BLOOD AND SOULS FOR MY LORD ARIOCH : ELRIC OF MELNIBONE

WAYNE'S WORLD

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Necklace of Brisingamen

Where the machinations of the god of mischief and strife are unravelled and the nature of good and evil creates ethical dilemmas. The morality of justice can be a two edged sword when what is taken for fact may be fiction.

Winter 2,306 Meldigian Reckoning

The party had found a scrap of broken parchment in the Vault of Acerak the Demi-lich which spoke of an association between the Village of Stonehelm and the hiding place of the Necklace of Brisingamen; an artefact owned by the goddess Freya that was lost in a battle with the god of mischief and strife – Loki.

The party took this information to Willard the Sage to see what information could be garnered about this item, the village and the history surrounding it. Willard returned with a great host of accounts of the events surrounding the loss of this item much of which he discredited as been fanciful embellishments. In essence the story goes as follow:

"The high priest of the temple of Freya in Stonehelm had received a vision of the forces of Loki battling with those of his goddess. In this battle both Loki and Freya battled amongst their armies but alas the trickery of Loki prevailed and Freya’s host was destroyed. Freya fled the battle and place the magical artefact; the Necklace of Brisingamen, into the hands of the high priest to hide and guard with his soul. Upon awakening the high priest found in his right hand a beautiful blue gem and thus knew his dream was in fact reality. The priest then set about his task and hid the gem deep in the earth where only he knew. Some years later the village of Stonehelm was attacked by a vast hoard and to defeat this immense enemy the high priest summoned a huge earthquake that destroyed not only the invading host by the village as well.

Years later the village was rebuilt and treasure seekers arrived searching for the necklace but naught was found. Many decades later a flight of steps was found descending into the earth at the site of the destroyed Temple of Freya where a new shrine had been built. These adventurers descended into the earth never to be seen again. After the opening of this subterranean entrance strange noises started to be heard at night and disappearances of livestock and villages started. This led to the demolition of the shrine and sealing and blessing of the stairs into the earth. The site of the temple was barricaded and many years later a new temple was built close by. The village of Stonehelm however never regained its past glory and is shunned by many as a place of ill repute and its inhabitants reflect this reputation."

The party decided to set off to the Village of Stonehelm which is located in the far reaches of the East Province of the Kingdom of Meldigia in the desolate moorlands that span the countryside near the Last Hills. After two weeks of travelling by horse (and by Chariot for Swiftsword) the party reach the village and head to the Inn to seek lodgings and information.

Pharin decides to immediately commune with nature and it is revealed that a stream runs beneath the town (redirected underground as a result of the earthquake) as well as a powerful unnatural creature. The party is thus warned that trouble is about. The enquiries start with a half drunk Dwarf named Bellar who is questioned whilst plied with drinks. Though no firm information is given some local history and knowledge of the locals is garnered. Amongst this is the recent murder and mutilation of an unknown person not far from the village. More questioning of patrons occurs however the queries are replied by curt responses or suspicious looks. The party decides that evasive answers are all they will get and decide to use first detection of evil spells on all the patrons followed by ESP whilst making there enquiries. Chutikik identifies several of sufficient evil to be detected which immediately put the party on alert that agents of Loki may be active in the village. Caldo casts an ESP whilst Chutikik decides to question the serving wenches who were revealed to be evil. (Sharla and Felia) All sorts of highly suspicious thoughts cross the minds of these girls whilst questioned and dark murderous looks and thoughts were directed at Chutikik and the party. The name of the Miler and his son, Ferrano and Wynch, are divested as been involved .In addition the suspected tunnels under the village are confirmed as well as the presence of others involved in the evil machinations happening in Stonehelm. The party then decide to pay the Miller a visit and find only the son at the mill. He reacts with hostility (not surprising as he was immediately insulted for his half orcish ugliness by Chutikik) and demands the party leave under threat of violence and retribution. Wynch shuts the mill door and observed by the invisible Swiftsword is seen to be listening to the departure of the party with an envenomed blade in his hand. An assassin!. The party the return to the Inn and soon after Wynch also appears and further hostilities are exchanged. In the meantime one of the evil serving girls had managed to slip out of the Inn whilst the party was distracted. The party then decides to perform a house by house evil detection of the village which is done by Chutikik and Ankara. A number of evil people are noted been Shoeba (proprietor of the General Store), an Acolyte of the Temple of Freya, Wynch the Millers son and Tarataff the Tailor. The Millar Ferrano cannot be found nor the Mayor who the party had tried to find. The party also meet the half elf Anoa who seems to be worried and suspicious of the goings on in the village.

