From: taylorr@debussy.cs.unc.edu (Russell Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Stuck for Ideas????? (Long)
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:09:32 GMT
Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In article <1992Aug28.140347.1@vx24.cc.monash.edu.au> edb892rsft@vx24.cc.monash.edu.au writes:
>Does any one have any ideas for any of these things or maybe remember
>the classic adventures of theirs....
>
	I have been a player in several campaigns that had been developed
by the DM.  One was based loosely on the Moorcock novels, another dealt with
an elven war/evil mage, and the last dealt with a mind-control demon type
in an ancient desert city.

	At the end of this posting, I will put a copy of the history of
our campaign.  This includes information on several of the adventures.

                            This being a history of
                            the land of Kron, later
                             to be known as Oerth.

			Compiled by Russell M. Taylor II
			     Copyright 1992 (sorry)

		Everett Neville: Creator of the Kretins and artifacts
		Richard Fletcher: Creator of Malamar and the Goeff war
		Stefan Gottschalk: Gralthorn's master
		TSR: Creator of the Temple and Zuggtmoy
		The ideas were yours. only the words are mine.


          Of the fall of the Kretins and the splitting of their race:

                   Thousands of years had been the reign of the proud
          people known to themselves as the Kretins.  Masters of
          dragons, of war, and magic, this race prospered and ruled
          over nature and themselves until one of their ken reached
          too far...

                   These proud folk were ruled by a line of warrior-
          mages.  The gods had given to king Alatag a crown, a
          sceptre, and a ring.  Yet another ring had been forged, to
          go the the declared heir.  The crown protected the life of
          the wearer, so that he who wore it would not die.  The
          sceptre gave power to he who bore it, slaying those it
          touched.  The rings gave power over the crown and sceptre,
          for he who did not wear one would be slain by them
          otherwise.  In addition, they provided some small protection
          and warded off undesired wishes.  In this way, the king was
          made invincible and very potent.  For millenia, wise men
          held this position, but at the last, king Vetar arrived.

                   Many saw that the new king should not be allowed
          his power.  Some coveted this power for themselves, thinking
          that with it they could rule wisely.  These took hold of the
          heir and stole his ring.  When they failed to gain the
          crown, then fled - and in so doing the ring was lost to
          their people and to all Kretins.  These people went off and
          hid from the others, licking their wounds and drawing into
          themselves.  They established their own capital and their
          own laws.  In time, they delved deep into the earth and into
          arcane lore.  The name they chose for themselves meant 'The
          cheated' and has come to be known as 'Drow.'

                   Yet others saw what the king was like, and set off
          to avoid what they knew must come.  These folk went and
          established a new land, but they held no malice for those
          left behind.  They sought to build beatutiful lands and to
          dwell within the lap of nature.  So they thought to entice
          the others of their race to join them and form a land of
          peace and love, a haven from the power-hungry demands of the
          king.  As time went on, this group has split and gone to all
          parts of the land.  Some offshoots have grown in new
          directions, but all are recognized by their love of magic
          and things of nature.  These are known as the Elves.

                   The third group of people stayed with their king on
          his island of Seaborne, protected by the boiling sea and the
          mazes where warships would be destroyed.  They sat and they
          grew discontent with certain things.  Their king grew in
          power and vanity until he felt invincible.  It was then that
          he had himself declared a god.  To this, the gods had a
          strong reply.  All on the island were slain and then raised
          again in the form of undead.  Thus they remain to remind all
          those who would attempt the forbidden.

                   When the folk of those that would later be called
          elves saw what had happened, they sought in vain to help the
          people of the island.  Those that stayed too long became
          undead themselves.  In the end, all that could be saved were
          the kings' artifacts and a few of the relics of their
          people.  Most of that which was the Kretins lies still on
          the island, guarded by the jealous and burning eyes of the
          unliving.


