Maldev does not look quite right. It is a mountainous world, but the peaks are too tall and sharply pointed to look real. The sky is a bluish-purple and partly overcast; the sun is almost below the tops of the mountains and fainter than normal. What stars that can be seen are larger and twinkle more brightly, almost like tiny moons. Meanwhile, several planets can be seen in the sky, much larger than any moon should be. The air is thin, as if on the highest of peaks, and yet there is little wind and even less scent to the world. Nearly everywhere you look is sharp rock.
Maldev is one of a handful of small worlds which together orbit one another as they revolve around a distant star. Although smaller than Oerth's moon, Luna, Maldev's core in nearly solid metal, giving it enough mass to have a comparable gravity to other worlds. Maldev has little weather or free-standing water, so erosion plays a much smaller role here. The majority of the world is inhabited by dwarves living in stone keeps -- the Kingdom of Maldev, from where the world gains its name, ruled by King Thror. Also on Maldev, inhabiting its few fertile valleys are numerous bears of all sorts, including werebears, as well as badgers, wolves, boars, and pegasai. A handful of humans, followers of the Norse gods, also dwell in the woodlands, although their numbers are tiny in comparison to their dwarven friends.
Because of its small size and odd orbit, Maldev's "day" consists more of the sun bobbing above the horizon for a few hours, then sinking down below it with only an hour or so of complete darkness, following approximately 12 hours later by a second dawn. The sun never gets overhead or far from the horizon, but neither does the world vary much in temperature from "day" to "night". Although thin, the atmosphere is breathable by most life.
When the adventure began, the party arrived in a valley. From the rift, they could see two prominent peaks -- one about a mile away, the other aboout six miles distant. Between these, in what appeared to be a pass, were two wooden, palisaded forts, one controlling each side of the pass and about three-quarters of a mile apart from one another. At the foot of the far mountain was a great stone fortress with great fires shining from one point in its walls. Many smaller fires dotted the plain of the pass and at times wide sections of the ground seemed to ripple from the movement of troops...
The chain of events that lead a group of heroes from Oerth to the dwarven world of Maldev was hardly expected and immensely convoluted.
Decades ago a group of elves discovered a portal and jumped through in order to save their lives. The three elves, Moonleaf, Teä Saes, and Fin Finelock, found themselves marooned in the steppes of the world Terrax. After 15 years, the three found another portal, one which they hoped would return them home. On the other side, they discovered the tropical world of Torsh, where they struggled to survive. Making friends with an infant emerald dragoness, Ahzmodeä, the group explored the jungles and portals they found, hoping for a way back to Oerth. Instead, they were all turned to stone.
A huge amount of time passes. A curious wizard, Omartariff, restores the elves to flesh-and-blood. The elves and dragoness make contact first with some children from Oerth also marooned on Torsh, Rhion, Willish, Urthur, and Holly Talgris, and their guardians, Nefra and Ishmopah. The group explores the only mammal-safe region on Torsh, the plateau and ruins of Old Neshfal. Soon, the elves are joined by the naamar, Lucky, and the cleric, Borlon the Mighty. Borlon had come to Torsh to rescue Nefra and Ishmopah, as well as the Talgris children, but decided to stay and spread the faith of Ra. Ultimately, the kids return home, but a new party of adventurers forms and begins exploring.
In the process of exploring some of the ruins around Old Neshfal, the group uncovers a portal. This portal leads to four other worlds: a world of perpetual-twilight and skeletal forests, a tropical world of sahuaghin, a frosty glacial world, and a windy world with a massive abandoned stone city. The group, now consisting of Borlon, Nefra, Ishmopah, Lucky, Moonleaf, Teä, and Ahz explore the twilight world, discovering a city of elves. The party befriends Duke Alfric of the Kingdom of Caer Sidi, discovering that they are on the world of Sindareth. The Kingdom of Caer Sidi is threatened, however, by the forces of some mysterious being, the Spider Queen, Lolth. Borlon, and the oerdian elves, however, know precisely who she is. Marshaling their forces (and now joined by Sabrina), the group defeats the forces of the drow goddess. In the process, they question some troops and learn that Sindareth is not the only world Lolth's troops are invading. The dwarven world of Maldev, in fact, is only days from falling to her evil armies. Using a series of magical conduits, not unlike the portals on Torsh, Lolth's forces in the Abyss can easily gain access to Sindareth, Maldev, and several other worlds. The heroes find this rift to the Abyss, defeat the guardians, and capture it. The group then enters the Abyss and after eight hours of searching finds the rift to Maldev. Borlon makes contact with the dwarven King Thror, who explains that his forces are quickly being over-whelmed. Borlon promises reinforcements to the beleaguered kingdom in two days and to buy time, uses two pinches from his bag of sand storms to bury the "sea of troops" under several feet of sand. The party then rushes back across the Demonweb, through the rift to Sindareth, and guards the rift on the other side.
