Dungeonmaster Diary
Player Character accounts of their bold adventures in the realm of Atoll.

Legacy of the Word
as told by Loong

Revered Masters of the Temple:

I write to you after having gone through an extraordinary experience.
I do not yet know if I have reached a further stage in the journey
toward that ultimate goal that we of the Mountain strive for, or if I
have been set on another path entirely.

A short while ago I was in hiding in the city of Magalas. While
performing a task for the elvish prince Erjack, I had the bad fortune
to encounter Bishop Martin of the Temple of Light. Although his cruel
practices are well known in the circles I travel in, his psychotic
charisma overwhelmed me and I found myself accompanying him to the
Temple's local compound. Fortunately my companion Jimmy the Hand
snapped free of his mental hold and helped me to give Martin the slip.
Predictably enraged, Martin soon had the Temple's guards searching the
streets for us, but we evaded them with the help of Jimmy's contacts
among his fellow thieves and some friends of mine among Queen Thorel's
own guardsmen.

But soon my daily meditations were filled with visions of the sea and
a mist-shrouded isle; I was taken with a compulsion to go to that
place, although I knew not how I would do so. When my movements among
hiding places took me to the city's river docks, I bade Jimmy farewell
and made my way onto a grain barge, whose captain graciously allowed
me to work for my passage. I thus spent several days on the Winding
River; I recognized the Tollmaster's station when we passed it and was
glad I was not again confronted with one of his maddening riddles!
When I debarked in the port of Orna a most curious thing happened; a
small sailboat glided in to the dock next to the barge, yet no crew
was visible! I felt drawn to the vessel and jumped aboard, at which
point the rigging began moving of its own accord and the ship put out
to sea.

Then ensued some days' sailing on the great inner sea; thankfully the
ship was stocked with provisions and water! My excitement began to
mount when I spotted the misty isle of my visions on the horizon. The
ship put itself into a small harbor, where I was greeted by
white-robed figures saying "Welcome to the Isle of Winden, candidate!"
They escorted me to a nearby ornate building which I learned was the
headquarters of the Wizards' Council. Yes, the Council had chosen me
to attempt to become one of the Guardians of the Flame, and the trials
would be held the next day. In my small room that night, sleep proved
elusive, as I imagined the dangers I would soon face.

In the morning, I and the other candidates were led to the Council's
great hall, where we found Elladonna, leader of the Coucil, and her
aide. Three of the candidates I had met before: Steven of Cyan, whom I
rescued at the Wizards' University and had accompanied on my mission
for Erjack; Cindy, who fought the wererats alongside me in
Dentropolis; and Brent, the strange entertainer from the quest for the
Horn of Plenty. The other two candidates I learned were the Duke of
Ted, a young man with a strange accent; and Brother Pious, an
inquisitor-monk of the Order of Light (I hoped then that his
allegiance to his Order would not cause me problems!).

Elladonna told us we would be tested for many things - our courage,
our abilities with magic, our powers of observation, our wits, and our
loyalty to our comrades. We would be seeking a magical book in a
labyrinth beneath the great hall, all the while protecting our guide.
Since this was a test of our abilities as heroes and not as
collectors, no magic items we had would be active while in the
labyrinth. Elladonna asked us - did we feel brave enough to take up
this challenge? We all swore that we did.

Elladonna asked her aide to guide us into the labyrinth, but he balked
at the danger, whereupon she said she would lead us herself! (I credit
her much for this - all good leaders are willing to take up the tasks
they assign their subordinates.) Her aide brought weapons for the others,
and we then entered the labyrinth via a portal which I swear had not
been in that wall a few moments before.

We found ourselves in a room dimly lit by a single torch. Elladonna
retrieved a lamp from an alcove and lit it with a mere gesture of her
hand. This lamp was our sole source of light, and one of our tasks was
to keep it lit throughout our quest. Cindy took possession of the lamp
and we were about to proceed further when we noticed a small box on
the floor of the room. Was this an important part of our test? Often
such boxes have deadly traps, but sometimes they contain something
invaluable. Brent was the one who decided to open the box, and alas,
was struck dead by a magical explosion. Within the box was a small
scroll, with the words "All that glitters is not gold...". Brother
Pious cast a spell of Reincarnation on Brent, and he returned to life
in the form of a dog. We continued on, with our now-canine friend
sniffing for any danger.

After some time we emerged in a chamber with two robed women. They
begged us to take them with us, claiming to be clerics of the Order of
Light who had been imprisoned by the wizards! They said they had been
told that they could leave if a party of heroes happened by to rescue
them. We were naturally distrustful and Steven of Cyan cast a spell of
Truth on them, then asked if they truly were what they said. "No!",
they replied, and with a shimmer were revealed to be vampires! With
the inhuman speed some undead possess they attacked us, striking
several of us down; unfortunately Brother Pious and I both attempted a
spell to repel them simultaneously and the magic power was wasted. I
then repeated my spell of Undead Turning and the foul creatures were
banished. It would not do to lose two of our comrades so early, so I
cast a spell of Resurrection to restore them. We were about to proceed
when we noticed another of the strange boxes. We again wondered if it
contained something important and resolved to open it, although
Brent-the-dog tried to dissuade us with aggressive barking. I cast a
spell to protect myself from any traps on the box and opened it.
Unfortunately it contained magic runes which forced me to choose
another party member to die! Ted proved to have a stout heart and he
volunteered to accept death, and so it happened. Nothing else was
gained from the box, sadly.

