Definitely more difficult than I thought it would be, but we'll see how I did... I'll save my comments until later, I believe that's the procedure.
Iron DM Spring 2004 First Round Entry – Spacemonkey
Ingredients:
Crematorium
Gnoll Archer
Blunt Instrument
Beloved Icon
Tarantella
Tunnel Vision
---------------------------
Shadows on the Wall
Background: From the beautiful, many spired city Onshoon, diamond of the desert ride two figures cloaked in many layers of disguising brown silks. Tired of their slavery and a cruel master, Jareena the dancing girl and her faithful eunuch servant Hophas flee their life of servitude, to live out their days in the simple peace of the small village of Dunphal.
Soon after, a solitary figure wolfishly prowls from the gates, following the trail of the fleeing duo. Two massive bone composite bows and a large intricate quiver adorn the back of the low-crouched hunter, seemingly smelling his way in the frigid, dark night of the desert. Garesk the gnoll archer, assassin, and bounty hunter has his task: recover Caliph Mulphan’s favorite dancing girl before he returns home to Onshoon and discovers she is gone, or take her fate for himself.
Upon reaching Dunphal, Garesk finds Jareena has faded in with the locals, and not knowing what she looks like he watches carefully, trying to discern the pampered palace princess from the common locals, but in vain. Her escape was well planned, and she is an accomplished actress and mime. She blends in with the locals, and they seem to be either unknowing of her, or accomplices in her disguise. He learns of the village while looking for her, and soon has a plan to find the dancer amongst the peasants…
Hooks: The PCs can get involved in the situation at Dunphal in several ways, either helping Jareena or Garesk depending on their leanings.
- They may come upon the badly beaten and dehydrated Hophas in a small cave near a well traveled road just to the north of Dunphal. He will plead with them to save Jareena, or at least let him free so that he may try it himself.
- They may already know the caliph or his underlings and be sent with Garesk as extra help (or to prove their worthiness or atone for some past misdeed), or they may be sent by Jareena’s family to help her escape.
- The party may hear of or see the strange dancing shadows that play over the desert south of the road at night recently, and investigate.
- Rumors of a strange curse are spreading through the area. Perhaps the party wishes to investigate? Someone from the village may approach them and ask for assistance. Alternatively, Garesk may decide that he needs some help, or at least someone who can blend into the village better than he. Perhaps the players would be interested in some coin and the thanks of important personages close to the Caliph?
NPC’s:
Jareena (aka Sifu) – The caliph’s favorite dancing girl (among other things), she fled to find her freedom. She has friends in Dunphal, and thinks that if she can remain there long enough she can evade recapture and live her life in peace, even if she does regret leaving the niceties of the palace behind just a bit. She goes by the name Sifu, and takes part in all the village’s daily work and routine. She has cut her hair, roughed her hands and skin on rocks, and wears simple clothing. An accomplished storyteller, dancer and occasional actress, she has blended in with the villagers and is well liked. She has told them that she fled from an abusive life and that anyone asking should be told that she has lived here for years.
Hophas – Jareena’s faithful and loyal eunuch, he did not detest palace life or servitude, but he obeys his mistress’ will in all things. He hid in the village, knowing that unlike his mistress he may be recognized, and Garesk found him quickly. He was beaten badly and forced to drink a debilitating poison, but would not divulge the new identity of Jareena. Garesk left him tied in a small cave away from the village, (but nearer the road). He is hidden quite well, but has managed to chew through his gag and calls weakly if he hears anyone outside that doesn’t sound like Garesk. A sharp-eared character may hear him from the road.
Caliph Mulphan – He is quite cruel, and thinks nothing of venting his frustrations on his harem women and dancing girls (the distinction between the two groups is minimal). He is currently out of the city, meeting with a neighboring leader and attending an invitational hunt. He will return soon, and his closest servants know that he will be furious if Jareena is not there. They hope that Garesk can return her in time.
