Summary of Alpha-Z Adventure #2: "The March Heir"
-----------------------------------------------

This adventure is an original one authored by Chet Erez.
The write-up is from Stenner Cadres' (Stephen D'Angelo's character)
point of view.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #1--11/14/97

The council of the Earldom of March hired our Alpha-Z team.  The members 
were: Lillylotta, Danarho, Eiluj, Vernon, Marco, and Lenox.

The council wants the Cerulean Sword found.  This sword determines the 
heir and binds the lords to their land.  The sword was lost 20 years ago 
in the battle of King's Bridge, when Lord Patrick FitzGerald declared war 
on the Copper Nail Orcs and left it on the battlefield embedded in a 
stone.  He did this when the orc leader, Vore, claimed he raped the 
leader's daughter.

Now the Earl is dying and there are three possible heirs: Owen Milner 
(bastard child of Patrick FitzGerald and very rich), Lady Celia Ravell 
(another bastard child), and Sir Linus FitzSimon (a cousin of the Earl).

We traveled first to Oakland in the Marches, where we talked to Sir Linus 
FitzSimon, the lord of Oakland.  Linus believes the Orcs took the sword 
and thinks the war was a stupid idea to begin with.

In traveling to the next town, we were ambushed by four men in black 
armor riding Wyverns.  We took them down, but the Wyverns killed the 
riders.  I seriously hurt two of them with my staff.  Lenox took one out
with a wall of ice.  Danarho was carried by a Wyvern for several miles 
before he killed it and used a Gaseous Form potion to escape death in the 
crash.  Vern had to cure the poison in Danarho.  We claimed the Wyvern 
Rider symbols from their armor.

In Black Forge, we met with the Sir Oliver FitzWilliam.  He recommended 
Alpha-Z, has been to Owari recently (Marco found out he was with exotic 
arms dealers and nearly got killed getting this info), and has been 
spying on our group.  He thinks the Orcs didn't get the sword and that 
someone has been hiding it for years.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #2--11/21/97

Marco bought us some Neutralize Poison potions in case we see Wyverns 
again.  Then we traveled to the capitol city, Fairway.  The city was 
preparing for war and troops openly practiced.

Eiluj had us announced to the council.  I went out on the streets to 
look for info on dragons from the training soldiers.  I just found out 
that most people consider them rumors.

In the council, Sir George Lancer of Kings Bridge was absent, but the 
Earl Gerald FitzHugh, Linus FitzSimon, Holis Farthing of Barmor, Lady 
Celia Ravel, and Oliver FitzWilliam were there.  Lillylotta used her 
stone tell ability on the hilt of Celia's family sword.  She found out 
that Celia is a mage, that the family swords bind the lords to their 
land, and that the Cerulean Sword is in a dark, wet place being slowly 
worn away by some means.  The Sword is still in the stone.  She also 
heard of "The Temple of the Inner Man".

We talked with Lady Celia.  She thinks the Orcs have the Sword, and 
wants war to wipe them out.  She claims to have trained at Dragon Watch.
She had a ring with a reptilian eye that blinked at us.  She seems to 
always be accompanied by a young "boy toy", Charles.

We talked with Sir Hollis Farthing.  He believes the sword was taken 
across King's Bridge before it was destroyed and that the Orcs hold it. 
Ironclaw Orcs are planning for war.  Vore (king of the Copper Nail Orcs)
is sly and not to be trusted.

During this time an Owl was watching us.  Lenox spotted the owl earlier 
using a Wizard's Eye.  It also listened to the council.  Hollis said he 
was not supposed to talk about it but hinted that it was Celia's.

We talked with Owen Milner.  He suspects Celia has the Sword.  He thinks 
her alliance to the Count of Rivers is at the core of it all.  Deals with 
Orcs often and arranged for us to meet Vore.  Says the Emperor gave Vore
an axe named FoeHammer, which has extended his life and ensures his 
loyalty.  Sir Oliver is bankrupt.

By this time we know that Dragon Watch is where many wizards are carried 
off to be trained by dragons and to train dragons.  People fear them.  
Lady Celia claims they are not interested in politics down here.  They 
just want study and to fight the war among dragons.

The "Temple of the Inner Man" was destroyed 25 years ago by Serian 
priests and Sir George Lancer.  The temple was led by Vaal.

Next, we traveled to the Last March Inn to meet Sir George Lancer.  He is
as old and rusty as his sword.  Saw knights carrying the Sword north but 
thinks they were ambushed and knows the sword left his land.

On this sword, Lillylotta found that the Cerulean Sword is indeed in a 
wet/putrid place being corroded.  "White Bridge" is important.  The Sword
is lonely and not touched by living hands in a long time.

George tells us that two Dwarves (Halcyon the warrior and follower of 
Serian, and Beechum his wife and cleric) looking for the sword mentioned 
the White Bridge and Temple of the Inner Man but he had no clue what 
these were.  Beechum's body washed up south of the Cloud Falls with a 
horrid expression.  Halcyon is missing.

We hired an old warrior, Ruthven, to guide us to the battlefield.  
Lillylotta took a chunk of stone from it.  

