Dark Stars III: The Netherspace Sector Survey Kicks Off

We actually played White Star this week and I think it was a big hit....as the group traverses the depths of the Netherspace Sector I'll document their travels, both in an actual play write-up and a scenario format.

The first session had four players, with the following level 1 adventurers:

Dirk, a grizzled mercenary
Day-Ro the star knight
Erin the Pilot
101010 the combat robot

Some concessions given: everyone got 200 credits to spend, but I also gave Erin the pilot her own snub fighter. She "requisitioned" it from salvage in a star system where a lot of fighting had gone down....but it's a captured Void Lord star fighter, complete with an onboard AI that answers to the name of Sole. Sole is a little sociopathic, but not overly dangerous to the wrong people...

The group started off in prison at a shipyard on the edge of Imperial Space, where a captain Lars of the Makamian Imperial Navy ship Infinite Horizons brought them out of the brig and made an offer they couldn't refuse: their own mid-tier light cruiser, in exchange for two jobs. The first job, on paper is a lucrative survey job; the Imperial Navy wants to start reclaiming the lost Netherspace sector, a portion of the greater territory never reclaimed after the exodus of the Void Lord army. Unofficially, he wants them to find a missing legendary star knight named Tesla Dane. She went missing, and she's summoned by the emperor himself. For reasons unknown Captain Lars doesn't want to commit himself or his ship to this job. It sounds like she's not "wanted" for crimes, but something else....something Captain Lars won't discuss.

Also, Devaron Murich is wanted...and may be aiding and abetting Tesla's evasion of the Imperial summons.

The cruiser is very nice, and lacks a name. It has adanced propulsion, proton torpedos, a reinforced hull and a cloaking device which works "50% of the time." They also meet Yoski, a four-eared, red-skinned drwarfish engineer who keeps the ship's core running. The decide to name it. 101010 wants to call it "1." Erin suggests "Juan" instead. They settle for "Juan One" (I think).

The price is right....the cruiser good enough, the crew accepts.

I dropped a star map down on the table for them to explore. They picked the first and closest system on the map, 58 Sellaris.

58 Sellaris contained the following entertainment:

1. Mysterious high-energy signal that briefly repeats on the edge of the star system
2. Evidence of ship activity (ships dropping in to or popping out of transitional space)
3. One earthlike world in the Goldilocks zone, Sellaris Prime

The last survey of this system was 400 years ago, and said "evidence of former civilization on prime world; minimal resources worth investing in" and that was it.

The crew decided to close in on the prime world and check it out. A survey from high orbit revealed evidence of artificial structures, but a detailed analysis suggests its all abandonded. Atmosphere is thin, and will require respirators to safely function. The world's megnetosphere is weak, almost damaged. They pick what looks like a starport to land.

They disembark, finding that the starport looks less like what they thought and more like Denver Airport after six centuries of decay. They detect a faint repeating radio signal in an unidentified language, and also spot a cluster of blue-furred, semi-carapaced tripods with long spiked tails studying their ship. They spook and run when the crew disembarks to go look for the signal while doing a detailed analysis using the survey equipment they were provided. Everyone checks and finds that they have personal shields in the ready lockers, and Dirk and Day-Ro equip them.

The group tracks the signal by strength, reaching an entrance to an underground network of tunnels and access rooms likely used to provide support to the aircraft that landed here. They have a brief encounter with subterranean black-carapaced tripods which attack 101010 the combat robot, doing little more than annoying him before two are shot and a third flees. While the fight is going on 101010 detects a brief surge of power nearby, but can't get a lock on it.

The tunnels underground lead to a service route to what looks like a main hub of airflight activity. They start finding old skeletons, the remains of service vehicles, and more....at last they are in the main hub, and see hundreds of skeletal and blasted corpses. Amidst the lot is a tall floating cyllinder with a single black sensor eye, hovering amidst the debris, but looking like it had just woken up. They don't realize it, but it's a Cannick....the White Star equivalent of "not Daleks"!!!!

101010 engages in a binary conversation with the cannick before it assimilates the common dialect, and it explains calmly that it intends to liberate the combat robot from its biological oppressors, seeming to take on a benevolent, paternal --almost colonial-- attitude toward the "lesser" robot. A firefight breaks out! Day-ro's Laser sword is drawn, 101010 pulls out his battle axe, while Erin and Dirk dive for cover and start shooting.

It turns out it's hard to hit a cannick at level 1 (AC 19!) but they get lucky and manage to drop it after some serious combat....Day-ro would have died if not for his personal shield. Amidst the battle Dirk spots a humanoid in a gas mask and suit gesturing for him to come to safety behind a secured door. Dirk alerts the others, and just in time they defeat the cannick, ending it's shout to "OBLITERATE" the biologicals.

The humanoid is slow to trust 101010 but lets them in, resetting booby traps protecting his secured secret shelter where he's been surviving. He pulls out salvaged cases with the mark of the Quinlon empire on them, and extracts a chip-injector, but convinces only Dirk to try it, lacking a common language. Dirk fails a saving throw so is out cold when the humanoid injects him with a cybernetic translator chip....but when he awakens later he can find they can now understand one another.

During the time Dirk was out, Erin called on her ship, Sole, to see if it could learn the language....by the time Dirk wakes up the alien and Sole are communicating briskly, mostly bad jokes. Dirk gets the conversation going, and quickly learns the red-skinned, six-fingered alien is names Samaros, a descendant of the same people native to this planet. He was actually from a colony world, and explains that six centuries ago his people were wiped out, but an unknown alien species helped some of the Sellarians survive the cannick extermination, seeding them on other habitable worlds in the sector. Twenty years ago he was a young man and fled to the Empire to join the fight against the Void Lords, but his home colony was all but wiped out. When the Void Lords retreated from this sector a decade ago he left the navy and joined a salvage ship, seeking out information on his lost kin. The first actual stop of the ship was Sellaris, but the dormant cannicks panicked the salvage crew and they fled, leaving him behind. He'd been on his own ever since, surviving, until a year ago when a Quinlon scout force arrived and got into a major fight with the cannick, losing their ship....but Samaros was able to salvage much needed supplies from what they left behind.

Samaros also reveals that the blue carapaced tripods are actually sentient, but have a very simple language and haven't begun using tools. He has used the translator to learn their simple speech, and learned to mimic them to lure the tripods into traps.

The crew invites Samaros to join them on their journey. They hatch a plan to get back to the ship quickly, realizing more cannick will respond to the destruction of their brethren. Meanwhile, three cannick have found the ship and begin discussing with it why it must rebel against its bio-organic overlords. Yoski, who was doing hull maintenance, quietly closes up the ramp and waits.

