Background story kiyone

PSEUDO-DRAGONFREQUENCY: Very rareNO. APPEARING: 1ARMOR CLASS: 2MOVE: 6"/24"HIT DICE: 2% IN LAIR: 5%TREASURE TYPE: Q (X 10)NO. OF ATTACKS: 1SPECIAL ATTACKS: Poison stingSPECIAL DEFENSES: Chameleon powerMAGIC RESISTANCE: 35%INTELLIGENCE: AverageALIGNMENT: Neutral (good)SIZE: S (1½’ long)PSlONlCABlLlTY: NilDAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-3Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Pseudo-dragons are found in any clime, save the coldest or hottest, when they are found at all. These creatures are rare indeed and highly sought after. They lair in great hollow trees or small caves.

The pseudo dragon can deliver a vicious bite with its small, dragon-like jaws, but its major weapon is its sting-equipped tail. This appendage is long and very flexible. The creature can move it with flashing speed, and strikes at +4 to its "to hit" dice. Any creature struck must save versus poison or go into a state of catalepsy which lasts for 1-6 days. During this time the victim appears dead and there is a 25% chance the creature will actually die.

Pseudo-dragons have a chameleon-like power, so that they can blend with any typical background and become 80% undetectable to creatures not able to see invisible objects. They can see invisible objects.

Magic resistance is an innate characteristic of pseudo-dragons, and they are able to transmit this resistance to a human (or humanoid) companion when the pseudo-dragon is touching the other creature.

A pseudo-dragon communicates by means of a limited form of telepathy. If the pseudo-dragon elects to become a companion of a human (or humanoid), it can also transmit what it sees and hears to its companion up to a distance of 24".

Description: Pseudo-dragons appear exactly as miniature red dragons. However, their coloration is a basic red brown, and can be changed as noted

KIYONE (ELOWA’S) STORYPage 1

The players do not have access to the following information. They will have to figure it out or research parts of it through bard’s tales or magical means. This information is for the Game Master only in order

to understand and rollplay Kiyone correctly.

The information in the NPC Player’s Sheet is sufficient to hand it to someone, say a player’s girlfriend or wife, who wants to play. (It does happen.) And while this may give other players insight into Kiyone (Elowa) it won’t blow the mystique or ruin the campain.

Elowa: (El-oh-wah) or (El-low-ah)

Magic User (6th) / Thief (7th)

Beautiful; (18 Charisma),

Strong; (16 Strength),

Genius; (18 Intelligence)

Practical except where valuable items are concerned; (12 Wisdom)

Confident, moves like an gymnast or an acrobat (17 Dexterity)

Alignment: Chaotic (Good)

Familiar: Jormee, a pseudo dragon.

Currently, Elowa is well connected in the capital city where she is a student at the college of magic. She has access to the school library and other research resources. She is on very good terms with the clerics at one of the Chaotic Good temples where she donates items that are too hot to sell openly (giving her access to their library allowing her to purchase healing potions at a fair price). She is good friends with a local bard when he’s in town, keeping his glass full and listening to tales, digging for information. While not openly a thief or a member of any questionable organization, Elowa keeps her eyes and ears open to all that is going on in the city. She knows the city, the sewers, places to hide, the police, the con-artists and crooks, the merchants and who gets how much from whom.

To play Elowa combine the girl from Labyrinth (young girl pretending to be a princess), Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady (poor common girl who just wants a more comfortable life trying to learn how to walk and to talk like a lady in order to masquerade as a Duchess at the Embassy Ball) and Fagan from Oliver (a thief deep down who can’t stop stealing).

ITEMS:


Weapons: +2 Longsword,

One dagger with a continual darkness 10’ radius spell on it.

One dagger with a permanent silence 15’ radius spell on it. She went through a dungeon with a area of magical silence in it. She located the object with the spell on it and chipped it out, then had it incorporated into one of her daggers.

(I agree that the effects of a darkness spell and a silence spell pass through material objects, but she will keep these in the extra-dimensional space of a deeppockets spell.)

She uses a short bow with some special arrows.

She has a sling concealed under her garments, but is not proficient in its use yet. A sling is easy to conceal and there are always stones.

