Game Sagas - Old #2

“In Through the Looking Glass” by Biff Greensleeves, Bard and Chronicler
2/10/07

 ……With the Bat-like creatures destroyed the party was able to sit down and rest. Substantial damage had been taken all the way around, and 6 hours rest was needed to regain spell points. The party went to a room down the hall that they knew to be safe and rested.
The next morning they continued with the search of the upstairs. On the West side and attached to the house was a tower, but try as they might the party was unable to find a door accessing it. Inside the house there was a room on either side of the corner where the tower should be, so the party elected to search both of these for hidden doors. Before they did they decided to search the remaining 2 upstairs rooms that they hadn’t yet been in.
The first room they came to was on the North East side of the stairway. No trap was found on the door and when opened it was revealed to be an empty, dust covered room. The second door was also unlocked and un-trapped. This room seemed to be some sort of trophy room. All of the walls were lined with shelves, and all of the shelves were filled with little statuettes of different creatures, crystals and assorted knick knacks. In the center of the room was a large, metallic Cobra covered by a glass dome. The Cobra was gold in color and had Rubies for eyes. Looking around the Paladin was able to assess that the knick knacks and the cobra were collectively worth around 7,000 gold pieces. Not knowing what would happen as a consequence the party decided to not lift the dome from the cobra, but noted it and the rest of the treasure for after they found the Tower entrance.
The 2 previously explored side rooms were then re-examined for hidden doors, with the Mage entering the second room as the last in line. The search of the first room yielded nothing, but in the second room a hidden door was detected. The Thief carefully opened the hidden door, and it swung open to reveal a stone spiral staircase leading upwards in a narrow stone hall. After much scrutiny the Thief was confident that there were no traps, and he stepped onto the staircase. As he did several spears from hidden ports about calf high on either side of the steps shot out and wounded him. The Cleric stepped forward to heal him and the sound of cogs and cranks were heard; the trap was resetting itself. The Thief, Cleric and Mage jumped past the trap as it reset and headed up the stairs, leaving the Paladin and Bladesinger behind.  The Mage did a knock spell on the door to open it, and to everyone’s surprise slammed the door behind him! The Thief and Cleric rushed to the door, which was covered in Runes, and found it locked. The Thief tried to pick the lock and got hit with 20 points of electrical damage.
At that moment the Bladesinger and Paladin were preparing to attempt to jump past the traps on the stairwell when they heard a hissing sound behind them. The Paladin heard it first and turned around, seeing the metallic Cobra enter the room. The Mage had slipped into the trophy room while the party was searching for secret doors and released the Cobra from under his Glass Dome, activating him with a key word!! The Paladin and the Bladesinger prepared to fight the Cobra just as the Thief took the electrical damage and screamed, and the Cleric began to call for assistance. The Bladesinger volunteered to fight the Cobra alone, sending the Paladin upstairs to aid the Cleric and Thief. The Paladin got past the Spear traps and ran up the stairs. He tried to hack his sword through the door but found it to be too thick. He then opted to try to break the lock by kicking the door right over the latch over and over again.
Downstairs the Cobra got the first attack and bit the Bladesinger, successfully injecting poison into him. The Bladesinger attacked back and hit but  began to lose large amounts of Constitution due to the poison. He realized that he would quickly be killed without help, so he called up the stairs for assistance. The Paladin left his unsuccessful door breaking efforts and rushed down the stairs to the Bladesingers aid. He attacked the Cobra, as did the Bladesinger, and the Cobra began to take damage. A faintly audible hissing sound started coming from the Cobra, and it began to get louder and louder. The Paladin had the idea to run to the trophy room, get the glass dome and cover the Cobra again. As he turned to run to the adjacent room the Bladesinger smote the Cobra with a heavily damaging blow. Green vapor began to emit from the Cobra and it began to hiss very loudly. Just as the Paladin reached the door the Cobra exploded, with shrapnel flying everywhere. The Paladin was unhurt and the Bladesinger also escaped damage, but was still being hurt badly by the poison. The Paladin cast Restoration on the Bladesinger, reversing the poisons effects. The Bladesinger took a healing potion and then he and the Paladin went up the stairs to try to get the door open. 