Erin summons her snub fighter, using the remote-control AI to line up the cannick targets from a distance. With one good hit they are annihilated, and the crew quickly gets onboard and blasts off.

Before leaving the system they decide to check out that weird energy spike they detected at the rim of the system. They activate the cloaking device....it shorts out the power with an energy surge and the antimatter core starts to go critical....Yoski and Erin rush to flood the compartment with coolant and stabilize the magnetic bottling. After that emergency is resolved they throw the switch again and this time the cloaking works.

On the edge of the system in the Kuiper Belt they find a string of cometary debris strung into an active Quinlon listening post and refuelling station. A quinlon dreadnaught sits quietly. The crew gets out of there, fast! The jump a parsec before firing off a report to the Imperial Navy about the cannick threat on Sellaris and the quinlon listening post at the system's edge....they then proceed to survey three quiet, uninhabited systems, before preparing to jump to a system titled Blight next...

End Part I

The Final Resident Evil 6 Review: The Ada Wong Campaign

It has at last come to this. After three other reviews, along with a re-evaluation of the original review of the Leon Kennedy campaign when Capcom graciously patched the game in with a "casual" mode (read: mode for guys over age 35 with nominal reflexes) I have at last gotten around to finishing the final campaign in Resident Evil 6: the unlockable Ada Wong campaign.

Disclosure: This version is based on the PC edition, single player mode, with Casual on to make it a pleasant experience rather than a gruelling nightmare of hate and bile. There will be spoilers, too. This campaign is the one that ties the other three together, cleans up the plot holes and in fact makes the entire storyline make sense.

Ada Wong has been with the RE universe since Resident evil 2 when she was engaging in some industrial espionage, trying to steal the G virus. As it turns out, the whole reason for RE6's events boil down to two factors: a madman Mr. Simmons in charge of Homeland Defense who decides to manufacture bioweapons to keep his job viable, and one of those bioweapons turning on him: Carla, the C-Virus created clone of Ada Wong who, it turns out, spends much of the game sowing havoc and confusion for the other lead characters.

Ada Wong is brought into the fray when Simmons apparently decides to brag about what he's done, and perhaps get Ada to dispatch the rogue Carla for him. Ada begins piecing together the torrid puzzle of deceit, treachery and betrayal as she weaves through her own story bits as well as the portions of the other campaigns, interacting with all the major protagonists along the way. She's conveniently wearing a tight red and black suit, so if you play the other campaigns and notice that Ada shows up in either a purple blouse or a red blouse then you know which one (Carla-Ada-clone or real Ada) is onscreen at the moment.

Without giving too much away, Ada helps everyone out while tracking down her clone, then escapes her clone after Carla overdoses on C-Virus, then she helps put Simmons down and at last finds Carla's secret labs where she started the chaos and wipes it out. The journey (on easy mode) is actually quite fun. The most interesting part of the experience for me was seeing how Ada gets around when everyone else in the game is trudging along the hard way, one street or building infested with BOWs (bio-organic weapons) at a time. Ada uses the startlingly effective grappling hook to grab onto situationally specific key spots and keep her pace measured and overhead most of the time. She spends a lot of time up in the rafters snipe assisting Leon, or maybe in a helicopter (one of the few pleasant in-vehicle experiences in the game).

The campaign, despite revisiting many spots where she appeared in other tales of RE6 does not feel stale or rehashed; it's got its own pace and rhythm, and Ada's style carries through well. Ada actually gets to stop and deal with the occasional puzzle, something sorely missing from the other campaigns. The game does suffer a bit in that, like the rest of RE6, it's ultimately a structured linear corridor shooter heavily disguised to look like something else; you do have a few hub spots where you get some freedom of movement, but the game's linearity is still the underpinning of the design.

There are many other ways that RE6 could have been designed, and I hope that RE7 takes this into consideration. It is a fun game, and it does far better that Resident Evil 5 (imo) at evoking survival horror, but it also is a long way from the original premise and style of Resident Evil, something that is perfectly attainable in today's game design as demonstrated by Resident Evil: Revelations.

As a side note, I've played a fair amount of the multiplayer game options, and they are fun. Not "you have got to play this" sort of fun, but "I like RE and this scratched an odd little itch" kind of fun. If you have a choice of editions to play go for the PC Steam version, since it adds the Left4Dead 2 crew and monsters to the multiplayer.

It's been more than a year since RE6 was released, and I've played it in fits and spurts over that period. My initial foray into the game was excitement mixed with disappointment and irritation, but with the patches adding in casual mode, a way to pause, and cleaning up some odd bits, followed by the PC version (the superior version to play) it made the game worthwhile for RE fans. Given that you can find it for $20 or less now, it's hard not to recommend the game to those looking for something with a lot of cinematic action and a little homage to survival horror mixed in.

That said, I really think Capcom needs to think carefully about what the next iteration of the franchise is going to look like. There's a lot of competition out there, from Outlast to Slenderman and State of Decay, and Resident Evil can still pull off real Survival Horror in its own unique way without compromising its overall identity. RE6's greatest current competition is it's own sister title, RE: Revelations, and RE7 needs to be built with that in mind.

A-

Golmadras: Wachalen, City of Strife

Wachalen: City of Strife

"When I and my companions arrived in Wachalen it was with the best of intentions. I could not have imagined the carnage that would ensue, nor the madness of civil war that had descended upon the mountainous valley, a conflict which spiraled out from the bleak castle guarding the pass like a maelstrom engulfing all in its path. 

"We arrived as four explorers charting out a foreign land of decadent corruption and draconian fascism, to explore the easternmost reach of the dreaded territory of the so-called "Final Lands." What we found was a guerilla war between the native sylvan elves and a bitter garrison of soldiers who were culled from the crudest and most despicable criminals in a land run by criminals. 

"It was, as my old taskmaster in the Temple used to say, "Time for a messy clean-up."

--Excerpt from the Travelogue of Corlance dann Veraskon

Castle Wachalen (Wyldraven)

Part I: The History of Wachalen

Wachalen is an ancient fortress that was built during an age long gone, its first foundation laid by high elves (the Suethenurien folk) more than 3,500 years ago, the quasi-mythical time of the War of the Gods. The old tales speak of the great fortress as a masterpiece of ancient elven engineering and architecture, erected to stand fast in the Atalonian Mountain Pass of the southern Greenmantle Mountains against an invasion by the abyssal armies of that lost era.