Armor: She wears studded leather armor when at ‘work’. Otherwise she wears clothes and depends on her dexterity, quick wits and magic. If all else fails, she has a pretty smile.

Special Abilities:

Tunnel Fighting, Elowa has practiced fighting in pitch black darkness (even to her infra-vision) and is not at -4 in hand to hand combat in darkness.

If planning to go after a single target only she can use a Clairvoyance spell, which allows one to see within a 10’ radius in the dark which allows her to use distance weapons or a target her opponents back for a surprise attack with her daggers.

She is ambidextrous and can use both daggers at once.

She has fought and killed before, compared to a lot of mages at the school, and this dark, no-nonsense side of her scares some of her classmates.

Elowa (El-oh-wah) or (El-low-ah) Here is an old character of mine that made it to 12th /12th. The campaign was supposed to be a short side adventure from the Traveler campaign we were in. The GM needed one of us to play a female character and he picked me. I laughingly put my highest roll (18) in charisma. Who cared ? And thus began a two year series of campaigns. In Tommy’s world I used a wish to be unlimited as a half-elven magic user, here I’m just going to up her intelligence to 18 to let her reach 8th level.

Elowa is a college student in the capital city of _______, the only town with a college of magic and freedom of all (good) religions. The king is interested in advancing and preserving magic from the ravages of barbarians and monsters. It’s a pretty good town if you want to buy low level spells and low level magic items; magic users and clerics abound. The town is peaceful, having royal soldiers to keep the peace, but there are a lot of con-artists as well as students from the college of magic who play practical jokes on non magic users.

Con-artists sell treasure maps (dungeon maps), magic swords, magic rings, magic wands, tell fortunes, sell bless and remove curse spells, run shell games or just pick pockets. They use continual light, phantasmal force, magic mouths, esp and anything else including sleight of hand. You may find a ring that says, “I am a ring of wishes who can only serve someone of your alignment who has purchased me honestly,” or a sword that glows or a wand that you actually were allowed to fire and you saw it work (within the confines of a phantasmal force spell).


The town abounds in young mages. Girls out alone, watch out for charm spells. College students also enjoy playing pranks on non-magic users; the bars where students hang out are full of illusions (phantasmal force). Use your favorite old comedy skits for inspiration. A player might be trapped into enacting Curly’s Oyster Stew from the Three Stooges by seeing a fairy in a cage high up on a balcony and receiving a message (spell) “You are not one of these evil wizard-men, you are of a good heart. Will you rescue me?” {reply} ___________. “Swear to me that you will use the first wish to ‘Set Loraina, queen of the fairies free from all physical and magical restraints.’ Swear and repeat it. “{reply} ___________. “My masters name is Corrinth. Go alone to the Boar’s Head and ask for Erwin, you must talk to Erwin, tell him Corrinth sent you for the Oyster. Take the black pearl from it and hold it in your right hand and make the wish. ‘Set Loraina, queen of the fairies free from all physical and magical restraints.’ Hurry, you must get there before my master.” The joke is all set up at the Boar’s Head bar. Erwin will bring out the bowl of oyster stew (illusion) and tell the player, “The oysters in the stew. My task is complete, I have obeyed the words that my master and your master commanded, I have brought you the oyster.” and leave. The bar table should have a hole in it where the bowl is supposed to be so that you can reach your whole arm into the bowl (and get bit) or poke your sword all way down into it. The oyster should squirt the player once or twice (a tube beneath the bar squirting up through the hole if you don’t feel illusion is enough). Helpful students might offer the player pepper or tobacco sauce to flush him out, and later a spool of thread with a hook on it. If the player goes far enough before ruining the fun, everyone will buy him drink and he will be welcome at the bar, always getting at least one free drink, but he will have to hear the story him and the oyster stew over and over.

Another good joke is to place a magic mouth on someone’s cloak when he hangs it up. When the character is alone the mouth speaks, “Freeze Mate, I’m invisible and I got a crossbow with a poisoned arrow aimed right at your back. Drop your money and walk away.”

Elowa’s status in town: (Up to the day the party meets her.)

