========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 13:12:07 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Mystaran Duergar (was: Mystaran Novels) In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="0-496672163-998478727=:78605" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit --0-496672163-998478727=:78605 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Disposition: inline --- The Stalker wrote: > So, I *reall* doubt the Schattenalfen were involved > in this, if the assumed > story of the Modrigswerg "curse"/evil is even true! > Then again, "dark > elves" could mean what it does in Dragonlance, where > dark elves are simply > a term for elves who have turned to "dark" > philosophies and been "cast from > the light" by their brethren... In that case we > could have an entire clan > of evil elves running around, or maybe they died a > long time ago, yet their > evil legacy lives on.... ? I once did a writeup of two monsters called White Elves and Black Elves. They are still available at Stans site. However, they aren't as good as they could be and I'm planning on rewamping them for 3E. Basically these are a race of Celestial elves. They descend from normal Mystaran elves, from the time that these were living in Grunland. However, already in those early days, some left the way of Ordana, their creator and sought the knowledge of other Immortals. A small group took up the following of Odin. In return for their obedience, Odin changed them into Celestial Elves (later White Elves) and gave them the lands he called Alfheim (The Outer Plane). After a while, the Celestial elves of Alfheim were visited by a golden toungued stranger named Loki. He spoke agaist Odin, and promised a better land elsewhere. The ones who believed in his lies became the Black Elves, Svartalfar or Dark Elves, and settled on the Outer Plane of Svartalfheim. Some of these Dark Elves have had contact with Mystara, and have had some dealings with the Moulder Dwarves. What do you think? H�vard What do you think? ______________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Organiser sammenkomsten p� http://no.invites.yahoo.com --0-496672163-998478727=:78605-- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 17:14:03 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview Well, since the list is very quiet today, I'll take the opportunity to post something in working on with my fellow co-conspirators of Evil DMs (tm). People who looking through the final issue of the Tome of Mystara will already know of this (you haven't read the Tome? Shame on you!). Essentially it is the beginning of a large adventure campaign I've been working on together with John Calvin and Max Monas, and IIRC we have been at it for more than a year now... Please note that despite of my personal reservations about 3rd Edition D&D, the entire adventure is presented in 3e so as to make it more accessible to new players. After all, this *is* an adventure/campaign for new characters starting at level 1 ! Since the MML guidelines allow us to post only in plain text, the original formatting is lost... I'll post only the DM overview today, but the first adventure will come tomorrow (or sooner if there is demand for it). If you're curious or you prefer the original formatting, it can be found in the sixth Tome of Mystara. The direct link is: Also note that the Swords of Wayland, a group of highly magical swords (or semi-artifacts, if you prefer) written by myself, feature heavily in this. The Swords of Wayland used in Phase I are described in the adventure, but only two of then are significant during the four initial adventures. However, if you are curious about all of them, you can find my original article on them in Tome no.4: But note that my original article presents all the swords in AD&D 2nd Edition Player Option rules, whereas the two swords in Phase I are in 3rd Edition format. The other swords are likely to be converted as our work progresses on this project. If you have *ANY* questions on this, don't hesitate to post them to the MML, as both John and I frequently lurk about here! Here goes: DM's overview Designed by (names listed in alphabetical order): John Calvin Max Monas Jens "The Stalker" Schnabel Phase I: Unknown to all, one of the Outer Beings is breaking free of its planar prison. It has spent centuries making preparations for this event. By manipulating one of the immortals themselves, the Outer Being has been able to set the stage for its escape. Its plan involves the corruption of the powerful artifacts known as the Swords of Wayland, as well as blood rituals on a scale that could not possibly be imagined by most, be they mortal or immortal. The PCs will be inexorably drawn into this webwork of insane schemes through four seemingly unrealted adventures. Ultimately, it will be up to them to put the pieces together before the Outer Being's dark prophecies come to pass, but the unknowable one has been planning its escape for a long time. Compasion, curiosity, fame, and fortune...all of the stuff that heores are made of, will insure that wittingly or not, the PCs will play their part in the Outer Beings grand design. The following is a quick overview of the Phase I adventures. These adventures are all designed for a low level party, and can easily be used as either the starting point of a larger campaign, or inserted as a mini- campaign in a pre-existing game. The adventures were designed to be played in and around the Mystaran nation of Darokin, but DMs should be able to adapt it to fit any campaign nation where intrigue, and the almighty gold coin, rule the day. Adventures 1 - 3 can be run in any order, but for DMs starting out new campaigns it is suggested that Adventure 1 be run first. This will give the party members a memorable location to use as their home base. Running Adventure 2 first is an easy way to introduce PCs traveling through the wildernes into this campaign, while playing Adventure 3 first might be better for introducing a city bound party. Each adventure has tie ins to all of the others, so once one of them has been played through it will be easier for DMs to set up the others. Adventure 4 is designed to be the climactic end of this series, and so should probably be played last. PCs who rush into this scenario without playing through all of the others may be caught at a serious disadvantage. Adventure 1 : Your Trusted Friend, the Necromancer Adventure 2 : The Starving Forest Adventure 3 : What Lurks in the Shadows Adventure 4 : All of yer treasure, argh... belong to us (the climax adventure) Aftermath : More Adventure Ideas Appendix 1 : History of Oliver Attleson Appendix 2 : New Magic Items Appendix 3 : The Dark Petals Cult Appendix 4 : New Monsters Phase II: Thanatos' plan for causing mass destruction is escalating, and tensions run high among the great houses. The Dark Petals Cult is sowing chaos throughout the land and reaping in the dead bodies. Unknown to all, a force even more sinister than Thanatos is sitting on the sidelines, watching, and waiting, for the proper moment to fulfill its own dark prophecies. The following is a list of tentatively planned adventures that will be designed for mid to high range level parties. The Prohpecy Revealied: The characters must discover more details about the prophecy. The Dog Prince: What does a kobold have in common with the head of Umbarth House? Stay tuned to find out.. The Corun Conspiracy: Somebody is selling information to the highest bidder, and it's information that the Coruns don't want revealed. The Roots of Evil: The characters track down the origins of the Dark Petals Cult (perhaps going all the way to Thyatis). What they find in the end, may turn out to be closer to home than they thought. The Swords, the Swords...who has the Swords? : The PCs must race against time, as well as the Dark Petals Cult in order to retrieve the Swords of Wayland. Phase III: The prophecy has been fulfilled, or nearly so...for only a single ritual needs yet to be completed before the Outer Being can once again walk through the Prime. Only the PCs can stand in its way. To defeat such a powerful foe they will have to put behind their misgivings and join forces with their most hated, and feared, enemy. The following is a list of tentatively planned adventures that will be designed for high level parties. Stopping a Ritual: The PCs rush to stop the ritual which will finally release the Outer Being. Unfortunately for them, this is just what it has in mind. Only the sacrifice of a friend can save them, and finally reveal the truth behind the dark prophecies. Fighting Ghosts: The Swords of Wayland are lost. The PCs must reclaim them before their opponents from the Dark Petal Cult do. Devil's Deal: Only the PCs greatest enemy can help them reverse the damage that has been caused. But can they trust him? A Date with Unknowable Madness: The PCs must reverse the dark prophecies that they themselves unwittingly helped to bring about. Only then can the Outer Being's prison be repaired. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 20:48:13 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Dark Elves (was: Mystaran Duergar) In-Reply-To: <20010822111207.79932.qmail@web13104.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit IMC, the Dark Elves are related to the Wendarian Elves. Wendarian elves I have always played as Grey Elves (Elves that were a colony close to Blackmoor, not part of Grunland or Ilsundal). They returned to a semi-magic/nature way, similar to the other returnists that settled the Sylvan Realm. Several clans sought out to learn many different schools of magic. One clan that was located on the Denagothian Plateau sought out the darker uses of magic and soul binding. They were destroyed on the plateau by many successive humanoid raids, or they were thought to be destroyed. Many Wendarian sages will not tell of Wendar's darker history, believing that the Dark Elves were destroyed, if not by the humanoids, then by their evil magic. Both are actually true, and quite wrong. The Dark Elves that survived also realized that their brethren would never truly trust them or accept them. So they planned the biggest trick of all (with a little help from a couple of bound clerics of Loki they captured when traveling in the Northern Reaches), they scattered themselves into every known elven clan in the Known World, each posing as a member of another clan. Only the more powerful were able to do this, the younger members were destroyed by the humanoid raids and several wizards contesting a couple of power vacuums that occurred on the plateau. (IMC Gilfronden was indeed from Wendar, and spent some time masquerading as a Shadow Elf, but in truth was a Dark Elf, securing a place for his brethren in the new Shadow Elven homelands in Alfheim. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 09:39:50 CEST Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Giulio Caroletti Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit It seems very interesting. If I ever manage to read all the adventures, I might consider asking you to allow me to place them at the Dark Portal webpages (the Nightmare Dimension Site), considering that the adventure is heavily related to Outer Beings. However, I would have to read carefully through the adventures, first, and "time waits for nobody"... Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 01:48:28 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- The Stalker wrote: > Well, since the list is very quiet today, I'll take > the opportunity to post > something in working on with my fellow > co-conspirators of Evil DMs (tm). > People who looking through the final issue of the > Tome of Mystara will > already know of this (you haven't read the Tome? > Shame on you!). > > Essentially it is the beginning of a large adventure > campaign I've been > working on together with John Calvin and Max Monas, > and IIRC we have been > at it for more than a year now... Does that mean your still working on it? I already found it in the tome and reformatted it all into word so I could print it and read it. (although havent actually done it yet. Looks interesting and devious, gotta love those titles. Chris. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 07:39:45 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> Does that mean your still working on it? I already found it in the tome and reformatted it all into word so I could print it and read it. (although havent actually done it yet. Looks interesting and devious, gotta love those titles. Chris. << Phase I is completed, although we might revisit it someday if enough people make comments and bring up points that were ill dealt with, or angles that we might want to expand upon. For all intents and purposes though Phase I is finished. The overview Stalker posted lists ideas for Phases II and III. These are really the general direction we want the story to go in, although nothing is set in stone. We are currently working on Phase II adventures. The basic plots have pretty much been defined, and now we are trying to flesh them out in adventure format (which seems to take us quite a while... :( ) I hope you get time to read the artlicle. Also if anyone else wants a word format, I can probably post one on the web somewhere for download. We converted all of our word documents to html, but the originals must still be around somewhere. John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 07:42:38 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> It seems very interesting. If I ever manage to read all the adventures, I might consider asking you to allow me to place them at the Dark Portal webpages (the Nightmare Dimension Site), considering that the adventure is heavily related to Outer Beings. However, I would have to read carefully through the adventures, first, and "time waits for nobody"... << Lol... Stalker was just telling me something similar about your Swanamutu stuff... Do we all have this time problem? Chronomancer! Is there a chronomancer in the house? John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:14:06 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM >Does that mean your still working on it? I already >found it in the tome and reformatted it all into word >so I could print it and read it. (although havent >actually done it yet. Looks interesting and devious, >gotta love those titles. > >Chris. This is really interesting! I read through them once in the final issue of the Tome, but of course I'm interested in seeing more! Chris, would you be willing to email your Word version to my work email address (ganderg@tc.gc.ca)? Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 15:27:52 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 07:39:45 -0700, John Calvin wrote: >>> >Does that mean your still working on it? You bet! Phase II is currently under development, and we have lots of ideas for it. But as John said, finding time to actually turn those into adventures - that's a problem... > I already >found it in the tome and reformatted it all into word >so I could print it and read it. (although havent >actually done it yet. Looks interesting and devious, >gotta love those titles. > >Chris. ><< > >Phase I is completed, although we might revisit it someday if enough people >make comments and bring up points that were ill dealt with, or angles that we >might want to expand upon. For all intents and purposes though Phase I is >finished. > >The overview Stalker posted lists ideas for Phases II and III. These are >really the general direction we want the story to go in, although nothing is >set in stone. We are currently working on Phase II adventures. The basic >plots have pretty much been defined, and now we are trying to flesh them out in >adventure format (which seems to take us quite a while... :( ) > Precisely :( >I hope you get time to read the artlicle. Also if anyone else wants a word >format, I can probably post one on the web somewhere for download. We >converted all of our word documents to html, but the originals must still be >around somewhere. > Yes, on my harddrive! I have all the original versions we went through, or rather, those I had access to in Word format. The Necromancer adventure is the one I have in the most useful Word format, since I wrote that. I'll post it shortly, but be warned folks - it's very long, longer than the subsequent adventures! So you need to blame someone for that, then that would be me! - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 15:39:53 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: CotS - Necromancer adventure, part 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 As promised, here is the first adventure in Phase I of the Corruption of the Swords campaign. It's very long (my fault - I wrote it based on ideas by Max Monas), so I'll cut it into smaller parts, but I'll post them all now. Just one thing, note that at times there are references to appendices and other adventures. These will be posted within the next days, though there are things that are required to run the full adventure. You can probably run it without the descriptions of the paladin Oliver Attleson (he's been dead a long time anyway), but the stats of the Sword Wraith will be necessary if the dream sequence is to work. Never fear, they will come, but check the Tome of Mystara if you need to see it - the specific stats are in adventure four and the general description of the Sword Wraith monster in the appendix on new creatures. Darokin Adventure - Your Trusted Friend, The Necromancer... DM Setup This adventure is designed to be linked with other Phase I adventures in the =91Corruption of the Swords=92 campaign. Since this is the suggested beginning of the campaign, it can easily be played on its own, though. Unknown to all, one of the Outer Beings is breaking free of its planar prison. It has spent centuries making preparations for this event. Through manipulation and curses, the Outer Being has been able to set the stage for its escape. Its plan requires that the Swords of Wayland be used in massive acts of blood sacrifices before finally being brought together. With the taint of blood, the combined swords will provide the energy to power the second component, another artifact in the shape of a staff. This staff has the ability to create a rift in the multiverse itself, and set the Outer Being free. Phase I adventures are low level adventures designed to draw PCs into this plot. The meeting with the Necromancer, Eirus Fhalu, starts off the campaign, unless the DM wishes to run some of the other adventures first. Later, the orc attack that the PCs encounter may lead them into intrigue in Darokin, confrontations with cults and assassins, and perhaps even to the discovery of one of the Swords of Wayland, Roc. This adventure begins when the PCs are traveling somewhere in northern Darokin for whatever reason, and meet Nicos, the inn-keeper in the nearby village of Gorania. Where exactly Gorania is located is up to the DM. The most ideal location is somewhere in the vicinity of the Vesubian River near Corunglain. The reason for this can be found if the DM reads Appendix 1 containing the biography of the paladin Oliver Attleson, and particularly how and where he died, but it=92s up to the DM. If it is more desirable to place Gorania somewhere closer to the Streel River in the heartlands of Darokin, then it=92s not a problem. During this adventure, the PCs will meet Eirus Fhalu, a necromancer. They may be suspicious of that fact, assuming they ever find out, but Eirus will seem completely benevolent, and once they stumble onto the threat of a number of ghouls, Eirus will help them all that he can with his knowledge so that they can end the threat of the ghouls before it spreads. In truth, though, poor Eirus had a lot more to do with the creation of these ghouls than he=92s admitting. In fact, he is directly responsible for them, having created them himself. The catch is that he doesn=92t know it, so no amount of magical probing of his mind will reveal it. Eirus is actually just what he appears to be - a benevolent man who became a necromancer to help the common people (as can be seen in his talks with the PCs), but he=92s a cursed man! The Outer Being has taken partial possession of his soul after he participated in a failed adventure, and though it hasn=92t claimed him completely yet, even its incomplete control i= s vastly overpowering to poor Eirus. The Outer Being will force him to do things, which he will find abhorrent and desperately work against, completely oblivious to the fact that he caused them! In essence, Eirus has a split personality and is at war with himself. The PCs, and Eirus, won=92t discover this anytime soon, however. Once the PCs begin destroying the ghouls the Outer Being created through Eirus, it could, of course, interfere and stop them, but it won=92t - it has planned its escape for centuries, and it=92s not about to risk being revealed prematurely over a fe= w lousy ghouls. After all, it can always have Eirus create new ones later, thinking that once the ghouls are destroyed, the annoying heroes will leave it alone to continue its dark plans... How to Involve PCs There are several reasons why the PCs could be near Gorania. They could be traveling between Darokin and Corunglain in either direction and get off track somewhere. They might be on their way to or from another adventure, or they could have been hired by some merchants to scour the countryside for goblinoids, so that these won=92t threaten their caravans on the main roads. This would especially be the case if it=92s revealed, as it may be at= the end of the =91What Lurks in the Shadows=92 adventure, that northern caravans have been endangered more than usual by goblinoids recently. They could also have been hired to travel to Rennydale with some goods, perhaps just a letter, which would explain why they=92re off the main roads. The Adventure: Your group has been traveling the countryside for a few days. So far the weather has been good, but today your luck seems to have run out, for the clouds look menacing. Already there is a bit of drizzle coming down, and it looks like it=92s going to get worse... While wondering where you can find shelter from the coming rain, you notice something up ahead on the trail you=92re following. As you get closer, you realize that it=92s a man who is having difficulty with his cart. The cart is loaded with cargo, but one wheel has come off, and it is half-unloaded, half the cargo having apparently dropped to the ground when the wheel broke. The man appears to be both annoyed and a little desperate until he notices you coming down the