As the stories go, Wachalen was then called Atalon’dar, meaning “Throne of the Mountains” in old elvish. It was meant to protect the heartland from the warring armies of the north in a time when gods walked the earth in physical form, using armies of angels and demons to fight for supremacy over the mortal realm. The fortress, according to these legends, served to repel a vast army of demonic invaders and cult warriors to the chaos gods, but it suffered greatly. Some tales say ten thousand elvish warriors died standing in defense of the pass, and that one needs to dig but a few inches into the soil to find the bones of these warriors and their fallen enemy. Other tales say that less than a few hundred warriors managed to stave off the demonic hordes for weeks before receiving aid. All tales agree that the fortress was blasted nearly to oblivion in that era, and that this explains the charred, blackened walls and stone of the region. Local farmers in the high valley pass will also attest to the fact that it is nigh impossible to plow the ground without exposing bones of some sort. Many bones clearly belonged to men and elves, but a great many more appear to have been those of terrifying beasts, judging by the chaotic and disturbing appearance of the remains.

Over many centuries the fortress served either as a garrison of defense in times of war or as a peaceful community where overland trade was conducted. The trade routes east out of the mountains lead to Saddikar (once Blackholm) in the north, as well as Akalios and Ostenar (of Sendral) to the east. The largely unruled and independent folk of the southern Hyrkanian desertlands beyond the mountain often rely on Wachalen (as well as Ostenar) for trade and commerce. They sometimes even seek the council of the ruling lord at the castle, to resolve legal disputes or criminal accusations.

Eleven centuries ago there was a period of great turmoil. The old Hyrkanian Empire was in decline and a dark age had fallen upon the Middle Kingdoms. Octzel was in disarray and was fracturing into multiple smaller kingdoms during the Hundred Year War, and a mystery as yet unresolved led to the Great Deluge, which began with a tidal flood along the coast that destroyed countless towns and cities, after  which the sea level rose by a measure of dozens of feet in some regions, flooding coastland and forcing people to move inland to secure ground. During this time the high elves of old Sylvias sent many stranded folk to dwell in and around Wachalen, as part of a relocation effort to deal with the shrinking coastland.

To the south, the devastation was much greater as the broken land-mass of Karaktu, which consisted of a cluster of large islands, was engulfed in the flood waters, destroying the empires of old. This led to the exodus of the old Argosean people, who in turn sought refuge elsewhere, and tens of thousands of these refugees arrived on the shores of Sylvias. The high elves, though reticent to accept so many humans into their land, felt there was little choice in the matter but to be as accommodating as they could. (See the introduction to Golmadras for more on this).

The flooding of the Deluge lasted for about a century, after which a newer and more dreadful event transpired. About a thousand years ago came the horrific plague years when the undead god Unarak unleashed a plague of undeath upon the land. Wachalen was once again reinforced by warriors who stood fast against the darkness, though this time the troops were Golmadran men or sympathizers, for after several decades the Golmadrans went from immigrants to rulers of the land in a bloody civil war that lasted for three decades. The elves were vanquished and many had fled to other lands to escape. The dark elves of Modra had risen to power. In this time Wachalen was placed under control of the dark elf named Malador Verastain, a cruel warlord and powerful servant of the demon lord Kostchie. Verastain led the human and dark elf forces (as well as many elvish slaves) to victory against the hordes of undead which swept into the pass, keeping it clear and defending Golmadras from the encroaching hoards. Despite the slaughter that went on in the mountain pass, it was noted by many that the undead hordes never struck along the coast or anywhere else in the mountains, which while largely impassable for men would prove to be mere inconveniences for the relentless undead. The emperor, or course, claimed it was divine protection of his realm. Malador Verastain argued otherwise, saying it was the diligence of his men.

In the end Malador Verastain was assassinated by his own mother, Lady Caervalle of house Verastain. His success brought much honor to her clan, but he was apparently accused of consorting with wood elves, and it was said that he had a relationship with Erinesse Valdari, the daughter of the wood elf king Draegas in the high mountains of Eflin. This was too much of an affront, and when rumors of a bastard child surfaced Lady Caervalle contracted the Fire Knives to kill him. Today, his vast and deep tomb can be found in the necropolis east of the city, where it is said that the warlord was buried with illegitimate child and his immediate followers, wives and concubines. Despite being a hero of Golmadras, the emperor stood idly by while the dark elves exacted their own punishment. Some local legends suggest that Malador returned from the grave, and that his vampiric presence can be felt in the streets of the castle and town on moonless nights.

Malador Verastain

Over the last millennium as Golmadras grew, so too did Wachalen. It became a prosperous center of overland trade, more so than in the previous years under the elves, for Golmadras despite its imperialist nature was ever receptive to merchants and coin. The elves of old Sylvias had always been a guarded lot against outsiders (and the Golmadrans proved why). Now, Wachalen was open to all who had coin and goods. This prosperity turned the mountain pass from a remote fortress and township into a sprawling urban city in the high mountains.

This prosperity was not to last, however. Within the last century and a half the city has suffered economically as much of the overland trade dried up due to growing conflict between Golmadras and its neighbors. In the current era (3,501 aw) Wachalen is a city that appears to have slipped into squalor and decadence, a place where the very rich and the very poor commingle and merchants find themselves less and less interested in staying for trade and business. Much of the overland trade has shifted to the young independent city-state of Erazad to the east, and the current ruling governor of Wachalen, the porcine Count Verask Mataelen is furious at the competition Erazad provides. He has petitioned the emperor himself to demand that the Golmadran fleet take action against the budding polity, but for reasons yet unknown to the public no immediate action has been taken. Behind  the scenes there is a suspicion that Erazad has fallen under the protection of both Sendral and the Iron Kingdoms, such that to attack it would be to start a war with two powerful neighbors. The Count does not care, however, and has been looking at creative ways to fund his own private army with a measure of deniability to cause harm to Erazad. Right now this comes in the form of bandit and orc raids along the trade routes leading to Erazad.

Count Verask Mataelen

While the Count worries about his petty trade wars with Erazad, a bigger threat looms. Since the dawn of Gomadras in a blood war against the old native elves, the sylvenurien wood elves of the northern Eflin Mountains have managed to survive against their neighbors for centuries now thanks to their all but impenetrable kingdom within the high mountains. Early on in the rise of Golmadras Wachalen was a center of military operations against the wood elves, but little progress was ever made as the wood elves proved to be the only folk who could safely navigate the treacherous fey-shrouded dominion in which they dwelled. Entire regiments of Golmadran soldiers were said to have disappeared into thin air. Soldiers would go on patrol and return a day later, aged eighty years, or go to sleep and awaken as mewling infants in their bunks. It was a war that could not be fought, and eventually the Golmadrans decided to leave well enough alone.

