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*Note* Since My old Pool of Radiance characters (readable in Hillsfar
solution) Weren't exactly very good in Azure Bonds standards, I re-created
some of them, retaining only My Cleric (Ben) and my two Elf Fighter/Mages
(Leanna and Andrew). The Two fighters I originally had (Matthew and Daniel)
became a Paladin and a Ranger, and Peter, my Thief, was Re-created as a Thief,
and Duel-Classed to a Ranger right at the Start.
The First Bond...... The Fire Knives.
We woke up in a small room, with all our equipment from our previous
adventures missing. Adding to our annoyance, somebody, or some people had
decided to place an "interesting" but very eye-catching series of Tattoos on
our arms. As we left the room, we ran into an Innkeeper, but I don't think we
were in a very good mood at the time, and I think that she was not terribly
impressed with us....... Anyway, we discovered that the town we were in was
the one we had set out for from Hillsfar. We were in Tilverton. There was a
blacksmith across the road, where we all purchased Banded Mail (I prefered
extra movement to -1 AC.) Shields, A Flail for Ben, Longswords for Matthew,
Daniel and Peter, Shortswords for Leanna and I, Bows and arrows for us who
could use them, and a Staff-sling for Ben. We saw a Temple close to us, and
since we had plenty of change, we asked for "Remove Curse", hoping the Tattoos
were of a more magical origin. The response from the symbols was interesting,
but not helpful.
The innkeeper had mentioned a Sage nearby, so we paid her a visit. In my
opinion, It was the biggest waste of money I'd ever seen, for almost no
benefits. The city gates were closed at this time, so we headed to the Tavern.
After a few drinks and a few Tales, we left the bar for an "important
customer" who was kidnapped by some people with daggers similar to the
"Flaming-Knife" symbol we bore. We had nothing more to do, so we tried the
gates again. The carriage had arrived, but the mysterious symbols forced us to
attack it..... Ah, well. Anyway, we were thrown in Jail, and rescued by a
Thief. He led us into the Thieves' guild, where we were greeted by the Guild
Master. We were ambushed by the "Fire-knives" assassin guild, and the guild
master was killed. After a battle with Thieves and Assassins, we moved into a
room with a Table and a Message. Moving South into a long hallway, into the
first door on the left, a second hallway and a Wizard-Locked door, opened by
"Knock" we found the Treasure room (5,13). I can't remember much about it, but
there was a Red Ioun Stone, Banded Mail+1 and a Girdle of the Dwarves in
there. Heading back into the First hall, and the room on the right at the end
of the passageway, following the doors until we came to another hall. The last
door to the left led to a passage into the Sewers.
The Sewers and the Hideout.
(There is a Basic map in Journal Entry 4.) The Sewers were nothing more than a
walk in slime, slime, slime and more slime. Following the map, we found some
clues to the passage of a purple-clothed person. There were some Otyugh with
Jewellery we bargained with (3rd door from the Left in the middle of the map),
a Secret Training hall (Behind the "S") and some Trolls with a Treasure Hoard
to the North of the Hall. There was an friendly Knight along the way to the
hideout, who offered us information on a Cleric who went on ahead. At the end
of the passage through the Sewers, was an exit marked on the map as "Hideout",
which we thankfully scrambled into. >From the entrance, we went into the South
room, which was full of blades. >From there, we went West, South and finally
East, into a hallway. Heading South, we entered the door to the East at the
end of the hall, into another hallway. We followed this hall until we could
turn south, out the door, and into the door to the left. We ransacked the
Study, finding some weapons. Further down were a Library and Bedroom, but we
found nothing useful inside. We left the study, and continued down the
hallway, heading West, until we came to a door facing south.
This led to the Hospital, and a Secret door into an Armoury, with two
impressive longswords, Elven Chain, and a Necklace of Missiles! Finally, at he
end of the Hall, we came to the Leader, along with many guards. He had
kidnapped the princess, and "introduced us" to the man we had tried to kill
earlier (well, the Bonds made us.....) The Princess hit him on the head, and
we had to fight the guards. Two Fireballs almost totally decimated their
forces, and we cut down those who survived. The princess nicely "convinced"
the Leader to remove the Bond of the Flaming Dagger. The king burst in, and
was not at all happy with our attempt to "attack' his carraige, and banished
us from Tilverton. (We also found the cleric, somewhere before the first
hall.) After our departure, we saw the Princess ride off with the Cleric we
had rescued. We all shared in a Nightmare with our "masters" and all
unanimously decided that the best idea was to remove them all. From Life.
