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IRON DM 2013--Entries, Judgements, Commentary, & Trash-Talk
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<blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 6158162" data-attributes="member: 34958"><p><strong>Deuce Traveler's Entry for Round 2, Match 2: Deuce Traveler vs. Radiating Gnome</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Title:</strong> </p><p>Time, Truth and Trust</p><p></p><p><strong>Ingredients:</strong></p><p><em>Weeping Willows =></em> Ideal trees for blocking desert soil erosion. Used by Inan the Grand Merchant to sustain his famously large plantation which feeds much of the Cities of the Plains. Site of first confrontation against Tiam’s forces, but on land.</p><p></p><p><em>Trust => </em> Property interest of Inan that is supposed to go to his bastard child, Syra. Lost in a storm due to a sinking ship. This trust is Inan’s way of breaking his agreement with Tiam without truly breaking it.</p><p></p><p><em>Sinking Ship=></em> Vessel containing Inan’s property trust, coming from lands unknown. Site of second confrontation and the party’s challenge against Tiam, but on the sea.</p><p></p><p><em>Beginning of Time=></em> Moment and place that started civilization for the Cities of the Plains. Site of agreement between Inan and Tiam. Site of third and final confrontation in a place between order and chaos.</p><p></p><p><em>Nobody Special=></em> Syra, a poor commoner who happens to be the bastard child of Inan and inheritor of his trust. Her vulnerable life makes her sympathetic to the plight of others and an ideal candidate for Inan’s inheritance.</p><p></p><p><em>Unlikely Appointments=></em> Party members appointed as guides and heralds to future demigod, Syra and party showing unexpectedly to decision on Inan’s property during debate on inheritors, and Syra’s appointment to deity-hood.</p><p></p><p><strong>Background:</strong> </p><p>News quickly spreads in the region of the recent death from old age of a rich and famed merchant, resulting in the lesser local plantation owners, merchants, and nobles squabbling over who will inherit his quite valuable property. The dead merchant imported acres of <em>salix babylonicas</em>, also known as weeping willows, and used them to block the ever invading desert winds which had been strangling the local agriculture in recent years. This act, and his purchase of previously valueless land, resulted in him developing a huge plot of land that fed a third of the local population and helped the area grow in wealth and power. When he purchased the land many decades ago, he annotated in the government records that a legal trust would be brought from across the sea at the chance of his death, though no ship has yet appeared.</p><p></p><p>The characters have an orphaned friend named Syra who seeks them out. She talks about having a strange vision of a man calling her his daughter and telling her to travel to his estate, guarded from the desert sand by weeping willows. There she is to claim ownership of his property. She insists that the dream was real, despite the heroes wondering if the turmoil from recent happenings has affected her mind. Syra causes a commotion upon her arrival to the estate and her proclamation of being the heir to the merchant’s property. But the estate owner had many portraits and busts made in his own likeness, and it is quickly obvious to all that Syra looks like a younger, feminine version of the deceased. The merchant was not all he seemed to have been, and so the real adventure begins after Syra causes this commotion. A sudden, huge sandstorm rises over the weeping willows and slams into the plantation, with desert horsemen riding in along with it, intent on slaying Syra.</p><p></p><p><strong>Campaign Notes:</strong> This adventure can be placed anywhere, as Tiam and Inan could be local powers, and their long battle may only affect a small region. The adventure should take place in a high fantasy campaign area that includes a nearby port and fertile area bordering desert. Because of the nature of some monsters and the fact that travelling funds may be required, character levels should be at least level five or higher, with the Dungeon Master increasing the encounter levels to match the party’s abilities.</p><p></p><p><strong>Written on a Plaque in the Foyer of the Merchant’s Estate:</strong> “In the days of chaos, there were ignorant men, fearful godlings, and Tiam, the Ever-Hungry. Tiam could never be sated, for there were fewer and fewer godlings and men to eat as she could not contain her appetite. But one day, Tiam made a deal with the weakest of godlings, Inan the Trickster. Inan would become a man and teach them to grow food, hunt, and populate so that one day they would be so numerous they could serve to feed Tiam’s hunger. Tiam would bind herself to a promise not to eat man or godling until the now mortal Inan would die of old age, and therefore guaranteeing escape from Tiam’s great hunger in reward for this service. Tiam thought herself clever, for how very short is a man’s life compared to a god. But the trust was broken by one, and the other was betrayed, and earth and sea shake with the roar of a god’s rage...”