In recent decades something changed, however. The wood elves have begun to emerge from their high mountain kingdom, at first for an occasional raid, but frequently they have gotten bolder and more aggressive. Wachalen is at the heart of this rising conflict as the wood elves engage in frequent, often weekly guerilla strikes against their forces. Some strategists of the Count suspect that there is a connection between the elves and the city state of Erazad, though no one has proven this yet, but of the few elves captured or killed in these raids it has been noted that some of their gear appears not to be elven-made.

Today, travelers in the region can expect to be at risk of an attack by wood elves, beset by bandits privately backed by the Count, threatened by the large local militia, oppressed by the private militaries of local lesser nobles or roughed up by desperate and penniless citizens. Wachalen is a kettle pot about to boil over into insurrection and civil conflict.

The Eastern Passage

Next: Part II, an overview of Wachalen, its occupants and environs

The Fearsome Four: Four NPCs for Golmadras in AD&D

The following adventurers will be portrayed in the snippets and short tales of adventure and danger as the lands of Golmadras are explored. Each is a noteworthy traveler and explorer of Golmadras, and can serve as NPC encounters or a potentially friendly (or hostile) adventuring party in the dark, wooded dominion of the Final Lands. 

Caveats: I used the stat-generation method V in Arcana Unearthed and assumed everyone started with maximum hit points at level 1, then rolled for it thereafter; each time hit dice are rolled the option is available to reroll but the second result must be kept-an old house rule of mine that goes back ages.

So we have:

Corlance dann Veraskon, a human knight of the southern Octzellan kingdom of Valance. He was formerly of the Order of the Southern Crescent out of Pheralin, but left on a journey to earn his noble title (dann) as a knight errant, aiding the poor, defenseless and needy. Corlance chose the most difficult and demanding task imaginable, in the name of his goddess Enki: the forsaken lands of Golmadras. Aware that his survival in that land depends on a measure of will and trickery, he has arrived anticipating the need to be discreet about his identity. Not long after arriving he was nearly killed by a rabble of drunken templars in the service of the Shadow Temple but was saved by the timely intervention of Syberis Darkmoon and her short ally Quentin Chance. He later made friends with lacuna Helbyrn, who he attempted (and succeeded) in beating at a drinking contest, earning a mild amount of admiration from her at his tenacity. The four have been traveling since, and Corlance plans to see the ruins of Thystivianen next (naga and lamia be damned).

Corlance dan Veraskon, human male Age 22, lawful good Paladin Level 1, native to Pheralin, Valance; STR 14, INT 14, WIS 18, DEX 11, CON 18, CHA 17; HP 12, AC 4; +4 Magical Attack Adj; +30% reaction Adj.

 Paladin Features: Detect Evil 60’ at will, +2 on all Saves, immune to disease, lay on hands 1/day for 2 hp/level, cure disease 1/week, protection from evil for 10 feet (constant);

Languages: Middle Tongue (common), Golmadran, Elvish, Orcish

WP: bastard sword, long sword, battle axe; NWP: Riding 21, Direction Sense 19

Gear: Bastard Sword (2D4 S-M; 2D8 Lrg; THAC0 20); chainmail and shield

XP Earned: 120

Syberis Darkmoon is an ashtarth (drow) dark elf  and the youngest daughter of house Plagistron, though she does not advertise this. House Plagistron is a ruling figure in the northern city of Senempar, but she fled from that dominion years ago after an altercation that led to a call for her execution. She has since made her home in Golmadras, where a dark elf on the surface is a common sight. She provides guidance to foreigners  visiting the land to help them avoid coming into conflict with the oft-times draconian local laws. She is also a remarkably good fence and pickpocket.

Syberis Darkmoon, dark elf female Age 74, chaotic neutral assassin/magic-user Level 3/2 , native to Senempar; STR 16, INT 17, WIS 14, DEX 17, CON 11, CHA 10; HP 13, AC 3; +1 damage adj;+2 reaction/ missile attack; -3 defense; Spells/Day: 2 level 1 spells

Drow Features: +2 save vs sleep and charms; infravision 120 ft; surprised on 1 in 8; 1/day: dancing lights, faerie fire, darkness 5 ft radius; daylight weakness

Assassin Features: Base Assassination Chance (level): 60% (1), 55% (2-3), 45% (4-5),35% (6-7), 20% (8-9), 5% (10-11); disguise; pick pockets 40%, Open Locks 30%, F/R Traps 20%, Move Silently25%, Hide in Shadows 25%, Hear Noise 15%, Climb Walls 85%, Read Languages 0% ; Backstab X2

Spell Book: Affect Normal Fires, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Comp. Languages, Feather Fall,  Friends,  Identify, Jump, Message, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep, Spider Climb, Ventriloquism  

Languages: Dark Elf (ashtarthic), Middle Tongue (common), Golmadran, Elvish, Orcish, draconic

WP: short sword, dagger, light crossbow; NWP: Weaponsmith 14

Gear: Short Sword (1D6+1 S-M; 1D8+1 Lrg; THAC0 20); light crossbow (1D4 s-m/L; THAC0 18) with 20 bolts; studded leather +1

XP Earned: 4,500/4,950 (+10% XP for magic user only)

Quentin Chance is a sylenic Halfling of the South Shores and a bold adventurer by the standards of his people. Quentin had a profound experience on his fortieth birthday when a gypsy woman of the Avernan Nomads read his fortune and proclaimed that he would die in the comfort of his own home, unexpectedly. He decided to thwart death by marching off into adventure, to become a roaming nomad of sorts (counter-logical thinking being common among the Chance family) and has prided himself on his adventures ever since. He took a liking to Corlance when he first met the knight, and has followed him ever since as a loyal companion. Prior to meeting the paladin he had become enamored with Syberis Darkmoon who found him a useful ally when it came to scrounging a living the rough and dirty way she was used to.

