Willowwood Elves probe into North Hills.

  Acting on evidence gathered from their raid against the vampire and information from Mage-Master Evanzanthis of House Goldenfae, Magandella and a Yon Elf expedition wound its way deep into the North Hills to the site of an extinct volcano believed to be the nesting site of a Blue Dragon. Instead they met with the Gnoll forces that had been staging raids throughout the region.

  The Elves found their way barred in the ruins of an abandoned dwarf mining hamlet. The Gnolls took the high ground and set their spears for the charge of the glittering Elven cavalry. Elven steel triumphed, despite the presence of some awoken ghouls. Keeping their nerve the Yon Elves succeeded in driving off the Gnolls, their prince receiving a lethal arrow to the chest from Abigale as he screemed curses at them.

  Buoyed by their victory over the Gnolls, the Elves sent out a scouting company led by Esmeralda to the western wetlands, where they encountered troll territories. Unfortunately for the Elves their confidence overreached their ability as their magic was thwarted and their arrows failed to find its targets. The scouting company returned to the main group and came back in force. Masterful planning coupled with cat-like reflexes saw the elven host smash into the Troll line, sweeping it aside in a wave of mithril blades and blazing arrows. The battle was over quickly and after interrogating some of the captured Trolls,  the victorious elves returned to the willowwood. contemplating their return to the North Hills.

10 A D & D based games to run. probably never

  I have not posted in some time, i plan on posting more to finish off this year.
so 10 games id like to run AD & D based.

1. Dungeons & Vulcans: set in ancient times on the planet Vulcan.
 
2. Genesis age. set before the biblical flood.
 
3.  Ruins of Antarctica:
 
4.  Space- 1776:
 
5.  Dwarves of Thunder Mountain.
 
6.  Haunted New England 1630.
 
7.   Lost in Mt.Olympus.
 
8.   Ice Wizards of Nepal
 
9.   Sea of tranquility pirates
 
10. Griffincarrier Galactica.

Alternate spell system

 Sleep level: 1.2  or 1.3
making it a 1st level spell but can't be learned or memorized untill 2nd level or 3rd.
other spells that people have problems with can be notorized the same way
so fireball 3.7 for example.
Sleep spell does seem to be really the only one thats a problem to people and
when thats removed then they dont like magic missile.
and when I say people, it's some DMs, they don't want mages to be knife fighters
or this or that, they lament firsties weakness, wanting them to be more wizardly
trying to come up with something to make them stronger, then take glee when
the player rolls a 1 for starting hit points and how old school it is.

  I thought of this after reading other posts around the internet of people changing
spell level of spells, rewriting spells and having spell points and other nonsense.
never seen where level of caster was a prerequisite.

Quell: A Lost spell of Acererak.

 Quell

(Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 2
Range: 30 yds. + 10 yds. /level
Components: S, M
Duration: 1 rd./level
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: One creature
Saving Throw: Neg.

Quell renders the target creature mute.
The target creature is totally unable to
utter a sound, no matter how small, not
even a whisper, if it fails its initial sav-
ing throw vs. spell. In essence, quell
immobilizes the target’s vocal cords.
Those affected by this spell can commu-
nicate only through hand gestures and
written notes (if literate), while quelled
spellcasters are unable to cast any spells
requiring a verbal component. Dispel
Magic remains a viable remedy for
removing the effects of quell.
The material components for this
spell includes a broken whistle that no
longer sounds.

  This spell was once considered lost
in a spellbook called the Codex of silence
Acererak gave this to his servant
Moghadam long before betraying the
architect.
 

Children of Chaos

From Erebus

 CC by 3.0

Where the willowwood is.

  The Menowood is an old and pristine forest in the southwest of Sunndi, near the border with Idee. The sylvan elves dwelling among the ash and oak trees in the southern part of the woods are not unfriendly, but many of the forest's fey, particularly those in the forest's northern reaches hate mankind with a passion.

The Forest is named after a powerful druid named Sverdras Meno, who dwelled therein centuries ago (and, some claim, still does). 

  The Willowwood is the local area of the southern border from Moon river to the sea.
There is an unusual sub group of wood elf, that live there, who call themselves the
Elder Yon.
they all have black, red, or white hair. 