          On the great wonders wrought by the Kretins:

                   Of the crown, sceptre, and rings has already be
          spoken.
                   The mages of the Kretins had compiled a list of all
          the spells known to their people.  This work they called the
          Tome.  To protect the Tome, they called into being the
          Library.  This was a sphere inside of which time behaved in
          a peculiar manner.  Things placed there would not age, yet
          scribes could work there without tiring for as long as they
          desired.  When they again emerged from the library, they
          found that only hours or perhaps days had passed where to
          them it had been weeks within the Library.  When the race
          split, a new Library, and a new copy of the Tome were
          created in each of the new lands, making three in all.  The
          knowledge of how to make such a place was lost when the last
          of these was destroyed by a wand.  It is known that this
          caused such a disruption of the fabric of space and time
          that those performing the destruction were reduced to ashes,
          with all that they carried.


          On the rediscoverers of the works of the Kretins:

                   Five thousand years had passed.  The humans had
          evolved from the red-eyed barbarians of the north into their
          own pale version of civility.  Priests had become strong
          among them, but magic had not yet blossomed.  The few mages
          that there were bound together in jealous little huddles,
          trying to find the spells that they needed to gain power.
          Eventually, one went out to find the power on his own.  This
          one, known as Lamdor, joined with a ranger called Kron and a
          barbarian woman as seekers of fortune.  Before he left,
          Lamdor sent forth a summons, asking for a lifelong companion
          to aid in his quest.  He was granted a Quasit.  Lamdor named
          the beast 'Fred the bat' in honor of one of its forms, and
          together all went forth.

                   The group's first act was to defeat a group of
          pirates who had been attacking the nearby coastal towns.
          During the battles, Kron noticed some strange powers of the
          ring that had been his family heirloom.  It seemed to turn
          aside the blows and spells of his enemies.

                   Once the pirates ship had been taken, the group
          freed the slaves that had worked the oars.  They offered to
          allow the oarsmen to stay aboard as freemen, paid for their
          time.  It was agreed.  So was the founding of a great and
          loyal crew.

                   This groups embarked on many adventures, including
          the discovery of one of the Libraries, on the cursed island.
          It was opened by Kron's ring, which caused them all much
          wonder.  Lamdor returned with scrolls containing all spells
          that were of low power (even the coveted Bolt of Lightning!)
          When the other mages saw this, they set out to ambush the
          party and steal the scrolls.  Also, another party of "the
          coalition of magic users and priest for the common good"
          went off to the island to discover where they had been
          gotten.  The assault on the ship was a failure, owing much
          to the stalwart bravery of the crew, and to the fact that
          several crew members had been trained in fighting by the
          ranger and barbarian during the long journey.  Those that
          went to the island could not open the library, so they tried
          to use a wand to suck the magical force out of it.  This
          resulted in their destruction as noted above.

                   The strange happenings surrounding Kron's ring led
          the party to hire a sage of Ancient Kretin History to
          accompany them on their ship.  With knowledge from the sage
          and facts they had picked up along the way, the group
          discovered the legends presented above, and the fact that
          the ring was the heir's ring that had been lost so long ago.
          They later discovered, in conversations with the current
          king of the "Elves" that Kron was the only remaining
          offspring, bastard though he was, of the true line of Kretin
          kings.  It seemed that the ring knew its own and had
          returned.

                   The companions overcame more foes and gained fame
          until the coming of one who proclaimed himself to be
          Lamdor's grandson.  Lamdor has not, even to this day, been
          with a woman for fear of generating such horrible offspring.
          It seems that the foe had gained the power of time travel
          and had come back to find one of the Tomes.  In fierce
          battle, he was eventually driven off, but not slain.  Lamdor
          was possessed by the idea of travel to a time when magic was
          not rare, and when he could gain the power over death so
          that his soul would not be claimed by Fred when he died.
          The works left behind by the other mage (who called Lamdor
          grandfather) gave Lamdor the insight to attempt time travel
          himself.  He and the crew of the ship were propelled forward
          in time.  However, at the last second Lamdor was enveloped
          in a strange force field and the ship and crew were
          scattered accross space and time, each coming to rest in his
          own place, most of them unknown.


