7th Day of Wealsun, CY 579 (Hunting Xenous Zenpor)

After both Jarrus and Sir Gerard selected squires, and the ceremony to celebrate Asanther's life was complete, the party returned to the City of Greyhawk to prepare what they could before completing the quest that Asanther set out for them - to find and destroy the evil mage Xenous Zenpor. So while Jarrus and Gerard fitted their new squires with armor and weapons, Sarril was back at the Guild of Wizardry library, doing some research, as well as picking up some new 4th level spells.

Sarril was able to find a few facts about the wizard. Primarily that she was incredibly vain about her looks, and obsessed with spells and artifacts related to longevity. She was also an evil wizard who was briefly a member of the guild, but was kicked out when she displayed a desire to seek artifacts of power for her own selfish reasons, and did not give back to the guild. She was last heard from when she went seeking the Codex of the Infinite Planes - an ancient and powerful artifact rumored to last be in possession of Zagyg Yragerne. Xenous went into the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, and was never heard from again.

Based on what they learned from the guild, and what Asanther told them about Xenous current location, the party deduced that Xenous was likely trapped in a demi-plane, and looking for a way out, which the party might provide if they are not careful. Jarrus suggested leaving her there, though Sir Gerard insisted that destroying her is the best course of action. The party agreed, but wanted to spend one more day staking out Zorbo's House of Fun, learning everything they could before going in. And so, that evening, Jarrus and Pontus sat across from the building, having drinks, deep inside the Thieve's Quarter, watching the activity within the fun house.

Zorbo's House of Fun

Though the building was closed at night, they did observe a few men in bright yellow robes with purple trim beneath their cloaks enter the building. Instead of the regular silver coin, they used a gold coin in the slot outside the door. Figuring this to be the information they needed, Jarrus and Pontus returned to the Silver Dragon Inn to report what they found to the rest of the party. The next day, the 7th Day of Wealsun, the party headed to Zorbo's House of Fun to see what they could find.

The party placed five gold coins in the slot outside the door, one for each of them, and then stepped inside. Although they came in not long after another group of people, they found themselves alone in a large, round room with a single door on the opposite side from where they entered. The floor contained a spiral pattern of alternating purple and yellow, and was very obviously not level. The furniture had one set of legs longer than the other to

even it out. The ceiling was divided by a pattern resembling a double lightning bolt (or as one player remarked, a "Charlie Brown" symbol). A man was in the room wearing bright yellow robes with purple trim, and wearing an unrecognized holy symbol resembling the ceiling pattern. He introduced himself as Abbot Kormath Burrsten, and welcomed the party to the "House of Zagyg the Great." This took Sarril by surprise, "did you say Zagyg?"

"Oh yes," replied the abbot. "It was the great Zagyg himself who built this wonderful place, and the maze beyond. But didn't you put a gold coin in the slot? That is why you are here." The party took the opportunity to question the abbot about his faith in Zagyg and this place, trying to get any clues they could about Xenous. Unfortunately, the abbot didn't seem entire sane, and the conversation was difficult, but they did learn that beyond the other door was something called the "Maze of Zagyg" which is a demi-plane where the followers of Zagyg believe he hid many items of great power. The party learned that many have entered the maze, but none have ever returned, at which point the part asked the abbot how one might return. He sold them a crystal for 10,000 gold pieces that he said would return them to the prime material plane when broken. He said that while they are welcome to take anything they find if they should have need of it, he would like anything they do not need to be returned to the House of Zagyg, that it may be put on display. The party agreed, then entered the doorway.

They found themselves in a long hallway with doors on either side. Sarril recognized the place from a dream he once had, and he knew better than to open any of the doors. As the party walked forward, the hallways stretched longer and longer, making the end further and further away. They then decided to walk backward instead, which seemed to compress the hallway. They continued this until the end of the hallway, which was covered in a swirling mist, came to meet them. One by one, they jumped through the mist, until they were all floating weightlessly with mist blocking their view in every direction. They could not move normally in this place, but they found they could "will" themselves in any direction with a thought. Sir Gerard then asked Asanther to use her powers to locate Xenous, and he then moved in that direction while the rest of the party followed. Eventually, the maze came into view, and it seemed to be the size of a mountain range. The entrance was marked with the face of a harlequin, and they move right to it.