The Mage’s actions were puzzling to the party. There was no apparent reason for him to lock himself in the Tower or set the Cobra Gollum on them, and he would not respond to the knocks or calls of the party. It was deduced that someone or something had likely taken possession of the Mage’s body, and so the group was faced with the dilemma of how to handle an adversary that was trying to kill them using the body of a friend. It was decided that the party would just have to break down the door and grapple the Mage, regardless of what he did to try to harm them.
The Paladin resumed his kicking of the door but met with no success. The Bladesinger cast Bull Strength on the Paladin, making him considerably stronger and he was then able to kick in the door. With the door open, the Paladin and Bladesinger charged across the large room to close with the Mage. The Mage then cast a Cone of Cold. The Paladin and Bladesinger dodged it and the Cleric was not yet in the room but the Thief was caught full blast in it and took damage. The Paladin closed with the Mage and landed a Haymaker right to the Mage’s jaw. The Bladesinger was following right behind with his sword drawn and cracked the Mage upside the head with the flat of his blade. The Paladin punched the Mage in the face again and the Mage lost consciousness. The party tied the Mage and gagged him. Looking around they discovered that the Mage had been possessed by the 12^th level mage that had owned the Tower.
He was not an evil Mage but had been murdered by an apprentice, so he was looking for a body with which he could take his revenge. The party talked about how to dispossess their Mage, and the Thief formulated a plan. The Bladesinger bluffed the Paladin to go take a walk with him, and when they left the Thief revived the Mage. He hauled him over to the window and told the spirit that since the Party was not able to defeat him they had decided they’d be safer if the Mage was dead. The Thief told the spirit that the Mage would be thrown out the third story window as a precaution. The spirit bought the bluff and left the Mage’s body. The Mage awoke with an incredible headache and sore face.

The Party then decided to search the room for loot, all except for the Paladin who had a moral dilemma concerning looting the dead mage’s home. While the mage was indeed physically dead his spirit continued to roam the Planes of Existence, which meant he had not yet departed for the afterlife. As such the Paladin reasoned that it would be wrong to loot the home of someone who might find a way to return to a physical existence only to find his home looted and smashed. The rest of the party disagreed and looted the home while the Paladin and Bladesinger took another walk. In the Tower were found the dead Mage’s spell book, a vial of 20 charges of poison for the Cobra Gollum and 2 scrolls of Cure Serious Wounds. The dead mage’s trophies were gathered together and the party returned back to the large Metropolis 3 days ride away.

They sold the loot for 1,800 gold pieces and divided it among the party. There remained 897 gold pieces in the group loot common treasury. The party decided to establish a permanent base of operations and after much discussion decided to purchase real estate in the Metropolis. As a home base the location was perfectly suited for everyone in the party, with Magic Shops, Weapon Smiths, Fletchers, Armorers, a Thieves Guild, a Mage’s Guild and several Temples. The party hired a Real Estate broker to find a property and negotiate a good price. They were seeking a 5 bedroom manor with a wall, at least a 6 horse capacity stable and a scullery with Great Room.
After 14 weeks of searching the broker found a place in a transitional neighborhood near the Temple of Heironeous. The manor was furnished already, and the party was able to move in right away. While  they had waited the 14 weeks for the broker to locate them a property, the Paladin and Cleric went to the Temple of Heironeous to ask for referrals for a Lawful Good house man to run their household while they were away adventuring. The temple recommended Jeeves, a 50 year old Lawful Good Butler with lots of experience. He was readily hired and joined the party at their new estate. The Real Estate broker met the party outside the gates to their new home in front of the spiked wall. He handed them their key and with that the party bought their first piece of property. They brought Jeeves in and discussed his duties with him. He was given a sum of 897 gold pieces for maintaining the house, paying the servants and maintaining his own salary, which was enough money to maintain him for years. The party then wandered from room to room, taking it all in and noting who would be given which bedroom. In the bedroom allotted to the Mage a book was found. The book was magical, which the party knew because the book told them so!!! 

The book asked the Mage to pick him up, and told the party a story; 

“Once upon a time there were two Orphans who were stranded by their evil stepmother in the Forest of Lanterns. They wandered scared and alone for a while until they heard the distant mewing of a kitten. The boy knew how much his sister loved kittens and climbed high in a tree to rescue it. The grateful kitten was named Snookie Ookums, and the orphans carried him with them into the forest. The Lanterns hung from all of the trees, lighting their way as they went. Eventually they came to a house that was made of candy and gingerbread. The lady who lived there was a witch who had dozens of children held captive and she worked them as slaves. She put the little boy and little girl to work and began to make plans to eat the little boy. When he was sufficiently fattened she tried to throw the little boy in the oven, only  Snookie Ookums got under her feet. She tripped and fell right into the oven and the little boy and girl locked the oven door. The witch died the children were all set free. And the little boy and little girl and Snookie Ookums lived happily ever after. Now wasn’t that a nice story? Wouldn’t you want to see that for yourselves?” 

As the book spoke a swirling green cloud began to issue from the pages, enveloping the party. Fortunately since they had just arrived at the home the party was still wearing their gear, armor and weapons. As the swirling fog enveloped them they were transported inside the book, leaving Jeeves standing alone with his mouth agape. 