Tension mounts through the afternoon and more ESP’ing reveals the hatching of plans to watch and possibly the elimination of the party if they continue with their investigations. Wynch slips out of the Inn and is seen in the company of Sharla going to the Millers house. The party followed and attempted through Clairaudience to hear what was said inside. Nothing is heard so Swiftsword picks the lock. The house is deserted however a door leading to a room is magically trapped which damages Swiftsword. In this room is found a trapdoor in the floor. Caldo cast a FireTrap on the door to this room and Pharin a Whisperward to alert the party if Wynch passes through. The party then retire to the Inn to rest and regain spells except for Thoros who is stationed in the taproom and Swiftsword who remains hidden invisibly outside.

Night falls and the Whisperward is triggered alerting the party to the movements of Wynch. Swiftsword using the Lens of Trueseeing spots Wynch, the sisters Sharla and Felia as well as the Mayor all who were invisible and all but the Mayor are armed and armoured. These three sneak up an alley opposite the inn and Swiftsword follows briefly before racing back to the inn to raise the alarm. The party follow and through the use of Detect Invisibility from the top of the Temple of Freya tower and True Seeing the positions of the evil NPC’s are noted. The are obviously setting up some sort of ambush so the party position themselves to strike first. The battle is opened with the use of Dimensional Folding to create a portal into the Manor where the Mayor is lurking. Ankara and Thoros lead this assault. Caldo launches a Fireball into the trees in the centre of the town square where the sisters Sharla and Felia are standing. Swiftsword has crept into an abandoned building in which Wynch is hiding and decapitates him in one massive back attack. During the battle the mayor changes form into a Fire Giant (which was not revealed by True Seeing) and the sisters are revealed as powerful Clerics. Despite this the evil NPC’s are soon vanquished. During the fight the owners of the general store plus their cousin slip out the back of the Inn. The husband (Carwyn) starts casting a spell which is observed by Pharin who is sneaking around in the form of a large rat. He casts Produce Flame and sets Carwyn’s clothes alight. The cousin and wife end up in a fight with Pharin which is soon joint by the rest of the party. The cousin is sorely wounded and knocked unconscious whilst the wife Shoeba is captured. During the fight the husband disappears. Shoeba is taken to the Manor for questioning and the bodies and equipment of those slain are also taken there also. The party is also joined during this process by a sword clad stranger named Falcon. After questioning Shoeba admits to been a bad and evil person but says she and her husband have been pressed into the Loki cult on threat of all non worshippers been taken to the sacrificial alter. When asked why she and her husband attacked the party she replies truthfully that it was Pharin that attacked them first and they were simply trying to make themselves invisible so they could flee the village unobserved now that the Mayor, Wynch, Sharla and Felia were dead.

The party detects magic on the items held by the vanquished and many magic items are found including a necklace worn by the Mayor, Caveran. Swiftsword tries it on but it immediately commenced to strangle him and cannot be removed by strength or dispel magic. As Swiftsword his gasping for air Caldo casts from a scroll an Anti-Magic Sphere which prevents all magic from operating in its area of effect unless of artefact power. With this the necklace falls slack and can be removed from Swiftswords neck and he is saved from certain strangulation.

The party decides that it is time to round up suspected members of the cult and conduct a door to door search and arrest program through the night. During the search the no trace can be found of the shopkeeper Carwyn who had fled earlier nor of the miller Ferrano. The party wishes to arrest Balsby the Tanner but are dissuaded by his daughter Anoa, the Half-Elven sword maid. When the party seeks access to the Temple of Freya they knock loudly on the front doors whilst Swiftsword and Thoros climb the compound walls and seek Entrance through an unlocked side door. No one responds in the first few minutes so Swiftsword enters the temple. Whilst in the temple the acolyte Sevin appears and challenges Swiftsword about his intrusion to the temple. Swiftsword ignores her demands and opens the temple doors to allow the rest of the party in. In the meantime Caldo on the Broom of Flying does a visual sweep of the area and sees the apparently evil acolyte Helksar dropping from the temple roof and fleeing. He flies back to the temple Entrance to alert the party then flies high to see if he can spot her movements. She is seen in the shadowy light scaling the wall surrounding the old temple area (the site of the cursed and destroyed old Temple of Freya). Caldo stops her in her tracks with a massive bolt of lightening that leaves Helksar as a smoking corpse amongst the wreckage of the fence.