We saw a light on the battlefield and approached it to discover it was a 
Will 'o' the Wisp and the ground sprouted snakes which later turned out 
to be Hydra heads from two large Hydras.  Lenox cleared the thick fog 
using her Weather Control staff.  During the battle, Eiluj and Danahro 
killed many of the "snakes" and then when the Hydras were revealed, they 
each leapt onto the backs of one.  Eiluj delivered a killing blow with 
her sword Lightbringer.

During the battle, I defended the mage and cleric and then rushed in to 
defeat the Will 'o' the Wisp.  The Wisp begged to be spared and promised
to lead me to the White Bridge.  I even took fire breath in the back to 
save the Wisp while the others defeated the Hydras.

I followed the Wisp off after Vern put a Sacred Guardian spell on me.  I 
trailed my staff in the dirt to leave an easy trail for them to follow me 
later.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #3--11/26/97

The Wisp led me towards the river and into a hidden gap right near the 
Cloud Falls.  This gap went down a narrow trail to a landing where an 
Orc's head with one eye gone and one sewn shut stood on a pike.  The Wisp
said the head was Orish and that it was used to call the White Bridge.  
It believed that magic was used to wake the head up and make it sing.

Once I was certain it knew no more, I attacked the Wisp, for no good 
would come of letting it escape.  Unfortunately, the poor and wet footing
betrayed me and I nearly fell off the cliff and down 80 feet to the base 
of the falls.  Luckily, I was able to wedge my staff into one of two metal
brackets on the edge and was simply left hanging.  The Wisp cursed me and 
flew away.

I hauled myself back up onto the ledge and tried to figure out how to call
the bridge, but had no luck.  I only discovered that there were no tracks,
so I left the narrow space to go up and wait for my companions.

After cleaning up the Hydra area they set the horses up and then followed
me over.  They also had no luck figuring out how to wake up the head.  
Then we had Ruthven speak to the head in Orcish (wouldn't you know but 
none of us spoke Orcish!).  This did the trick and the head started 
singing.  The singing summoned a line of skeletons, which several people 
almost attacked, but the skeletons simply started building a bridge with 
their bodies across the falls and into the cliff face beyond.

Vern, Lenox, and Danarho went out roped together onto the three-foot wide 
bridge and into the deep mist.  Halfway across, they encountered a Spectre.
Vern wanted to turn it but turning would destroy the bridge as well, so 
they fought and got hurt.  Lenox tried a Magic Missile but the thing's 
broach protected it.  Eiluj tried to go back them up, but her sword's 
undead hating ability turned two skeletons in the bridge just by drawing 
it!  So she had to turn back.  Lenox used a Gust of Wind to blow the 
Spectre backward.  Danarho tried to pass her and Vern, but he ended up 
nearly knocking himself and Vern off the bridge.  They caught it in time 
and were hanging from the bridge. I ran to their rescue and pulled them 
up onto the bridge before the Spectre returned.

When the Spectre appeared, it knocked Lenox off the bridge with a mighty
blow.  She used a Feather Fall to save herself and Vern hauled her in.  
This left me in the front.  Vern cast a Negative Plane Protection on me 
to save me versus experience drains.

The Spectre attacked me with its two swords, then I attacked back.  It
died in two rounds and I did a face-plant on the bridge to catch one of 
its two magical swords and its cloak/broach.

During this time, Lilly was making her way across by climbing under the 
bridge.  She and Lenox had spotted a pair of misty elemental creatures 
(which we later learned were Mephits) and Lilly used a Spiritual Hammer 
to attack them from her hanging position while Lenox used some Magic 
Missiles.

With all of us across the bridge, we went into the tunnel beyond where 
skeletal body parts stuck out of the walls holding magical mirror 
fragments that showed evil images of yourself.  Lilly turned them and 
they dropped the mirrors, which exploded, into flesh-seeking fragments 
for 10 damage.  Eiluj's sword had a similar effect.  So we knew we could 
not turn or use the sword without being hurt.

I took up the rear and looked for secret doors while the others led into 
the maze.  I noted that the ceiling was misty, so I stuck my staff up to 
see how thick the mist was.  Something grabbed my staff and lifted me off
the ground by it, so I did an upward spin kick at the attacker.  The 
attacker grabbed my foot and my Negative Plane Protection saved my butt 
because it tried to level drain me!

At this time, Lenox used a Gust of Wind to part the mist and reveal a 
Dwarven Vampire standing on the ceiling.  I hit the Vampire while it 
attacked me with a sword, then it made a run for it.  I left the rest of 
the party to chase it down, whereupon it stopped and said "wait, I think 
she's dying".  I didn't wait, though, I nailed it and it turned into mist
as it died.  It also dropped a short sword named "Last Laugh" (in Dwarven).
This was Halcyon's sword.

During this time, another Vampire attacked the party from the other side 
using a Chain Lightning which thrashed everyone.  Danarho and Marco 
attacked it back, but Eiluj got the kill with her undead-hating sword.  
Her sword also caused them to be damaged by the mirrors falling.