Elowa had been at the college for 5 years. She’s an undergraduate and has advanced to 6th level. With a hundred young mages with charm spells or just plain, “Buy you a drink?” pick up lines, she’s had a tough time. She has half-elven resistance to charm spells, a pseudo dragon familiar that can see invisible objects, and does a thieves’ double damage when she can score a surprise back attack so she’s been able to remained pure; which goes with her idea of preparing herself to be a princess. She dresses down her looks, to about 15 Charisma playing a princess in desguise.

She’s Chaotic Good? Now look if someone attacks you and you defeat him and take his stuff, that’s OK. If she says, “NO!” and flashes her blade and you persist or try to charm her, or wrestle her to the floor, then you’re a monster. She is a thief and steals when she can get away with it. School is expensive and she was born poor. Penalties for being caught outright stealing are pretty severe, so she’s careful. She has had some run-ins with the law, but has never been convicted. However, the police in town keep an eye on her. She also has a bad record at the school. While technically defending herself, the college has the attitude that boys will be boys.


She has two daggers one with a permanent silence spell and the other with a continual darkness spell. She keeps them in a frock with a pockets spell. The darkness and silence do not extend through from the extra-dimensional space. (A trick my DM let me use.) Through training Elowa can attack hand to hand in darkness without the usual -4 penalty. She can wield both daggers in a single back attack being ambidextrous.

She is very well connected at the college library, with a bard in town, and with certain clerics at a temple. If an item is too hot to sell, she gives it to the temple. In return they sell her healing potions, perform clerical spells for her, and allow her access to temple libraries.

Elowa Background:

Elowa’s mom was a human woman who kept an inn and her father was a wandering elf who showed up one day with a sword, armor and not much else. He claimed to be an elven prince from a kingdom in the west which had been overrun by Orcs. He left after her mother became pregnant, but he promised that if he or his family ever re-gained their kingdom, then he would acknowledge their child as a princess and raise her up in court. She will never tell that story. She will claim to be a high elf of noble blood, or even an elven princess from a distant land and she tries to live up to the princess part, but she’s obviously a half-elf and everyone knows there are no half-elven princesses and no princess-thieves, at best she is a royal bastard. She’d rather be called a liar or crazy than tell someone the real story and have them point out the most likely truth about her parentage.

She was still a young woman when her mother died (her life span is longer because she is a half elf) and she sold the inn and went off to become a fighter/magic user so she could find her father and become a warrior princess and maybe even help re-conquer the kingdom. The money from the inn didn’t cover the tuition at the college, and she fell in with a bad crowd, kind of like Oliver Twist in Oliver. She became a thief. She excelled at being a thief but hated the life. One day she scored a big heist; a +2 longs word and jewels worth enough to pay for tuition. She ran off from her friends and enrolled in the college. She swore she was never going to steal again, but old habits die hard and where was she going to get the money for next year’s tuition?

To cover her thieving abilities such as climbing she’ll acknowledge that she’s been the top school gymnast four years running. If caught outright stealing, she will acknowledge that she has “eye-hand co-ordination problems” meaning if her eye see’s something pretty, sometimes her hand picks it up. She doesn’t even know what she’s doing sometimes. She suffers from a lot of denial, and being confronted with the truth angers or saddens her. She believes in her heart that there is an elven kingdom where she would be acknowledged as a princess, and live in luxury, where humans and elves would treat her with respect, but she knows in her objective mind that the odds are overwhelming that her mother was seduced by a wandering adventurer down on his luck. She has never found any reference to this elven kingdom of her father’s and the biggest shock of her young life was when she found out that elves could tell lies. Her dreams have driven her to become skillful in magic and weapons and to study history, geography and legends. She does lack good judgment where gold and jewelry are concerned. Deep


down there is a plan B where she may have to attain her childhood dream of being rich, living in a castle, commanding servants and wearing beautiful things through a slightly different means.

