The Stone of An-Makeran

 A Khamen and Candorra Adventure - Part 1C of the Six Stones of Sorcery

Previously, the party consisting of our heroes Khamen and Candorra and their guide Abdul has descended to the lowest level of the tomb of An-Makeran.

They pass through a room (13) where the walls are writhing masses of human forms. These lost souls are moaning in agony. The sight is so chilling that our heroes' hearts are filled with fear (causes penalty on attacks)

In the next room (14), they discover a portal. They had been forewarned by a friendly ghost (in room 8) so they skirt away from the portal. But a demon jumps out and attacks Abdul. He is able to dodge and Candorra shoots it. It turns on Candorra. As it turns, Abdul strikes it. Stung by the attacks of our heroes, the demon retreats through the portal.

Finally, the party reaches the room of An-Makeran (15). As they enter the room, the mummy rises from its sarcophagus.

It lunges at Khamen, but he dodges and strikes. Candorra empties her quiver into the mummy, but it seems un-phased by the arrows. It begins lashing out wildly at our heroes, knocking Abdul and Khamen to their feet. He then grabs Candorra by the neck and begins choking her. She struggles but cannot break his grip. As her strength waned, she manages to croak out a spell. A ball of fire explodes into the mummy's face. It drops her and spins around, trying to put out the flames. At this point, Khamen rushes up and with a mighty blow strikes off the mummy's head.

OK, I changed things around a bit for dramatic effect. For example, Candorra actually fireballed the mummy near the beginning of the battle, before it seriously wounded her.

With their victory, they return to the djinn (11). He gives them a key.

"Wait," Khamen complains. "You were supposed to give us the Stone."

"That is the key to the Stone. Go to the treasure room on the level above and claim your prize."

The party goes to the treasure room (5). There are 4 skeletal guardians, but our heroes manage to cut them down easily. And there, in a coffer, they find the Stone of An-Makeran, first of the Stones of Sorcery.

Deeper into the Tomb of An-Makeran

 A Khamen and Candorra Adventure - Part 1C of the Six Stones of Sorcery

Khamen, Candorra, and their guide Abdul continue to search for the Stone of Sorcery in the pyramid tomb of An-Makeran.

Having survived a ghoul attack, they descend to a room (6) with walls made of bones. 

As they pass through, skulls begin biting and arms begin rending at them. One clawed arm rakes Abdul across his face while another sinks its nails into his leg. Khamen and Candorra smash the bones with the pommels of their swords.

They reach a locked door (5). Khamen fails to pick it, so they turn around, passing through an empty room (7) before descending to a library (11). As they enter, they hear a booming voice announce "Who goes there?!"

They draw their weapons and look around. A djinn materializes out of nowhere.

Candorra relaxes. "We are the adventurers who encountered you on the surface."

"You are mistaken," the djinn announces, " that is another of my kind. I am the Guardian of the Stone."

"The Stone?! You have it? We are on a quest to recover it for the Temple of the Maker." Candorra responds.

"You cannot have it. None may take it. Now begone or I shall have to slay you."

"Let's just kill him and take it," Khamen whispers.

"Shhh," Candorra replies, "you'll get us all killed."

She turns back to the djinn. "Please, the very fate of the world depends on us recovering the Stone!"

The djinn gives her a pitying look. "I would like to help, but I have been commanded to protect the Stone at all costs. I cannot disobey the command. Only the death of my master can free me."

"Who is your master?" Khamen interjects.

"An-Makeran himself. Lord and master of this temple."

Candorra announces, "Then we will confront An-Makeran and secure the Stone from him!"

Khamen mumbles, "Great, out of the frying pan and into the fire."

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They continue through the labyrinthian halls of the tomb. In the next room (10), Candorra gets picks up a cursed dagger from a diabolical altar. The dagger compels her to discard her other weapons. Entering a room (9) with jail cells, they are attacked by poltergeists. Abdul takes another wound. Then a friendly ghost (8) warns them about a dangerous portal.

They descend to the next level (12), where they encounter a lamia. 

