Adventures in Gulluvia Supplemental #1 King Norm I of Mercadia

King Norm Dingleberry of Mercadia  (circa 1143)
"The Mad Dwarf"  "The Unshaven"

12th Level Dwarf 
Homeland: Skyforge
Birth Date: 1006

Sex: M   Age 144   Height 4’3”
Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Weight 172 lbs.

Quirks/Flaws: Anosmia, Excessive Drooling, Tone Deaf, Socially Awkward

STR: 15
DEX: 13
CON: 17 
INT:   11 
WIS: 11 
CHA: 13

Hit Points: 95

"Overslayer"    +14/+6      3 attacks/round 2d6/2d6/2d6
Can be thrown 150’ 3x daily, illuminate on command, communicate with owner, makes wielder agoraphobic. Additional +2 to hit and damage vs. goblins, giants, trolls, and orcs   (Despair, Delay, Stun Opponents)

Grand Master: Battle Axe
Warhammer
Dagger
Shortsword
Short Spear

SKILLS:
LANG DWARF 
LANG GNOME 

LANG GOBLIN

LANG KOBOLD
LANG TRADE PRYTHAX
Profession: Agriculture

Endurance

Acting

Persuasion

Titles
King of Mercadia

Imperial Duke of Mercadia Premiere
Blue Knight of Crosedes
Former General of the Eastern Army of Crosedes
Emperor of the Known World
Disputed Count of Rowand
Failed Mushroom Farmer

Father to Berynna and Grumli to Queen Elanisse Veyrond 

Father to Tovanna, Drogath, Elgrun to Queen Mirelda Chavanne

Father to Carya, Supagol, and Halagstr  to Queen Sorienne Lafontaine

Equipment

2 Short Spears
Dwarven Warhammer

Overslayer
Broom of the Mountain Lord
500 gp
4000 sp
pearl (100)
rose quartz (50)
1 silver chalice (105)
short sword +1
Maul +1

Scroll with magic missile
gilded hourglass (80)
music box (250)
hand axe
2x potions of healing.

Norm, circa 1064

GM Notes:  Norm's first appearance as a player is now officially session #14 of Ballad of the Pigeon God.   For a nose-picking failed mushroom farmer, he's gone toe-to-toe with unkillable beasts, defeated gods, stared down arch-mages during diplomatic negotiations, travelled dimensions, formed his own kingdom and spent 70 years with expansionist policies against human, dwarf, and gnome.   Converting him to BECMI D&D means he maxes out at 12th level. 

Norm always had a penchant for a large human women, and his choice of queens do not vary.  His eldest daughter to his third (and current) marriage, Carya, was a sleeper agent in Adventures in Gulluvia.  

Mercadia is due an entry into the Georic Gazetteer, once I complete the notes his player, Nate, put together for all the dominions, as well as his expansionist policies into the Dwarves of Skyforge, Gnomes of Masgoth, the Mage-Princes of Emron, and technically, Gulluvia.

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #28 - The Epilogue of Failure

OUR HEROES HAVE GIVEN UP HOPE!

The group's disintegration within the Mines of Illefarn have forced the survivors to return to Illefarn in defeat. 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage (and frightenly, voice of reason with in the party), is dead at the hands of gargoyles, and a nasty fall.   His body is being brought back to Mere for burial.

Beulah Cragmuffin - Normally the adversary of Hugo's actions, Beulah was the first to suggest returning home.  

Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church and alleged conspirator with necormancers agreed with Beulah's assessment.  She's taking Gwendalyn back to The Church for both of them to face judgement, punishment, despite Galastria's affirmation that she had done nothing wrong.  

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, now tied up and gagged for the majority of the hike back to Mere. 

Dim Cragmuffin -  Beulah's dim-witted relative is pulling the makeshift sled with Hugo's body, and Gwendalyn's armor.

Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago.  Upon discovering Hugo's family was estranged, at best, he is hoping his new mentor, Clifford Loprete will allow him to use Hugo's spellbook. 

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant / current Baronial Guard, this mountain of a woman disappeared within Illefarn.

31  Mai 535 - The Return to Mere

Bringing back a corpse over a four day trek wasn't too wise.  Hugo was buried on Clifford Loprete's property.   Clifford took possession of his spellbook and his Skullcap of Comprehension.  Clifford bequeathed Hugo's family ring, a Ring of Fire Resistance to Jonerir.  His funeral was lightly attended.  Jonerir stays in town to be Clifford's student.

Galastia brought a combative Gwendalyn in front of Sister Bronte, the head of The Church in Mere.    Bronte found no fault with either, but forbid all forms of contact with either of them.  Upon the arrival of the next Baronial Guard patrol, Galastria was escorted to Gulluvia City, the capital, to work with the High Priest, while Gwendalyn was reassigned to the village of Dead Mule.   Acolyte Han Gabelung was recalled to assist Village Priestess Bronte and her assistant, 15-year old Susie.

Priestess Bronte

Beulah returned to her quiet life in town, actively avoiding her relative Dim most of the time.  

The river continued to flow green, killing flora and fauna along its banks.  Thankfully, it did not seem to affect any wells dug away from the river.   All kobolds tribes have either left the area entirely, a few stragglers returning to the caves in the southern hills.  

7 Jun 535 - The Village of Mere

And just like that, the river flowed clean again.  A militia patrol of Ascink Eukeaverk, Conan DiPietro, Cosimo Guthingas, and Jenkins reported the miraculous occurrence.  No one in town volunteered to travel upstream for any update.  

17 Jun 535 - The Village of Mere

With no scouting, the village was surprised with 200 heavily armored Dwarves crossing the river and ending up in the center of town.   Soldiers from a place beyond Illefarn,  Clifford's skullcap called it "Blue Anvil",  had arrived. 

18 Jun 535 - The Village of Mere

There was no resistance.    Clifford taught Jonerir that cooperation was the better side of valor.  The Clifford provided all the information about Gulluvia that he had.  Even Priestess Bronte decided to not use The Church to create resistance.    The Dwarves encamped outside of town, they had not pillage anything, paid for what they needed, and even rolled a keg or two of stronger Dwarven brew into the taverns.  

28 June 535 - The Village of Mere

The initial 200 Dwarves were the scouting party. 

Over 2,000 Dwarves arrived, captured a Baronial Guard unit with ease, and most headed to the other towns and villages, and ultimately, the capital.  

Travelling with the army was one "King" Devin Ironaxe.... and one Carya Illinoisis.

At this point only Beulah, Jonerir, and Clifford Loprete would care, but Devin was an advance agent for a foreign power, not a descendant of the Dwarven clans that operated Illefarn.  After the group evacuated Illefarn, the reinforcements finally arrived.  They were able to scare away the necromancer bandits, and removed the goblins before the scouts headed to a place called Mere...