          Of the passing of an era

                   Twenty thousand years passed.  During this time,
          the scattering of the Elves came, the entrenchment of the
          Drow was wrought, and the surface of the land of Kron was
          split and shaken.  The history of the old times was forgot
          and the people of the new land called the place Oerth, which
          means 'This place that we live.'  In this new age was born
          the land of Greyhawk, a continent upon which rests the
          famous city of Greyhawk complete with the history that is
          reported elsewhere.

                   In so much time, even the elves took on a new life,
          leaving behind their artifacts and lands.  They travelled to
          the new lands and settled among the other races, evan as it
          is today.  If one were to come to the bearing the crown,
          sceptre, and ring of their ancestors, it is doubtful that
          they would even be believed.


          Of the search for the Temple of Elemental Evil

                   The mage Allanon came from a far land with the aid
          of a wondrous staff he possessed.  This evil mage built a
          strong keep and wrought havoc on the land until he was
          approached by a half-elf name Caldor, whom he apprenticed.
          In the end, the apprentice softened the heart of the mage to
          the point that Allanon accepted the drop in power that
          resulted as he became opposed to his ways and began to help
          those he had before harmed.  These two were joined by a
          ranger named Farimer, a paladin named Tralmor, and a
          rambuncious thief called 'Chico from south of the border.'
          This group began searching in Hommlet for the remains of the
          temple, but their search led instead to a ring of slavers.
          This quest took them to the Wild Coast, where they battled
          slavers of all description, and then eventually to the
          mountains to fight giants, and Drow.  Finally, they left the
          realm altogether to find and defeat a demoness in her own
          home.  After this, they retired to the lands south of
          Furyundy, where they lived in peace until the battle against
          Zuggtmoy, which is described below.  In that battle, all
          were slain except Farimer, who returned to keep peace in the
          lands and mourn his brethren.


          On the breaking of the Temple and the freeing of Zuggtmoy

                   A fledgling group of adventurures were the first to
          stumble upon the Temple.  During the course of its
          exploration, they became experienced veterans.  During the
          course of their exploration, the group came upon Kron and
          freed him from the sleep of death into which he had been
          placed.  He went off into the countryside to seek things
          that he could understand.  When they finally came upon the
          demoness who had been imprisoned there, it is likely that
          they could have defeated her, as she was in a weakened
          state.  However, she fooled them with her illusions into
          thinking that she had been destroyed.  When they broke the
          gates that had bound her in, she escaped upon the world and
          drew to herself a horde of demons.

                   The party now withdrew to the Temple of Bahamut in
          Furyundy.  This temple had been founded by a member of the
          party, who was himself the first high priest of Bahamut.  It
          was at this time that Kron rejoined them.

                   Meanwhile, Allanon and his group, along with the
          paladin and others from the group that had set the demonness
          free, went forth into the world to find and slay the hordes
          of demons.  From this battle only a very few returned, but
          the demons were held at bay.

                   It was discovered that there existed artifacts that
          could be used to bind the demonness and send her back to her
          plane.  The group, including Kron, set off in search of this
          place and found that it was the lair of the wizard who
          called Lamdor grandfather.  There they found Lamdor and
          freed him from the stasis field that had captured him.  In a
          long and hard battle, they all defeated and slew the mage
          and all of his evil minions.  They gained the artifact that
          would slay the demoness, and the high priest went off and
          did the deed, although he was himself slain in the battle.


          Of the rediscovery of the artifacts and the undersea mage

                   The survivors of the battle each went their own way
          and sought their own fortune.  Later, Kron was with a group
          who found a boat containing artifacts of the Kretin era.  A
          study of the artifacts and consultation with the last
          remaining sage that knew of the era revealed the location of
          the original city founded by those that later became the
          Drow.

                   Lamdor set forth with two of the companions from
          the Temple, a human mage named Oni and a drow thief/cleric
          named Ayla.  These three faced three Liches in an underwater
          city.  It was in this battle that Lamdor discovered the way
          to destory Liches.  Also in this journey were discovered the
          Kretin kings' artifacts, which Lamdor took as his own.  He
          now lives at the bottom of the sea, scrying with his crystal
          ball and seeking new forms of power.  Having attained his
          victory over death, he also seeks secretly to be rid of his
          familiar Fred and to unlock the secrets of time travel.  He
          watches over those that he once travelled with, especially
          Ayla, to make sure that no great harm comes to them.
          However, his vigilance for those besides Ayla has grown
          slack as he delves into his research and travels to find
          answers to the questions he still holds.