The party materialized in a heavily wooded area. The first thing that every one of them noticed was that their armor didn’t fit very well anymore. They looked down and discovered that they had been transformed into 10 year olds!!! The Paladin and Cleric had to put the leggings of their armor into their packs because the chest plate of their armor now came down to their knees, and the Bladesinger had to readjust all of the straps holding his armor on. While the party was physically 10 years old their minds remained those of adults, which meant that they retained all of their fighting experience and spell knowledge. They gained to their AC, Dex and Constitution but lost heavily in their strength. They prepared to move on and looked around them. They were in the middle of a dense forest at Twilight. All over many of the trees were little round lanterns casting a light over the path that led deeper into the woods. As the party watched a fire fly landed on the side of a tree trunk. The tree quickly secreted a sap like substance that encased the firefly in amber. The amber grew round and became one of the lanterns on the tree with the still lit fire fly inside it. 

From where they stood the party began to hear music coming from a heavily wooded portion right off of the path. When the party moved closer to investigate they saw a Satyr playing a Pan Flute, dancing as he played. In front of him and also dancing were several Mushroom people, some Wood Nymphs and a creature that had the legs and antenna of a cricket and the torso and face of a man (a Grig). The creatures were quite merry and danced frenetically to the pipe and other instruments. Enchantment was apparent, but everyone managed to make their Will check, except for the Thief. He began to dance and sway with the creatures, encouraged by the Satyr. The Mage cast Dispel Magic, which silenced the flute and the rest of the instruments. The creatures and the Thief continued to dance despite the fact that the music had been silenced. The Satyr was quite vexed and demanded to know why the Mage had done that. The Bladesinger asked the Satyr where the party could find the Witch. The Satyr replied that he had no idea what the Bladesinger was talking about, that no such creature or any monsters existed here, and encouraged them to come join in with the dancing. With that the Satyr began to play once more, and the disgusted party moved on, dragging the Thief behind them.  

The path was a bit of a Labyrinth, and the party encountered several dead ends. After several back tracks they found a bridge crossing a small stream. They followed that path along to a fork and took the left fork. That path ended at a dead end with thick foliage and growth, but a little ways up in the thick woods the Thief could make out an axe, a pile of clothes and a strip of cloth hanging from a tree. The Thief relayed this to the party, who slowly made their way through the heavy foliage to investigate. The Thief reached his hand out to grab the axe handle, when a deep voice from among the trees told him not to. The Thief asked why, and the voice replied that it would be forced to kill the Thief if he did. The Thief again asked why and was told that if he had an axe he would be considered a tree killer. The party scanned the trees and one of them recognized a large Ent hidden among the trees with a strip of cloth hanging from him. The Ent’s name was Acorn, and he gave the party extensive information about where they were. The place had no name, save the “Forest of Lanterns. It was a pocket universe created by a demi-god and a powerful Mage, and consisted only of the Forest. It was controlled by a wicked witch that lived there, and it was populated by Gingerbread Gargoyles, Faeries, Satyrs, Imps and a myriad of other creatures. The party thanked the Ent and back tracked again from the dead end, choosing the right fork this time and crossing the bridge there.  

Once they crossed the bridge the path went from forest to a field of Red and Gold flowers. The Bladesinger’s keen eye caught sight of a sword that had been stuck partially in the ground in the middle of the field, with some other gear surrounding it that was too far away to make out. The Mage cast Detect Magic and confirmed that at least 4 magic items were over there. Excited, the Bladesinger rushed out into the field towards the items to investigate. As he reached the pile the Paladin noticed a shimmering in the sky above the Bladesinger, like there was something invisible there. He called a warning to the Bladesinger, and suddenly the Bladesinger was under attack!! The Paladin attempted to fire 2 arrows at the shimmering air but missed, while the Bladesinger cast Mage Armor on himself. The Paladin drew his sword and charged towards the Bladesinger, with the Thief following him. The Bladesinger was skilled in Blind fighting and swung his sword where he believed the opponents to be. He cleaved one of the winged creatures in half and it fell in two pieces to the ground, suddenly visible. At that moment the Paladin and the Thief arrived. The Thief began to reel and swoon, and suddenly dropped to the ground, asleep and under some spell.  The Mage had an idea about how to make the winged creatures visible and cast Glitter Gold in that direction, hitting the creatures… and the Bladesinger. The creatures were now visible, but the Bladesinger was blinded. Then the Paladin found himself rising up in the air about 20 feet. He was unable to reach anything with his sword and his bow had been dropped when he switched weapons and charged. The Mage fired a Lightning bolt and killed a second creature. The remaining 2 winged Creatures (they were later identified as Willes) retreated. The party gathered up the Thief and the loot. They found; a +1 Adamantium Great Sword, a Belt of +4 Giant Strength, a bag of sneezing powder, a Hat of Disguise, a Scroll of Enlarge Person, a Scroll of Cure Serious Wounds and a Scroll of Neutralize Poison. The Bladesinger took the Scroll of Neutralize Poison and the Belt of +4 Giant Strength. The Cleric took the Scroll of Cure Serious Wounds, The Mage took the Scroll of Enlarge Person, the Thief took the Sneezing Powder and the Hat of Disguise and the Paladin took the +1 sword. 