Carya, besides being a mountain of a woman, was also a minor agent of this "Blue Anvil" force.  

Carya could at least speak in better Common, "Hugo's device is on the fritz, Clifford, it's not Blue Anvil, it's the Kingdom of Mercadia.  Once more reinforcements arrive, I'm assuming their going to take over this little rogue barony.  Why?  I have not clue."

With Norms'  appearance and Carya's reveal, Mere becomes part of Mercadia.  a country no one knew existed.

34 June 535 - The Village of Mere

The village never encountered any nobility of import.  Lady D'hmiss never set foot in the place, so it was quite awkward when the King of Mercadia arrived.

King Norm I  (His men referred to him at "The Beardless" like an honorific, despite a short to medium length beard) was a middle aged Dwarf without the gravitas like Devin had projected.  

He walked into the tavern, ordered a human ale and leaned up against the bar, looking at the remaining heroes. 

He stared at Carya.

Carya:  "Hi Dad!" 

Carya was the eldest daughter of Norm's, her mother was the current human wife and Queen.  A half-Dwarf.   Norm had a penchant for large human women in all dimensions, so her great height was not a fluke.  

She had heard tales of, not her father's, but his friends he had made a century before.    Before they met Norma, they had found some mystical land known as Gulluvia, complete with a princess, a prince, a dragon, and massive red ruby.   He knew the ruby was long gone, but the alleged barony and everything else was somewhere in the remote foothills of Crosedes, and the expanding Mercadia, but not listed on any maps. 

Carya originally ventured through all the protective elements surrounding the barony, keeping it remote.  She found the remains of the land from the tales backwards and foolish, but she also wanted to surprise her father.  She joined the Baronial Guard, travelled the land, only taking enough time to return reconnaissance to a Mercadian outpost, then Illefarn.  

When the 200 scouts arrived, the ore engineering oriented Dwarves found an issue with a green slime poisoning the water supply.  The water system was cleaned, the slime destroyed, and they advanced on Mere.

It took less than a month for Mercadia to conquer the Gulluvia in full.  Lady D'hmiss was found guilty of everything and put to death.  The entire administration of the Church  (including a very unlucky Galastia ) was also put to the sword,   The Dwarves sent for clerics of a different church, one called Akana to assist with conversion of the masses.  It appeared that once, long ago, The Church was a part of Akana, before the barony was hidden from the world.

Roads were built, "King" Devin became Baron Devin, and the simple folks of Gulluvia were reconnected to the outside world.  

Norm had found the ruins in of the ancient palace, north of Gulluvia City.    It confirmed his friends' stories, but opened up the concept that they had travelled to another place.... in another time. 

GM Notes:  The Barony of Gulluvia is directly pulled from the background information provided in the original version of B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess, the naughty version if you will.  

I ran my college group through portions of B1-9 In Search of Adventure, and the anthology had a neat way of transporting the PCs from Elwyn's Sanctuary (B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond) to the Palace portion of the updated (green cover) B3, and finally a vague but direct route to the monastery portion of B5 - Horror on the Hill.  Check out the write-ups in my Ballad of the Pigeon God (starting with episode #5).  

Norm hadn't joined the group yet, but he probably read the journals of either Talis Makolin,  Echellon, or maybe Rolf Wolfsblood.   

I don't believe I placed Gulluvia within the proper Ferasean calendar, but my notes and timeline state that Gulluvia officially become part of Mercadia in the proper years 1143. This runs concurrent with the early episodes of the Buring Trogs Redux.  

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #27 - The Death of the Mountain Lord

 Our heroes are now deep within the ancient mines known to the dwarves as Illefarn solving an issue with poisoned water, two clerics of the same church, Galastria and Gwendalyn are fighting in the midst of the complex over theological issues.  The baronial guardsman, Carya, has slipped away, Beulah in tow.

Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church, target of Gwendalyn's uber-piety.

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

21 Mai 535 - Somewhere Under Illefarn

The grudge match between Gwendalyn, magically engulfed in flames, and Galastria.  Both were better armored than their martial ability.   Galastria finally landed a non-leathal blow, knocking her fellow cleric back, but she remained relentless.  

Meanwhile, Beulah, peeked around the corner of of the lair of King Devin's Dwarves.  Carya was speaking with a Dwarf guard, and suddenly, he had further down the hallway.  

Moments later, King Devin and a contingent of his troops, arrived in front of Carya.  She presented the King with some of device.  She turned away from the ramp... and her compatriots, and King Devin and the Dwarves advanced towards the ramp.  Beulah ran back to the fight... still ongoing,   "We're in trouble!!!"

Despite Beulah's warning, everyone was shocked to see the Dwarf king... again.

"All of you, just get out!  You are not welcome here anymore."  Beulah, pushed an agitated Dim towards the door, the others following.  Even Galastria began to follow suit, especially with the four aggressive dwarves surrounding them, axes in hand.  

Everyone may have started moving towards the doors, but Gwendalyn continued to try to pummel her heretical cleric.  The others made some attempts to separate them... or in Beulah's case, attempted to waylay the over-fervent cleric. aiming for her knees.  

It was finally enough to distract Gwendalyn, allowing Galastria to hit her upside the head with her mace, dropping her to the ground.  

No one questioned Galastria as she tied up the unconscious acolyte.  She tied a cloth around Gwendalyn's neck, just in case they needed to gag her when she regained consciousness. 

Back into the large chamber with the pillars, Hugo decided to to investigate the balcony one last time before delving further in the mine complex.  With Galastria behind him on the Broom of the Mountain Lord, Hugo flew up into the balcony area, confirming the limestone railing, the two statues, and a door located in the far back of the balcony.

Once they landed near that door, the two large grotesque statues along the railing came to life!

Neither Hugo nor Galastria had dismounted, so the magic-user quickly turned around and tried to fly out of the area.   Both of the statues struck Hugo, and he and Galastria tumbled down into the shallow water at the base of the pillars.

Galastria landed hard, her armor felt bent.   She looked over towards Hugo.  He wasn't worried about his injuries.

Because he was dead. 

Dim splashed in the water to recover the Broom of the Mountain Lord before it slowly floated away. 

The death of Hugo affected the group as a whole.  He may have been her fiercest adversary, but Beulah knew the slim chance of the mission's success had vanished with his demise.  Couple that with Gwendalyn's ranting and ravings, Carya's disappearance, and the general incompetence of Dim and Jonerir, it was time to admit defeat and return to Mere... 

RIP Hugo Swam'Pas

Next: #28 - The Epilogue of Failure

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #26 - Faith and Foolishness

Our heroes are now deep within the ancient mines known to the dwarves as Illefarn.  They're lead cleric, Galastria, has just been reunited with the group, after disappearing under mysterious circumstances. 

Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

21 Mai 535 - Somewhere Under Illefarn

The group was relieved to find Galastria behind, even if they had just spent hours looking for her.

Jonerir: Where the blazes did you come from??

Gwendalyn:  How do we know if she's her!  She could be some strange being disguised as her! 

Dwarf #1 - Could you guys please take the torture of your friend to determine if they're not some weird doppelganger out of our room please. Important shaft watching! 

Galastria: No need, because (pointing at Gwen), you're a moron, but we share the same religion, you crazy bitch, so I'll allow it right now.

Gwendalyn picks up her mace:  No, you're the crazy bitch.

Dwarf #1 -  I said everybody out of the room!  There's no fighting here!!!

Galastria: See, this is what I'm talking about, you're completing unhinged! I'm not a mimic!

Gwendalyn: You're a dumb fool that's not worthy of our faith....

Galastria:  That's fair, so let's fix the issue we came to solve and go back to Mother Bronte to hash things out. 

Gwendalyn:  Our faith is everywhere... and you're not worthy everywhere!

The four dwarves guarding the goblin shaft, push the group out the door, into an empty chamber, with the sounds of marching coming up a ramp.

It's King Devin, with four dwarf guards and he is not amused.

"What the blazes is wrong with you people?"   Looking at Galastria "I don't know why you came back, your friends are going to get yourselves killed."

Galastria:  They're not my friends. 

King Devin: That's a smart idea, the rest of you should get out, maybe make friends with the bandits.

Galastria: Bandits! Down here?   Where are they?

King Devin and his contingent travel back downstairs. 

Tempers calmed, Galastria recapped where she had been for the last few hours, the kidnapping by necromantic bandits, with skeleton servants.  "I told them our mission, they hadn't experienced any water problems, and I've brokered a hold to hostilities, we might be able to traverse their territory on the far side of the mines if we present peacefully.

Gwendalyn:  I don't get this... we fight those guys, they kidnap you, and yet you give them all that information.  Practitioners of the dead, and then they release you free.... and you claim you maintain the vows of the Church?  What else did you tell them? 

Galastria:  I told them where to find your mother, for a good time. 

Gwendalyn:  When we get back to town, you'll have to account for your actions.

Galastria:  I got kidnapped and got out alive, I'll take my punishment.

Gwendalyn: Yeah, but you're not part of the order anymore.

Galastria: That's not your decision to make.

Gwendalyn:  It's obvious you went against all our oaths of our church.

Galastria: This is why you got passed over for promotion.

Gwendalyn:  So you say, at least I have my honor...  You are a demon spawn posing as piety.  

Galastria: Honey, if was a demon spawn, I would have eaten you and spat your out already, because you're a bitter, delusional trollop! 

Gwendalyn raised her mace higher, ready to attack.

Gwendalyn the Bright, before she lost her damn mind....

Gwendalyn: Cavorting with undead!  Making pacts with necromancers!  Shaming yourself!  Ratting us out!  All are heresies!!! 

Galastria:  Says you.

Gwendalyn: I'm going to drag you back to the Church to face your punishments.

She downed her second and final dose of Potion of Fire Elemental Form, burst into flames and charged Galastria.

Despite the flames, neither of the women were able to hurt each other.  Galastria could feel Gwen's heat, but never took any additional damage.   Galastria still felt some sympathy for Gwen's derangement and used non-lethal blows.  

No one noticed Carya, the Baronial Guardsman attached to the party, leave the room.  No one, except Beulah, who followed the large women down the ramp, back to the dwarves....

Next: #27 - The Death of the Mountain Lord

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #25 - A Guest of Jorkul the Scavenger

Our heroes are now deep within the ancient dwarven mines known only as Heek-Hallak, and they've encountered undead and rogue elements, and now going deeper into an abandoned dwarven mine, but now their cleric, Galastia, is missing, probably kidnapped!   (Active characters with *.)

*Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

21 Mai 535 - Somewhere within Heek-Hallak

Galastia awoke with terrible headache.  It looked to be the same dungeon, same stonework, same airflow.  There were a number of humans in a chamber lit by only a few weak torches, the halfling was missing, but the ugly human was one of them.  She was also shocked to see skeletons two doors or passageways.  She wasn't quite sure at her angle.  

Galastria

"She's up. Want us to grab Kelthas?"

"Do you want to bother him.  Don't you think Jorkul can do the same job?

Galastria:  Do mind telling me what's going on?

Original Ugly #1:  We were going to ask you the same thing in a moment. Just waiting for the someone to get those questions out of you.

Ugly #2:  Answers... it's supposed to be answers.

After awhile another man appeared in the chamber, another ugly looking one, wearing clerical vestments that were certainly NOT of the church.

Ugly Priest:  Well, well, it's not often we get visitors.

Jorkul the Cleric

Galastria:  If it makes you feel any better, it's not by choice.

Galastia chatted with the man, Jorkul.  She was intrigued by the man, who obviously knew more about necromancy, but Jorkul seemed to use the undead to protect their gang of scavengers.  They didn't seem to be with the dwarfs, and they were very happy the kobolds had left.  Jorkul's ears perked up when Galastria mention Mere and Gulluvia and the polluted water supply.  He also suggested speaking with the goblins infesting certain levels.  "We haven't done anything to the water, and the dwarves seem foolish if they wanted to do so.  You may wish to check with the petty goblin tribes."

Kelthas was the leader of the scavengers, and acting on his behalf, Jorkul promised Galastria's safe return... blindfolded.  The both sides pledged a steady peace, passage when possible, and a flow of information if danger was found.  

Galastria didn't want any further contact with them, if they could avoid it, but there was no reason they couldn't solve the issue without making the potential evil-doers immediately pay for their transgressions.  

Galastria was blindfolded and returned to the fountain.  After twenty minutes of searching, she could hear the party down a corridor, arguing with... dwarven voices?

Next: #26 - Faith and Foolishness

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #24 - Under Illefarn

Our heroes are now deep within the ancient dwarven mines known only as Heek-Hallak, and they've encountered undead and rogue elements, and now going deeper into an abandoned dwarven mine, but now their cleric, Galastia, is missing, probably kidnapped!  to hopefully solve the issue of poisoned water.  (Active characters with *.)

*Gwendalyn the Bright - Disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this Podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

*Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

*Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

*Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

*Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

*Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

Galastia Axenmeld: Another disgruntled acolyte of The Church

21 Mai 535 - Somewhere within Heek-Hallak

Galastria was missing, her position in the hallway replaced my an ice wall filling up the corridor.