Going further into the labyrinth, we emerged into a larger chamber
with several passages leading from it as our lamp began to run low. We
searched about for anything that might help us keep it lit but found
nothing, so Steven of Cyan cast a spell to summon a container of oil.
One quickly manifested itself and Cindy refilled the lamp - but at
that moment a man emerged from one of the passages, livid with anger!
It seems he was a wizard who was conducting a most delicate experiment
that would be ruined by the tiniest light. We attempted to convince
him that we would move on quickly and could shroud our lamp, but this
did not satisfy him; he made several attempts to quench our lamp by
magic, but we interrupted his spell each time. The time this took was
enough for our lamp to start dimming again. We prepared to move on as
quickly as possible when a baleful howling filled the chamber and in
stalked several slavering hounds, who leapt to the attack! We fought
them off with no deaths, but several of us, including myself, were
wounded and sapped of our strength. When I spoke of my growing
weakness the wizard grew quite interested - "please, describe the
experience!" he said. Since we had no time for an extended discussion
Pious cast a spell of Healing, which cured our wounds but left us
still weakened. We moved on, the strong helping the weak to hobble
along.

Our lamp continued to dim, lighting less and less of the corridors,
until we came to another chamber. It contained a colored square in the
center on which rested a flask of oil. We were glad to see this but
apprehensive; was the colored square a trap? We discussed how to get
at the oil when Cindy decided to use her coat to carefully roll it off
the square. Happily, no harm came to her and we quickly refilled the
lamp. No sooner did the flame blaze up when another flame entered the
room - a deadly fire elemental was loose! It flew through the chamber
touching us when it could, and those touched lit up like torches. I
was one of these unfortunates, and the awful burning pain soon gave
way to black unconsciousness. But I recall next awakening, unwounded
and unweakend, with all of my companions well except for Steven of
Cyan, who lay dead on the floor. It seems someone had managed to
banish the elemental (perhaps by stepping on the square?) and the good
Steven had used a spell of Wishing to make us all "alive and normal".
Indeed, my weakness was gone, Brent was no longer a dog, and even the
brave Ted was back with us alive. However, the spell was so powerful
that it snuffed out Steven's life with its casting. We were growing
ever more fearful - some of our most powerful spells had been cast and
who knew what further dangers awaited?

On we went, next coming to a chamber with an enormous box, "the mother
of all boxes" someone said. We groaned inside - what awfulness would
it contain? I volunteered to open the box, although I shut my eyes tight
lest I spot some deadly scrolls or runes within. But I soon heard the
gasps of my comrades, and opened my eyes to see a vision of horror -
a man with entirely scarred skin and blades on his fingers. This horrible
man told us we had now to face our greatest fears.

Cindy was asked what of gargoyles, giants, or mummies she most feared.
"Gargoyles", she said, and when the man cried "let it be so!", several
of the stony creatures flapped into the room. We sprang into action
and fought off the creatures, several of us suffering grievous wounds.
I had been struck in the arm, as had Brent, but he was bleeding badly.
As I was tying my head-cloth on his arm as a tourniquet, the awful man
asked me what monster I feared. "A giant", I said, and he once again
cried "let it be so!" The room was filled with a terrible thumping as
a giant made his entrance. I summoned what courage I could and even
taunted him, telling him my Gold Mountain fighting style could not be
defeated! Unfortunately my clever words were not enough, as the giant
squashed me flat with one of his mighty feet. As I succumbed to the
pain and blackness I though that this was the end; I would be dead and
the Guardianship would have slipped from my grasp.

So imagine my surprise when once again I awoke from death! How was
this possible? My comrades told me the tale: First the noble Ted faced
his greatest fear, a flight of harpies (he had had an unfortunate
experience with them in the recent past), but he and Cindy drove them
off. Then Pious faced his greatest fear, the King of the Orcs, and
managed to defeat him. Finally Brent admitted his greatest fear,
"being cancelled". A large number of "producers" then entered the room
and informed him that it was, indeed, his end, and one of them snapped
his neck. At this point the awful man told the survivors they had faced
and bested their great fears, and gave them a map showing them the
location of the book we sought as well as a way back out of the labyrinth.

Pious, Ted, and Cindy despaired as to what to do next, when Pious
hit upon a brilliant solution. He summoned forth the spirit of that
most famous of the Guardians, Mycroft, reasoning that the power of the
Flame resided in his spirit. And so it did! They coaxed his spirit
into possessing one of the corpses. First he tried inhabiting mine,
but it was rather flat and squishy. So next he entered Brent's, and
lo, Brent arose, with the speech and mannerisms of Mycroft. With the
power of the Flame he raised me from the dead and healed wounds Pious
had suffered, before departing Brent's body, which lay there cold.
At that point there was nothing more we could do, and we continued on.