trail. Apparently, you are the first people he has seen in a couple of hours, for he immediately runs toward you, waving his hands... Once he comes close to you, he shouts through the beginning rain, "Hello! Please, kind travelers, be good enough to help me! I am Nicos Mikhali, the owner of the inn in the village of Gorania. You look like stout folk, and I need your help to get my goods to my village before they=92re ruined by this cursed rain!" The man asks if the PCs want to help him. Should, for whatever reason they refuse, he says that if they help them he will give them a room and food for the night, which he thinks is much needed, since a thunderstorm is coming. The DM should try to convince the PCs to help Nicos. If and when they do, read out the following: After working for about an hour, you=92ve finally managed to unload the rest= of the cargo and put the wheel back on the cart, but the rain has become a little worse. Nicos notices your discomfort, though, and says, "Yes, I know this is not a fun task, but you really are helping me out here - I=92m most grateful for your kind assistance... And don=92t worry - once we get to my village, you can sit before the fire and warm yourselves. I=92ll lend you dr= y clothes if you need them, give you a room and a mug of ale, perhaps even something stronger to warm the old bones on this cold and wet day, eh?" The prospect of the warm fireplace is quite alluring, and the mood improves as you continue your work. After you=92ve uploaded about half the cargo, a scream suddenly breaks the monotonous sound of the rain, and you look behind to see what caused it - a group of small humanoid creatures are rushing toward you, weapons drawn. They=92re about the size of human children, but with small, flat faces and pointed ears. They wouldn=92t look all that dangerous were it not for their sharp fangs and sickly, reddish skin... These are a group of goblins. There are only six of them, and they are little more than pests, so the PCs should be able to deal with them in short order. Still, they represent a more serious threat to Nicos and his cargo. Nicos will defend himself if required to, but he=92s not much of warrior, and witnessing the prowess of the PCs, he will quickly decide the hang back and make sure none of their mounts run off in the confusion rather than interfere in the actual battle (for which he is ill-equipped anyway). Goblins (6): CR 1/4; Small Humanoid (4 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +2 leather armor); Attacks +1 melee (1d6 -1, clubs); SQ Darkvision 60 ft.; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0; Str 8, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8. Skills: Hide +6, Listen +3, Move Silently +4, Spot +3 Feats: Alertness Once the battle is over, Nicos will thank the PCs and ask that they hurry to load the cargo and get to the village. Read the following: Once the goblins have been dispatched, you notice that Nicos is looking at you with awe, "Say, you really are stout folk, aren=92t you? Perhaps even adventurers? If not, you certainly have the potential! I must thank you - if you hadn=92t been here, those damned goblins would surely have killed me and taken my cargo! But maybe we should hurry... the rain seems to be getting worse!" You hurry to load the last of the cargo, then follow Nicos as he takes you to his village. It=92s a good thing too, because Nicos is quite right about the weather - it=92s raining quite a bit now, and you=92re= drenched! You can=92t wait to get out of your wet clothes and sit down by th= e fire he promised you... After what seems like an eternity, but is probably less than an hour, following the dips and bends of the trail, you finally see a small village before you. "Welcome to Gorania", Nicos says as you enter. Gorania seems very similar to most other villages you=92ve seen. Ther= e is nothing much unusual about the village. The only exception seems to be a tower in the nearby forest, the top of which can just be seen from the village, rising above the top of some trees. A little trail, off the road, seems to lead from the village to the tower. Still, it=92s far enough away t= o allow someone his privacy, as it would probably take fifteen to thirty minutes to walk there. All around the village are the fields of peasants. Obviously, this is mainly a village of peasants, although Nicos has an inn, and there is also a blacksmith and a merchant=92s shop. First impressions tell you that this is a nice little community with friendly people, though there are obviously few people still out in the rain. Those who are outside heartily greet both Nicos and you, though. Nicos takes you to the stables where you hasten to help each other make your mounts comfortable. He leaves his goods there for now, saying that getting you all warm is more important right now - he can always collect his goods from the stables later. After you=92re done in the stables, Nicos leads you to the inn and sits you down a= t a vacant table. He serves you drinks and food, which is all on the house. Then he books a room for you. Unfortunately only one room is available, so you will have to share. On the other hand, it is free. Meanwhile, you=92re left to sit amongst yourselves... There are a number of people in the inn, but the atmosphere is very friendly despite the grim weather. You almost get the impression that these people use the weather as an excuse just to sit here and enjoy each other=92s company. Nicos gets clothes and blankets for those of you who don=92t have extra clothes. The Village of Gorania The description above is quite accurate. The tower in the forest is some 2.5 miles away, and it takes someone about 30 minutes to walk there. DM note: This is optional information for when the PCs decide to ask about the tower. Should they not ask they will hear stories about the tower and its inhabitant when they arrive in the inn. Village Encounters The PCs=92 stay in the village may seem a bit long and dull given all the information described below. If the DM feels the players=92 thoughts are= wandering due to all the details, he should add some actions with some of these suggestions, or some he can think of himself... The following events can be played pretty much in any order, though the first works best while the PCs are getting themselves together in the inn after having escaped the rain... 1. The Bull and the little girl. A little girl had unwittingly begun playing in the pen behind the inn where a peasant keeps his bull. The PCs need to work fast to bring her out. If they are in the inn, the DM may rule that they are not wearing armor and such, because they removed it all while it was wet and they were drying themselves at the fireplace. They could use magic on the bull or be forced to kill it with missile weapons or enter melee, which is dangerous, if their initial attempts are not succesful... Suddenly you hear a scream outside the inn. As you rush outside, you find that the scream came from a woman who is frantically running toward... you? No, it=92s not you, it=92s something behind you... You look around and see a= pen for animals. Inside it, a little girl wearing a red scarf is playing with some wooden figures. What=92s troubling is that at the other end of the= pen, a vicious-looking bull is stamping its front hooves into the wet dirt... It is obviously about the charge the girl, yet she doesn=92t seem to= have noticed it. The woman is screaming in fear for her child, fast running toward the pen... The mother of the child came here to get her girl inside from the rain when she realized the danger. She=92ll run to the pen, but before she can get in, the bull begins running, and the mother faints... The girl remains oblivious to the bull, so she=92ll be surprised, and since she is AC= 10 and has only 2 hit points, she=92s almost certainly done for unless the PCs can save her... Give the PCs a few seconds to decide what to do, but no more! They need to react fast here and don=92t have the time to plan anything, and the way the situation is role-played should reflect that. Sample stats on the bull (based on those of a Bison) are given here, but note that the full Challenge Rating should apply only if the PCs enter melee. Bull (1): CR 2; Large Animal (about 10 ft. long); HD 4d8+10, hp 24; Init +0; Spd 40 ft.; AC 13 (-1 size, +4 natural); Attacks +6 melee (1d8+6, Head Butt); SA Stampede; SQ Scent; AL N; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +1; Str 18, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4; Skills: Listen +8, Spot +5 2. The Runaway Horse. Yet another animal encounter. This one works best the next (or subsequent) day when the weather has cleared up a little, and the PCs are outside somewhere in the village. A peasant is bringing a few horses through the village when one of them is startled by a barking dog and runs away - right in the PCs=92 direction! Though you enjoyed the inn, it was getting a bit musty and most of you are glad to be outside in the fresh air again... As you take a deep breath and enjoy the rustic charms of the village, you suddenly hear some commotion and someone shouts, "Look out!" As you turn to look, you see a horse gallopping straight toward you at full speed! Let the PCs roll a Reflex save. Those who make it are out of the horse=92s way. Those who don=92t may be trampled by it. Roll 1d3. On a resul= t of 1 or 2, only one PC is hit, but on a result of 3, two are trampled. Anyone trampled takes 1d6+2 points of damage. Determine which two randomly, and don=92t forget to let size factor in (a human is more likely to be hit than a small halfling, for example). However, once this is determined, the horse might fall over the PCs. Make a Reflex save for the horse. If this fails, it may fall over one of the PCs! Choose one PC randomly and have him roll yet another Reflex save. If the PC fails his save, he takes 2d6 points of damage. Naturally, if all PCs make their initial Reflex saves, none are trampled by the horse, which, in turn, is not tripped, and just continues to run. The PCs may seek to track it down and catch it, gaining the gratitude of the peasant it ran away from. Heavy Horse (1): CR 1; Large Animal (about 9 ft. long); HD 3d8+6, 18 hp; Init +1 (Dex); Spd 50 ft.; AC 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural); Attacks 2 hooves +3 melee (1d6+2 for each hoof); SQ Scent; AL N; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6; Skills: Listen +6, Spot +6. 3. The Drunk Man. This encounter can be played at any time in the inn, preferably in the evening or night. One of the peasants have had a bit too much to drink and as the PCs will discover, he has a bad temper to boot. As this peasant, Jacob, has been drinking, he has revived an old discussion with the neighboring peasant, Bertram, over who has the right to use the local well. The feud has been going on for years and years and is one of those old discussions that can never be settled to anyone=92s satisfaction. Trying to is a futile attempt, but obviously the PCs don=92t know that and might want to try... However, it is extremely unlikely that Jacob will listen to them... They could use magic (such as Charm Person) of course, but that would ruin whatever reputation the PCs might have among the other patrons, and they would be regarded as manipulative and arrogant from that point on... Jacob isn=92t really much of a threat as such, since even if he throws chairs or tries to hit someone, he is still drunk... The challenge will lie in incapacitating him without becoming overly violent. If the PCs knock him out or use magic, they should receive no experience at all... You=92re sitting in Nicos=92 inn late at night. Most people have gone home t= o bed, but a few patrons are still drinking and talking. One of them has been hitting the bottle pretty regularly you notice. As he gets into an argument with another patron, he seems agitated, and their discussion quickly becomes loud and heated... Suddenly the man rises from his chair and hits the table hard with his fist as he shouts, "By tha=92 Immordals, Bertram - enouff! You may talk big... but ya=92 fool nobody =91ere... We all know that= tha=92 water is on me propo=92tie and b=92long ta=92 me!" The man reaches ou= t for the other man, Bertram, who quickly retreats backwards... As he does, the drunk man lifts his chair and throws it him. Bertram quickly runs for the door, but the drunk man shouts after him, "Com=92 back =91ere, ya=92 cowart.= .. We=92ll seddle =91tis oonce and fer all...". He tries to stumble after Bertr= am, but Nicos tries to stop him by grabbing his arm, saying, "Enough, Jacob... You=92ve had enough!". Jacob responds, though, by making a wild movement wit= h one arm, hitting Nicos right in the face and sending him to the floor, while he throws a chair after poor Bertram with the other... Unfortunately his aim isn=92t very good while drunk, and the chair heads straight for your= table! Suddenly a brawl is on! If one of the PCs is very charismatic, he or she may try to diffuse the situation. In that case, the DM should roll an NPC reaction for influencing NPC attitude, but Jacob=92s initial attitude will be hostile, so it will be difficult to make the check, and the DM should also force the player to role-play the situation, not just roll a few dice. Otherwise Jacob will be hostile. The other patrons and Nicos will withdraw to let him cool down, but the PCs might want to stop him before he breaks every table and chair in the inn. Let them try something. They may have to subdue him, although the villagers will think badly of them if they use weapons or magic to do so, which should be obvious to the PCs (and which the DM might want to make them aware of). Jacob, Drunk Human: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (about 6 ft.); HD 3d4, 9 hp; Init -1 (drunk); Spd 30 ft.; AC 10; Attacks -1 melee, drunk (1d3+1 fist, 1d6+1 chair); AL LN; SV Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 13, Dex 8 (drunk, normally 12), Con 11, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 8. 4. The Thief. A local thief has been stealing from travelers recently. He=92s avoided stealing much from the locals, because that would only draw their attention, and besides they never have anything valuable anyway. Rich travelers are fair game, though! The DM can do what he wants with this character, who is known only as =91Weasely=92 (his real name is Wesley). He might try to pickpocket the PCs in the village outside the inn or he could try sneaking into their room while they=92re sleeping or away. I= f they discover his attempts to pickpocket them and escape, he=92ll definitely= try to steal from their room! =91Weasely=92, human Rogue 2: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (5 ft. 9 in. tall); HD 2d6 +2; hp 11; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+2 armor, +3 Dex) (AC 16 against one opponent from Dodge feat); Attacks +2 melee (1d6+1/crit 18-20/x2); SA sneak attack, evasion; AL CN; SV Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +0; Str 12, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 13. Skills: Climb +3, Disable Device +5, Disguise +6, Hide +8, Listen +3, Move Silently +8, Open Locks +8, Pick Pocket +8, Spot +5. Feats: Dodge, Mobility. Possessions: Leather armor, short sword, dagger. 5. The Dream. This is a peculiar encounter that takes place only when all the PCs are asleep. It is merely a dream, but the DM should play through the encounters as if it were a real battle. During the dream, the PCs will meet continually difficult opponents who will eventually kill off all of the characters... in their dreams! In truth nothing happens, but the dream contains clues to what the PCs might be up against, so the longer they can survive the better. The dream will seem quite vivid to the characters and if possible, the DM should try to convince the players that what is happening is not a dream... If the PCs have potions of healing, for example, the DM should let them be used normally. Of course, when the PCs awake, none of their equipment will have been used, but during the dream, they should ideally think so... It=92s late and having finished your drinks, you finally decide to go to rest... Nicos takes you to your room, asking if you need anything else for the night, such as extra blankets. Although you have all you need, Nicos says, "Well, if you need anything, don=92t hesitate to let me know - you are= my honored guests, after all, even though I cannot offer you separate rooms!" With that he bids you goodnight and leaves... After that you finish up and go to bed. Some of you quickly fall asleep, while others talk a little, but lying there in the darkness, all of you suddenly have a peculiar sensation... Those of you who fell asleep awaken again with an odd feeling and those who remained awake are silent. Just beyond what you can hear, there is an odd noise. No, you cannot call it a noise since none of you can hear it, but it is still there! An overpowering sensation of being watched! Eventually one of you lights a candle you have in the room and to your surprise you find that a robed, hooded man is standing in your room. He seems to be of average human height, but you cannot see his face under the hood of his dark robe. As you are about to talk to him or gather your weapons, he suddenly says, "Ha, and you think you can best us? We=92ll see about that, you pathetic upstarts...". Then, before you can respond, he makes a gesture and says a few words... and is gone! No, actually you realize that it is you who are gone! You=92re all together and all your equipment is still with you, but you=92re definitely not in the room of the inn anymore. If you were to hazard a guess, you=92d probably say that you=92= re outside lying on the ground, but it=92s very difficult to tell, because whil= e it is as cold as it is outside, the entire area is covered in a dense fog, and you have great difficulty seeing further than ten to fifteen feet away... The ground also feels strange, as if it were quite muddy, but it doesn=92t seem to be the case. There is an odd smell, sort of like a mixture= of smoke and something damp in the air... Quite likely you have been magically teleported away from Gorania for some reason, but you have no idea where you are... Let the PCs compose themselves for a bit, and let them explore this odd land. They should find that this strange land is nothing like anything they=92ve ever seen. There are no celestial bodies visible in the sky, and they won=92t be able to find roads, trees, or houses. Add detail based on th= e above, but take care not to clue them in to the fact that this is merely a dreamscape of their minds... After a while the PCs will begin to walk away from this place, as there is nothing else for them to do. Once they=92ve done so for a while, they will meet a pack of ghouls... You walk for what seems like eternities. You have lost all track of time, as there is no way to measure its passing in this barren land, so you could have walked for minutes or hours when you suddenly hear something... As you move closer you begin to make out five humanoid figures working on the ground, so they could be peasants. As you move close to them, however, they turn around to face you, giving you quite a shock - they're definitely not farmers! At least, not anymore... Their gaunt, pale faces seem more like those of the deceased and the foul stench that attacks your senses bear witness to their undead nature. Their teeth that have all been sharpened so they look more like fangs, and they lick their horribly long tongues as they look at you and say, "Live... Flesh! MEAT!!!" Obviously the ghouls will immediately attack. Note that the PCs must get within 10-15 feet of the ghouls to make them out, so there is no escape from this (or any subsequent) encounter. Ghouls (5): CR 1; Medium Undead (about 6 ft.); HD 2d12; hp 18, 12, 11, 10, 9; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural); Attacks Bite +3 melee, 2 claws +0 melee (Bite 1d6+1 and paralysis, each claw 1d3 and paralysis); SQ Undead, +2 turn resistance; AL CE; SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5; Str 13, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16. Skills: Climb +6, Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Intuit Direction +3, Jump +6, Listen +7, Move Silently +7, Search +6, Spot +7. Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite). Remember that every time a ghoul hits or bites someone, that character must make a Fortitude save (DC 14) or be paralyzed for 1d6+2 minutes, though elves are immune to this. If one of the PCs die, then he is, to the other PCs, dead. The others may choose to carry his body with them or leave it behind as they please - it won=92t affect the further encounters. The DM might wish to take= note of how PCs treat their fallen comrades, though. If at any time all of the PCs die, go to the =91End of the Dream=92 section below... Once the ghouls are defeated, the PCs will probably want to explore the area around them, examing their bodies for treasure or the ground they were digging in. No amount of searching will reveal any treasure or clues though, and the PCs will eventually have to walk on... After the horrifying encounter with the pack of ghouls, you eventually continue your walk, as there is little else you can do... Having walked on for an indeterminable amount of time, you can suddenly make out a man in front of you. Having just met ghouls, you=92re naturally cautious, but he calls you to you, shouting, "Hello! Please help me. I=92m lost in these strange lands... Where might I find shelter for this evil night?" Sensing that he is in just the same predicament as you are, you walk closer, and there is no indication that he is any sort of undead monster. Relieved, you walk toward him, but suddenly he draws a rapier! Immediately cautious, you prepare your defenses, but it=92s too late - the man has two allies who have= used the opportunity to sneak up on you, and they attack your group from behind as the man in the front charges you with his rapier! These men are assassins of a cult called the Dark Petals Cult (see Appendix 3 for details), though the PCs will obviously have no knowledge of this whatsoever... yet. They are also a premonition of the assassins from the =91What Lurks in the Shadows=92 adventure and the stats given below are identical to those in that adventure. One of the assassins has a magical Rapier +1. If captured, the PCs can use this weapon normally, but only for the duration of this dream - once the dream ends, it will disappear, just as the PCs=92 potions or charges on wands, etc., will all remain intact. Assassin 1, human Rog1: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (5 ft. 10 in. tall); HD 1d6; hp 6; Init +7 (Dex+Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+2 armor, +3 Dex); Atks +1 melee (1d6+1/crit 18-20/x2); SA sneak attack; AL LE; SV Fort +0, Ref +5, Will -2; Str 12, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 7, Cha 5. Skills: Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Intimidate +1, Jump +5, Move Silently +7, Profession (Apothecary) +2, Spot +2, Tumble +7. Feats: Blind Fighting, Improved Initiative. Possessions: Leather armor, rapier, 13 gp. Assassin 2, human Rog2: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (5 ft. 7 in. tall); HD 2d6 +1; hp 14; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+2 armor, +3 Dex); Atks +3 melee (1d6+3/crit 18-20/x2); SA sneak attack, evasion; AL LE; SV Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +0; Str 15, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 6. Skills: Craft (Trapmaking) +4, Escape Artist +8, Hide +8, Listen +5, Move Silently +8, Pick Pocket +8, Spot +5, Tumble +8. Feats: Blind Fighting, Combat Reflexes. Possessions: Leather armor, rapier +1, 19 gp. Assassin 3, human Rog1: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (5 ft. 9 in. tall); HD 1d6; hp 6; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+2 armor, +3 Dex); Atks +3 ranged (1d8/crit 19-20/x2 crossbow, 1d6/crit 19-20/x2 short sword); SA sneak attack; AL LE; SV Fort +0, Ref +5, Will -1; Str 11, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 14. Skills: Diplomacy +6, Disguise +6, Escape Artist +7, Gather Information +6, Hide +7, Listen +3, Move Silently +7, Open Lock +7, Perform +6, Profession (Bookkeeper) +3, Spot +3. Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot. Possessions: Leather armor, crossbow, short sword, 7 gp. If killed, the PCs can search the assassins=92 bodies normally. However, any treasure or gear taken from them will disappear once the dream ends. Eventually, the PCs will have no choice but to continue their travels once again. Though cautious of your further travels, you are eventually forced to accept that you have little choice but to walk further. You continue in silence, weapons drawn... You do so for what seems like endless hours, when finally you begin to make out something up ahead. It might be a mountain wall, but it could also be a structure of some kind. As you get closer, you find that it is actually both - it is definitely a mountain-side, but it has a huge door in it, right in front of you. Thinking that it might be better to get out of this hostile wilderness, you light a lantern and carefully open the door to take a peek inside... You are relieved to find that the inside seems to be nothing but an abandoned cavern, and you enter, prepared to face yet another obstacle, but nothing happens. You walk for a time, but there is no sound and you eventually decide to explore the caverns. You walk down long corridors carved into the mountain itself, and you have the feeling that you=92re descending. Eventually, the cavern seems very damp and water drips down from stalagtites above, making you once again long for the warm fire in Nicos=92 in... As you continue, you come to = a water pool, but something catches your eyes. Something is glimmering around the next corner in the modest light of your lantern. As you curiously walk closer, you find that it is a massive treasure of lots and lots of gold and jewels and other valuables. Joyful at having finally found something positive in these dark lands, you walk closer. Only suddenly something breaks your view of the treasure - a shadow moves in front of you... It is difficult to focus on, but as you concentrate you can make out a vaguely humanoid form, just in time to notice that this ghostly figure is striking at you with a short sword which seems to be equally unreal and ethereal. This creature is a Sword Wraith (see Appendix 4). It is a premonition of the very Sword Wraith which the PCs will meet at the end of the =91All of ye= r treasure, argh... belong to us=92 adventure at the very end of Phase I of the =91Corruption of the Swords=92 campaign, and it has exactly the same sta= ts. Since this is a tough opponent, it is very unlikely that the PCs will survive this battle. Note that they cannot escape because the Sword Wraith is faster than they are and can catch up without trouble. Most likely, any remaining PCs will =91die=92 during the battle with the Sword Wraith, particularly since they are likely to require magical weapons to hurt it. If the PCs decide to glance for a weapon in the treasure pile, they will find two daggers and a broad sword. The broad sword and one dagger are both +1, while the other dagger is +2. There may be other magical weapons in the pile, but the PCs will have to spend time searching for them, which they don=92t have during the battle with the Sword Wraith. The sword =91Roc=92 wi= ll not be in the pile, however. If, against all odds, the PCs are able to defeat the Sword Wraith, they will not be sure if it is truly dead, though, because nothing of it will remain. As a ghostly figure, it will simply =91fade away=92 as a cloud slowly being dissolved once defeated, and = the remaining PCs should be left to ponder just what this means... If the PCs die, go to the =91End of the Dream=92 section below. As stated above, it is highly unlikely that any of the PCs will survive the dream-meeting with the Sword Wraith, but if anyone does, there is one last encounter. The encounter will be fatal no matter what the PCs do, but it might give them a clue as to what they are up against... The final meeting will be with the Outer Being itself, but the PCs won=92t know that. They=92ll be totally overpowered by its mere presence, but the DM migh= t wish to have them roll Will saving throws. No matter how well they roll, however, their saving throws will fail. If a natural 20 is rolled, the DM could allow any PC who does so to fight normally for one round, then roll another saving throw. It won=92t matter much, though, because the Outer Bein= g will have an Armor Class of 42 and will be utterly immune to any spells the PCs can cast, so the outcome will inevitably be the same. Don=92t let the Outer Being act until all the PCs are paralyzed, though! Still uncertain whether you actually killed that strange, ghostly swordsman, you hurry up to leave this place in case it returns somehow... Again you walk for some time, but now it=92s at least inside the cavern. After some time you find that parts of the cave are more finished than others, as you come to an area that is carved out in great detail and is as well done as the corridors of a castle. You walk for a time until you come upon a great door. As you examine it, an iron gate suddenly drops down behind you, and you=92re trapped with no place to go except through the larg= e door. As you listen you take some relief in the fact that you can hear voices from the other side. You cannot make out exactly what they say, but you=92re certain they are voices of men and women like yourselves, and you eventually decide to open the door, seeing as how you have little choice... The scene that meets you staggers you, however - the door you=92ve just opened, has opened onto a small ledge. You=92re in a large, open cavern and = a large gathering of people are at the opposite sides of the room. They=92re all dressed in hooded robes, much like those of the strange figure that brought you to this dark land, and to your horror you find that what you thought to be conversation between these people is actually the chanting of some dark ritual... The small ledge you are on is separated from the rest of the room by a wide lava stream, though, so you see no way for these people to reach you. But it is little comfort to you, because right in front of you on the ledge is a huge robed and hooded humanoid figure. As you enter it turns to you and reveals itself. The sight of it is such an abomination to you, however, that your conscious minds refuse to comprehend it. All you can fathom is some vaguely humanoid abomination... As the creature looks to you, it says, "Ah, I see the sacrifice has arrived, my children - come to me!" Let all the PCs roll Will saving throws at this point. They=92re up against = a DC of 30, so they won=92t make them unless the DM decides that a natural 20 should always succeed and a PC actually rolls one. In that case, let the PC attack the creature as described above. The creature won=92t strike back - just wait for the PC to succumb to its power the next round, confident that the PCs can in no way harm it. Make sure this is clear to the PCs. Eventually, all PCs will fail their saves... As the abomination beckons, you find that you have to obey it. You walk closer and then stand still. As you all do, the figure lunges out at each your chests with some parts of its body... arms... or tentacles, you still cannot tell. And as easily as if it had reached down to pick something up from the ground, it reaches inside your chests and pulls out your hearts, as the crowd around it cheers it on! With horror you look at the gaping holes in your chests where your hearts were, and you see your blood ruining your clothes as it gushes out. As you watch, you also begin to realize the taste of your own blood in your mouthes. You slowly begin to realize that life itself is draining away from you fast, yet you are still unable to move despite your impending deaths. As you are forced to watch during your last living moments of horror before all goes dark, you witness how the crowd applauds the foul abomination as it begins to feed on your still beating hearts... Corruption of the Swords by John Calvin, Max Monas, and Jens "Stalker" Schnabel ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 15:42:04 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: CotS - Necromancer adventure, part 2 Yep, the continuation of the first adventure in the Corruption of the Swords campaign: "Your Trusted Friend the Necromancer: The Tower in the Forest: If the PCs ask about the tower, the villagers say: "Who lives in that tower? Well, "Doc" Eirus Fhalu lives there. They say that he is a wizard who is doing all sorts of research, you know! Actually, most people here are quite proud to have a man like this amidst us... He is a nice person, who is conducting research in order to help people with all sorts of diseases and make cures for them; he is definitely a good person to have as a friend if you get into trouble one day!" When the PCs hear that he is a person who deals with arcane knowledge (particularly if it becomes apparent that he works in the field of Necromancy) and they get a bit worried (which they should) they are told: "Don't worry. He is a good fellow. He isn't doing any harm, he is just going about his research and doing more than his fair share for the village. Once there was this group of people traveling, well I might say rushing, into the village. They were looking for a cleric. They ran into some trouble on the road and one of their friends was seriously wounded. As you can see, there are no clerics around here who can help us or other people who are in need of immediate help. They said that it was a matter of life and death, and indeed the poor fellow was in a serious condition. Eirus walked past and asked whether something was wrong. They said that their comrade needed help quickly or he would die. Eirus told them to bring their friend to his tower. Don't ask me what happened and what he did, but he had the guy up and running in no time. We knew he could do some things to heal people, because we had seen it before when Ichale fell down from a tree and broke his leg, but this was amazing. I think they later came back and gave him some treasure they found when they came back from their business". By this time the PCs should hopefully be intrigued enough to investigate this person and his dwelling. If they go to the tower, read the the section below headed The Tower and "Doc" Eirus Fhalu. Balri: This old patron in the inn is full of tall tales. If the DM desires, he can pester the PCs a bit with him, though not everything he says is utter nonsense. This encounter can be used whenever the PCs are drinking or eating, or just sitting around in the inn's common room: A little old man sits in the inn, drinking beer. He wears the clothes of a peasant; he is small, but that is probably because he is quite old. He has got a bit of hunced back and is a little unstable, but has a friendly face. He also has with some scars on both his face and hands which attest to the stories of his adventures.He apparently concludes that you are a group of adventurers, because he slowly stumbles over to your table and asks, "Would you valiant adventurers mind if I join you?" Before you can answer, he helps himself to chair and sits down, then continues before you can interrupt him, "...For you remind me of the time when I, too, was traveling and looking for adventure."At this point Nicos returns to your table, and says, "Oh no, not again Balri... Leave those people alone". When he says it, he does so with a big smile on his face, though. In fact, the atmosphere in the inn, and in the village in general, is very friendly.The old man then begins to tell you the tales of his adventures, "Have you heard about the Lost Mines? No? Well, let me tell you. This story was told to me on one of my own travels. I was with quite a group, you know, I think there were 6 of us ..... no, 5 ......... no, it was 6 ....." He pauses for some time, as he tries to remember just how many people this group really consisted of. Eventually he gives up and makes a dismissing gesture as he continues, "Aahhhh well, it doesn't matter that much, how many we were. I have seen people come and go. Some of them I lost contact with; others died, unfortunately enough, during our travels. Huh, were does time go.. I envy you, you know! You've got your whole lives in front of you, while the only thing that I have left are my memories. Talking about memories, ...". He pauses for a moment, "I remember this tale about a sword, powerful enough to .... what was it again? I can't remember. You have to forgive me, my memory isn't what it used to be. Do you know that I was known for my memory when I was your age? Yeeees, it was quite little trickster, you know. But that is a whole other story. What was I telling you?" The PCs will have remind him at this point, but he tells about the mage in the tower instead. Should the PCs not have heard anything about the Eirus Fhalu, Balri tells them the things that are printed above about him under the heading The Tower in the Forest, before he continues... According to Balri, Eirus is one of the nicest people alive (go over the top here in order to make sure that the PCs know Balri is exaggerating, but no so much that they won't believe him or, particularly, the other villagers). This should be the first encounter with the village, its villagers and the wizard who is living in the tower. Maybe they will have a chance to meet this guy, maybe not (up to the DM). "You know, Eirus is certainly one of the nicest guys to have ever roamed the earth. Have you heard of all the things he has done for people around here... If not, just ask me. I'd be more than happy to tell you all about it!"During the old man's stories the bar fills up with people who come to have drink after a working all day on the field. Stories are being told, jokes are being made and you're offered a couple of beers by the workers. DM Note: It should be absolutle clear that these a very friendly people, who always welcome a traveler in the nicest way possible. If the PCs doubt Balri, his stories about Eirus will later be confirmed by other people in tavern and by Nicos. When he has finished his story about Eirus Fhalu his story jumps back to mines. This seems to come out of nowhere. Balri talks of the Mines: "Ah yes, the Mines and the sword. You will have to help me, because my memory isn't what it used to be... Well the story of the mines was told to me when I was traveling with a group of other people who wanted to look for adventure. I can't remember what was told now.. Let me think."He waits for a few minutes... "I can't honestly remember what was being said about these mines...... Oh , my memory ... It is not what it used to be, once I was known for my memory, you know... I remember another story about a sword called "Rock...". Well, "Rock" something... Hmm, or may it was "Stone" something... Anyway, we heard stories about this sword and we decided to try and find it, but never succeeded. This is the legend which I heard was this..."At this point, it seems as if Balri doesn't have any problems with his memory... at first..."Hundreds of years ago, the sword was used by a paladin called Oliver Attleson. He fought to defend the city of Corunglain against the hordes of invading goblinoids. Eventually, the city was overrun by the orcs despite his efforts, though, and the sword was lost..." "Actually, during my travels I've heard stories about other swords, similar to that 'Rock' or 'Stone'-sword Attleson was supposed to have wielded, I ...... I forgot what was said about them. I think that it was said that these swords belonged together, or something. Unfortunately I never held one of these swords, although I spend a life time looking for them, ........ a life time, ......... such a long time and I never even saw one of these swords. Make sure you don't waste your lives chasing legends and tales. Won't do you any good. What was I saying again? Oh yes, the swords. I think there were eight of them, no ....... I am sorry there were five .... No. Oohh I can't remember. My memory! I used to be known for my memory, you know.. People say that this is all just a legend now. I think I have to agree with that one. I never really heard anything about it. I mean ... I heard stories of course, but I never saw this sword myself. There are things that we have found, however, but I will tell you that another time.....I am off to bed now. It is rather late for me, you know. Sometimes I envy you young people. You still have your entire lives before you, while I have just my memories to comfort me. That is the way things go in life, I guess. I just thank Tyche that I have reached this age and the she has smiled a little upon me. I just wish that my memory would be better."After this he stumbles out the tavern. Nicos comes up to you and says:" I am sorry that this happened. I promised you a nice room and a quite night. I didn't know Balri was going to be around. He is got a nose for these things. He is always there when travelers, the few we get, come here. He always tells them these stories. That is probably because we don't listen anymore, because we have heard them all hundreds of times. Don't pay attention to him, because I think he may just have made up most of these stories. Or maybe he heard them somewhere and tells them as if he had been through them himself. He always had quite a lively imagination and I don't know whether what he tells is true. Here have another drink, on the house. What would you like?" Balri talks of the Wounded Man The DM should try to represent this as just another tall tale Balri tells the PCs, preferably so that they dismiss the story to some degree... In fact, it contains some essential clues, though! "You want to hear more stories from old Balri? Ah, you're too kind, my young friends... Let me think... Hmmm, I remember a story my father once told me. It was very long ago, and since I didn't experience it myself, I'm not at all sure about any of this, but it's an good story anyway, though a bit sad...Long ago on a bright day when the villagers were working in the field as always, a warrior came stumbling out of the forest... his armor, so they say, was tattered and in ruin, and blood streamed down the side of his face. One of the villagers went to him. He had apparently lost his shield and his armor was ruined, but even though he was mortally wounded, he held himself with pride and rejected all offers of help...You know, I guess I remember that story because I grew up hearing it and always wanted to be like that man, even if he never existed and it's all just a tall tale, he still sounds very noble and heroic, eh? Just the very image of the man helped me on my own travels and times of trouble on many occasions, you know. And I have known a few... hmmm, now I'm just a little old man. Never mind. Still, you might get as much from the story as I have... Well, maybe I should finish it.The villagers brought the wounded warrior inside and placed him in a bed, hoping that he would recover. For days he was confused and talked all sorts of nonsense which none understood, since it was barely more than a whisper. Everybody feared he was dying, so several of the young men tried to back-track his trail in order to find out what had happened to him, but they never discovered anything... and some of them never returned! Or so the story goes. I don't remember it all, but they say some of the young men disappeared in the forest back then and were never found, and it hung over the village like a heavy fog for a time. As if that wasn't bad enough, the warrior died from his wounds a few days later. I guess they were just too severe. Well, at least they managed to give the warrior a proper burial..." DM Note: The 'wounded man' Balri is talking of here is actually Oliver Attleson. He didn't actually die when ambushed by the orcs (see his biography in Appendix 1), but was mortally wounded and stumbled into the village of Gorania where he finally died of his wounds a few days later. The villagers never discovered who he really was and had him buried in a unmarked grave in their graveyard. In fact, he is still buried there to this day! The Tower and "Doc" Eirus Fhalu The PCs should be intrigued enough to pay this person a visit sometime. Should they for whatever reason decide not to go and see him, they will run into him on the streets and he invites them to his tower, with the message that he would like to ask them about something. The Tower Once the PCs decide to visit Fhalu's tower, read or paraphrase this: The path to the tower leads off the road that leads into the village. It is quite a narrow, winding path and not well maintained. After about 35 minutes you arrive at the tower which appears as you pass a sharp bend in the path.The tower itself isn't that impressive, actually. It is round and three stories high. Moss covers the bottom of the tower. If Fhalu is with the PCs, he will open the door and invite them inside. Otherwise he will answer the door when the PCs knock or, if they appear to lose interest, he will have noticed their arrival and open the door to welcome