The screams of horror caused Hugo and Beulah to hurry to the passage.  That duo had been studying the pillars in the large chamber, wondering how safe it would be to use the Broom of the Mountain Lord to fly up there, but they were stalling.

Gwendalyn was overconfident, I'll take care of the ice...  She pulled out a Potion of Elemental Form and burst into flames.  She advanced onto the wall and... the wall began damaging her!    She let the fire go out, quite frustrated.

Dim thought to pull out his pick axe, but was held back.  

"There has to be another way around.  There were passageways to the north. 

Beulah led the way....  She was quickly reminded of the traps in the mines, because they discovered on that had been sprung, the worn-out shoe of a goblin victim sticking out of the rock.

"I'm going to need Jonerir's staff to tap for traps.  I don't want to be a pin cushion like Dim."

"Thanks Beulah!"

"Don't mention it, Dim..."

They venture into the northern passageways, finding refuse and trash, but no way in the direction Galastria has disappeared to. 

It was determined that going down a stairwell to loop to another stairwell might be their only option, less they're only cleric with spell's life would need to be considered lost. 

Halfway down the deep stairs.  Beulah heard in broken Gulluvian, "No... More.... Steps!"

Beulah: "Beg pardon?"

"I said 'No more steps!   Wait... who is this?"

"Beulah.  Who is this?"

"J-J-Just come down here into the light!"

"Okay!"

Beulah and the group moved down the steps to meet four of the shortest dwarves she could imagine. They were even shorter than Beulah! 

"Is this you home?"

"Waitaminute, who are you?  Where did you come from."

"The stairs...  Where'd you come from?"

"This is our home!"

"That would make sense. You know it's infested with kobolds?"

The speaking dwarf simply ordered another to fetch someone named Gorn. 

A quick conversation with these short guys revealed no one knew about any water problem... They were more surprised that halflings and humans were descending into their lair.

A contingent of a dozen dwarves come marching into the room, followed by another smaller dwarf, bedecked in rainbow robes. 

"Oh my, we have guests!"

"Hugo likes your style!" The magic-user bowed.

"I didn't realize there were halfling in the mountains!"

Gwendalyn stepped in, "Excuse me, upstairs there was a horrible battle and one of your kind was laying dead in a hallway.  Do you know who that is?

"Oh no! I don't travel upstairs... at... all!  But there's do many guards, and they all look the same, I doubt I could tell them apart!"

"What about the horrible people who can raise the dead?" 

"That's a whole reason I don't go upstairs."

There was some circuitous conversation about stairwells and paths out of the the level, and the exchange of rations, but a meeting with the King needed to be arranged.  

Within minutes, King Devin and his bodyguards arrived.  

"What in the.... When Beebo said people, I didn't expect human people!"

King Devin knew of the bandits in the level above.  When told of Galastria's disappearance, he only said, "She's lost to Illefarn."

"Excuse me?"

Devin: "Illefarn.  the actual dwarven name of the mine"

Gwendalyn tried to form an alliance with the dwarves to fight the bandits, but Devin declined their help.  Even her mentioning that one his own were dead upstairs, the king simply ordered a roll call, and admitted that if they were even beyond simple bandits, Illefarn was large enough that they hadn't been a problem. 

King Devin and the dwarves returned to reclaim the mine after two generations away.  The process of clearing out the mines had been slow and methodical.  He wanted no alliance at this time, but he requested that his clerics heal the party somewhat, then specifically asked the party to look for the Crown of Korin, willing to pay good gold for it.   

King Devin of Illefarn

The King bid them farewell, directing them back up the stair from whence they came.  

Resigned to the fact that Galastria was lost to the dungeon, they returned to the cavern with the fountain.  With everyone there, Hugo lifted up on the Broom of the Mountain Lord to investigate the strange balcony within the pillars.  

The balcony had a balustrades out of limestone, the same type as those surrounding the cracked pool.  Two hideous statues sat on the far sides of the balcony, but Hugo could see some sort of a door in the back of this area. 

The others got bored quickly and began searching the doors and passageways on the western side of the chamber, across the chasm caused by the earthquake.  

Without anyone else interested, Hugo landed the Broom and began searching western side with the others. 

The floors on this level were empty, until they discovered four dwarves looking down a pit.  Quickly referencing King Devin calmed hostilities.

"What are you doing up here?"

"Goblins live deep below, we guard the shaft here, so the goblin hordes don't climb up and attack.  

The dwarves repeated the same answers from the ones below about the water, the bandits, and the displaced kobolds.  

"Why would you ever want to deal with the bandits?"  the one dwarf asked.

Jonerir responded, "It's very likely they captured our friend and she needs to be rescued."

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you!

They all turned to see Galastria, no worse for wear...

Next:  #25 - A Guest of Jorkul the Scavenger

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #23 - The Hall of Death

Our heroes are going deeper into an abandoned dwarven mine, to hopefully solve the issue of poisoned water.  (Active characters with *.)

*Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church

*Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

*Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

*Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

*Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

21 Mai 535 - The Second Level of Heek-Hallak

Descending the long ramp, the party was shocked to find a massive chamber.  In the center was four pillars with fonts pouring water out of their sides.    Three of the pillars reached the ceiling, 20-foot high, and the fourth stopped 15-foot in the air with a limetone balcony.    The area around the pillars was meant to be shallow pool for the water to collect, surrounded by a limestone barrier similar to the balcony. 

But the water wasn't pooling, the recent earthquake had created a chasm going across the entire floor of  the chamber, three to five feet across, and six feet deep near the closest wall.  The water coming out of the fountains was landing in the pool area, but ran straight into the crevice and down into the wall.

Although, Hugo surmised, the water going into the crack was clean... and definitely not green.

While Beulah harangued  Hugo about the pillars, Galastia led the others to a nearby door... using Jonerir's quarterstaff to prod ahead.  It opened to a hallway and a gruesome sight. 

It was a battle scene, of dwarves, halflings and humans, all dead and bloated.  A larger, older dwarf sat up against the wall, a spear through its chest. 

Galastia moved forward in the hallway, tapping the bodies to ensure they were dead, followed by a blessing to keep them from turning undead.  

Gwendalyn, not trusting Galastia's blessing authority from their god, started her own blessings when Galastia was already three-quarters of the way down the hall.    The concerns were certainly confirmed in her mind, as one of the dead humans Galastia just blessed, came to life!  

Gwendalyn pulled out her holy symbol, and ordered the foul creature away...   The creature did appear to move away, right towards a surprised Galastia who was turning around from hearing the turn attempt.  

Everyone joined into fighting this slow, lumbering abomination, Galastia on one side, Dim, Gwen, and Jonerir on the other, but it would not fall.  

Galastia was surprised that two very living individuals,  an ugly human and a halfling, were attempting to grab her... possibly with intent to kidnap.  She pushed the human away, and was quickly stabbed by him.  

