Written by the Almighty DM

Players Present: Kanye, Nor, Sophitia, Zyldi, Elgard

EXPLOSIVE RESULTS
After hiding out for another day, the party hears explosions coming from the direction of the Red Wizard camp. Zyldi wastes no time turning into an owl to go scout what is happening. She sees a few snakes fleeing and 4 dead Yuan-Ti along the edge of the camp, along with several dead mercenaries. The Wizards quickly pack up their camp and head out. As they are gathering their things, Zagmira RAISES DEAD on the fallen mercenaries and uses these fresh zombies to help carry supplies to a new spot. Zyldi notices the 2 Puzzle Cubes hidden in Zagmira’s robes. They huddle near a dense clot of buildings and begin scheming. 

Zyldi returns and reports on what she’s seen. There is a discussion: Do we continue hiding and hope the Yuan-Ti finish off the Wizards, or do we strike the Wizards now while they’re weakened? They decide to at least talk to the Wizards – dealing diplomacy and, if needed, death. 

The secret word is determined – if anyone in the group says “fireball”, Elgard will cast FIREBALL on the biggest group of wizards he can find. 

Before they leave, Rhan presents Kanye with his finished club. It is 8 feet tall and looks like it could hold up a building – or tear one down. Kanye hoists it over his shoulder and grins.

BLOWING UP THE LIES

Zyldi leads them to the street where the Wizards were hiding. At the far end of the street, Zagmira and Gareth step out to face the party. Sophitia and Elgard stealthily climb up buildings facing the street and see that there are 6 Red Wizards up on the rooftops watching the scene unfold below. Elgard casts ALTER SELF to make himself look just like a Red Wizard while Sophitia remains hidden.

Nor, Kanye, and Zyldi step up and begin to talk to Zagmira. They let her know they obtained another puzzle cube, but heard a commotion and came to check on them. Zagmira tells them “I’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is that we were attacked by the Yuan-Ti. The good news is that our friend Valindra sent us reinforcements!” With the snap of her finger the rooftop group reveals itself – 6 figures in Red Wizard robes surrounding the party. Elgard steps forward as one of them and goes unnoticed as an “extra” wizard. 

Zagmira and Gareth urge the party to infiltrate the Yuan-Ti temple and meet with their ally. She says “We’ll watch over any Cubes you may have gathered while you’re down there – wouldn’t want them falling into the wrong hands”. Nor does not go for this idea and suggests that Zagmira’s group join forces with [title redacted] and do a full frontal assault on the temple. It is revealed that Yuan-Ti are naturally magic resistant and would easily fend off this attack. 

Nor tries to convince Zagmira that a frontal assault is a good idea, and unintentionally mentions the super-secret-code word “FIREBALL”. Elgard unleashes a huge FIREBALL that nails Zagmira, Gareth, 2 Wizards, and 2 Mercenaries dressed like Wizards. The mercenaries’ charred corpses are blown from the rooftops, and Zagmira’s bluff of extra wizard reinforcements is shone false. The smoking survivors prepare for battle.

However, as the smoke is clearing, Zyldi yells out “How dare you! We came to speak to you in good faith and this is how we’re treated? We’re trying to help you!” The wizards, confused, begin looking back and forth to each other to see who cast the spell. 

Zagmira calls out “Who dared cast that! I gave no orders! Reveal yourself!” They quickly determine that Elgard is the culprit. “Who are you? What is your name? Get down here!”. Elgard replies “Well, ma’am, I got confused, and, well, seein as how there was a bunch of shoutin and stuff, I thought you wanted us to blow things up.”

Gareth storms forward and says “Get your ass down here right now!” Kanye and Nor begin casually surrounding Gareth as he confidently strides toward the disobedient wizard. 

Zyldi says “Well, just don’t let it happen again!” 

Zagmira replies “No no no, that’s not how we do things. Disobedience deserves to be punished, and our friends need to know that this hostility was not our intent!” She summons a giant spectral BIGBY’S HAND and attempts to slap Elgard off the rooftop and to his knees. Against all odds, Elgard is able to expertly dodge this magic force, and Sophitia is fooled into believing their wizard is athletic. 

Zagmira, suddenly suspicious, says “Why don’t you just give me all of your cubes, last chance. We’re not stupid. I know you’ve been lying to us, all the other shrines are empty. No more games” Zyldi responds by turning into an Allosaurus and trying to bite Zag’s face off! 

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE

• Zagmira is able to fend off the worst of Zyldi’s attacks by casting SHEILD from her magic staff
• Kanye hits Gareth with his new giant hammer, knocking the wind out of him
• Gareth stands up, pulls out his magical mace and uses it to cast FEAR. Nor and Sophitia are affected.
• Sophitia shakes off the effects of the fear and prepares to jump into the fray
• Nor runs as far away from Gareth as he can, using his movement to scale a building with a Wizard on top of it
• Elgard jumps off the roof, runs halfway across the street and shoots a LIGHTENING BOLT out of his hand. The bolt blows a hole through Gareth’s body and deals significant harm to Zagmira.
• Kanye and Nor are upset that Elgard just casually killed Gareth like it was no big deal
• Zagmira punches Elgard with BIGBY’S HAND and casts  POISON CLOUD on most of the party. Elgard goes down.
• Thazma (a Red Wizard) casts RAISE DEAD on Gareth and the other fallen mercenaries, and also brings forth the other zombies that were in hiding, bringing 7 zombies into the mix
• Since [title redacted] is too scattered among the Wizards and their allies there are no good groups to cast FIREBALL on, the remaining two wizards both cast a CONE OF COLD, one on Nor, one on Kanye. A Mercenary dies as collateral damage, but our heroes stand strong. 
• Zyldi continues her assault on Zagmira and is able to draw more blood on her. She’s not down yet, but her apex predator senses are telling her that this prey is very weakened
• Kanye climbs a building and hits a wizard with his giant club, sending the top half of his body flying into the jungle
• Sophitia leaps off her building, lands in the middle of the zombie hoard, holds up her holy symbol and DESTROYS UNDEAD. The hoard of zombies is reduced to ash except for one. Sophitia then sings a HEALING WORD at Elgard bringing him back into the action
• Nor runs at the wizard on rooftop and plunges his blade deep into his stomach. Blood pouring out of his mouth, the Wizard smiles and begins to cast a spell
• Right before the spell can go off, Elgard sends another FIREBALL onto the battlefield, killing all but Zagmira and the lone zombie. Nor watches as the wizard on the end of his blade is consumed by the fire and is annoyed that Elgard stole yet another kill from him
• Zyldi, finally able to pounce Zagmira to the ground, bites her head and tears it off her body. 
• The final zombie dies too 

OUT OF THE FIRE AND INTO THE TREASURE PAN

Victorious, our heroes gain the following treasures:-

• 1,000 gold
• A STAFF of DEFENSE which allows wizards to cast MAGE ARMOR and SHIELD using charges from the staff
• a purple IOUN STONE that stores spells
• MACE OF TERROR
• GAUNTLETS of OGRE STRENGTH
• 2 Puzzle Cubes: Moa the Jaculi, and Unkh the Flail Snail

Kanye takes the gauntlets, Elgard takes the staff, Nor takes the Ioun Stone. It still has a FIREBALL spell in it, so this should prove very useful for our fighter. No one wants the MACE, so they will haggle with The Merchant on a price.