It leaps upon Abdul, rending him mercilessly. Candorra stabs it with her dagger. It attacks her, but she beats a hasty retreat, allowing Abdul to rise. He strikes the creature. It lashes out at him, causing another wound. Khamen and Candorra then gang up on it, inflicting more wounds. It then flees through a secret passage.

Abdul is severely wounded, while the others have also been blooded. They decide to rest. Candorra uses the last healing potion on Abdul while she bandages all of their wounds. After a short respite, they steel themselves for the remaining challenges.

What horrors will they encounter? Find out next time!

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Game Notes

I kind of went old school with today's session. I did not use any figures or markers; just a pen, pad, and some dice. Sometimes I just want to roll dice without messing with miniatures, and RPGs let you do that.

Still using my RPG version of MicroBattle (I call this version MicroQuest).

The Tomb of An-Makeran

A Khamen and Candorra Adventure - Part 1C of the Six Stones of Sorcery

It has been a while, but let us take up once again the chronicle of Khamen and Candorra. We left them, along with their guide Abdul, at the entrance to the buried Tomb of An-Makeran.

The party enters the buried pyramid and begins to descend. 

Map from the Buried Pyramid of the Undergod 1 page dungeon

On the staircase (1), they are attacked by 4 jackal-headed humanoids. One bites Khamen before his comrades manage to overcome the pack.

In the first room (2), they are attacked by a giant scorpion. 

L to R: Khamen, Candorra, and Abdul

Once again, Khamen takes the brunt of the initial attack. He is stung and poisoned, but manages to resist the effects. They hack and slash at the creature, but have difficulty penetrating its thick chitin. They begin stabbing at the joints, finally doing some damage. It grabs Abdul with its pincers, but he then finishes it off.

Suddenly, screams echo from the floor below. They rush through the door and down the stairs to a room (3) for preparing the dead. There is a rack on one wall; a man is lashed to it while a zombie is taking bites out of his flesh. They rush into the room and hack the zombie down. They release the man, who falls to the ground while screaming "run!"

At that same moment, the rack swings upward, revealing the entrance to another room (4). Out of the blackness leaps a ghoulish figure in the tattered garments of priest. It grabs the cultist and tears of his head.

Surprised, out heroes leap back from the spurting blood. The ghoul grabs Abdul and tosses him across the room. Then it seizes Khamen and bites him on the shoulder. Candorra looses an arrow, smacking right into the ghouls head. The impact knocks it back. It then charges Candorra, but Khamen knocks it aside as it tries to rush past.

Khamen then leaps into the attack. His blade slices deeply into the ghoul's desiccated flesh. It hisses in anger and lashes with razor-sharp claws, raking the side of Khamen's face.

Now Candorra comes to the rescue. Unsheathing her sword, she slashes. The blow slices into the creature's neck, severing its head. The body collapses to the ground, twitches a few times, then stops moving.

As Abdul groggily rises from the floor, Candorra rushes to Khamen's side. She gives him a healing potion while she tends to his wounds.

"You need to stop doing that," she scolds him.

"What?"

"Putting yourself in the way of their attacks."

"OK, mom. I'll do better next time."

What does the rest of the tomb hold in store for our heroes? Find out next time!

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Game Notes:

I wanted to role some dice this weekend but was too lazy for a complete game. Instead, I decided to do a little roleplaying. It's been a year since I last posted about Khamen and Candorra; why not continue with their adventures?

As I mentioned, I was a bit lazy. I did not want to come up with a pyramid layout on my own so I did some internet searching. I found a one-page dungeon on Drivethrurpg (link is under the map). As it turns out, I was not keen on the encounters so I ended up improvising. Still, I like the map so decided to keep using it.

For rules, I used MicroBattle. I have an RPG variant, that seems to work well for fast-play gaming.

Finally, there is more to come (which you can tell from the map). I stopped early because the battle scene was so vivid in my mind that I wanted to record it before I forgot.

Rescue!