Dim dropped his pick axe and grabbed the battleaxe under the dead dwarf.  The halfling was woefully overburdened, needing to use two hands, but managed to strike the zombie hard. 

Jonerir couldn't get a clear shot with his sling, and was confused with who Galastia was actually fighting.  But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the slumped corpse of the dwarf stand up.

"ZOMBIE DWARF!!!!!" 

Gwendolyn and Dim quickly doubled their efforts and destroyed the original zombie, then turned to the dwarf zombie.

Jonerir slid behind Dim, and turned towards Galaxia and the very alive people attacking her.  

Jonerir cast Sleep and all three figures at the end of the hall fell to the ground.  

Gwendolyn, Dim, and a quickly arriving Carya finally made short work of the recently animated dead dwarf, and as they turned around, the sleeping bodies of Galastia, the ugly human, and the halfling were gone, replaced with a giant Wall of Ice filling up that end of the hallway.  

Jonerir:  I think there's another magic-user down here with us!!!

GM Notes: Well armored characters in BECMI have a literal fighting chance.   Dim, who is running around with ONE HIT POINT avoided successful death blows, not once, not twice, but three times in the combat!

Next: #24 - Under Illefarn

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #22 - No Laughing Matter

The river leading from the Moorfowl Mountains has been contaminated with a toxic green sludge, threatening the Mere and the towns beyond.  A kobold contingent has arrived in town and ask for help... along with the news of the recent earthquake cleared a new entrance to the former kobold lair. 

19 Mai 535 - Village of Mere, Barony of Gulluvia

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - A halfling that hates adventuring, but hates seeing Hugo get any credit, whether he deserves it or not.  

Galastia Axenmeld: Disgruntled acolyte of The Church

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another disgruntled acolyte of the Church, sent to solve issues within this podunk village, but overlooked for the parish priest role.   

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

===================================================================

The arrival of the diplomatic mission from the kobold tribes brought even more concern to the village.  They knew the source of the contaminated water, but delving further into the Moorfowl Mountains would require further help:

Dim Cragmuffin -  It's unsure what relation he was to Beulah, but the halfling was ugly as a dog bashed in the face with a mace, but also old enough to have been bequeathed an old set of armor from the Cragmuffin family ancestors.  The rest aren't sure if he's volunteered for hero duty, or he's following a firefly in the same general direction as the 

Jonerir Drake - Younger brother of Belaquan Drake, who disappeared about a year ago. Fallen in with the likes of Clifford Loprete 

Hugo took control, grabbing rations for everyone (on each person's individual account at the general store) and leading from the rear.  

Following the guidance of the kobold chief, they cross the river near town, a dark green streak dominating the center of the river.  No one appeared to become sick as they forded at the chosen spot, their footsteps breaking up the flow, but the green material seemed heavy enough to reform the flow further downstream. 

Jonerir tried to evaluate the material, but it he could only ascertain it was a poison on an unknown material. 

Beulah needed to hold Dim back to prevent him from drinking from the river.

Working the far bank of the river meant they avoided the Hall of the Mountain Lord, and only ended up encountering a few dead animals, squirrels, deer, and even some mountain goats.  Dim wanted to eat them.  Jonerir suggested NOT eating poisoned animals.

21 Mai 535 - The Dwarven Structure of Heek-Hallak (The Laughing Hollow)

Two days walking and they entered a small wooded vale between the mountain peaks.  Along the far edge of the valley lay a recently cleared iron door in the growing hills leading up into the mountains.  

Galastia:  Shouldn't we look for the giant crack with the green liquid leaking out?  

They travelled west, and found the kobolds were at least semi-honest.  

They found the giant crack in the stone, surrounded by dead, brown trees, a large glowing crack. 

Beulah: All the trees are brown, and the sky is gray....

The crack ran 15 foot high from the ground.  The green liquid sort of oozed out on a spot in the crack, somewhere two to three feet above the base.  The liquid pooled at the base of the crack, although it finally overran the thin trail, until gravity led it to an abandoned stream bed... and into the other mountain streams.  

Hugo wondered if the crack could be filled, or at least that smaller spot the green was flowing. 

Hugo: Find some stuff to fill the hole, harness your inner beaver!  

They set up a fill line, to use branches, rocks, and leaves mixed with mud to attempt to plug the hole.  

It appeared to be an utter failure, a few of them, no having a their outfits stained green, but no one became sick.  

They returned to the iron door, surprised to find it able to be opened, right into proper dwarven construction.

The dwarven mine, eliminate the light sources. 

The first larger chamber they fell upon had a massive crack running across the area.  There was nothing leaking from the crack.   

The spots around the walls in the chamber and subsequent halls were covered in kobold graffiti.  Most of the graffiti was juvenile, even by kobold standards, with a few helpful, "Beware", "Danger", Trespassers will be tortured!"    

Most of the the rooms they explored were empty, for filled with corners of kobold excrement.  

Going into the last chamber in that direction, Dim led the group and stepped on something...

Crossbow bolts went flying injuring Carya and Beulah, and turning Dim in a pin cushion.  Upon further investigation, Dim set off nine of the ten holes with crossbows in the trap zone. One either didn't go off, or perhaps one of the kobold vandals fell victim to it, and the others simply avoided the area.  

Dim Cragfoot, Preferred Crossbow Target

Galastia used her Cure Light Wounds to rejuvenate the halfling, but Dim decided to fall back to the rear (2 total hit points healed) .   The group turned in the opposite direction, and came upon a ramp going down.  The passage was restricted to five foot wide, another devasting spike trap sprung at some earlier time, killing the two kobolds whose desiccated corpses were stuck to the spikes now embedded in the wall.

Galastia grabbed Jonerir's quarterstaff and began tapping the floor going down to the next level. 

Next: #23 - The Hall of Death

(BECMI D&D) Adventures in Gulluvia #21 - The Call to Heek-Hallak

15 Mai 535 - Village of Mere, Barony of Gulluvia

 It had been a long year since our heroes returned to Mere from the Ice Caverns of Thorvald.  

Galastia Axenmeld had stayed in Mere, but did not take well to the parochial nature of the Church.  She focused on helping the militia than the church-loving masses, with aspirations of possibly joining the Baronial Guard.  

Gwendalyn the Bright - Another acolyte of the Church, was the initial reason Galastia has been lax in her duties. The two clashed constantly dealing with the declining health of Father Joseph. The death of Joseph brought assumptions Gwendalyn would assume the mantle, but High Priest Carathmus immediately sent his trusted advisor, Sister Bronte, to lead the parish.  

Beulah Cragmuffin - The halfling questioned the adventuring lifestyle, but the past year of being a simple folk, trying to find honest work, seems to be much worse. 