</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure:</strong></p><p>The party members will be as surprised by the sand storm and dervishes on horseback as the other assembled notables, though they are in a much better position to defend themselves if they escorted Syra while armed. The desert horsemen will make their murderous intentions obvious as they hack at those assembled, screaming threats and demanding to know which one is Syra. The adventurers should realize that their commoner friend is in mortal danger and needs protection. </p><p></p><p>Once the initial attack is dealt with, the heroes will hear crying and screaming in the storm-covered line of weeping willows and see one of them being felled. A second group of raiders is hacking furiously at the base of the protective willows, trying to do as much damage before retreating. These warriors are accompanied by nature priests/druids maintaining the sand storm and serving as the religious leaders of the tribesmen. If any of these religious leaders are killed, they will be found wearing holy symbols to Tiam, goddess of chaos. Likewise, a local knowledge check of moderate difficulty can be used to recognize the attackers as being from a tribe that worships Tiam.</p><p></p><p>Alert characters will realize that it was the line of trees that were crying out in pain, and if anyone can talk to plants they will find out that the attackers hate them for keeping the desert at bay. They will also say that the raiders were talking about how sea creatures serving Tiam struck at Inan’s ship at a famously dangerous reef, damaging the vessel fatally, and that it is slowly sinking along with Inan’s property trust, naming Syra his heir. If no one can speak to plants, the party can question any wounded or captured raiders, who will laugh and brag using the same information. Finally, a scroll written in strange, aquatic script may also be found on a raider detailing the attack on the ship and its dire situation.</p><p></p><p>At this point it should be obvious that there is more going on than initially thought, and they are going to have to go after the ship and save its contents. Syra will also demand to come, knowing that it is not safe to stay behind due to political machinations from those wanting the merchant’s estate and cultists following the order of Tiam to slay her. Syra is a commoner with low status and few rights, and knows her best chance of survival is with the party despite the danger they are facing.</p><p></p><p>The party will have to find means of marine transportation and navigation, but when they manage to do so they will find the ship impaled on the infamous reefs and slowly taking in water. A nearby storm can also be seen in the distance, so whatever the heroes decide to do will have to happen fast. Days ago, the sahaugin servants of Tiam struck at the same time that a series of huge waves slammed into the ship. The assailed crew was unable to recover the ship and it eventually crashed into the reefs, though the sahaugin were beaten back by the dying keeper of Inan’s trust. </p><p></p><p>When the party arrives, the sahaugin realize that the situation is quickly moving out of their control and they attack both the party and the party’s vessel with magic, spears, and pet sharks. The heroes will have to fight them off, and then fight through another group of the monsters in order to explore the sinking ship. Eventually, they will discover the nearly dead Behrain, a water mage and an old friend of Inin. He will apologize to Syra for his failure to reach her in time and the danger to her this failure caused. He will speak cryptically about how things seemed a good idea in a past time, how long friends of Inan were able to keep a good bluff going, and Inan having one trick left for the world. He motions for Syra to open a small, nearby chest. No healing magic will work on Behrain, and if tried he will smile grimly and tell the heroes that they are witnessing the dying of an era, and such magic will not work on those that helped usher it in. He also states that Syra’s appointed champions have bested Tiam an both land and sea, and now she must be bested in the place between order and chaos.</p><p></p><p>Behrain will die and the winds will be whip up in alarming speed, driving the distant, strange storm closer to the sinking ship. Druids can use their powers to hold it at bay for awhile, but it is clear that the storm is not natural and cannot be pushed back forever. Any attempt to pick open Behrain’s chest will fail, as it lacks a lock. However, it will open at Syra’s touch, creating a doorway to another place and whisking Syra and the party away from danger.</p><p></p><p>The chest is either a doorway to the Beginning of Time or the Beginning of Time is inside the chest. The Beginning of Time is a place, or a moment, or both. Whatever the reality, the party finds itself standing at the same place where Inan’s pact with Tiam was made. Tiam’s physical avatar and Inan’s shade are also present.