The Second Bond........ The Red Wizard Dracandros.
Being Elves, Leanna and I both had intrests in visiting the Standing Stone, a
monument near Myth Drannor. There was an old man there, who told us our "Red
master" was to the South. That didn't leave much area to go to, and a Dragon
attack near Essembra convinced us that the "Red master" was nearby. At Hap, we
found the city inhabited by the pathetic, disgusting mutations and perversions
of all Elven-kind, the Drow. We mercilessly killed any of the we found in the
streets,and gathered up their equipment, which had vast magical powers (+3
items) when kept away from sunlight, but eventually had to retreat into a
large building, which we discovered to be the Temple. A mage called Akabar Bel
Akash asked to join us, and we accepted him, even though he was a real idiot,
continually catching us in the area of his Fireball and Stinking Cloud
spells.Further exploration North uncovered an Inn. Soon we found no more Elves
wandering the streets, and we went into the large barn in the South, which had
an Efreet and the remaining Drow. On it's body we found a map leading into
some caves nearby. When we entered we were immediately attacked by Drow, and
Salamanders. To the left of the entrance we foud "Silk", a fairly co-operative
and unusually nice Drow. She added to Leanna's Tattoos with the Swanmay
symbol. Heading back to the entrance, and into the right tunnel from it, we
blundered into a barracks, filled with Male Drow. Fortunately, since the Drow
considered Females more important than Males, none of these knew any magic,
but since they were resistant to magic, we had to use Swords to do our dirty
work for us. Further along, we came to some Salamanders who, after a little
trickery (Sly talking) allowed us to help ourselves to their treasure.
We did, but left most of the Coins. We suffered some burns, but the Treasures
compensated our sufferings. Headind further into the Tunnels, we passed by a
room where female Drow were gathering, that we made a point to avoid. We
passed by a Mage coven as well, and several patrols, some of which let us
pass, thanks to Silk. Eventually we camt to a large room with Salamanders, and
were about to proceed further when a voice in Ben's mind warned of great
danger. Sure enough, there was a Huge Dracolich in the next room, who knocked
many of us out cold before we could finish it off with Magic Missiles. Up the
stairs we met Dracandros, who paralyzed us and forced us to attack an
Illusionary dragon. The dragons forced him to remove our bonds, and we repaid
them...by killing them.... after all, Silk had wanted some parts of a Dragon,
and these dragons were evil! Dracandros ran away. We rested on the roof, and
went downstairs. There was a Drow Noble, probably a Weapon Master for one of
the Houses, waiting at the stairs. He resisted our magical efforts of
Missiles, Lightning, Stinking Clouds and Slay Living, defeating our three
warriors. in desperation, Ben used the last spell he had left - Poison.
Surprisingly..... it worked, and the Drow collapsed, dead. He had some very
nice armour and weapons, which we took. After another rest we carried on. We
came to the test of the Sphere. I remember the object used, a Sphere of
Annilation, from my early magical teachings, and also the way it worked.
Despite my companions suggestions that one of our Mages should do the Test, I
insisted that Matthew, Daniel or Peter should do it, and Peter finally agreed.
(Read the AD&D 2nd Edition Special items.)
The mage faltered in his concentration, and as Peter was no Mage, the sphere
refused to move towards him after the mage had lost control, and sped into the
mage, exploding when he attempted to use a "Rod of Cancelation"(Read the AD&D
2nd Edition Special items.) on it. There were some nice items in the chests.
We went down to the next level. There was a illusion of another Drow Noble
cloaking the stairs. We came across a patrol of Drow and Owlbears, but they
weren't much trouble for us. The next level down, we found a very clever trap
right at the stairs....... Passing through the first room to the South, and
following the doors south, we found an object in a pool, which we took. At the
end of a hallway we found a bedroom with some loot, and headed downstairs, The
last level had an annoying pit. Passing through several rooms, we were
attacked by Wyvern. The door south of them led us to Dracandros, who was
fleeing. We killed him, and claimed all his possessions, including the Helm of
Dragons. Silk, down in the caves paid us for the Dragon heart and the "Thing"
we had carried down.
Two Bonds down, Three to go.
The Third Bond.......... Mogion, High priestiess of Moander.
