Ruins of Albez

The Ruins of Albez are ancient ruins of the past, that has became a breeding ground for Monsters and used, and may still have, treasures. It is located in the Northern part of Izril.

Overview

The Ruins of Albez sit at the heart of what had once been perhaps a magical kingdom, a community of mages, ancient citadel, or something else entirely - the exact details are lost knowledge. The entire area has several dungeons, and sits on a leyline, resulting in intense magic saturation that attracts both monsters and adventurers. Entrance to the area is regulated by the neighboring adventuring guilds, so that groups of adventurers may "book" the ruins for themselves.

Assessment

Powerful enough or large enough groups of adventurers are still supposed to find good challenges in the "deeper parts" of Albez. The silver-ranked Horns of Hammerad were able to recover artifacts and wealth even though the ruins were rumored to be "tapped out". Adventurers could go to the Ruins of Albez as a rite of passage: If you survived there, you could tackle greater challenges. Calruz and his Horns of Hammerad has adventured at the Ruins four times before their demise.

All the same, Albez is an uninteresting spot for higher-level adventurers, as it is known as a dangerous spot that offers little in the way of reward. Long ago "picked clean" by treasure hunters, Albez was thought to be an unprofitable, dangerous place to venture until accomplishment of the reformed Horns under Ceria. It has been mentioned that gold-rank adventurers considered the ruins to be "tapped out" and that "no one's pulled a haul out of there for years".

These differing views of the Ruins of Albez can be seen as a minor inconsistency; however the Ruins of Albez are likely just a bronze-rank or low silver-rank dungeon. A gold-rank team probably sees them as not worth their time, which explains the opposing opinions on them.

Appearance

According to the map of Albez that the Antinium found somewhere, Albez had once been a sprawling city with many buildings and secret passages where lost treasure is likely to be found. When the first people found the Ruins of Albez 89 years before Earthers arrived, the records indicate that they noticed a dome of glass two hundred feet wide poking out of the ground. They dug down and found magical stone, entire wings of preserved libraries, and magical laboratories.

The landscape at Albez is currently dead soil and dried-up vegetation after the city disappeared into the earth. It is unknown what exactly happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but massive mudslides or earthquakes are likely culprits for the demise of Albez. The city had sunk below the earth, becoming covered by time and dirt until some expedition uncovered it. Since then, the ruins were excavated by adventurers and turned into a basin filled with half-buried walls and lovely pitfalls that connected a subterranean landscape with the rest of the world. Sadly, the ruins had shifted within the Earth and once connected passages are now disjoint; or the other way around.

A formerly dome-like structure is one of the few orientation points still recognizable. Carn Wolves sometimes use that building as their base.

Recent activity

When the Horns of Hammerad battled a Lich in the grounds, Ryoka delivered them potions to the battlefield. This earned her their gratitude, and later lead to Ryoka getting to know Ceria and Calruz. Later, the reformed Horns of Hammerad acquired a treasure map in Liscor, and after many setbacks they could find an entrance to one of the unexplored mage quarters. The passage was warded by traps like an overpowered [Flame Snake], an acid trap, poisoned arrow traps, and a teleporting door into an [Insanity] trap. After more trials, the Horns of Hammerad faced the Flame Golem of the long dead Warmage Thresk and secured a large treasure and later also the magical door with the teleport enchantment.

Later on, Ceria hired Gemhammer to mine out the [Insanity] runes that they'd left behind while other teams used the Horns' map to help find more hidden parts of Albez. They worked together with Laken's senses to find a secret lab that belonged to Udatron.

Former Residents

• Warmage Thresk
• Udatron
• Formerly settled by Gnolls

Monsters

Known Creatures:

• Carn Wolves
• Creler
• Mothbears
• Rotbore Pigs
• Shield Spider
• Yellow Shamblers

Known Undead:

• Crypt Lords
• Ghouls
• Liches
• Skeletons
• Zombies

Known Guardians/Boss Monsters:

• Flame Elemental (Thresk's Guardian)
• 27 active Elementals (Udatron's lab Guardians)
  • Earth Elementals
  • Fire Elementals
  • Lightning Elementals (Expired)
  • Water Elementals
  • Wind Elementals