A One-Off Khamen and Candorra Adventure

Game Notes
A while back I had asked the Wargames Website for suggestions on 10mm fantasy figures. One suggestion was for Copplestone's heroes and halflings set. The figures did not really match the characters I was playing at the time so I passed. But now I wanted figures for Khamen (a thief) and Candorra (female elf); I found a couple of likely candidates in the Copplestone set so I figured I'd give them a try.

And here they are. Admittedly a bad paint job, but at a distance they do the job. Candorra on the left and Khamen on the right.

Now that I have figures for them, I wanted to give them a trial run. I have not finished the stats for the encounters in the next installment of the Stones of Sorcery campaign. Therefore, I decided to do a one-off (a "prequel" if you will). Once again I am using my tweaked version of Four Against Darkness.

Rescue from the Reavers
The daughter of the local magistrate has been kidnapped by reavers, a band of marauding orcs and hobgoblins. Khamen and Candorra have been tasked with rescuing the child.

The reavers have holed up in a nearby network of caverns.

Khamen and Candorra are met with hobgoblin guards (1). The villains are dispatched with alacrity.

"They have a cave troll." (2) Khamen kills it and Candorra dices it into pieces so it cannot regenerate.

They pass through winding corridors (2-3) to an empty room (4). They have to turn around.

Back into the entry hall (1), they run into a wandering monster - a catoblepas! Its gaze wounds both our heroes before they can dispatch it.
I swear that's a catoblepas! It only looks like a manticore to the untrained eye. ;)

Actually, I have taken a generic approach to monsters so that I don't need a large collection. I use the manticore as a stand-in for any large, 4-legged monster. That's also why the monsters are painted black; they're intended to be generic.

From the entry hall, they proceed down the right hand corridor (5). Both take wounds from vampire bats. After a long, empty corridor (6-7), they enter a room (8) with an altar to the orc's hideous god. On the stone slab lies a dead figure, a human sacrifice!

Khamen's blood turns cold at the thought that their quest could be in vain. However, it turns out to be an elf male, not the magistrate's daughter. Still, it is a chilling sight that leaves Khamen unnerved and vulnerable (cursed with -1 Defense)

Next (9) they tangle with four orc reavers. Candorra fireballs 3 of them.

"Now where did you learn that trick?" Khamen asks in awe.

"Never mind! Get that last one!"

But the remaining orc blocks Khamen's attack and rushes Candorra. He manages to inflict 2 serious wounds before Khamen kills it. Severely wounded, Candorra uses a healing potion.

Finally, they confront the reaver boss, an orc brute. It has the child bound and gagged, lying at his feet. It attacks with two whirling blades, but Khamen dodges. Candorra wounds it. He swings at her but misses. Her counterattack hits and Khamen also wounds the brute.

It throws its sword at the duo, forcing them to duck. In that instance, it grabs the hostage and flees through a secret door into an adjoining room (4).
After losing half life, it failed morale. I improvised the rest of the encounter.

Our heroes pursue. Candorra switches to her bow and shoots. It strikes the brute in the leg, hobbling it.
For the pursuit, I first rolled for a wandering monster in the room. If there was one, the heroes would have to fight it first. Then I made an opposed die roll to see if the heroes could close the gap on the enemy. In room 4, there were no wandering monsters and the heroes won the opposed roll decisively. This meant that they could attack the reaver. For narrative purposes, I added the bit about Candorra shooting it.

 Yet it refuses to surrender. Instead, it drops the child and turns on its foes. Khamen engages the orc while Candorra reloads. The reaver swings but Khamen dodges, lunges, and thrusts his blade deep into the brute's vitals. It collapses to the ground.

"Beat you to it." he laughingly chides Candorra.

"Only because I lamed it." she corrects him.

They free the hostage and returns her to a very grateful father.

Across the Burning Sands

A Khamen and Candorra Adventure

(Using Four Against Darkness)

Part 1B of the Six Stones of Sorcery

Introduction

Note: This intro is pure fabrication and was not part of the game. Skip down to the Journey if you want to read about the actual adventure.