Witches

  In forgotten ages past, in kingdoms unheralded and dead centuries of untold history, a fiery confrontation emerged between witch covens world-wide. The myriad witches of the woodlands and the fields formed an alliance which dominated all other covens. This group forcibly directed the studies of other witches, and great emphasis was placed on the magic of plants and animals, that they might grow stronger still in their respective domains. But there were those who sought darker and more Godly enchantments, pursuing powers of devastation and the very elements. They promised to teach what they learned, to enslave the world of men, and to shape raw power to the ends of witches everywhere. This the alliance would not permit, for power inspires fear, fear of those that have it. Those who allied with the new Secret Coven were cast out, and in time only the mountains offered refuge to the members of this radical coven.

CODEX OF THE INFINITE PLANES: The Tzoonk Fragment.

 "... and thereupon the voice belled forth in tones of hollow iron and spoke of the Coming of the City of the Gods. Such future events interested me not, so I gave the command: 'Answer in th ...' (here the fragment becomes entirely illegible) . . . so knowing both the secret and the spell which would unlock the Way to this horde of the Demon Prince Nql . . . (another break in the writing unfortunately occurs here). . . gathered the nine as required and proceeded forth. With me in addition were the dyoph servants necessary to transport the Codex, for I would not leave it behind on even so perilous a journey as this." (Here the entire fragment ends.) "


                                                         Maldin's Greyhawk

Black Luke leaves the forrest.

  Black Luke and Varek looked over the corpses of  Saundash, Molo, Trenton and Sarah.
Well that could have gone better he thought to himself, could have been worse, I could have died.

"You need to leave." said Varek, "I believe you have worn out the welcome."

"But, I've helped to do away with what would have been a big problem."

Varek nods, "Yes, but look at the elven camp guards, those are some stern looks."

 "Well, the roof of the root cellar Inn was too low any way." said Black Luke.

  Black Luke walks over to the elven sisters,

 "Looks like its time to hit the ol' dusty trail." grins Rose. "You going to need a lone of a horse, to get out with yer loot?"

"Yes."

Esmeralda looks at Black Luke "My sisters and I will escort you to the forest edge."

"You're the first human I ever met, Good Luck." says Magandella.

  Black Luke leaves the forest and notices a wanted poster, he leaves it up.

Black Luke hunts Vampire Nox.

  Black Luke sat in Evanzanthis' tent checking over his list of  equipment, when an elven messenger ran up.
"I am Saundash member of the Guardians of the Willowwood, there have been no encounters at the ruin entrance, your fellowship members are returning soon from their task of routing out encrouching goblin raiders that they were asked to help with, and ask that you and Magandella return to the entrance encampment by tomorrow eve. I am to provide a small escort."

   The following evening all members and volunteers of the fellowship met, they went over their various rolls; they were
    Black Luke, Wayward traveler (2nd level Assassin)
    Varek the Dwarven Fighter (3rd level fighter)
    Esmeralda, 500 year old Elven Priestess, Acorn of The Leaf Lord
    Abigale, 250 year old Elven Warrior-Maiden (2nd level Fighter)
    Marsha, Half-elven Mercenary Veteran (age unstated) Lvl 2 Fighter
    Rose, 99 year old Elf, Ranger of the New Order (2nd edition ranger)
    Magandella, 50 year old Elf Mage in training, Daggers.
    Saundash of House Elderbear, Guardian of Willowwood, 2nd level F/M
    Washington the Gnomeish Trapmaster Level 2 Rogue (2nd edition)
    Molo the Halfling Slinger (F/T first level)
    Trenton the Druid (2nd Level)
    Sarah of the Silver Mace, 3rd level Cleric of Cyndor

 They entered the Lower areas next morning, bypassing all the previously discovered traps, unknown to the group Black Luke directed them the way that the wight had instructed him.
A shrine was discovered with a small amount of treasure and tablets revealing the Vampire was the Lord Nox. A hidden door was found at the bottom of a pit trap and 6 undead skeleton panthers fought, passing this they entered what they assumed to be the lair of the Vampire.

  The chamber was quickly looked over and a pit with poisoned barbed spikes then bypassed, Black Luke began to set up an apparatus so when the lid of its resting place was opened Trenton the Druid could pull a cord and several flasks of holy water would dampen the vampires spirit. Varek the Dwarf and Marsha pushed the covering off and the fellowship began their grim task.

Black Luke and the Pirate Treasure.

  Black Luke was at the end of his endurance, he gave a single cry of help and collapsed, His companions herd him and rushed into the chamber with weapons drawn. Seeing it was him Esmeralda came to his side and did a curing spell. Magandella pulled off and killed the biting worms, she placed one in a small flask for later indentification.

