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#1 stan_stepanic Nov 25, 2007 0:31:58

Something I fleshed out, let me know what you think. All statistics have been taken directly from the Ravenloft II module and the first two Ravenloft boxed sets, with alterations noted. This is just the basic set-up, you can do with it what you like, just curious to see what people think of this biatching adventure. 1. Party at some point enters Mordent (for whatever reason), soon thereafter encountering George Weathermay. 2. Traveling to the Weathermay estate, the party learns that he has returned to Mordentshire temporarily due to the appearance of a 'creature' around Mordentshire that has been mutilating animals and people. 3. This has further tarinshed the Weathermay name, so his family, especially his mother, has become more fervent in trying to rectify the situation. Martha Weathermay, due to this and her fragile health, has recently hired a mesmerist who has been hypnotizing her for her recovery. This is NOT Azalin, as originally conceived in the module. He appears at first to be a simple charlatan, playing off of the Weathermays' troubles and Martha's health for money. 4. The party was originally going to stay at the mansion, but since George is currently their only link and he's disgusted by the mesmerist and his parents' recent actions, he storms out and they stay in the mausoleum. No encounters happen here, but the party learns of George's plans. George believes that the Ildi'Thaan (see second boxed set for info) have recently begun infecting Mordentshire. A few isolated stories of villagers acting different have been picked up (these can be detailed as the DM sees fit), but all of them seem to have the same connection. The villagers appear quite normal (this is then changing the original set-up in Ravenloft II), but (if it's cold enough) are found to seemingly not be breathing. In addition, they have apparently no need to drink or eat, at least not in front of anyone else. George is uncertain what is happening, but believes this is somehow connected to the 'creature' and the Ildi'Thaan, because he has noticed on a few occasions what must be 'hopefuls of the sash' exchanging their secret handsigns. Since they rarely due this in public, he believes something important is occurring that's somehow connected to the 'creature' (which is not, by the way, Strahd, as in Ravenloft II). 5. The majority of the details found in the module concerning Mordentshire, the estate and the mausoleum can easily be used as the DM chooses. The exception is that the 'converted' are actually podlings (see first Ravenloft compendium), controlled by a doppleganger plant. When the party eventually figures out the problem with George's help, they find that the Ildi'Thaan have been harvesting the plant somewhere in Mordentshire in order to study its psionic powers (since this is their main interest as a society, other than finding the books). They originally entered Mordentshire in hopes of locating the Apparatus, but this seems to have lagged as they became engaged in growing the plant and observing how it functions before moving further with their wishes. It does not need to be specified where the plant came from, but regardless of how this is done, it of course was not in Mordentshire before the Ildi'Thaan brought it. The podlings are, obviously, the strange villagers. Once the party figures out the mystery, they track down the growing house (which can be almost anywhere as long as it's kept warm), destroy the plant and kill the Ildi'Thaan. 6. This is not the end of the problem however, for shortly thereafter another attack occurs by the 'creature', so it is likely not connected with the society, or George and the party simply didn't finish the job in some way. 7. Eventually, under the DM's discretion, the party and George discover the truth behind the mesmerist. He was, in fact, part of the echelon, the higher order of the Ildi'Thaan, and he was orchestrating the growing of the doppleganger plant. This is evidenced further by the fact that the reason he was trying to 'hypnotize' Martha was to see if the plant would take control of her, which it does on one occasion (this can either be a story or a small event way before the mystery is solved), but she is awaken by a family member (likely George, since this will tie in better with his disgust) before she can reach its domain. The mesmerist is a powerful psionic (DM can choose abilities after the proper rolls, but hyponsis MUST already be one obviously), so the fight should be interesting. George can be used to help weaker parties, but stronger/larger parties should have a hard, but manageable time with him. It is revealed that the Ildi'Thaan planned on taking over the Weathermay estate and then the Mayor (since he's connected to them) by creating podlings, and then hoping to eventually gain access to the House on Gryphon hill, where they believe the Apparatus is hidden (the module says to move it, but keep it there in my opinion). An additional trick to use with the mesmerist is to have him possibly engage with characters in the town, seemingly NOT a member of the Ildi'Thaan, making it difficult to suspect him at first. The reason this works is that players are likely to assume he would be recognized, but WON'T know that the Ildi'Thaan echelon doesn't show its face to lower members, so there's no way anyone could recognize him in the first place. 8. This being finished and the Weathermays happy, for the most part, the party can possibly locate the Apparatus (I'm trying to save this bit for an encounter with Easan the Mad and Vanjuko, having the latter join the party to kill him, and then possibly reinstating his soul into another body using the Apparatus), but regardless, the party will find that the 'creature' is STILL not finished, in spite of the Ildi'Thaan apparently being wiped clean from Mordentshire. Eventually they will be led to the sanitarium, when they learn finally that the doctor there is an infected (NOT true) werebat, with the shapes of only human and hybrid. He is, obviously, the 'creature'. This leads into another adventure I've created, but for now here's the Mordent awesomeness. Feel free to have fun with it or ask me any questions about it.