The party continued to follow the path through the flowers, and as they approached the end of the clearing and were preparing to re-enter the woods they heard the sound of a kitten mewing. They turned to see a small Black and White striped kitten (just like the one from the story) on the roadside behind them. As the party approached the kitten the Paladin Detected Evil on it and discovered a decidedly evil presence. He shouted a warning to the rest of the party, and with that the kitten turned invisible. The party missed several attacks against the kitten. Suddenly the Mage heard a voice urging him to attack the party, to which the Mage replied, “Nice Try”. The Mage cast Melf’s Acid Arrow and failed, and then the kitten revealed his true form; it was an Imp. The Imp leapt onto the Thief, attacking him.  As the party prepared to charge to the rescue the Mage asked, “Where are you all standing?” The party froze in fear, and the Mage unleashed a Fireball that hit both the Thief and the Imp. The Thief took 18 points of damage, but the Imp, being from Hell and immune to Fire, was completely unharmed. The smoldering Thief did a double back flip and landed behind the Imp, backstabbing it for 15 Hit Points and causing it to flee. The party healed up and followed the path once more. 

A sign further down the path pointed towards another path. In a strange language it bore the lettering, “This Way to the Mirrors of Many Worlds” The party decided to investigate, and the new path they followed led up a hill. Climbing to the top the party saw 12 full length mirrors arranged in a circle inside a depression, with stairs leading down into the sunken pit. On the ground and not quite discernable from the top of the steps the party could barely make out lettering arranged in a smaller circular pattern in the center of the circle of mirrors. The Paladin, Bladesinger and Thief cautiously stepped down into the pit to try to make out the words, but could not. The Bladesinger climbed out of the pit and the Thief was turning to go just as the Paladin looked into one of the mirrors. His reflection looked back at him, and to his astonishment stepped right out of the mirror! The Paladin’s Duplicate looked at Magog for a moment and then drew an Unholy Short Sword and charged, hitting Magog for 14 Hit Points of damage. As Magog sought to repel the blows a duplicate of the Thief stepped out of the mirror behind him and backstabbed the Paladin for 12 Hit Points. Quickly Magog realized that if the rest of the party came down into the pit they would be duplicated as well; but he knew just as clearly that if he stayed down in the pit where the party couldn’t help him he’d be cut down in a couple of minutes.
Yelling for the Thief to get out of the pit the Paladin fended the two evil duplicates off until Ahz had climbed out of the pit. He then turned to escape the pit himself, which allowed two mercifully missed attacks of opportunity on his back. He climbed to the top of the steps leading out of the pit and then stopped at the left side of the top of the stairs. The Mage was standing right at the top of the steps, and for the Paladin to continue past would make the Mage the new target for the punishing attacks of the Evil Duplicates. Magog elected to stay and defend the Mage, despite the fact that he had taken almost 40 points of damage. The Mage reciprocated by casting Fireball at the two evil duplicates that were coming up the stairs. Unfortunately for Magog he was in the blast radius of that Fireball, and he fell down smoking with his Hit Points reduced to zero.
The Bladesinger rushed forward to pull the Paladin to safety while the Ahz held the Duplicates off. The Evil Paladin and Evil Thief then focused their efforts on the Bladesinger, who was pared down like Magog had been by a quick succession of flank attacks and back stabs. The Cleric rushed forward and healed Magog up to 35 Hit Points, and he rejoined the fray, attacking the evil Thief duplicate and protecting the Bladesinger’s back. The evil Thief was seen to rub poison on his dagger blade, and soon Ahz was poisoned. The Evil Thief then threw a bag of sneezing powder into the group, causing almost everyone to fight with -4 penalties, only the Bladesinger saved and took no penalties. Ahz got in several shots against the Evil Thief, and after almost an hour of punishing battle in which Magog, the Mage and Ahz were reduced at least one time to Zero Hit Points the Evil Duplicates were destroyed. The Mage killed the Evil Paladin with Magic Missiles, and the Bladesinger finished off the evil Thief with his sword. The bodies of the Evil Duplicates disappeared once dead.
After the melee was over The Mage slipped down into the pit after stripping down to nothing but his undies, without looking at the mirrors and after studying them a while was able to read the words at the bottom. The words said, “Your Worst Enemy- Doubled” The party camped where they were and awoke in the morning ready to try to follow the path back down the hill. 