Lilly used a Dust Devil to scoop up the vampire's mist and keep it there 
until it was destroyed because it could not reach its coffin.  We found a 
room with two coffins, but they were just Mimics.  Luckily, Lilly and 
Lenox managed to make it out before being attacked.

Then we found the main Temple of the Inner Man, dedicated to Synafai and 
Druaga.  Six evil priests were in the room along with a (then disguised) 
huge Bone Golem with a spine-tingling roar.  They were prepared and had 
Silence and Prayer spells up against us.

The battle was incredibly nasty with them animating statues, chains, and 
even a vat of acid.  As she was being attacked by an Insect Swarm, Eiluj 
loosed a Lightning Bolt arrow and used an Anti-Magic arrow to destroy one 
of the Golem's swords.  Lenox used a Wall of Ice (cast in a hemisphere) 
to enclose an enemy cleric and the acid bath.  Later, she used a Lightning
Bolt on the Golem. Lilly used her Dust Devil to help keep the Insect 
Swarms off of us.  Vern destroyed the Zombies (each Priest that died 
immediately was re-animated as a Zombie!).  Lenox also did something with 
a magical book (she signed it and got some info to help locate the Sword 
and the Heir).

My story here is a bit fuzzy.  I took out one Priest and saved versus a 
Wyvern Watch, but a second Priest hit me with a spell (lowering my wisdom 
to 3).  I killed that Priest and then moved toward the evil statue of 
Synafai.  I killed the Priest that was guarding the statue and then I 
nailed the statue with sword yelling "Now we'll see who gets the Last 
Laugh!"  The statue cracked and I laughed at the evil god.  I then 
destroyed an Animated Statue, and I advanced on their leader, Vaal, who 
warded me off and was killed by Vern.

During this battle, the wall of the room was collapsing and the river was
flowing in (the Priests were doing this on purpose).  By the end of the 
battle, nearly 3 feet of water was in the room.  We quickly scavenged the
Priests' quarters and we located the Cerulean Sword in their compost heap.
We would not have found the Sword, except Lenox seemed to have gained some
knowledge from the Book she found.

We also located the now-regenerated Vampire of Halcyon, who asked for 
mercy and to be allowed to destroy himself in the sunlight in hopes of 
getting Serian's forgiveness.  He did so.

Vern defiled the Druaga temple while Danarho, Eiluj, and I moved the 
stone with the sword out to the cliff face to find the bridge was gone 
(later we learned the Celia cut Orish's head off the pike).  So we used a 
Spider Climb, some rope, and a Feather Fall (on the stone) to get out of 
the place and onto the cliff, where we camped for the night.

The next day, we crossed the river using Water Walking and Levitate (on 
the stone) and made our way to the horses at the Hydra area.  We then made
our way towards the Last March Inn.

On the way Celia, Charles and four knights attacked us (she used a 
Fireball).  She seemed semi-reluctant to kill us, but she really did not 
want the real sword found.  She had a fake stone Wizard Locked into a 
stone.  Sir George showed up on horseback and engaged her, destroying her
family sword with his.  She was captured and led back with our group.

The Half-Orc, Egalgorp, met us on the way.  He's the one we were supposed 
to meet at the bridge to go into the Orc lands.  He's a friend of Sir 
George and we invited him to come with us to Fairway.

Eiluj and Ruthven went into town and brought the council members out to 
meet us.  We were afraid to enter town with Celia tied up, when most of 
the town's troops were loyal to her.

The council members (and Owen) tried pulling the sword and failed.  
Egalgorp actually pulled it!   He's the son of Vore's daughter and Sir 
Patrick, and therefore the Heir!  He renounced the title (in the name of 
peace, and for a minister of trade position), and Sir Linus was chosen by 
the Sword as the next Heir.

We learned that Sir Oliver was a priest of Zivilyn, that Celia's father's 
knights were the ones that stole the Sword and stone, and that the stone 
now had some of the Sword's magic.  Lilly got Egalgorp to give her a chip 
off the stone.

In closing, the council blamed the evil happenings on the evil temple.  
The dead Mephits no longer cast mist over the land.  The curse on the 
battlefield was lifted and things began growing there again.  And the 
humans of the March and the Copper Nail Orcs had peace once more.

With the curse lifted off the Marches, the town of Kingsbridge is being 
rebuilt.  Sir George Lancer named Egalgorp his heir.  All in a few day's 
work for Alpha-Z's elite problem solving team.

We later took time to analyze and divide up the spoils from our adventure.
I ended up with a Broach of Shielding.  Vernon got a Prayer Bead of 
Vocalize and Lady Celia's Dragon-Eye ring.  Lenox got her book (the Codex
of Ineffable Truths), a Scroll of Blink/Fire Shield/Wall of Stone at 11th
level.  Eiluj got a +2 Shield with Gaze Reflection(1/day), five +2 Arrows,
and a +2 bone Ring of Protection.  Danahro got three +1 Crossbow Bolts (3x
damage versus Dragons) and a Potion of Fire Resistance.  Marco got a 
Potion of Black Dragon Control.  We also got 8,000 gp in cash payment plus
an additional 2,000 gp in salvage.