          Of the downfall of the Scarlet Brotherhood

                   Ayla went back to her temple after this adventure
          and rejoiced, for she had obtained from Lamdor his cloak
          that caused others to be unable to strike first in any
          combat.  With the aid of this cloak, and a companion known
          as the Weapons' Master, she could finally achieve her life's
          ambition.  At first, her temple engaged in guerrilla warfare
          with the members of the Scarlet Brotherhood.  When several
          of the Brotherhood's best assassins had failed to return
          after trying to slay Ayla, they sent a large contingent
          against her temple.  At the same time, her temple emptied
          itself and led an assault on the stronghold of the
          Brotherhood, completely destroying it and putting a stop
          once and for all to the assassins and monks that were bred
          there.

                   The leaders of the Brotherhood, who had been off in
          search of Ayla, formed themselves into a new group, known as
          the Hunters.  They have been recruiting followers to this
          group, which goes about finding those who have bounty on
          their heads.  Group members will not risk their lives to
          protect their operations, but they seek to keep things
          quiet.  Each member of the group is proficient in using
          darts as a weapon, and each a skilled at survival in the
          wilderness.  Beyond this, there does not seem to be any
          restriction placed on members.  Every member is marked by a
          symbol of a dart centered on a target.  This tattoo appears
          on the right shoulder.  Meanwhile, Ayla has gone back to
          leading her rebuilt temple and the Weapons' Master is
          rumored to be scouring the countryside, hunting the leaders
          of the Hunters.


          Of the war with Goeff and related events

                   It had been ten years since the downfall of the
          Brotherhood when our tale comes back around to the elves,
          specifically to those woodland elves living on the western
          boundary of the settled lands.

                   Two half-elves named Zipper and Elf-twin set off to
          find what they could about the lands of their human
          heritage.  What they found instead was the trail of a
          unicorn that was being followed by a band of humanoids.
          While following this and similar trails they joined forces
          with Bloodwart, a half-troll warrior and his pet, a baby
          noble Asperii.  The group found that the unicorns were being
          captured in special nets and carried off by flying,
          poison-spitting steeds with skeletal riders in exchange for
          gold.  They sought aid from several elven villages and set
          out in search of the unicorns.  After defeating a band of
          humanoids led by an ogre, they captured one of the nets of
          anti-magic, and a map to what they took to be the place that
          the unicorns were being taken.

                   At this point, the group found more volunteers from
          among the villages and sought the aid of a human who claimed
          that he could get them into the keep shown on the map
          without a struggle.  Since the group only half-trusted this
          newcomer, zipper was made invisible before the group rode
          into the keep.  It turned out that the human was the son of
          the Duke of Goeff, and that the Duke was allied with the
          mage who styled himself 'Malamar the Magnificent' who was
          the holder of the keep.  While the Duke's son turned his
          companions over to the mage and his orc archers, Zipper
          climbed the walls of the keep and came upon the mage from
          behind.  In the battle that soon ensued, Zipper threw the
          net over Malimar, rendering him all but helpless.  One of
          the village elves, Gustav, three illusory balls of fire at
          the orcs until all were unconsious or slain.  Zipper slew
          the helpless mage, and those in the courtyard displatched
          the Duke's son and the ogres that rushed forth to do battle.
          After the battle, the bard of the party was slain by an
          explosive trap.  The party tried in vain to heal the bard,
          but in the end all that could be done was to reincarnate him
          as the sturdy dwarven fighter whose name translates to
          'Iron-Axe.'

