Mages' Regal

''Note: this article contains information about Mages' Regal, the campaign run by Stuart Dunsmore. If you're looking for information about the Mages' Regal organization, you can find it here.

The adventure that started it all, featuring the Wandering Guardians:

Beginnings
From disparate corners of the world, a collection of hitherto unknown adventures find themselves in the mighty city of Waterdeep, in the very same square during a Temple of Tymora. When an artifact as stolen, the five of them dive into the sewers to find it:
 * Nassim Molrin, a paladin of Ilmater with a very stern expression;
 * Vohr Kethon, an incorrigible rogue (not a thief);
 * Keldoc Mirrorwind, a stoic bard with a flair for the dramatic;
 * Oryn Silverrain, a garishly dressed sorcerer; and
 * Loralei, a cleric in service of Tymora.

They dive down into the sewers and wrest the artifact (a special coin with special luck-based properties) from the would-be thieves ... only to fall through a portal into ...

The Western Heartlands
They find themselves not far from a little farming community too small to be noted on a map. The town is in trouble, and the Wandering Guardians (as they spontaneously name themselves) rise to the occasion. They venture into the woods and ambush a small horde of goblins led by a barbarian named Shoopek.

Ashabenford and the Monastery
They then enter a town called Ashabenford, a town under the impression of a corrupt mill-owner and his two thuggish sons. It's revealed that some local brigands are in cahoots with an evil cleric. After some nosing around (and Vohr flinging his dagger through a window to nab a piece of paper off a desk), they defeat the brigands and restore order to the town. In this town lived a young woman named Ginny, and her parents. (They wouldn't know it at the time, but one certain paladin had a lasting effect on a member of the Starshin family ...)

Later on, they'd confront the man behind the mess ... who was giving them orders from the nearby Monastery to Tyr. Aided by Deacon Witherhill, who prevented the man from using a dimension door to escape, the Wandering Guardians took the man down. However, it seemed like there was odd work afoot. They acquired an odd ring and a map there, and found a sigul upon them ... the work of the Category:Mages' Regal.

Evargaras and Fred
As they travelled around, they came to hear of one Saragrave, a notorious criminal, who threatened another small town, this one in the shadow of a castle. Asking about local happenings at an inn, they discovered a funny man who offered to lead them directly into their fortress. The man's name was Evargaras.

''Editor's Note: It should be noted that none of us noticed the similarity of the names. It went completely over our heads.''

They take a secret entrance through a cave and up a flight of stairs and enter into a room ... only to hear the door lock behind them. Ambushed and trapped, the Wandering Guardians fought for their lives and won! The townsfolk were so grateful that they bequeathed the castle unto the group. Servants were hired, and they boosted the local economy thereby.

Afterwards, they headed west, into the great plains of the Western Heartlands proper, using the network of portals established by the Mages' Regal. Here they encountered Fred, a gnomish machinist and arms dealer, who created expandable catapults, battle-suits ... things of that nature. After a quick trip to the chaos of upper Sembia, Fred helped them find the portal so that they could ...

Return to Waterdeep
They returned that large coin artifact back to the priests of Tymora, who were most appreciative. It had been six months, and they'd given up all hope.

In this time, Keldoc was contacted by a Harper agent, a dwarf whose brother had been kidnapped by the orcish armies poised to strike down Silverymoon. The others received similar word ... and their trails seemed to be leading them into ...

The Silver Marches
They arrived at Silverymoon wondering two things:


 * Where's Loralei? - Loralei, at Vohr's behest, had been sold into slavery in Waterdeep. All her assets had been liquidated and divvied amongst the group; Keldoc had done the negotiating there.
 * What's wrong with this guy?? - Loralei was replaced by one Confectus, a deep-woods ranger with a mysterious past. He seemed a decent sort, but there was just something ... wrong about him.

Their first task was to gather information. Moving stealthily, they crept up on the orcish camp. Keldoc disguised himself thoroughly as the Orc Chief and gave the performance of his life, wresting the army's attack plans from the hands of the Chief's own son, leaving the orc so startled that he wet himself.

