Now that the adventurers were back in town, Uuthak was able to tell them a bit more about that preserved crossbow. A crossbow of accuracy +3! What a find! The amount of experience pushed just about everyone over the next level threshold, so dice were rolled...
Torn, now with darkvision (TM), was oh so close, so he opted to roll on Jeff Rient's Carousing table.
[Here's where that random thing I love happened!]
He rolled a 19. You just can't make this stuff up!
Torn was visited by our favorite Unknown God, Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom. He shows up and starts complaining about how Kalen isn't taking his quest seriously. He needs some help and motivation to find the Rod of the Sky Gem. So, Torn, you're it. Bachontoi explains that now BOTH of them are compelled to go and find this thing. Torn asks where it is and Bachontoi says it's in the dungeon. "But WHERE?", he pleads. "Seventh level."
Kalen approaches Uuthak, now that he's third level, and asks if there's some way he can barter for second level spells. Uuthak says that there is. He needs a sample of "The Pale Mist". Apparently some kind of vampiric monster or effect. "It's found in the chamber of arches on the third level," he explained and handed Kalen a giant jar with valves and various suction apparatuses attached to it. Kalen was sold and picked two spells as payment. Uuthak was fine with advancing the spells; if Kalen doesn't follow through -- the party will lose their one route to restoration and healing. Mwah ah AH!
To put a cherry on top of this situation, Asp decides to go carousing AND HE ALSO ROLLS A 19!!! I swear, if you railroaded characters into this stuff, you couldn't force them this way. :) Now three different PCs are quested by Bachontoi to go and get that magical rod... and they voluntarily rolled for this. Gary was right -- the first six levels ARE character background!
Toward the end of the session, the players (some anyway) decided to open up the Libram of the Midnight Moon. Now, this book does radiate evil, but not terribly strong evil. :) Owyn de Lapins protested strongly, but the larger part of the group was in favor of Kalen seeking out forbidden knowledge. Owyn allowed the "opening" to continue, but he wasn't liking it one bit[1]. The gang worked together to stack protections upon Kalen (Bless, Shield, Prot Evil, loaner Ring of Protection (from Elin), etc.) and Kalen cast Read Magic and Detect Magic on himself.
The first "ward" was a spiral set of runes. Readable by Kalen. All he had to do was say them aloud.
Which he did, quietly, this caused blackish/blue flames to burst from the book (special effects only) and the three wax seals and clasps were now accessible.
Kalen opened the first one. I asked him to Save vs. Magic and he reached for the d30. A wise man...
He rolled a 24 or something equally large and he felt the cold hands of death release from around his neck. Only a shiver remained where grisly doom once waited...
He opened the next one. A huge fire elemental leapt from the seal and focused one of its two attacks on Kalen. It took several rounds to defeat, but the party was successful at sending the creature back to the elemental plane of fire.
Then he opened the third seal. A giant earth elemental appeared and proceeded to bash on Kalen. The party joined in and eventually despatched the foul beast to the nether realms.
Kalen leafed through the book and he discovered a number of sections that demanded careful study and reflection. In addition, he found a number of spells that he can transcribe into his spellbooks. The spells were of 2nd through 4th level. JS rolled the spells randomly off the chart in the PH. If he rolled a duplicate spell, I created a unique spell that matched the theme of the libram.
Most were standard fare, but he rolled two duplicates; one 2nd and one 3rd. Those spells are, respectively, The Darken Blight of Malikar and The Forceful Grasp of the Darkling Claw.
More on those spells later...
[1] Owyn's deity, Sinakad, doesn't get all that worked up about these sorts of things (at least he didn't this time. Translation: I rolled a 4). He's more concerned about helping people who are trapped or abandoned.
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