Shadik – Priestess of The Dancing One, a god of joy and plenty. Once revered in the village, followers are now almost nonexistent, but that has changed in recent days. Until recently, her only consistent duties were daily blessings and prayers and funeral services (the shrine serves as a crematorium, as there is only sand and rock in the desert and that does not serve well for burial of bodies. Shadik honors the old rites of cremating the dead – most of the body in the main pit, but saving the foot bones for burning on the alter of The Dancing One.) Now more and more flock to worship, but not quite as Shadik would like. Her god has told her that he is angry that none praise him as they used to, and he has laid a curse upon the village. The unbelievers will be forced to pay homage in dance until he is satisfied that they have learned their lesson. Shadik does what she can for those who come to the shrine, forced to dance, and mourns the sad secret truth that her mentor died before she could gain all the knowledge she was meant to. If she had learned more, perhaps she could help those who now participate nightly in a grim, forced tarantella. What she doesn’t know is that she is a pawn, a dull-witted dupe. Garesk is using her to help him find Jareena, posing as her god and using her to spread misinformation, fear, and confusion.
Ophiran – Shan (leader) of the village, Ophiran is quite concerned about the growing curse that has beset his people. Shadik has told him of The Dancing One’s proclamations, and he has acted accordingly – quarantining the dancers within the shrine and permitting none from leaving the village (though a few did leave when the trouble started, and before Shadik’s ‘revelations’). He has ordered all his people to renew their faith in the near-forgotten god, to make him a beloved icon of the village once more, and to send anyone who bears the mark of the curse (a small club-like symbol somewhere on their body) immediately to the shrine. He will be quite receptive even to outsiders if they promise to help with the village’s problems.
Garesk – Archer, Bounty Hunter, and Assassin for the caliph, Garesk was just a gnoll with a penchant for wandering once, but the caliph loves oddities and took a liking to the strange furred man. Once he learned that he was an accomplished hunter and more, he gave him his new titles and duties. Garesk has served well. He has a keen eye, is great with his bow, and knows poisons inside and out. Along with his quiver that produces magical disappearing arrows (which he can coat with poison), he has served the caliph well and never been caught.
Locations of Interest:
Remote Cave – Just a little off the road near an oasis, Garesk stayed here the first couple of nights before he found the secret chambers in the shrine. He leaves Hophas here, but becomes too embroiled in watching and faking a god’s missives to come back for him, just leaving him to die of thirst. Some equipment of Garesk’s is here as well, including some standard poisons (possibly identifiable by the characters), and some extra arrows.
Village of Dunphal – A collection of about 40 squat and half-underground structures near wind-breaking sandstone cliffs at the edge of the desert. A little trafficked road runs near it. Some of the more important village structures (such as the shrine and Ophiran’s residence) are in the cliffs themselves.
Shrine of the Dancing One/Crematorium – 50 feet above the ground and accessible by hand and footholds carved into the rock, a large tunnel leads into the shrine. The shrine itself is fairly large, about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide with a small priest’s antechamber adjoining. There is a human sized pit, charred from years of use as a corpse burning chamber, a small alter with a scorched depression (and small holes for ashes to fall through), and a large idol of The Dancing One – a larger than life human with eight legs poised in a joyous dance. Ashes of foot bones burned before the idol in the alter depression are sifted into a blessed chamber below and transformed into a special dust for use by the god’s priests.
Setup:
Frustrated by his inability to find Jareena, even while he knew she was right in front of him, Garesk watched the village closely. When he saw Shadik was the only one who went to the isolated shrine, he thought to ambush her and try to get some answers. He crept into her cave at night and waited. His keen eyes and nose found what Shadik’s predecessor had not had time to reveal: a secret compartment and chambers below The Dancing One’s altar and idol. Inside was a strange pit of dust and some holy script carved in the stone. He learned (after some initial trial and error and reading of the script) that the dust was a poison or drug that the priests of The Dancing One used to invoke a spiritual dancing trance for special worship of their god. The hidden chamber had obviously not been used for years, perhaps decades, and Garesk guessed that the solitary (and seemingly inexperienced) priestess was unaware of it.
Thinking that he had found an interesting toxin, he was about to leave when an idea struck him. He had seen Jareena dance many times, and surely she must be much more exquisite than any of these simple villagers. He could induce the trance upon the villagers and discover his quarry! He hid under the altar until Shadik returned, and then tested the theory that she was unaware of the secret chamber. He pretended to be The Dancing One, his voice seeming to come from the altar and idol behind it. He convinced Shadik that he was an angry god, and that a curse would strike the village. Unbelievers would dance until their god was appeased. Shadik is not very bright, and Garesk used her faith to turn her into a blunt instrument with which to work his plan. She informed Ophiran and soon the curse came about as Garesk would sneak outside through a passage in one of the chambers beneath the idol and shoot toxic-laden arrows into female villagers, invoking the dancing trance and the club-like marking that were effects of the sacred dust he had found). Victims cry out in pain, clutching the arm or leg that hurt and bled, then start to dance. They are brought to the shrine, where other dancers worship their once again beloved and praised (forced though it is) icon of The Dancing One in a macabre tarantella of the damned. Shadik pounds out a rhythm for them with her holy dance clubs (blunt, drum-like instruments of The Dancing One that are beaten together – the same as the symbol upon the skin of the cursed dancers).