On our way back from Dracandros' Tower, the man at the Standing Stones was
once again, waiting. He told us to "seek Green to the north." We travelled to
Hillsfar, where we had recently been, but because of the "Zhentarim" bond, we
weren't exactly very welcome in the city. Moander's original center of worship
had been in Yulash, and it made sense that the "green master" would be there.
Along the way, we encountered some Clerics who were following the "Chosen
ones" to Yulash. At Yulash, we decided to ask the permission of the Commander
in the recently established Red Plume outpost. We met Princess Nacacia
again... sort of. She was with the cleric we had rescued, and they almost
managed to run us over with a horse. While waiting, a group of Zhentarim
warriors ran out of the Commander's office, and we were asked to stop them. We
did. The commander seemed impressed by our efforts, and even commented on the
Symbol Leanna had recieved from Silk earlier. It seems that the symbol is not
unique to the Drow, but also used in the Realms. Anyway, we were allowed to
explore the city. Heading far south, we passed a Red Plume checkpoint, and
found several pits, proving that the city had not stood the test of time very
well. Next we headed a long distance East, and finally North again. We
encountered many bands of people in the ruins: Fire Knife looters, Moander
Cultists, Shambling Mounds, and Zhentarim Soldiers, Clerics and Mages, who had
a nice array of magic items (Cleric's Splint Mail, Mage's Dart.) We also found
several Shambling mounds with a dead cleric, who had a wand of Defoliation,
which, when used, seemed to randomly either Magic-Missile any plant it was
aimed at, or fizzle and do nothing. Finally we came to the Pit, and entered.
(Map of Yulash: Journal Entry 52.)
As soon as we entered the pit, a dying Cultist sealed the entrance. How
annoying. There was a perculiar smell of Baked Bread, and following it we came
to Two warriors, Alias and Dragonbait, who we allowed to join. (There's a
semi-complete map as Journal entry 20) We wandered through the halls and down
the stairs. From there, we went as far as we could in one direction, through
several doors. The mark Leanna had aquired from Silk proved to be of intrest
to Alias, who made mention of an adventuring group with the same name as
Silk's warriors. We then turned right and repeated our movements. We turned
right again, and found ourselves in a large hall. We turned left and
walked..... right into the shrine and altar. Mogion was waiting for us, and
started to bring Moander through a dimensional rift, our bond being removed in
the process. On Alias' advice, we attacked the Cultists. The battle was hard,
requiring frequent use of the Wand of Defoliation (Which never seemed to run
out of charges) and Four Ice Storm spells. Mogion had some nice equipment,
including an Ioun stone, Mace and Plate Mail. Moander wasn't very happy, as
his body didn't make it through the rift. All that made it through were Three
large "Bits". The bits were hard to defeat in combat as well. After exhausting
our supply of Magic missiles, including the "Extras" given by Dracandros' Ring
of Wizardry on the Bits, and killing only one, and badly damaging another, we
had to resort to using Swords, which didn't work too well. Fortunately, after
several attampts at casting Stinking Clouds, both bits became Nauseated and we
managed to cut them down. In the remains we found a pair of gauntlets, The
Gauntlets of Moander. The Cultists weren't very happy with our efforts either.
In the altar we found a bit of treasure, including Gloves of Thievery. (No
idea what they do...) At the exit from the pit, the Cultists had gathered, and
made a last effort to stop us. They didn't do too well, their ranks torn apart
by Fireballs and Ice Storms. As we left the pit, Alias and Dragonbait said
their goodbyes, and many Zhentil troops attacked Yulash. We felt we deserved a
short rest, and travelled to Dagger Falls, where we found a small magic shop.
The owner mentioned Mulmaster's Beholder Corps, but we had other plans at the
time. Maybe we'll return later, and see what we can find......
The Forth Bond....... Zhentil Lord Fzoul Chembryl.
The obvious place to remove the Zhentarim Bond was, (Surprise, Surprise!)
