab Edralve. Cadwin cast Faerie Fire on all enemies to increase everyone's chance to hit and Sarril cast Silence on the bow of the boat to stop Edralve from casting. Unbeknownst to Sarril, even with her innate magic resistance, Edralve had cast Spell Immunity on herself to inoculate her against the Silence specifically, as she knew that was a common tactic by Sarril to shut down spellcasters. She responded with a Faerie Fire of her own, ensuring that, between the Prayer and Faerie Fire, the Gold Scale guards would be unlikely to miss with any of their attacks.

Still, Jarrus was dealing 22+ damage with every swing of his sword. And while Pontus and Jarrus were taking a lot of damage in return, Sarril was standing behind them casting healing spells every round. When it looked like the last of the Gold Scale guards was about to fall, the commander started to move up to join in the fight while Edralve worked on stepping up her offensive casting. That was when Cassius snuck up behind her, delivering 40 points of damage from a critical roll on a backstab (remember, this first edition AD&D, where damage is multiplied without limit). While this move didn't kill Edralve, it did stop her from focusing on the party as she turned around to cast Slay Living on Cassius. He made his save and was able to dive back into the water to escape the remainder of her wrath. Still, taking her out of the fight for two rounds was enough for Sarril to cast Hold Person on the commander and for Jarrus and Pontus to finish off the last of the gold scale guards.

When Edralve was able to focus back on the fight, she immediately dispelled the Hold Person enchantment on the commander, allowing him to engage Pontus and Jarrus while she spent the next few rounds healing herself. The commander was an interesting fight. He had exactly 100 hit points, and a special helm that allowed him to cast a full Heal spell on himself once per day. That's almost like having 200 hit points! As a 12th level fighter with specialization and a magic longsword (though no strength bonuses), he was striking twice per round for 1d8+4 per hit. Not a lot for someone like Pontus, but after being worn down by other Gold Scale fighters, it was quickly adding up.

Possibly the most insane part of the fight came next, when the Gold Scale Commander had only a few hit points remaining and spent his next round action activating the Heal spell in his helm, restoring him back to 100 hit points. The party surely thought this was the end, but then they pulled out a miracle. First, Cadwin transformed into a Badger Mole, giving him a claw/claw/bite attack. Second, Cassius had climbed up out of the water and snuck up behind the commander to perform a backstab. Once again, he rolled a critical roll on the backstab, taking him down to half of his hit points. Cadwin the badger mole dealt a series of significant blows, followed up Jarrus and Pontus really laying the hammer down with two attacks each. The entire team dealt 102 hit points worth of damage in a single round, dropping the commander where he stood.

DM's Note: It is worth mentioning that, other than Jarrus and Cassius, who had picked up a plain longswords earlier, all of the other party members, including Pontus, were armed with only clubs.

The party quickly raced toward the bow of the boat to face Edralve. Cadwin unleashed a Dust Devil spell on her, which he expected would prevent her spellcasting. Unfortunately, her innate magic resistance cancelled the spell. Edralve knew she would have to remove Jarrus from the fight quickly and cast Hold Person on him, which he was able to shrug off. In desperation, she cast it again, targeting only Jarrus in order to improve her chances for success, and again, he shrugged it off. At this point, Pontus, the fastest of the group, was up on the bow of the ship ready to attack her. She responded by levitating Pontus 80 ft. into the air, taking him out of the fight.

At this point, Edralve was surrounded by the entire party, who were landing blows on her already. In response, she cast Blade Barrier in a circle around herself in order to catch everyone in melee. (DM's Note: I think I've mentioned this in previous blogs, but the spell Blade Barrier does not have a saving throw associated with it because it states that anyone who passes through it takes damage. Yet is also gives the cleric flexibility over where to cast it and the shape that it takes, so it is reasonable to cast it in a place where PCs are already standing. In this case, it would no be unlike a Wall of Fire spell, which does provide a save to jump out of the way - with PCs landing on one side of the wall or the other. So I have allowed a cleric to cast Blade Barrier in a circle or semi-circle around themselves, catching anyone in melee, but giving them a save to jump outside of it. If they jump outside of it, they take no damage, but are then unable to re-engage in melee). The entire party made their saves, and were now outside of the circle, unable to re-engage in melee. But Sarril had an answer for that - casting Dispel Magic and rolling below the percentile score needed to negate the effect.