Borlon, meanwhile, returns to Oerth and gathers the most powerful party he can. His goal is nothing less than saving the world of Maldev from slavery and suffering under the dominion of the Spider Queen. Borlon manages to convince Moorak Drake, Tycho, Black Robe, Tyris=Flare, Fingle, Chastity Wu, Artec Artlen, Rhom StrongArm, Glaesha Cyandir, Kate Ashbrook, Zarabell Finelock, Durra Goldbeard, and Bromley Stonefist to join him and Lucky in journeying across Lolth's Demonweb, finding the rift to Maldev, and defeating the combined forces of the Spider Queen..Meanwhile, the rest of the Torsh group is to remain guarding the rift on Sindareth. Journeying across the Demonweb for more than 12 hours, the heroes locate the rift to Maldev and discover that these dimensional doorways can move. On what would be the 14th of May of the Common Year 614, the heroes arrive on Maldev.
The group again makes contact with King Thror, only to discover that his forces have been nearly wiped out. The party is late, and in the intervening 60 hours, nearly 2000 dwarves and half the rest of the King's allies have been slain. Umber hulks have burrowed into the dwarven stronghold, while an ancient red dragon is spraying fiery death across the heights. In addition to the 8,000 gnolls, and 2, 000 bugbear, Lolth's forces include more than 150 ogre "leathernecks" as well as hill giants, trolls, and perytons. These forces are using the umber hulk's tunnels and the dragon's breaches in the wall, to invade.
Acting quickly and decisively, the heroes split into two teams. Artec, Moorak, Tycho, Chastity, Kate, Rhom, and Tyris=Flare go after the dragon. Using his Orb of Dragonkind as bait, Moorak makes the party's presence known to the dragon. To make a more direct impression, the party teleports in the midst of the enemy forces and starts hammering them. Unfortunately, they find themselves quickly overrun! Moorak tosses a death spell out to give the party breathing room, only to come into serious conflict with Kate. The heroes now begin to take the offensive, slaughtering Lolth's forces. Finally, as hoped, the dragon, ancient, red, and spell-using, takes note. It flies in, lining up both the heroes and it's allies for a withering blast of deadly fire. At the last moment, however, Chastity casts block breath which deflects the lethal flames. Artec then manages to slay the dragon with a single arrow of red dragon slaying. In less than 10 minutes, 80 gnolls, 44 bugbear, 18 ogres, 9 hill giants, 3 trolls, and the most lethal of Lolth's draconic allies lie dead. To heighten the suspense, however, the heroes chop the dragon into small parts, reduce and itemize it, so the Spider Queen's forces don't even know precisely what's happened or where the dragon has gone.
Within the stronghold, the other team of Bromley, Durra, Glaesha, Ael'Mara, Zarabell, Fingle, Black Robe, and Lucky get to work repulsing the umber hulk-lead invasion. The heroes work exceedingly well together, slaying an umber hulk tunneler, as well as 12 trolls, a like number of ogres, 3 hill giants, and 24 gnolls. The battle gets tough, with the party nearly dying, but Fingle turns the tide when he shapeshifts into an iron golem and goes stamping after the gnolls, sending nearly 400 of them fleeing!
A few hours pass and the two parties regroup. Again splitting into two teams, the heroes begin a systematic search-and-destroy mission, intent on finding and wiping out all the umber hulks. The first group, Bromley, Durra, Rhom, Kate, Chastity, Black Robe, and Lucky start heading counter-clockwise through the tunnels and dwarven city. At a few points thing get tight, with Durra nearly dying (thanks to Black Robe's spells, she survives albeit without a kidney) but the heroes ultimately prevail, with Rhom and Kate developing a friendly rivalry -- who can get in the most kills. The group does an excellent job, slaying 307 gnolls, 169 bugbear, 63 ogres, 2 hill giants, 4 trolls, and 3 more umber hulks. In the end, even though the heroes chased monsters up to two of the upper levels, they defeat everything they can find and are successful beyond all expectations.
The other group, Glaesha, Ael'Mara, Zarabell, Moorak, Artec, Chastity, Tyris=Flare, and Flint (a dwarven hero of Maldev), move clockwise through the dwarven city. Although they encounter fewer forces, this group has a harder time and are far more pressed. Ultimately, the body count was 178 gnolls, 75 bugbear, 11 ogres, a troll and an umber hulk, although one got away (after it caved in the ceiling). The two parties, beaten and exhausted of spells, meet back up. The dwarven tunnels are safe again. Tired after 12 hours in the Abyss and several more hours fighting here, the heroes head back to the higher levels of the dwarven citadel for some much-needed rest.
The morning of the 15th of May dawns with a strike against the demonic leadership of the invasion. Having captured a gnoll and bugbear, the heroes learn the location of the type IV demon leading this campaign -- a captured dwarven fort surrounded by wooden palisades. Borlon, using his bag of holding and a mental image from the dwarves, teleports a strike force deep within the fort. Rhom, Ael'Mara, Lucky, and Tyris=Flare form a fighting line while Black Robe casts thunder drum. The heroes waste nearly everything in their path. The demon survives, teleporting away to gate in reinforcements. He returns with a type II and a type V demon, temporarily incapacitating most of the heroes with a symbol of discord followed by a fear spell. Although Tyris=Flare flees, Rhom gets really angry and in a single round dispatches both of the summoned demons. Borlon, meanwhile, engages the demonic leader in psionic combat. Within a half hour, the compound was liberated. Lucky, Ael'Mara, and Borlon teleport to the other group, leaving the others to mop up what little opposition remained.
