The Wizard, The Maiden and The Djinni

Ladies and gentlemen I have returned, and do I have a story for you! It all begins right here in the "Nameless Tavern" where my companions and I were enjoying a quiet summer night. At least as quiet as it can get when Ferrak and Smitty are engaged in a drinking contest, which is to say not very quiet at all. As the two of them went on to drink each other under the table, the druid Caoimhe did her best to keep the property damage to a minimum, while I sat tuning my fiddle. The night grew late and most of the patrons had gone to bed when a mysterious stranger arrived into town.
 
He was an elder gentleman with white hair and a long beard. He leaned heavily on an old walking stick as he hobbled his way to a chair. He approached our merry band and introduced himself as Tervon Oldsmith. In his prime he claims that he was quite the accomplished illusionist, however these days he prefers to spend his nights in peace and quiet with his darling wife Seraphina. That is until his former assistant, Al'Salazim "Cursed be he" stole away with his wife in the night, and placed a necromantic curse upon poor Tervon's tower. Naturally we agreed to help by going to Tervon's tower and ridding the blight placed upon it. The wizard thanked us greatly and offered us payment up front for the task. He told us that we would find Al'Salazim "Cursed be he" Through a portal on the upper most level of the tower. Tervon implored us to hurry as he was convinced he did not have much time left in this world and only wished to see his beloved wife one last time.
 
In the morning we set out on our journey but not before purchasing some mighty steeds to speed us along. We had a long ride ahead of us but luckily we were un impleaded. after two weeks of travel we had finally reached our destination. At least according to our map we had. The tower in question was no where to be found, just a mighty oak tree in the middle of a forest. The tree was impossibly large with it's trunk being at least 200 feet thick. It was then that we remembered that Tervon claimed to be an illusionist. The oak must be the tower. Sure enough after some carful investigation (and someone remembering that the wizard gave us a password) The way was open.
 
After passing through the threshold we found ourselves in an open field with the tower standing tall at the center. Making our way to the door, we found it unlocked and unguarded, and so we entered. The entry way opened up to a large foyer. Along the walls were a collection of plinths with odd looking curios covered in glass domes. Some items were interesting to say the least, a tuning fork, a figurine of a knight and a dragon locked in combat, and strangely a stale loaf of bread that showed no signs of mold despite the dome that covered it had a thick layer of dust upon it. as a matter of fact everything was covered in dust. it was as if the place had been abandoned for years.
 
There were two paths that lay before us now, a flight of stairs leading up and a heavy looking locked trap door that we assumed led to a basement. Knowing that our quarry waited at the top of the tower we decided to leave the basement be and head up the stairs. On the second floor we found a hallway with a series of rooms along the wall. There were 7 rooms in total and each one had a name plaque upon the door. Sophia, Yolanda, Bell, Francesca, Renee and last but not least Seraphina. It seems as if Tervon had quite a busy love life.
 
Before we had a chance to inspect any of the rooms we were attacked, as spectral hands rose out of the floor to grasp at us. We now were in a fight for our lives against 6 banshees. One of the specters attempted to posses the druid Caoimhe, however her was was to strong and she forced the spirit out. After the battle we went to inspect each room and found them to be identical. A luxurious bed, a desk with a quill and ink well, and an odd looking plinth by the door with a strange looking groove carved into its surface, as if it were a slot to rest some sort of gem on top of it. It was then that we began to think that something was amiss. 7 rooms to house 7 women of which we were only told of 1 existing. Then there was the fact that we were set upon by the vengeful spirits of 6 women who rose up out of the floor. It was time to look into the basement.
 
And so we made our way down the stairs back to the first floor. The heavy iron lock was no match for Smitty's axe. We descended down the stairs and found what looked like a crypt. 7 coffins lined the walls, each one with a name plaque to match the names on the doors from the second floor, Including Seraphina. The coffins contained the magickly preserved bodies of the wizards former wives The fair Seraphina included. He did not tells us that she had died, only that she was stolen away, but there her body lay as peaceful as the winter's morn. 7 dead wives and 6 ghosts. Where was the soul of Seraphina?
 
To ensure that the souls could rest in peace, we removed the bodies from the cursed tower and burned them on a pyre. Now determined to understand what exactly was going on we returned to the tower and climbed to the 3rd floor. On this floor there were three rooms the first room we came to was an office of some kind. A large desk sat at the center and beautifule tapestries lined the walls, depicting desert landscapes and images from Nemthrazine folk lore. On the desk itself we found a brass oil lamp that gave off a faint magical aura. not finding much else of use here we took the lamp and moved on.
 
The next room was a library in which after a thorough inspection we found 7 journals, each one written by one of Tervon's former wives. They each described a similar series of events. Tervon was charming at first, wooing each of them in kind, sweeping them off their feet and whisking them away to his enchanted tower, attending to their every needs. After awhile however they began to notice that the tower was nothing more than a prison. They were never allowed to leave to visit family or friends. The wizard was fond of his trophies, and that is exactly what each one of his wives were to him, the perfect trophy wife. Even in death he preserved their corpses so he could look upon them and forced them to keep a journal so he could read their words.
 