This brought them back into the woods were they were greeted by a pair of glowing yellow eyes and a growling voice that asked the party if they were juicy. Melee ensued when a large Worg attacked from the shadows. The party fought it valiantly, and the Paladin administered the death blow. As they were still recovering from that battle they heard the distinctive sounds of a drum and trumpet coming towards them up the path. The party was amazed to see a giant Drum with large metal legs and a hammer in each hand beating on its own head as it marched towards them. Next to it was an equally strange looking giant Trumpet with large boots marching along as it tooted. The Bladesinger, Cleric, Mage and Thief jumped from the path and took cover in the forest, leaving the Paladin standing alone on the road. The Drum got on one side of the Paladin and the Trumpet on the other. The Drum charged the Paladin and injured him. At the same time the Trumpet on the other side of him did a sonic blast attack that deafened the Mage, Bladesinger and Paladin. Magic Missiles from the Mage did not harm the pair, and melee damage from the Paladin, Thief and Bladesinger did very little to hurt them. Eventually the party took a great deal of damage and realized that their current strategy was going to get them killed. In an effort to regroup they attempted to run, but were attacked from behind by the Trumpet and Drum. After getting kicked around some more by the Trumpet and Drum the Bladesinger had an idea, pulled out his Dagger of Dragon's Roar and destroyed the constructs with sonic damage. The seriously injured party set up camp for the night to heal their wounded and rest to regain spell points.

“Escape From the Forest of Lanterns” By Biff Bluesleeves, Bard and Chronicler (3/10/07)

 The party found themselves still trying to escape from the Forest of Lanterns. After their battle with the Trumpet and Drum constructs they rested for the night to regain hit points and spells. In the morning they emerged from woods into a Glade. As they got to the center of the Glade they saw what appeared to be a large swarm of Monarch Butterflies, and it seemed to be coming towards them. Having been attacked by almost everything they encountered in the pocket universe the party scrambled for cover, all except the Thief and the Paladin. The Thief had been enchanted by the swarm, which enveloped him and landed all over him. They began to take bites out of him on every exposed place on his body. The Paladin grabbed the Thief and dragged him behind as he ran towards the rest of the party. The Bladesinger attacked the swarm with his sword, and promptly fumbled his sword. He was subsequently swarmed himself and poisoned, so the Paladin charged the swarm to give aid. The Mage then cast Lightning Bolt, which hit both the swarm and the Bladesinger. The Bladesinger was forced to roll a barely successful saving throw for his +3 sword or lose it to  Lightning damage.

The Thief tried to fire arrows into the swarm but found that arrows did no damage. As his dagger attacks were of no use against this enemy he remained behind the lines to protect the Cleric. The battle went badly for the party until the Mage rolled back to back 20's and scored a critical hit with a Melf's Acid Arrow, which hurt the swarm considerably. The Bladesinger poured a potion of Flame Tongue on his sword to add to the damage being dealt. The Bladesinger and Paladin fought the swarm until the Bladesinger became too weakened from the poison. The Paladin collared the Bladesinger and dragged him out of the swarm when he became too weak to stand. As the Bladesinger was being dragged off he employed his Quickdraw feat and pulled his Dagger of Dragon Roar. A blast from the enchanted weapon obliterated the swarm, and they exploded in a cloud of shredded wings and thoraxes.

 Battered and damaged from that encounter the party proceeded through the Glade and came across a small wooden bridge spanning a stream. A high pitch voice called out the party that passage across the bridge would not be allowed unless the party surrendered their silver, and several high pitched voices giggled. The party scanned the area for the source of the voices, and Thief and Mage were able to see a group of Nixies standing at the base of the bridge. The Bladesinger offered a few pieces of silver, and the Nixies also demanded a story. The Bladesinger did a song and dance detailing their battles in the Forest of Lanterns. The Nixies were immensely pleased with the song and the party crossed the bridge to the cheers of the approving Nixies, calling for an encore by the Bladesinger.

On the other side of the bridge was a trail through a wooded area that led into a clearing, with a sign that said "This way to the amazing Candy Cottage, a house made entirely of candy." The Thief looked down and noticed cart tracks with small, humanoid footprints next to them. From the clearing the party could see a large house made entirely of Gingerbread and Graham cracker. It seemed to be held together with frosting and cake batter, with peppermint window panes and a jelly bean chimney. A Peanut Brittle fence surrounded the massive yard with a large licorice gate. From where they stood the party could see a candy flagstone path beginning at the licorice gate, which led straight to a large Gingerbread Door. Several feet from the candy path was a pool of chocolate.
The party surveyed the situation and came up with what seemed to be a good plan. It was suggested that it would be a bad plan to put the whole party in danger at the same time, so the Paladin and the Thief volunteered to go knock on the door while the rest of the party covered them from the tree line. The Paladin and Thief opened the gate without incident, but halfway up the path the "chocolate pond" revealed itself to be a Black Pudding when it oozed over and attacked the pair. The Black Pudding attacked the Paladin first, with the Bladesinger firing arrows and the Thief throwing daggers into the Pudding. The Paladin pulled out the +1 Broadsword they had found in the meadow last game and attacked the Black Pudding. As he stuck his sword in the Black Pudding and pulled it out he saw that his sword had been half eaten away. He then looked down and saw that the Black Pudding had eaten his armor off from the waist down.