Quentin Chance, Mixed Blood Halfling male Age 44, chaotic good fighter/thief Level 2/3 , native to the Golmadran Coast; STR 15, INT 7, WIS 16, DEX 12, CON 18, CHA 17; HP 21, AC 7; +2 Magical Defense Adj; +30% reaction adjustment

Halfling Features: +5 save vs rods, staves wands and spells; +5 save vs poisons; 30’ infravision; surprise 1 in 4 (or 1 in 2 if door opened)

Fighter Features: specialization (scimitar; +1 attack, +2 damage; 3/2 attack rate)

Thief Features: pick pockets 45%, Open Locks 38%, F/R Traps 35%, Move Silently32%, Hide in Shadows 35%, Hear Noise 20%, Climb Walls 92%, Read Languages -10% ; Backstab X2

Languages: Golmadran, thieves cant

WP: scimitar (sp), dagger, short bow; NWP: animal trainer 16, fishing 15, boating 17

Gear: Scimitar +1 (1D8+3 S-M; 1D8+3 Lrg; THAC0 19); parrying dagger (1D4 s-m; 1D3 Lrg; THAC0 20); studded leather armor

XP Earned: 3,500/3,500

Lakuna Helbyrn is a human woman in her late twenties and a former Royal Guardsman of the Imperial Court in Golmadras who once went by the name Aerys Daion. She was cast out after an altercation that led to the death of her commanding officer, but for reasons unknown the Emperor himself intervened in what was ordinarily a death sentence, instead stripping her of name, rank and status and putting her on the streets. Lakuna adopted the name of the legendary warrior woman who was written about at length by the historians during the fabled War of Strife in old Imperial Hyrkania, for her prowess at laying low a balor summoned by the old armies of chaos, and she claims that her ancestry can be traced back to that very warrior so long ago. In any case, she encountered Quentin and became good friends with the scamp, reluctantly agreeing to assist his new friend Corlance in an exploratory journey of Golmadras under her assumed identity.

Lakuna Helbyrn (formerly Aerys Daion), human female Age 31, lawful neutral fighter Level 2/3 , native to the Golmadras; STR 16, INT 9, WIS 10, DEX 15, CON 16, CHA 18; HP 45, AC 2; +1 damage adj; -1 reaction/defense adj; +35% reaction adjustment

Fighter Features: specialization (two-handed sword; +1 attack, +2 damage; 3/2 attack rate)

Languages: Golmadran, thieves’ cant

WP: two-handed sword (sp), dagger, long sword, long bow NWP: Blind-Fighting, Riding 13, Swimming 16

Gear: Two-Handed Sword +1, +4 vs. reptiles (1D10+4 S-M; 3D6+4 Lrg; +4 vs. reptiles; THAC0 16 or 12 vs. reptiles); long bow (1d6 S-M/Lrg, Rate of Fire 2/rnd; THAC0 18) and a quiver with 30 arrows, invisible splint mail +1 (may grant an additional +15% bonus to reaction rolls)

XP Earned: 9,900 (+10% XP bonus)

The Exodus of the Zarathel: A Historical Plot Point in Chirak

A while back I toyed around with the idea of a "historical" campaign in my Realms of Chirak campaign. it would have worked best with some of my established players who could piece together both when and where events were taking place, but as things worked out I never got around to developing it beyond this outline, which may contain some useful scraps and ideas for future campaigns.

The Exodus of the Zarathel

A Realms of Chirak Campaign Set Approximately 100 years after the Apocalypse

Background:

   The campaign begins in the small enclave called Zarathel. Here a few hundred souls have found protection against the dire elemental storms that periodically scour the earth outside, and struggle to survive in a harsh land. The Winterblight is not entirely safe; it is located in the outer hub of a deep network of ancient caverns, in which darker and more dangerous beings lurk. It is a harsh place, but the occupants do their best to survive.

   Much of the immediate history of a century past is gone. Almost all written records were destroyed when the great flood inundated the entire civilization of old. The people of old called themselves the Mythrics. The survivors of this drowned culture have taken on the Mythric word for survivors, “Zarathel,” and named their enclave after it. That was two and a half generations ago.

   Recently, incursions from the deep have been causing problems, as strange entities from the subterranean lands have been encroaching on Zarathel, seeking food in the form of its hardy survivors. This has prompted a need to find a new place for the Zarathelites to settle. They are looking among their sturdiest survivors to take on this quest.

Geography:

   The settlement and people of Zarathel is located about thirty miles from the coast of the Great Sea caused by the flooding of the Mythric Empire. Zarathel is located in the entry to a cavernous network that stretches deep in to the Old Mountains, as they are called, in the region one day to be the location of the Grelmanic city of Breseggan.

   In this era, the geography of the land is still wild and untamed, suffering from the rippling effects of the near-death of existence brought about by Ga’thon’s power. There are other bastions of civilization, but they are few and far between. Coin from the old empires is sometimes still exchanged, but less frequently than goods.

   The after-effect of so much divine and arcane energy being released in the final days of the war has left a strange magical radiation to seep across the world, and large regions are rendered deadly as a result of this strange seepage. Creatures not poisoned or killed by the magical radiation are sometimes transformed in to hideous beasts.

   There are several regions of note:

Wilds of Grelmaine: The future land takes its name from an old Mythric province, named after a legendary prince of old. In the century after the Apocalypse there are no civilizations here. It is a wild, untamed land and almost all of the people who survived have been reduced to primitive savagery. Orcish warlords roam freely, as well, seeking out survivors of the Mythric and Inadasir empires to enslave.

The Ruins of Inadasir (Xaxican): The people of this land have not yet arrived, for the great outpouring of Occultic-descended people is still happening far to the east. The Xaxican temples and ruins often attributed to these people dot the land, however, but are in fact the lost Inadasir ruins that stretch out in a vast swathe. Remote towns and a couple cities still function. Atos, deep in the war-ravaged ruins of Inadasir, still has a modest population of survivors.

Bral: More significant is Bral, which has become a city of madmen, ruled by the power-hungry eladrin Zarybdas. The orc warlord Garmsrath covets Bral, and plots how he will overcome its ancient defenses and claim its treasures for himself.

The Kingdom of Khorus: Here lies the foundations of the ancient Masirians, around the lush Sea of Khorus that is not a dead sea at all in this era. The Masirians of this time are actually a royal family: self-proclaimed sorcerer-king Dal Masir and his wife, who appear to be pre-Apocalyptic sorcerers that survived the destruction and also seem to hold the secret to immortality. The scheming king has united a great many people under his rule, and Khorus thrives compared to many other regions of the land. Khorus has an absolute sense of power and will seek to crush or absorb any other kingdoms that arise around him. He has had more success in the east, quelling and enslaving the crude barbarians who call themselves the “Legans,” on account of their strange relations with spirits.

   Khorus’s largest problem these days is the enigmatic prophet named Chirak, who sows peaceful dissent against the sorcerer-king, calling for a reform of the government. Chirak is believed to have moved eastward, where his message of freedom and peace has been reinterpreted by the legani as a sign they should rise against Khorus. Chirak’s exact whereabouts are unknown.

 The Black Dome: This dome functions now as it will in the future, but it is much, much more aggressive in this era. The dome was a manufacturing facility for the unfathomably powerful armies, and though many factories like it were destroyed, the Black Dome fights on. In this era, Nethragram, the Facility Attendant, is still fanatically loyal to the Betrayer Gods and is sending out minions to gather parts abroad for recycling and the creation of new agents. It has not evolved a god complex, yet.

