| Main Menu | Press Releases | Contact Us | Internet Policy | Online Catalog |
While passing through the town of Fort Ac, in the eastern regions of the Timiro Kingdom your party is approached by a distinguished looking human, between 35 and 40 years of age. He is dressed in standard traveling clothes; tunic, leggings, boots, and a cape; with a large silver pendant around his neck and a ring on the middle finger of his left hand.
He introduces himself as Morgan, a Priest of the Gods of Light. He inquires if your party is employed or seeking employment. If given an encouraging answer, he will offer to buy dinner and drinks for the party while explaining the situation. He will then escort them to the Grey Mist Tavern and will select a table far from any of the bar's other patrons.
His story unfolds as such; his church, situated far to the west, near Tanis, had during the last few months fallen more and more under attack from the wandering Orcs, Ogres, and Trolls moving through the forest regions.
In order to save a number of holy relics from desecration, it had been decided by the church elders to have the relics transported to a church in the eastern part of the kingdom. Morgan had been sent ahead to arrange transportation and safe havens for the relics as their journey progressed. To make the relics less suspicious, and thus less susceptible to banditry, they were to be carried by one of the regular caravans from Karowyn's Merchant House.
Unfortunately, it appears that the caravan itself, without public knowledge of what it was carrying, was considered a good target, Karowyn's being known to deal in precious silks, spices, and gems. Two days ago, as the caravan approached within eight miles of the town it was attacked. All members of the caravan appear to have been killed, though several of the bodies are still missing. The caravan wagons were gutted and burned.
By communing with the Gods of Light and asking questions around town, Morgan has been able to establish the identity of the bandits and the location of their hideout.
The bandits themselves are a mixed group of Ogres and Orcs, so it is not unusual that several of the bodies were missing. The leader of the bandits is a renegade human by the name of Rhaznor, famous for leading attacks on caravans and human outposts in the area.
According to eyewitness accounts garnered from survivors of earlier raids, Rhaznor keeps control of his motley band by the use of an apparently powerful magical sword, rumored by some to be a minor Rune sword. All witnesses agree that the sword glows yellow even in daylight, also that it can leave Rhaznor's hand and fight by itself and that, on occasion, has been heard to speak. Powerful fighters have been reported to have been killed with one blow and the sword almost definitely defends the bearer against some physical attacks.
Rhaznor's base of operations is in a deserted Kobold outpost some 40 miles to the east, at the base of Mount Nargash. It is in an area between two rows of hills known as Nargash-Tor to the Kobolds, or simply as "the Arms" to the locals.
Morgan will supply the players with a map of the area and a simple explanation of the lay of the land. The area to the north, west and south of the Arms is the wet swampy land of Ridmarsh, an extremely dangerous area. Directly to the north of Mount Nargash is Lake Magnys, whose gentle waves roll in directly at the foot of Nargash. Between the caravan route and the mountains some 40 miles distant, lies a large densely wooded area called Northwoods. It has anunsavory reputation, with only one known clear way through. Even this path is reputed to be dangerous. This path, known as the Kobold Road, is a ten-foot wide road, made of sections of stone ten feet long and two feet wide. It cuts almost directly east across the forest and into the Arms of Nargash-Tor. No living greenery grows on or over this road. Apparently there is a magical device to keep the road clear. Though the road is free of plant life, local animal life and creatures which have crawled down from the mountains are not affected by the magic and can be a major problem.
On top of this, the road is suspected of being under a curse. For the last few months, individuals, and even some small groups which were traveling on the road, disappeared and remain unaccounted for.
In addition, Northwoods is known to be the home of many of the Faeries who, though not vicious, are definitely mischievous.
To the west is the Emeras Forest. This area is inhabited by a large number of human cottagers and is relatively safe, though wolf packs are known to occasionally hunt in the area in the south the are the Brown Plains. There is little in this area with the exception of wild animals, especially wolves.
In return for attempting to recover the artifacts, Morgan is willing to give each member of the party a 500 gold down payment, and 2000 gold each on completion of the mission. However, Morgan will insist that each player swear on their true name to recover the holy artifacts and return them to him.
In addition to the money, Morgan will give the party five clerical scrolls which can be sold for market value or kept for use during the adventure. The scrolls are: Carpet of Adhesion, Fog of Fear, See the Invisible, Wisp of Confusion, (all second level), Commune with Spirit (third level) and Part Water (fifth level).
Only after the players swear will the money and scrolls be given to the group. At this point he will describe the holy artifacts to them. They are a gold thurible about six inches high and four inches across, inscribed with the figures of the gods Osiris, Set, Isis, Ra, and Anubis. This ancient item is purported to be from the first church of the Gods of Light, therefore being over 10,000 years old. The next is an ornate bronze candle holder which has the bones of Saint Ornal encased in the base. The final artifact is a small iron box, four inches long by three wide by two deep. This holds ashes of Saint Simar, a holy man who was burned by the Orcs some 200 years ago.
Morgan will go to great lengths to insist that none of the items are magical in themselves, but that they only have great sentimental value and religious significance to his church.