</p><p></p><p>It is at this time that Inan meets Syra for the first time and explains that she is talking to his accumulated memories of agriculture and land cultivation, the last remnants of him left as a gift to her. He had evaded death through old age for as long as his god-like wit and penchant for tricks enabled him to do so, but nothing lasts forever and Tiam’s creeping influence was always going to eventually win out. But if Syra accepts his accumulated knowledge, a part of his divine spark will live on with her and she will take his place, becoming a demigod and keeping Tiam at bay through the pact agreed upon long ago. The shade of Inan also explains that it is important that Syra is the one to take up the spark, as she is a commoner without special powers or status and will therefore strive to find more ways to advance civilization and ease the burdens of mankind.</p><p></p><p>Tiam urges Syra to leave the spark of divinity alone and let it fade into nothingness. She explains to Syra that Inan might not have broken the law of the pact, but he broke its intent. Tiam cannot act directly upon the earth until Inan’s divine spark is gone, and man will continue to run roughshod around the world if not culled. Unless the party intervenes, it should be clear that Syra will decide to help mankind, and bind Tiam once more at the Beginning of Time by taking up her father’s mantle and heralding a new era for the Cities of the Plains.</p><p></p><p>Tiam won’t take this lightly. As Syra attempts to absorb the divine spark, Tiam lets out her rage and calls upon beasts made of chaos to attack the party for the third and final encounter. Once victorious, Tiam will disappear and Syra will return the heroes to the campaign world once more. It is up to the Dungeon Master whether Syra will take residence at her father’s earthy estate or if she will disappear and lay low to escape Tiam’s machinations while devising new inventions to help the people grow food and find water. Agriculture and civilization will continue to advance to the benefit of the local populace.</p><p></p><p>If Syra is killed during the quest or gives up the spark, the land will begin to suffer wild seasonal changes that make it more difficult to plant crops. The cults of Tiam will grow during this confusion, and heroes will be needed to hold back the encroaching chaos.</p><p></p><p>Either way, new adventures will beckon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Deuce Traveler, post: 6158162, member: 34958"] [b]Deuce Traveler's Entry for Round 2, Match 2: Deuce Traveler vs. Radiating Gnome[/b] [b]Title:[/b] Time, Truth and Trust [b]Ingredients:[/b] [i]Weeping Willows =>[/i] Ideal trees for blocking desert soil erosion. Used by Inan the Grand Merchant to sustain his famously large plantation which feeds much of the Cities of the Plains. Site of first confrontation against Tiam’s forces, but on land. [i]Trust => [/i] Property interest of Inan that is supposed to go to his bastard child, Syra. Lost in a storm due to a sinking ship. This trust is Inan’s way of breaking his agreement with Tiam without truly breaking it. [i]Sinking Ship=>[/i] Vessel containing Inan’s property trust, coming from lands unknown. Site of second confrontation and the party’s challenge against Tiam, but on the sea. [i]Beginning of Time=>[/i] Moment and place that started civilization for the Cities of the Plains. Site of agreement between Inan and Tiam. Site of third and final confrontation in a place between order and chaos. [i]Nobody Special=>[/i] Syra, a poor commoner who happens to be the bastard child of Inan and inheritor of his trust. Her vulnerable life makes her sympathetic to the plight of others and an ideal candidate for Inan’s inheritance. [i]Unlikely Appointments=>[/i] Party members appointed as guides and heralds to future demigod, Syra and party showing unexpectedly to decision on Inan’s property during debate on inheritors, and Syra’s appointment to deity-hood. [b]Background:[/b] News quickly spreads in the region of the recent death from old age of a rich and famed merchant, resulting in the lesser local plantation owners, merchants, and nobles squabbling over who will inherit his quite valuable property. The dead merchant imported acres of [i]salix babylonicas[/i], also known as weeping willows, and used them to block the ever invading desert winds which had been strangling the local agriculture in recent years. This act, and his purchase of previously valueless land, resulted in him developing a huge plot of land that fed a third of the local population and helped the area grow in wealth and power. When he purchased the land many decades ago, he annotated in the government records that a legal trust would be brought from across the sea at the chance of his death, though no ship has yet appeared. The characters have an orphaned friend named Syra who seeks them out. She talks about having a strange vision of a man calling her his daughter and telling her to travel to his estate, guarded from the desert sand by weeping willows. There she is to claim ownership of his property. She insists that the dream was real, despite the heroes wondering if the turmoil from recent happenings has affected her mind. Syra causes a commotion upon her arrival to the estate and her proclamation of being the heir to the merchant’s property. But the estate owner had many portraits and busts made in his own likeness, and it is