Garesk watches through a small ventilation hole in the altar/foot crematorium for the graceful Jareena to show herself. Ophiran urges his people to dance voluntarily for their god, hoping to curb his wrath more quickly. Sifu purposefully dances clumsily to blend in, hoping that she will not be cursed, but never suspecting Garesk’s trickery. She does know something is wrong when Hophas disappears, and is quite nervous. She may approach the PCs if they seem trustworthy and ask for their help.
Clues and Conclusions:
Once the PCs get involved, there are a number of ways the adventure can play out. They may come after finding the near-dead eunuch and listening to his pleas to help his mistress. He knows who Garesk is, and why he is there. He doesn’t know where to find him exactly, but can tell the PCs where Sifa/Jareena is and will beg them to get her out of there or stop Garesk if they can. He is unaware of the dancing curse and all that is happening in town.
If the PCs venture to Dunphal after hearing of the strange happenings, they may find out the following:
- examining the wounds of the ‘cursed’ villagers by someone of sufficient skill will reveal them as arrow wounds, apparently mundane, but with no sign of the weapon that caused them.
- the marks and dancing trance will detect as divine magic, but a heal check may attribute the effects to an injected toxin.
- if the PCs don’t seem to be from the caliph, Jareena will approach them and ask if they might try and look for a lost villager (Hophas). If they mention the arrow wounds to her, she will put two and two together and suspect the archer Garesk. She will tell the PCs her story and ask for their help. If they mention Hophas, she will be relieved that he is alive and ask them to taker her to him (they will face resistance from village guards if they try to leave – Ophiran is worried about spreading the curse to other villages).
- if the shrine is examined, the PCs may find the secret compartment under the shrine. If it is day, Garesk will likely be sleeping inside, waiting for night to secretly ‘curse’ more villagers. If it is night, Garesk will either be out sniping (he only has to leave for a short time to do this) or will be waiting inside, and ready if they find him out. He will make for the secret exit, probably with a running battle. If defeated, he will try to slink away and spy on the PCs, hoping they will lead him to Jareena.
- the shrine will radiate the same aura as the cursed people, and may lead the PCs to the secret compartment beneath.
- if the PCs make a big show in the village, or are there for more than a day poking around, Garesk will begin targeting them with the magical toxin to get them out of the way, or he will approach them (probably with a note on an arrow) if he thinks they can be bargained with or used to his advantage.
- talking to Shadik or Ophiran will reveal the basic timeline and effects of the ‘curse’. Both know of the distressed girl, but not her specific situation, nor do they realize she is the source of the recent problems. They can relate that she arrived just before all this started, but will only do so if they think the PCs are genuine in wanting to help.
If the PCs expose and/or defeat Garesk and stop the curse, the town and Jareena will be quite grateful. If they side with the gnoll, he will offer to get them work in the city and pay them for their trouble. The villagers may re-embrace their old god if things ended well, or reject him permanently if they did not. In any case, the PCs will likely not forget the strange events here, or the shadows of the dancers shifting over the sand below the cliffs at night.
Ingredient usage:
Crematorium – The shrine’s secondary purpose, site of the tarantella, and the source of the strange toxin.
Gnoll Archer – The caliph’s assassin and bounty hunter, false god and poisoner.
Blunt Instrument – Shadik as she is used by Garesk; the rhythm sticks and symbol of The Dancing One
Beloved Icon – Jareena’s former status in the city; The Dancing God as he once was and may be again.
Tarantella – The toxin-induced dance of the ‘cursed’ villagers.
Tunnel Vision – Shadik’s overlooking any other explanation for her god ‘speaking’ to her; Garesk’s view of the dancers and the strange sight of their shadows dancing upon the sand at night.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