Finally he will recommend that the players check with some of the locals about the surrounding area, as he has only been able to find out about the major geographical features nearby.
Morgan is a Priest of Light, in a manner of speaking. When he introduces himself as a Priest of Light he means he serves the forces of good. He is actually a Priest of Osiris, a memberof the Cult of the Great One. He is telling the truth when he says that the church decided to have several holy artifacts moved away from danger. However, what he will not tell the players is that the item in the iron box is not ash, but an actual part of the sundered body of Osiris. To be exact it is the Tongue of Osiris which enables the holder to understand all languages and detects lies 56% of the time. The box itself is warded with 10 Death wards which will activate sequentially each time the box is opened. The wards were cast by a 10th level Diabolist so each ward does 20D6 damage or 20 to 120 points. Two of these wards will go off if the tongue is actually touched, in addition to the ones which activate when the box is opened.
The other two items, the thurible and the candlestick are not holy items at all, but are simply camouflage for the Tongue.
Morgan's attributes are:
IQ 15 / ME 10 / MA 9 / PS 9 / PP 11 / PE 12 / SPD 11
6th level Priest
Hit Points: 33
Communion 60%
Exorcism 42%
Prayer of Intervention 54%
Prayer of Strength 60%
Remove Curse 42%
Resurrection 23%
Turn Dead 45%
Spells:
Darkness (2nd level)
Phantom (4th level)
Resist Fire (3rd level)
Sense Evil (1st level)
Shadow Walk (5th level)
Sorcerers Seal (6th level)
Number of spells per day: 6
Skills
Demon/Devil Lore 90%
Locate Secret Comp./Doors 36%
Medical 78/82%
Play String Instruments 50%
Prowl 50%
Read/Write Southern 80%
Recognize Precious Stones 40%
Recognize Poison 38%
Sing 90%
Speak Southern, Eastern, & Goblin 100%
Speak Western, and Elven 86%
Weapons Proficiencies: Mace and Large Shield only
With the Mace Morgan is: +3 to Strike, +2 to Parry, +1 to Throw
With the Large Shield Morgan is: +2 to Strike, +5 to Parry, +1 to Throw
In combat Morgan wears studded leather armour, A.R. 12, S.D.C. 38 (normal), 100 (magical). Normally he wears no armour. If attacked without his armour he will run into a shadow and cast Shadow Walk. If no shadows are around he will use Darkness to create his own. If no other way out exists he will summon a Phantom to fight for him, or more than one if necessary.
Provided the players recover these items they have a choice of several actions. The first and most obvious especially for characters of Good or Unprincipled alignment, is to return the items as promised to Morgan. The Cult of the Great One would be grateful for this. Morgan will give each returning player, in addition to the promised rewards, a small silver medallion engraved with the sign of the Great One. This signifies that the person who wears it is a friend of the cult and presented to any priest of the Great One at any shrine, will gain the bearer immediate sanctuary, aide, and assistance.
If however, the players decide to abscond with the "artifacts", Morgan will wait for 2D6 days, just to make sure the players are not returning. He will then hire another group to check the situation out and recover the items from the bandits. They will return within 1D8 days, informing Morgan that the bandits are dead, the items missing and the players nowhere to be found.
Once he has realized that he has been swindled, Morgan will send messengers to all the other shrines within Timiro telling them to send out spies and informants to seek out the players. The entire might of the Cult of the Great One will be bent upon searching out the players and recovering the sacred artifacts. Morgan himself will act as a field commander, organizing the spies, hiring bounty hunters and the like. These emissaries will not be told what it is the players are carrying, just that they must be captured or killed and everything they are carrying returned.
If the players have not been found within two weeks, all shrines in the countries neighboring Timiro will be alerted. By the end of two months, if the players have not been found and the Tongue of Osiris returned, the entire Cult of the Great One, world-wide, will begin searching for them, and they will not stop until the tongue is recovered.
If captured alive, a player (players) will be first interrogated and then ceremoniously put to death for sacrilege. If, however, they have a change of heart, either because of feeling guilty or because of too many encounters with bounty hunters, they can elect to return the tongue voluntarily.
If they do so, they will be required to do the following: First they will be made to undergo a special purification ceremony and then be made to join the cult. Refusal to do so will put them back on the sacrificial table. Next the leaders of the cult will assign the players a dangerous mission for their penance. What this will be is left up to the gamemaster. Though it is suggested that while it should be dangerous, it should not be the equivalent of a death sentence. The players should definitely have some chance for success.
Players who intentionally decide to take off with the tongue (stealing it), if of Good alignment, should immediately have their alignment dropped, to either Selfish-Anarchist or Evil-Miscreant, gamemaster's choice. Players of Selfish-Unprincipled alignment should also suffer this fate. The theft of a known holy item when the player has sworn to return it is a definitechange of behavior. A good alignment character should not even seriously consider taking the artifacts. Should this situation arise the gamemaster should first point out that a good character would not take it. Then, if the player still takes the item, he/she suffers the alignment change. Also, a good character will not allow an evil or selfish character in the group to take the relic. Should this happen the good character(s) will be forced to prevent the theft even if it means combat with his fellow adventurer.