Carya Illinoisis - The former merchant has joined the Baronial Guard, with a focus around Mere.  She's still a mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

Hugo Swam'Pas - The popular local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures in helping the village out.  His acquisition of the Skullcap of Comprehension proved useful as more kobolds descended into the area.  The kobolds had moved out of the mountains and into the valley, forced out specifically, by dwarves....

The success of the expedition of Thorvald even thawed the bitter heart of Hugo's mentor, the hedge mage Clifford Loprete.  Most afternoon, Hugo sat in front of the hearth with Clifford.  Pogart, the kobold, had became Clifford's assistant, and could easily gather regeants in the wild for magical research, as he could refill cups of the two mages.

The hearth of Clifford Loprete

Most were on militia duty when the ground shook under their feet.  Some of the building in the village lurch, support posts buckling, but the buildings still standing.   A few people are trapped and were quickly resecured.  There are reports that the damage is greater in the mountains, or the Old Castle, or Gygar's Castle, or the alleged Hall of the Mountain Lord, everything pointing to land beyond the old castle...

18 Mai 535 - Village of Mere,

Over next few days, reports of strange colored water in the mountain streams, and sick animals reach the village.  The streams are turning a bilious green, which is not dissipating when it reaches the larger streams feeding into Mere.  All homesteads oustide of Mere are forced to use wells and cistern water from the village. 

18 Mai 535 - Village of Mere,

No one expected a kobold diplomatic attachment to arrive in Mere shortly thereafter.  They were not surprised when the kobolds couldn't speak Common, so they quickly fetched Hugo Swam'Pas, who had become renowned for his linguistic ability (Thanks to his Skullcap of Comprehension).  

Led by Snarkit Bloodsnout, the kobold explained that the source of the poison looked to be a crack in the rock face near their old lair in the "Heek-Hallak" (translated by Hugo as "Laughing Hallow.")  The foul liquid flowed down an ancient stream bed until it reached other water and worked its way into the valley.  

"The tainted water is reaching our few enclaves left in the mountains.  Many of our kind have settled on the outskirts of your land, and rely on the river just as you do."

"Our points of entry into our old caverns where small tunnels no bigger than a kobold, or the invading dwarves.  The recent shaking earth has reveled one of the larger doors that had been buried...."

GM Notes:  The primitive hearth artwork was a banner illustration for Dragon #1.  There's a little blurb about it in Hall of the Mountain King by Jason Zavoda.  

Next: #22 - No Laughing Matter

(BECMI D&D) Priscilla Dropwater - 4th Level Halfling #CharacterCreationChallenge

Priscilla Dropwater -  4th level Halfling

3'2"  60lbs

Strength        11

Intelligence   12  

Wisdom        13   +1

Dexterity      16    +2   5% xp bonus

Constitution  11

Charisma        7   -1 

Hit Points: 20

Armor Class 4  (Leather + Shield)

Proficiencies:  Shortsword, Dagger, Sling

Skills: Danger Sense 13; Snares 12; Stealth (Forest) 16; Survival 12.  

"Diviner"  Shortsword +1 Detect Evil on Command  Int7 Empathy.

Silver Daggers x2

20 Sling Stones

Sling

Garlic, Holy Water, Ancient Holy Symbol

 Priscilla is in a position she does not want to be in.  As a woodland guide, she's responsible for guiding travelers all throughout the Barony of Gulluvia, and with the dominions odd request restricting male overnight travel unless accompanied by a female, she is high demand.  

The problem is, Priscilla has been doing this so long, she knows just how corrupt the land is, and how corrupt the Barony is.  Ever since she acquired her sword "Diviner"  the taint upon the land is simply too obvious.    The ground, the creatures, heck, even many of the official and guards have a streak of evil in them.  It's better to stay out of town, but during a full moon, every sort of evil nasty is moving through the wilderness.  

Priscilla has gone to stockpiling every device, potion, tincture, and relic she can get her hands on to fight off this evil.    What's worse?  The recent influx of dwarves seem to be 50/50 good and evil, and outside of Diviner's power, recognizing it, she hasn't been able to tell the difference. 

(BECMI D&D) Bronte, New Acolyte of Mere

 Kicking it old school for Day 17 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge, a little Basic D&D action.

Bronte Argento - 3rd Level Lawful Cleric of the Church of Gulluvia

Strength:       12

Intelligence:  12

Wisdom:        17   +2  (10% xp bonus)

Dexterity:      14   +1

Constitution:   9

Charisma:     17    +2

Hit Points:   7

Armor Class: 0  (Banded Mail +1, Shield,  ROP +2)

Weapon Prof:  Mace (Skilled), Hammer 

Skills: Acting  17, Ceremony (Church of Gulluvia) 17 ,  Law and Justice (Gulluvia)  17 ,  Persuasion 17.

xp: 5,000

GP: 25

Weapon: 

Mace (2d4 skilled damage, -1AC/1)

Spells, 2 1st level. 

In town:   Detect Evil, Detect Magic

Dungeoneering:  Cure Light Wounds x2 or Cure Light Wounds/Light

In the Barony of Gulluvia, the good Lady D'hmis has absolute power over the military, over the church, and over all her subjects.   Bronte is the third child of a petty noble, destined for an administrative post in the church, and to be honest, her frail health and personable charm destined her for an influential post after a long career.  

Bronte had other thoughts, participating in numerous trainings not only with the martial clerics, but the feared baronial knights.  Sure she's taken her lumps, but she's earned the respect of the others... and the preferential treatment of the armorer's.  Compared to even the sergeants and captains of the Guard, she's nigh impenetrable against goblins and kobolds, and is apt enough to dispatch one after a single swing, two at worst.  

Word has trickled through the network, that werewolf may have ventured through the Village of  Mere and killed a well-liked acolyte of the church, Brother Barry Manaslow.  The faithful flock was relying on the declining wisdom of Father Joseph, and his new acolyte, a mere girl, no more than thirteen at best.   It would be up to her, with papers from High Priest Carathmus, no less. to be an a new protector of the village, and find why there had been so much activity with the Baronial Guard in the past year...

(BECMI D&D) Gygar the Mountain Mage #CharacterCreationChallenge

Day 13 and despite having a to-do list of characters, the motivation for this is fleeting.   Going back to my mothballed Gulluvia campaign for short-term inspiration.

