The Wizards Campaign The Tale of the Alchemist's Amnesiac John F. Sasso 11/21/02 Participants: Nature Boy Kraniel Pither the Comedic - Jeremy McMillan Two Swords Shivan of the Greater Vine People - Douglas Jackson Khyra - Martin Melhus Gamemaster - John Sasso

Nature Boy, Shivan the half elf, and Khyra the nymph were hanging out at Mama Tazanos in Myseria waiting for work to come to them. They noticed Dwayne the dwarf, Starling Oakenbough the half elf, Mack the Axe, and Zunggh the Abberant sitting in a corner drinking espresso after espresso, but never seeming to pay for them. A lovely but slightly discombulated blond woman appeared and said, "I hear you're looking for work. Well, I have a job for you. Find out who I am." She pulled out a bag of coin. She explained that she had no memory of anything that happened more than a couple of days ago. "I don't feel safe. I think someone is following me."

They took the woman to their rooms upstairs and quizzed her about any memories that she may have had. She produced a piece of paper with a cryptic message that read, "Farmkin Garb. 94,000 pazuzas." She did know its meaning, but it seemed important.

Someone pounded on the door. Shivan took the woman into a back room. Nature Boy answered the door. It was a couple of freelance adjudicators looking for a blond woman that may have been seen in that building. Khyra asked if they knew her name, and one replied "We're asking the questions around here."

After the Adjudicators left, they discussed how to proceed. Khyra cast a spell that turned the woman's hair red and took her into the back room to help her calm her nerves in that way that a nymph does. Nature Boy ate a mushroom from his stash and blathered a prophesy spell. He saw visions of an evil laboratory, magickal lightning, debauched rituals, and leathery wings. He told the others what he saw, but no one could make any sense out of it.

Nature Boy and Shivan took a walk to the market. They tried to find a clothing merchant who would sell them some farmkin garb, but no one had head of it. One of the merchants said that he knew someone named Farmkin Garb. He was an alchemist in the upscale part of town. They took a walk and easily found the alchemist's shop. He welcomed them in and asked what he could do for them. Nature Boy and Farmkin sampled narcotics while Shivan took a look around. She saw what could have been a laboratory through a partially opened door, but she could not investigate further without blowing her cover. Farmkin mentioned that one of his humonculi, a creature that he created from clay and magick, had escaped recently. Nature Boy sold the alchemist some unusual mushrooms and purchsed a couple of varieties in return. He and Shivan left the shop, and she led him back to Mama Tazanos.

When they returned to their rooms, they found Khyra and the woman eating a hearty dinner. They had bathed and changed into white bathrobes. There was a scraping noise outside the shutters and then a thud above their heads on the roof. The three wizards formed a protective circle around the woman and waited. Simultaneously the door and window shutters burst inwards; two gargoyles stood in each portal. The stone skinned winged beasts approached cautiously.

Nature Boy let loose with a blast of lightning, and Shivan, the necromancer, cast forth a stream of deathly cold. Neither effected their targets in any significant way. Khyra attempted a powerful imprison spell on one of the intruders but failed to affect it. She then brought up an invisible wall of force to block off the window. Nature Boy grabbed his sword and shield and engaged two of the gargoyles in melee. Shivan backed into a corner with the woman and continued to slowly wear down the gargoyles with icy blasts. Khyra disappeared and reappeared in the hallway, on the other side of the approaching gargoyles, out of harms way.

Two gargoyles overpowerd Shivan and grabbed the woman. They backed toward the open window to make their escape, but they found their way blocked by the invisible wall. Meanwhile Nature Boy and Shivan had dispatched the other two intruders through magickal blasts and sharp steel. They turned to the remaining two gargoyles, and with a blast of lightning and a blast of frost, took the life of one of them. The remaining gargoyle, claws firmly around the struggling woman, took wing and swooped toward the open doorway and the smallish Nymph. Khyra cast another invisible wall in the doorway. The gargoyle and captive crashed head first into the wall. Both were stunned by the collision. Nature Boy took his sword and made sure that that last gargoyle would never get back up.

Khyra dissipated her invisible walls and went to tend to the woman. She stood up with a shocked look of realization upon her face. The bonk on the head had returned her memory. She explained that she was Lady Urma Nanden, the daughter of the wealthy Lord Nanden of Blat, who was sent to the alchemist Farmkin Garb with a bag of coin to put right a debt. The leacherous alchemist, charmed by her beauty, tricked her with a magickal potion and made her his mindless sex slave. After a week she began to come to her senses, but without any real memory of her identity. She left the alchemist sleeping after a particularly debauched night, grabbed the unopened bag of gold without understanding her connection to it, and made fast her escape into the unfriendly streets of Zharko. After a few days she found herself at Mama Tazanos where she originally met the three magicians.

Lady Urma generously paid Khyra and crew for their services. She went home to Blat, to her father, to exact her revenge. Lord Nanden had a clandestine meeting with an inspector general of the Adjudicators. The alchemist Farmkin Garb was found dead in his lab, strapped to one of his huge magickal metal machines, flayed alive. No one makes fools of the Freelance Adjudicators.