The World of Telvar

The Defenders made a decision that they would attempt to leaf through maps they had collected and find an interesting adventure to do. We decided that the perfect time-killer while Chiaro was gone was the Sentry.

The Sentry is a hill with a crest of some sort on the top. It is evil, and no one has returned from it. We talked to Augman in Barnacus about it (the sage) and he gave us more information.

Only low level parties had gone there, the most recent being several years ago (back in the early 2170s). The place was an evil temple dedicated to “earth spirits” from popular legend. In reality it seems that these “earth spirits” were evil dwarves of some sort. They worshipped a lawful evil deity of strength, power, etc. Much more up front than some sneakier evil deities. These dwarves had a civilization in the mountains to the north, but these have been explored and noted by adventurers. Incidentally, these are the same dwarves who made the weird items that we have found (the “cursed” battleaxe in the shed—see a note from summary #3).

The party decided to do it. We took the weird battleaxe in the Bag of Holding, in case it was important. We traveled uneventfully to the Sentry, which is located a day or two journey west of Hafney Hill and the witching hill. Kain created a number of Goodberries on the way.

We chatted with a possum nearby, and found out that nothing goes in or out of the Sentry. Occasionally an ogre has come by, but not in a long time.

Cassian did an astrology before we left, and discovered that “The Archway leads to the sign of the Nebula.” Ok, so the archway leads to something uncertain. Wonderful.

We marched up the hill, and found a cave entrance, and a separate set of stairs leading up. Peacemaker quickly revealed that the entire place was Lawful Evil, but that he couldn’t tell much more than that. We went up the stairs with Albee checking for traps, and found a large throne facing Hafney Hill, the witching hill, etc.

A clerical Detect Evil revealed that the throne contained a Slumbering Moderate Evil, so we decided to live and let sleep.

We went down to the “cave” entrance, a dwarven-built corridor most likely. We went in and traveled about 30 feet and discovered an odd sight. The wall ended in an archway with a wall beyond it, so the archway led to nowhere. In the center of the archway was a red gem in the wall. Above the gem were written letters in ancient dwarven that Peacemaker could translate approximately. Morgan transcribed them using his cartography skills and Donald read them with Comprehend Languages.

“Those who deem themselves worthy enough must reach for the prize.”

There were also a pair of statues of dwarves wielding a hammer and a battleaxe. We assumed these were golems of some sort. Donald cast a Detect Magic and noted that the corridor was magical for the FIRST 15 feet, but not where we were standing.

We assumed that some sort of cave-in might occur, so Cassian and Bogomel went outside the corridor to help from that side with a potential Dispel Magic. Felix suggested that we kill the golems first, which we agreed with.

So Felix and Balinor aimed blows at the battleaxe golem, while everyone prepared themselves for the combat.

Felix whacked it; Balinor could not affect it with his magical weapon. Both creatures activated. The first 15 feet of the corridor vanished, and became solid non-magical rock! Cassian was on the outside and would miss the fight.

We probably should have figured out that the 15 feet were a portal similar to the one from the dwarven adventure in Sark (see summaries #30 and #31). Oh well.

The battleaxe golem had to punch Felix due to his closeness, so it did and wounded him somewhat. Balinor drew his +3 dagger and attacked the other golem, letting Felix deal with this one.

Albee got pasted by the other golem and retreated. Morgan Thunderstruck the golem, but there was no effect. Gas began pouring into the room from somewhere, so Kain dropped a Slow Poison on himself and Felix.

Balinor swung and fumbled. Donald advanced and stabbed the golem with his +2 dagger (Mindwaster) which did affect it. Morgan got trashed while fighting with his +2 dagger. Donald then got pasted and gave way to Nakumanu. The Goodberries were being consumed rapidly as wounds opened up all over the place.

