Iron Will, Part 4

About the Saga

Battered and bruised by the expedition to the golem-filled Star Cairn, the Blackrazors retreat to Greyhawk. There they negotiate with the high priest of Rao to heal two of their clay golem-injured friends. In addition, the cleric of Pelor known as Karaan joined the guild. This adventure is based on Sean Reynold's Star Cairns module

Timeframe

• Greyhawk Date: 11/13/1998
• Real World Date: Fireseek 7, CY 588
• Read other Blackrazor Sagas

Cast of Characters

• Kalib Ironfist
• D'klar Ironforge
• Surya Ohmscarn
• Tanevir Calywyn
• Mist Silvershroud
• Gaiseric
• Sven Kildare
• Demetry Hawkins
• Gnarth Binderstone
• Karann Trevan

Notable Quotes

None.

What Has Come Before

The Blackrazors -- Kalib Ironfirst, D'klar Ironforge, Tanevir Calywyn, Mist Silvershroud and Gaiseric -- have just returned from their latest expedition to the Star Cairns, where they found a tomb filled with golems and other magical constructs. During their exploration and subsequent fighting, the barbarian berzerker Terrek Redknife was killed by an iron golem and Tanevir and Demetry were badly wounded by a clay golem. Redknife’s body was brought back to Greyhawk. The adventurers tried to heal their two injured warriors, they found that their magic was not powerful enough (Read Iron Will, Part 3 of 5). They have returned to Greyhawk to recover, relax, and bury their dead. It is now the 7th of Fireseek, C.Y. 588.

• Read the previous saga

The Saga

Fireseek 7, CY 588

Ignored at the Blue Dragon Inn

Surya Ohmscarn walked out of the Blackrazor Guild and saw a city ready for the taking. The Oeridian mage from Nyrond – and the guild’s latest recruit -- threw her hair back, adjusted her wizard’s robes, and promptly headed to the nearest bar – the Blue Dragon Inn. The inn, recently purchased and renovated by a retired warrior named Gustin, was half-filled with adventurers and adventurer wannabes. Surya sauntered up the bar, placed an order for some strong ale, and was promptly ignored by everyone in the inn.

Sven at the Guild of Wizardry

The dark elf Jowel looked up from the runes spread out on his desk, and stared up at the man who had brought them. The man was dressed in dark browns and had an anxious, anticipatory look on his young face.

The elf pulled off his delicate, alien spectacles, and placed them on the desk. "Very interesting," he said. "We have, of course, seen similar runes from the Star Cairns before, but seldom with this level of detail and such careful note taking. I am impressed." His soft voice indicated that this did not happen very often.

"Can you help us figure out what these mean?" the mage asked. His name was Sven Kildare, a terramancer and one of the up-and-coming members of the Blackrazor Guild.

"Hmmm, yes well, that would depend," the elf said slyly. "There would be the manner of payment – would you allow us to copy these runes?"

Sven paused for a moment. The thought of trading away their hard-won facts was less then compelling, but they needed the information. "Yes."

The elf smiled thinly. "This stylized ‘L’ looks very similar to the symbol that the archmage Lyzandred used. The mage was said to be – in whispers of course – to be the tutor of Zaygig the Mad. It was also said that Lyzandred had a lair in the Cairn Hills – a lair that was lost when the mage ascended to lichdom."

The two mages talked for a few more minutes and then Sven headed back to the guild hall. Once there he found the guild scribe and researcher, George Fillerman, and headed down to the Great Library of Greyhawk. There, after several hours of searching, they learned that one of the runes on Sven’s map represented a dwarven stronghold. "Hmmm," Sven said with a smile. "This is very interesting…"

Arcane Promises

"You must promise never, ever, to use this spell within the confines of the city," the suspicious mage said, resting his hand on a small spell book. Tanevir Calywyn, the latest master of the Blackrazor Guild nodded his head and kept his face serious. The mage had just given him the wizard sight spell, a useful, but relatively benign spell. The second spell he wanted though – summon elemental – was not. The serious-looking serious mage across from him was one of a dozen ‘advisors’ maintained by the guild to insure that spells didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

To some, the Blackrazors were still the wrong hands.

"I understand you concerns," Tanevir said, "but I assure you, we will not use this magic inside the city. You have my word."

The mage looked at him, thought for a moment, and then slipped the book across a deeply-stained wooden table.

The Dead Rest

As Sven hunted down his dusty facts and Surya looked for love in several wrong places, Kalib and Tanevir carried Terrek Redknife’s body to the temple of Kord. Once there they left enough gold to cover his burial expenses and took his magical items – a sword and two potions -- back to the guild hall, where they passed into the party treasure.

