3e Xaene information? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

3e Xaene information?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Sep 28, 2003 1:58:30 If you're a player in my Heroes of the Flanaess campaign, you had better not read this under penalty of death of your character. :D

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I'm just curious about something. Does anyone know of any 3e sources detailing Xaene?

A bit of background if you care to know what, specifically, I am looking for:

Here's what the players know. IMC the year is CY 591. The players were asked (and geased) to go to Rauxes to rescue a captured hero and an artifact of his. They suspect Ivid is somehow still ruling from the Malachite Throne in Rauxes and has somehow managed to kidnap this hero and bring him to Rauxes. They are currently searching the ruined city for signs of the hero and his artifact.

After discovering that Rauxes is now a far more brutal place than it ever used to be, they are in desparate need of allies in a hostile environment. After battling some devils, they were approached by a wight who wished to parlay. The wight indicated his lord wished an audience with the PCs. From the wight's description, the PCs are fairly sure his lord is Xaene, the former court wizard of Ivid V. They know little of Xaene after his incarceration by Ivid however. They have agreed to meet with the wight's lord, suspecting it to be Xaene (it is).

Here's what the characters don't know. Xaene is a two-headed lich. Honestly, I don't even think they know he's a lich OOC either. They know of his service to Ivid the Undying from a Knowledge (local) check, and they know he was last known to be hiding in the sewers of Rauxes. They don't know why he is interested in them, but he has spies who has informed him of their presence in Rauxes. Since the living are rare in the former capital of the Great Kingdom, Xaene is interested in knowing why they are here and is wondering if they can be of use to him.

IMC I'm assuming that Rauxes is a domain in the Demiplane of Dread and Ivid V is its Dark Lord. He's actually not that powerful anymore, but Karoolck is still around and is protecting him for some unknown reason. However there is a power struggle in Rauxes between Xaene, Ivid V, the Baatezu who are stuck there, and the Shadar-Kai (recent entries to Rauxes from a strange rift that brought them here from the Plane of Shadow). Xaene controls the sewers and underworld, the Baatezu control most of the actual city, the Shadar-Kai control the border regions, and Ivid V controls only the inner citadel where his palace and the tower of Karoolck reside.

The hero was actually being held by Ivid V, however, once word got out that he was holding such a seemingly important hostage, the other three factions each made independent efforts to take the hostage for themselves. (None of them know why he's important, but they figure if he's important enough for Ivid to want them, then he must be a fine prize indeed.) The Baatezu came out on top. They now have the hero in their possession. However they missed a crucial detail, the hero's artifact. Ivid V still has this. Xaene is well aware of both of these facts and also realizes that the Baatezu do not realize the importance of the artifact. He thinks he might be able to deal a blow to both the forces of Ivid and the Baatezu if he can strike a deal with the PCs, not that he's honorable or anything.

So basically I'm looking for info on how Xaene conducts himself in 3e? We use the 3.5 rules, but anything 3rd edition might help. I'm thinking his two-headed nature probably allows him to conduct a standard action with each head each round or something like that. If you don't know of any sources, then maybe you can help me brainstorm. Depending on how the PCs play this out, Xaene, might end up being the ultimate villain they face in this chapter of the campaign.
#2
grodog
Oct 01, 2003 12:07:51 airwalkrr wrote:

I'm just curious about something. Does anyone know of any 3e sources detailing Xaene?

[snip]

So basically I'm looking for info on how Xaene conducts himself in 3e? We use the 3.5 rules, but anything 3rd edition might help. I'm thinking his two-headed nature probably allows him to conduct a standard action with each head each round or something like that. If you don't know of any sources, then maybe you can help me brainstorm. Depending on how the PCs play this out, Xaene, might end up being the ultimate villain they face in this chapter of the campaign.

There are a fair number of resources available to you on Xaene, airwalkrr.