It had been nearly three days since our heroes had bested the sphinx and acquired the Book of the Magi. Atoz had been toiling away nearly non-stop, trying to discern the location of the Stones of Sorcery. Khamen was walking back to the Library after partaking of some libations in a nearby establishment. It appears that he was wrong; the Cult of Erlich wasn't going to attack. Nevertheless, he and Candorra took turns watching over the librarian.

As he neared the Library, he could hear shouts from inside. Atoz! He drew his weapons and rushed in. A cloaked man ran into him.

"Stop him!" Candorra shouted.

The man shouldered Khamen aside. As he fell, Khamen lashed out with his blade. It caught the man behind the knee. He fell with a shout, then kept stumbling away.

"Get down!" Candorra shouted. 

Khamen ducked his head. An arrow whizzed by. He could hear it thunk into the stumbling man's back. The man fell dead. Candorra walked over to him and grabbed a parchment from his grasp. She then rushed inside, Khamen at her heals. She made a beeline for the librarian's office, stepping over dead figures.

"Who?" asked Khamen.

"Cultists, of course." explained Candorra, as she reached the office. Khamen peered in and saw Atoz on the floor, blood staining his tunic. Candorra rushed over to him.

"Do you have the map?" Atoz croaked in obvious pain.

"Yes," replied Candorra.

"Then folllow . . ." the librarian commanded before passing away.

The Journey

The very next day our heroes were on camels, riding into the desert. With them was Abdul, an experienced guide. They had hired him to lead them to their destination, a lost pyramid deep in the desert south of city of Alatar. Fortunately, they were able to follow the mighty Phiaro River for most of the journey.

A couple of days into the journey, they were ambushed by several cultists (1). Abdul proved his worth as a fighter, taking out three of the enemy. Khamen took a minor wound but bandaged it up.
I made Abdul a 2nd level fighter, giving our heroes a little aid on the quest. Each character started with 1 bandage. Also, Khamen and Candorra had a potion of healing each.

The next day they spotted a pack of hyena-men (2), fierce inhuman raiders. The hyena-men gave chase but the party was able to outrace them and escape.
Because they were mounted, I gave the party a chance to get away. They easily won an opposed die roll so I ruled that they escaped without incident.

After sheltering from a sandstorm (3) and rescuing Abdul from a sinkhole (4), the party reached a point where the river bent to the southeast.

"We must leave the river, now" Candorra announced, as she read the map. "Our destination lies in the heart of the desert that way." she said as she pointed southwest.

As they made their way into the heart of the desert, four giant scorpions (5) pounced on them. Khamen was stung and poisoned before they drove off the horrid creatures.

"I'll be all right," Khamen insisted as Candorra tried to minister to him.

"Take your potion." she demanded.

"I'm fine," he repeated, despite his nausea and pale features.

Abdul concurred with Candorra. "You are ill. It could hazard your quest. Heal yourself."

"I said I"M FINE. Besides, I may need that potion later." Khamen reiterated as he stormed off.

"Stupid human pride." Candorra mumbled to herself.

The Challenge
Our heroes proceeded into the desert for a few more days. They found themselves surrounded by a seemingly endless sea of sand.

"Are we going the right way?" a visibly ill Khamen asked.

Candorra conferred with Abdul. "We think so. It's hard to tell without any landmarks."

Candorra stopped her camel and stood balanced upon its hump. She surveyed the horizon for a few minutes, then shouted in triumph.

"There!" she pointed.

"Where?" asked Abdul. Khamen grumbled about elven eyes.

"Follow me!" Candorra yelled as she galloped south.

Several minutes later Khamen could see it; a small hill in the distance. But no, that was no hill. It was too regular. An hour after that he could finally make it out. It was the top of a pyramid; the rest had been buried under the sands.

They drew near and dismounted. Suddenly there was a whirling wind and a blue figure appeared.

"Djinn!" exclaimed Abdul.

"Halt!" it declared. "You are forbidden to approach the Tomb of An-Makeran. Turn back now!"

"We are on a holy quest at the behest of the Temple of the Maker. We must enter that tomb." Candorra explained.

