The Circle of Magi, now disbanded, was one of the largest and most storied society of spell casters in the lands. The three most famous members were Olaskar, Ganblast, and Snakeblood. The Circle consisted of about thirty of the most powerful wizards and sorcerers in the land. But the society had no alignment, which made it completely impartial to political and religious events. This “null alignment” was a result of balance of the alignments of its members. There was an equal power between the lawful good wizards and the chaotic evil wizards, as it was for all alignments. It was a truly impartial panel of magic users, and when they voted together their separate agendas effectively canceled out.
Snakeblood wished to turn the Circle to Evil, and framed Radagast (an up-and-coming Lawful Good member) for the murder of the most senior Lawful Good Member, Ganblast. Radagast was found guilty of murder and treason against the Circle. Snakeblood screamed that Radagast should be put to death, but Radagast still had several powerful allies in the Circle, such as Olaskar, who plead for mercy. In the end, it was decided that Radagast would be stripped of all of his powers and items and wealth and released into the world as an old man with not long to live. The process of removing power is terrible painful and quite lengthy, but after about a year it was complete. A couple of Radagast’s friends from The Circle covered him with spells of protection and spells that aloud him to hide unnoticed, because they knew Snake Blood would try to finish Radagast for good. With the “null alignment” no longer in effect, the remaining good (and some neutral) members of the Circle fled, scattering themselves across the land. Snakeblood wasted no time in turning the Circle to evil, and spent much time and resources seeking out those members who defied him and eliminating them.
For many years Radagast simply hid. Finally, he sought out Olaskar who was living in Duvik’s Pass in the Duchy of Carmathan. Radagast hired some adventures in Ravensburg (“Radagast’s Band”) to protect him when he traveled back and forth to the pass to visit Olaskar. During their adventures, Ragadast’s Band discovered that High Lord Helmont the 15th, Duke of Carmathan was a pretender, and they were instrumental in finding the true heir to the Duchy, removing Helmont, and restoring the true heir (Varlad Dashard) to the throne.
Meanwhile, Olaskar discovered the tower of Paranear and began his studies in the way of the Elder Druids of another plane. He gathered all of the remaining good members of the Circle to Paranear and with Radagast, launched an attack against Snakeblood and the remaining members of the Circle. Olaskar knew that every morning Snakeblood would climb the tallest town of his fortress to scry and communicate with his forces across Faerun. Knowing that the roof was protected, Olaskar’s plan was to send Radagast and his band to the level below the roof, where they would have to defeat whatever forces they found there, and then quickly reach the roof to confront Snakeblood. Meanwhile, Olaskar and the nine other “Elder Druids” would teleport to various locations in the fortress, and would attempt to destroy Snakeblood’s sixteen mages. Olaskar knew that not everyone would return.
When Radagast first appeared in the fortress, he spotted 4 guards arranged around the flight of stairs going up to the roof. Two velvet ropes hung from the ceiling by the stairs, and everyone correctly assumed they were part of an alarm system. Springing into action, the party quickly dispatched the guards, including using two fireballs that destroyed the ropes. Only Karrl took damage, although it was moderate. Meanwhile, sounds of fighting wafted up from below as Olaskar and the Elder Druids arrived and combat was joined. Unfortunately, the sound of Radagast’s battle also drifted up to the roof, and Shadow and Ian could hear chanting and spell casting up the stairs. Radagast quickly threw a prismatic wall across the stairs going down, to keep additional guards out of their confrontation with Snakeblood.
Quickly throwing improved invisibility on Shadow, the party hurried up the steps for their final confrontation with Snakeblood. As Shadow set his foot on the top step, a loud “Bang!” sounded as electricity arched upwards. Shadow dodged the blast, but Snakeblood now knew they were almost upon him.
Shadow acted first, swinging wide left to come at Snakeblood from the flank. Snakeblood was levitating 15 feet above the roof, a good 50 feet from the stairs. He threw three throwing stars at Snakeblood, taking out two mirror images and striking his stoneskin with the third. Next, Sonic exited the stairs and swung right. Both Shadow and Sonic suddenly felt uneasy, but they were not sure why. Then the bird flew at Snakeblood and luckily bypassed the mirror images and struck the target. The stoneskin deflected most of the attack, but one claw raked across Snakeblood’s cheek. Then the Bird was suddenly wracked with pain and thrown away from the tower top. Forbiddance was in effect, and the bird lacked the will to bypass the magic.
Next, Snakeblood acted. He was hasted so he first cast Power Word:Stun on Shadow, whom he could see thanks to his True Seeing. Shadow suddenly couldn’t move. Second, he cast Nybor’s Wrathful Castigation on Sonic, but unknown to Snakeblood, Sonic’s fortitude had been enhanced and she easily shook off the effects. Then Ian, Radagast, and Karrl all bounded to the top of the stairs, all also feeling uneasy as they reached the roof. Ian threw a vial of acid onto Snakeblood, which removed some of his Stoneskin. Radagast got off magic missile, which destroyed some more of the mirror images.