Firstly, in 1987 Rob Kuntz authored a series of four generic 1e adventures about Xaene (renamed to Zayene to avoid TSR trademark infringment). Three of those four were reissued and updated to 3e by Rob and published via Necromancer Games. The fourth adventure details Xaene himself, and I had hoped to have that completed and available in .pdf format by the end of the summer, but various other business concerns for Rob have tied up a lot of my time in the meanwhile.

The four adventures are:

M1 Prisoners of the Maze
M2 Dimensions of Flight
M3 Tower Chaos
M4 The Eight Kings

The original Creations Unlimited versions appear on eBay pretty frequently, sold by Noble Knight Games, so you should be able to find them with a search on Kuntz in the Games section. The 3e NG versions also appear there from time-to-time, too. Notably, in these versions, Xaene is still single-headed.

Secondly, Rob Kuntz wrote two adventures in Fate of Istus (2e transition product), one of which details more about Xaene and his machinations. You should be able to buy that in .pdf format from www.rpgmall.com or www.svgames.com. It was in this adventure that Rob introduced Xaene as a two-headed lich, in order to convey the idea that he had two masters: TSR and Rob....

Lastly, there are a number of free online resources from which you can glean some additional info about Xaene, including:

Rob's interview in OJ14, downloadable from Canonfire! at http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=67
the Pied Piper Publishing messageboards (Rob's rpg company) at http://pub175.ezboard.com/bpiedpiperpublishing
the Necromancer Games Maze of Zayene boards at http://pub123.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm5
the Greytalk Archive at http://www.greycitadel.com/greycitadel/greytalk.nsf contains a lot of old posts by Rob from c. 1996 , as well as a fair amount of discussion about Xaene/Zayene

I hope that helps :D
#3
zombiegleemax
Oct 02, 2003 6:48:13 Muchas Gracias!
#4
grodog
Oct 02, 2003 21:09:49 De nada. I've thought about making Zayene's 3.5 stats into a freebie download for Rob's El Raja Key's Magical Emporium mailing list members, but keep forgetting to ask him if that's OK to do or not....

