Legends of Old Urthe - Hell on Urthe  (D&D v3.5)
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Fifth Age - Hell on Urthe: The Halls of the Master

After an eventful night at the Ferryboat Tavern, the party journeyed to the Wizard's Halls, the chill mists masking the deformed birds that winged above, if not their discordant cries. Finding the Halls in some state of disrepair, Myshrall darted past the stone guardian, but Dirk was not so lucky. Defeated, though only his pride was wounded, the old rogue stalked off into the mists, abandoning the party to their fate.

With the stone guardian proving an insurmountable obstacle, the rest of the party sought another means of entrance, climbing onto the roof where they were beset by a gang of feral monkey-creatures. Saffaris unleashed a storm of ice upon them, while Myshrall's flash bombs disoriented the creatures allowing the warriors to cut a swathe through them. But the roof timbers gave way and Calanor fell, to be set upon by the creatures until Alasha'an could come to the rescue. The sudden appearance and terrible cries of a large ape-like creature caused Zhihariaster to flee, never to be seen again, though the beast proved no match for Brugar's axe and Jarret's bow.

Investigating a passageway, Myshrall was badly burned and Calanor perished in flames summoned by an unseen assailant.

Elsewhere, two guests in the Halls, Amhairghin the bard and Lothar Lionheart, priest of Belenus, who had who had arrived the previous evening, took advantage of the disturbance created by the few monkey-creatures who survived and the pair managed to overcome the vampire Stehla who had held Lothar enthralled.

Meeting with the Lords Diker and Saega, brothers to the former Master of the Halls, the party learned that Tizun had been slain by an assassin, a creature from the lower planes. However the Wizard, with his dying breath, attempted to cast his spirit into his killer's body ... but whether Tizun or his killer now inhabited the body, the attempt drove them mad, and the creature now roamed the Master's Tower, slaying any who venture near.

Seeking revenge for Calanor's death and such information regarding the Portals left behind by Tizun that had survived the assassin's wrath, the party entered the tower to confront the usurper, joined by the two surviving brothers and Malaki, apprentice to Saega.

As the party climbed the stairs towards the final confrontation, noxious gases, binding webs and illusions assailed them, but they won through to the Wizard’s chambers to confront the usurper, a hulking toad-like beast attired in the tattered remains of Tizun’s robes.

Venelia was able to confirm that nothing of Tizun remains within the creature, but was the first to die, her neck snapped in its powerful grip. In the battle that follows, the party found themselves first under attack from the furniture itself, given life and movement by the magics wielded by the assassin, then by fire as it summoned forth a great ball of flame that engulfed the room, slaying Saega, the Lord of Bones. But finally, assailed by spell and sword, dagger and axe, the usurper fell, the final blow struck by Alasha’an, her dagger piercing its heart.

The party mourned the dead, committing Venelia’s body to flame and laying Calanor to rest in the crypts with Saega. The last of the three brothers, Diker, took on the mantle of Master of the Halls, and with Tizun’s secrets open to him, the party discovered the Wizard's notes that purported to unravel some of the Prophecy’s mysteries.

Seeking the pearl that Tizun thought to be the key to the second of the Portals, the party (save for Lothar who elected to remain in the Halls with Diker) prepared to travel by means of the Wizard’s mirrors to Talhamnoduin, there to wrest it from the clutches of the ruler Dinear, the Silent One.

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