The Paladin turned and ran, reasoning that it would be better to attack such a foe with ranged weapons. The Thief ran as well, and they both got on the other side of the fence with the party. The Black Pudding followed them. The mage, cleric, Bladesinger and Paladin all retreated further back into the woods, but the Thief had an idea. He thought that if he were able to throw his lamp filled with oil into the Black Pudding and ignite it the Pudding would be defeated. As the Thief dug in his pack he failed to see that the Black Pudding had a much faster move base than he had imagined, and was terribly surprised when the Black Pudding engulfed and grappled him. The Thief was unable to break the grapple and was held, taking acid damage. The lantern the thief had tried to throw was disintegrated, and flammable oil coated the Black Pudding. The Mage launched a Lightning Bolt at the Black Pudding, injuring it but also causing the Thief to take 18 points of damage.

The Mage planned to ignite the oil soaked Pudding with a Fireball, but the Paladin was concerned that the Thief would burn to death with the Pudding. He moved to within 10 steps of the grappled Thief, ready to drag him to safety when the flames hit. Unfortunately the Paladin failed to learn from the Thief's under estimate of the Pudding's belied move base, and within seconds the Black Pudding split in half and grappled the Paladin. Both grappled men lost their weapons, armor, packs, shield, money and everything else they were carrying. The Thief lost his armor, his bandolier of daggers, his Blackjack and a +1 Dagger. The Paladin lost his Box, arrows, Holy Short Sword and his Masterwork Long Sword. The Pudding attacking the Paladin was hit by a Fireball from the Mage and died. The Bladesinger and Mage fired Magic Missiles at the Black Pudding grappling the Thief until it died after a great deal of struggle and damage.

So the party, still 10 year old children, were left with 2 naked members without a weapon between them. The Cleric gave his Long Sword and Shield to the Paladin to use, and the Bladesinger and Mage came up with 2 tunics from their packs for the naked duo to wear. The Party decided to return to the house the next day, but try the back door this time. They set up camp, and as they did they were found by the Nixies from the bridge. the Nixies wanted another song from the Bladesinger, who obliged them by telling them of the battle with the Black Pudding. The Nixies loved it, and the Bladesinger asked them if they had a weapon that they could give the party. An ornate +1 Dagger with a jewel in the pommel was given to the Thief.

 The battered and substantially less armored party returned to Candy House. They re-surveyed the front door, and noticed with horror that a Black Pudding was still occupying the side of the candy path. They decided to check the back door instead, so they circled under cover of the tree line to get a better view. The same sort of gate and fence surrounded the back of the yard. As the party looked closer into the yard they saw a group of beehives on the left side of the yard. On the right side of the yard was a mushroom garden, and on each side of the licorice gate stood a rose bush. The party was reluctant to engage any of those unknown quantities, and so a plan was hatched to vault the fence on the far right side, sneak around the side of the house, and blow the wall in with the Dagger of Dragon Roar.

The Party snuck around as it purposed to do, but the Paladin remembered the story the book had told them about the child slaves, and he insisted that they make sure that no children were on the other side of the wall before they blew it in. The Thief listened at the wall and heard nothing. The Mage used a Clairaudience Spell to see on the other side of the wall. A Troll stood over a bubbling cauldron stirring its contents, and a Flesh Golem made of Troll and Nixie parts stood in the corner. The Bladesinger handed the Mage the Dagger of Dragon Roar and cast Mage Armor on himself and the Paladin. The Mage blasted a gaping hole in the wall with the dagger, doing minor damage to the Troll and Flesh Golem. The Bladesinger charged the Troll and ended up in the room flanked by both the Troll and the Flesh Golem, while the Paladin, Thief, Cleric and Mage were outside fighting the Flesh Golem. The Mage took a lot of damage from one attack by the Flesh Golem so he cast Fly on himself to fight from above. The Bladesinger took a large amount of damage for being  flanked, so the Paladin rushed into his aid. The Thief got hit for 7 points by the Flesh Golem who was looking for a new target.

