Prelude
Our GM had previously mentioned, that it was quite some time ago that he had last played MAGUS as a player. I decided to help him out and be the GM myself for an adventure. I had only GM'd DnD until now, so this should be a fun challenge!
Introduction
After the adventurers had collected their reward, the wizard immediately directed an elderly gentleman towards them. He was desperately asking for help in some urgent matter, and the wizard had obviously ran out of patience.
Of course, Wilborin had received an urgent message about some family matters and an impending danger related to their domain, so he got back on his horse and rode away. The wizard called upon a nearby elf to join the adventurers instead.
Daramin
A veteran player, the GM had prepared a homebrew class for himself. The young elf had about a hundred years to become both a high wizard and a martial arts master - two callings that usually each take a lifetime to master. His diverse combat and magical abilities meant that he had no time to study other aspects of adventuring.
The curse of baron Gordham
It took a couple days' ride to arrive at the domain of baron Gordham. The old castellan who had lead the adventurers there had no intent to share any information beforehand. Nevertheless, the adventurers convinced his young attendant, Johnny, to tell them whatever he knew. He spoke about an ancient and terrible curse affecting the baron's family, which they are supposed to lift.
On arrival, the adventurers were greeted with a festive dinner (at least, by the standards of a minor noble). The baron, an inexperienced young man, was very happy to see them. Still, the old castellan looked to be the real boss of the manor. Together, they retold the tragic fate of the Gordham family. The curse, afflicting the male family members, starts manifesting after somebody takes over the baronage. That person will then weaken and wither during the course of several years, eventually dying. The source of the affliction is most likely a warlock, killed by the baron's great grandfather about 60 years ago. The strangest circumstance was actually the prophecy of an old witch, which seemed to predict exactly this band of adventurers as the saviors to lift the curse.
The adventurers immediately got suspicious: the prophecy was a bit too precise. They started investigating all avenues of danger. They looked for magical energy around the mansion, but there was nothing of the sort. They investigated the mansion and the servants, finding out that the domain is not well defended, with only a couple of soldiers. They had no choice but to block the doors and go to sleep.
Tomorrow, they were led to the ruined sanctuary of the defeated warlock. According to the locals, many adventuring parties had previously tried to enter the ruins, but they all returned without any memories of what they accomplished, if anything.
After some searching around - which revealed only animal tracks - the adventurers approached the ruins. There was no entrance, just a smooth wall. At their approach, the stones formed a mouth that asked them a riddle. At first, they did not guess the answer, and they immediately forgot whatever happened. On the second approach, they gave the correct answer, and the magical guardian let them enter.
After a short but steep descent, they entered a large, ruined room, overgrown with vegetation. They found a nest of wolves. The animals attacked immediately. They managed to inflict grievous wounds on Daramin before they were put down by fire, lightning and blade.
After a few hours of recovery, the adventurers uncovered the way forward by removing pieces of a ruined wall. They entered a ruined passageway, then found themselves in an even larger room. It had once been the scene of a desperate battle, with bodies covering the floor knee-deep. The bodies showed signs of unnatural decay. A short investigation yielded nothing of note, so the adventurers headed towards the doorway on the far side of the room. Before they reached it, however, they tripped a magical trap, animating several corpses.
The warlock immediately took control of 3 of the undead. The firemage covered his own attackers in magical flames. The elf wielded his swords masterfully, clashing with ravenous claws.
The room plunged into darkness as Aegon fell on the torch he was holding...
... but with so many sorcerers around, this did not cause any issues, and the undead had soon fallen.
Including the one that cut off its own head at the command of the warlock.
A short search of the bodies revealed some money and jewels.
The next challenge was to open the giant doors. The first application of brute force failed, as Phempheus nearly succumbed to hernia. The second application of brute force was prepared with a helping of Psi, and the adventurers managed to move the rusty irons.
The adventurers found themselves in a dusty laboratory. A skeleton sat on a throne on the far wall, a longsword between his ribs. Daramin started ahead to take a look, when they were surprised by a ghostly apparition. The long dead warlock promised whoever disturbed his rest vengeance and death. He couldn't even finish his story, when the throne and the wall behind shattered, as a huge monster charged into the room.
Everybody launched all the spells at their disposal. The monster attacked back with blade, spike, tentacle and claw. It managed to land its leech-like mouth on the bare head of the firemage. Phempheus screamed as poison coursed through his veins. In the end, however, the monster collapsed, bleeding from numerous wounds and missing a couple of appendages.
The adventurers searched the laboratory, finding a couple of mysterious vials. Of course, a practiced wizard finds no mystery where ever natural substances are concerned. Of course, Daramin felt compelled to make the meditating Phempheus smell the vial of aphrodisiac. The firemage battled his awakening desires for the rest of the evening.
Lifting the curse
The adventurers took everything they could - including any papers and vials, and even the blood of the monster, which seemed to be repelling the natural flow of magic. Returning to the mansion, they carried on desperate experiments all night. The vials - containing aphrodisiac, acid and poison - did not offer any solutions to the curse. The blood of the monster was simply the blood of multiple beings, mixed up with magic. Just to be sure, the adventurers filled up many vials with the blood, and arranged them throughout the baron's ceremonial garments, hoping to repel any curse or spell.
The ceremony came with the morning. After a boring speech, the baron enacted the ritual drinking of wine from the family's heirloom goblet, then, as a sign of honor, passed it to the adventurers. Phempheus and Daramin did not notice anything, but Aegon (having handled a lot of gold in his life) immediately noticed that the goblet was heavier than it should have been. Moreover, a grey metal can be seen beneath the scratches in the gold covering.
The curse was, therefor, simply a lead goblet, used by every baron of Gordham each morning and each evening. Daramin stopped the explosion of words erupting from the firemage, instead opting to let the baron know diplomatically what was happening.
The satisfied and happy baron had the adventurers as guests for a couple more days, then rewarded them as best as he could, before letting them go on their way.
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