Soon afterwards grisly creatures are seen feasting on her well done body so Caldo attacks again with a magic missile. The ghouls flee – some back to where they came from but the rest into the village and the night. The party immediately attempts to follow them and destroy the ghouls that were now near the rear of the Inn and also track others to an isolated farmhouse which are also destroyed. Caldo repairs the breach in the fence with a Wall of Stone. The party then returned to the temple to explain what has happened to Sevin and seek an audience with the high priestess Aslani Curadoer. Unfortunately Sevin cannot be swayed to believe that her friend and fellow devote Helksar was evil and accuses the party of her murder. The party however believes that theirs was the hand of righteousness as evidenced by her fleeing to the old temple area. Sevin cannot explain such actions but is unswayable in her belief that even if Helksar had somehow fallen in with the evil cult of Loki it must surely have been through trickery or extortion and thus Helksar should simply have been retained not executed so that she could have redeemed herself and found the path of light again – not payed the ultimate price – an eternity of damnation. The high priestess is summoned however her behaviour seems erratic and the party is asked to return in the morning in accordance with their original appointment.

The party then takes their prisoners to the deserted Stonehelm keep where they are disarmed and locked in the base of one of the Keep’s towers. Further questioning of the prisoners ensues and it is discovered that entrances top the underground complex not only exist in the Miller’s house but also in the Mayor’s house and the old Temple Area. Through Speaking with the Dead it is discovered that the safest access to the complex can be found through the old temple area. (But safest for whom!)

The next day after resting and relearning spells the party (along with Falcon) go to visit the High Priestess. It is soon apparent that she is senile so the party then enter the old temple area and find the stone valves leading into the ground. The party descends down a stairwell and into an earthen cavern in which stands the top of the bell tower of the old temple. This radiates a sense of good. From here the party commences investigating the temple complex and find a room containing a statue of Loki and Freya in mortal combat. Upon a tablet at the base of the statue are words describing the battle between Loki and Freya over the Necklace of Brisingamen. Beyond here the party have an encounter with some illusionary guards then avoid a dangerous collapsing ceiling trap. From here they find the Temple of Loki and nearby some temple guards who are attacked and devastated with a fireball that also engulfs half the party. The survivors continue to fight however once their leader is killed the rest surrender and claim they were charmed. The party open a dimensional folding portal to the town of Riverstone to get rid of them but also tell them that if they seek employment as soldiers to report to Little Boy Mountain.

The party continue their exploration and encounter some steam mephits in a strange steam filled room containing a pool of boiling water. From here a large room tiled in 10’ square stone slabs is found that has only a single safe path across the trapped slabs. From here a stairway winding deeper into the earth is found.

The party continues their exploration and discovers the abode of Vermoth the Vampire. They attack Vermoth however he assumes gaseous form. No to be thwarted Pharin casts a Wind Servant Spell and Vermoth is forced with this through a Dimensional Folding portal into the sunlight above and destroyed.

The party continue and find the main temple area of the sunken Temple of Freya. Within is a stairwell leading back up to the bell tower found earlier and the whole area is protected by emanations of good. The party decides to rest here and recover spells and also attempt to scry for the missing Carwyn. He is scried in the chamber before the Old Temple of Freya but he cannot be seen – presumably he is invisible. The party decide to attack him and sally forth down the corridor leading to this chamber. A powerful Glyph or Warding is triggered but the party continues onwards with Ankara in the lead. Yet another glyph is triggered and then Ankara is attacked by Lich. At the same time Carwyn becomes visible at the end of the corridor but quickly steps out of view. Ankara is convinced that the Lich is illusionary and attempts to disbelieve it whilst continuing his charge down the corridor. He successfully disbelieves the Lich which disappears. (it was in fact a Phantasmal Killer that existed only in Ankara’s mind and could easily have slain him if he has not disbelieved) Ankara now enters the chamber beyond and is attacked by several mummies that were invisible. The Loki high priest, Ferrano, also appears and attempts a touch attack on Ankara but fails to score a hit. (The spell was Slay Living). Shortly afterwards the air is filled with Hypnotic swirling patterns and some of the party fall under this enchantment and cease to fight. Chutikik attempts to turn the mummies and succeeds with all but one. The fight continues and ghouls scramble from the loose earthen walls which are also turned by Chutikik. The fleeing ghouls dig an opening into a long corridor and flee down this only to be destroyed by a lightening bolt cast by Caldo. With the ghouls and mummies either fled or slain the parties attacks soon focus on Ferrano and Carwyn. Ferrano is killed and Carwyn is stunned by Thoros. The party then retreat to the old Temple of Freya and revive Carwyn for questioning. Carwyn reveals that the cult has now been decimated and was trying to gain access to the Necklace of Brisingamen which is apparently in a deeper level of the complex but protected by powerful creatures. The party also learns of a powerful mummy that resides in the upper level of the complex near the Entrance to the Miller’s house.