"No, you are not worthy. Turn back, or suffer the consequences."

"We will prove our worth . . ." but before Candorra could finish here sentence, the djinn summoned a whirlwind that slammed into our heroes. Abdul and Khamen were knocked to the ground, but Candorra managed to dodge and somersault up to the djinn. She slashed it with her blade.

The djinn pulled a heavy mace out of thin air and began to swing wildly at our heroes. It smashed Candorra, who flew several feet, landing heavily on her back. The djinn then attacked Khamen. Due to his sickness, he moved slowly and failed to dodge. The mace landed a heavy blow on him. He sunk to his knees. The djinn moved in to finish him off.

Just then, Abdul leaped to Khamen's defense. Khamen was able to crawl away while reaching for his healing potion. Abdul sparred with the djinn for a moment before it landed a blow. Abdul staggered back.

Candorra was back on here feet and attacked again, landing another hit. As it advanced on her, Khamen jumped into the fray, stabbing the djinn in the back. It turned toward him.

"I'm baaack." he quipped as he retreated before the djinn's onslaught. But the djinn was too powerful and knocked him to his feet. Once again, he readied a killing blow.

Suddenly, a sword point pierced through the djinn's chest. Abdul stood behind it, his thrust penetrating from behind.

With that, the djinn dropped his mace, which disappeared. It moved away from the heroes, then turned to face them.

"You have proved your worth." it announced with a bow. Then it flourished its hand and a whirlwind swept toward the pyramid. It blew away the sands, revealing a ramp leading down toward a stone door. Four bodies in cultist robes lie near the door.

"Who were they?" asked Khamen.

"They were not worthy." announced the djinn. It then disappeared from sight.

The heroes just looked at each other. They had proved worthy of this challenge, but what of the next? What of the Tomb?

Find out next time!

Game Notes
Obviously, I made quite a few tweaks to standard Four Against Darkness.

• First, I turned it into a hex-crawl wilderness adventure. I created a grid of offset squares (which approximates a hex grid). The characters start in the first hex, following the river. I placed the tomb in a square that was about 8 spaces away from the start.
• Each turn, I would first roll a D6 to determine the direction of the river. Then I could choose to follow it or strike out into the desert. I stuck with the river (more about that later).
• I used my homebrew encounter table to determine the contents of each square.
• I wanted desert-themed encounters, so I re-skinned standard 4AD encounters. For example, cultists were hobgoblins, the sinkhole was a pit trap, etc. The djinn began as a Chaos Lord but I changed its power based on D&D stats.
• I have other 4AD supplements and probably should read through them for more options, but I was too lazy to go through them all. It would be nice if there was a single 4AD bestiary with stats for all encounters from all 4AD products.
• I changed the location of the final encounter. I was originally following the river but then I rolled the boss before I reach the target space. Because I was on my 6th encounter, I decided to draw the adventure to a close. For narrative purposes, however, I wanted the Tomb to lie away from the river. I decided to move it on the map.
• I also embellish a bit when I write the narratives. For example, Khamen took the healing potion right before Abdul scored the killing blow. I moved it a little earlier in the fight.

About the Six Stones of Sorcery

When I was writing the introduction to this new campaign, I started thinking, "well, I am really ripping off the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Stones." Honestly, it was completely unintentional. Let me lay out my inspirations.

The campaign actually started back in 2019, when I ran a single adventure that I called Chaos Unbound. At the time, I randomly rolled for the boss and came up with a chaos lord. I then intended it to start a campaign against the forces of chaos. I lacked inspiration for the next chapter, however, so the campaign floundered.

The next step came because of YouTuber Seth Skorkowsy. He posts videos about various RPG topics; I find his videos to be interesting and informative. Anyway, I watched his video on saga vs. episodic campaigns. At 17:25 he introduces the idea of a blended campaign he calls the Five Glowing Gems.

The idea is that the campaign is essentially episodic, but has an overall story arc as the characters are trying to collect a series of artifacts (the gems are just an example) scattered across the world.