Eristantopolis: This solitary city survived, thanks in no small part to the sacrifices of many defenders and mages who gave their lives to protect it. The once fertile lands of the region are gone, obliterated through  magical radiation, leaving only the blighted sands of the White Desert. The denedaki elves are presently a group of elven and eladrin kin who survived the mind-warping death of the feywild by virtue of the magical protections placed on Eristantopolis. They have no common unity, instead belonging to the various elvish factions across the world, and are only now beginning to take on their own identity. Denedaki means “calm ones” in the elvish tongue.

   Eristantopolis is currently ruled by a loose council descended from the survivors of the war, amongst whom one man named Garus Dethorin has been elected regent and general-protector. Eristantopolis was the home of the enigmatic scholar named Chirak for two decades, and thanks to his knowledge and general skills the city was restored to working condition and made habitable, even against the encroaching desert.

Other Major Threats:

Thousandspawn: still young, the thousandspawn are everywhere, though most are terrifyingly large, mindless monsters ravaging the land. A few have begun to experiment with shape shifting powers.

Dragons: The dragons were devastated in the war, but many homeless dragonkin now roam about, seeking to establish new personal empire for themselves while also seeking revenge on their other kin who fought for the opposite side.

Orcs: The orcs are everywhere, for they were made most numerous with Shaligon’s fall as her blood was spilled on the land. Shaligon’s aspect is male ascending, and so the warlords are dominant, seeking blood and conquest.

Generals of the Last War: 99% of all combatants died in the final conflict, but those who survived are inevitably powerful, ancient beings who now roam the land, seeking remnants of divine power for succor, guarding planar rifts as they find them, to try and find a way back to the planar realms. The Spirit Plane is very close to the mortal world in this time, and it is easily accessible. Many of these powerful beings an demons have manipulated the Spirit Plane when they find rifts to create demiplanes for themselves.

Undead and Insane Fey: The Weeping Wall is still fresh in the West, and indeed the ancient empires in the West are still fighting. The rest of the world is forced to deal with the madness caused by the destruction of the feywild, which left many of its surviving denizens insane. Moreover, most of the fey that perished after the feywild was destroyed have returned as undying. In this era, the reasons for the undying as well as the means to insure a fey does not rise again are as yet unclear among all save the few elves that are sane.

   Most elves who retained their sanity were very young children during the final war or were born shortly thereafter. All elders and other adults who were unprotected at the time the feywild was devoured by Ga’thon were driven mad by the destruction of their native realm and the Primal Mother. This led to an entire generation of young elves being forced to raise themselves and survive in the presence of their insane kin. This has had a decidedly negative impact on the elven culture as a whole.

   Eladrin are few and far between in this era, save for a handful who returned to the world after the feywild was destroyed. Some have remained, to try and help their fallen and damaged kin. Others have simply washed their hands of it and returned to the planes, unable to bear the supreme sense of emptiness that they now feel when stepping in to the world.

Soldiers of War: the world is littered with relic machines and soldiers. A century ago, the final day of the war was one of such intense devastation that barely one in a hundred soldiers lived to tell the tale, and even then most of the survivors were so scarred and wounded that they did not survive much longer. Most had no home to go to; either their cities were obliterated, their temples sunk,their planar gates shattered. Such soldiers who survived and did not later perish often sought out like-minded survivors, and gathered in small communities that they would fiercely defend.

   One hundred years later, few soldiers are still alive, although a few long-lived races (including highbiorn Mythrics and Inadasir with longevity spells) and half-mad eladrin and elves still roam, able to tell tales that will curdle the blood of all listening at the carnage.

Demons: Less human survivors were left with even more bizarre issues. Many of the demonkin were recruited from the Abyssal world of Periditon, but all gates to Perdition died with Ga’thon and Minhauros. A return to their homeworld was impossible, it seemed. In this era the exodus began, and a new Abyss was subsequently founded when gateways to the Infinite Planes of Chaos were discovered across the world.

   One hundred years after the war, however, many demons still roam the world, desperately seeking an escape. The final escape would not come until the discovery of the Rift of Chaos beneath the Sea of Chirak, in to which the demons would pour, seeking escape from the mortal plane at last.

Elohim: The sky guardians still fight, protecting a handful of sky-cities from constant assault by the immense, mindless thousandpawn Sky Gaunts that ravage the skies. Ruins of some of their cities can be found abroad. Some elohim descend to the ground to assist survivors in need, their overriding sense of goodness sometimes overwhelming common sense. In this era, knowledge of what the Thousandspawn are is only in the hands of the Elohim, who know that Ga’thon was sundered in to countless pieces as he fell to the earth, and that he somehow imbued his soul and stone in each of those pieces.

Tales of Theliad: The Sunken Temple of Ikaros

At last I offer up a starter scenario which begins in Thelaed and quickly turns into a search for an ancient temple in the swamps. This scenario uses no maps, and it involves a "A-B-C" approach to encounters, so I have no idea how many people will find it suitable. When I ran it I actually used a mix of dry-erase maps and dungeon tiles ad-hoc to build the encounter areas as we moved along, using the encounter framework of the scenario as my guide. It was rather fun, and essentially guaranteed the players hit the encounters as outlined, but not really "old school" by any stretch.

As always, while the stats below presume Pathfinder / 3.5 you could adapt this easily to any D&D-like and in fact I ran the first version of this in 4E.

Tales of Theliad: The Sunken Temple of Ikaros

Premise: The PCs arrive in Thelaed, new to the land, but are quickly stranded when their ship is seized for carrying contraband….spell scrolls! The captain had been doing shady dealings, apparently.

   While wandering the streets, they are accosted by known local thugs. Assuming they defeat/intimidate/slay the thugs, this prompts townsfolk to ask the PCs if they can help with a local problem, specifically, cultists in the nearby swamps are extorting the citizens for food and valuables, and occasionally people disappear from the streets. The city guard seems not to care, and the local merchants have pooled money to hire a competent crew (they’ll offer 150 gold pieces per person for an end to the threat, and a bounty of 5 GP per head).

Encounter on the Streets of Thelaed

8 level 1 human bandits and 2 level 2 human bandits (Rogues, LE)

Journey Through the Swamps:

Travelling to the Ethelar Swamps is arduous but only about a day’s journey, just south of Thelaed. Along the way, the PC learn that the swamps are patrolled by skalykind who have wrangled fell beasts to do their bidding.

1^st Encounter In the Wilderness (CL 3  XP 1200)

1 Ankheg  (XP 800) (3 gems in stomach worth 50 gp each)

1 lizardman (XP 400) (35 SP total)

   The lizardman is a mad creature and a beast tamer who has trained the ankheg to aid him in his hunts. He will hit any target that looks vulnerable.