At this point, Edralve needed to execute her escape plan. She had a Ring of Swimming and a Ring of Spell Storing on her. The Ring of Spell Storing had Magic Missile, Invisibility and Lightning Bolt in it. Her plan was to go invisible and then jump overboard and swim away, but the party was expecting such a move and tightly surrounded her to prevent her escape. She had to kill Jarrus in order to make her move, so over the next two rounds she hit him with both the Lightning Bolt and Magic Missiles. He made his save against the Lightning Bolt and the Magic Missile wound up being some bad rolls, so Jarrus managed to live long enough to return the favor with two vicious hits that ended her life.

Pontus, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. Edralve's death ended the levitation and he fell 80 ft. to crash onto the deck of the ship, dropping him down below 0 hit points, though not outright killing him. Sarril was able to stabilize him and, between the three healers on the boat (Sarril, Cadwin and the high priest of Safeton), Pontus was soon back up and moving.

Most importantly, since Pontus was prevented from killing the captain of the boat, Cadwin was able to cast Charm Person on him and get him to take them safely away from the burning volcanic island. This was especially important since navigating the river down the mountain to the Wooly Bay required not only knowledge of how to operate a boat, but specific knowledge about this waterway and how to navigate an intricate system of locks and magical contraptions along the river that allowed only certain boats into and out of the secret mountain lake. The slaves attached to the oars were set free, and those that were strong and willing volunteered to row the boat to Safeton - about a four day journey by sea. Cadwin, however, had other plans and decided to transform into a bat and fly back into the volcano in the hopes of speaking to Dalec Clay, whom it turns out he had been searching for when he was originally captured by the slavelords.

As for the rest of the party, they spent the next four days resting, talking to Dame Gold and her crew, and going through the many chests that Edralve had loaded in the cargo hold. They recovered a number of their own missing gear, and even acquired some new gear - like Gauntlets of Ogre Power

that Pontus had been dreaming of since he was neck-high to winter wolf. They also found a letter to Edralve, which could be an adventure hook. The letter reads:



"Our spies tell me that Stalman Klim has secured the artifact. Our plans are falling into place. Do all that you can to ensure that Klim is successful but be prepared to leave Suderham as soon as he starts the ritual. Do not take part in it. The brotherhood must believe the lords were brought down by the interlopers without suspecting your involvement. Klim is not to be trusted and will shift the blame to you in the event of failure, so be prepared for this possibility.

Know also, that if Klim succeeds, the way home underground from Suderham will be closed to you. You must travel overland on the surface world. Seek out Viconia in the west.

Aunrae failed at the temple. Much depends on you now now.

- Eclavdra of House Eilserve      "

The party also learned from Dame Gold that the slavelords kept her and her party alive because they wanted information about an alchemist's potion she was trying to acquire from an alchemist named Black Kerr. Dame Gold told the tragic story of her brother who became infected with the Red Death after a recent visit to Elredd. The Red Death is a terrible disease which is unaffected by any divine magic. Clerics are helpless against it. Only one man has ever been known to have discovered a cure. He was a half-elf bard named Diambeth who is rumored to have cured an outbreak of it about one hundred year ago. Diambeth died around 50 years ago, but he had an apprentice named Black Kerr. Dame Gold tracked down Black Kerr and invited him for the Feast of Edoia. Unfortunately, Black Kerr was not able to help her brother before the slavelords attacked and captured everyone. The slavelords did not know they had the alchemist and, assuming he was one of Dame Gold's servants, they placed him on a slave ship to row while talking Dame Gold and the more important-looking members of her group to Suderham.

At this point, Sarril informed Dame Gold that Black Kerr was placed on the same boat they were, and that he died of exhaustion and his body was thrown overboard. Dame Gold broke down in tears, believing her last hope to save her brother was truly gone - though, she soon composed herself, recognizing that enough time has passed that her brother was likely already dead. Nonetheless, the hope for thousands of people across the Flanaess was now also dashed.

"Maybe not," replied Derish, "there is still that strange man, Joseph. If there is any truth to what he had to say."

Curious, the party inquired about this man named Joseph. Dame Gold explained that, just before the party, a man came to Safeton who called himself Joseph of the Light. Joseph claimed to be a messenger of Pholtus, but did not look like any cleric of Pholtus she had ever seen. He wasn't decked out in bright plate mail and gold trimmings and silk tabards as is common for clerics of Pholtus. He was dressed only in the simplest plain rags. On his forehead was branded the symbol of Pholtus, and he carried only a simple club for a weapon. Her description fit that of some fanatical Pholtus worshipers that some members of the party had previously seen in Greyhawk and elsewhere.

DM's Note: Yes, I was inspired by the Sparrows from G.R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series - or Game of Thrones for those who watch the show.

