Thorin is long dead, but the dogs have continued breeding and residing in the tower. Generations later, the descendants of the original dogs still have the same gifts. The dogs have an extremely limited vocabulary, with words such as ‘Good,’ ‘Bad,’ ‘Dog,’ ‘Cat,’ ‘Me,’ ‘You,’ etc.

Encounters at the Dog Tower

Local farmers complain that wolves have been killing their livestock. The PCs discover the dogs while searching for the wolves, and likely will believe the dogs to be the cause of the problem. The dogs don’t understand the situation and are not responsible for the killings, but their limited intelligence and vocabulary makes this non-obvious. They will not attack the PCs unless provoked, and might even be convinced to help.

The PCs are searching for Thorin’s tower to recover some ritual or artifact, and must convince the dogs to allow them entrance.

The army in question could be traveling through the underdark, emerging from caves near their intended targets.

A great enchantment creates a field of invisibility, preventing anyone from outside the field seeing the army within it.

Or perhaps the army marches through a parallel plane, opens portals in the middle of their intended target, and overwhelms them from within.

Not all of the guard was destroyed, though; the few survivors met together at a secret rallying point. How many were in attendance varies wildly by who’s telling the story, from anywhere as few as two to as many as several hundred. They had lost their magic, but they had not lost their ambition, and they still sought to control the entire world.

A new pact was formed, The Sapphire Covenant. Under the covenant, the survivors of The Sapphire Guard would split up and each take on an apprentice. They would propagate their lines in secret, and each line would always consist of exactly one master and exactly one apprentice. Part of the covenant requires each line to actively hunt down and assassinate each other, both to enforce the veil of secrecy and to ensure only the strongest survive.

The survivors had gained their power through determination, and that determination also remained with them. As much effort as they had given to the study of the arcane arts, they now poured into study of the blade. In time, they and their apprentices would become some of the greatest fighters history had ever known.

When magic returned to the world, The Sapphire Covenant was quick to adopt it. Now, they are known both for their formidable prowess in magic and in swordsmanship.

Download PDF with these stat blocks

The rest of the warehouse is littered with tables housing current experiments and brews, and crates full of exotic reagents. One wall is lined with cages. Some cages are empty, some have dead animals, and some have living animals. Many of the animals appear deformed or mutated. A few appear undead.

As the PCs enter the warehouse, their nostrils are assaulted by a pungent, acrid odor– a disgusting mix of the scents of citrus, sulphur and ammonia. A thin green haze permeates the warehouse and makes it slightly uncomfortable to breathe.

Depending on the circumstances, if Volgart is expecting violence he’ll be ready for the PCs, waiting up on the catwalks to barrage them with his concoctions. If he’s caught unaware, he’ll try to escape up to the catwalks, throwing potions behind him to discourage pursuit. The catwalks groan and strain even under Volgart’s thin frame; if anyone much heavier than him were to follow him up there they’d likely fall.

Volgart has a wide variety of potions available to harass the PCs with, usually throwing them in combinations to take advantage of each other. Some examples are:

Fire-brew: A transparent orange liquid with flecks of gold suspended in it; it explodes in a 15′ diameter fireball.

Acid-brew: A viscous, milky green liquid which coats those it hits and sticks to them, weakening their defenses.

Glue-brew: A clear liquid, almost looks like water. When it comes into contact with oxygen, it expands into a tough, extremely sticky foam which hampers movement.

Noxious-brew: Dark yellow in color, this potion creates a large cloud of gas which takes several rounds to disperse in the stagnant air of the warehouse. Those who breathe it find themselves sickened and nauseated.

If that’s not enough, here are some more ideas to make the combat unique and memorable.

When he’s near death, Volgart takes out a purplish potion and drinks it, transforming him into a hulking monster. Alternatively, Volgart might accidentally plunge into the cauldron from the catwalks when the PCs defeat him, emerging from it as the hulking monster with dramatically-appropriate timing.

Have the cauldron steadied by several wooden legs; when a fire-brew destroys one of them, it tips over and spills its contents on the floor. The effect is up to you…

If the animals are released, many of them (especially the flying ones) will try to attack Volgart. Some may attack the PCs.