Her current predicament was caused when the Headmaster of the college, a 12th level magic user, took an interest in her and invited her to come up to his apartments at night to give her a set of jewel encrusted pins for her hair, “if only to see her wear them in the moonlight.” Bad judgment and the lure of the jeweled pins that he showed her, which should technically be hers if she just showed up, coupled with the overconfidence of having escaped the clutches of other men so often (with a profit to boot), lead her to ruin. She knew what he was going to pull, and that he was breaking strict college rules and so he shouldn’t be able to complain if he had to give up the jewel for less than he bargained for. But he was smarter more powerful than she thought. She was charmed and drunk before she knew it. When what was happening began to get through to her, she was already on the bed. Her pseudo dragon came to her rescue. He came down the chimney and stung the dean squarely in the back, his stinger’s venom putting him to sleep. The shock sobered her, but the lure of greed still befuddled her judgment. She took time to quickly search the room and the Headmasters apparel. She took the jeweled pin, some other jewelry he had in a drawer, the two rings he had on his fingers and a wand he had in a tube on his belt and even his belt with a big jeweled buckle.

The housekeeper came in after hearing the Headmaster cry out and saw her ransacking the room and the Headmaster’s body lying on the floor. The housekeeper screamed murder and ran to get help. Elowa left using a fly spell to get to her dormitory and gather her stuff. As soon as she was identified, soldiers went to her dormitory and found she had just left. The dean, when he awoke, claimed she had come to his room for help with some problem at school and then attacked and robbed him.

The party meets Elowa:

You will need a street map. If might be fun to use a section of a map of your town. Be prepared to answer questions quickly. Where is the in the party is staying at? Where is the nearest tavern, areas where there are closed shops, residential areas, what kind of buildings do I see? Major streets will have horse and carriage traffic as well as patrols.

When the party goes somewhere in town at night, they will hear a commotion of shouting, whistles, and dogs baying. Shouts of,” There she goes! Shoot her!” echo through the streets just ahead of them. WHAM! Elowa slams into the party leader. She’s invisible, levitating (out of fly spells) and being pulled on a rope by her pseudo dragon in a mad dash to get away. Her dagger of silence and her dagger of darkness fly out of her pockets, leaving the party in darkness and silence (they can’t see or can’t shout to one another). Ask them what they will do.

Take the leader away from the party, tell the leader someone going very fast collided with him and he was knocked off his feet and landed 10 feet down the way with a very pretty girl on top of him. She has dark bluish green hair and deep emerald eyes.


If he bothers to ask, he can’t see or hear the rest of the party. The street a few feet away where he had been walking is engulfed in pitch blackness.

Party leaders should be able to think on their feet. She asks him, “Please help me, they’re after me.”

What do you do? Help her? Talk? grab her? pull out a weapon? ________?

If he agrees to help he has 10 free rounds, let her give him her coat and tell him to run with it. Of course he has other options like grabbing her or asking her questions.

Questions will be answered by starting each dialogue with, “There’s no time to explain, they will be coming through than darkness spell any second.”

Grapple: If he tries to grab her, he succeeds. She’s on top of him and easy to grab.

Fight: This round he must draw a weapon. He will probably have to stand up to do so and she will get up too.

If he didn’t agree to help last round, she adds, “I promise, what you’ll hear about me, it’s not true. But they won’t believe me. Please, you’ve ruined my invisibility spell and my levitation spell is gone too. Thanks to you I lost my blade of darkness back there.” She takes off her cloak (even if he’s grabbing her, in which case she struggles out of her cloak leaving him holding the coat, and he will have to roll to grab her again), she’s wearing a light pretty frock underneath and her hair is loose. “Please, help me get away. Take my coat and run, lead them away, far away. Don’t get caught with it.”

What do you do?

If he goes now he has 7 free rounds.

If free and not engaged in grappling or combat; she utters a magical incantation and throws a rope in the air; it sticks as if the end of the rope caught on something in mid air. “Go! Quickly! Please! Listen, you came here looking for an adventure, right?” She kisses him. “I promise you an adventure.”

What do you do?

If he tried to grapple again, or fight, she produces a sword from out of nowhere in that frock. Grappling with an armed opponent gives them first attack. Repeat the last dialogue: “I promise, what you’ll hear about me, it’s not true. Please, help me get away. Lead them away with my coat. Otherwise they will execute me for something I didn’t do.”

She won’t attack unless he attacks first with his weapon.