Joseph of the Light claimed to have the cure for the Red Death. While Dame Gold was skeptical, she was also desperate, and allowed him to stay for the party so she can talk to him and find out what he knows. Unfortunately, she doesn't know what happened to him after the attack. If he was taken, he wasn't with her group.

This is about where we left off. We agreed to do some online continuation of the story so that the next session can start with the party in Greyhawk. I will likely do an interim blog update to fill in the story between Safeton and Greyhawk before blogging about the next session. In game, they party will arrive in Safeton late on the 9th Day of Goodmonth, CY 580.

2nd Day of Goodmonth, CY 580 - The Climax of the Slavelord Adventure

I'll go ahead and answer some questions up front, now that the players have played through most of the Scourge of the Slavelords super-module, as customized by me. I was asked when we first started what level I boosted the slavelords to. Clearly we have a party that, at an average of 8th level but with great stats and really good magic items, tend to easily deal with things intended for much higher level characters. That would necessitate increasing the power of the nine slavelords, as the original published materials places them between 8th and 11th level each, with relatively mundane magic items. Some of the dual class slavelords are even lower level.

I ended up doing a combination of things. First of all, there were some great 2nd edition Greyhawk source books published by TSR in 1999-2000, before they went to third edition. Although it is listed an adventure module, Slavers is really a source book for the Pomarj and contains information about NPCs that may have survived the original Scourge of the Slavelords adventure, including Markessa, Stalman Klim and a monk named Brother Kerin who, in the original module, encounters the party after their fight with the slavelords, but in my version, I just made him one of the nine (replacing Brother Mileroij). So for Markessa and Stalman Klim, I was able to pull the information directly from the Slaver's sourcebook, including all of the information about the Earth Dragon Priests and their special abilities. These folks were tough.

For Brother Kerin himself, I bumped him up to 10th level to match everyone else. For the big-bad fighter, Eanwulf, I kept him at 10th level, but I customized his build to include specialization with a scimitar, because it seems to me the main reason to choose a plain fighter in first edition is for weapon specialization, so I like to give major fighter NPCs specializations. Theg Narlot was the biggest change. In published Greyhawk canon, Theg Narlot escapes and later becomes Turrosh Mak. As the party has already encountered Turrosh Mak, a former slave intent of destroying the slavelords, I have clearly gone another direction. Theg Narlot is a fighter/assassin custom build. I just took the total experience point average for the slavelords (including Klim) and calculated how much that would give him when divided between fighter and assassin. It actually turned out to be 10/11, which surprised me. Edralve was also a custom build, but I will keep her particulars close to the vest for now, as she still lives. I also customized Ajakstu and increased him from level 9 to level 10, but didn't change much except what spells he had memorized. Nerelas the assassin was bumped up to level 11 and customized a little. For the most part, if they were listed as having a +1 weapon, I changed it to +2, or even +3 in the case of Eanwulf, because these guys were very wealthy and powerful and were capturing important people like Dame Gold, so it made sense they would keep the best weapons for themselves. I also gave each of them a small magic item of some sort, like Ring of Protection or Ring of Free Action or, in the case of Brother Kerin, a Ring of Shocking Grasp. The remaining slavelords, Lamonsten the Lazy and Slippery Ketta were completely unchanged.

I don't know how best to narrate this fight. I couldn't remember all of the details if I tried. There were six slavelords in the room, and they knew the party was coming and had a couple of rounds to prepare. When Pontus slid the secret door open, they all unleashed a surprise attack (though Pontus, as a barbarian, was not surprised and leaped straight into action). The six slavelords in the room were:

1. Eanwulf
2. Theg Narlot
3. Brother Kerin
4. Ajakstu
5. Lamonsten the Lazy
6. Slippery Ketta

Standing attention against one wall were three guards in brown scale mail and three guards in black scale mail (also from the Slavers supplement).

Ajakstu had already placed Strength spells on Eanwulf and Brother Kerin earlier, and had put up a Globe of Invulnerability (immunity to 4th level spells and below - he was well aware of what Sarril's wands could do). When Pontus slid the door open, Ajakstu immediately released a Wall of Force spell from his Ring of Spell Storing to block the passage behind the party, cutting off their retreat (unbeknownst to them). Eanwulf threw an axe at Pontus that landed squarely in his shoulder, which was followed by a poisoned throwing knife from Theg Narlot (Pontus saved vs. poison). Before Pontus could take an action, however, Lamonsten, an illusionist, cast Hypnotic Pattern on the wall, causing both Pontus and Jarrus to become hypnotized. Sarril was able to avoid the effects of the hypnosis and having the initiative on the next round, he used his Wand of Ice Storms to fill the room with icy hail, which immediately killed Lamonsten and the three brown scaled guards. Lamonsten's death released Pontus and Jarrus to do their thing.