Meanwhile, Artec, Moorak, Tycho, Glaesha, and Chastity go hunting perytons. Using various flight abilities, the group scouts the battlefield and also discovers that Maldev is really a small planetoid. Unfortunately, they can't find any perytons. The party does make contact with another fort full of dwarves, surrounded by Lolth's forces and cut off for the dwarven lines. The heroes decide to wipe out the largest concentration of hill giant forces they can. Within moments of the melee beginning, Ael'Mara and Lucky join, thanks to Borlon's teleportation power. Using fireballs, lightning bolts, ice storms, and brute force, the heroes cleave through a large concentration of 504 gnolls, 11 hill giants, and 10 ogres. They also attract the attention of 8 perytons, which Artec makes very short work out of. A single umber hulk, the last of Lolth's tunneling forces and one of the few survivors of the previous slaughter sees the party and flees.
The two parties return to the dwarven stronghold in the afternoon (such as they are on Maldev). After a short rest and more healing, the group sets out for the rift to the Demonweb. The goal is to capture it before any of Lolth's forces can flee and alert her to exactly what kind of slaughter is going on. This group flies over, spying 250 bugbear. Chastity's ability to see magic let's her spot the rift. Moorak targets the area with a fireball while Chastity effectively seals the rift with a wall of fire. Flying down, Rhom, Ael'Mara, and Lucky wade into combat, trying to shield Black Robe. Artec remains aloft, raining down deadly arrow fire and just before Black Robe finishes another thunder drum spell, Chastity frees the still-in-iron-golem-form of Fingle from Moorak's portable hole. The results are devastating! All the wounded bugbear die, with most falling victim to the fear the spell generates. Stunned and reeling in pain, the bugbear are easy targets for the spell casters, who lay down walls of fire and fireballs to hem in the monsters and limit their options for flight. Then Tycho swoops in and lets loose a blast of dragon breath. Within only seven rounds, 214 of the 250 bugbear are dead. The heroes now hold the rift. Moorak summons an earth elemental, instructing it to bury the rift in a hillock. As it becomes late afternoon, the heroes decide on a final, daring plan to cut the Spider Queen off from Maldev once and for all, preventing her from sending reinforcements or rescuing any of her remaining troops.
Taking a cue from Bromley, the few remaining dwarven priests combine and uplift in order to commune with the Morndinsamman, the dwarven gods. Dumathoin reveals that the rift is a permanent magical effect, powered by divine will. It must be destroyed as a magical item would be. The party's plan, however, will work!
Ael'Mara gives Borlon a scroll of plane shift which he uses to transport himself and Moorak back to Oerth. There, they get Rhom's rod of cancellation from his basement. The pair then teleport to Amberwood, where they use Rhanée's magic mirror to travel to SkyHaven, Greyhawk, and Portown, where they make contact with Treblo, commission a scroll of Mordenkainen's Disjunction from Keiron Jalucian, and purchase Sage's staff of worldwalking and a scroll of plane shift, respectively. Before "nightfall", Borlon uses his new staff to transport back to Maldev (with Treblo, who tags along in exchange for use of one of his spell-adders). The group reassembles at the hillock, where Rhom uses his rod to permanently annihilate the rift. Now cut off from any future allies, Lolth's forces are slowly cut to pieces by the heroes. Borlon, meanwhile, his goal of saving Maldev accomplished, has left Maldev with Lucky, Glaesha, and Ael'Mara, in order to make sure Sindareth remains safe. But that's another story...
After nearly two weeks of battle and hunting, the heroes finish off the remnant of Lolth's grand army. The dwarves are ecstatic, viewing the party as cultural heroes. Although less than 1/10th of the original population remains, both the dwarves and their handful of human, werebear, and animal allies are happy to be alive. The exploits and heroism of the strangers from Oerth will live forever among the tales of Maldev. Indeed, in the years to come there will be many dwarves and humans born with such very un-Nordic names as Tyris=Flare, Moorak, Artec, Ael'Mara, Glaesha, Chastity and the like. Dwarven children play "Chastity and Moorak" (pretend spell-casting!) in the street while others ask their fathers to weld knives together in order to have naamar warclaws. Never have their been some many dwarves interesting in learning the bow...or swearing "by Ishtar!"
Hailed as heroes and saviors, Borlon, Lucky, Ael'Mara, Glaesha, Tycho, Kate, Zarabell, Durra, and Bromley are granted life-long friendship of all dwarvenkind and commensurate titles on Maldev. Moorak, Artec, Rhom, Tyris=Flare, Black Robe, Chastity, and Fingle gain one honor further, becoming true heroes and receiving the blessing of the combined clerics of the Morndinsamman, as well as the rank of true nobility on Maldev. Each heroes is given a small, personalized warhammer pendant, inscribed on one side in dwarvish runes:
Here is a smaller version of the valley where the rift opens. It a colorized version of what appears in the module (Q1).
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