The Troll fumbled an attack against the Bladesinger, and flanking him the Paladin struck the Troll dead. The Thief then tried a Spring Attack on the Golem, missing entirely and ending up outside. The Troll began to regenerate, and he came suddenly back to life. The Paladin grabbed the Troll and tried to throw him into the blazing kitchen fireplace. He fumbled his attempt, the Troll caromed off the Cauldron in the Fireplace and bounced back into the room. About this time 4 more Trolls rushed into the room to aid their friends, and the Party was suddenly and very unhappily outnumbered.

The Paladin quickly grabbed the reviving Troll and this time successfully threw him into the fire. The Bladesinger was flanked by 2 Trolls and the Flesh Golem, and the Paladin was flanked by 2 Trolls. The Thief did repeated Spring Attacks on the Flesh Golem, stabbing him and then springing away when he had inflicted damage. The Paladin did a flanking Smite Evil attack on the Troll that was attacking the Bladesinger. The Trolls then hacked into the Bladesinger for a lot of damage. The Mage was reluctant to fire into melee but overcame his reluctance enough to cast Fireball into melee, hitting everyone in the Party for 18 points of damage. The Bladesinger attacked the Flesh Golem and the Thief backstabbed it at the same time, which killed it. As the Trolls fell one by one the Thief ran around performing Coup De Graces on them every time they began to come back to life, which kept them all dead. 

Eventually the Trolls were all defeated, and the Party hauled them out into the yard to burn the bodies. The Cleric had a Armor Smith skill, so he was able to salvage 2 suits of leather armor from the fallen Trolls and fit them to the Paladin and Thief. The Thief did a search of the kitchen and found 3 Scrolls of Suggestion, 12 Platinum pieces, and 5 Gold pieces in the bottom of a Cookie Jar. The party decided to look for the dungeon where the children were supposed to be held. They were presented with the choice of going straight, left or right. They chose to go right and encountered a door. The Thief picked the lock, and the Mage opened the door. In the room was a small bedroom, with a candy bed at one end. Sitting on the bed was a Half Fiend/Half Hill Giant.

The Bladesinger called for the Mage to close the door, but the Mage cast Lightning Bolt on the Monster instead. The Monster  reciprocated by casting Unholy Blight on the whole party, which weakened them. The Paladin and Bladesinger both charged the Monster and both damaged him for 17 points each. The Thief attempted an attack on the Monster but missed. the Mage then attempted Acid Arrow, but with no effect. The Giant then ripped into the party and beat the Paladin down to -4 hit points. The Paladin was passed out into the hall to be healed by the Cleric, and the Thief, Bladesinger and Mage reduced the Giant to almost nothing. The Giant then tearfully pleaded for his life, saying that the witch had forced him to attack them. The Bladesinger was pretty wary of anything in the pocket universe, and in the absence of the Paladin executed the Monster to thundering applause from the Mage and Thief.

In the room with the Monster the Party found the secreted stairs to the Dungeon, so they went down cautiously. At the end of the stairs was a stone wall, and in the stone wall were mounted 2 Disks; one smelled like Licorice and one had a Fruity smell. A small sign next to the Disks said, "One Flavor Opens the Door". The Paladin inexplicably licked the black Licorice Disk, and the door swung open to reveal a long hallway cell block. It was later discovered that had the Paladin tasted the Fruity disk he would have lost 3D6 strength. Cries were heard coming from the last cell, and the Party went to investigate. A little boy sat in the gloom of the cell, and when the Paladin opened the cell door he used his Diplomacy skill to assure the boy that they were there to save him. The little boy identified himself as Sauras, a 28 year old Bard who had been abducted by the book in the same manner as the party had. The Party asked him to fight with them and handed him a sword when he consented.

 The Party returned to ground floor and proceeded up to the second floor. At the top of the stairs were 2 doors, one to the left and one to the right. The party elected to go to the Graham Cracker door on the right. The Thief checked for traps and opened the door. Three Gingerbread Gargoyles fluttered from a table in the direction of the door. The Bladesinger reached in and slammed the door closed, and the Party ran into the door on the left. As the Paladin entered the room first he saw 8 Trolls, 5 Male and 3 Female, and a curtain over the far wall. He backed out of the door and closed it, and the Trolls went racing after them. 
 
The party was in a narrow hallway where they could only fit one at a time, which was no place for melee. The Paladin held the door closed, and the Bladesinger took off his Belt of Hill Giant Strength and buckled it around the waist of the Paladin as he held the door closed. The Party was able to clear out of the hallway into the main room at the end. There they devised a plan. The Bard would sing a song to strengthen the Party. The Bladesinger would wait around the corner at the end of the hall and the Paladin would fall back next to the Bladesinger. The Trolls would be in the narrow hallway and would have to come into the room one at a time. The Paladin and Bladesinger would dispose of them as they came and throw them back to the Thief and Mage, who would then keep them dead until they could be burned.