Allow the PCs a knowledge check of some sort to identify the random potions on the tables; they might find any of the potions Volgart’s using, or may find healing potions, poisons, etc. I recommend coming up with a simple table for rolling for these potions. For example:

Random potions
1d6: Potion
1: Fire-brew
2: Acid-brew
3: Glue-brew
4: Noxious-brew
5: Healing potion
6: Poison

Special thanks to my friend Leonard Bass for the inspiration

Volgart has a number of potions and creations which would be of use to adventurers and ne’er-do-wells alike. In fact, due to his diverse clientèle, he’s actually a desirable, if difficult and unreliable, source of information. He has no interest in money, though; only two things are of value to the mad alchemist: exotic reagents and information.

Encounters with The Mad Alchemist

The only clue the PCs have to their latest quarry is an unusual potion left behind by a henchmen; Volgart may be able to identify it and, more importantly, tell them how it was made and where one would find the components necessary for it.

Volgart has just created a new potion he’s dubbed “Strange-brew” in which he’s infused the very essence of chaos itself. He hires the PCs to test out a few phials of itand report how it performs in various situations, such as tossed into lava, thrown into a waterfall, poured down the muzzle of a conscious tyrannosaurus, etc.

Special thanks to my friend Leonard Bass for the inspiration

At any given time, each tower has a single custodian. The custodian is someone who has completed some significant task, whether aspiring towards custodianship or not. At first, many feel that they have earned the privelege, but they quickly realize that it was the tower which chose them and not the other way around.

The custodian of a tower is the only one who can call upon its power. Each tower grants different powers, but all custodians have the ability to travel to their tower and return from whence they came. It is unclear how many towers there are; it may be a handful, it may be dozens, it may even be limitless. None can know for sure.

Custodians often find themselves working together through what seems like sheer circumstance; those who have been in the service of the towers long enough know that there truly is no such thing, though. It is all part of towers’ plans. Perhaps even more frequently than the companionships, though, custodians find themselves opposing one another. For some unknown reason, no custodians powers will directly affect another, though it is certainly possible to do so indirectly with clever planning.

Some of the towers of creation include:

Dormitas, the Dreamgate: Dormitas is located deep in a swamp, forever shrouded in fog so thick one cannot see one’s hand if he were to hold his arm straight out. The custodian of Dormitas has the ability to visit peoples’ dreams and to see their dreams, and from Dormitas the custodian can actually enter the realm of dreams itself.

Nihilus, the Prison: Nihilus resides upon the moon, looking down on the world. The custodian of Nihilus can trap someone within their own mind; someone so affected sees nothing, hears nothing, and cannot move. Nihilus also houses a vault wherein anything or anyone may be kept, unable to escape, remaining in stasis until released.

Oculus, the Watchtower: Oculus stands at the tip of an outcropping miles high along a sheer cliff wall. The custodian of Oculus can determine truth from fiction as easily as one determines an apple from an orange. On the observation deck of Oculus is a shallow pool, through which the Custodian can see almost anywhere.

Seculus, the Void: Seculus is isolated on a small chunk of ground floating around in black nothingness. The custodian of Seculus finds himself unusually resistant to magic of all forms. In addition, if he brings someone or something there he can forever strip away that person or thing’s connection to magic.

Spellblight is a magically-transmitted disease; it can pass along when someone infected by it casts a spell on someone else, and even when they are having a spell cast upon them! Many priests have contracted spellblight from healing a templar’s wounds.

The disease feeds on magical energy. It seems more severe when arcane magical energy is used, but it does not spare practitioners of divine magics. Interestingly, psionicists seem unaffected by the disease. When someone with spellblight casts a spell, they will feel a burning sensation throughout their entire body as if their blood itself was boiling. The more powerful the spell, the more intense the effect. If not careful, a wizard infected with spellblight could easily pass out from the pain or even die.

Aside from that, there are no other symptoms. It is almost impossible without the aid of divinations to determine if someone is infected with spellblight. Spellblight will usually go away on its own in a few weeks, though the process can be speeded along a bit by chewing ganthum root and drinking hot tal. Ganthum root is also useful for dulling the effects of spellblight. Fresh ganthum is most effective, but most magic users carry around dried ganthum root for emergencies, because you never know when spellblight will strike.

Encounters with Spellblight

Spellblight is a wonderful little disease to inflict on your PCs, as it’s fairly easy to introduce. All it takes is a single afflicted sorcerer to try and charm the warrior, and then the cleric who tries to heal or buff him is going to have a nasty surprise. Of course, the players might notice that the sorcerer was afflicted with it as well. In this case, there are two options to make it a bit more sneaky.

