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• Third Age, Year 1108
• 28 June - Party reunited in Myagmarsuren; meet Mae'umt'ku, the Githzerai

The 11th level Gith who brought Vincent and Bigby back can only plane shift once per day. As a result, he will stay the night with the party before departing the next morning. He will likely have many interesting stories to tell and knowledge to share.

His knowledge of this region, though, is limited to how it was before the meteor impact at the end of the second age. As he would put it: “Before the world was destroyed.”

It should be pointed out that Mae'umt'ku is not immortal. In fact, if asked he will admit that his body is only about 40 years old. Still, he will refer to past events in the first person. This is becaue the Gith have mastered mind transferrence and Mae'umt'ku has had over a dozen bodies since his true birth - which was around 1300 years ago.

A) History

The city of Myagmarsuren was once a grand city. It was the far east outpost of the great Syiin empire from the late second age. When the world was destroyed, the mountains served to protect this city much more than others. So, in the early third age, this city was viewed by many as the bastion of civilization. Refugees flocked here from all corners of the world, making it the premiere center of magical study anywhere!

Sadly, this concentration of power was also its downfall. In III:364, a power stuggle between the now clanish wizards broke into open warfare. Much of the city was destroyed and most of its people killed or fled. Once the fighting subsided around III:385, the city began to recover and by the early 5th century, it was once again a thriving place. However, the wizards had moved on and the great magics went with them.

Then, in the year 568, the sorceress Qojin Beki returned to reclaim the city for her own. She began enslaving the city leaders with her magic, but ended up triggering a long-dormant “dead man” spell left behind in the 4th century war. The result was an infusion of evil that instantly killed Qojin Beki. However, she had her own “dead man” spell, which unleashed a torrent of evil that within a day killed the city's entire population and transformed the lake fauna into monsters.

Because the killing was so complete, very little of this story survives.

B) Present Day

The city of Myagmarsuren is a literal ghost town, populated entirely by undead. During the day, it is mostly quiet as the more advanced undead will have retreated to their underground safety. However, during the day the skeleton and zombie soldiers that comprise the majority of the city's “population” will eventually stir and attack any intruders.

At night, though, it is another matter! The teeming sewers release a flood of ghouls, ghosts, and other nasties. If the party is foolish or unlucky enough to travel into the city at night, it is likely they will all die - as a never-ending onslaught of undead will attack. This will consist of the following random encounters. Roll on a d20 and keep rolling at one per round until the party flees or is killed.

     1-4  Skeleton (1-4 = Human, 5-7 = Wolf, 8-9 = Owlbear, 10 = Troll or larger)
     5-8  Zombie (1-4 = Human, 5-7 = Troglodyte, 8-9 = Bugbear, 10 = Ogre or larger)
     9-10 Ghoul
    11-12 Ghast
    13-14 Shadow
    15-16 Mummy
    17-18 Ghost
     19   Wight
     20   Wraith

The city itself is enchanted with a heady dose of negative energy. This manifests itself as a permanent Protection from Good spell that covers all the area inside the walls, plus about 100 feet outside. Also, there is a foul stench in the more confined areas - especially in any buildings that still stand. The smell has no combat effect, though.

The “society” in Myagmarsuren is - to say the least - unusual. Because the city is so isolated and feared, almost no living creatures go there. As a result, the undead have no supply of fresh life to feed on. They are forced to forage outside of town to capture animals and anyone foolish enough to wander nearby. However, because they cannot travel during the day and are reluctant to travel outside the Protection from Good region, their range is severely limited. This leaves them with little to do but fight amongst themselves - which they do constantly!

This fighting, though, damages their bodies - and most of the undead suffer over time because of this damage: Skeletons become immobile, Zombies rot away and become Skeletons, Ghouls wither and become Zombies, etc. For every undead the party encounters, it may be assumed that there are perhaps two or three non-functional Skeletons nearby. This, along with the pervasive evil in the area, will have the effect of reducing a cleric's turning damage by 4HD on each attempt.

To protect themselves from each other, the undead have formed crude gangs. While these gangs don't work very well for defense, they have had the result of concentrating the remaining treasure in the city in one place. This is because most of these undead don't care for treasure - so one gang has managed to horde it over the centuries. Unfortunately for the party, grave robbers in the early decades picked the city clean of easy-to-reach treasure.