Since Sarril had earlier cast Fly on everyone, the party was able to move about just an inch above the floor and, when needed, fly to the ceiling. This made Jarrus immune to the movement restrictions of the ice covered floor and immediately closed in on Ajakstu to prevent further spell casting, but not before Ajakstu cast a Cone of Cold, hitting everyone but Sarril, who had flown into the room and took position 20 feet in the air so he can continue to cast spells without being in range of melee.

DM's Note: The decision by Ajakstu to cast Cone of Cold was a change in game plan. The original plan was for him to dispel the Flight on the party, which he would have have a reasonable chance of success to do. But when he saw that Jarrus was trying to close in on him, self-preservation kicked in and he cast Cone of Cold to try and kill Jarrus. It hurt him badly, but did not kill him. This made all of the difference as the flight is what gave the party the advantage. Had Ajakstu not freaked out and instead did what he was supposed to do, the party would have been on floor fighting with everyone else, and would have quickly been overcome by the powerful melee fighters. Nonetheless, I felt the decision was appropriate for the circumstances. If a bear is charging you and you have a gun in your hand, you use it.

Eanwulf closed in on Pontus to fight one on one while Theg Narlot threw poisoned knives at Sarril, occasionally hitting him, trying to wear him down. The remaining three black scaled guards closed in around Jarrus as did Brother Kerin, who was trying to take him out before he killed the spellcaster. Brother Kerin and the three guards brought Jarrus down to just three hit points, but Sarril cast Mirror Image on Jarrus, buying him a little more time (DM's Note: this was a mistake, as Mirror Image does not work on targets other than the caster, but in the intensity of the battle, I didn't think about it and let it happen - we will call it a divine miracle). Thanks to this spell, and the help of an invisible Cassius striking the mage from behind, Jarrus was able to kill them all, just before Ajakstu was able to get off a Mirror Image of his own.

Cadwin entered the fight by casting carefully directed Lightning Strikes (this is the druid version of Lightning Bolt - from Dungeon Magazine). Though he didn't kill anyone, he severely wounded Theg and Eanwulf. Eanwulf soon dropped Pontus below zero hit points so he was bleeding out, then turned his attention to Cadwin, dropping him before he could fly off. During this time, Slippery Ketta, having earlier drank a Potion of Invisibility, snuck over to Jarrus, who was still under a True Sight spell and able to see her. She could not get the backstab and was forced into melee, and soon met her end.

Jarrus, having just killed the last of the guards on him, rushed at Eanwulf, who was able to swing first and drop Jarrus. This left only Sarril and Cassius standing. Cassius took another swig of invisibility potion and moved around to backstab Theg, but missed. Sarril, realizing that Jarrus and Pontus were both bleeding out, put himself in harms way to come down to the ground and heal and stabilize them both. This allowed Eanwulf to get some solid hits in on him, severely wounding, but not killing him. Sarril responded by flying back into the air and firing off magic missiles until both Theg and Eanwulf were dead.

Sarril then flew back down to check on the Cadwin while Cassius began to look at the bodies of the dead slavelords. That's when they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the spiral staircase. A dark elf (Edralve) and a tall man, 6' 2" tall in brown robes, gold scales and a dragon skull helm plated in gold. He slowly clapped his hands and said "Well done, well done. I really wasn't expecting you to get all of them in one go. It seems everyone keeps underestimating you." At this point, Sarril recognized the voice of the man as the same man they met in the tavern who told them about the assassin's guild and gave them advice on how to divide the slavelords and take them out one at a time. Both figures then cast Dispel Magic on Cassius and Sarril, removing their flight ability.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Stalman Klim, High Priest of the Earth Dragon. This is my companion Edralve. You have done me a great service here today. Now that this messiness is done, I just want to make sure I know where we stand. Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

There was some talk back and forth during which Sarril was considering his options. He then decided to quickly cast a spell. Unfortunately, Stalman Klim got the initiative and was able to shout "SILENCE!" before Sarril could get the spell off. "I guess it's the hard way then" he said, looking at Edralve, who then tossed a vial of liquid at Sarril, striking him in the chest. The liquid splashed and turned to a smoke that filled Sarril's lungs, causing him to drop into a deep sleep.

Stalman Klim then looked at Cassius "And what about you?"

"No, I'm good." replied Cassius, surrendering, but not before carefully hiding a set of lock picks in a place that we will not discuss.