Zhentil Keep. The guards at the gate were obviously checking up on something,
and as we wandered the streets, we decided it was us. There were several shops
in the Keep, all operating at Rip-off prices! Far down the straats, Ben's
warning voice triggered again, right before we ran into Olive Ruskettle, a
Halfling Bard. I vaguely remembered seeing her in the Tilverton Thieves guild,
and had heard mention of a Halfling in the Zhentil Keep. Anyway, she led us
into the Temple, where we found Dimswart the Sage, all locked up. We released
him, and wandered the Temple until we came to the main complex. There were
some items in the Altar here as well, but there was also a gas trap...... We
met a hooded woman in the Temple, who lead us out. There was also a "Mirror
room" somewhere in the temple as well. Fzoul wasn't happy with the woman, and
neither were we, when she led us to Dexam, a large Beholder. He cockily
announced his plans to us, and Disentegrated Fzoul, when he burst in, which
removed our bond. Well, at least Dexam helped us.... partly. He ordered his
troops to kill us, but they got a bit occupied with Fzoul's men, and we left
through the North door. (Map (partial) of Dexam's caves: Journal Entry 59.) We
came across another Dark Elf, similar to the one in Dracandros' Tower, except
this one had Drow Weapons. Still, his Longsword was very powerful, and did
work very well in Matthew's hands. Following the passages, we met a Gas Sope,
which we were unfortunate enough to attack, causing the Damnable thing to
explode. We finally found Dexam, in the room marked "Minotaurs", where the
woman showed herself to be a Medusa. Haste, Mirror Image and Fire Shield were
useful in the battle, to remove all the Minotaurs standing between us and
Dexam. (Move away from a Minotaur, who attacks and triggeres the shield, until
there is a clear path to the Beholder, re-setting your movement as needed.)
Matthew eventually Skewered Dexam with the Drow sword, and we claimed the
amulet of Lathander from his body. We quickly left the cave, where we bid
goodbye to Dimswart, and set off to remove our final bond.
The Fifth Bond........ Tyranthraxus the Flamed one.
At our return to the Standing Stones, the old man revealed himself to be our
Fifth master, and ordered us to meet him at Myth Drannor, the ancient Elven
City, long hidden in the center of the Elven Court. Time, inhabitation by
monsters and wars had done little to destroy Myth Dranno's splendor. (Okay so
I'm a little biased, after all, I am an elf.) Myth Drannor had been overrun by
Thri-kreen, Raksasha and Insects. The Thri-kreen all left us alone when we
said "Tyranthraxus" was our master, and the Raksasha left us alone when we
spoke Haughtily to them. From the entrance, heading north, we camt o an area
where a spirit gave us gifts to combat the evil inhabiting Myth Drannor. We
cleared out Insects from many fine, marble buildings, and a Raksasha posing as
a Myth Drannan spirit. It the North Eastern Graveyard, a Raksasha posing as a
Red Plume ambushed us, but after defeating him, we found a Finely crafed Elven
Bow. Heading East, we passed into the Raksasha inhabited areas of Myth
Drannor. A raksasha, Tyresha, took us to the storeroom of the Raksasha Clan,
which he let us plunder, after offering him our help. There were many
half-broken walls, containing Raksasha, and one room in the North East, with a
Cache of weapons, that we were told about by a man we had rescued from Hell
Hounds. In the Cache was a single Electrum Piece, an ancient Longsword+5, and
a Girdle of Giant Strength, all crafted by Elves, in long ago times. We made a
deal with a Raksasha, who agreed to help us when we battled Tyranthraxus. As
soon as we entered the Temple to the North, Tyranthraxus appeared and forced
us to "dispose" of the artifacts that would harm him.
Nameless intervened, and tried to help us, but was killed in doing so, and
unfortunately still failed to remove the Bonds in his effort. "T." teleported
away, but using the Helm of Dragons, we managed to locate him. The Bond
prevented long periods of rest, but we could still commit a spell to memory
before the bonds jarred our concentration. (Someone must be injured, get every
spellcater to memorise ONE spell and use "Fix") We met Tyranthraxus after a
long trek through the Rooms to the West, and up a staircase. He had many
Margoyles and High Priests guarding him, and was almost Immune to all our
magic! Fireballs handles his guards very well, with Haste giving us all the
extra speed to combat those we couldn't reach, Minor Globes of Invulnerability
giving Resistance to his Lightning and the Cleric's Hold Person, Fire Shield
to protect us from his Blows and Prayer for a little extra help. We finally
defeated him, many of us being knocked unconsious in the battle. He tried to
excape into the Pool of Radiance, but the Gauntlets we had recovered from
Moander's remains Shattered the Pool when they came into contact with it, and
Tyranthraxus disintegrated into nothingness, the final bond disappearing from
our arms. We travelled to Shadowdale, where we watched a tremendous Firework
display, before settling down in the Inn for a well deserved rest.
andrew_x_lai@hotmail.com
solution) Weren't exactly very good in Azure Bonds standards, I re-created
some of them, retaining only My Cleric (Ben) and my two Elf Fighter/Mages
(Leanna and Andrew). The Two fighters I originally had (Matthew and Daniel)
became a Paladin and a Ranger, and Peter, my Thief, was Re-created as a Thief,
and Duel-Classed to a Ranger right at the Start.