them once they are about to leave. Once they go inside, read the following. Entering the tower, you see a large hall with stairs leading to the first floor and doors to the right and left. Eirus Fhalu leads you to the room to the right. "Welcome to my tower. This is my home and my labarotory. If you would come with me, we can sit down and have a drink or something."You enter a fairly large room, lavishly furnished. There are also a bookcases full of books. In the corner of the room stands a big table with all sorts of weird looking instruments on it. "This is my study", Eirus explains. "Here I keep books that I find invaluable to my researches. I also meet with the people who have appointments with me here. You know, I sometimes help people when they have ailments. Most of the time it's nothing serious, but sometimes I come across things that I need to write down, so they can help me with my research. This also brings me to the reason why I asked you to come here. Sorry to be so blunt, but I don't have much time ....... Oh, where are my manners..? What would you like to drink?" After asking each of you what you would like to drink, he excuses himself for a moment and fetches the drinks for you.While he is gone, you take a moment to look around the room and at his books. The bookcases are filled with books on anatomy, herbs, healing with herbs, and all sorts of books on medicines. Funnily enough, no books on magic are found. Also, the skulls of some animals lie in the bookcases. As you're looking around, Eirus returns with all your drinks."Sorry, for the interruption." He passes around the drinks and then sits down with his own. "Now, the reason why I asked you to come here, is that I would like to ask you to find some special berries for me. You are probably thinking 'can't he do that himself' and you are right of course, but as I said I don't have much time because I am virtually on the verge of a breakthrough on a very important project. I don't want to ask any of the villagers, because it involves a little traveling in the forest. That doesn't sound very dangerous, obviously, and it probably isn't, but if one of the villagers went in there, they could become the prey of some wild animal - I don't want that on my conscience. Another thing is that these berries are best found during night-time when they shine strangely in the dark, so the best time to look for them is at dawn or dusk when it's not too light to find them and not too dark to get lost in the woods - finding them during daytime is almost impossible, as I have learned from bitter experience...""I thought that I could ask you, because you seem to have the potential for that sort of thing, especially after I heard about how you helped Nicos. I don't want you to go anywhere specific, but I would like to ask you to go into the forest and look for some green-yellow berries. They will probably be not so easy to find, but when you know what you are looking for, it will be hard to miss". He smiles and graps a jar filled with little green and yellow berries. "They only grow in the forest. If you could do that for me, it would be most helpful. I use them for a special potion that the villagers buy from me. It can be used for when you are ill or wounded... Could be handy for you," he says with a smile. "If you could bring those berries to me, I would be most grateful, and I will give you a jar of the potion. It is quite strong, so I think that unless you run into major trouble, the jar could last you for a while. What do you say?" Hopefully the PCs will accept Eirus' offer. If they are reluctant, let him point out that while he'll share the results with the PCs, he needs it to help wounded people in the village or anyone passing through. If they do not help him, he will be unable to help villagers or travelers in need for some time... If the PCs demand gold or if Eirus is forced to offer them any, it should be obvious that he is slightly disappointed with the PCs - that they're not the selfless heroes he hoped they would be. He will offer money, though he has very little, 20 gp at first, 50 gp at most. At the DM's discretion, the potion Eirus will make could also be more potent than most. For example, it could contain ten doses, each able to cure 1d6+1 points of damage, but also be able to cure poison if three doses are swallowed... The PCs need to accept this offer for the adventure to continue. After the PCs accept the offer, Eirus tells them a little about what he is working on and he invites them to his lab. "So you accept? Good! This will be a great benefit to the villagers of Gorania and anyone traveling through the village. Thank you! Now, I thought you might like to see my tower. I'm afraid I don't get many visitors here, so I'm only too pleased to show you my humble abode. For the same reason, it may be a bit of mess, I fear... Please follow me. First I'll show you my lab."Eirus leads you out of his study and takes you up the stairs you noted when he first invited you inside his tower. As he does, he continues talking, "You see, I cannot search for the berries myself because I'm currently doing some research on a serious illness. Not just any old illness, mind you, but the sort that can kill entire populations, much like a plague. I think I'm close to discovering something, so I dare not leave my research for now, as I might otherwise be too distracted to pick it up again later..." You reach the top of the stairs and Eirus leads you into what is quite evidently his laboratory. It is also, as he had already warned, a bit of a mess. A large table is filled with all sorts of beakers and odd instruments. Plants are lying about and several books lie open on the table as well. On the shelves there are yet more books as well as both skeletons and skulls of animals and several stuffed animals as well. Clearly, Eirus is a bit of a taxidermist. However, there are also a few live animals in cages around the laboratory. Several jars seem to contain the more grisly preserved internal organs of various creatures. Eirus apparently notes your discomfort with these, as he says, "Yes, I know those can be a bit unnerving, but I fear that close examination is the only way I'll ever learn more about the complex nature of the body... Never fear, though - none of those remains are from humans, as naturally I would never perform my studies on humans. After all, that would be unethical, wouldn't it?" Slightly surprised by that comment you look around again, yet it seems as if none of the various remains in his lab are those of humans or indeed any other humanoid. "You see, research into such matters are extremly important to me, because during the Great War, when plague spread through the lands, particularly Glantri, I realized that priests could not combat the disease - they had only their spells, which were rather limited at times, and they just couldn't cast enough of them to help the ordinary people. So the spells available always went to the most 'important' people first, such as kings and nobles, and, yes, adventurers, which meant that the poor common people often died from the plague, simply because the priests' powers of healing were usually exhausted before it was their turn to receive them." As Eirus turns to this subject, you note that some of his compassion has been replaced by bitterness and anger... It is obvious to you that this subject is something he feels strongly about, and he seems angry on behalf of the common man and his problems during the Great War - he truly seems to care for the common people... even though he isn't one of them himself! "You see, I became aware of this problem during the Great War and started studying it intensely, and I realized that by using non-magical means, many diseases can actually be fought and even stopped! So to prevent another plague from killing many innocent, common folk, I'm trying to find out how the body works and what can be done to save it from all sorts of ailments. Because of this, I've worked hard to acquire much knowledge of the mortal body, particularly on animals as I 'experiment' on them because experimenting on humans would clearly be an evil thing to do. Even though I could probably gain better knowledge that way, I'm not willing to pay for it with my conscience... or my soul!" In fact, Eirus has great knowledge of the anatomy, etc., of animals, gained through his 'experiments' on them because his ethics prevent him from experimenting on humans - he is quite serious about that! To study these things, however, he has needed to study the influence of magic on the body, and the best way to do that and gain knowledge was quite simply to become a necromancer - he has all the skills, but uses them very differently than most necromancers. DM note: The fact that Eirus is a necromancer should either be left out by him, so the PCs have to find this out by looking at the various books on magic in his lab, or he will tell them in such away that it looks like he is a little embarrased or even ashamed of it. He will explain that since he has experienced quite a number of unpleasent reactions to this, he became rather careful with telling this to people. The descriptions of this is left to the DM, however, because the PCs might not find out. For example, Eirus might have studied necromancy at the Great School of Magic in Glantri, but either been thrown out because he refused to use necromancy 'the way he was supposed to' or because he left in anger over the way the common people is treated there. The PCs may wish to talk to Eirus for a while, but once they're done it'll be late in the afternoon and he'll remind them that looking for the berries will be easiest at dawn or dusk, so if they started right away, they might get lucky and find them in a few hours... The Forest in the dark. As chance would have it, the PCs will not find the berries in the forest quite as easily as Eirus (and the PCs too, probably) had hoped... To find the berries they will definitely have to search the forest at night. If they are reluctant to do so, try to persuade them by having their anxiety of darkness after the nightmarish dream they had at the inn resurface and tell them that they won't be able to rest anyway. Eventually they'll have to search the forest at night if they are to find the berries Eirus needs. If they continue to search during dusk, they'll eventually run into a black bear, just to show them that roaming the forest during the day is not exactly without its dangers either... You've been searching the forest for the berries Eirus needs for a while now. It's dusk, but sunset is still about an hour away, so you won't need to stop your search yet to get out before darkness falls...Suddenly you hear a strange sound in the bushes to the right of you... You look carefully, as suddenly a massive beast rushes towards you. It is a dark bear with some wicked-looking claws... It screams as it charges towards you! Let the PCs roll for surprise. A bear can be a ruthlessly efficient predator, and can probably surprise most of its prey... Black Bear (1): CR 2; Medium-sized Animal (about 5 ft.); HD 3d8+6, hp 19; Init +1 (Dex); Spd 40 ft.; AC 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural); Attacks 2 claws +6 melee, bite +1 melee (each Claw 1d4+4, Bite 1d6+2); SQ Scent; AL N; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 19, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6. Skills: Climb +6, Listen +4, Spot +7, Swim +8 The black bear is primarily hungry. If the PCs are having a hard time, they can throw food on the ground and run, and the bear won't pursue them. If the PCs are taking serious damage, the DM should also hint at this. This is just one random encounter, but the DM can add more if he feels like it. Goblins like those at the beginning of the adventure could be met in the forest, and the DM should definitely roll for random encounters in a Temperate Forest setting if the PCs spend large amounts of time here. Also remember that it is certainly possible to become lost in a forest! This one isn't so large, so the PCs will find out in time, but it could be used to scare them a little. Another encounter is with an owl... Walking through the woods, you're suddenly startled when you notice an owl in the tree next to you. You're not sure why, but while you've seen a number of birds in the forest - squirrels, and a single deer - you have a feeling that you've seen this particular owl before and you get the sensation that it is watching you! Well, obviously it is, but you're starting to think it might be spying on you... This owl is quite harmless. It is here only to stress the fact that encounters are not always deadly or need result in combat of any sort. The owl is completely at the DM's discretion. The PCs might wonder about it, though. For example, they might suspect that it is the familiar of Eirus Fhalu spying on them. If the DM so desires that might be the case, but there is no reason for the PCs to suspect so, as they never learned if he even had a familiar. Their reactions might be amusing to the DM, however. If searching at night, the PCs will find the berries Eirus sent them to find. Ironically they will find some near the old graveyard, which they can see from the area where they find the berries. Roll secret rolls for each player. It doesn't matter what you roll, really, just decide on one PC who finds the berries they're after. If one of the PCs has a particularly good Spot skill score, then he's probably the most likely candidate to note the berries and point them out to his companions. However, that is not all, they'll find at the time... Still wandering the forest looking for the berries for Eirus Fhalu, you've almost given up when you note that your search has taken you near some old ruins up ahead. As you examine it for a little while, you realize that this must be the old graveyard Balri mentioned at one point...Suddenly something catches your eye. Right there in the bushes are some berries that seem to gleam in the night. There is no doubt in your mind - those are the berries Eirus sent you to find! From his descriptions, there can be no question about it. There are only eight of them, but according to Eirus, that should suffice, so you hurry and pick them up, roll them into a piece of cloth, then put them in your backpack...Just as you are about to leave having found the object of your search, you hear a strange sound up ahead, though... Someone is walking around in the graveyard! If the PCs know Eirus is a necromancer, they might suspect him of doing some foul business here. If that will lead them to investigate, the DM should try to support that belief. If the PCs are a little reluctant to go closer, try to appeal to their curiosity or to their ethics (especially effective if there are paladins or clerics in the group). The PCs need to go to the graveyard for the adventure to unfold. Assuming the PCs do investigate, read the following... As you move closer, you can make out humanoid figures up ahead. You can't see what they're doing at this distance and you lose sight of them as they disappear behind another wall. You move ahead to follow, but apparently they are both sneaky and know this area better than you, because as you follow them, you suddenly find that they are all around you, and you know only too well what they are - the same sort of horrible, corpse-eating ghouls you met in your dreams! Horrified you prepare for battle as they attack you, screaming with glee, "Living Flesh - Living Meat!!!" There are four ghouls around the PCs, but they should be able to handle them. All in all, there are nine ghouls in the graveyard, but the other five are currently hiding in their graves, feeding on other corpses buried here, so the PCs won't find them at the moment. Their stats are still given below, though. The first four ghouls encountered are the 16, 12, 11, and 9 hp ghouls. Ghouls (9): CR 1; Medium Undead (about 6 ft.); HD 2d12; hp 21, 18, 16, 15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural); Attacks Bite +3 melee, 2 claws +0 melee (Bite 1d6+1 and paralysis, each claw 1d3 and paralysis); SQ Undead, +2 turn resistance; AL CE; SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5; Str 13, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16. Skills: Climb +6, Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Intuit Direction +3, Jump +6, Listen +7, Move Silently +7, Search +6, Spot +7. Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite) Once the PCs have killed the first four ghouls, and probably looked a bit around the graveyard without finding anything else unusual, they should return to the inn or Eirus Fhalu. They might suspect that Fhalu has something to do with these undead, but he'll actually be most anxious to help them combat this undead threat with the significant knowledge of undead he possesses as a necromancer. If the PCs get Fhalu's advice on the ghouls and then return here, they finish the adventure by finding the rest of the ghouls and destroying them. Returning to Eirus with the berries. Eirus is very pleased and thanks the PCs... "The berries? You found them! Oh, and there are eight of them! Well done, my friends. If you give them to me, I'll get to work on that jar of the potion I promised you right away. It'll take me at least a week to make it, but you're welcome to wait around the village if you want to. If not, you can collect it whenever you come by Gorania again. Rest assured that apart from getting a jar of the potion for yourselves, you've also done a great service to this community. I'll remember to mention your efforts to the villagers..." Eirus is anxious to begin brewing the potion and will forget all about the PCs immediately unless they have something else to ask him. Asking Eirus about the Ghouls. If the PCs mention the ghouls they found at the graveyard to Eirus, he will be quite disturbed, and then ask the PCs to describe the undead to him. "What?? Undead at the old graveyard? Oh dear, that is not good! In fact, it is rather terrible news, to tell you the truth. Say, could you describe them to me... in as much detail as possible, please." You describe the undead to Eirus. When you mention their long tongues, their vicious claws, and their sharp fangs, he seems concerned. When you further mention their paralyzing touch and the fact that they spoke, he looks positively troubled... "Oh my... You know, those are Ghouls you're talking about. They hunger for carrion and eat the flesh of the dead... though they do prefer to eat living flesh, as you say. They may not have seemed terribly powerful to you, but make no mistake - they're horrible abominations of nature! It is said that people who used to eat other people while alive or who were unspeakbly evil may become ghouls upon their deaths. It is a rare thing, but it seems to be the case here, since you saw nobody else at the graveyard. Besides, I know of no magical formulae with which to create these vile creatures, so I'm fairly certain they must have come about spontaneously... or at least one of them! You see, while ghouls typically eat the flesh of the dead, they can spread their horrible, undead curse to corpses they do not eat, so if left alone, the number of ghouls could grow quite large, particularly in a graveyard with lots of potential victims. Something must be done about this! Say, I know I've already put you through one assignment, but would you be willing to help us with these ghouls, too? As before, I'd still prefer to remain here to continue my research, but stopping the undead threat is more important. If you won't help, I'll have to do it myself, and my research might be lost then... Please help us!" If the PCs really are heroes, they shouldn't be able to turn down a request like that. If they do and then return to the village for a few days, the rumors will spread and several villagers, including Nicos, will ask them to stop the undead threat before it spreads. The villagers have no knowledge of the undead, of course, but the fact that Eirus is concerned is more than enough to scare them all out of their wits... They don't have much to offer the PCs, but they'll sacrifice quite a lot to persuade them to help! Assuming the PCs accept and continue their conversation with Eirus, read the following... Eirus looks very happy, "You accept? Excellent! Now, apart from actually destroying the ghouls, the main problem will be to make certain you find them all. You see, once they come above ground, doing so is no problem, but ghouls like to lie buried in the ground feasting on dead flesh, and when they do, finding them can be all but impossible to those who don't know what to look for. First, try poking a spear or pike deep into the graves. Yes, I realize that may sound like sacrilege and disrespect for the dead, but bear in mind what we're up against - if we allow the bodies to become undead ghouls, what respect would we be showing those dead people?" "Now, the clerics and wizards in your groups - do you know the magical formula of the first degree of magical lore that allows you to intuitively realize the presence of the undead? I believe some clerics also know of this spell, yes? Those of you who know it, use it! It will reveal the presence of ghouls and so will greatly aid your cause. Just a moment..." Eirus leaves the room for a moment, then returns a moment later with a scroll case, "In case you need to use the spell, I have it on a scroll here. I already know the spell myself, so I've been saving this one for an emergency, and I guess this qualifies... here! I hope it's useful. You may want to scribe it into your personal grimoire in case you don't know it already. I have no problem with that as such, but bear in mind that doing so will take you two days of study, and the ghoul threat might spread in that time... If you do so, make sure your companions patrol the graveyard at night, okay?" The spell Eirus is talking about is Detect Undead, obviously. He strongly urges the PCs to use the spell repeatedly in the graveyard, as it is just about the only way to be sure that the undead threat is completely eliminated. He'll repeatedly suggest that they check over the graveyard again and again to make sure they finished off every single, last ghoul! Returning to the graveyard. Going back to the graveyard and following Eirus' suggestions should pretty much end the adventure. PCs poking spears or pikes into the graves where ghouls are (as determined by Detect Undead or pure chance through trial and error) would make attacks against AC 12 because the ghouls cannot benefit from their Dexterity while underground. If the PCs hit, roll for damage normally. Eventually the PCs should be able to finish off all