The gang that the party will first encounter is a group of 4 Ghasts and 12 Ghouls (use standard stats). Other gangs that the party might encounter (if they go hunting) are:

    6 Shadows + 1 Wraith
    6 Mummys
    11 Ghosts
    6 Wights

The gang that holds the city treasure is led by a Bone Naga named Altsoba. “She” has an insane desire for treasure and guards her horde jealously. Her two Orc Vampire henchmen do all her leg work while she stays in her crypt. She first came to the city as a living Dark Naga back in the 7th century, wishing to gather an army of undead to do her bidding. However, she was soon overwhelmed and killed. The centuries since have begun to blur together to her. She has not gone outside of her crype for over a century and spends most of her time in a semi-catatonic state. Her Detect Thoughts ability, though, is finely tuned to her surroundings and if live creatures get within 60 feet of her, she will become instantly alert.

Below are Altsoba's known spells. For detailed combat statistics, see the attached sheets. Because her henchmen will fight the party before she does, she will have the opportunity to case some defensive spells before fighting. Her first spell will be Invisibility, followed by Mass Bull's Strength on her guards (both the Ghasts and Vampires) as both of these spells last 14 minutes. Once the combat reaches her room, she will switch to Greater Invisibility and hit the party with Slow and, if possible, Ray of Enfeeblement. She is reluctant to use Finger of Death and Flesh to Stone since these spells rob her minions of the life force they feed on. However, if the battle begins to go poorly, she will use it!

Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/7/6/6/5/3): 0th – Dancing Lights Light

        Detect Magic                 Mage Hand
        Detect Poison                Open/Close
        Disrupt Undead               Ray of Frost
        Ghost Sound

1st – Cause Fear Shield

        Magic Missile (5 missiles)   Silent Image
        Ray of Enfeeblement

2nd – Alter Self Obscure Object

        Invisibility                 See Invisibility
        Knock

3rd – Haste Slow

        Keen Edge                    Leomund's Tiny Hut

4th – Greater Invisibility Mass Reduce Person

        Mass Enlarge Person          Polymorph

5th – Animal Growth Telekinesis

        Baleful Polymorph

6th – Flesh to Stone Mass Bull's Strength 7th – Finger of Death

Two Orc Vampires and Four Ghasts are direct servants to Altsoba. The vampires are Tengri, a 5th level Warrior, and Choijelsuren, a 5th level Barbarian. For their details, see the attached character sheets.

The Ghasts are 5HD creatures with 40 hp each. With the Bull's Strength applied, their full attack is: Bite +7 melee (1d8+5 plus paralysis) and 2 claws +5 melee (1d4+3 plus paralysis)

Notes about Altsoba's crypt:

* There are Ghouls crammed into holes dug into the dirt on the entryway.

   These are in addition to the gang (?).

* There are three statues (two human and one orc) in the first underground

   area (where the Ghoul holes are) that were once people (Flesh to Stone),
   along with crumbled stone that represents six more.

* The vampires (in gaseous form) move in and out of the main area via vents.

Altsoba's Treasure consists of the following:

13,000 sp 900 gp 60 pp 8 gems (8, 400, 700, 60, 80, 50, 50, 400) 1 minor scroll: Protection from Arrows & Summon Monster II 1 major weapon: +4 Dwarven Waraxe 12 Soul Gems

These last two items require explanation.

The Dwarven Waraxe is an ancient weapon with a strong history to the dwarves of Clangdun. It is engraved with runes along the handle that say “Einerk, son of Morif, queen of the long deep”. And, on the back of the axe head is written “Dendd, true blade Wharloda”. The former phrase is fairly obvious. It refers to the original owner of the blade. The latter, though, is a little enigmatic. It is the name of the blade, but it will not be clear whether the blade is called Dendd or Wharloda.

The Soul Gems are fantastic creations that date back to before the fall of Myagmarsuren. Each is a diamond about 1.5 inches long that can hold a person's soul when they die. In fact, if the gem holder is killed, his or her soul will automatically go into the gem. If the person's body can be reasonably repaired, then by careful activation of the gem, a Raise Dead spell can be effected. Note that these gems can also be used as the material component to a normal Raise Dead spell - but if they house a soul, that trapped soul will be released into the raised person's body! ALL but two of these gems have occupants! And of those TEN souls, SEVEN date back to the fall of Myagmarsuren!

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