Stormchasers

After successfully defeating the undead arcanist Salem and his crew, the party left town with great anticipation - they were going to Luminaux, the City of Harmony, to attend the Gloria, a great religious musical festival held every spring. The Gloria features the best and brightest of Crescent's bards, singing songs of sacred glory. Additionally, Mask and Scroll, the bard's guild, would be holding auditions during that time, and Jericho wanted to join.

They chose to travel with a caravan of other priests this time, given their earlier misfortunes while trying to travel out of Corvis. However, after only a few days of travel from town, they awoke to discover that their misfortune seemed fated to continue - they were alone; with no sign of the caravan. Although there was some early speculation that the other priests had left them - a drunken night of revelry was remembered with some chagrin - they seemed to not even be in the same part of the forest as they had made camp the night before.

Looking about, there was really only one path, so the party followed it. They began to notice that the forest seemed to have suffered some storm damage, and that it was getting worse as they moved onwards. Eventually, the party came to a grove of uprooted evergreens, in which a great pine stood, moaning in the wind.

Moaning, and then crying. And then turning to face the party. And then introducing itself as Humphgrough, the guardian of this forest.

Humphgrough, who at second glance was a treant, asked the party to help him stop the storms ravaging his forest. He introduced them to another adventurer, Druid Who Shall Not Be Named, a Gnomish druid. He told them that he was sure that the storms originated with an abandoned mage's tower, high on a mountain that was inaccessible to his roots.

Agreeing to help the great tree, the party (now including Druid Who Shall Not Be Named, and his animal companions) set off towards the mountain. The storm indeed seemed to emanate from the mountain tower, as it grew progressively worse the nearer they drew to the mountain.

After bypassing some small air elementals performing a hypnotic and enchanting dance, and crossing a bridge made entirely of slippery wet glass, the party came to the wizard's tower, only to find that it had no doors. After attempting to climb it in vain, Druid Who Shall Not Be Named sent one of his animal companions (a very clever monkey) up with a rope and hook, and the party ascended into the third story window. They were attacked and defeated by some ice mephits, and found in the ruins of the tower a strongbox. The box contained a ring, decorated with a jagged bolt motif. Kimo, perhaps foolishly, put this on his finger, but felt no effects.

Thinking that this could not be the source of the storms, the party exited the tower and continued to explore. Eventually, they found a door carved into the wall of the mountain, seemingly blocking the entrance to a cave. This door was carved with a diorama, depicting five powerful beings, each one aligned with one of the elements (fire, air, earth, water, spirit). As the party approached, they were asked a riddle ("What is large enough to fill the sky, yet small enough to pass through the smallest hole?") and, when they answered correctly ("Air"), strange glyphs appeared on the door. When translated, the glyphs said, "Ring to Enter".

It was Kimo who saw the answer to this puzzle, and removed the ring from his finger. Finding a small indentation in the door, he placed the ring there, and was rewarded for his ingenuity by the sound of the door slowly grinding itself open.

The door led to a system of caves, which were apparently the wizard's workshop. Opening a laboratory, they encountered an Magmin, who, mad with the time spent in his confinement (apparently centuries, to judge by the tally marks scorched on the walls), immediately rushed the party. Although he was struck down, he took with him Karmann's magical mace, which melted on his fiery body.

The party then encountered a powerful magical electromagnet trap, which was stuck to the ceiling and studded with sharp spikes, which let Kimo and Druid Who Shall Not Be Named through without any trouble. As two entirely organic, unarmored creatures, they were not affected in the slightest. However, it nearly took Perrin's head off when it yanked his sword out of his hand and then dropped it.

There were many other dangers, but none so apparently deadly as the wall of lightening blocking off the back hallway. Kimo, emboldened by his immunity to the magnet trap, decided to walk through it. Although he heard and smelled the lightning arcing all around him, it never connected with him, and he emerged safely unharmed out the other side. Unfortunately, Perrin, trying to follow in his footsteps, was forced into retreat by the first spark of electricity that greeted him. (It later turned out that the ring Kimo had found in the tower was a ring of elemental resistance (electricity))

Past the wall of electricity, Kimo found a large round room, with a lever off to one side of the hallway. (Recklessly) pulling the lever, he was happy to see the lightning in the hallway fade away, and his companions followed him in. On the far side of the room, Kimo saw a large clay pedestal, on which rested a crystal amulet. Trusting in the good fortune (dumb luck) that had marked his day so far, and again acting without benefit of his WIS score, he donned it, and was gratified when nothing happened. (Had anyone else tried it, they would have been shocked badly; yet again his magic ring protected him. Dumb. LUCK).

In the center of the room rested a small basket, connected to ropes which led up through the ceiling of the chamber. Using the rig to ascend to the top of the mountain, the companions entered the very heart of the storm. Sharp eyes made out the strange, fluid form of a large eye, watching them from the center of the swirling vortex. The elder air elemental, Sushalaw, said only "Freeeee Meeeee!!!".

Resting on the top of the mountain stood a large, black horn, with a curious contraption next to it. Radiating great magic, the horn seemed to be the focus of Sushalaw's attention. Investigating, the companion's determined that the contraption was meant to allow mere mortals to sound the horn. Feeling experimental, they reattached the pump to the horn, and began to pump. After much effort, and a few falls on the slippery mountain top, the managed to sound the horn.

Which, much to their amazement, opened a small portal to the Elemental Plane of Air. Through which, of course, Sushalaw rushed, as well as the entire complement of smaller air elementals, which had previously been performing their hypnotic dance.

After that, the party destroyed the horn (which was too big to move), and returned to Humphgrough, claimed a reward, and were led back to their caravan. Druid Who Shall Not Be Named the gnome, being stricken with wanderlust, elected join them, making the party five.

Notable Treasure

• ring of minor electricity resistance
• Wand of detect Magic #30
• Wand of comprehend languages #25
• The Breath of the Four Winds

Credits

This adventure was based on the module Stormdancers, written by Ole Münch, published in Dungeon Magazine #86.