There was still one room left to explore. A laboratory, not much of note inside. It looked as if a battle had occurred here possibly between Tervon and Al'Salazim "cursed be he" who I am beginning to wonder if he is truly the villain in this story. At the center of the room stood a shimmering gate way. A portal, leading where we did not know. What we did know that if we wanted answers to the many questions we now had, we had no choice but to enter and seek out Al'Salazim.
 
Into the portal we leapt and to our horror there was no ground for our feet to land upon. Down and down we began to plummet unable to tell up from down or left from right as the only land marks in sight were glimpses of floating islands in the distance. spinning as I fell, I could not see my friends but I could hear their screams. I remember thinking that this was the end of my journey when suddenly I saw a glimpse of wings. We were saved by bird like men, or men like birds. They called themselves Aarakocra, natives to this the elemental plane of air and servants to a being they call Queen Shaz. They were apparently all to familiar with the Wizard Tervon Oldsmith as we were not the first group of heroes he sent in search of Al'Salazim. They decided that the best thing to do was to bring us to their queen. Hopefully she could give us some answers.
 
It turns out that Queen Shaz is actually a silver dragon. I'll be honest I did not see that coming. She instead that we call her madam Shaz, not queen, and that the aarakocra are little more than pests to her that she keeps around out of pity. Needless to say she was not entirely helpful, refusing to even grant us audience unless we offered her gold in tribute. She did confirm some of our suspicions. Al'Salazim was in fact a Djinn who once ruled a large swath of this plane. He made a deal with Tervon many years ago during which time his territory diminished. When he returned he carried with him a large red gem humming with necromantic energies. He took the gem to his castle and has not been seen since, refusing to take any visitors.
 
Our time with madam Shaz had run its course (apparently she was charging by the minute) and so we took our leave of her, but not before she introduced us to a man by the name of Captain Napoleon. The captain agreed to ferry us to Al'Salazim's palace so long as we promised to take him with us when we returned to Verdraxis. After resting for a bit we set off in Napoleon's "Air Ship", and I use the word ship loosely. It was more like a bucket with a sail sticking out of it. Oddly enough it did its job and flew us to the location of Al'Salazim's palace.
 
In order to avoid the guards posted out front, we elected to sneak in through a window in the back. Being heavily armored and unable to sneak without sounding like a bull in an antique shop, Ferrak decided to stay inside Caoimhe's bag of holding. Don't worry we gave him air holes. making our way through the palace, we found it mostly empty save for a few guards with patrol patterns that were easy to avoid. We arrived at the throne room and sure enough there he was, Al'Salazim "cursed be he".
 
The poor thing looked absolutely drained as if years were taken from his life. He sat on his throne channeling energy into a massive red gem, the likes of which reminded me of the shards recovered from my previous adventure in Underhill. It even gave off the same necromantic aura. After some diplomacy on my part and the quick thinking of handing over the lamp that we found in the tower Al'Salazim was willing to bring everything to light.
 
Many years ago when Tervon the terrible was a young man, he cam to Al'Salazim to make a deal. he could travel to Verdraxis to gain power and influence in exchange for one human lifetime of service. Being that to a Djinn a human life time is but the blink of an eye Al'Salazim accepted his terms. Little did he know of the wizards deception. During his service to Tervon the terrible, he learned of the wizards plot to take on a wife, keep her locked away in his tower as his own play thing, and then when they were at the end of their life he would use the gem to draw out their soul and use it to extend his own life. Six times he did this and he was ready to do it again, However Al'Salazim could take it no longer. He broke the enchantment binding him to his lamp, stole the necromantic gem and escaped with it back to his palace in the elemental plane of air. Now he uses all of his energy to contain the gem that now houses Seraphina's soul, preventing Tervon the terrible from regaining his hold over her, waiting for the wizard to die of old age once his stolen time has run out.
 
At this point Al'Salazim knew that Tervon the terrible had only a few days left if he could not get his hands on the gem, and so we agreed to stay and help protect the gem for two weeks time. Our stay was... not nice. The food was little more than gruel and the beds were lumpy and our host was not at all gracious. Granted that giving the circumstances I did not expect much from him, he was after all using all his power to keep the gem contained, but he could have at least been a little nicer to us.
 
One day our rest was broken by a loud explosion coming from the throne room. Caoimhe and Smitty ran ahead to see what had happened while I stayed behind to assist Ferrak with his armor. When we arrived we found our companions in battle with a group of would be assassins sent by Tervon the terrible to take out Al'Salazim. They were prepared for the djinn and his guards but they were not prepared for us. It was a hard fought battle as both sides were evenly matched near the end the last thing a remembered was a loud explosion and intense heat before I fell unconscious. I awoke moments later with my wounds fully healed. The assassins were gone without a trace and I found my companions and I trapped in some sort of magical force field. Al'Salazim was unconscious outside this field, the gem drained of its energy laying at his feet, and floating in the center of the room was the ghost of Seraphina with a look of horror and rage upon her face. With supernatural speed she darted across the room assaulting us with her ghostly touch. It took everything we had to take her down and put her soul to rest.
 
When the battle was over Al'Salazim regained consciousness, and being true to his word opened a portal for us to return to Verdraxis, stating that he wished to never see us again. And so we made our journey home to Glenhaven. When we arrived we asked around at the nameless tavern to learn what had happened to Tervon the terrible. Apparently he had asked one of the barmaids to marry him to which she agreed. Lucky for her the old wizard was found dead the next morning, of a broken heart...