The Party got into position, and at the end of the second round the Paladin had the door pried loose from his grip. He fell back next to the Bladesinger in position, and the Trolls exploded out of the room after him. As the first Troll came and engaged the Bladesinger and Paladin in melee the Mage used his still active Fly spell and flew above the Paladin's head. he cast Lightning Bolt in a straight line beginning with the first Troll and passing through the bodies of all of the Trolls in the hallway, damaging them all. None of the Party was hurt with any collateral damage.

  When the first Troll was killed the Paladin and Bladesinger tossed him back to the Thief, who kept stabbing the dead Troll every time he regenerated. The Thief went to pull the dead Troll and tripped, landing in front of the Paladin and Bladesinger and directly in front of an attacking Troll. The Bladesinger grabbed the Thief and threw him behind him just as the Paladin grabbed the dead Troll and threw him behind as well. After a while all 8 Trolls were very successfully killed that way and burned.
The Party returned to the Troll's room and found 6 mugs that were worth 1250 gp. 
 
The curtain over the far wall was found to obscure a secret door that led up to the witch's tower. The party had taken a lot of damage and needed to heal first. The Mage cast Rope Trick, and the Party climbed up into the extra dimensional space and rested for the night. In the morning they awoke, dropped back down into the hall, and headed up into the tower. The door to the Tower was opened, and 3 Trolls were waiting on the other side. The Trolls attacked the Party, the Party retreated back into the room adjacent to the Tower, and the Trolls followed. After some melee the Trolls were all slain and the Party went back up towards the Tower, coming to a ladder running up to a Trap Door.

The Bladesinger had the Mage cast Fly on him, and he flew up to the top, slowly opening the Trap Door. A hidden trap conjured a Swarm of Bats when he did that, and they attacked the Party. The Paladin killed them with his attack, and the Bladesinger flew back up to the Trap Door, but not until he had the Mage cast Invisibility on him. When he reached the opened door and entered he heard the Witch chanting a Powerword for a staff or wand. The Witch sat in a chair surrounded by 4 Trolls, and the Bladesinger noticed that the room seemed very large compared to the rest of the narrow Tower, as if by enchantment. As the Invisible Bladesinger entered the room he was both smelled and spotted by the Trolls, who happen to have Dark Vision and an extra keen sense of smell. 
 
The Bladesinger then flew down the ladder as the Paladin was climbing up. When the Paladin reached the top he was charged by all 4 Trolls, who injured him badly. The Bladesinger returned to the room with the trolls distracted and attacked the Witch, doing very little damage. She tried to Charm the Bladesinger but failed. the 4 Trolls attacked the Paladin again, and one of them tripped and fell. The Mage and Thief at this point made it to the top of the ladder. The Mage cast Lightning Bolt at the Witch. She took 7 points of damage and the Invisible Bladesinger took 17 points of damage. The Paladin was virtually being chopped to bits by the 4 Trolls. Reduced to 2 hit points so he lunged for the Trap Door and jumped through it. The Mage cast Feather Fall on the Paladin as he fell, so he floated down to the Cleric to be healed. The Bladesinger successfully grappled the Witch and flew to the top of the room with her. 
 
He called out in Troll for the Trolls to surrender or he would kill their mistress, but they ignored him. The Witch made another unsuccessful attempt to Charm the Bladesinger. As this was going on the Mage was suddenly kicked in the mouth by one of the Trolls. The Bladesinger and the Witch were flying in the air still, with the Witch continuing to try to Charm him. The Bladesinger made an attempt to shift the Witch so that he could cover her mouth, but she squirmed free from his grip and fell to the ground. The Bladesinger followed her down and tried to fire a charge from the Dagger of Dragon's Roar at her head. The roar didn't hurt the witch much at all, but it did do damage to the wall, which in turn affected the spell that was making the room so big. 
 
The Imp Kitten from the last game entered the fray and lit into the Bladesinger. The Bladesinger was reduced to -1 hit points and was surrounded by Trolls. The Mage then dropped a Fireball into the room, which killed 2 Trolls and reduced the Bladesinger to -9 hit points. It genuinely looked as if the Bladesinger would be permanently dead. At that the Witch and her Imp familiar flew through the hole in the wall made by the Dagger of Dragon Roar and escaped. The Mage cast Charm Monster on one of the Trolls and suggested that he kill his surviving friend, which the Troll obligingly did. The Thief killed the remaining Troll and burned the troll corpses. After searching the Party was able to locate the Book that they sought, which would return them to their own world and size. Also found in the Tower was a +2 Short Sword of Ghost Touch, some Bracers of strength, some Scrolls and a suit of Plate Armor. The Party was transported bewildered back to their own Manor in the City in front of an equally bewildered Jyvves, their butler.