We quickly made our way to the place where the map showed the book
was, and indeed it was there, along with about a dozen mysterious
boxes. We had had quite enough of these boxes, and with Elladonna's
assurance that this book was indeed what we sought, we decided to
leave the boxes alone and get out of the labyrinth at our best speed.
Cindy took possession of the book and we started on our way back.

The map let us move through the corridors quickly, retracing our steps
through several of the rooms we had already visited. But one of the
chambers was inhabited by an imposing man who introduced himself as
the Riddle-master. In his hands he held a flask of oil, and offered to
give it to us if we answered three of his riddles. Our lamp was once
again flickering and it seems we had no choice. First we were asked
"how many letters are in the alphabet?" Clearly he was asking about
the words themselves and I answered "eleven", which was correct. Next
he asked "what is twenty divided by half plus two?" Fortunately I had
not dozed through the Temple's lessons on sums and I answered
"forty-two", which was again correct - "the answer to Life, the
Universe, and Everything", the Riddle-Master answered cryptically.
Then he asked his third riddle: "A brother and sister have the same
parents, and were born on the same day of the same year, yet are not
twins. How is this so?" We wracked our brains but could not come up
with the answer - we tried several but all were rejected.

We began to grow desperate; would we fail so close to our goal? I
attempted a spell to divine the riddle's answer by magic, but our
spellcasting power was exhausted and it was to no avail. I then
offered to trade my Armbands of the Dragon's Skin with the
Riddle-Master in exchange for the oil. Although he determined they
were indeed magical, as I said, he said they were useless to him given
that the labyrinth suppressed their power, and he chastised me for
treating him as if he were a common beggar. Hanging my head in shame I
though all was lost, but then something came to me, as if it were a
voice in the stirrings of the air or the skiterring of rodents in the
passageways. "The brother and sister were adopted!" I said, and indeed
this was the correct answer! The Riddle-Master gave us the oil, and
refilling the lamp we were soon on our way.

In the chamber where we had met the vampires before, we saw yet
another imprisoned pair - two hideously ugly ogres. They said they had
been cursed with their ogre form and imprisoned due to their
unkindness to others, but that if we would break their chains they
would be freed and one forever more be kind to all. We were again
suspicious but Brother Pious proved a most generous spirit and used
his cudgel to smash the chains. Fortunately all was well - the couple
transformed before our eyes into a human man and woman, and left via a
side passage while declaring their gratitude to us.

Re-entering the room where Elladonna had given us the lamp, we had one
last test to face. Moments after our arrival we heard a bestial
snarling, and a voice boomed out "Show me what you have learned!" The
most awful half-men, half-beasts revealed themsleves, circling and
growling. "We must face our fears!" said one of our party, and we made
a circle about our guide, facing down the beasts with stout hearts.
For some time they menaced us, but then sensing our courage they
slinked away into the darkness.

And now, exhausted from our ordeal, we four survivors plus Elladonna
returned to the great hall of the Wizards' Council. Her aide was there
and surprised to see that so many of us had survived. Now the time of
judging was at hand. First, Cindy was judged: Elladonna said she had
hung back from engaging threats and not shown much valor, so she had
not been promoted to the Guardianship and was dismissed. Turning to
Brother Pious, she praised his ingenuity with spells, his bravery and
and valor in combat, and his kindness in freeing the ogre couple - he
was admitted to the ranks of the Guardians! Next was Ted - although in
some ways his demonstration was less than excellent, he had sacrificed
himself without fear to help the rest of us. She would come a decision
on him shortly.

As Elladonna turned to me my heart was in my throat - had my
performance passed muster? I was filled with pride when she praised my
bravery, loyalty, and ability in solving the riddles. I was pronounced
a Guardian! Then stating she was in a good mood, Elladonna conferred
the Guardianship on Ted as well.

The aide then held forth the book we had sought, containing within it
the signatures of Guardians dating back to the First Age of the world.
We were administered a solemn oath, stating that we now served higher
laws than those of mortal men, and were now Guardians of the Flame,
dedicated to upholding the good. And with our signatures we then
joined that ancient and august fraternity.

At that moment my body was filled with magical power - like that that
fills one when casting a spell, but persisting. I sensed the minutest
workings of my body and realized I could now heal any wounds I
suffered almost instantly. From this power also flowed my new ability
to heal others and raise the dead. Truly, it was as if I had acquired
the powers of the Masters of old, the fodder for many hours of idle
discussion when I was a novice.

Pious, Ted, and I celebrated but briefly before we had a taste of the
work before us - Elladonna sent us back into the labyrinth to
resurrect Steven of Cyan and Brent using our new powers. The task of
helping other brave souls facing down evil will be tiring and
never-ending! But I have had the chance to set down these words while
the memories are yet fresh, before I once again set sail on a magic
boat to leave the Isle of Winden.

Rest assured, though, Masters, that your teachings and the goals of
the Order remain ever within my heart, and I will turn the powers of
the Guardians to their promotion. Hopefully the path of the Guardian
will someday let me return to the Gold Mountain for the Examinations,
so I might attain the Mastery myself.

Until then, I remain your dutiful student,
Loong of the Gold Mountain
Guardian of the Flame

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