In round two, Shadow was still frozen. Sonic cast haste on herself, and then cast Greater Dispelling on Snakeblood. The spell was reflected back onto her (Snakeblood had Backlash in effect) and her haste was ended. Snakeblood saw that Karrl was injured, and cast Powerword: Kill on him, and Karrl fell to the ground, dead. He then activated a Forcecage around Ian, imprisoning him. Radagast, who was also hasted, cast Disintegrate on the Forcecage, destroying it, and then cast Delayed Blast Fireball on Snakeblood. Snakeblood had Immunity to Elements: Fire active, however, and the spell had no effect. Ian threw another vial of acid onto Snakeblood, which removed even more of his Stoneskin.
In the third round, Shadow was still frozen. Sonic cast Greater Dispelling on Snakeblood again, and with Backlash no longer in effect, she managed to penetrate his spell resistance and halted his Contingency and Protection from Spells effects. Furious at her, Snakeblood threw both Disintegrate and Finger of Death at her. She took damage from both, but managed to stay alive. Ian threw another vial of acid onto Snakeblood, which removed even more of his Stoneskin. Radagast then threw a Delayed Blast Acidball at Snakeblood through his spell resistance and while he dodged most of it, he was heavily damaged. Radagast followed up that spell with Prismatic Spray, and once again it penetrated his spell resistance and Snakeblood was again heavily damaged. At the end of the round, Snakeblood’s Delayed Blast Fireball went off at the top of the stairs, but only Sonic was injured.
In the fourth round, Sonic again cast Greater Dispelling on Snakeblood, removing his last mirror image. Suddenly able to move, Shadow glided over to Radagast’s location in anticipation of a fly spell, allowing him to finally attack Snakeblood. Snakeblood, realizing he was close to death, drank a Potion of Cure Serious Wounds, but was still moderately injured. The battle was not going Snakeblood’s way. Only Karrl was dead, Shadow was moving again, and Snakeblood was running out of high-level spells. Reaching into his reserve list, he cast Mordenkeinen’s Disjunction on Radagast, which not only destroyed most of his magical items, it also destroyed the Staff of the Arch-Magi in his possession. Ian attempted to Dimension Door to a location beside Snakeblood so that he could strike at him as Ian fell back to earth, but Forbiddance prevented him. So Ian threw another vial of acid onto Snakeblood, which removed even more of his Stoneskin. Radagast was no longer hasted, and could only cast one spell, Lightning Bolt, at Snakeblood. Again, Snakeblood took damage.
In the fifth and final round, the holy symbol of Azuth appeared in the air 15 feet above the roof. A Gate began to open on the roof directly beneath the holy symbol. Snakeblood’s destruction of a minor artifact had attracted the attention of a deity! As artifacts were placed in Faerun by the gods, they take very seriously the destruction of any such items. Seeing this take place, Sonic cast a Cure spell on herself and used dimension door to move closer to Ian and further away from the source of the last Fireball.
Snakeblood now had few options. Azuth or an avatar was on the way, and he was certainly doomed. Screaming in rage and frustration, Snakeblood spoke the command word to suspend the Forbidding. He then teleported without error to a location in front of Radagast. Screaming, “I’ll take you to the hells with me!” he intentionally shattered his own Staff of Power in a Retributive Strike. Shadow cast dimension door and got away from the blast. Radagast was not so lucky. The full brunt of the explosion tore into Snakeblood and Radagast, dealing 120 points of damage. Both were instantly killed.
Seconds later, Azuth appeared on the roof. “Who dared to destroy a Staff of the Arch-Magi?” he yelled. Ian responded, “He did,” and pointed at Snakeblood.
“Ah,” spoke Azuth, “Snakeblood and Radagast. So the circle is now complete. Or more appropriately, the Circle is now broken and finished. Radagast has fulfilled his destiny, his purpose in life, which was to kill Snakeblood. You have all done well to assist him.”
Azuth then strode over to Radagast’s lifeless body. Slowly, Shadow began edging closer to the god, intent upon asking for Karrl’s and Radagast’s lives back. But then Azuth spoke again, “Radagast performed well, and as a reward I will raise him as one of my avatars.” And with those words, Radagast suddenly appeared standing beside Azuth, seeming unchanged except for golden eyes and a shimmering field around him.
“I will send Radagast forth when I must attend to matter of a mortal nature,” spoke Azuth. “But now Snakeblood is dead, the Circle is no more, and my work here is done.” And with those words, he and Radagast vanished, leaving Ian, Sonic, and Shadow standing on the top of the tower as the sun rose in the East, spilling dawn’s first light upon the bodies of Snakeblood and Karrl.
(C) 2015 Curtis M. Sawyer, All Rights Reserved