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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.
Anyone requiring full maps or wanting to give comments, suggestions to the
story, errors etc. can mail me at any of the following:
-Andrew Lai
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.
Anyone requiring full maps or wanting to give comments, suggestions to the
story, errors etc. can mail me at any of the following:
-Andrew Lai