The gas was clearly being emitted by the golems, and the whole party except Kain and Felix were Slowed. Felix continued to bash his golem and get injured, and Kain ran through an entire Cure Light x3 scroll. Felix finally shattered his and turned to help the rest of the party kill the other one. Balinor dropped his dagger and Albee picked it up for him. Nakumanu got pasted twice and nearly went down. Kain began Cure spells from memory. Nakumanu handed off his +2 dagger to Balinor, who swung with both and hit.

Felix continued to rip the thing apart, and finally, it shattered as well!

As soon as it shattered, a stone plate of some sort appeared at the archway. It advanced on us rapidly, and the wall behind us opened up rapidly. We were essentially ejected from the Sentry!

We could see down the open corridor once again, and noted that the golems were back, and perfectly intact.

@#$%^!

We camped out for a few days. Cassian did another astrology, but it was less successful than the first, revealing that “The Archway is important.” Lendore was being excessively cloudy and was messing up her results.

We healed up and decided to actually try the archway this time. We debated about whether it should be a cleric to go, or a fighter. Then we debated about if it was a fighter, would it be better to have the man of effectiveness (Felix) go in or remain behind. Ultimately it was decided that Balinor would try it.

Balinor was given 4 goodberries, a dagger +3, a bagged lunch, and shoved off.

Balinor touched the gem and vanished. The warrior appeared in a 10’ by 10’ room with no doors or exits. A voice boomed in ancient dwarven, “Wlahdsg alkhsdaghash adhgijksho?” or something like that. Balinor knew it was a question.

Balinor said, “No,” in dwarven. Something happened, and then he awoke at stable consciousness in a 20’ by 20’ cell. He used the Ring of Health to recover and looked around. There were many dead skeletons here, with all their gear intact. There was also a limited air supply in this room—clearly the others hadn’t used it up as they had been dead.

Through some miracle, Balinor had survived and was instead trapped alive. He immediately made the best of it by looting the bodies which had at least three magical weapons and a wand, not to mention some holy water and potions, and putting their stuff in his Bag of Holding. Then he began to tap on the walls to look for a way out.

Meanwhile, the party assumed Balinor was not coming back without help. So Felix entered with Peacemaker. It was discovered that the gem went dark for a moment and reactivated later, so clearly only one person could go through at a time.

Felix was in the 10’ by 10’ room. Fortunately, he had Peacemaker, who could actually understand the question being asked. It was a riddle. I’ve forgotten the exact wording—I’ll release it in a note to the summary.

In any case, Felix answered it. He appeared in a hexagonal chamber with a skeletal dwarf wielding a hammer and shield in front of him. The voice said, “Now you must be tested.”

The dwarf charged.

What followed was one of the faster and more brutal fights of Felix’s career. The two warriors were matched in speed and durability and accuracy. However, Felix did half-damage, while the other creature did roughly two-thirds Felix’s normal damage.

But Felix got lucky and killed the creature!

Then Felix managed to avoid being turned into a Lawful Evil servant of the religion. Note: With Peacemaker capable of possessing Felix this would have been really odd.

Felix gained 6 hit points permanently! He was named the dwarven king! He had to appoint a high priest before his reign was over.

A portal opened up in front of him, revealing Balinor in mid-tap. There was confused exchange, and Felix saw the loot and used HIS Bag of Holding to grab the rest of it!

The two warriors turned and found that an archway with a gem had appeared at the opposite end of the hexagonal room. Felix touched it and vanished, followed by Balinor.

The two warriors appeared by the throne outside.

We did it!

It was then that we figured out that the Sentry was analogous to the Shrine of Nevron for this evil religion. Felix had passed the tests and gained power. However, we were all nervous about the results and this whole high priest appointee thing.

Felix also has chosen NOT to sit on the throne, at least so far. The results could be interesting.

As it turned out, the treasure from the other party was minor, but the hammer was cool. We haven’t learned the details yet—we’re being kept in suspense until next week!

Felix has gained the distinction of surviving the trials and becoming the dwarven king, while Balinor has gained the dubious distinction of having actually survived failing the trials.

Joel/Balinor (the servant of Felix, the dwarven king)