The First Bond...... The Fire Knives.
We woke up in a small room, with all our equipment from our previous
adventures missing. Adding to our annoyance, somebody, or some people had
decided to place an "interesting" but very eye-catching series of Tattoos on
our arms. As we left the room, we ran into an Innkeeper, but I don't think we
were in a very good mood at the time, and I think that she was not terribly
impressed with us....... Anyway, we discovered that the town we were in was
the one we had set out for from Hillsfar. We were in Tilverton. There was a
blacksmith across the road, where we all purchased Banded Mail (I prefered
extra movement to -1 AC.) Shields, A Flail for Ben, Longswords for Matthew,
Daniel and Peter, Shortswords for Leanna and I, Bows and arrows for us who
could use them, and a Staff-sling for Ben. We saw a Temple close to us, and
since we had plenty of change, we asked for "Remove Curse", hoping the Tattoos
were of a more magical origin. The response from the symbols was interesting,
but not helpful.
The innkeeper had mentioned a Sage nearby, so we paid her a visit. In my
opinion, It was the biggest waste of money I'd ever seen, for almost no
benefits. The city gates were closed at this time, so we headed to the Tavern.
After a few drinks and a few Tales, we left the bar for an "important
customer" who was kidnapped by some people with daggers similar to the
"Flaming-Knife" symbol we bore. We had nothing more to do, so we tried the
gates again. The carriage had arrived, but the mysterious symbols forced us to
attack it..... Ah, well. Anyway, we were thrown in Jail, and rescued by a
Thief. He led us into the Thieves' guild, where we were greeted by the Guild
Master. We were ambushed by the "Fire-knives" assassin guild, and the guild
master was killed. After a battle with Thieves and Assassins, we moved into a
room with a Table and a Message. Moving South into a long hallway, into the
first door on the left, a second hallway and a Wizard-Locked door, opened by
"Knock" we found the Treasure room (5,13). I can't remember much about it, but
there was a Red Ioun Stone, Banded Mail+1 and a Girdle of the Dwarves in
there. Heading back into the First hall, and the room on the right at the end
of the passageway, following the doors until we came to another hall. The last
door to the left led to a passage into the Sewers.
The Sewers and the Hideout.
(There is a Basic map in Journal Entry 4.) The Sewers were nothing more than a
walk in slime, slime, slime and more slime. Following the map, we found some
clues to the passage of a purple-clothed person. There were some Otyugh with
Jewellery we bargained with (3rd door from the Left in the middle of the map),
a Secret Training hall (Behind the "S") and some Trolls with a Treasure Hoard
to the North of the Hall. There was an friendly Knight along the way to the
hideout, who offered us information on a Cleric who went on ahead. At the end
of the passage through the Sewers, was an exit marked on the map as "Hideout",
which we thankfully scrambled into. >From the entrance, we went into the South
room, which was full of blades. >From there, we went West, South and finally
East, into a hallway. Heading South, we entered the door to the East at the
end of the hall, into another hallway. We followed this hall until we could
turn south, out the door, and into the door to the left. We ransacked the
Study, finding some weapons. Further down were a Library and Bedroom, but we
found nothing useful inside. We left the study, and continued down the
hallway, heading West, until we came to a door facing south.
This led to the Hospital, and a Secret door into an Armoury, with two
impressive longswords, Elven Chain, and a Necklace of Missiles! Finally, at he
end of the Hall, we came to the Leader, along with many guards. He had
kidnapped the princess, and "introduced us" to the man we had tried to kill
earlier (well, the Bonds made us.....) The Princess hit him on the head, and
we had to fight the guards. Two Fireballs almost totally decimated their
forces, and we cut down those who survived. The princess nicely "convinced"
the Leader to remove the Bond of the Flaming Dagger. The king burst in, and
was not at all happy with our attempt to "attack' his carraige, and banished
us from Tilverton. (We also found the cleric, somewhere before the first
hall.) After our departure, we saw the Princess ride off with the Cleric we
had rescued. We all shared in a Nightmare with our "masters" and all
unanimously decided that the best idea was to remove them all. From Life.