Their second task was to assist in the defense of Silverymoon. The army had been moving slowly, and the Wandering Guardians moved up to gain control of the orcish many-wheeled war machine before it could reach the White Guard. Vohr had gained control of one turret, completely unnoticed, when ... Nassim rides up, in full plate armor, standing on his warhorse, and jumps into the other turret, quickly dispatching the guard. The nine hells running loose, the others took charge ... and the five of them slaughtered the orcish army with its own war device.

Their third task was to rescue prisoners in the orcish fortress, deep in the mountains. The Wandering Guardians planned the assault quite thoroughly: Confectus and Oryn would stay back and fire projectiles, while Nassim and Vohr went in the front door, completely invisible. Keldoc, carrying an eversmoking bottle, dropped into the fort from the rear by feather falling off the cliff rising above it. --unfortunately, the wards around the door detected good, and both Nassim and Vohr were blinded and tagged by a spray of golden dust. Fires were set, thunderstones were used to bomb the still-waking orcs, and Keldoc released and armed the prisoners. Eventually, they succeeded in escaping, leaving the fortress completely barren.

Retribution, Amn ... and the Sword
Unsure of their next direction, the Wandering Guardians stopped in on their friends in the Western Heartlands, only to discover tragedy had followed in their wake. The little farming town had been destroyed completely. Ginny's parents had been murdered. And the entire staff of their castle had been skinned alive and left hanging from the ceiling, prompting Vohr to wonder aloud, "Am I turned off by this?". The castle proved to be a trap set by one Shoovekapek, the wizard brother to Shoopek ... the castle started to crumble, and the Wandering Guardians, much chagrined, jumped out the window of the tall tower before they were buried in the rubble.

More tragedy followed. Ginny, wearing a battle-suit and under Shoovekapek's mind control, nearly killed them ... and Fred's ghost haunted his workshop. Ginny, proving quite the artificier herself, started in on deciphering Fred's old notes. Vohr, who'd been trying to slip his longsword into Ginny's velvet scabbard for quite some time, dropped the 20,000 gold pieces necessary to bring Ginny's parents back from the dead. Ginny had been aged roughly ten years by Shoovekapek's meddling and had been horrified at the death of her parents ... so needless to say, she was quite grateful of Vohr's generosity. (Just how grateful remains a matter of some debate.)

Amn
The troupe stopped briefly in the city of Athkatla, nearly rocking the Jade Lion Inn to the ground as Keldoc put on a legendary performance. This was a quick stop, though, on their way into deep and secretive caverns.

Nassim had a higher calling than merely Ilmater. Somewhere buried in the Great Rift was the Sword of the Triad, and Nassim meant to have it. The rest agreed: if they were to take on the Mages' Regal and Shoovekapek, they needed all the firepower they could muster.

The Rift
They wandered for days in the endless caverns of the Great Rift, slaughtering untold foes and killing many monsters ... eventually laying waste to a black dragon. Confectus fired the killing blow, sending an arrow through its mouth and out its tailpipe; the dragon, hovering, fell on top of Nassim. A series of odd riddles later, Nassim pulled the sword from its place in the stone.

Westgate
Word on the street was that Westgate was the place to find the Mages' Regal. The Wandering Guardians headed there promptly and set about unearthing clues. Vohr split off from the others, engaging in a quick foray into the lives of the Night Masks and joining forces with The Shaman. Once rejoined by the others, they confronted Necros, the second-in-command to the Mages' Regal ... who nearly killed them all. His death opened a portal into the Plane of Shadow, where Shoovekapek planned his schemes ...

The Realm of Shadows
The troupe disguised itself as best as possible before entering a realm oppressed by Shoovekapek. They had to use stealth and strength to find the location of Shoovekapek's lair ... one ward flattened an entire city block in order to get to them. Vohr rabble-roused and led the shadows into a state of rebellion, to distract the underlings ...