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Sep 28, 2003 1:58:30	If you're a player in my Heroes of the Flanaess campaign, you had better not read this under penalty of death of your character. :D * * * * * * * * * * * * * I'm just curious about something. Does anyone know of any 3e sources detailing Xaene? A bit of background if you care to know what, specifically, I am looking for: Here's what the players know. IMC the year is CY 591. The players were asked (and geased) to go to Rauxes to rescue a captured hero and an artifact of his. They suspect Ivid is somehow still ruling from the Malachite Throne in Rauxes and has somehow managed to kidnap this hero and bring him to Rauxes. They are currently searching the ruined city for signs of the hero and his artifact. After discovering that Rauxes is now a far more brutal place than it ever used to be, they are in desparate need of allies in a hostile environment. After battling some devils, they were approached by a wight who wished to parlay. The wight indicated his lord wished an audience with the PCs. From the wight's description, the PCs are fairly sure his lord is Xaene, the former court wizard of Ivid V. They know little of Xaene after his incarceration by Ivid however. They have agreed to meet with the wight's lord, suspecting it to be Xaene (it is). Here's what the characters don't know. Xaene is a two-headed lich. Honestly, I don't even think they know he's a lich OOC either. They know of his service to Ivid the Undying from a Knowledge (local) check, and they know he was last known to be hiding in the sewers of Rauxes. They don't know why he is interested in them, but he has spies who has informed him of their presence in Rauxes. Since the living are rare in the former capital of the Great Kingdom, Xaene is interested in knowing why they are here and is wondering if they can be of use to him. IMC I'm assuming that Rauxes is a domain in the Demiplane of Dread and Ivid V is its Dark Lord. He's actually not that powerful anymore, but Karoolck is still around and is protecting him for some unknown reason. However there is a power struggle in Rauxes between Xaene, Ivid V, the Baatezu who are stuck there, and the Shadar-Kai (recent entries to Rauxes from a strange rift that brought them here from the Plane of Shadow). Xaene controls the sewers and underworld, the Baatezu control most of the actual city, the Shadar-Kai control the border regions, and Ivid V controls only the inner citadel where his palace and the tower of Karoolck reside. The hero was actually being held by Ivid V, however, once word got out that he was holding such a seemingly important hostage, the other three factions each made independent efforts to take the hostage for themselves. (None of them know why he's important, but they figure if he's important enough for Ivid to want them, then he must be a fine prize indeed.) The Baatezu came out on top. They now have the hero in their possession. However they missed a crucial detail, the hero's artifact. Ivid V still has this. Xaene is well aware of both of these facts and also realizes that the Baatezu do not realize the importance of the artifact. He thinks he might be able to deal a blow to both the forces of Ivid and the Baatezu if he can strike a deal with the PCs, not that he's honorable or anything. So basically I'm looking for info on how Xaene conducts himself in 3e? We use the 3.5 rules, but anything 3rd edition might help. I'm thinking his two-headed nature probably allows him to conduct a standard action with each head each round or something like that. If you don't know of any sources, then maybe you can help me brainstorm. Depending on how the PCs play this out, Xaene, might end up being the ultimate villain they face in this chapter of the campaign.
#2 grodog Oct 01, 2003 12:07:51	airwalkrr wrote: I'm just curious about something. Does anyone know of any 3e sources detailing Xaene? [snip] So basically I'm looking for info on how Xaene conducts himself in 3e? We use the 3.5 rules, but anything 3rd edition might help. I'm thinking his two-headed nature probably allows him to conduct a standard action with each head each round or something like that. If you don't know of any sources, then maybe you can help me brainstorm. Depending on how the PCs play this out, Xaene, might end up being the ultimate villain they face in this chapter of the campaign. There are a fair number of resources available to you on Xaene, airwalkrr. Firstly, in 1987 Rob Kuntz authored a series of four generic 1e adventures about Xaene (renamed to Zayene to avoid TSR trademark infringment). Three of those four were reissued and updated to 3e by Rob and published via Necromancer Games. The fourth adventure details Xaene himself, and I had hoped to have that completed and available in .pdf format by the end of the summer, but various other business concerns for Rob have tied up a lot of my time in the meanwhile. The four adventures are: M1 Prisoners of the Maze M2 Dimensions of Flight M3 Tower Chaos M4 The Eight Kings The original Creations Unlimited versions appear on eBay pretty frequently, sold by Noble Knight Games, so you should be able to find them with a search on Kuntz in the Games section. The 3e NG versions also appear there from time-to-time, too. Notably, in these versions, Xaene is still single-headed. Secondly, Rob Kuntz wrote two adventures in Fate of Istus (2e transition product), one of which details more about Xaene and his machinations. You should be able to buy that in .pdf format from www.rpgmall.com or www.svgames.com. It was in this adventure that Rob introduced Xaene as a two-headed lich, in order to convey the idea that he had two masters: TSR and Rob.... Lastly, there are a number of free online resources from which you can glean some additional info about Xaene, including: Rob's interview in OJ14, downloadable from Canonfire! at http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=67 the Pied Piper Publishing messageboards (Rob's rpg company) at http://pub175.ezboard.com/bpiedpiperpublishing the Necromancer Games Maze of Zayene boards at http://pub123.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm5 the Greytalk Archive at http://www.greycitadel.com/greycitadel/greytalk.nsf contains a lot of old posts by Rob from c. 1996 , as well as a fair amount of discussion about Xaene/Zayene I hope that helps :D
#3 zombiegleemax Oct 02, 2003 6:48:13	Muchas Gracias!
#4 grodog Oct 02, 2003 21:09:49	De nada. I've thought about making Zayene's 3.5 stats into a freebie download for Rob's El Raja Key's Magical Emporium mailing list members, but keep forgetting to ask him if that's OK to do or not....