Cassius, along with the unconscious party members, were all led or carried by guards in gold scales far away and then underground into 20x20x10 ft. prison cells carved into cave walls, with iron doors. Cadwin was placed inside a steel cage with cross bars inside his cell. The holes were too small for a bat to fit through - almost as if the cage were custom made for him. Each party member remained in their cell, isolated for two days. During that time, Stalman Klim came to each of their cells to interrogate them. He asked questions about the Temple of Elemental Evil and about an alchemist who was part of Dame Gold's party. Some of the party members asked Stalman Klim questions in return, and in classic evil villain style, he answered them - to an extent. He explained that the Earth Dragon is a god of retribution who will cleanse the world so that it can be built anew. He confirmed with Sarril that Captain Gahrana had indeed sailed to the Isles of Woe in the Nyr Dyv to recover an artifact, and said they would soon see what he intended to do with it. He told Pontus that he has been carefully watching the party ever since they destroyed the Temple of Elemental Evil, and has been very interested in what they have been up to. He also confirmed for Jarrus that it was he who raised him from the dead on the boat and had punished Captain Gahrana for allowing the alchemist to die. He also told a few of the party members that he formed the slavelords just over a decade ago, but was forced to "make a deal with the devil," so to speak, with the Horned Society and the Scarlet Brotherhood in order to finance the operation and ensure its success. While he wouldn't reveal exactly what he had planned next, he did make it clear that it was all possible because of the parties actions in removing the other members of the council. He admitted that he didn't care about the organization anymore, as it has served it's purpose.

Two days passed as the party members each contemplated what Klim told them in their cells, and wondered what it all meant (and what the role of the dark elves are in it all). Sarril's familiar, who was still above ground flying around and spying, communicated that a massive number of slaves were being moved from the city into the temple - several hundred of them. Soon, tremors began to shake the cells, and the party heard Stalman Klim's voice outside the cells. "The Earth Dragon has spoken! He is hungry, and the time has come to feed the weak to him."

The tremors kept coming, one an hour, then every 40 minutes, then every 30 minutes, closer and closer together, and stronger, until eventually the floor split open in a long fissure that ran across the cells. The party members were able to climb down inside and meet up with each other. Everyone was accounted for except for Cadwin, who was still trapped inside a steel cage. The party reach him and Cassius was able to produce a pair of lock picks out of someplace that we won't talk about. And a good thing to, as nothing else would have likely gotten this cage open. With Cadwin free, the entire party was able to follow the fissure down into a cave, where is was pitch dark, but on the ground was a scroll case with scrolls inside, though no one could read them. Those with infravision were able to lead the party through the caves, first following some light which they quickly decided was a Will O' Wisp trying to lure them to their death (they were right), and then choosing another direction, ending up in a pool of water.

So, this part of the module used to be a timed tournament module. The idea being that the party has to find a way out before time runs out and the cave collapses. The purpose was to test the wits of the characters to see if they can figure out how to survive by making makeshift weapons, etc. I was very concerned they would be stuck down here for a long time, and we would miss the big climax as 5 pm was approaching. But it turns out the party, through what I assume is pure luck, found their way straight to the exit.

They were able to bludgeon some fire beetles to death and make light from them, which allowed them to read the scrolls. A series of useful magic user scrolls, including Read Magic, and a note. The note read:

"This is the best I could do to help. May your gods be with you. If you escape, seek your revenge on the one who lured you here. Seek out the Water Dragon at the docks.  - D.C."

The party soon found their way to a bat cave which was already dimly lit. They heard the sounds of chanting echoing from further ahead. Cassius went to investigate, and found himself staring over a ledge into an enormous room surrounding a chasm. On the far side was Stalmin Klim in full regalia, along with the high priestess and several brown robed clerics, all chanting. Surrounding the chasm on all sides were slaves.

Cassius returned to inform the rest of the party who then followed him back up to the ledge. The party watched as clerics brought forth a familiar looking crate and opened it. Stalmin Klim reached inside and pulled out a gold ovoid shaped object, similar to objects they saw on pedestals in the temple when they investigated before. He placed the object on a pedestal before him and started speaking in a language that Cadwin recognized as ancient Flan, though he could not understand the words. As he spoke, a white mist began swirling around the object, eventually forming into multiple tendrils that began reaching out and flowing through all of the people in the room, flowing through all of the slaves and even some of the clerics. Each person the mist flowed through began to wretch and their bodies began to shrivel as they let out silent screams before withered, lifeless bodies fell into the chasm. As all of the slaves were consumed, the tendrils continued to move about the room. The party noticed that, up on another ledge, overlooking the events were three men in black cloaks, who turned and walked away.