Finding their way through the maze proved challenging, and nearly impossible to map properly, given that it was made up entirely of curved walls. The party spent many hours wandering and retracing their steps before Sarril pulled out some parchment and ink and started to draw a map. Occasionally, the party would come upon a round room in the maze and be presented with a challenge. The first challenge was being attacked by 24 Crimson Claws, which were hiding behind a floating dead body.

While the claws were low hit die creatures, they had magic resistance, and the sheer numbers of them meant they were wearing down Sir Gerard slowly. Finally, remembering that Sir Gerard had a ring of fire resistance on (or maybe he didn't remember, and did it anyway), Jarrus poured flaming oil all over Sir Gerard and lit him on fire. This caused the claws to scatter, and eventually die of their wounds after a few rounds.

The next encounter was with another dead body, this one of a priestess in similar yellow robes of Zagyg with the same holy symbol. In this room was also a phantom, which replayed the scene of her death over and over again on a loop. The woman came face to face with am apparition, which caused her to be strangled to death. The phantom forced several party members, including Sir Gerard, to flee in terror. This was the first time Gerard realized that his normal divine aura that cancels the effects of fear was not working here in this place. After looting the body of some scrolls and a silver mirror, the party moved on, with the scared members closing their eyes and being led through the room by those who had made their saves.

The third encounter was with the apparition that killed the priestess. Lucky for the party members that it attacked, they were able to make their saves to avoid instant death. It turns out the mirror, pointed at the apparition, would have forced it to flee, but no one thought of that, and so they killed it the old fashioned way.

The final encounter before they reached their destination at the center of the maze was with five terithrans. Terithrans are ugly beasts from the astral plane that have some pretty significant abilities, including being able to use a Power Word Stun at will. But Sarril heard them speaking up ahead in a strange language and decided to use the Tongues scroll he found earlier to listen to their conversation. After learning that they had already lost ten of their group to a "thing" in the center of the maze, and that they wanted whatever was inside a box in that room, Sarril was able to speak to them make a deal. If the terithrans would let the party pass, they would take care of the problem in the room and give the terithrans the box. Or at least, he would have negotiated something like that, except that mid-discussion, Sir Gerard pulled a "Leeroy Jenkins" and rushed into the room, sword in hand, to attack the box.

Gerard's Boots of Striding and Springing were not effective in this mist through which they were floating. As such, he didn't close the distance before the box opened, and four 16 hit dice elementals (one of each type) were summoned into the room. Sir Gerard found that he needed to take care of these elementals before he could get to the box. During this time, Asanther began to converse with the voice of Xenous Zenpor. Asanther telling Xenous that she has become more powerful and will finish in death, what she could not do in life. Xenous responded that she, too, has become more powerful in death, and that Asanther could not possibly comprehend the power she now wields. The next round, Pontus and Jarrus showed up to assist, and started make progress on wearing down the elementals. Pontus drank a full Potion of Fire Breath and unleashed it on the elementals, and Sir Gerard (who lost a few items as a result). It took a few rounds to kill the elementals, and during this time, the box opened and more spellpower was sent forth, including a Cone of Cold and a few more spells. Recognizing that he could not sustain any more damage, Sarril ran out of the room to get away from whatever the box was going to unleash next.

As soon as the elementals were out of the way, Sir Gerard rushed forward and struck the box with his sword. As he looked down into the box just before contact, he saw the disembodied face of a beautiful woman. As the sword came in contact with the box, there was a tremendous explosion which blew all of the party members in the room back against the mist walls. Everyone in the room took severe damage and lost a limb. But perhaps worst of all for Sir Gerard, the sword was destroyed, along with the Face of Xenous, leaving behind only an empty box in the room, which the terithrans were more than happy to take possession of. Only Sarril came out unscathed, as he has ran out of the room before the explosion took place.

After stabilizing the party as best he could, Sarril broke the crystal he had purchased from the abbot and the party found themselves, still sans limbs, inside the House of Zagyg. The abbot seemed surprised that they had returned, since no one ever has, though, they didn't return in one piece. The abbot suggested they find a priest to get an ointment or something for those wounds, or find the fabled Well of All Heals that is supposed to restore anything. Either way.