The party head back up to destroy the mummy but on the way cast the bound Carwyn into an underground stream. To their vast amusement he is attacked by a school of hungry Quippers and floats away in an expanding cloud of blood. The party then find a room containing a pedestal on which is a beating pulsating heart enclosed in a dome of glass. Inscribed here are the words "Here lies the lifeblood of Arun-al-Cosack, servant of Loki, in which rests his soul for all eternity, forever living, but never alive". Beyond this is a decorative room containing five sarcophagi. It is decided that Chutikik will smash the glass and Ankara will then cleave the heart in twain. Upon the glass breaking the pedestal is enclosed in a wall of force and mummies rise from the sarcophagi and attack the party. The mummy from the most ornate sarcophagi also has a glowing red gem embedded in its skull – presumably this one is Arun-al-Cosack. Chutikik attempts to turn the mummies and though he is infused with the power of Odin he fails to turn the undead. A battle ensues and it is discovered that the main mummy is also a spellcaster and regenerates. Some of the party flee in terror while the rest fight. Caldo cast a dispel magic on the Wall of Force and Pharin then accesses the heart through the pedestal using a Stone Shape spell. The heart is destroyed and the mummy of Arun-al-Cosack crumbles to dust. The rest of the mummies are then soon destroyed.

The party then decides to head back to the lower level and tries to find and retrieve the Necklace of Brisingamen. From the corridor in which the ghouls were lightning bolted a strange fire filled chamber spanned by a broken bridge was found and also another strange fungus filled chamber which detected for traps. The party decided to cross the fire filled pit by use of the broom of flying and found that the corridor beyond reconnected with that going through the fungus filled room. The corridor then changed character from dressed stone to a natural tunnel that turned to the right to descend on rough-hewn stairs. The party advanced and was attacked by a Xorn that erupted out of the stone passage wall. Luckily the Xorn did not surprise the party and they were able to quickly defeat it.

The party wound down the long stairwell to emerge in a large cavern. On the other side of the cavern was a passage exiting the chamber but standing guard here was a Stone Golem with gems for eyes. Swiftsword attempted to gouge the gems from the golems face but it attacked. The party then destroyed the golem and headed down the next passage. This again wound down deep into the earth to a doorway. This was opened to reveal a plushly furnished room with golden double doors beyond. Within the room was a Naga that would allow none to pass. The party detected evil upon the Naga and none could be found. The Naga was engaged in conversation and it revealed that it guarded the Necklace of Brisingamen and none could pass save Freya herself. The party discussed their options and Pharin suggested a snake charm be used so the Naga could be by-passed. To ensure success of the spell Chutikik cast Divination, which revealed that the spell would meet with success. This was done and the party then crossed the room to whilst the Naga was held in a hypnotic trance.

The golden doors beyond detected magical traps that upon closer study were revealed to activate if they were passed through upon exit from the room beyond. The doors were opened to reveal another chamber, this one lit with continual light and carpeted throughout. Suspended by magic in the air hung a fantastically beautiful necklace set with a single huge blue gem. Across the room sat a bed and from this rose a ghostly apparition holding a material mace. Caldo used a telekinesis spell to bring the Necklace to his hand without crossing the threshold of the room and thus the Necklace of Brisingamen was obtained without having to kill neither the good Naga guardian or the Spirit of the long dead High Priest defending it.

The party then decided to return to the room containing the statues of Freya and Loki, but not before ransacking the Naga’s treasure. In the statue room the Necklace was placed in the open hand of the Freya statue and immediately both statues animated. Upon doing so a surge of power flowed through Freya infusing the goddess with supernatural strength. Loki’s face twisted with wonder as Freya calmly smiled and then struck Loki in the face causing the god of strife and mischief to be hurled across the room. Freya then bombarded Loki with the power of the Necklace keeping him down. Freya then chanted in some arcane tongue and Freya, Loki and the Necklace are gone.

From here the party return to the surface and have a visitation in their dreams that night by the goddess Freya offering each one wish.

[ Introduction ] [ Halls of Tizen Thane ] [ Trouble at Embertrees ] [ The Chagmat Spiderfolk of LBM ] [ Attack of the Fishmen Assassins ] [ The Desert Light ] [ A Dark Rising at Irilian ] [ A Wander in the Forest ] [ The Retaking of Blue Hills Keep ] [ The Valley of the Earth Mother ] [ The Battle of Dungaelen ] [ The Forest of Doom ] [ The Dragon Hunt ] [ The Wandering Trees ] [ The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun ] [ The Quest of the Great Oak ] [ The Sacking of Little Boy Mountain ] [ The Hunt for Zolta the Black ] [ The Abduction of Pharin ] [ Assault on the Githyanki Fortress ] [ The Githyanki Offensive ] [ White Plume Mountain ] [ Tomb of Horrors ] [ Necklace of Brisingamen ]

Credit : This adventure was based on "The Necklace of Brisingamen" by Graeme Drysdale that appeared in White Dwarf Magazine #xx 198x.