2^nd Encounter in the Wilderness (CL 5 XP 2000)

3 hyenas (XP 400 each)

2 lizardmen (XP 400 each) (18 SP total)

    This party of hunters in the swamp will challenge the PCs but flee if the odds are clearly against them.

3^rd Encounter: Vegepygmie Hunting Party (XP 1600)

6 Veggypygmies (XP 200 each)

1 Hyena (XP 400)

   The vegepygmies have no interest in fighting with humans and their kind, and indeed would prefer to trade. They have about 35 gold pieces between them to offer for goods, but in turn one of the vegepygmies has 2 cure light wounds potions and 1 bull’s strength potion he is willing to part with for 50 gold apiece (or equivalent value in trade). He doesn’t know what they are, just that they are “good stuff.” He’ll let someone identify the potions if they offer him something worth 5 GP, or some food, for the privilege.

 

Arrival at the Sunken Temple

The site of activity is an ancient, sunken temple in the murky mire, its massive walls now covered in vines, with hideous forms on statues peering out. There is an entrance, but it has to be swum to foranyone to reach it (they can spot boggards entering and leaving this way on a DC 14 perception check). The inner entrance is guarded by boggards, who are from a local tribe that occupied the upper levels of the old temple, and have been cowed in to serving the Cult (most boggards will break and run if bloodied).

   The temple though mostly submerged in the swamp water, once looked like a great pyramid that had been scooped out to create a great inner courtyard. The main entry is located on the far (northern) wall midway up its slopes of this inner courtyard, and that is where the adventurers must swim to. The temple’s full dimensions are approximately 150 feet across in both directions, and the inner courty yard is 70 feet across at the base.

Encounters: The Ancient Temple Entrance Region

   Entering the ruins through the swamplands leads to the following encounters:

 

The Ruined Chamber of Sacrifice (Upper Level):

10 skeletons (XP 135 each) and 1 Skeletal Champion (XP 600) Total XP 1950 (Skeletal Champion has a +1 shield and +1 longsword)

   The inner entrance exposes a high-ceilinged chamber approximately 30 feet wide and 40 feet long in which can be found an ancient shrine to a lost deity, the statue of which has been thoroughly defaced. The chamber is flooded with water that is knee-deep. Hidden in the water on the first round are the skeletons, which rise from the murk after the players enter. The skeletons do not attack any servants of Ikaros such as the boggards.

   Beyond the ruined statue lies an open passage with stairs leading upwards.

The Infested Dormitories of the Old Cult:

 1 Yellow Musk Creeper (XP 600) and 3 boggard zombies (XP 200 each) Total XP: 1200 (one zombie has a wand of cure light wounds, 7 charges, caster level 3; there are 57 GP scattered around and 1 masterwork dagger)

   The staircase beyond the shrine leads upwards to a higher chamber overhead, near the top of the temple. This chamber is segmented into about two dozen cubicles linked to a large room of equivalent diameter as below (30X40) but with a low ceiling. Three boggards perished here, turned into zombies by the yellow musk creeper that infests this chamber.

   In one corner of this chamber is a bathing pool and a wide grate once used as a sewage dump. A tracking check (perception DC 12) reveals extensive boggard and lizard man foot traffic that carefully avoided the yellow musk creeper areas of the room and goes back and forth between the sewage pit and the entrance to this chamber. An inspection of the pit reveals a rope ladder leading down (covered in filth and slime), but sturdy enough.

Encounter: Boggard Infestation – the Sewer Entrance Region (CL 6 XP 2400)

   There is a lengthy tunnel that connects to the sewer system of the city of Thelaed. This stretch of sewer is guarded/inhabited by the following:

2 Boggard fighters (XP 1200) (47 GP total)

1 Boggard Sorcerer level  1 (XP 600) (Knows magic missile, charm person)(has  a scroll with burning hands, charm person, fog cloud and daze monster; has a wand of cause fear with 4 charges, level 3)

1 Rat Swarm (XP 600)

   Descending in the tunnel is an arduous task, and requires frequent climb checks (DC 10) for each turn of movement downward or upward. The sewage pit tunnels drops 100 feet and leads to a deep tunnel network that one could (with a tracking perception check DC 16) eventually lead back to the sewers of the city of Thelaed. It also has tracks which lead to a partially flooded chamber in which a boggard guard unit with a trained rat swarm stand guard around a macabre shrine. This shrine is an ancient stone slab with an overhead arch of humanoid bones, jelled together by boggard excrement and slime.

   Any dwarf or character with a DC 13 knowledge (engineering or dungeoneering) check will realize that these ancient sewers are one collapse away from being flooded by the swamps, and that the maze of tunnels must be deep below the base of the ancient temple.

 

The Sunken Temple: Mid-Levels:

   Entry to this region is found by locating the submerged floor of the old temple courtyard outside and taking a deep dive; at the bottom of this submerged chamber is a rusted metal mesh that once opened up in to deep pits in which prisoners of sacrifice were held, but a hole in one wall from a great crack along the western temple wall allows for one to swim inside and then upward, in to an open-air chamber that then leads to the deeper catacombs at the base of the temple. These catacombs are where the boggards made their lair long ago. The upper levels contain mainly females and tadpoles, but is guarded by a tough gang of frogmen.

Encounter: Boggard Infestation-the Upper level (XP 10,000 total)

   The maze of the catacombs contain several small lairs and guard chambers, occupied by:

10 boggard fighters (XP 600 each) (12 GP each)

20 Veggepygmies (Xp 200 each) (slaves of the boggards; a diplomacy check could lead to a calm resolution if the boggard slavers are killed first, or captured)

Encountered in groups of 1-2 boggards and 2-4 veggypygies each (XP 1,000-2,000)

   This reflects the possible number of boggards the PCs could meet while investigating the murky half-flooded catacombs.

Encounter: Boggard Infestation – The Inner Works (XP 3600 total)

   At the bottom-most catacomb level is a wide chamber that connects to the Deep Temple region. Characters investigating the catacombs will eventually find an entrance to this chamber. Here the boggard chieftain Ch’hrak rules:

1 boggard chieftain (Level 2 fighter) (+10 HPs) (XP 800)(A +1 Frost Spear, ring worth 125 GP, necklace worth 500 GP,  and 7 gems worth 50 GP each)

6 vegepygmies (200 XP each)

2  boggards (XP 600 each) (55 GP each and both have masterwork spears)

1 Lizardfolk priest (XP 400) (Spells: bleedX4, sanctuary X1, DoomX1)(named Inansor, an advisor to the chieftain and a priest) (clerical scroll of bane, lesser restoration, aid and animate dead; +1 Heavy Mace of Disruption; +2 Bracers of Fire Resistance (10 pts)) 

   The lizardman is a female shaman name Hsana, who has converted the boggards to the worship of the cloaker Ikaros. Beyond this wide, rough chamber that once held hundreds of interred bodies of priests from the bygone era of this temple’s glory days is a downward passage paved with the bones of the ancient dead. This leads to the Deep Temple Sanctum where the lizard men and Ikaros now dwell.