The Second Bond........ The Red Wizard Dracandros.
Being Elves, Leanna and I both had intrests in visiting the Standing Stone, a
monument near Myth Drannor. There was an old man there, who told us our "Red
master" was to the South. That didn't leave much area to go to, and a Dragon
attack near Essembra convinced us that the "Red master" was nearby. At Hap, we
found the city inhabited by the pathetic, disgusting mutations and perversions
of all Elven-kind, the Drow. We mercilessly killed any of the we found in the
streets,and gathered up their equipment, which had vast magical powers (+3
items) when kept away from sunlight, but eventually had to retreat into a
large building, which we discovered to be the Temple. A mage called Akabar Bel
Akash asked to join us, and we accepted him, even though he was a real idiot,
continually catching us in the area of his Fireball and Stinking Cloud
spells.Further exploration North uncovered an Inn. Soon we found no more Elves
wandering the streets, and we went into the large barn in the South, which had
an Efreet and the remaining Drow. On it's body we found a map leading into
some caves nearby. When we entered we were immediately attacked by Drow, and
Salamanders. To the left of the entrance we foud "Silk", a fairly co-operative
and unusually nice Drow. She added to Leanna's Tattoos with the Swanmay
symbol. Heading back to the entrance, and into the right tunnel from it, we
blundered into a barracks, filled with Male Drow. Fortunately, since the Drow
considered Females more important than Males, none of these knew any magic,
but since they were resistant to magic, we had to use Swords to do our dirty
work for us. Further along, we came to some Salamanders who, after a little
trickery (Sly talking) allowed us to help ourselves to their treasure.
We did, but left most of the Coins. We suffered some burns, but the Treasures
compensated our sufferings. Headind further into the Tunnels, we passed by a
room where female Drow were gathering, that we made a point to avoid. We
passed by a Mage coven as well, and several patrols, some of which let us
pass, thanks to Silk. Eventually we camt to a large room with Salamanders, and
were about to proceed further when a voice in Ben's mind warned of great
danger. Sure enough, there was a Huge Dracolich in the next room, who knocked
many of us out cold before we could finish it off with Magic Missiles. Up the
stairs we met Dracandros, who paralyzed us and forced us to attack an
Illusionary dragon. The dragons forced him to remove our bonds, and we repaid
them...by killing them.... after all, Silk had wanted some parts of a Dragon,
and these dragons were evil! Dracandros ran away. We rested on the roof, and
went downstairs. There was a Drow Noble, probably a Weapon Master for one of
the Houses, waiting at the stairs. He resisted our magical efforts of
Missiles, Lightning, Stinking Clouds and Slay Living, defeating our three
warriors. in desperation, Ben used the last spell he had left - Poison.
Surprisingly..... it worked, and the Drow collapsed, dead. He had some very
nice armour and weapons, which we took. After another rest we carried on. We
came to the test of the Sphere. I remember the object used, a Sphere of
Annilation, from my early magical teachings, and also the way it worked.
Despite my companions suggestions that one of our Mages should do the Test, I
insisted that Matthew, Daniel or Peter should do it, and Peter finally agreed.
(Read the AD&D 2nd Edition Special items.)
The mage faltered in his concentration, and as Peter was no Mage, the sphere
refused to move towards him after the mage had lost control, and sped into the
mage, exploding when he attempted to use a "Rod of Cancelation"(Read the AD&D
2nd Edition Special items.) on it. There were some nice items in the chests.
We went down to the next level. There was a illusion of another Drow Noble
cloaking the stairs. We came across a patrol of Drow and Owlbears, but they
weren't much trouble for us. The next level down, we found a very clever trap
right at the stairs....... Passing through the first room to the South, and
following the doors south, we found an object in a pool, which we took. At the
end of a hallway we found a bedroom with some loot, and headed downstairs, The
last level had an annoying pit. Passing through several rooms, we were
attacked by Wyvern. The door south of them led us to Dracandros, who was
fleeing. We killed him, and claimed all his possessions, including the Helm of
Dragons. Silk, down in the caves paid us for the Dragon heart and the "Thing"
we had carried down.
Two Bonds down, Three to go.
The Third Bond.......... Mogion, High priestiess of Moander.