of the ghouls in this fashion. It might not be a big challenge, but they should be granted full experience anyway - there is no penalty for being smart and listening to Eirus' good advice! In one of the graves, the PCs might come across a buried short sword. The PC examining the grave (by either sticking a spear or pike into it or using Detect Undead) should make a Spot check at DC 16. If successful, the PC somehow notices the short sword (glint of metal, pike glancing it, etc.). The blade is a short sword +1 named "Thranial", and was forged long ago by elves. It ended up here because the person buried in the grave used to be an adventurer and discovered it during those days. Aftermath: Once the PCs have finished off all the ghouls, the adventure is over. The villagers will cheer their efforts, and Eirus will applaud them as well. If the PCs seek him out, he will tell them that he owes them a favor and promise to repay it some day. Meanwhile, he'll be finishing the potion for them, or simply give it to them if they've spent enough time in the village. If this adventure was played first (as suggested), the next adventure would be either 'The Starving Forest' or 'What Lurks in the Shadows'. If the PCs remain in the village, the caravan of Ceril Burton from 'The Starving Forest' could pass through on their way north (or south, doesn't matter much...) and hire the PCs as additional guards. If the PCs simply leave the village of Gorania, they could stumble onto both options 1 and 3 of 'How to Involve the PCs' in the adventure. If the DM wishes to play the 'What Lurks in the Shadows' adventure next, the PCs, having heard of Oliver Attleson and his sword "Roc" from Balri, could hear from someone traveling throught the village that a portrait of Attleson is being auctioned away in Darokin, and might wish to go there to check it out. Once there they could be involved under all the three options described for 'How to Involve PCs' in that adventure, the first one being particularly likely if they also known Ceril Burton from 'The Starving Forest' adventure already. Further Investigations: If the PCs explore the village of Gorania further, they will eventually learn all the information Balri has to offer. They'll still have to sort out which of it is useful themselves, though. Further investigations into the origin of the ghouls will be inconclusive... There is nothing to suggest it did not happen exactly as Eirus described, so there is no evidence against him. The PCs could decide to find out where the goblins who attacked Nicos and themselves came from. If they do, they'll discover that there have been an increase of goblinoid attacks on the northern trade routes off late, which will lead them to the adventures 'The Starving Forest' and then 'What Lurks in the Shadows'. They might also conclude that Oliver Attleson is buried in the old graveyard, especially if they've already played the 'Starving Forest' adventure and paid attention to the clues there. If they explore the matter it won't reveal much, though. Attleson was not one of the bodies that became a ghoul, and since his armor was ruined, his shield brought back to Corunglain, and his sword "Roc" lost, there won't be any treasure or indentifying articles in his grave and the PCs won't be able to tell it apart from the other graves... Besides, digging around the graves will not exactly endear them with Eirus or the villagers... Corruption of the Swords by John Calvin, Max Monas, and Jens "Stalker" Schnabel ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 15:50:44 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Thar and his orcs Talking about something other that the Corruption of the Swords adventures, I have a question for people with Gaz 10: The Orcs of Thar. You see, IMC we'll be reaching the time during "The Great War" (WOTI) when Thar attempts to invade Darokin from the Great Crater. Since I use 2e Player Option rules IMC, I'll have to convert Thar into my campaign, and for that I need good source material. I have his stats and so from the PWA series, but they are pretty sparse, so I was wondering if someone would do me the favor of telling what his description is like in Gaz 10. I'd also like to hear of his prior history, assuming one is described. I also plan to surround Thar with several henchmen and orcish generals. Since Thar is a 29th level orc in OD&D (according to PWA1), I'll be converting that into a 27th level fighter IMC. I assume that his generals would therefore be levels 15 to 20, and that he might have a personal elite guard of about level 10 fighters. Are any such characters described or even mentioned in Gaz 10? Thanks for any responses. - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 22:58:37 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: David Knott Subject: Re: Thar and his orcs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "The Stalker" > > Since Thar is a 29th level orc in OD&D (according to PWA1), I'll be > converting that into a 27th level fighter IMC. I assume that his generals > would therefore be levels 15 to 20, and that he might have a personal elite > guard of about level 10 fighters. Are any such characters described or even > mentioned in Gaz 10? Several other chieftains are described in Gaz 10, so any of them could be used for his generals. The descriptions of the various hordes do not cite any goblinoids above normal monster level. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 23:12:27 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: David Knott Subject: Re: Mystara cosmology and 3E MotP -- Material Plane MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "Andrew Theisen" > At 12:21 AM 8/21/01 -0400, you wrote: > > > >Astral Plane: Here we have evidence of a strongly negative nature > >about the connection between the Astral Plane and the Material > >Plane. The Alphatians clearly reached the Material Plane by a > >route that can be simplified to the following: Old Alphatia to > >Draesten to Astral to Ethereal to Material. In the 2000 years > >since their arrival on Mystara, they failed to discover any more > >direct route through those planes. Given the basic nature of > >such spells as Astral Projection, I would take this failure as > >evidence of a lack of direct connection between the Material > >and Astral Planes. > > Only problem with this theory is that there is a direct connection between > Old Alphatia and Mystara- witness the wormhole that takes the PCs in M1: > Into the Maelstrom to Old Alphatia and back. Good point. I was about to amend my description of the Astral Plane to suggest that it was something different from the standard Astral Plane of MotP, as it turns out to have very different characteristics. Still, that wormhole was not a mortal creation, right? Therefore, the nature of this direct connection would remain a mystery to moral Mystarans -- it is presumably a conduit through that unknown Transitive Plane that serves the functions of the traditional Astral Plane for Mystara -- and whether that Transitive Plane is the "real" Astral Plane, the Plane of Shadow, or some other unknown plane is a mystery remaining for Mystaran spellcasters to solve. In any case, whatever that Transitive Plane is, Mystaran spellcasters do not know enough about it to make routine use of it for interplanar travel. > >Other planes: Of the variant planes listed in the appendix to the 3E > >MotP, there is evidence that the Mystara Material Plane is connected > >to the Region of Dreams (per Prince Jherek's Secret Craft in G:KoM), > > The Region of Dreams on Mystara *is* the Nightmare Dimension (or plane, as > you prefer) In G:KoM, it is called the Demiplane of Nightmares, which would make it a very different thing from the Nightmare cosmology. The most reasonable interpretation is that the Mystaran cosmology and the Nightmare cosmology share the same Region of Dreams as the place where the minds of their inhabitants wander when they dream. Whenever the dreams of normals and nightmare creatures collide, they give each other nightmares. Jherek would then presumably draw his powers from the portions of the Region of Dreams where such collisions are common. > >the Spirit World (per Gaz 12 and the description of "Limbo" in a VotPA > >article) > > The Spirit World and Limbo are from all appearances two different places. > Limbo is actually described in that article as an Outer Plane of its own. Good point -- upon reflection, all they really have in common is that they include spirits of some sort (of nature in one case and of the dead and undead in the other). Of course, as with the Astral Plane, this "Limbo" is also very different from the standard MotP version of Limbo, so it too may need an alternate name. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 23:26:11 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: David Knott Subject: Re: Mystara cosmology and 3E MotP -- Material Plane MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "George" > What about the Maze spell? Doesn't that drop you into an outer plane? The spell description specifies merely that it uses an extradimensional space (same as Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and Rope Trick) and that it creates a Force effect (which extends to the Ethereal plane according to MotP). While the DMG describes the interactions that occur when a Bag of Holding is placed inside a Portable Hole (and vice versa), there is no mention of a similar effect occurring when a creature carrying one of these items is moved into an extradimensional space while carrying either of these items. In case it matters -- when a Bag of Holding and a Portable Hole interact, they are both destroyed and their contents are either forever lost or sent to the Astral Plane (or its equivalent) -- though the two results are effectively equivalent for anyone who has no idea how to reach that other plane. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 20:31:40 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Thar and his orcs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Spoilers may follow for all of you PCs out there. Be warned. >> You see, IMC we'll be reaching the time during "The Great War" (WOTI) when Thar attempts to invade Darokin from the Great Crater. Since I use 2e Player Option rules IMC, I'll have to convert Thar into my campaign, and for that I need good source material. I have his stats and so from the PWA series, but they are pretty sparse, so I was wondering if someone would do me the favor of telling what his description is like in Gaz 10. I'd also like to hear of his prior history, assuming one is described. << Brace yourself. According to Gaz 10, Thar is a OR29 (I assume orc)/SH12 (I assume shaman). Oh, yes... he's also a nosferatu... His history in brief: He forced his clan to succeed from the hord after which time he took over weaker hords and built up his power. Now (AC 1000) he controls the entire Broken Lands. Recently he came upon a tome during a caravan raid. That tome belonged to a certian Boldavian Prince who was rather upset with the humanoid. For some reason said prince let Thar live after their encounter...if you call undeath living... He's also been having visits from a "Herald of Karash" who has been encouraging him to plunder Rockhome. Prince Jagger is a very busy wizard... Oh... and he's got a son in Glantri... one Angus McClintock. >> I also plan to surround Thar with several henchmen and orcish generals. Since Thar is a 29th level orc in OD&D (according to PWA1), I'll be converting that into a 27th level fighter IMC. I assume that his generals would therefore be levels 15 to 20, and that he might have a personal elite guard of about level 10 fighters. Are any such characters described or even mentioned in Gaz 10? << There are guards mentioned in Gaz 10. It is a brief line about Thar and his guards trying to capture the "herald" Uruk Vaath (aka Jagger von Drachenfeld). That's about it. So he's got em, but we know little to nothing about them. Have fun. John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 21:49:33 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I remember seeing this in the last issue of the Tome, but I never had a chance to do more than just skim the outline. I did think what I saw sounded intriguing though. One question I do have is what era is the series set in? Pre-Wrath or Post-Wrath? And if it is (as I suspect) Post-Wrath, how difficult do you think it would be to retro-fit it to work in a Pre-Wrath time period. Thanks, Jenni -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM]On Behalf Of The Stalker Sent: August 22, 2001 17:14 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: [MYSTARA] Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Phase I - DM overview Well, since the list is very quiet today, I'll take the opportunity to post something in working on with my fellow co-conspirators of Evil DMs (tm). People who looking through the final issue of the Tome of Mystara will already know of this (you haven't read the Tome? Shame on you!). Essentially it is the beginning of a large adventure campaign I've been working on together with John Calvin and Max Monas, and IIRC we have been at it for more than a year now... [snipped remainder to save bandwidth ;-) ] ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 10:02:09 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: SteelAngel Subject: Re: Mystara cosmology and 3E MotP -- Material Plane In-Reply-To: <036001c12c4c$a6d50700$0e811f3f@q6s7w2> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, David Knott wrote: > In G:KoM, it is called the Demiplane of Nightmares, which would make > it a very different thing from the Nightmare cosmology. The most G:KoM is also a AD&D product. The cosmology used in those products is not necessarily representative of the cosmology of WoTI. > of Limbo, so it too may need an alternate name. Why? Ethan ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 15:29:14 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Historic Period On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 21:49:33 -0700, Jenni A. M. Merrifield wrote: > I remember seeing this in the last issue of the Tome, but I never had a >chance to do more than just skim the outline. I did think what I saw >sounded intriguing though. > Thanks. > One question I do have is what era is the series set in? Pre-Wrath or >Post-Wrath? And if it is (as I suspect) Post-Wrath, how difficult do you >think it would be to retro-fit it to work in a Pre-Wrath time period. > Yes, it is post-WotI. It may not seem very important, but there are reasons for it. For example, Eirus Fhalu, the "good" necromancer from the first adventure, "Your Trusted Friend the Necromancer", talks about how he studies non-magical ways to counter diseases like the plague that swept through Glantri (and Ethengar, the Northern Reaches, and the Heldannic Territories) during the Great War (WotI) because the clerics just couldn't cast enough Remove Disease spells and so the common population fell to the plague on a grand scale because the nobles were saved first. Similarly, the power struggle that has sent the orcs in the second adventure, "The Starving Forest" [posted tomorrow], was caused by Kol's rise to power among the goblinoids. These points may not be terribly important, and other causes may be found for why these adventures happened earlier, so you could run these adventures before the great war, I guess, but the importance of WotI and its changes will become far more central during Phase II and III, so let me warn people right there! Sure, change things around in your campaigns, but let me add that we didn't choose this period casually. It *will* become more important than it might seem during Phase I. Still, we did *not* put a specific year on our campaign, nor do we intend to. We'll be working from some of the events in WOTI, but beyond that we've set no time for when the campaign occurs. This was done deliberately so that people could fit the adventures into their campaigns as it suited them best. - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 18:45:28 -0600 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Tim Roberts Subject: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was recently going through some moduels of mine and I noticed I ahve a few that say they are located in Thunder Rift. I tried to locate this in Mystara but have been unsuccessful as of yet. The modules are all Dungeons&Dragons challenger series and I noticed that WotI and CoM are also form the challenger series so I had assumed that Thunder Rift was somewhere in Mystara. does anyone know if Thunder Rift is form Mystara and if so where is it's location or if that is a completely different campaign setting all together. thanks in advance. Alphaks http://www.mystaranet.com tinman@mystaranet.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 21:01:45 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: James Mishler Subject: Re: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <> IIRC somewhere in one of the modules there is a reference to Thunder Rift being in eastern Karameikos (they sure try to fill that place up, don't they?). The rift itself is all of 24 miles north to south by 18 miles east to west, and would thus easily fit into any unoccupied hill or mountain hex, at least one full hex distant from any more "settled" region. It could be used as a modified "Haven" setting, or placed in the hills between the Castellan and Highreach rivers. To me it did not seem to fit in Karameikos, and sounded more distinctly Darokinianin culture, so I placed in it the hills north of Alfheim, just south of the Dwarfgate Mountains. It is just to the west of the Citadel of Xorg, between the Highpeak and Greatflow rivers. Note also that I use the "Emerlas" setting from module O2 "Blade of Vengeance," using the River of Monsters as the Greenflow River. Khordarg's Lair is in the 8-mile mountain hex seperated from the rest of the Dwarfgate Mountains by the Highpeak River. James ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 19:52:37 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Historic Period In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Stalker wrote [[[ On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 21:49:33 -0700, Jenni A. M. Merrifield wrote: > I remember seeing this in the last issue of the Tome, but I never had a >chance to do more than just skim the outline. I did think what I saw >sounded intriguing though. > Thanks. ]]] You're welcome. :-) [[[ > One question I do have is what era is the series set in? Pre-Wrath or >Post-Wrath? And if it is (as I suspect) Post-Wrath, how difficult do you >think it would be to retro-fit it to work in a Pre-Wrath time period. > Yes, it is post-WotI. It may not seem very important, but there are reasons for it. These points may not be terribly important, and other causes may be found for why these adventures happened earlier, so you could run these adventures before the great war, I guess, but the importance of WotI and its changes will become far more central during Phase II and III, so let me warn people right there! Sure, change things around in your campaigns, but let me add that we didn't choose this period casually. It *will* become more important than it might seem during Phase I. ]]] Oh well, that's too bad then. My campaign is pre-wrath and I don't actually intend to use the WotI campaign material (for a number of reasons) so if many of the events that occur are dependant on events from WotI then I probably won't be able to make use of it. *sigh* I wish more people would create new adventures for the Pre-Wrath Era. Ah well ... I guess I'll just have to be sure to post any stuff I develop in the future to help alleviate the drought for others. ;-) Jenni ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 23:30:25 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: David Knott Subject: Re: Mystara cosmology and 3E MotP -- Material Plane MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: "SteelAngel" > > On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, David Knott wrote: > > > In G:KoM, it is called the Demiplane of Nightmares, which would make > > it a very different thing from the Nightmare cosmology. The most > > G:KoM is also a AD&D product. The cosmology used in those products is not > necessarily representative of the cosmology of WoTI. But it is the only source that gives a name to the plane associated with Jherek's Secret Craft. I cited it merely to disprove the equation of that "Demiplane of Nightmares" with the "Nightmare Dimension" of WotI. Remove G:KoM as a source and we have no information about that plane/demi-plane at all. > > of Limbo, so it too may need an alternate name. > > Why? The Limbo of VotPA in Dragon magazine is the place that the dead go on their way to the Outer Plane of their patron Immortal. While dominated by Chaos, it is nowhere near as fluid as the Plane of Limbo in the 3E MotP (at least in terms of matter and space -- time is another matter entirely). For that reason I would come up with "technical" names for the Mystaran Limbo as well as the Mystaran Astral Plane (which actually has little in common with the AD&D/Planescape/3E Astral Plane). Of course, I guess the simplest alternate names would be "Mystaran Astral" and "Mystaran Limbo", with "MotP Astral" and "MotP Limbo" as their "standard" counterparts -- but the very fact that Mystaran spellcasters assigned such names to two unique local planes suggests that they are unfamiliar with the MotP versions of those planes, most likely because of a lack of connection to them. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 01:57:23 -0600 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Angelo Bertolli Subject: Re: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I heard Thunder Rift was not in Mystara, and was just a setting they used a long time ago. Not a complete setting though. Angelo Bertolli URL: http://rsf.htmlplanet.