Once all of the slaves and unfortunate clerics were dead, the mist returned to the device, and it and the pedestal it was on, sunk into the earth. Stalmin Klim again raised his arms and shouted "Oh great and powerful Earth Dragon - AWAKEN! Show yourself and bring retribution to this world!" With that, the ground began again to shake and the bridges over the chasm started to collapse. A loud roaring could be heard from the chasm below, growing louder and louder with each passing second.
Then, a larger than life form leaped out of the chasm, its great claws clinging to the ledges as it pulled itself up, demolishing everything it touched. A great horned reptilian head reared up out of the chasm and in one swift motion bit down at a surprised Stalman Klim, removing his head from his now lifeless body. Panic ensued as those still living ran screaming in terror. The high priestess cast Meld to Stone to escape as the beast ran crashing through the entrance, leaving a giant hole in it's path.

The party ran back to the bat cave where they saw a small hole in the ceiling about 100 ft. up. Sarril cast Spider Climb from the scroll he found onto Jarrus, who was able to carry Sarril. Cassius and Pontus climbed while Cadwin transformed into a bat, thus getting everyone safely out of the cavern. They could see from this venue that the tarrasque (not that the party knows what it is, but it was obvious to all of the players) had crashed through the front of the temple and was already destroying the city. They decided they needed to get to the Water Dragon before that thing does, and began running in that direction. They steered clear as best they could, but could see the beast knocking down buildings, walls, and towers with a whip of its tail like they were nothing, and stomping, crushing and occasionally biting at people running in all directions. Before the party could even get to the Scumslum before the docks, Suderham was already reduced to rubble, and the could see that the beast would be heading their direction soon.

Getting to the docks was not so easy, however, hundreds of people had all fled in the same direction. Boats were capsizing from the sheer numbers of people desperate to climb aboard. Fights were breaking out everywhere and some gray, slimy humanoid creatures were crawling out of the water to join the fray, adding to the chaos. As the party pushed their way toward the last pier, where they believed the Water Dragon to be located, they ran into a guard dressed in official uniform of Suderham. He seemed to recognize the party and said "are you the ones? Are you the saviors who destroyed the slavelords?"

Jarrus replied "yes, that's us. We are responsible for this."

The man replied "I am a member of Dame Gold's party. We were all captured together. We managed to escape when things turned chaotic a couple of days ago. I stole this uniform and we've been hiding out in the slums looking for a way out of here."

"Is Dame Gold with you?" Jarrus asked.

"Yes."


With that, the man led the party back into the scumslum and into a building where several people were hiding. He introduced a woman claiming to be Dame Gold and some members of her household. The party agreed to take them with them, in the off chance that this really is her. As they left the building, they could see the creature charging right toward them. It looked like they would not escape, but just then, the boy, Oric, stepped out from his shack and stood in the middle of the road, looking the creature straight in the eye. He then transformed into a full sized man in green robes and antlers on his head. He raised his hands to the sky, said a few words, then, just before getting trampled, he thrust his hands onto the ground causing a deep fissure to rip open in front of him, splitting open the road in front of the beast and causing it to fall into the exposed magma below. He then turned to the party and said "that will not hold it forever. You must go now."

The party, with refugees in tow, headed back to the docks. It is now late afternoon on the 5th Day of Goodmonth, CY580. The climax of the adventure is complete, though we had to stop short. When next we meet, we shall play out the epilogue to wrap this up, and then see what new adventures the party will seek. I think right now, they'd just settle for getting some of their stuff back, which they hope will be packed up on the Water Dragon. We shall see.

2nd Day of Goodmonth, CY 580 - One Slavelord down (?) then. . . holy crap, they did it again!

DMs Note: I've been playing a 5th edition game over e-mail recently (Play By Email - or PBE). PBE has its limitations, not the least of which is that some players respond more quickly to e-mails than others, and those players end up making most of the decisions. But from a narrative point of view, it is superior. The DM has all the time in the world to write up descriptions, research things as needed, and generally make sure the story has all of the necessary elements. And the story has its own log that everyone can search through, which is a lot of what I am trying to do here (as I don't expect that most of what I write is interesting to others, but thank you for reading if you are not one of my players). But most importantly, the players really take their time and think things through. Interactions between player characters and NPCs are richer and full of intrigue. Player characters can have private conversations, or otherwise split up and do their own things in town and come back together whenever they want and nothing gets interrupted or slowed down for everyone else. Its a lot of fun for players who enjoy ROLEplaying (as opposed to ROLLplaying).