"We thought you were dead," said Esmeralda, "We saw Henery crushed, what happened to you and Zac Anton?

"Zac, He... he didn't make it." sighed Black Luke. "There was a hole, I found my way here."

"There's something else, there's a vampire some where down there, in the other direction, there's a crypt, I'm sure of it." said Black Luke.

"Wait. What?" said Magandella and Abigale together.

"Well that's just...... There's something going on here, these ruins were here for over 500 years, ogre slavers and a necromancer, now this." said Esmeralda.

"What's the history of these ruins?" asked Black Luke.

"Just a long abandoned watchtower as i understand it." said Rose.

"We call it the Ruins of Nox, Nox meaning night and also the name of the last leader to garrison here." said Magandella.

"Pirates would come in from the sea near here, we elves didn't like em." said Rose.

Black Luke thought, 'PIRATE TREASURE'. then composed himself.

"Wait a second, that's it, the shield symbol the orc knight had, it's a black shield with a symbol on it, like a pirate flag, it's all pirate related." he then added, "We gonna need all the holy water and oil we can get our hands on for the vampire."

"I need to meditate on this, I may need to contact my order." said Esmeralda.

"We don't need them coming here, taking our gold and glory." said Marsha.

"Seems to me, we need more magic, we need more than silver, I have an enchanted arrow, Marsha has the rune sword, what else we got?" asked Rose.

"My shortsword has the first rune power." said Varek.

"I know some one who has a magic longsword." said Abigale.

"I know very little about vampires, but mostly don't they turn to mist and escape? Resisting its charming should be no problem for us elves, but the gaseous form? How do we stop it? it's probably in some kind of hibernation now and that's why this is new to us, if we wake it without doing it in, our whole community is in trouble" said Magandella.

Black Luke and the Wight.

  Black Luke sat almost peacefully in the 'Root Cellar' Inn common room, he looked over at the old dwarf warrior talking to Varek.
Varek then comes over and sits down and orders an ale, "He say the diggers should be here on the morrow, they bringing shoring, and we gonna need to escort them to the site because of the ogre slavers, 10 gold per digger, 60 in all, double in case of death."

"I see, and how long?" asks Black Luke.

"They think 8 hours, and after they finish, Esmeralda wants to camp in the first level, so we can start bright and early, she also wants to hire some guards to be on the outside to guard the exit."

Black Luke nods, "Good, getting jumped on the way out was getting old."

  The next day the elven sisters told Black Luke that escort services were going to be done by the Guardians of Willowwood, so he only needed to be on site for the over night camp, also that Magandella, Marsha and Rose would go with him that afternoon to get supplies for the excursion.

  The evening came, Black Luke and companions arrived with the supplies, lots of oil, and meals for the workers and guards. Half the guards were leaving in the morning with the diggers, all except one digger, a Halfling named Henery, who agreed to assist the group for extra pay.
  The morning came with out bother, the elven sisters keeping a watch in shifts, then Henery cooked the brerakfast, soon after they were at the new tunnel in the pool chamber, they passed thru it with Black Luke checking along for any deadfalls, and Varek inspecting the stonework. Coming to a 'T', they chose to turn right and there after a great stone door fell, blocking the way, with no way to lift it in evidence they moved on, finding long abandoned crypts and rooms with green slime or spiked pits.
  Soon they found a room with a large wheel that when turned lifed the stone door but also reset a moving wall trap and the group was split up, with Henery being crushed to death by the wall and Black Luke with Zac Anton also apparently killed, But unknown to the elves they fell thru a trap door into another chamber, where then Zac Anton confronted a wight and then that killed him.

Black Luke stared at the wight, then spoke in the language old, old from the fall,
the tongue of tyrants, Law twisted to Evil. "What is wanted, for to live myself?"

The wight hissed, "Words of old, not herd in ages, you have spoken, that said is bond of law, oath/make slay the other ancient, the vampire,
the chaos must be undone, oath this, and live."

"Oath this, the vampire, will be undone." spoke Black Luke.

"In the other crypt it waits, slay its lusts, and I will have peace." said the wight.

"Crawl." the word was softly herd, as the wight sank and pointed to a small dark hatch that must be the way out.

Black Luke crawled thru the tunnel feeling sharp pains from the biting worms untill he climbed upward and out of a hole behind the wall in the old orc knight's chamber.

He could hear Magandella crying over her lost companions

Black Luke verses the Ogre Slavers.