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 05:13:37 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Glen Sprigg Subject: Re: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thudner Rift was a separate campaign setting TSR used for the 'ultra-basic' rules. Ten years ago they released that black box set with big fold-out maps and carboard stand-up figures, similar to the ones used in Dymrak Dread. It was designed for total beginners, and included a card pack that taught the rules in a simple, easy-to-learn format for young players and newcomers to RPing. They released several adventures in this setting; Quest for the Silver Sword, Assault on Raven's Ruin, and Knight of Newts, to name a few. They also released the Thunder Rift campaign setting, which was a low-level setting with the major NPCs all no higher than 9th level. There were three larger boxes released as well, with three adventures and lots of stand-ups in each. The Challenger series DM screen included an adventure called Escape from Thunder Rift, in which the PCs left Thunder Rift and ended up being transported to Karameikos, just outside the area where the excreble Penhaligon trilogy is set. Glen ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 14:06:46 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Caroletti Subject: Quinto Mucio Rex (updated) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit QUINTO MUCIO REX 13 Flaurmont 984, Kantridae, Duchy of Kantrium, Empire of Thyatis Quinto Mucio Rex, Commander of the Caerdwicca Garrison --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- written by Giulio N. Caroletti & Chris Furneaux --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- History: Quinto Mucio Rex is the descendant of one of the first kings of Thyatis, hence the surname Rex. His family decayed from senatorial status many centuries ago, but has resisted as a small local aristocratic family in Kantrium since. His uncle Aulo Mucio Rex was a comrade of the Thyatian revolutionary Luscinia, while his father Sempronius was a minor officer of Thincol's following. Rex grew up with the hate for both, and hating their ideals. He left home at 14 to enter the Army, to seek an order that he couldn't find in his life. He thought of his uncle as an idiot because there is no use in trying to bring down a whole system, a task too big for any man. He hated his father for his servilism and the nearly total lack of benefit for his long-time service. Moreover he found ridiculous the pomp used in his family, just because they were descendants of a long-dead king. He hoped to find in the Army an efficient and healthy institution that cared about the well of the people in the Empire, a way to start changing the world from within, but he only discovered a world where the abuses of incompetent generals of aristocratic origin ruled (remember we are in the corrupt period just before the Wrath War). However, he became a good soldier, and he liked fighting. During the Wrath War he rose to higher positions mainly because he was good at fighting, and because he hated incompetence. A whole generation of officers bloomed during the war, just because there was nobody else that could fill the ranks of the incompetent that died, and of those not incompetent that died as well, considering the problems the Army faced against the Alphatian attack. He became Captain, and when the war was over he refused to remain on the Mainland, hoping to find possibilities for fighting, or at least for finding something to fight for, on the Isle of Dawn. He was sent to replace the Commander of the Caerdwicca Garrison when he asked for that position because he was a good fighter and had had many honour decorations because of his personal achievements in the war, and moreover he is an aristocrat (although his family is not much important). Personality: Rex is a bitter man with no dream left in his life. When he was young, he hoped to find a meaning to life in the Army, but soon he realized that the only thing he could achieve was to become as good a fighter as possible. Although he says he doesn't care about anything, even his own life, he is a good commander that doesn't want to risk the life of his men- he remembers well the incompetent leaders he has met in his life, and the soldiers that died for them. In fighting he never cares of his own life, and this makes him a very dangerous opponent. During the war and the battles he has fought, he has been able to perform nearly impossible tasks just because he didn't care of the risk. He doesn't want to die, but death holds no fear to him. He doesn't like politicians, and has a total disgust of corruption, and when possible he has tried to limit nepotism and favoritisms among his troops. He isn't interested in the political aspects of war: he fights because he is a soldier, and that is his duty. He is just interested in action and being a soldier for better or worse, because then he is part of something that means something to someone even if not to himself. Appearance: Rex is tall, with brown eyes and hair, with a hint of beard, and he is a little cross-eyed. He has thin lips and a deep scar on his left chin. He is well-built, muscled and very well in shape. He prefers to dress in brown or black robes when he isn't on duty; if he is, he wears a bronze breast plate over a white tunic, and a shield with the heraldic symbol of the McRhoomag. He prefers to use swords when fighting, but doesn't disdain the short axe. Stats (OD&D, AC 1010): Fighter 13 Str 15, Int 14, Wis 9, Dx 12, Con 13, Cha 10 Alignment: Lawful neutral ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 09:49:38 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: M Novy Subject: Open RPGers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I am possibly interested in starting an open RPG 3e Mystara campaign. If anyone is interested in playing let me know. It can be a vote to see where the campaign starts out, but I prefer Karameikos. This game will prolly be played just once a week or once every two weeks. It can be an open type campaign but i always prefer good PCs. As they are the easiest to reward. It doesnt matter if you have Mystara stuff because it will more than likely be new material. We could possibly even negotiate on starting off higher levels. Mike _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 15:31:36 -0600 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Tim Roberts Subject: Re: Open RPGers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We're currently using openRPG in our Mystara PnP campaign and one of you team members has already made some cutom files for use with it. We're currently playing in Karameikos and have just started the module B5 Horror on the Hill. Here is the link to the openRPg files for anyone interested. http://www.mystaranet.com/~vulcano/ORPG.html Your welcome to join us or your welcome to post on our forum your play times so that others in our team who can't make our session that would still like to play could at least come to yours. Here is the link to our site. http://www.mystaranet.com/mystara.htm Alphaks tinman@mystaranet.com http://www.mystaranet.com > I am possibly interested in starting an open RPG 3e Mystara campaign. If > anyone is interested in playing let me know. It can be a vote to see where > the campaign starts out, but I prefer Karameikos. This game will prolly be > played just once a week or once every two weeks. It can be an open type > campaign but i always prefer good PCs. As they are the easiest to reward. > It doesnt matter if you have Mystara stuff because it will more than likely > be new material. We could possibly even negotiate on starting off higher > levels. > > Mike > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 14:58:16 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Corruption of the Swords [CotS] Historic Period MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> > One question I do have is what era is the series set in? Pre-Wrath or >Post-Wrath? And if it is (as I suspect) Post-Wrath, how difficult do you >think it would be to retro-fit it to work in a Pre-Wrath time period. > Yes, it is post-WotI. It may not seem very important, but there are reasons for it. << Yes, I would agree. I would add though that Phase I adventures are pretty vanilla - they are intended to be that way in order to lul PCs into a false sense of security... Then we hit them with Phase II and III. Anyway, dur to this "vanilla" flavor, they should also be fairly easy to modify. >> Oh well, that's too bad then. My campaign is pre-wrath and I don't actually intend to use the WotI campaign material (for a number of reasons) so if many of the events that occur are dependant on events from WotI then I probably won't be able to make use of it. *sigh* I wish more people would create new adventures for the Pre-Wrath Era. Ah well ... I guess I'll just have to be sure to post any stuff I develop in the future to help alleviate the drought for others. ;-) << Well, I think there is some pretty good material in there and I'd hate for someone to pass it over just because the timelines seem incompatable. Phase II and III might be a little bit harder to modify, but Phase I shouldn't be that hard to change up a bit. Take what Stalker said about the necro for example. You could just as easily change the Wrath Plague to the Dwarven plague of the 860s...I'm sure there is still interest in that. It's not implausable that some wizard might still be researching that incedent - especially because of the impact it had. The orc adventure can be taken as a stand alone - orcs attack a caravan - wherever such a thing is needed. Likewise the assassin adventure could be used as a stand-alone adventure. Simply substitute "some item your party desires" with the portrait and information about Attleson that the party is after in our adventure. The assassins would also be after the same item. The pirate adventure could also be used as a stand alone for characters of a slightly higher level. The climax of that adventure introduces a new monster type, the "Sword Wraith", but if you don't intend to continue with Pase II and III, then you could substitute the arrival of the sword wraith with some long forgotten "pirate undead guardian" who watches over the treasure. Remove the final dream sequence/vision and replace the Sword of Wayland, "Roc" with some other more campaign specific magic item (or not) and there you are. Now...as for using all three adventures together, I think that can be done with a little modification as well. Since the first 3 adventures are focused on getting the PC interested in Attleson (and eventually the artifact he carried), simply swap this interest for your "campaign specific goal," and there you have it. If anyone attempts this I'd love to hear about it on the list. Hope this helps, Jenni. John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 01:43:29 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Auld Skald Subject: Re: Thunder Rift In-Reply-To: <000d01c12d09$e5709200$05da67d1@jmishler> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed At 09:01 PM 8/24/01 -0500, James Mishler wrote: ><few that say they are located in Thunder Rift. I tried to locate this in >Mystara but have been unsuccessful as of yet.>> > >IIRC somewhere in one of the modules there is a reference to Thunder Rift >being in eastern Karameikos (they sure try to fill that place up, don't >they?). The rift itself is all of 24 miles north to south by 18 miles east >to west, and would thus easily fit into any unoccupied hill or mountain hex, >at least one full hex distant from any more "settled" region. It could be >used as a modified "Haven" setting, or placed in the hills between the >Castellan and Highreach rivers. I tried to keep everything as far from Haven as possible IMC. Modifying Haven to be Thunder Rift seems like short shrift, but YMMV. I also disagree with placing Thunder Rift in the hills. It says pretty plainly that the Rift is surrounded by impenetrable mountains. Though, thinking about it, you could easily decide the hills near a large mountain range are really mountains containing Thunder Rift IYC, and that would work. Also, I recall that the Gazateer map hex scale is 8 miles, not 24, so it won't fit in just one of those hexes. I figure you can do 3 north-south 8 mi. hexes by 1.5 hexes east-west, so long as it's surrounded by other mountain hexes (some of the map is mountains at the edges). Looking at the areas you suggest, it looks like someplace fully within the southern Altan Tepes mountains at the headwaters of the Highreach river would make a good spot for Thunder Rift in Karameikos, ... but keep reading. =) >To me it did not seem to fit in Karameikos, and sounded more distinctly >Darokinianin culture, so I placed in it the hills north of Alfheim, just >south of the Dwarfgate Mountains. It is just to the west of the Citadel of >Xorg, between the Highpeak and Greatflow rivers. Interesting. I agree that the flavour of the Thunder Rift setting is more Darokinian than Karameikan, but I needed to keep it within the Duchy. IMC I placed Thunder Rift in the Black Peak mountains of northern Karameikos. This helped explain the slightly more Darokinian atmosphere. I assumed migrations into this nearly-lost valley came primarily from the north, except for the elves, who probably came from the south and are more closely related to the Callarii elves than the Alfheimers. I've placed it north-northwest of Verge, and south-southwest of Armstead, completely on the Karameikan side of the political boundary. (This is near where the Lost Valley of the Hutaaka is listed on the Gaz 1 map, but not quite -- it's to the right of the lost valley label.) It fits properly here, and I imagine the river in Thunder Rift is really the headwaters of the Foamfire river. The precedent of another nearby practically-inaccessible valley in this region helped me with the believability of Thunder Rift as a standalone adventure microcosm. I think this can also explain why no-one ever gets to the Hutaakan valley before the adventurers do (whenever that is IYC). You get as far as Thunder Rift and figure, "Okay, you just can't go any farther in these mountains. At least, it's not worth the bother." >Note also that I use the "Emerlas" setting from module O2 "Blade of >Vengeance," using the River of Monsters as the Greenflow River. Khordarg's >Lair is in the 8-mile mountain hex seperated from the rest of the Dwarfgate >Mountains by the Highpeak River. Cool! :-) - Auld Skald ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 02:25:11 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Auld Skald Subject: Re: Thunder Rift In-Reply-To: <003401c12d46$39b7ec00$736ea8c0@glen> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed At 05:13 AM 8/25/01 -0400, you wrote: >Thudner Rift was a separate campaign setting TSR used for the 'ultra-basic' >rules. Ten years ago they released that black box set with big fold-out >maps and carboard stand-up figures, similar to the ones used in Dymrak >Dread. It was designed for total beginners, and included a card pack that >taught the rules in a simple, easy-to-learn format for young players and >newcomers to RPing. > >They released several adventures in this setting; Quest for the Silver >Sword, Assault on Raven's Ruin, and Knight of Newts, to name a few. They >also released the Thunder Rift campaign setting, which was a low-level >setting with the major NPCs all no higher than 9th level. There were three >larger boxes released as well, with three adventures and lots of stand-ups >in each. > >The Challenger series DM screen included an adventure called Escape from >Thunder Rift, in which the PCs left Thunder Rift and ended up being >transported to Karameikos, just outside the area where the excreble >Penhaligon trilogy is set. Actually, I'm running "Escape from Thunder Rift" right now IMC. To be specific, the PCs end up being transported to just outside of the ruined town of Bywater. (They indicate in the module that the events that lead to Bywater's sad state are detailed in _The Tainted Sword_, which I have not read; I assume this is part of the Penhaligon Trilogy which is not worth reading?) Strictly speaking, Thunder Rift could be placed just about anywhere humans, elves, and dwarves could all appear. I've put it at the northern end of Karameikos in the Black Peak mountains, as I said in a previous reply to this thread. GOBLIN BLIX, STRAWBERRY JAMM, and WALTERSB ... Please do not read further. Campaign spoilers here. Everyone else who is not a player in this module, scroll down ... To make this module fit my Karameikos-based campaign a bit better, I gave the evil wizard Chambrin more motivations than the shallow description given. Chambrin is a wizard-level apprentice to Bargle who is sandbagging about his real ability level. He is also a minor Thyatian lord (whether just a court lord, or possibly son of a Thyatian follower of Von Hendriks -- haven't decided). He is trying to exploit a portal he read about that was created by the late wizard Asticles (sound like a Thyatian name, or what? It's actually from the module!). The plan is to find a reliable way to quickly move large numbers of troops around Karamiekos. This would allow Baron Von Hendriks the military advantage he needs to pull off a quick coup. Chambrin has kept this research to himself. As far as Bargle and Von Hendriks are concerned, he's just assigned to randomly stir up trouble in northern Karameikos while other plans are laid. Chambrin plans to prove the utility of the portal to himself, then provide the Black Baron with it and displace Bargle as the court magist. Of course, this would make him the court magist of the entire Grand Duchy after Ludwig's coup using the portal with several thousand goblinoids ... . If the PCs blow it and Chambrin escapes, there can be dire consequences to the realm. The lovely thing is that if Chambrin dies, no one ever finds out what those consequences might have been, and another plot by the minions of Black Eagle is crushed without anyone being the wiser -- most especially the Duke. (This fits with my stubborn adherence to "Good Stefan, but not an idiot Stefan" rhetoric. ;) If Chambrin escapes, the PCs have a long-term enemy with political connexions. Of course, Chambrin may or may not get the key that allows return travel to the portal -- if the PCs get it and return it to the dwarves, they will destroy it. As a DM, I just *love* messy endings. It provides so much fodder for future adventures. >:-D Unfortunately, the PC's got lucky with a Hold spell and toasted him, so no-one will ever know about this plot in my campaign world unless Chambrin comes back to life someday. Hmm ... perhaps Baron Von Hendriks could ask a favour of the CoK, and have his courtly assistant Raised. Or, he might have more infernal religious help that would oblige. Anyway, just had to share that with someone. It was driving me nuts that no-one was going to find this stuff out the hard way. =;) -Auld Skald ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 11:24:16 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: Thunder Rift In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Behalf Of Angelo Bertolli > > I heard Thunder Rift was not in Mystara, and was just a setting they used > a > long time ago. Not a complete setting though. > Very true, but not that long ago. The Thunder Rift setting was under way in 1992. It was a different campaign setting, but since it has many Mystaran equivalents, and the Valley is nearly impassable; I would place Thunder Rift in Mystara. But since it is a large valley, I would place them north of the Heldann Freeholds, and east of Denagoth. Another campaign setting that was introduced 10 years ago was the Dragon's Den; League of the Red Serpent, Wyrmhaven, and Wild Dragon Den. I did some work on these adventures, even making maps on the terrain surrounding these areas. I placed them in an area east of Esterhold, made new human cultures, some language write-ups, et. I never played them out though, this happened right around my marriage. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 13:16:58 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Problems with JAMM.com email addresses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This note is a warning to let you know that /all/ email addresses on my domain (JAMM.com) are currently having "bouncing" problems -- for some reason the system believes that no email aliases exist for the domain, and so email isn't being delivered properly and senders are receiving notification that the alias is actually invalid. Until this is fixed, it will not be possible to successfully send email to any alias that ends "@jamm.com". In the meantime, if you need to contact me or Ron, you may use my work email address: jennim@microsoft.com. I'll let each of the individuals and groups that I've sent this notice to know as soon as this issue has been resolved. Jenni A. M. Merrifield ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 15:38:33 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: CotS - Orc Attack (2nd adventure) Okay, here goes the second adventure in Phase I of the "Corruption of the Swords" campaign. As before, comments and questions are more than welcome. Enjoy! Darokin Adventure - The Starving Forest DM Setup This adventure is designed to be linked with other Phase I adventures in the Corruption of the Swords campaign. If not running the other adventures in this plot-line, DMs minor modifications will allow this adventure to be played in any campaign. Unknown to all, one of the Outer Beings is breaking free of its planar prison. It has spent centuries making preparations for this event. By manipulating one of the immortals themselves, the Outer Being has been able to set the stage for its escape. Its plan involves the corruption of the powerful artifacts known as the Swords of Wayland, as well as blood rituals on a scale that could not possibly be imagined by most, be they mortal or immortal. The PCs will be inexorably drawn into this webwork of insane schemes through four seemingly unrelated adventures. Ultimately, it will be up to them to put the pieces together before the Outer Being's dark prophecies come to pass, but the unknowable one has been planning its escape for a long time. Compassion, curiosity, fame, and fortune...all of the stuff that heores are made of, will insure that wittingly or not, the PCs will play their part in the Outer Beings grand design. PCs may encounter the caravan in this scenario in a few ways. Perhaps they are hired on as extra guards, or maybe they hear the sounds of battle while traveling on a caravan trail and rush to help. PCs moving through wilderness areas may come upon signs of a large orc camp and discover that the band of brigands is planning a raid. Phase I adventures are low level adventures designed to draw PCs into this plot. The orc attack that the PCs encounter may lead them into intrigue in Darokin, confrontations with cults and assassins, and perhaps even to the discovery of one of the Swords of Wayland, Roc. How to Involve PCs 1) The PCs are traveling along a well known trade route when they hear signs of battle coming from further down the road. As they rush to investigate, they encounter a band of merchant wagons being attacked by orcs. You hear several screams from further up the road, and can smell the faint odor of burning canvas and wood. As you get closer you can hear shouts of "Take cover!" and, "They're in the woods!" 