The point of this musing is to say that when we only get together for a couple of hours in-person every other week (if that), there isn't a lot of time for that stuff. Thus the players do what they do - which is barge the front gates and fight their way to the boss. As a DM, I knew this type of play would eventually get boring, just as people get tired of video games, and its a challenge to insert an interesting narrative into the middle of the chaos. But I think I am figuring it out. . . 

After laying low for a few days in the ScumSlum, the party decided to disguise themselves as best they can and re-enter the city using the sewer passage that Oric showed them. Oric was able to tell them where some of the more important or interesting buildings in the city are, and an inn called the Sign of the White Knight, where, if the party was extremely careful and spoke to the right person, they may find some folks who are not allied with the slavelords that could be willing to provide additional information. He also shared what he knows about the slavelords, which is

The slavelords are never seen, and act on reputation alone. Its just one of those things where everyone knows they are in charge, but only officials of the highest rank have actually seen them. Some people say they walk among the citizens from time to time, and like to keep their anonymity for this reason. Some say the anonymity is because each slavelord is a title rather than a specific person, and if one gets killed, another takes his place. If no one knows their faces, this works very well.

The following names are known. By reputation, their class can be inferred:

1. Eanwulf (fighter or barbarian - a real brute, larger than life)
2. Nerelas (rumored to be the head of the assassin's guild)
3. Stalman Klim (associated with the Temple of the Earth Dragon)
4. Ajakstu (a mage, possibly - not much known)
5. Edralve (rumored to be a dark elf)
6. Brother Kerin (mysterious - said to be associated with the strange men in red robes and shaved heads that occasionally are seen in the city. There are ships with these same men that frequently arrive at the docks and purchase slaves)
7. Theg Narlot (a fighter or assassin - ugly and short tempered. Said to be most brutal of all the slavelords)
8. Lamonsten the Lazy (another magic user of some kind - also little known)
9. Slippery Ketta (a thief, and said to have eyes and ears all over the city)

Oric also stated that there was no way the party would be able to take the slavelords on directly. Any one of them would be a challenge, but the nine together are unstoppable. He said they employ an elite guard force in three factions, known as the Brown Scales, the Black Scales and the Gold Scales. There aren't a lot of these guards, but they are an elite fighting force that are deployed for special missions, and they never fail. They also have strange men in red robes who fight with their hands and feet, and are extremely deadly. These men operate some of the ships that come to harbor to trade slaves and they will generally enforce the will of the slavelords when they are around. It would be best for the party to gather as much information as they can and come up with a plan.

And so the DM was done helping, and let the players pick up and decide what to do.

They emerged in the Thieves Quarter, where most of the inns, taverns, and houses of ill repute are located. They headed up toward the building that Oric indicated was the Sign of the White Knight. For good measure, Sarril cast Invisibility on Cassius, the thief acrobat, so he can scout from the rooftops as they walked. From his scouting position, Cassius was able to see two other buildings behind the inn with marking that he recognized identified them as an Assassin's Guild and a Thieve's Guild right next to each other - which was odd for guilds that tend to be rivals in most cities. He can also see there was a large slave auction going on in the middle of town, and this had a lot of people distracted.

While Cassius maintained watch on the roof, the rest of the party went inside the Sign of the White Knight and pulled up to the bar. After ordering drinks, Sarril began slipping money to the bartender for information. After upping the bribe a few times, the bartender made a point that "the nine have eyes and ears everywhere" but did casually point out that the party may want to talk to a man who was sitting back in the corner of the tavern, alone. Pontus went up and spoke to the man. Although his barbarian ways were a little gruff, Pontus' really high charisma made up for it. He was able to drive the conversation to a point where both men understood that they had it out for the slavelords. The man called himself "Erik the Red" (a nice northern barbarian name, though the man clearly was not from the north) and claimed to be a sailor from the Hold of the Sea Princes who once had a very profitable business before being forced into retirement by the slavelords. He has spent the last several years spying on them, looking for a way to disrupt their business. While he has gained a lot of intelligence about their operations, he is but one man and can't do much against them. But now that the party was here, they may be able to accomplish what he could not.