On our way back from Dracandros' Tower, the man at the Standing Stones was
once again, waiting. He told us to "seek Green to the north." We travelled to
Hillsfar, where we had recently been, but because of the "Zhentarim" bond, we
weren't exactly very welcome in the city. Moander's original center of worship
had been in Yulash, and it made sense that the "green master" would be there.
Along the way, we encountered some Clerics who were following the "Chosen
ones" to Yulash. At Yulash, we decided to ask the permission of the Commander
in the recently established Red Plume outpost. We met Princess Nacacia
again... sort of. She was with the cleric we had rescued, and they almost
managed to run us over with a horse. While waiting, a group of Zhentarim
warriors ran out of the Commander's office, and we were asked to stop them. We
did. The commander seemed impressed by our efforts, and even commented on the
Symbol Leanna had recieved from Silk earlier. It seems that the symbol is not
unique to the Drow, but also used in the Realms. Anyway, we were allowed to
explore the city. Heading far south, we passed a Red Plume checkpoint, and
found several pits, proving that the city had not stood the test of time very
well. Next we headed a long distance East, and finally North again. We
encountered many bands of people in the ruins: Fire Knife looters, Moander
Cultists, Shambling Mounds, and Zhentarim Soldiers, Clerics and Mages, who had
a nice array of magic items (Cleric's Splint Mail, Mage's Dart.) We also found
several Shambling mounds with a dead cleric, who had a wand of Defoliation,
which, when used, seemed to randomly either Magic-Missile any plant it was
aimed at, or fizzle and do nothing. Finally we came to the Pit, and entered.
(Map of Yulash: Journal Entry 52.)
As soon as we entered the pit, a dying Cultist sealed the entrance. How
annoying. There was a perculiar smell of Baked Bread, and following it we came
to Two warriors, Alias and Dragonbait, who we allowed to join. (There's a
semi-complete map as Journal entry 20) We wandered through the halls and down
the stairs. From there, we went as far as we could in one direction, through
several doors. The mark Leanna had aquired from Silk proved to be of intrest
to Alias, who made mention of an adventuring group with the same name as
Silk's warriors. We then turned right and repeated our movements. We turned
right again, and found ourselves in a large hall. We turned left and
walked..... right into the shrine and altar. Mogion was waiting for us, and
started to bring Moander through a dimensional rift, our bond being removed in
the process. On Alias' advice, we attacked the Cultists. The battle was hard,
requiring frequent use of the Wand of Defoliation (Which never seemed to run
out of charges) and Four Ice Storm spells. Mogion had some nice equipment,
including an Ioun stone, Mace and Plate Mail. Moander wasn't very happy, as
his body didn't make it through the rift. All that made it through were Three
large "Bits". The bits were hard to defeat in combat as well. After exhausting
our supply of Magic missiles, including the "Extras" given by Dracandros' Ring
of Wizardry on the Bits, and killing only one, and badly damaging another, we
had to resort to using Swords, which didn't work too well. Fortunately, after
several attampts at casting Stinking Clouds, both bits became Nauseated and we
managed to cut them down. In the remains we found a pair of gauntlets, The
Gauntlets of Moander. The Cultists weren't very happy with our efforts either.
In the altar we found a bit of treasure, including Gloves of Thievery. (No
idea what they do...) At the exit from the pit, the Cultists had gathered, and
made a last effort to stop us. They didn't do too well, their ranks torn apart
by Fireballs and Ice Storms. As we left the pit, Alias and Dragonbait said
their goodbyes, and many Zhentil troops attacked Yulash. We felt we deserved a
short rest, and travelled to Dagger Falls, where we found a small magic shop.
The owner mentioned Mulmaster's Beholder Corps, but we had other plans at the
time. Maybe we'll return later, and see what we can find......
The Forth Bond....... Zhentil Lord Fzoul Chembryl.
The obvious place to remove the Zhentarim Bond was, (Surprise, Surprise!)