1: Have some people be immune to it. They still act as carriers, but it doesn’t affect them.

2: Add an incubation period. During the incubation period, the disease can still spread, but it won’t effect the host.

Wizards all around the world use a variety of implements to help them in channeling their magic. While not strictly necessary, it does have a noticeable effect on the capabilities of those who would wield the powers arcane. In particular, novice wizards find it much easier to manipulate magical energy with an implement of some sort.

Nevertheless, there are those who conjecture that an implement is but a cane for the weak (sometimes literally) or even that the implements usefulness is purely psychosomatic. These sorcerers believe that it is the person doing all the work, and the implement only serves to give them confidence.

The theory that they are completely unnecessary would seem to be refuted by the fact that the many varied cultures have all developed similar implements. If it were purely psychosomatic, then how would one explain that the Shinnok of the east, the Galomie from across the seas, and the wizards of this land all use rods for defensive magics or crystals for divinations?

On the other hand, it is accepted fact that the most powerful of wizards are fully capable of bringing their full might to bear even without an implement. Indeed, they would fare no better by the possession of one. In the end, it is a question for scholars to ponder over.

Listed below are some of the common implements and their associated strengths. Implements can be divided into three overarching categories.

Lengths

Lengths are long, thin implements, often made of wood or bone. They are typically the first implement a novice will be taught with and are by far the most common implement in use. Rare is the wizard who does not have at least one length, if not two or three, on his person.

Canes: Generally made to waist-height for the intended user, a cane is sturdy and capped with a metal figurehead. Canes are used for supportive magics of both offensive and defensive natures.

Rods: Similar in style to a cane but slightly shorter and having a more ostentatious figurehead. Sometimes also referred to as scepters. Rods are excellent for manipulating force, especially for creating shields.

Staves: Crafted to be about the wielder’s height give or take a foot, staves are prized as incredibly versatile and powerful implements. A staff is good for both offensive and defensive applications of force, though it is not as specialized and thus not as powerful as either a rod or a wand.

Wands: Nicknamed “boom sticks” by peasants, a wand is a thin length about a foot long. They are used for manipulating forces into offensive attacks.

Clears

The clears are somewhat dissimilar, and some do not actually classify them as a group. As it is the custom, however, I shall group them together here. The common thread amongst them is a manipulation of fates, whether directly or indirectly.

Bowls: Bowls are an interesting implement in that, unlike most, they are not useful without preparation. A bowl must be filled with an appropriate liquid and a medium, such as water and tea leaves. Bowls are used to look into past and current events as well as for healing.

Cards: Decks of fortune telling cards, ironically, are not actually useful for telling the fortune, except perhaps as a parlor trick. Rather, those who use this particularly rare implement pull on the strings of fate. The cards are a cruel mistress, however, as a bad draw can spell misfortune at an inopportune time.

Crystals: Including crystal balls and shards of quartz (amongst others), crystals are used in predicting what is to come and in contacting other realms such as the realm of the dead. They are also good for dealing with possessions.

Cloths

Finally, we are left with cloths. Any respectable wizard school will have no part in teaching the ways of cloths, and rightly so. They are tools of scoundrels and cowards and any caught using them deserve to be excommunicated. I will present them here despite this, however, as knowledge is never so dangerous as a lack thereof.

Cloaks: Long wraparound capes laced with silver and moondust. Cloaks aid their users in sneaking and generally avoiding detection or notice.

Masks: Not always made of cloth, masks may also be made of rigid materials such as wood or ivory. As one might assume, they are used for disguise and impersonation.

Scarves: Long and thin cloths wrapped around the neck. Scarves aid in the creation of illusions and in controlling the minds of others.

Veils: Similar to masks except more delicate and always made of a fine gossamer fabric. Used by seductresses and charlatans in confidence scams.

And thus ends your first guide on the important types of magical implements. This list is far from exhaustive, however most other implements are but variants on existing ones. For example, swords and daggers are commonly used in place of canes and wands respectively, while dice might be used instead of cards.

However, knowledge of such other implements at this point in your academic career is tangential and you will not be expected to learn them.

While all students will be taught in the use of canes and wands first, it is recommended that you begin pondering what implement you will use for your freshman and sophomore theses at your earliest opportunity.