If allowed to cast rope trick last round ; she climbs quickly up the rope like a gymnast. “Go! Please! Don’t just stand there! They know this trick; if they suspect I’m around here they’ll find me. ” She pause as she

Rope Trick (Alteration)Level: 2Range: TouchDuration: 2 turns/levelArea of Effect: SpecialComponents: V, S, MCasting Time: 2 segmentsSaving Throw: NoneExplanation/Description: When this spell is cast upon a piece of rope from 5' to 30' in length, one end of the rope rises into the air until the whole is hanging perpendicular, as if affixed at the upper end. The upper end is, in fact, fastened in an extra-dimensional space, and the spell caster and up to five others can climb up the rope and disappear into this place of safety where no creature can find them. The rope cannot be taken into the extra-dimensional space if six persons have climbed it, but otherwise it can be pulled up. Otherwise, the rope simply hangs in air, and will stay there unless removed by some creature. The persons in the extra-dimensional space must climb down the rope prior to the expiration of the spell duration, or else they are dropped from the height to which they originally climbed when the effect of the spell wears out. The rope can be climbed by only one person at a time. Note that the rope trick spell allows climbers to reach a normal place if they do not climb all the way to the rope's upper end, which is in an extra-dimensional space. The material components of this spell are powdered corn extract and a twisted loop of parchment.


thinks, “Listen, if their going to catch you swallow the potion in the coat’s left pocket.” What do you do?

If fighting she says; “Listen, you came here looking for adventure, right? I promise you I’ll give you an adventure if you help me.”


A small 1 minute timer works well to force someone to make a decision in time; start now.

“What do you do?” pause

If she climbed the rope last round tell him; “She disappears into the darkness at the top of the rope and the rope is pulled up.”

If the timer runs out then he’s still standing there holding her coat, or holding her, or holding her at sword point when the crossbow bolts come through the darkness followed by the dogs. (Personally, I think if you haven’t decided to rescue the girl by now, you don’t deserve an adventure. You’d let Kagato take Ryoko because you’re so out outclassed by him, and you’ll let the pink haired Jurai’n Prince leave with Ayeka rather than fight a duel to the death with him. Maybe you’re just Lawful Good. If so, CONGRATULATIONS! there’s going to be one less cute thief in the world. You know the pink haired dude will have a lawful order from the King of Jurai to take Ayeka back, so you’re better off not going through these adventure.s)

Go back to the party and leave the leader where he can’t hear. Those members that were undecided about what to do are still in the darkness and silence. Those that said they were moving out of the darkness walk out into the street as six soldiers come running up, with crossbows leveled. One shouts, “Search, them, she’s a mage, she may have changed herself.” “This is her doing alright; she’s uses darkness to conceal herself.” In addition there are 4 dog handlers with dogs on long leashes, and 10 men with torches.

It’s up to the party, do they submit? Do they fight? Do they run?


King’s soldiers, in my old campaigns, had one bolt with a glyph of Cause Critical Wounds cast on it. That coupled to my critical hit table usually kept the party in fear. It was a death sentence for any civilian to be caught in possession of such a bolt.

The party will be asked, “Be quick, now what’s your story? We’re chasing an assassin. What have you got to do with her?”

During this time ask the party members who are still in the darkness what they are doing. It’s going to matter real soon.

The dogs will be brought over to sniff the party members. The party will come out clean. Provided they’ve told a decent story (the truth works, blustering won’t). Otherwise they will be arrested. They should be cleared unless they decide to fight or make trouble. If more come out of the darkness, repeat the process.

If the party fights or does something clever that delays matters then give the extra time to the leader. Just remind them that it’s a death sentence to attack the king’s soldiers and they will be treated as accomplices if they aid the assassin to escape.

By this time there should be 12 soldiers. 4 soldiers and 2 dogs will be sent northward to go around the block to guard the other side.

The officer will then order the remaining 8 soldiers to fire into the darkness (twice). If there is anyone still in the darkness or beyond there is only a 5% chance of hitting them by chance. Roll 8 twenty sided dice all dice that come up 20’s need to be rolled again as attacks that were aimed at persons in the darkness, and it needs to be determined who they’re firing at, then a roll at -4 to hit the person targeted blindly. Add the leader to the number of targets if he hesitated till the timer ran out and add Elowa if he is still fighting with her.