Gygar the Mountain Mage - 8th Level Magic-User
Strength        12

Intelligence   18

Wisdom         17

Dexterity       16

Constitution  13

Charisma        8

Hit Points:   35

Armor Class: 4   (Ring of Protection +3 plus Dex)

Weapon Prof: Dagger (Mastery)  ,

Skills:  Alchemy (18), Detect Deception (17), Engineering (18), Law and Justice: Gulluvia (17), Magical Engineering (19), Planar Geography (18), Science (Geology), 

Weapon:  Dagger  P: 3d4,  S: 2d4+2, -2AC/2, Double Damage (18-20)

Magic Items:

Potions of Freedom, Treasure Finding, and Antidote

Scroll: Protection from Lycanthropes

Boots of Speed

Ring of Protection +3

<Mace +4, Sword+4>

Spells:  3 - 3 - 2 - 2

Spellbook:  

1st: Analyze, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Floating Disk, Light, Read Magic   

2nd: Detect Invisible, Entangle, Levitate, Locate Object, Mirror Image, Web  

3rd: Fly, Hold Person, Invisibility 10' Radius, Protection from Evil 10' Radius

4th Charm Monsters, Clothform, Growth to Plants, Wall of Fire.

In the years well before the current rule of Lady D'hmis and the Barony of Gulluvia, Gygar was a magic-user of great repute.  He had befriended the legendary Silver Princess and was given the eastern minelands to be under his protection.  The dwarves were self-sufficient and loyal to the crown, so Gygar spent most of his time researching more more, and the keeping a slow incursion/migration of overland kobolds.  The fate of Gygar is not in current texts of Gulluvia, or even the current nearby human village of Mere, but some of the lesser rumors of the eventual abandonment of the mines by the dwarves denotes kobold incursions, so it is possible that the tiny dog-men finally got the better of him. 

All that's is left of the man, is his name still attached to his ruined castle, a few miles outside of Mere. 

Oh Gygar, whose name is on the castle out of the DM Guide from the Mentzer Red Box!  I've run it a few times, most recently for my Adventures in Gulluvia campaign, but today is the first time I've statted him out.

(BECMI) Adventures in Gulluvia #20 - The Ice Caves of Thorvald

Our heroes, already collected by the Baronial Guard for a special quest.

• Presto the Magnificient - Elderly magic-user from Velders starting his second career in the arcane.  Ornery and rude .
• Balaquin Drake - a clumsy and much younger magic-user from Velders
• Galaxia Axenmeld - a naïve but violent acolyte of the church, located in Velders
• Hugo Swam'Pas - local hedge mage from Mere known for more successes than failures.
• Beulah Cragmuffin - a fiesty halfling from Mere. 
• Carya Illinoisis (NPC) - former associate of the Mere crew, now a trusted member of the Baronial Guard.  A mountain of a woman that's even stronger than she lets on. 

11 Jul 534 - Village of Mere, Barony of Gulluvia

After stocking up the questers with, winter weather clothing and gear appeared from the capital.  Also arriving in town, by Baronial escort, were more "requested volunteers."

After stocking the explorers, a shipment came from Gulluvia with winter weather clothes and equipment.  and a few  extras of everything.  Another Baronial Guard was to arrive in Mere with three more hand-selected volunteers.

12 Jul 534 - Mere

The additional Baronial Guard arrived, escorting the expected envoy.  

• Gwendalyn the Bright - An acolyte of the Church.  Murmurs from the villagers in Mere were unsettling.  She was far too beautiful to be among the common folk

Gwendalyn the Bright

Aiden Waltram - Another church official.  He was equally stunning, but he kept to himself more, focusing on a few key folks in town.  

Aiden Waltram

An in a bit of a surprise, Jenkins, another former associate, was apparently drafted into the cause.  Jenkins had left Mere after a few adventures, driven by the loss of church leader Barry Manaslow, but specifically the death of his long time partner and ally, Leroy.   He had taken the spoils of his adventures and built a house in the woods.  Thus far, despite being an unaccompanied male, nothing ill had befallen him in the woods at night.

Jenkins, sans Leroy

12 Jul 534 - Mere

Led by Carya, the questers left Mere and travelled... North?  (GM Note: Pogart was left behind to tend to Hugo's magic hovel).  

"We're going to follow the secret trails the Guard uses to traverse the Barony.  People will leave us alone," was all Carya was going to explain to the group. 

They reach the trail that ran along the base of the mountains. For those (re: all) who had travelled through the barony, everyone was familiar with the odd noises during the day and cacophony of strange creatures during the night.  Travel on this path, day and night, was eerily silent, with barely any insects noises, much left any mammalian activity.   The silence left many in the group at an elevated level of unease.

15 Jul 534 - Outside of Thorvald

Almost instantly the groups stroll through the woods become a treacherous snowpack, a good ten foot higher than the group.  Within a few further hours, the cold weather gear was broken out and immediately coated with a good layer of snow. 

"If we get through this, I'm buying a warmer hat, made out of badger.  Heck, I might buy for a live badger to put on my head," was all that Aiden would talk incessantly about.

Carya pulled out a map, then scanned the countryside.  

"We need to descend this snowpack here.  That building off in the distance is our rendezvous with our contact.  They reached out to Lady Dhmis herself."i

The building was once an inn, but it appeared to have been closed and abandoned must earlier than this freak weather.  A faded placard was hanging by two rusty and ice-covered chains, ""The Owl's Roost"

A lone flame from a candle could been seen inside, flickering from the wind.

Carya looked over to the group, "You guys are heroes, weapons out and ready."

The interior of the inn was barely any more comfort than the outside.  Icicles formed from the upper reaches, drifts had collected against furniture.  Only the area behind the bar seemed to have survived unscathed.  The candle sat on a wobbly table near the center of the room.  The meager light it produced only cast most mysteries and concerns. amongst the group. 

A hulking form, towering over eight feet tall, emerged from the shadows.

In a lisping voice, "You come from Gulluvia?"

"Aye, who asks?" questioned Galaxia.

"I am Primus, First Servitor of Korvam Daralia, Mistress of Magic, Lady of the Mountain, My All-Knowing Creator and Blessing onto this world."  The figure folded its arms in front of its chest in a non-threatening manner.

"I bid you welcome, and thank you for making this journey."

Primus moved towards the light and removed his hood.  His face was a nightmarish jumble of disparate parts sewn together with think leather stiching.   His hands were covered in bandages.

Primus, Humble Servant to Korvam

"I thank your dear lady for her assistance, be it belated, but this has been a long time coming.  I daresay my mistress may have had a hand in all this... snow."

"Last fall, my mistress vanished in this area, while searching for another magic.  The cold of winter came early, even where I was residing, and has not relented.  I have been investigating ever since.  One thing I do know is that her life has not completely dimmed from this realm."  

"I do believe I have found where she might be.  Alas... I .... can't fit in the entrance."

"Let me show you the entrance... if you don't believe me, you can leave, but I believe your lady has offered a reward, and while I have nothing, Lady Korvam has items she could provide as gratitude."

