The party started out in The World’s Largest Dungeon. After several weeks spent wandering thru it, they found themselves teleported across the planes to Greyhawk. The explanation they received was that their services had been traded from Anjack to Manzorian, a powerful wizard. Manzorian, acting thru an associate Allustin, requested that the party investigate The Whispering Cairn near a town called Diamond Lake. The party did so but ran into complications which led them to confront a Necromancer named Filge. After defeating Filge, the party found some disturbing items (green worm in a jar of mysterious fluid) and asked Allustin to research them. They also found a note that implicated Smenk, a local merchant and mine manager. He spilled his guts and told the party of a cabal named the Ebon Triad located in a mine nearby.
The PCs confronted the Ebon Triad in their own hideout and discovered that it was in fact a joint effort between followers of Vecna, Erythnul, and Hextor to combine their 3 faiths into one. Defeating all 3 factions in the dungeon, the party also discovered some more clues that made no sense. Meanwhile, Allustin had traveled to Blackwall Keep to confer with a friend about the green worm and the odd goings on at Diamond Lake. During his visit the keep was attacked by lizardmen and other creatures and Allustin was captured and taken back to their lair. The party arriving at Blackwall Keep to visit Allustin happened upon an attack in a thunderstorm. Defeating the attackers they learned of Allustins fate and set off to rescue him. The party tracked the lizardmen back to their lair and fighting their way in, found a black dragon with an Illithid and evil druid cohort. Defeating these foes the party also discovered a egg filled pit infested with green worms. After detsroying the worms and returning Allustin back to his home they rested a few days. Allustin then asked them to go to the Free City to seek the wisdom of a friend of his.
Arriving at the Free City the party contacted the sage Eligos. He stated it would take perhaps a week to research the clues the party provided him and directed them to lodge at the Crooked House. The party was the victim of an unsuccessful frame up by a doppleganger and cohorts. The doppleganger left behind a key with a distinctive symbol making up it’s handle end. The party tracing this symbol learned the location of an abandoned warehouse by the docks and went to investigate.
After 3 days filled with intrigue, horror and death the party has managed to defeat Telakin, the Greater Doppleganger and his hive of Improved Dopplegangers. After defeating Telakin, the party discovered the hidden room with the mind clone device and Telakin’s secret vault. After restroing some comrades back to life using the infernal machine (and hoping there will be no nasty “side effects” later) the party returned to the more civilized parts of The Free City to find lodgings and rest. During the next day the party, after having rested, decided to try to gather information so they could get a better understanding of things and be better prepared for any future encounters.
Turning the tome that contained all the details of the Dopplegangers plans and infiltrations over to Eligos, who in turn made certain to get it into the right official hands, has gained the party a boon of 800 gp each as well as several magic items of value and perhaps most importantly, a royal charter signed by the Lord Mayor Nerof Gasgal himself.
Note: A Royal Charter means that the group is recognized and sanctioned by the government itself. This simple document can carry a lot of weight in certain situations.
The magic items are :
1) Sword of Graceful Strikes (Arms and Equipment Guide, page 120) : Donated by the Lord Mayor himself.
2) Mace +2 Holy : Donated by the Church of Pelor
3) Dagger +2 Speed : Donated “anonymously”
4) Flametongue Longsword : Donated by the Merchants Guild
5) Ring of Wizardry II : Donated by the Wizard Guild
6) Metamagic Rod; Quicken : Donated by Eligos himself
7) Divine Scroll; Raise Dead x 5 : Donated by the Church of Wee Jas
8 ) Manual of Gainful Exercise +1 : Donated by the Monks of St. Cuthbert Monestary
9) Potion of Cure Critical Wounds x3 : Donated by the Temple of Ehlonna
10) Ring of Superb Striking (+1 to all melee attacks) by the Arena
In addition, each party member is given the following magic item donated by Manzorian.
Item Name: Medallion of Soul Containment
Magic Item Type: Wondrous Item
Item Power: Medium
Item Description: This amulet is heavily inscribed with
symbols of protection and capture, its setting is an emerald
of unsurpassed quality. The gem captures your soul if you
die. If the gem containing the soul is used as a focus in any
raise dead spell, it may be treated as a true resurrect spell, on the
original wearer of the amulet. The amulet is destroyed
when the wearer is brought back to life. The gem has 40 hit
points, and a hardness of 20 and a break DC of 48. If the
gem is destroyed while it contains a soul then the life force
is released and treated as if slain by death magic regardless
of the original cause of death.
Information the party has gathered:
1) Studying the other tome found in Telakin’s safe the party has already learned some of the workings the Mind Clone Device but not enough to replicate it. There are a few scant hints that telakin never did work out all the “kinks”.
Combined with the note the party found and the few clues in Telakin’s tome, the party suspects that Telakin was under the direct influence if not outright control of a being more sinister and powerful than he was.
A sage at the Free City wizard’s guild concluded that the symbol found on the note has Illithid characteristics. Divine and wizardly research (spells trying to gather more information) were somehow blocked but not entirely.
The sage is fairly certain that Telakin’s master is an Illithid but one of the wizards who used spells to try and learn more got a slight hint that Telakin’s master is different than a normal Illithid. The information he managed to get before being blocked suggested that this mysterious figure wields more power than a normal Illithid.
2) Telakin was far too organized and his powerbase was already established in Free City. Why would he try to kill a group of adventurers recently arrived in town? Either he was paid handsomely or he and his master are somehow connected to the recent troubles the party has been involved in.