As I watched I realized that I have done this before. Back in 2016, I started a campaign for my LARP. The players had to recover the nodes of mana, concentrated particles of arcane power. These nodes gave the wielder access to incredible power (sound familiar?). Due to some drama in the group, the campaign fizzled out. But it seemed like a good idea for a Four Against Darkness campaign, especially since Khamen's expertise is in "retrieval."

There were 9 nodes in my LARP campaign, but did I want to do that many adventures? I decided to scale it back a bit. Then came another inspiration. Each node would be guarded by one of the 6 bosses in the original 4AD game! That would give me 6 nodes.

That created the next problem. Six Nodes did not sound very good. I gave it some thought and came up with Six Stones. Yes, that's it - the Six Stones of Sorcery!

As I was writing the introduction, I realized that my Six Stones sounded remarkably like the Infinity Stones. Any resemblance is purely coincidental, but if it worked for Marvel . . .

About Khamen and Candorra

Khamen and Candorra began back in December 2016, appearing on my Tales of the Templars RPG blog (which I have now retired). At the time, I wanted some level 1 characters for an experiment I wanted to run (more about that tweak below).

For some reason that I cannot remember, I decided to create a rogue character. Thus Khamen was born. This was an unusual choice for me; I usually go for holy warrior types. A rogue was really out of character for me. You may notice, however, that I turned him into a reluctant hero - forced to serve the Holy Temple, he has become devoted to repaying his former crimes and doing good, most of the time.

His companion, Candorra is a female elf. Again, I am not sure why I chose that class (like Basic D&D in the 80s, elf is a class in 4AD). Perhaps it was because I hadn't tried those classes out yet and wanted to give them a go.

What I have found interesting is that as I have written their adventures, they have developed a life of their own. I find that I keep inserting witty repartee between the duo. Candorra is normally a strong, silent character while Khamen has a bit of acerbic wit. Candorra will goad Khamen at times. Nevertheless, they have developed a strong, if secret, respect for each other (and Khamen has a bit of a crush on Candorra - we still do not know how Candorra feels).

If you would like to read more of their adventures, check out my Tales of the Templars blog.

The Labyrinth Under the Library

A Khamen and Candorra Adventure
Using Four Against Darkness

Part 1A of the Six Stones of Sorcery Campaign

Introduction
Sent by the Temple on a quest to find the Six Stones of Sorcery, our heroes have traveled to the thriving port city of Alatar, in the kingdom of Palmeria. It is a hot desert land, watered by the great river Phiaro and famed for its palms, pyramids, and rumors of mummies. Khamen the rogue and Candorra the elf are searching for clues about the whereabouts of the Stones. And if you are in need of information, there is no better place than the renowned Library of Alatar, said to be the storehouse of all human knowledge.

At the library, our heroes convince the librarian Atoz (yes, a homage to a Star Trek episode) to help them out. He suspects that any information will be contained in the labyrinthine catacombs below the library. However, the labyrinth has been locked shut because of rumors that foul creatures had taken up residence there. Nevertheless, Atoz agrees to accompany the party.

Khamen and Candorra are level 3 each. I added Atoz as an NPC - a 1st level wizard

The Labyrinth
As the party approaches the labyrinth they find that the door has been forced open.

The Labyrinth

"This cannot be!" shouts Atoz as he rushes into the room (1) only to stumble into 3 rather angry cultists. One lashes out at Atoz but he dodges. Candorra shoots one and Khamen stabs another. Surrounded, the last cultist snarls, yells "For Erlich!", and then attacks. Our heroes easily defeat him.

"Erlich." notes Candorra. "That can't be good."

"I suppose they are looking for the same information as us." replies Khamen.

Our heroes proceed through the winding labyrinth, inspecting the shelves filled with ancient scrolls. None have the information they seek. They also encounter a ghost (2), fight off skeletons (3 and 6), dodge a boulder (4), and find a statue (5). Atoz takes some wounds so Candorra uses a bandage and healing potion on him.