                   Once the battle was over, it was discovered that
          Malamar had been capturing Unicorns, Aperii, Pegasi, and
          Nightmares to merge them into the dread creature known as
          the 'firecorn'.  He then sold these abominations, along with
          skeletal riders, to the Duke of Goeff.  The Duke was raising
          an army of humanoids from the surrounding mountains in order
          to do battle with the elves and the surrounding countries.

                   The battles had been seen by the scrying mages of
          Goeff, and a reward was set for the heads of the group that
          had slain the Duke's son.  Until the Duchy was thrown down,
          and perhaps even after, the enmity of the Duke was won by
          the group.  For this reason, Zipper changed his name to
          Zephyr, that he might not be so easily known.  Nonetheless,
          he was at one time captured by a group of Hunters, only to
          be rescued later by his compatriots.

                   Elf-twin became possessed by the spirit of the old
          elven king and rallied all of the elves in the forest into a
          force that would go against the Duke.  After this, the party
          travelled to the surrounding forests and human lands in
          order to gather forces to rally against the Duke and his
          humanoid minions.  Once this was accomplished, they set out
          to find a way to destroy the firecorns.

                   Their search led them north to the city of
          Thornward, where Zipper (now Zephyr) made the acquaintance
          of the mage Aster.  Together, Zephyr and this mage found the
          formula for creation of a wand that would cause the
          firecorns to revert to their prior form.  They were joined
          in their quest at this time by one of Aster's own
          apprentices, named Griswald.  In exchange for items that the
          party retrieved for him, Aster agreed to fashion the wand.
          This the party took back to the elves, who used it to turn
          the onslaught of the Duke's troops back into his own lands.
          They had been joined by Kron, who now sought learning in the
          arts of magic, as his forefathers had done.

                   The party set out again, this time to return with
          the Heart Ruby of Camaar, a stone that gives its bearer the
          healing powers of a high priest.

                   At this point, Bloodwart went back to his home with
          his friend the Asperii and Zephyr chose to stay with the
          elven council to use his status as a war hero to lead the
          troops to victory.  Kron went off into the lands of the
          humanoids and was not seen again for almost six months,
          although tales of his passing were occasionally told by
          elven patrols who had found humanoid bodies strewn about the
          countryside.

                   The remaining party members were joined by Oni, who
          now sought to be a thief.  They went and slew a dragon that
          had been helping the Duke.  Once this quest was over, Oni
          left again to parts unknown.

                   The party was joined by an elven bard, a halfling
          thief, and an elven thief along the next part of their
          journey, where they pursuaded the villages of the Duchy of
          Goeff to rebel, and in doing so allowed the easy capture of
          the town of Hochoch by the elves, thus sealing their control
          of the eastern part of that land.  After stopping a plague
          in the city and solving a mysterious crime wave, the party
          was granted the deed to a tower in the city.  Once it was
          clear that the elves had the upper hand in the area, all of
          the party set out to help a small village that was being
          attacked by insane monsters.

                   Once it was clear that the Duke was overthrown, he
          fled from the battle and has not been seen since.  The elves
          worked to rebuild their ravished forests and have since even
          expanded their borders.  The Duchy is in the hands of its
          citizens, but it is still under the watchful eye of the
          elven council.


	Of Gralthorn

		For centuries, the land to the west of the mountains
	had been prosperous and ever growing.  The mages of that land
	were well known for their prowess, but not so much for their
	wisdom.  One of the most powerful and least wise was Balthor,
	Keeper of Spirits.  Much of Balthor's power came from his large
	collection of spirit slaves, which he had searched the planes
	in search of.  Many feared his power, and what he would do with
	it.

		Balthor himself viewed all his power and conquests as
	merely practice, for he harbored a secret goal - the domination
	of a Demon Lord.  And now he thought he had practiced enough...
	After sending his apprentice away for the night, Balthor went to
	his tower.  There he opened the small cask and once again read
	over the scroll it contained with the lens that he had constructed.
	This scroll was his last defence: in case he could not control
	the Demon he called, Balthor had prepared this scroll which would
	banish the fiend back to its own plane for a thousand years.