Back in the Blue Dragon Inn, Mist, Gnarth, Scrappy and Yogesh slipped in the bar’s front door and took seats in the corner. They looked on in amusement as Surya downed her mug of ale and ordered the house special -- Blue Dragon’s Blood. The drink – tainted with a drop real dragon’s blood – cost 3 gold pieces and Gustin served it up with an amused smile. Surya swallowed it in a single gulp, coughed once, and then slapped three more golden coins down on the counter. Gustin poured a second shot. Surya slurped down the drink and her world went black. As she slumped unconscious to the floor, the other Blackrazors shook their heads, picked up her drunken form, and returned to the guild hall.

Readying 3, CY 588

Healing Words

Weeks after their return from the Star Cairn – on the 3rd of Readying, C.Y. 588 -- Tanevir and Demetry were finally able to meet with one of the city’s most powerful religious leaders, Jerome Kasinskaia. The meeting had been arranged through Calvin Cloudmore’s contacts in the church of St. Cuthbert, but even so Tanevir knew that the Patriarch of Rao would be hesititant to talk with such a chaotic and disorganized force as the Blackrazor Guild. They arrived early in the morning and attended the church’s first mass before being summoned to Kasinskaia’s office.

Kasinskaia sat behind a dark-stained wooden desk as a small fire burned in a corner fireplace. "My colleagues in the church of Cuthbert said you had need of my help," the man said.

Tanevir nodded respectfully. He then explained how the Blackrazors had served the forces of good and balance by battling evil priests of Nerull, defeating a band of bandits in the cairn hills, and destroying several golems, one of which had destroyed a small town. "It was during our last quest," Tanevir said, "that myself and Demetry were gravely wounded. None of our magic can heal these wounds, but we have been told that you could. We would be most grateful if you could do this."

The wise, patient man brought his fingertips together and leaned back in his chair.

"As a rule, I don’t like chaotic impulses, but the forces of good must unite against the common evil." He paused and then spoke with confidence. "I will do this thing, but will need your assistance in the future. Iuz has declared war on priests of my order because of our banishment of the fiends and he has taken several hostages. Once we have a confirmed their location, we will call upon you. We also have issues with the Court of Celene which you" he said, looking at Tanevir, "can help us with."

"Of course," Tanevir said. "Whatever assistance we can give you is yours. We do, however, have one more question," the elf said.

The high priest cocked his head to the right. "Yes?"

"Several months ago several of our friends went on an expedition to the Drachensgrabs – when they returned they were quite obviously under the control of other entities. Do you have any ideas as to what may have been the cause?"

The old man rose and walked over to a bookshelf where he scanned dozens of weathered leather bindings and yellowed ivory scroll casings. He let out a little sigh after several moments, and turned around. "There was a story – a very old one which I used to have, but alas, can not seem to find – which matches the facts of your tale. Many centuries ago their was a rogue band of Suel mages who were fleeing the destruction of their home land. They carved a path of death from the Hellfurnaces to the Pomarj pennisula, where they were finally struck down by the gods."

They were given bodies of stone to match their frozen hearts, and cursed to stand in the clearing where they had slain hundreds of native people. In time, this place gained a haunted reputation as the bodies of the Suel began to take on the look of stone wood.

The natives called it the Twisted Forest. They say that good folk who go to the forest leave it with evil in their hearts. If your friends indeed when to the Twisted Forest, I fear for their very souls." the cleric said.

Tanevir stared at the priest and said "Thank you for your wise words."

The cleric rose. "You can repay me later. Now lets look at these wounds of yours."

Readying 17, CY 588

Nearly two weeks later – on the 17th of Readying C.Y. 588 – another new recruit joined the guild. Karann Trevan was a Nyrondian priest of Pelor. As he met with Tanevir in the guildmaster’s Spartan office, he explained that he had spent the last two years fighting the rampant evil in the remains of the Great Kingdom. "Mine is normally a peaceful faith," he explained to Tanevir, "but since the Greyhawk Wars a few of us have come to believe that we must actively push back evil and that we can no longer stand by the sidelines."

"We are preparing another expedition to the Star Cairns, and we certainly have use of someone with your healing abilities but may I offer you a bit of advice?"

"Certainly," the new recruit responded.

"Stay out of the way. We’ve lost two new members in as many of months. These loses are expected and to some degree inevitable, but we like to avoid them as much as possible."

"Understood sir," Karann said.

Experience & Loot

• No experience and/or loot is available for this saga.