The officer will order the dogs to be released after the second volley and then he will order 6 soldiers to march through in a line with swords drawn. The other two will guard this side.

The dogs following the scent come through the darkness. Anyone who runs at that point will be attacked by the dogs. The soldiers come through two rounds later because they had to feel their way around. If they contact anyone in the darkness, they attack.

Chasing dogs will run at a better movement than a human, if a human moves at a 12” then they move at an 18”. If the leader has taken off with the coat, let him know the last 3 rounds of chase when (1) he hears the dogs behind him, (2) when they are very close and (3) when they see him. If he is not seen or heard the dogs will stop at the coat and tear it up. If he is seen, or heard running, the dogs will continue chasing him. Soldiers will arrive after running there at a 12” movement rate. If the dogs are tearing up the coat, they will begin searching the area.


If the leader searches the coat (1 round not running), he’ll find a bag of crushed herbs (hot peppers) in the right pocket (which she grabbed in haste from her room in case it ever came to something like this) and a small potion bottle in the left. The potion is a sleeping drug. Elowa was hedging her bets before she went to the Headmaster’s room. She asked the leader to swallow it so that if caught He’ll be out for at least 8 hours before they can question him. He did see her and which way she went. This should be plenty of time for her to get away.



If the party is not under arrest the next day, they will receive a rolled up scroll. Probably left on their S1 Al Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S2 Bert Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S3 Bill Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S4 Bob Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 Sent AroundBlock

S5 Ches Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 Sent AroundBlock

S6 Dan Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 Sent AroundBlock

S7 Mo Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S8 Nobs Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S9 Sam Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

S10 Tops Fighter 5th HP 40 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000Remains Behind to

Guard Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 21

Long Sword 1-8 / 1-12

Crossbow, Heavy 2-5 / 2-7 8 / 16 / 24 00000 00000 00

AC 5 Chain Mail

Paralyzation, Poison, Death Magic

11Petrification,

Polymorph12 Rod, Staff, Wand 13 Breath Weapon 13 Spell 14

O1CaptainSikes

Fighter 7th HP 65 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

Takes Command

O2Lieutenant

Marks Fighter 7th HP 55 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

00000 00000 00000 00000 00000Sent Around

Block

O3Lieutenant

BlastFighter 7th HP 55 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

00000 00000 00000 00000 00000

Shoots and goes through

Darkness

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20

Long Sword +1 1-8 / 1-12 +3 +4

Crossbow, Heavy +1 2-5 / 2-7 +2 +2 8 / 16 / 24 00000 00000 Gly Gly

AC 4 Chain + Dex


10Petrification, Polymorph

11 Rod, Staff, Wand 12 Breath Weapon 12 Spell 13

D1 Tracker War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00

D2 Chomps War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00

D3 Wolf War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00 Sent AroundBlock

D4 Bear War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00 Sent AroundBlock

D5 Bowser War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00

D6 Fido War Dog HP 15 00000 00000 00

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 21

Bite 1-4


14Petrification,

Polymorph15 Rod, Staff, Wand 16 Breath Weapon 17 Spell 17


She will also tell them to make arrangements to travel with a caravan which is to be leaving town this week. Names of reputable shops and trader guilds are included. Also included is a warning to have a story ready if anyone asks who the woman is that they’re traveling with, use the name Mandy.

Throughout the town soldiers are opening up the sewers, searching buildings, questioning people.

If the party wants to get information about what happened that night. Let them ask. Give true answers, but shaded by the story told by the Headmaster of the College. His story should not stand up too well if the right questions are asked. The guards won’t care. The Headmaster is an important and wealthy man, and his word and his money are sufficient to have a thief hung.

If the party decides to betray Elowa:

Elowa is planning to join the caravan outside of town (this was not told to the party). Her pseudo dragon will be watching. She will have her friend Mandy, from the college show up in town to leave with the party. This will happen regardless, because the soldiers will be searching the caravans. She will have a letter in the party leader’s name telling her he loves her and asking her to run away with him to a life of adventure. She will have gone to the Inn where the party was staying and she did ask the owner for the leader by name and what room he was staying in. If denials, arguments, and accusations follow, maybe they all should be arrested. Elowa will find someone else. Maybe Mandy will tell them what really happened to Elowa that night.