They come across an underground river (7). Two crocodiles surge out of the river and attack. Atoz kills one with a lightning bolt; the other dives back into the river and swims away.

After surviving a swarm of scarab beetles and a pack of zombies (rooms 8 and 9), the party comes to a dead end (10).

"There must be more!" exclaims Atoz. "Look for a secret door."

Atoz is correct, and Candorra finds the door. They proceed into a room (11) filled with scrolls. In the center is an altar dedicated to the goddess of knowledge, Almarif. Atoz bows before the altar and feels that his mind is enlightened. I rolled the Blessed Temple, but since I knew that there would not be any more undead, I changed the benefit to one more fitting to the final confrontation.

"Come," says Atoz as he heads toward the next room, "the answer we seek is this way." Khamen and Candorra exchange puzzled glances. Khamen just shrugs and follows, with Candorra at his heels.

The Boss Encounter
(Sorry that this is so long-winded. Scroll down if you just want the bottom line).
They enter a huge cavern (12) with a ceiling that seems to stretch into infinity. On the far side is a book upon a pedestal.

"Is that it?" asks Khamen as he begins to cross the cavern. Then there is the swoosh of wings beating and a huge winged beast descends. Khamen has to leap away from the leonine figure. It is a sphinx!

"Halt." it commands. "I am the guardian of the Book of the Magi. I cannot allow anyone who is unworthy to touch it."

"And how do you determine if we are worthy?" asks Candorra.

"We shall play the riddle game. You must take turns answering a riddle that I ask. Once you answer three riddles, I shall surrender the Book to you. If you miss a riddle you must pay, in blood. Are your ready?"

Atoz steps forward. "Ask your riddles, guardian. We shall play your game."

"Very well, you first librarian."

The sphinx asks the first riddle.

"I know that!" exclaims Atoz. He then proclaims an answer. The sphinx smiles enigmatically.

"You are wrong, librarian." it declares. It leaps forward and rakes Atoz with huge claws. The librarian collapses to the ground. Candorra rushes over to succor his wounds.

"You are next, elf maid." declares the sphinx. Candorra stands to face him and he asks the next riddle. She is puzzled and fails to answer. The guardian lashes out, but she ducks. His claws graze her, drawing blood but she avoids serious damage.

"You seek to avoid payment?" the sphinx asks testily.

Candorra shows him a gash on her arm. "You did not say how much blood." she retorts.

The sphinx smiles. "Very well, then. New rule - if you can avoid my attacks, I shall forfeit your payment. Next is the human."

Khamen readies himself. He cannot answer the riddle but is able to dodge the attack and remains unscathed.

The sphinx turns to the librarian. In a painful, wheezing breath, Atoz says " I am near death's door. I cannot play anymore."

"Take this," says Candorra, handing him the last healing potion.

"I cannot"

"Take it," she asserts. "We cannot do this without you."

Atoz downs the potion. His wounds heal and he is able to stand. The sphinx asks the next riddle.

"Now I know this one." Atoz declares and answers the question.

"This time, you are correct. That is one. Elf?"

Candorra misses again. She dodges the attack but takes another wound.

Khamen readies himself for the next question. When he hears it, he begins to chuckle.

"This is no laughing matter!" Candorra scolds him.

"And you complain about my spending time in taverns!" Khamen replies. Candorra gives him a puzzled look.

"I lost a bar bet on this riddle! But now I know the answer." Khamen then gives the correct answer.

"You are the last one, elf." states the sphinx. "Answer or pay."

She misses again. This time the sphinx is ready for her dodge. He adjusts his attack and inflicts two serious wounds. Candorra falls to her knees. She knows that she must answer the next one, or die.

The sphinx, a gleam of triumph in his eye, asks the final riddle.

Hesitantly, Candorra answers. The sphinx scowls. "That is correct" it says and then flies off.

Aftermath
After winning the riddle battle with the sphinx, the party recovers the Book of the Magi. Atoz pages through it.

"Yes, yes. This information is priceless. I am sure it will have the answer to your question."