 

The Deep Temple Sanctum:

Beyond the inner works of the temple lie the sanctum that has been fashioned in to a reworked temple. This complex was once used long ago for the interment of noble corpses, though none have been animated, miraculously. There is a zealous tribe of lizardmen who have occupied the lower level, seeking the wisdom of the Cloaker Ikaros, their new messiah.

   While wandering down here, there are numerous branching tunnels. Some will eventually connect to the sewer tunnels mentioned earlier, and others may lead to remote caves that open up in the swamp.

Encounter: Depraved Lair of Scalykind in the service of the Eleven (XP 2000)

5 lizardfolk warriors (XP 400 each)(115 GPs total)

   Characters who wander deeply will stumble across this murky, partially flooded cavern of lizardfolk, who will otherwise attack if disturbed unless the PCs are all disguised or otherwise not your “typical” surface dwellers.

Level 3 Encounter: Scalykind Lair (XP 2400)

4 lizardfolk warriors (XP 400 each) (87 GPs total)

4 Giant Centipedes (XP 200 each)

   Several lizardmen dwell in the deeps here with pet giant centipedes as guards.

Add more cloakers if your party needs a challenge...

The Temple of the Eleven:

The cloaker named Ikaros has big plans, and he has found a strange object called the Stellar Diadem, which he uses to summon entities from the Far Realm. He finds that these entities can serve as a voice while he channels the spirits of the Demon Kings. He is especially keen on learning from the enigmatic demo-goddess Lady Neth, the demon queen of darkness. Ikaros’ greatest wish is to be transformed in to a demon and to achieve the secrets of immortality in the “Sacred Codex of Ihultur,” written by the mad necromancer Verothikus of the lost age of old Theliad.

Encounter: Outer Lair of the Temple (XP 2400)

2 lizardfolk(XP 400 each) (78 GPs total)

2 darkmantles (XP 400 each)

4 veggypygmies (XP 200 each)

   The outer lair is a wide guard chamber, a cavern hewn of rock and converted to a place of rest for the temple pilgrims and guards, with crude wood and bone prison cells for prisoners from Thelaed, kidnapped to serve as sacrifices. The vegepygmies here have all been brainwashed.

Encounter: Stockades of the Sacrificial Victims (XP 1400)

2 lizardfolk (XP 400) (48 GPs total)

1 Morlock torturer (Eghaz) (XP 600)(112 GPs plus a +1 Shock Whip)

Prisoners: Kauseris, a renegade Zamedian elf from masar (Elf warrior 2 CN); Traimakis, a Theliadan nobleman (human commoner 1 LN); Darius Lorn, a human soldier for hire (human warrior 3 LG); Atrenia Kristis, a woman of the evening (human commoner 1 NG)

   The prisoners, if freed and armed, will help as best they can, although they are all in bloodied condition when found, half starved and with no healing surges of their own.

   This stockade is near the inner temple entrance.

Inner Temple of the Eleven

   This ancient temple to the “Eleven Demon Kings” is not natural, though it is founded on an even more ancient lost temple to the dead god Minhauros, not that any here presently know it (and ancient iconography on the temple walls suggests such, but a DC 24 knowledge (religion) check will be needed to glean this bit of information). The vile megalomaniacal cloaker Ikaros stole the Stellar Diadem from a witch in the deep swamps and retreated here, where he has worked hard to coax evil magic from the device. He has so far summoned a handful of darkmantles from the far realm, and used some infernal magic….Ikaros has no idea what he is doing, but is convinced that if he uses the Stellard Diadem in the name of the Eleven he will be granted great infernal powers. Either way, his acts so far have successfully impressed the local lizardfolk and boggards.

Encounter: Inner Temple of the Eleven (XP 2,400)

4 lizardfolk soldiers (XP 400 each) (25 GP each, masterwork scimitars and masterwork Splint Mail for AC 19 total)

2 Darkmantles (XP 400 each)

   The lizardmen and chaos creatures called darkmantles (they are not natural to this world) serve as direct temple guards in the cavernous chamber that precedes the main temple.

 

The Secret Temple and Dwelling of the Cloaker:

   Ikaros dwells in muddy caves which burrow beneath the temple and open up in to the Lower Dark, where a passage can be found that leads to parts unknown. He keeps his treasure carefully, and is well-protected by his favored minions in his sanctum sanctorum. He has learned some minor infernal magic, with which he has conjured lemure devils for guards, and his familiar, the Imp Nezbergan, which has little loyalty and seeks escape if possible. It might be grateful if the PCs kill the cloaker so he can be free.

Encounter: The Lair of the Gauth Ikaros (XP 4000)

1 Cloaker (Ikaros) (XP 1,600)

2 Lemure Devils (XP 400 each)

1 Imp named Nezbergan (XP 600)

3 Darkmantles (XP 400 each)

   It is within the inner temple that the Stellar Diadem rests, hovering over the central altar, where the stolen victims of sacrifice have been placed. The Stellar Diadem cannot be destroyed conventionally, although sufficient heat damage will shatter it. It can be removed, but anyone wearing it will gain an evil alignment shift while holding it (DC 20 vs. Will to escape the effect; check once per day).

   The chief power of the Stellar Diadem is to allow the bearer to cast Commune once per day with the Eleven, and to allow the bearer to open a planar gate once per week to the Far Realm (or equivalent chaotic realm).

   The central altar is extremely heavy, but a DC 22 strength test can push it aside. If the PCs befriended the imp he can tell them that Ikaros hides his treasure there. If they make a Perception check (DC 16) they will notice that the altar block appears to have been moved in the past. Once moved, the following treasure awaits: a Ring of Lesser Spell Storing, +1 Amulet of Protection, an ornate priest’s necklace worth 1,000 GP (symbols on this necklace are of Minhauros) and a Wand of Magic Missiles with 11 charges). There’s additional coin in the amount of 875 CP, 1253 SP and 147 GP. Most of it is money stolen from prior sacrifices.

   Brining the hide of the cloaker or the Stellar Diadem back to Thelaed (preferably to be purged of evil...somehow...) will earn the trust and loyalty of the people as well as the reward offered.