The party decided to use the limited shelter of the Owl's Roost to sleep over the night.  At dawn, Primus led them on a day-long hike towards the entrance.  They left the near-glacial ice into a snowpack.  Nearing the entrance, they fell upon an area of dead trees and bones and body parts covered with fairly recent snowfall.  A quick search uncovered some humanoid leg bones that were scraped clean and a few shields where no one could identify any of the heraldry.  

Just pass that site were the ruins of a building.  

"There is,  I know... She's down there."

Besides a pile of rubble was a large, icy crevasse leading into the ground.  

"This probably was the other magic-user's tower.   Somebody "the Undying."   I don't believe their talk was... beneficial."

Looking down, the crevasse had a considerable drop, at least 30'.  

Assembling the ropes, Jenkins was ready to be the first to be dropped below.  Then the ground above rumbled and something burst out of the snow. 

"That's a really big caterpillar!" was all Aiden could eek out before the creature lunged forward. 

Balaquin unleashed a magic missile at the beast and ran behind his compatriots.

Carya pulled out her longsword, uttered her catchphrase "For Fuck's sake!" but the creature eluded the swings. 

What it couldn't elude as well were the mighty fists of Primus.  The creature wailed when the monstrosity landed blow after blow. 

The magic-users all tried one feeble attack each on the monster, before descending the rope.  The warriors and priests walloped it multiple times before it turned tail and ran away.  

Licking their wounds, everyone proceeded to descend the rope into a large cavern.   Primus stopped them and produced a Palantir out of his cloak.  "I promise to protect the ropes and anything you leave up her."   

Looking at Aiden, "This is an efreet ball, use it if you find my lady.  Get as close to her as possible and use the world "Shabash" to activate it.   It's a one-use item, so be careful."

They heard grunting coming down a side passageway and investigated.  While the large cavern had snow in it, most of which was the result of the crevasse, this cavern had a considerably larger quantity, which appeared that someone moved it there.

Presto ducked at the last possible second, as a ball of ice barely whizzed over his head, shattering against the wall.  Over the mounds of snow were three sets of eyes and some howling noises.

Three white-furred monkeys were scurrying to new positions behind the berm, rearming themselves with iceballs.

Again, the fighters and clerics charged over the berm.  The magic-users fell back to the larger cavern.  

Galaxia tried her new catchphrase, "Stop and parley or feel the wrath of our god!"

They quickly dispatched two the monkeys, while the third scurried further away, with an armful of iceballs.

The magic-users heard hooting and hollering coming from a different passageway, so they scurried back to the rest of the party, hid behind the berm, arming themselves with the remaining ice balls.  

No monkey reinforcements manifested themselves.  The party gained their senses and performed a slow, delayed pursuit of the escaped snow monkey.  

The next cavern was quite open, although the snow berms were traded out for a coating of ice.    Presto boldly requested to search the room, outside of small piles of bones and feathers, found nothing.  

"Guys, there's nothing here... it's awfully slippery." was all he could get out, before a loud series of cracks began.  The ice shatters, exposing only a natural bridge in the center of the room, too far for Presto.  He and the ice plummeted sixty feet to his demise.  

As the party peered down, Balaquin inquired, "Dibs on his spellbook."

Only Hugo replied, "Hey we can all share, we need everybody's rope to get it."

Aiden rappelled down the wall, finding Presto's body, two monkeys, and an unidentified body.  

All of Presto's equipment saved his spellbook from being destroyed.

The frozen corpse was male, dressed as a wizard covered in furs.  Aiden grabbed a fancy necklace, two vials, and the fancy boots off of the magic-user's feet. 

Once Aiden climbed back up, Jenkins claimed the boots.  Hugo reviewed the vials and immediately forced Jenkins to drink it.  He instantly felt better.  

"Healing potion, they do exist."

Pursuing further,  they came upon a door.  Inside the door was a room, dominated by a giant rock, with a body's feet barely sticking out of it.   The ice in this area formed magically concentric circles on most surfaces.  Along the back wall was a woman grasping her throat, encased in ice, ice which appears to have a face...

They spent some time debating how to prepare for the ensuing water elemental, once things melted.  They tried to chip the ice away with little headway, then tried to melt the ice with oil flasks with little effect.  As everyone stood outside, figuring out what to do,  Aiden grabbed the Efreet orb, said "Shabash" them tossed orb into the room, right before shutting the door.   Behind the door, incredible light and heat was unleashed.  

After a few moments, Aiden re-opened the door when water began leaking under it.  The efreet was still in the room, fighting a very ornery water elemental.  The blonde-haired woman in question was laying face-down in four inches of water.  As everyone else hesitated going back in and dealing with the oppressive heat, Jenkins was about to run headlong into the room.  A hand grabbed him by the shoulder.  It was Hugo, he pulled a ring off of his finger, "Here, you'll need this."  

Aiden put on the ringer and dashed into the room at super-natural speed.

"It's gotta be the boots!"  

He grabbed the burned woman and dashed back out.  Hugo immediately handed her the other healing potion. 

Korvam was finally rescued.  

Regaining her senses, she dispatched the victorious efreet, and grabbed the empty vessel of the orb.  

"Thank goodness it's rechargable!"

By the time they reached the surface, most of the land was rapidly melting.  The body of Primus lay on the ground.  

Korvam was saddened by the loss of her henchman, but delighted that he provided her saviors.  

Balaquin tried to console her, "Hey, sorry about your creation/henchman/apprentice.  You in the market for a replacement?"

Korvam smiled and winked at him.  

Korvam Daralia, Mistress of Magic, Lady of the Mountain

They travelled to secret stash Korvam had kept "nearby" for some extra awards and gold.

Treasure and Rewards:

• Gwendalyn the Bright -  Two potions of fire-elemental form
• Aiden Waltram -  Shield +3
• Jenkins - Boots of Speed  from the caves, and six vials of healing
• Galaxia  - Plate Mail +1
• Hugo Swam'Pas - Skullcap of Comprehension

• Balaquin Drake received  Lamp of Long Burning, but also some answers, especially upon learning that Korvam was NOT from Gulluvia.  

"Balaquin, it will be hard work, but I'm returning to my tower in Emeron.  You are welcome to come..."

"Emer-what????"

Balaquin bid the party adieu, and the rest returned to Mere.  

GM Notes:   The adventure was highly adapted from The Ice Caves of Azinth, a d20 discount ($2.49) pamphlet adventure from AEG, circa 2001.  

I have always said in the blog that Gulluvia is somehow attached to my World of Geroic, but I've never allowed any connection in-game.  Emeron is the confederation of wizards in my world, so it does narrow down the location of this isolationist barony.

Next: #21 - The Call to Heek-Hallak