		Tucking the scroll back into its case, Balthor began the
	long and arduous incantation to open a doorway between this world
	and the next.  He did not call on the strength of the lesser spirits
	under his control - those he was saving for the final confrontation
	that would lead to his ultimate goal.  Long into the night he
	chanted until finally a small crack appeared in the wall.  As
	Balthor continued, the crack opened wider and wider.  Rather than
	revealing the outside world, however, the crack showed a scene
	of fire and formlessness - chaos incarnate.

		Calling now upon the strength of his spirit servants,
	Balthor called through the crack, "Gralthorn, Lord of Chaos,
	come and meet your master!"  Indeed, Gralthorn did come - 
	reaching out of the crack came his huge hand, knocking Balthor
	to the floor.  Balthor called on his spirits, only to find that
	they had been usurped by Gralthor, whose presence spelled a return
	to their old way of life, a return from this cold, stable world
	they found themselves marooned on.  Balthor tried to reach the
	cask to reach the scroll, but the fury of Gralthorn was too much.
	He tried in vain to close the breach with magic - lightning,
	fire, cold - all to no avail.  Drained of his strength, Balthor
	was clutched in the huge claw of Gralthorn and dragged screaming
	through the crack.

		Hearing the noise, the apprentice came running up the
	stairs and burst into the room just in time to see his master
	pulled through the breach.  The apprenticed opened the cask
	to find the scroll, but was thrown against the far wall by the
	force of the gap slamming closed once again.  When he awoke,
	the apprentice took the cask and all its contents and left the
	city, travelling to the lands far to the east over the mountains.

		Gralthorn examined his new slave - the man seemed to have
	some power about him, though nothing to match the strength of a
	Demon Lord.  Still, the man had given him many new spirit servants
	and, after more or less pain, would be a slave himself.  "Awake,"
	Gralthorn thought at the man.

		Balthor felt his brain explode in fire, bringing him out
	of his stupor.  He sought to close his thoughts, pull into himself,
	but it was useless against the probing power of the mind that
	sought to dominate him.  After a few brief moments, he found himself
	sinking into oblivion, giving over his thoughts, fears, and
	memories to the will that drowned him in its strength.

		Gralthorn roared with rage as he learned the actions
	and plans of this puny human.  The man had planned to capture
	him and make mighty Gralthorn his slave!  Not only this, but
	he had fashioned a scroll that might have power over Gralthorn,
	that could trap him in his castle for a millenium!  If another
	Demon Lord got hold of that scroll, then indeed would Gralthorn
	suffer.  With a toss and a thought, he dispersed the form of the
	mage into chaos and then set to work re-opening the gate to
	that cursed other plane wherein lie the scroll, seeking to find
	it and destroy it at all costs.

		The people of the land did not know of all that had
	happened in the tower.  Time passed so much more quickly on
	their plane that all they knew was that Balthor and his apprentice
	had both vanished and his tower had been abaondoned for almost
	a year, when suddenly the wave crashed upon them...

		It all began one night with a horrible scream of rage
	that emanated from Balthors abandoned keep.  The roar was so
	loud as to awaken all the people of the town.  The most
	frightening thing about the roar was that it was heard even by
	the deaf.  After the scream, people became strange... more and
	more of the cityfolk wandered around as if in a daze, always
	searching, searching... The town guard was sent to stop the
	people from looting, to try and find the cause for this.
	Meanwhile, everyone was suffering from strange and terrifying
	nightmares.

		The wave of destruction spread outward across the
	great land.  City after city fell to the wave of zombies who
	searched.  City after city was burned to the ground by
	Gralthorn's rage as the scroll was not found.  The wave spread
	outward, turning all the bright and glorious lands into a
	burning desert, spread all the way to the mountains before it
	was stopped.  Even Gralthorn could not extend his direct
	control any further.  Those few of the zombies that remained
	were sent over the mountains to continue their search, and
	Gralthorn sent his mind spinning ever further in search of
	weak and malleable minds to do his bidding - and in search of
	ways to extract his revenge on this world that had created
	the scroll...