Zhentil Keep. The guards at the gate were obviously checking up on something,
and as we wandered the streets, we decided it was us. There were several shops
in the Keep, all operating at Rip-off prices! Far down the straats, Ben's
warning voice triggered again, right before we ran into Olive Ruskettle, a
Halfling Bard. I vaguely remembered seeing her in the Tilverton Thieves guild,
and had heard mention of a Halfling in the Zhentil Keep. Anyway, she led us
into the Temple, where we found Dimswart the Sage, all locked up. We released
him, and wandered the Temple until we came to the main complex. There were
some items in the Altar here as well, but there was also a gas trap...... We
met a hooded woman in the Temple, who lead us out. There was also a "Mirror
room" somewhere in the temple as well. Fzoul wasn't happy with the woman, and
neither were we, when she led us to Dexam, a large Beholder. He cockily
announced his plans to us, and Disentegrated Fzoul, when he burst in, which
removed our bond. Well, at least Dexam helped us.... partly. He ordered his
troops to kill us, but they got a bit occupied with Fzoul's men, and we left
through the North door. (Map (partial) of Dexam's caves: Journal Entry 59.) We
came across another Dark Elf, similar to the one in Dracandros' Tower, except
this one had Drow Weapons. Still, his Longsword was very powerful, and did
work very well in Matthew's hands. Following the passages, we met a Gas Sope,
which we were unfortunate enough to attack, causing the Damnable thing to
explode. We finally found Dexam, in the room marked "Minotaurs", where the
woman showed herself to be a Medusa. Haste, Mirror Image and Fire Shield were
useful in the battle, to remove all the Minotaurs standing between us and
Dexam. (Move away from a Minotaur, who attacks and triggeres the shield, until
there is a clear path to the Beholder, re-setting your movement as needed.)
Matthew eventually Skewered Dexam with the Drow sword, and we claimed the
amulet of Lathander from his body. We quickly left the cave, where we bid
goodbye to Dimswart, and set off to remove our final bond.
The Fifth Bond........ Tyranthraxus the Flamed one.
At our return to the Standing Stones, the old man revealed himself to be our
Fifth master, and ordered us to meet him at Myth Drannor, the ancient Elven
City, long hidden in the center of the Elven Court. Time, inhabitation by
monsters and wars had done little to destroy Myth Dranno's splendor. (Okay so
I'm a little biased, after all, I am an elf.) Myth Drannor had been overrun by
Thri-kreen, Raksasha and Insects. The Thri-kreen all left us alone when we
said "Tyranthraxus" was our master, and the Raksasha left us alone when we
spoke Haughtily to them. From the entrance, heading north, we camt o an area
where a spirit gave us gifts to combat the evil inhabiting Myth Drannor. We
cleared out Insects from many fine, marble buildings, and a Raksasha posing as
a Myth Drannan spirit. It the North Eastern Graveyard, a Raksasha posing as a
Red Plume ambushed us, but after defeating him, we found a Finely crafed Elven
Bow. Heading East, we passed into the Raksasha inhabited areas of Myth
Drannor. A raksasha, Tyresha, took us to the storeroom of the Raksasha Clan,
which he let us plunder, after offering him our help. There were many
half-broken walls, containing Raksasha, and one room in the North East, with a
Cache of weapons, that we were told about by a man we had rescued from Hell
Hounds. In the Cache was a single Electrum Piece, an ancient Longsword+5, and
a Girdle of Giant Strength, all crafted by Elves, in long ago times. We made a
deal with a Raksasha, who agreed to help us when we battled Tyranthraxus. As
soon as we entered the Temple to the North, Tyranthraxus appeared and forced
us to "dispose" of the artifacts that would harm him.
Nameless intervened, and tried to help us, but was killed in doing so, and
unfortunately still failed to remove the Bonds in his effort. "T." teleported
away, but using the Helm of Dragons, we managed to locate him. The Bond
prevented long periods of rest, but we could still commit a spell to memory
before the bonds jarred our concentration. (Someone must be injured, get every
spellcater to memorise ONE spell and use "Fix") We met Tyranthraxus after a
long trek through the Rooms to the West, and up a staircase. He had many
Margoyles and High Priests guarding him, and was almost Immune to all our
magic! Fireballs handles his guards very well, with Haste giving us all the
extra speed to combat those we couldn't reach, Minor Globes of Invulnerability
giving Resistance to his Lightning and the Cleric's Hold Person, Fire Shield
to protect us from his Blows and Prayer for a little extra help. We finally
defeated him, many of us being knocked unconsious in the battle. He tried to
excape into the Pool of Radiance, but the Gauntlets we had recovered from
Moander's remains Shattered the Pool when they came into contact with it, and
Tyranthraxus disintegrated into nothingness, the final bond disappearing from
our arms. We travelled to Shadowdale, where we watched a tremendous Firework
display, before settling down in the Inn for a well deserved rest.
andrew_x_lai@hotmail.com