The five of them entered Shoovekapek's home via the back window, ducked through the bedroom and found him sitting at a desk scribbling notes. Vohr (who rolled a 69 on his Spot) scoured the room. He was alone. Keldoc, feeling heroic, leaped off the balcony from the bedroom. Then Oryn came around the corner with his arcane sight ... and saw the illusion in place. Keldoc slammed head-first into a wall of force.

Confectus dropped down from the balcony and, taking the most insane shot in archer history, shot his strongest arrow into the shadows across from the desk, underneath the balcony. Shoovekapek roared in pain (half his life in one shot) and then engaged his spellcraft, Transforming into a mighty fighter, blinking himself and creating a duplicate of himself. (Also, there were wraiths.)

The battle was long and fierce, but eventually all of the foes lay dead. Shoovekapek, on the verge of death, ran from the room, seeking to hide in the Realm of Shadows ... but Keldoc chased him down and slid a poisoned dagger into him. (15 constitution damage) The body of Shoovekapek immediately withered up into a dry and mummified husk. Standing before the crowd of rebelling Shadows, Keldoc ripped off the head and held it up before them.

They offered to make Vohr their king, but Vohr had to decline.

They travelled back to Westgate and celebrated their victory over evil before heading separate ways ...

The Wandering Guardians

 * Nassim Molrin, the Paladin: Jorge Jaramillo
 * Vohr Kethon, the Rogue (not a thief): Dan Moffitt
 * Oryn Silverrain, the Flaming Sorcerer: Ryan Neenan
 * Confectus Dead-Eye, the Ranger: Bill Fehringer
 * and Keldoc, Minstrel of Silverymoon: Bwh

Also appearing in this adventure:
 * Loralei, who was played by Stu until Bill joined the group.
 * Takamal, played by Brian during a side-adventure with Vohr.

NPCs

 * Shoovekapek - the head of the Category:Mages' Regal, a collective of evil wizards bent on stirring up chaos to leave the world in disarray (and ripe for the plucking).
 * Necros - the second-in-command, who maintained the Regal presence in Westgate.
 * dwarven Night Mask guy - a hard-drinking and bitter dwarf who represented a cell of the Night Masks, an organization who wanted the Mages' Regal gone.
 * red-haired Night Mask wench - a red-haired beauty who convinced Vohr to help them.
 * Ginny the Machinist - originally, a young teenage girl whose parents lived in Ashabenford. She was kidnapped by Shoovekapek in 1372 DR and aged roughly ten years. She became Fred's apprentice and eventual successor.
 * Fred the Gnomish Artificier - a mechanic and arms dealer who built magically enhanced machines for sale, especially in zones of intense conflict. He was slaughtered by Shoovekapek; his ghost still haunts his workshop.
 * Saragrave - a self-styled king of thieves who operated southeast of Ashabenford. He spent a lot of time in the local pubs trying to lure the gullible into compromising positions. Alias: Evargaras.

Criticisms

 * Reversal of Fortunes: when Stu realized he'd made a mistake, the universe would turn on its head. The most noticeable instance of this was during the battle in Westgate, where a sudden reordering of initiative in the DM's favor dropped Nassim like a sack of hammers.
 * "We're Gonna Die!": Stu's bloodlust seemingly knew no bounds, and the Wandering Guardians found themselves using their overabundance of treasure to fight increasingly impossible odds. Ironically, despite complaints, not a single player-character died during the campaign.
 * Treasure: there was too much of it ... to the point where Vohr could easily afford to resurrect Ginny's parents (at 10,000 gold apiece) just so he'd have an easier time getting into her leather breeches.

Unanswered Questions
There were a lot of loose ends left open for future sessions; indeed, the past and futures of the Wandering Guardians and their bohort became the focus of Mists of Cormyr. To date, unanswered questions include:

Answer: While that gate was left intact, the city of Westgate underwent catastrophic upheaval a year later. If the gate remains, it is presumed buried under the rubble.
 * What precisely happened to Ginny? Has she been seen in Ashabenford since 1372 DR?
 * Does the gate to the Plane of Shadows remain open, even following the destruction of Westgate?