2) If the PCs are leaving Darokin (or heading into that country) they may be hired by Darokinian merchants to act as guards for the caravan. In this case, the PCs will not stumble upon the attack; the attack will stumble upon them. You are greeted by a tall, lean, man, perhaps in his 40th year. He introduces himself as Ceril Bertun, a merchant affiliated with Corun House. "I hear you're looking for work? Well then you've come to the right place. We've got a small shipment of goods headed for Selenica, and we're a few hands short. We leave in the morning." PCs who inquire about the journey may be told the following information: "We usually hire extra hands out of Corunglain when making the journey to Selenica, but we're hiring on extra help a little early. The northlands are having troubles enough just trying to keep the orcs in the Crater. Help might be a little sparse up there, so we do the hiring now. You'll probably see a little action once we reach the Northlands, but the trip up there should be uneventful enough." The PCs may notice that even with their help the caravan is still not fully staffed with guards. Their employers are not concerned. Ceril Bertun shrugs his shoulders, "We'll pick up a few more along the way, and I have no doubt that we will find some help in Corunglain. Never fear," he says with a smile in his eyes. "We will be fully staffed for the journey across the northlands. I personally have a substantial amount of gold in this caravan, and I'm not going to let it fall into the hands of humanoids!" 3) While traveling through the wilderness, the PCs find signs that a large party of orcs and other humanoids camped in the area recently. Their trail is easily followed, and if the PCs track them down, they come upon the orcs just as the caravan is being attacked. You have come across the site of a rather large camp. Some effort has been made to disguise the fact that anyone has camped here at all, but the attempt was fairly sloppy. You see charcoal scattered among several rocks that were obviously used to line a campfire. Bones litter the forest floor near bushes where refuse was hastily buried. PCs who spend a turn searching the site will be able to determine that the camp help 150 to 200 individuals. Those spending another turn will be able to determine that a good portion of those individuals were either young or those who tended after them (most possibly females). Anyone studying the refuse will be able to determine that the food consumed at the camp is not food most often consumed by humans. Many of the bones belong to animals commonly used for labor (like mules and horses), and those kept as pets (dogs and cats). Assuming that the PCs decide to track this large party they will come upon another site. This campsite is much like the last one you encountered. However, when whoever was here broke camp, their party split up into two groups. The larger group made its way further into the interior of the woods, while the smaller group headed towards the main road in this area. Once again PCs who take time to examine the campsite will be able to determine that the larger group was composed mostly of women and children, while the smaller group was composed of men, most probably warriors of some type. If the DM needs to motivate the into following the raiders, he can stage an encounter at either one of the campsites. Three orcs burst out of the woods and charge your group. They are emaciated, and the furs they wear are nearly rotting off of their backs. Their eyes have an almost blank, fanatical look, and they are foaming at the mouth as they swing their spears and clubs at you. Orcs (3): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 3, 3, 2; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 10 (no armor); Atks +3 melee (1d6, clubs); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. These orcs are deserters from the main camp. PCs may believe that they are diseased, or under some sort of spell, but the simple truth is that they are nearly mad with hunger. The orcs will fight to the death. Add more orcs if the PCs party is having too easy a time. The Caravan This particular caravan consists of seven covered wagons, a dozen horse drawn carts, and 30 mules laden with supplies and goods. The merchant, and owner of these goods, Ceril Bertun - a minor member of Corun House, is leading the expedition himself. The caravan is moderately guarded by 6 men at arms (plus the PCs if they hired on for the job). They expected little trouble during this leg of journey. Caravan Guards, human Warrior1(6): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (5 ft. 10 in. tall); HD 1d8; hp 5, 5,6,7,7,8 ; Init 0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+2 leather armor); Atks +2 melee (1d6/crit 18-20/x2); AL LG; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 14, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 9. Skills: Handle Animal +4, Ride +4. Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes. Possessions: Rapier, leather armor, 1d8gp each, 2d10 sp each. The Orcs The band of raiders consists of orcs and various other humanoids (create a level to match the PCs) living in the harsh conditions of the Great Crater between Darokin and Glantri. Most of them are scrawny and malnourished. They are led by a young cheiftan, Hrg'kak who only recently dominated the group. Shortly after Hrg'kak came to power, his small tribe was driven out of the crater by a group of ogres. Hrg'kak doesn't mind, as he likes this area much better. Although the orcs are ravenous, they have not yet raided any of the caravans along the road. Hrg'kak has held his minions back so that he could observe the merchants carefully before staging a raid. Now he believes that he is ready. The orc band will fight until half of their members (or Hrg'kak) fall in battle before making a morale check. Those that fail will flee into the wilderness, perhaps returning to one of their many bases in the area. Those that stay will fight to the death (they are so hungry that they see no other option). If the DM so chooses, this hunting band can be a small part of a larger group. The rest of the tribe awaits Hrg'kak back at one of their camps. The camp should contain some older members of the group, as well as several females and their children. Several other hunting parties may also be out scouting the surrounding territiory. The Attack The orcs have studied caravans passing along this road for almost a week now, and have chosen the perfect place for an ambush. They will fight intelligently for the first three rounds of combat (following Hrg'kak's orders), but after that time their hunger overtakes them and they rush blindly into the fray. [See Map - Orc Attack, for positions of the orcs and the caravan. Sadly, this map cannot be reproduced on the MML, so you will have to go to the Tome of Mystara for it, or else contact the authors. The same is true for the symbol of Kol which is mentioned below. However, it is possible to play without these, only the DM will have to decide on the orcish positions himself.] The sounds of the surrounding forest grow quiet. Soon all that you hear are the squeaks and groans of the caravan's wagon wheels upon the hard packed road. Others have noticed the quiet as well. On of the caravan guards gives you a quizzical look . The first and second group of orcs are hidden behind rocks and trees along the path, and will spring out to attack the wagons and guards with arrows and spears. The orcs with arrows light them aflame before firing at the wagons. Orcs (5): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 8, 7, 6, 6, 5; Init +0; Spd 20 ft.; AC 14 (+4 scale mail); Atks +3 melee (1d8, short spears); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. Orc Archers (5): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 4, 4, 3, 3, 3; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 10 (no armor); Atks +3 melee (1d6, short bows); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. Just as the taskmaster raises his hand to signal the flanking guards to check the surrounding area for signs of trouble, you hear a war cry from the side of the trail. A flaming arrow hits the task master square in the chest, and several others strike the sides of the caravan wagons, setting them aflame. Before you can react, several screaming orcs rush out from the bushes. Two rounds after the first two groups attack, a third group will rush at the mules (and anyone guarding them) in order to startle them into fleeing into the woods, where yet a fourth group of orcs awaits. This third group will not join combat if they can help it. They will grab all of the supplies that they can, and return to camp. Another war cry goes up, this one from the rear of the caravan. More orcs charge through the underbrush and rush toward the pack animals sending several of them fleeing into the woods. The main group of orcs relents in their attack, and several of them begin to back away into the woods under the cover of hidden archers. "They're after the supplies!" one of the rear guards shouts. Orc Drivers (5): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 6, 5, 4, 4, 3; Init +0; Spd 20 ft.; AC 14 (+4 scale mail); Atks +3 melee (1d6, clubs); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. Orc Catchers (9): CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 1d8; hp 4, 3, 3 (each group of 3); Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 10 (no armor); Atks +3 melee (1d6, clubs); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. The orc cheiftan and his pet wolf will place themselves anywhere in the battle that they are most needed (in other words, against the PCs). Hrg'kak knows that his band is starving. His attack against the wagons is just a diversion to draw attention away from his real target - the supply carrying mules. Hrg'kak wants to scare several of the mules off into the wilderness where his orcs will have more cover from the guards, and will be able to pick off the stray animals at their leisure. Hrg'kak: CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. tall); HD 3d8; hp 12; Init +0; Spd 20 ft.; AC 14 (+4 scale mail); Atks +3 melee (1d8, battle axe); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., light sensitivity; AL CE; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 8. Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2. Feats: Alertness. Possessions: The battle axe that Hrg'kak wields is of fine dwarven make, and is in reality a bane to undead. When used against any undead the axe recieves a +2 magical bonus. Fedgrr (Wolf): CR 1/2; Medium-Size Animal; HD 2d8+4; hp 10; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 50 ft.; AC 14 (+2 Dex +2 natural); Atks +3 melee (1d6+1, bite); SA Trip; SQ scent; AL N; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6. Skills: Hide +3, Listen +6, Move Silently +4, Spot +4, Wilderness Lore +1. Feats: Weapon Finesse (bite). If all of the orcs are searched, the PCs will find a total of 23 cp, 4sp, and 1 gp. Hrg'kak has an additional 12 cp, 2 sp, and 2 gp, and is wearing a decent fur which may be sold for 10 gp. Aftermath If the PCs defeat Hrg'kak's band, they have one of two options. They can either stay with the caravan until it reaches Corunglain, or they can track any escaping orcs back to their camp site. Each choice is dealt with below: Staying with the Caravan PCs who stay with the caravan will be treated as heroes when they reach Corunglain. If they were hired by Ceril Bertun to begin with, they will receive a small reward (50 gp each) in addition to any agreed upon payments for acting as guards. PCs who stumbled upon the encounter and rendered help will receive a much more substantial reward (100 gp each). In addition, the PCs may learn the following information: 1. After the attack some of the wagon-hands mention that something like this never would have happened during the days of Attleson. If questioned about Attleson, the wagon-hands will relate the full story of how Attleson defended Corunglain with his magical sword, Roc. Attleson and his sword disappeared shortly thereafter. "Who's Attleson, you ask? Only one o' the greatest warriors in the history o' Darokin. They even got a statue uv him in Corunglain. Single handedly held back orc attacks on that city for nearly 20 years." 2. House Corun is not on good terms with either House Umbarth or House Linton. A ragged guard nudges you conspiratorially, "Old Lerri Jenkon will be pleased to hear of this...blast him. He works exclusively for Umbarth, you understand? I may start doing the same..." 3. Several other Corun caravans have suffered similar attacks further east. None of the wagon-hands or guards believe that the same band of orcs is responsible. Tracking the Orcs PCs who track the orcs back to their lair, will find a group consisting of females and the very young. A few elderly orcs are also here, but not many of the elder tribe members have survived these hard conditions. The orcs are starving, and will not put up much of a fight if attacked. If the DM desires, one or more foraging groups (of warriors) may return to the camp while the PCs are there. The orcs can offer some interesting information if persuaded in the right way. PCs may offer them food, or offer to spare their lives if they leave the area. 1. One of the females will offer information about the tribes recent whereabouts if the PCs promise to spare her life and that of her offspring. Three small orcs cling to her legs as she recounts her tale. "Hrg'kak bring us here from big hole. Him say good hunting here, but there not many animals here. Hrg'kak say we warriors. Say we hunt humans instead. He take warriors and watch human trails for many days." All of the other orcs recount similar tales. 2. If the PCs speak with one of the few remaining elderly tribe members, he will recount the following tale: "We move into big hole after Karaash's sword hit this land. Many other tribes follow, but Hrg'kak is strong. He make our tribe strong." The old timer pauses to take a deep breath. "But still not much food in big hole. Kobold king in mountains say 'bow to me, and I show your tribe where to hunt,' but Hrg'kak laugh at him. Not take orders from kobold. Then many moons later a small tribe of ogres come. Not many ogres, but they big. They take our land. Their leader bear this mark..." The old orc picks up a gnarled stick from the ground and draws a strange symbol in the dirt. 3. Those who are familiar with Glantri, and with Glantri's newest prince, Kol, may recognize the symbol as his. After telling his tale the old orc simply stares at the ground. He will say no more. Further Investigations The PCs may want to follow up on any of the information gathered during the course of this adventure. Investigating Attleson or his Sword If any of the characters brings up the topic of Attleson in the company of any of the caravan guards, the following encounter will occur. One of the younger men approaches you, his eyes wide and bright. He has the look of someone who has just had an epiphany. "I come from a small village called Gorania. The elders always told tales of a great swordsman who is buried in the cemetery. It was during the time of the Orc Wars, if I remember right, and a knight stumbled into our village mortally wounded." He chuckles to himself, "Some nights it's all that the elders talk about. Balri, the old drunk...sometimes you'd think that he had been there himself. I wonder if it could be the same Attleson that you spoke of!" At this the other guardsmen break out into laughter. "Half the villages I know of claim to be the burial site of some great warrior or holy man! It's a great way to bring pilgrims into town." The grizzled old guard pats one of the PCs on the back while giving his younger comrade a scowl. "That's just fine for business...but it don't mean Attleson, or anyone else of importance, is really buried there." Investigating this comment will lead the PCs to adventure #1 Your Trusted Friend, the Necromancer, if they have not already played through it. This will also bring the attention of both Corun House, and a secretive organization known as the Dark Petals Cult. Corun House is interested in retrieving Attleson's sword. They fear that an increase in humanoid activities will prevent trade in the area and cut into their profit margins. They may be willing to equip and pay any party in order to retrieve the sword. The cult, on the other hand, will attempt to assassinate anyone gathering such information. The PCs will have to watch their backs from this point on. PCs who put their feelers out into the merchant community may also learn about an auction that will be taking place shortly in Corunglain. This can take them to adventure #3 What Lurks in the Shadows. Investigating the Orcs or Prince Kol The orcs really were driven from their homeland by a group of ogres. PCs who investigate the former territory of the orcs however, will find no one currently occupying it. The ogres were all actually guards serving directly under Prince Kol. Prince Kol ordered them to drive several small tribes of orcs into Darokin. Kol did this because he just made a very lucrative deal with a member of Umbarth house to disrupt common Corun caravan routes. Kol disguised the action as petty squabbling between small humanoid tribes so that his involvement could not be linked to it. Any investigation in this area will again bring the attentions of the Dark Petals Cult. They will do everything in their power to prevent PCs from learning about the connection between Umbarth, Kol, and disrupted Corun trade. The cult will send their best assassins against the PCs in this case. Investigating the Linton or Umbarth Houses Darokin intrigue can be quite complex, and PCs who investigate either of these Houses will be pulled into it very quickly. With all of the back- alley deals taking place here, the PCs will be hard pressed to find something relevant to their current situation. There is one event that the party can stumble upon if they are either very lucky or very persistent. Every so often, Umbarth House sends one of its agents into Glantri to meet with (and pay off) Prince Kol. If this agent is detected, he can be followed, and a link between Umbarth and the disruption of Corun trade, can be made. The Dark Petals Cult watches these operations very closely, and will deal with the party harshly if they discover this secret. The Corruption of the Swords campaign by John Calvin, Max Monas, and Jens "Stalker" Schnabel. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 17:43:32 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: Problems with JAMM.com email addresses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay, I believe I've managed to recreate all the email aliases that used to exist at JAMM.com. I know for sure that anyone who had an actual pop account with me has had it reinstated. So it should be okay to send email to these addresses again. Thanks for your patience. Jenni A. M. Merrifield --Original Message--- This note is a warning to let you know that /all/ email addresses on my domain (JAMM.com) are currently having "bouncing" problems -- for some reason the system believes that no email aliases exist for the domain, and so email isn't being delivered properly and senders are receiving notification that the alias is actually invalid. Until this is fixed, it will not be possible to successfully send email to any alias that ends "@jamm.com". In the meantime, if you need to contact me or Ron, you may use my work email address: jennim@microsoft.com. I'll let each of the individuals and groups that I've sent this notice to know as soon as this issue has been resolved. Jenni A. M. Merrifield ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 18:05:02 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: Problems with JAMM.com email addresses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sorry, I spoke to soon. Things were working for a while, but all the newly created aliases have just disappeared again. :-/ I'll continue trying to get in touch with the hosting company to get things working properly as soon as possible. Jenni --Original Message--- Okay, I believe I've managed to recreate all the email aliases that used to exist at JAMM.com. I know for sure that anyone who had an actual pop account with me has had it reinstated. So it should be okay to send email to these addresses again. Thanks for your patience. Jenni A. M. Merrifield --Original Message--- This note is a warning to let you know that /all/ email addresses on my domain (JAMM.com) are currently having "bouncing" problems -- for some reason the system believes that no email aliases exist for the domain, and so email isn't being delivered properly and senders are receiving notification that the alias is actually invalid. Until this is fixed, it will not be possible to successfully send email to any alias that ends "@jamm.com". In the meantime, if you need to contact me or Ron, you may use my work email address: jennim@microsoft.com. I'll let each of the individuals and groups that I've sent this notice to know as soon as this issue has been resolved. Jenni A. M. Merrifield ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 22:18:24 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: Thunder Rift In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20010826014425.0205f030@pop.uniserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Actually, I'm running "Escape from Thunder Rift" > right now IMC. > GOBLIN BLIX, STRAWBERRY JAMM, and WALTERSB ... > Please do not read > further. Campaign spoilers here. Everyone else who > is not a player in > this module, scroll down ... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The plan is > to find a reliable way > to quickly move large numbers of troops around > Karamiekos. This would > allow Baron Von Hendriks the military advantage he > needs to pull off a > quick coup. I love it and hate it at the same time. It is a great idea but if my PC's ever found out there'd be the devil to pay. They would be plotting to use it for themselves quick! But in terms of what it represents to the story it's great. Nice plan anyway, even if nothing really came of it. Perhaps though the dwarves never really distroy the key, just tell everyone they have.... Maybe he too had an apprentice and so not all of what he knows dies with him, perhaps even a goblin Wokani that was learning all he could (what about family if you want enemies?) Some thoughts... Chris. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 22:51:31 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: larry lamb Subject: Re: Open RPGers In-Reply-To: <000501c12dad$573a1160$0300a8c0@mshome.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I have a few questions: What will i need to play in this game? When are the turns played? What edition is the game? --- Tim Roberts wrote: > We're currently using openRPG in our Mystara PnP > campaign and one of you > team members has already made some cutom files for > use with it. We're > currently playing in Karameikos and have just > started the module B5 Horror > on the Hill. Here is the link to the openRPg files > for anyone interested. > http://www.mystaranet.com/~vulcano/ORPG.html Your > welcome to join us or your > welcome to post on our forum your play times so that > others in our team who > can't make our session that would still like to play > could at least come to > yours. Here is the link to our site. > http://www.mystaranet.com/mystara.htm > > > > Alphaks > tinman@mystaranet.com > http://www.mystaranet.com > > > > I am possibly interested in starting an open RPG > 3e Mystara campaign. If > > anyone is interested in playing let me know. It > can be a vote to see > where > > the campaign starts out, but I prefer Karameikos. > This game will prolly > be > > played just once a week or once every two weeks. > It can be an open type > > campaign but i always prefer good PCs. As they > are the easiest to reward. > > It doesnt matter if you have Mystara stuff because > it will more than > likely > > be new material. We could possibly even negotiate > on starting off higher > > levels. > > > > Mike > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at > http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > > > > ******************************************************************** > > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > > The Mystara Homepage: > http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > > > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ===== The "Fighting Bunnys" main site: http://www.angelfire.com/on2/myrobotechgames/index.html To group site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RobotechGame __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 10:07:32 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Auld Skald Subject: Re: Thunder Rift In-Reply-To: <20010827051824.41439.qmail@web13304.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Quoting Chris Furneaux : > > Actually, I'm running "Escape from Thunder Rift" > > right now IMC. > > > GOBLIN BLIX, STRAWBERRY JAMM, and WALTERSB ... > > Please do not read > > further. Campaign spoilers here. Everyone else who > > is not a player in > > this module, scroll down ... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The plan is > > to find a reliable way > > to quickly move large numbers of troops around > > Karamiekos. This would > > allow Baron Von Hendriks the military advantage he > > needs to pull off a > > quick coup. > > > I love it and hate it at the same time. It is a great > idea but if my PC's ever found out there'd be the > devil to pay. They would be plotting to use it for > themselves quick! But in terms of what it represents > to the story it's great. Nice plan anyway, even if > nothing really came of it. Perhaps though the dwarves > never really distroy the key, just tell everyone they > have.... Maybe he too had an apprentice and so not all > of what he knows dies with him, perhaps even a goblin > Wokani that was learning all he could (what about > family if you want enemies?) > > Some thoughts... These are pretty good. My favourite ending is the one where the key is never found by anyone and the dwarves keep the secret, perhaps never even knowing themselves. That doesn't mean a wokani apprentice of Chambrin's couldn't still know what he knew ... I'm inclined to think that the founding dwarf (can't recall his name right now) realised just what harm a permanent, movable, two-way Gate could cause -- the greed and temptation that having such a power might be -- and decided on that basis to not even tell his own people. Thanks for the feedback. :) - Auld Skald ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 14:36:31 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Castille Baromon de Preto Subject: Re: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > From: Auld Skald > > Quoting Chris Furneaux : > > > > Actually, I'm running "Escape from Thunder Rift" > > > right now IMC. > > > > > GOBLIN BLIX, STRAWBERRY JAMM, and WALTERSB ... > > > Please do not read > > > further. Campaign spoilers here. Everyone else who > > > is not a player in > > > this module, scroll down ... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The plan is > > > to find a reliable way > > > to quickly move large numbers of troops around > > > Karamiekos. This would > > > allow Baron Von Hendriks the military advantage he > > > needs to pull off a > > > quick coup. > > > > > > I love it and hate it at the same time. It is a great > > idea but if my PC's ever found out there'd be the > > devil to pay. They would be plotting to use it for > > themselves quick! But in terms of what it represents > > to the story it's great. Nice plan anyway, even if > > nothing really came of it. Perhaps though the dwarves > > never really distroy the key, just tell everyone they > > have.... Maybe he too had an apprentice and so not all > > of what he knows dies with him, perhaps even a goblin > > Wokani that was learning all he could (what about > > family if you want enemies?) > > > > Some thoughts... > > These are pretty good. My favourite ending is the one where the key is never > found by anyone and the dwarves keep the secret, perhaps never even knowing > themselves. That doesn't mean a wokani apprentice of Chambrin's couldn't still > know what he knew ... > > I'm inclined to think that the founding dwarf (can't recall his name right now) > realised just what harm a permanent, movable, two-way Gate could cause -- the > greed and temptation that having such a power might be -- and decided on that > basis to not even tell his own people. > > Thanks for the feedback. :) > Of course if the players also get to run into Skarda's Mirror, They would have a place to house all their troops to move around quickly with. Two worlds to conquer! ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 16:51:13 -0300 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Rodrigo Subject: Re: Thunder Rift MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sorry folks, I need your help once again. I'm without my players handbook here. Can one of you send me the stats to the following:? Str 18/91 Dxt 16 Const 18 Char 8 Int 11 wis 11 Thanx Castille Baromon de Preto wrote: > > > > From: Auld Skald > > > > Quoting Chris Furneaux : > > > > > > Actually, I'm running "Escape from Thunder Rift" > > > > right now IMC. > > > > > > > GOBLIN BLIX, STRAWBERRY JAMM, and WALTERSB ... > > > > Please do not read > > > > further. Campaign spoilers here. Everyone else who > > > > is not a player in > > > > this module, scroll down ... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The plan is > > > > to find a reliable way > > > > to quickly move large numbers of troops around > > > > Karamiekos. This would > > > > allow Baron Von Hendriks the military advantage he > > > > needs to pull off a > > > > quick coup. > > > > > > > > > I love it and hate it at the same time. It is a great > > > idea but if my PC's ever found out there'd be the > > > devil to pay. They would be plotting to use it for > > > themselves quick! But in terms of what it represents > > > to the story it's great. Nice plan anyway, even if > > > nothing really came of it. Perhaps though the dwarves > > > never really distroy the key, just tell everyone they > > > have.... Maybe he too had an apprentice and so not all > > > of what he knows dies with him, perhaps even a goblin > > > Wokani that was learning all he could (what about > > > family if you want enemies?) > > > > > > Some thoughts... > > > > These are pretty good. My favourite ending is the one where the key is never > > found by anyone and the dwarves keep the secret, perhaps never even knowing > > themselves. That doesn't mean a wokani apprentice of Chambrin's couldn't still > > know what he knew ... > > > > I'm inclined to think that the founding dwarf (can't recall his name right now) > > realised just what harm a permanent, movable, two-way Gate could cause -- the > > greed and temptation that having such a power might be -- and decided on that > > basis to not even tell his own people. > > > > Thanks for the feedback. :) > > > Of course if the players also get to run into Skarda's Mirror, They would have a place to house all their troops to move around quickly with. Two worlds to conquer! > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 09:53:33 +0300 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Saarela Sami Subject: Night's Dark Terror at eBay MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Hi, Just thought that it might be of interest to some members of the list that B10 Night's Dark Terror is on sale at eBay. Seller ships worldwide. You can find the item here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1632043843 I'm very sorry if these kind of posts are offending to some people or break the rules of the list. Cheers, - Sami PS. I'm not selling the item. I've nothing to do with the seller. And I'm not going to sell my copy of B10. ;-) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 19:26:22 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Agathokles Subject: Damocles Q&A MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit More than one month ago, I sent to the list an history of the Damocles planet and its relation to Mystara (involving the Dark Elves, the Mordrigswerg, and Emerond). Back then, I had little time to answer some of the questions I received, so I'm going to answer those questions, and other I thought up myself, now. ============ Damocles Q&A What is Damocles? Damocles is the fourth planet of the Mystaran solar system. It is inhabited by the Pyrithean Races, descendants of the Grens from the alien Federation. Why is it called Damocles? Damocles is a deformation of the name given to the planet by the FSS Beagle captain Bork Riesling, "DMK-3". As the language of the stranded Grens evolved, the name was pronounced "Damok-Tres", which later became Damokles, and finally reached its standard form some 500 years ago. The original name was meant to show the galactic sector where the planet was found (Sector D, though actually this was wrong, as the Beagle had unknowingly entered some kind of portal, and shifted to the Mystaran Milky Way). M and K designated the Mystaran Solar System, in a base-32 code. Three was the number of the planet (Mystara was DMK-2, the numbers were given in order of exploration). Dimensions of Damocles Damocles is a flatworld, a semisphere whose flat surface is inhabited. It is slightly smaller than Mystara in equatorial diameter (around 6,500 miles), so its inhabited surface is nearly 80 millions sqkm. What can you see in the night sky of Damocles? Damocles has no moon. There is an asteroid belt around the planet. Damocles is far from the sun, but it receives additional light and warmth from the giant gaseous planet "Jupiter". Due to the strong influence of "Jupiter" on Damocles' climate, the seasonal patterns are very different from those of Mystara. Damocles experience a very cold winter when "Jupiter" is farther, while it is warmer when the giant planet is nearer. Geography of Damocles The surface of Damocles is encircled by the Outer Barrier, a circle of tall, unbreakable mountains that prevent water, air, and people from leaving the flat area. On the outer side of the Barrier, and on the curved face of Damocles, the atmosphere is thin, and only simple lifeforms-or those who don't need air-can survive. Also, gravity is very low (natural gravity of a small planet like Damocles). On the flat side, gravity is magically enhanced, up to Earth-like values near the ground. Within the Outer Barrier, there is an ocean that surrounds two continents and some archipelagoes of minor islands. Climate of Damocles Damocles' climate is influenced by its distance from the sun, and only the strong emission of warmth from the very heart of the planet allows life to thrive here. Due to these emissions, the earth is often warmer than the air, so there are ascensional currents that make flight easier even to larger flying creatures. Why did the Pachydermions leave for Patera, when "Mars" was nearer? Quite simply, because Patera has an atmosphere and gravity that allow Pachydermions to survive without magical support. What were the Pachydermions doing on Damocles? In this setting, Pachydermions are one of the "native" races of Damocles. This means they either arrived on Damocles before the Grens, or they evolved on the planet. The Mystaran and Pateran Pachydermions may be the original group or a very old colony. Who are the Grens? The Grens are the aliens from the galactic Federation that arrived in the Mystara solar system on the FSS Beagle. They are a race of human-like beings, whose skin takes a green tint under the rays of the Mystaran sun. What monster types can be found on Damocles? The Dark Pyrondians have created many servant races, often getting the design from their lower planar allies. Some AD&D monsters that could be used for servant races are: Broken One (failed experiments) Ettercap (Pyrondian-hunters) Gibberling (shock troops) Golem (many types; few of them, used as guards or frontline fighters) Kobold, Urd ("aircraft") Mold Man (early experiments) Mongrelman (experiments gone awry) Tasloi (basic jungle fighter) Undead (Skeletons/Zombies, these are not true undead, but are animated through life-shaped grafts or other means; the Dusanu is another good option) Yuan-ti, Histachii (created from Pyrithian prisoners) Some outer planar monsters can be found on Damocles as the result of the Dark Pyrondians' summonings: Imp or Quasit (these appear as familiars for the Dark Pyrondians) Mephit (messengers from the lower planes) Least Baatezu (Spinagon, common messengers and familiars) Lesser Baatezu (Abishai, Barbazu, Erinyes, all rare, appear as advisors, spies, bodyguards and other specialized roles) Least Tanar'ri (Manes, Rutterkin: expendable infantry) Lesser Tanar'ri (Alu-fiend, Cambion: half-Tanar'ric Pyrithians) Lesser Tanar'ri (Bar-lgura, Succubus, rare, scouts and spies) Yugoloth (very rare, mercenaries) Other creatures from the Outer Planes or the Space can appear as mercenaries. Who are the Dark Pyrondians? The Dark Pyrondians are fiendblooded Pyrondians from the Pirate Age. There are two types of Dark Pyrondians. The more common kind is also known as "Dark Elves", and existed in the Mystaran Northern Reaches centuries ago, but their civilization was destroyed by Antalian tribes. The remaining Dark Pyrondians, who exist on Damocles, are a handful of powerful lifeshapers, nearly immortal, and very strong in psionic power. The most important and powerful of the Dark Pyrondian is Pheazar, also known as the Dark Elf Feasar on Mystara. There are nine Dark Pyrondian "sorcerers" on Damocles: Pheazar Lives in the north-east, has been on Mystara The Dread Prince Killed by Pheazar around AC 700 Gheertihz Killed by Pheazar around AC 840 Maekir Killed by Pheazar around AC 840 The Scarlet Sorcerer Killed by Pheazar around AC 835 Khaltar Survived the war AC 800-850 Urhnam the Deep Disappeared after the war in AC 800-850, rumored to live in the deep sea Captain Cortal Ihetarm Piratical, lives on an Asteroid (see "What can you see in the night sky of Damocles?") Ragol of the Ring Lives in the Outer Ring What is a graft? A graft is a lifeshaped items that bounds to the flesh of an host, allowing him to access its powers. What are lifeshaped items? Life shaping was developed within the Dark Sun setting. It is fully described in "Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs" and "Psionics Artifacts of Athas". Basically, life shaping is a sort of genetic engineering, allowing the operator (nature master) to create new animals or plants that can duplicate the effects of technological or magical items. There are three classes of lifeshaped items: creatures (plants or animals); tissues (raw living matter); and items produced by lifeshaped creatures (silk, scales, etc). Lifeshaped items and creatures can serve different purposes: tools (weapons, clothes); producers of other lifeshaped items; grafts (see above); replacing domestic animals. Note that the Pyrondians are themselves lifeshaped creatures. What PC races are available in a Damocles-based campaign? *Pyrithians (base race, replace humans in this setting) *Pyrondians *Pachydermions *Dark Pyrithian (these are fiend-blooded Pyrithians, use rules for Tieflings from Planescape's "Planewalker's Handbook") *Broken Ones and/or Mongrelmen (Broken Ones use the rules from "The Making of Men" by the Kargatane, Mongrelmen use the rules in the Complete Book of Humanoids) Note that Dark Pyrondians are limited in number, so they are unavailable as PCs--all nine Dark Pyrondians are NPCs. What native Damoclidean races are available on Mystara? As PCs, only the Emerondians. Dark Pyrondians--a.k.a. Dark Elves-- are not available as PCs. Pachydermions are not a native Damoclidean race, but they are available on both Mystara and Myoshima. When is Damocles destroyed? Canon material is not very specific about this. Any date between 1000 AC and the end of the Wrath of the Immortal War could go. A suitable choice would be some time before the Great Meteor event, so that the Meteor could have been a fragment of Damocles. -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 19:27:44 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Agathokles Subject: Re: To bring two problems to naught,destroying canon if you don't mind MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Caroletti wrote: > > LOW LEVELING MAGIC IN THE WORLD OF MYSTARA [snipped calculations on the horribly high number of 9th level wizards in Alphatia & Thyatis] > Well, it doesn't prevent them, but try figure > out the 9+ level wizards using the DotE figures......I shiver at the thought. The only > reason because Mystara is not munchkin and ridiculous like FR is that those who > wrote for Mystara didn't think about the implications and consiquences of what they > were writing...so mind you, fan-base, don't ruin this world!!!! 8-) I could not agree more with Giulio's considerations, but I would use a different solution, which I'm going to present herebelow. ========= Alphatian NPC Spellcasters Canon materials say (IIRC) that 20% of the Alphatian population is able to cast spells. If you assume that the classed population is smaller than the mass of 0-level human(oid)s in any nation, this would conflict with said proportion of spellcasters. For the purposes of this article, I'll assume that 20% of a nation's population is classed, the remaining 80% being composed of 0-level individuals (Normal Men, to use the OD&D word). I'll also assume that no more than 45% of the Alphatian classed population is magically apt, in any form (wizards, priests, bards, paladins and rangers included). This leaves us with more than 10% of the Alphatian population that should be both able of spellcasting and non-classed. How can we solve this problem, without modifing the percentages? We could assume that part of the Alphatian spellcasters belong to NPC classes (like those in Sages & Specialists, or in 3e), but this would conflict with the idea of Normal Men--people who don't go adventuring, and don't get XPs. Rather, they would get additional skill/NWP slots, to account for increased training and practice in their job, but no new hit dice or increased Thac0. So, we are left with two solution: the "partial class", like the Darokinian Merchant, or the Witch/Warlock from the Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Vol. III, if you look for an AD&D 2e example; or the use of skill/NWP slots, as for standard 0-level characters (see "DM's Option: High Level Campaign Book"). I would start from the idea that any character can buy a Cantrip NWP for a variable number of slots (depending on the conditions, e.g.: 1 slot for any elven character, 2 slots for advanced nations, not available in primitive nations). In Alphatia, the skill would not be available to classed characters not able to cast wizard spells (due to the nature of the Alphatian society, those characters who are able to cast cantrip are always trained as wizards, if classed, or at most as bards). A 0-level NPC with the Cantrip NWP receives 4 cantrips/day, each activated by an Int check. An extra slot would usually give the character either four more cantrips, or a bonus of +1 to the Int check. With this alternate rule, the second slot could allow the NPC to cast a single 1st level spell per day, subject to an Int check at -1. Every subsequent NWP slot would give the character another level of wizardly spells per day. The character could choose any combination of spells, with the following limits: *One cannot have more spells of a level than of the previous level (exception: only a cantrip slot is required). *Spells are cast through a skill check on Intelligence, with a penalty equal to the spell level. Should the check fail, the spell is lost. *The maximum spell level allowed is as a standard wizard, minus two levels, and with a cap of 6th level. Spells are cast at a level equal to the maximum between the minimum level required for a spell of that level, and one half the number of skill slots spent on spellcasting abilities, round down. Cost of these spellcasting abilities is quite high, as it would cost 11 NWP slots to have the same abilities as a 5th level wizard (17 slots for a specialist wizard equivalent). Most NPC spellcasters would probably have more low level spells, and less high level ones than a mage with a similar total number of spell levels. Should even a 0-level NPC spellcaster get into adventuring and gain XPs, he would become a 1st level wizard. As soon as he gains levels, he receives NWP slots instead of spell slots, as his NWP slots spent on spellcasting abilities are converted to class abilities. In the process, the new wizard get the advantage that he is no longer required to check vs. Int to have his spell success--spells he is able to use as a wizard function automatically. The "freed" skill slots cannot be used for further spellcasting abilities except for the Cantrip NWP. -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message.