After further conversation and a few bribes, Pontus learned that the Sign of the Rose (a house of ill repute next door) is used as a way for the slavelords to come in and out of the city from their hidden base. This is based on the fact that certain people have been seen going in and not coming out over the years. He also said that the while the slavelords operate as a council, there is internal strife among them, and they are known to effectively be three separate factions within the council, each vying for power. The political fighting between them is reflected throughout the city. Erik says that he believes it wouldn't be hard to exploit these political divisions by unbalancing the council. Taking out a few of the slavelords one at a time, and dismantling their networks from within. He suggested starting with the assassin's guild, which is known, unofficially, to be run by the slavelord Narelas. Targeting him first will be important because the Assassin's Guild has eyes and ears everywhere, and they could easily kill the party while they sleep. Removing that threat would give the party some freedom to plan out and execute the remainder of their operations against the slavelords.

The party had originally planned to stake out the Sign of the Rose to gather their own intelligence, but agreed that this information was too good to pass up and decided to go visit the Assassin's Guild. They would present a cover story that they wanted to pay to have a thief assassinated who had stole something from them. Once again, Pontus did the talking at the door. Flashing some gold got the attention of the assassin's inside, which were speaking through a slot in the barred front door. Using "detect invisibility" Sarril noticed two invisible assassins on either corner of the building, acting as guards, and moving around to the party's rear as Pontus engaged in conversation. The assassin's told Pontus to give them his name and where he is staying. Pontus refused, insisting now on speaking to their leader. Once again they asked for his name and where he was staying (this is protocol for the assassin's - they will send an agent to you, not the other way around). Pontus was insistent that they speak with the leader right away.

Sarril, sensing that things were going to go badly and wanting to have the upper hand, cast Knock on the door, then Pontus kicked it in. Two of the assassin's inside ran down a hallway to the back of the building. Two more inside sprang into dark corners in order to backstab the first person to walk through. The two assassins at the rear of the party sprang into action, the first one getting a lucky roll and succeeding on his assassination attempt against Jarrus, who was now dead. 

Note: I have never liked the idea that an assassin can just roll a percentile die and kill someone without the other person having any check against it. So I borrowed something from 5th edition and decided that, in cases of assassination, the character will get a Saving Throw vs. Death Magic. Success means they are reduced to 0 hit points and are bleeding out, but have the opportunity to be saved. Failure means death. Jarrus failed his save. He wasn't just dead, but dead-dead.

The rest of the party continued on, finishing off the two assassin's outside while Cadwin lit-up the assassins inside with Faerie Fire. Pontus chased down the two at the end of the hall, finishing them off before bounding back to help the others. On his way back, Pontus was back-stabbed by an invisible assassin who failed his assassination attempt, but still did 5X damage. But 5x6 is only 30, and that's a small fraction of Pontus' incredible barbarian hit point total. Pontus also saved vs. poison, staying in the fight, much to the surprise and frustration of the assassin who just stabbed him. As the party was finishing off the two assassins in the front room, six more came out from side rooms and filled the hallway. Knowing Pontus had the hit points to handle it, Sarril unleashed Boccob's Rolling Thunder down the hallway, killing all but two assassins and wounding Pontus, though not considerably. While Pontus engaged the last two assassins, the party shut the front door and barred it while Sarril used a Resurrection Scroll to bring Jarrus back to life with full hit points. One round later, Jarrus entered the battle and Jarrus and Pontus finished off the last two assassins, one of whom was clearly a leader - maybe even Narelas himself.

On the leader's body the party found a map of the sewer system, with traps and other things of interest noted. They also found some magic weapons and armor and a token with the symbol of the slavelords on it. After searching the rest of the Assassin's Guild, the party decided to follow a secret door in the back that led down to the sewers, eventually intersecting with the map they now had. Though wounded and having expended most of their healing and other spells, the party decided the course of action would be to follow the map in the sewers to see where it went. One of the tunnels on the map showed a long trek before a dead-end, and the party guess that there would likely be a secret door there leading to something important, as tunnels don't usually get built to nowhere. So off they went. They did manage to set off one trap and take damage, and got into a fight with a mimic, but pushed through to the end of the long tunnel, finding, as expected, a secret door in the north wall.

Opening the secret door revealed a large, 70x70 room. In this room were 9 thrones in a semi-circle facing a hallway coming in from the west. In the room were four people that the party could see and guess were four of the slavelords (from Oric's descriptions), and several guards around the room wearing brown or black scales. Sarril, who still had his Detect Invisibility up and running, could also see an invisible magic-user crouched in one corner, and a thief hiding in shadows in another corner. The six slavelords in this room knew the party was approaching and were waiting for them to open the door, triggering a surprise round in which we know that at least one thrown axe and one thrown dagger were unleashed, in addition to some number of spells at the party.

But we had to stop there, as it was 5 pm. It is still the 2nd Day of Goodmonth, CY 580, now late afternoon.