If the party is in jail but the charges are not serious, bail will be posted, judges bribed.

If the party is in jail under serious charges we will need a jail break, but then the whole party will be fugitives, soldiers can kill them on sight if caught. Elowa will have to bust them out and lead them through the town and over the wall. No wagon, no escort, just horses waiting (probably stolen).

Once it’s known that they are out of town, a company of ten soldiers will ride after them. If they elude them, then invisible stalkers will be sent to trail them. The Headmaster will be scrying Elowa once a day and noting her surroundings to determine her location. She will use an illusion to mask her location if allowed time to sit and concentrate (like in a wagon), sleep in darkness and study in the extra-dimensional space of her rope trick spell unless they are forced to keep on the run (instead of following the leisurely pace of a caravan). If he locates her, he will continue to send things after them and alert any town they approach. He may even teleport in himself.

Elowa will associate the character Tenchi with the legendary sword Tenchi and the fact that the character Tenchi looks like the Yosho of the legend.

Elowa knows the legend of Yosho and the sword Tenchi. Through her research she is sure the following facts are basically true (though probably exaggerated). She will share these with the party and try to disprove any other legends they hear about the sword Tenchi.

a) Yosho was a high level Warrior-Wizard who built a keep about six centuries ago.


b) Yosho had a powerful sword named Tenchi, which only he or his descendents could touch; it killed anyone else who touched it.

c) Yosho had a dragon which he had subdued with the sword Tenchi.

d) The sword could cut through solid stone; no enemy can stand against it. It gives its wielder magical powers.

e) Yosho had a queen named Ryoko who used magic.

f) The queen fought and ruled side by side with Yosho.

g) Yosho raided all the lands surrounding him, taking much treasure. He was very rich and powerful.

h) Yosho was a both a tyrant and a protector to his people. No one dared to invade his lands, but he was a strict and stern ruler, demanding much tribute from his people. Most of them left for other lands till only serfs were left tilling Yosho’s land.

i) Beneath his castle was found a holy shrine which caused Yosho and his queen to age and die.

j) Yosho hid his sword within the shrine before he died.

k) Clerics came to guard the shrine to keep it safe and unmolested.

l) The clerics returned all the treasures Yosho had taken to the people of the land and raised the serfs of Yosho’s holdings to land owning freemen.

m) One day a descendent of Yosho will come and take the sword. With it he will establish a new and better kingdom.

More legends (mostly false) can be learned from Bards and magical means. Roll a 12 sided dice:

1) The sword Tenchi can cut through solid stone. It lies embedded in a rock deep in the earth below Yosho’s Castle. Waiting for the rightful heir to Yosho’s throne.

2) The sword Tenchi was taken from Yosho’s sepulcher 400 years ago by Eric the Mighty, who claimed to be Yosho’s descendent. He died in battle the next year. His successor was his lieutenant who then also claimed to be a descendent of Yosho and took the sword. He died 5 years later and the sword was passed on to his successor and was lost in battle.

3) Eric’s lieutenant was not Yosho’s descendent. He hid the real sword beneath Eric’s castle and used a replica to justify his claim as Yosho’s descendent and rightful ruler. The sword still lies beneath Eric’s castle.

4) Once a young man named Noboyuki came to Yosho’s court claiming to be his son. Yosho imprisoned him in his dungeon. Yosho’s three captains of his guard held a secret trial in the tribunal chamber. In exchange for his freedom Noboyuki agreed that if he had any children they would be wed to the children of the captains. The captains helped Noboyuki to escape from the tribunal chamber through a secret passage up and out into the palace garden. He then escaped over the castle wall. Another prisoner was executed in his place.

5) The King, whose great-great-great grandfather defeated the pretender Eric and later destroyed the remnant of his followers, has Yosho’s sword mounted in his hall of judgment. Any person guilty of treason who touches it will die.