  Black Luke and Varek looked over the pile of zombie and skeletal remains.

"Thart were a good idea, sneaking and using the potion of invivibility to come behind that caster." said Rose.

"Well I'm not so sure." said Esmeralda, "We should have tried to take him or the orc back to the Guardians alive for questioning."

"I think this orc's sword is magical." said Zac Anton, "It has rune work on it, Rose you can dual wield, you can get it, better than trying to poke things in the eye with your left hand, like you usually do."

"You is just the jester, I would think it's better for Abigale, did you see the way the orc tried to kiss on her?" said Rose.

"If you are going to fight over who dosen't get it, I sure would like it." said Marsha.

"Every one agreed?" said Esmeralda, "Marsha gets the Runed longsword, and what did the caster have on him?"

"Not alot, some coin, a ring, some spell components." said Magandella, "His staff is just a wooden stick.Wait, a scroll, I found a scroll!"

Young Magandella casts her 'Decipher Scroll' cantrip, "Oh, Ewww, it's nercomatic magic, it has multiple Animate Dead on it, and a Charm Person as well."

"The orc has a map," said Zac Anton, "It shows a tunnel on the other side of that far wall, we didn't find it because it's not a secret door or anything, it's all original construction, so not obvious."

"And me with out my pick and shovel." comments Varek.

"Maybe we can use the Animate dead scroll to reuse some of these skeletons and whatnot, to dig for us? questions Black Luke.

Esmaralda scowls, "No, We not doing that, I'm going to conduct a rite to put them to rest, they can be put back in their watery grave."

Magandella looks over the scroll and thinks to herself, 'Well they are not evil undead, so maybe.' then ponders the distastefull thought.

"It's too high for me to cast off the scroll anyway, it would probably fail."

Magandella's sisters look at her blankly.

  On exiting the ruins they are soon set apon by Ogres, "What is it with exiting this place?" asks Black Luke.

"Where is Necromancer Master!" shouts an ogre, amist a barrage of arrows.

"In his grave! Where else?" shouts back Rose. Shooting more arrows from behind Varek, Abigale, and Zac Anton.

"Kill the Dwarf, take elves slaves as master wanted." said an Ogre.

"I'm special." said Varek. Dodging attacks and splitting the ogre's head open like a mellon.

The companions tried to take the last ogre alive as it tried to escape, but it turned and made one final charge at Black Luke, who then killed it.

"Oh, I should have use the charm person scroll." said Magandella.

Black Luke and the Necromancer.

  Black Luke sat by the campfire outside of Evanzanthis' abode checking the captured loot chest for traps, he found none, at least he hoped there were none, he then picked the lock. There were various flasks, and a small bag of gems, and several other bags of copper, silver, and electrum. He took the bag of gems and a handfull of electrum coins and put them in his pack, he then laid out his bedroll and went to sleep.

Inside Evanzanthis' abode Magandella listened as her sisters discused the matters at hand.

"So this Orc Knight had a shield with the same eye symbol on it." said Abigale.

"The stone scorpion fell in one of the dark pools, it looks to be unrecoverable." said Varek.

"Well, these ghouls, is what seems most troubling, some one animated horses for them to ride." said Mage-Master Evanzanthis. "and this some one has an intrest in those ruins, I'm in the middle of an important project and can't take the time to see for myself, as I have to be elsewhere, I'll send a message to the Druids, they will want to know about this."

"In the morning, put up my old tent outside for us to use as a meeting place and for our human assistant to stay in between excursions." said Evanzanthis. "Young Magandella, Take any of my low level spell scrolls for your use."

Magendella nods, "Yes, Mage-Master."

  The next day the loot was divvied up, and the potions were found out to be of healing, invisibility, speed, ESP, and water breathing. They set off for the ruins again and made it to the chamber with the pools with out finding trouble, but trouble found them.

  A group of zombie came out of one of the pools and the door of the orc knight chambers was opened during the melee, and out came a dark robed figure, accompanied by the orc knight and several skeletons. The orc charged Abigale, and the dark caster enacted a hold person spell, Abigale and Marsha made their save, Rose and Magandella failed. Varek fought off skeletons trying to rend Magandella, and Zac Anton went after the dark caster and wounded his personage with his glave, the caster attempted more magic but found he could not as his head had come off his body from an attack from behind done with Black Luke's bastardsword. The Orc Knight tried to ecsape again but he too was done in.