		Mirialle awoke from her dreaming with a renewed sense
	of purpose.  She had finally found what she had been secretly
	seeking all along!  She had found one with the power to help
	her extract revenge on all those who mocked her and belittled
	her for so long!  Gralthorn would help her, and he shared her
	desires to bring pain and reprisal for misdeeds.  Together they
	would build their place of revenge.  It was only a year later,
	as she put her own child to the sword, that Marialle realized
	her mistake in giving herself over to Gralthorn.  The more she
	drew upon his power, the more she lost her own will.  With this
	last act, she knew that she was his slave as surely as these
	others were her own slaves.

		Mirialle had wrought well during that year.  With the
	power the Gralthorn had given her she had raised a temple of
	hatred and pain, where people were kept in cages and forces
	to fight for the entertainment of Mirialle and her master.
	The terror and hopelessness they felt were the meat and drink
	to feed the hatred that burned deep in the desert.  The only
	mar in the smooth running was that their champion gladiator
	had escaped one night, killing several guards and priests and
	then getting away clean.  This was especially disturbing
	because he was supposed to be drugged into obedience.

		The gladiator, Arskog, had indeed escaped.  He was
	guided by dreams to meet with others and driven by a quest
	to seek out a tower and a scroll.  Knowing nothing of such
	things, he sought out companions to aid in the search.  He
	knew that when he did succeed, he could finally rid himself
	of the golden chain that had once tied him to the cell wall.
	Nothing he tried could break the chain.  Those he asked
	about it told him it was imbued with some sort of spirit,
	some part of a much stronger entity.

		Those who joined the gladiator on his search: Kron,
	Zephyr, Elftwin, fighers Wes and Max, and (???) went in
	search of a canyon that was told of in an ancient map they
	saw only in a vision.  While traversing the canyon, they
	caught a small rabbit that was hopping determinedly towards
	the far end of the canyon, and was stopped only when they
	put it to sleep.  It seemed in a daze.  While travelling the
	canyon, the group began to have nightmares and strange urges
	that they fought against with difficulty.  At the end of
	the canyon, they found a yard full of bones surrounded by
	a fence.  In the center of the yard was a small building
	with stairs descending into darkness.

		The yard was full to knee-depth with the bones of
	dead creatures of all types.  There were also zombie-like
	and skeletal guardians aplenty.  During the search, the
	party found a strange scroll and a lens that made the
	writing on the scroll readible.  It seemed to be some sort
	of dismissal spell, though not like any other know.  The
	lens also revealed that Arskog's chains glowed with the same
	power that emanated from the scroll.  They were also faced
	with illusions of fire and of a huge and angry creature
	that demanded they leave the scroll alone.

		Ignoring the demand, the party took the scroll back
	to the surface where they saw that a party of warriors,
	priests, and mages had gathered outside the walls of the
	boneyard.  The newcomers demanded the scroll and promised
	to pay well.  The party opted to keep the scroll and ended
	up riding for their lives after sneaking out invisibly and
	stealing the horses from the other party.

		No matter where the party went or how they covered
	their tracks, the were beset at every turn by ambushes.  Some
	were zombie-like creatures with blank stares that sought
	to kill the party and others were groups of humans that
	sought to capture them.  After almost a month of being chased
	from place to place, the party returned to the elven woodland,
	where they learned a little of the origin of the scroll.  They
	then set out for the desert in an attempt to put and end the
	their persecutor once and for all.

		Passing once over the ancient tower on a magic carpet,
	the party noted several large undead lizard-creatures that
	would crawl up out of the sand.  They noted an entrance at the
	base of the tower and went to make plans for an assault the next
	day.  After battling numerous zombie creatures to reach their
	way to the top, the party put up all the protective magic they
	had and read the scroll.  As the final words were spoken, a
	horrible fading wail of rage and frustration was heard fading
	off into the distance and a large opening into another plane
	slammed shut, leaving the group in silence.  With the spirit
	force torn from them, Arskog's chains split and fell to the
	floor, breaking the silence and setting the party once more into
	motion - this time back to the forest for a well-earned rest.

-- 
He who follows a path perpetuates that path.
Practice random kindness and sensless acts of beauty.