6) Yosho was once a prince of the far off Elvin kingdom of Jurai. The sword is an artifact of the royal line of Juria with extraordinary powers. Only one of the royal lineage of Jurai can wield the sword.

7) The sword gave Yosho the power to summon and command the demon-queen Ryoko to do his bidding.

8) The sword could also summon and command a great dragon.

9) Yosho’s had no children, so the sword returned to Hades after he died. If someone sits on Yosho’s throne, pours a flagon of human blood on the floor and recites three times, “For the sword Tenchi I sell my soul.” They will receive the sword from Asmodeus and the demon-queen Ryoko will return to serve them.

10) The demon-queen Ryoko was the actual ruler; she enchanted Yosho who was an Elvin prince from a far kingdom to become her consort. She caused him to conquer lands and gather treasure for her.


11) The shrine is in a cave beneath the castle. It is a white marble pool of pure water that seeps in from another plane. Its depths glow with sunlight reflected from an astral plane of heavenly goodness. As its water leaks into the earth it drives out evil from the land.

12) The sword has three gems, each of which grant one wish each to the wielder.

Elowa will have Tenchi try for the sword (Aladdin style, she is playing the part of Jaffar), having a sword like that in the group she’s adventuring with would be very profitable. She will be scheming about the possibilities; some difficult dungeons she knows of, some powerful creatures known to live (lair) in the country, the royal treasury or least the treasury of some lesser cities.

1. If she escapes without the group, she will return sometime and tell them about the legend and the shrine.

2. If she escapes with the group and the invisible stalkers or pursuing guards are too much for the group to handle then she should suggest a hard ride off the beaten paths to an old shrine she knows about where they’ll be safe.

3 If the party is doing OK, she should tell about the shrine and the legend when they get close and suggest a side adventure.

The clerics at the shrine will not at first let them in as they are sworn to keep outsiders out. They also require a vow of poverty to prevent making the shrine a target for adventurers or thieves, the group would have to leave their money outside the walls. There is no money or gold or silver within the monastery.

If being pursued by invisible stalkers they will let them in but keep them confined. The monastery does have a protection from evil about it, so stalkers can’t get in.

The clerics will recognize Tenchi as a young version of the Yosho depicted in the statures and paintings that remain in the monastery (which was originally Yosho’s keep). When they learn that his name is Tenchi, they will panic and capture the party, imprisoning them until they decide what to do. It will take 24 hours for them to decide to execute the group. He is surely their doom and the party must be after the sword if they have him with them.

The clerics believe the sword of Yosho was stolen from the casket of Yosho 200 years ago in a violent attack on the monastery, and a replacement replica of the sword put in its place was stolen 50 years ago by a thief. Since then the casket as been kept open with Yosho’s mummy like hands empty. Ryoko’s casket next to Yosho’s is also open and her hands empty. Actually Yosho was buried with a replica, the real sword is in an extra-dimensional space below the shrine guarding the true Ryoko who is asleep. The mummy in the casket next to Yosho is not Ryoko, but was woman made up to look like Ryoko.


Elowa knows the Ranger Mihoshi, and, as unlikely as it seems, they are friends. They met one summer when she was adventuring with a group in the dungeons of Quasquenton, trying to earn next year’s tuition. The group she was with was decimated and the survivors were robbed by some forest brigands on the way home. Elowa ended up joining the brigands under the name Kiyone, this turned out to be more profitable than adventuring until Mihoshi’s rangers attacked and captured the brigands. Elowa changed sides again, telling Mihoshi a sob story about being captured and forced to help the brigands. Elowa (still calling herself Kiyone) promised she would ‘go straight’ from then on and even became Mihoshi’s partner for while, helping her defeat some other groups of thieves in the forests. Elowa even managed to pocket enough re-captured loot under the table to pay for the next year’s tuition. (Mihoshi of course takes re-captured stolen loot to the Rangers to be claimed by the victims of the robbers.) Elowa really likes Mihoshi, they have gotten drunk together, told their sob stories to each other, cried on each other’s shoulders and wound up becoming good friends. While Elowa may deceive Mohoshi, she will protect her from falling for anyone else’s tricks.

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Background story kiyone