Khamen and Atoz help the wounded Candorra along as they retrace their steps through the labyrinth. Fortunately, they make it back without incident. They return to Atoz's office where he begins to pore over the Book.

"I may take some time to find the information you seek. Return in a few days and I will let you know."

"No can do, Atoz." Khamen replied. "With the Cult of Erlich on the loose, we cannot leave the Book unguarded. We will stay here with you."

"Ah yes, that is a wise precaution. Well, make yourself comfortable. It may be some time." With that, he returned to his study.

What will Atoz learn from the Book of the Magi? Find out next time!

And stay tuned for a series of posts this week about this campaign!

The Six Stones of Sorcery

A Khamen and Candorra Campaign

I am beginning a new Four Against Darkness campaign. My 4AD heroes, Khamen the rogue and Candorra the elf, will embark on a quest to retrieve the Six Stones of Sorcery, powerful arcane artifacts.

Below is a rather wordy introduction to the campaign. If you don't feel like reading it all, scroll to the bottom for the short version.
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It had been another boring week since returning from the battle with the Chaos Lord. Nothing to do but hang around in taverns. Sure, Khamen worked for the Temple (only by an odd twist of fate), but he still would not consider himself a religious man. He could not see himself spending his free time praying at the Temple. So that left drink . . .

As he pulled his mug to his lips, a female elf rushed in - Candorra, his "business" partner. Usually she tried to sneak up on him. Maybe she gave up because of his superior perception. Khamen chuckled at that. She would never admit that he was good at something. She must have important news.

"Khamen," she called between deep breaths. She must have run here. "Come quick, it's important!"
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A few days later, Khamen found himself on a ship bound for Alatar, the capital of the kingdom of Palmeria. Alatar lay far across the ocean, south and east of his home. It was a land of ancient mystery, renowned for its palms, pyramids, and legends of mummies that walked the earth. Apparently, it was also home of one of the Six Stones of Sorcery.

Only a day ago, Khamen had never heard of the Stones. That changed after Candorra had urgently summoned him to the Temple. There they met the Preceptor of the Holy Temple in Scotsile. He had been Khamen's employer for the past few years, and had sent him on the mission to confront the Chaos Lord.

"Things are far graver than I suspected," the Preceptor began abruptly. "The Chaos Lord was not trying to summon a foul entity into our world. He was trying to commune with a demon."

"What for?"

"For information. About the Six Stones."

Candorra whistled in awe. Khamen was confused.

"What the . . .?" Khamen checked his language. "What are the Six Stones?"

"The Six Stones are powerful arcane artifacts. They were created by the Cult of Erlich, death worshippers, many eons ago. They give the wielder control over arcane power, far beyond any mere wizardry. When the Cult tried to conquer the lands, the Temple fought back and defeated them. The Stones could not be destroyed, so the Temple hid them, scattered across the continents. No one knows where they are now."

"Except demons," Khamen surmised.

"Except demons," the Preceptor concurred. "And if someone were to find all Six Stones . . . "

Khamen nodded. Candorra whispered "Death."

"Precisely," stated the Preceptor. "We are concerned that the Cult of Erlich has returned, and is using demonic summoning to find the Stones. We MUST get them first."

"And by 'we' you mean Candorra and me?" asked Khamen.

"Precisely."

And thus, the duo began their latest quest. There are rumors that the Library at Alatar has information about the location of one of the Stones so that is their first destination.
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TLDR Synopsis
After defeating a Chaos Lord, Khamen and Candorra meet with the Preceptor of the Temple. He has learned that the Chaos Lord was trying to commune with a demon to learn of the location of the Six Stones of Sorcery, powerful artifacts that have been hidden for eons. The Preceptor is worried that the death-worshiping Cult of Erlich is trying to recover the Stones for their own nefarious purposes. He wants our heroes, Khamen and Candorra, to find the Stones first. Their first stop - Alatar. The famed library of this sun-drenched land of palms, pyramids, and mummies is said to have information about one of the Stones.

What do our heroes find in the Library?
Stay tuned for our next installment!