quickly obvious to all that Syra looks like a younger, feminine version of the deceased. The merchant was not all he seemed to have been, and so the real adventure begins after Syra causes this commotion. A sudden, huge sandstorm rises over the weeping willows and slams into the plantation, with desert horsemen riding in along with it, intent on slaying Syra. [b]Campaign Notes:[/b] This adventure can be placed anywhere, as Tiam and Inan could be local powers, and their long battle may only affect a small region. The adventure should take place in a high fantasy campaign area that includes a nearby port and fertile area bordering desert. Because of the nature of some monsters and the fact that travelling funds may be required, character levels should be at least level five or higher, with the Dungeon Master increasing the encounter levels to match the party’s abilities. [b]Written on a Plaque in the Foyer of the Merchant’s Estate:[/b] “In the days of chaos, there were ignorant men, fearful godlings, and Tiam, the Ever-Hungry. Tiam could never be sated, for there were fewer and fewer godlings and men to eat as she could not contain her appetite. But one day, Tiam made a deal with the weakest of godlings, Inan the Trickster. Inan would become a man and teach them to grow food, hunt, and populate so that one day they would be so numerous they could serve to feed Tiam’s hunger. Tiam would bind herself to a promise not to eat man or godling until the now mortal Inan would die of old age, and therefore guaranteeing escape from Tiam’s great hunger in reward for this service. Tiam thought herself clever, for how very short is a man’s life compared to a god. But the trust was broken by one, and the other was betrayed, and earth and sea shake with the roar of a god’s rage...” [b]Adventure:[/b] The party members will be as surprised by the sand storm and dervishes on horseback as the other assembled notables, though they are in a much better position to defend themselves if they escorted Syra while armed. The desert horsemen will make their murderous intentions obvious as they hack at those assembled, screaming threats and demanding to know which one is Syra. The adventurers should realize that their commoner friend is in mortal danger and needs protection. Once the initial attack is dealt with, the heroes will hear crying and screaming in the storm-covered line of weeping willows and see one of them being felled. A second group of raiders is hacking furiously at the base of the protective willows, trying to do as much damage before retreating. These warriors are accompanied by nature priests/druids maintaining the sand storm and serving as the religious leaders of the tribesmen. If any of these religious leaders are killed, they will be found wearing holy symbols to Tiam, goddess of chaos. Likewise, a local knowledge check of moderate difficulty can be used to recognize the attackers as being from a tribe that worships Tiam. Alert characters will realize that it was the line of trees that were crying out in pain, and if anyone can talk to plants they will find out that the attackers hate them for keeping the desert at bay. They will also say that the raiders were talking about how sea creatures serving Tiam struck at Inan’s ship at a famously dangerous reef, damaging the vessel fatally, and that it is slowly sinking along with Inan’s property trust, naming Syra his heir. If no one can speak to plants, the party can question any wounded or captured raiders, who will laugh and brag using the same information. Finally, a scroll written in strange, aquatic script may also be found on a raider detailing the attack on the ship and its dire situation. At this point it should be obvious that there is more going on than initially thought, and they are going to have to go after the ship and save its contents. Syra will also demand to come, knowing that it is not safe to stay behind due to political machinations from those wanting the merchant’s estate and cultists following the order of Tiam to slay her. Syra is a commoner with low status and few rights, and knows her best chance of survival is with the party despite the danger they are facing. The party will have to find means of marine transportation and navigation, but when they manage to do so they will find the ship impaled on the infamous reefs and slowly taking in water. A nearby storm can also be seen in the distance, so whatever the heroes decide to do will have to happen fast. Days ago, the sahaugin servants of Tiam struck at the same time that a series of huge waves slammed into the ship. The assailed crew was unable to recover the ship and it eventually crashed into the reefs, though the sahaugin were beaten back by the dying keeper of Inan’s trust. When the party arrives, the sahaugin realize that the situation is quickly moving out of their control and they attack both the party and the party’s vessel with magic, spears, and pet sharks. The heroes will have to fight them off, and then fight through another group of the monsters in order to explore the sinking ship. Eventually, they will discover the nearly dead Behrain, a water mage and an old friend of Inin. He will apologize to Syra for his failure to reach her in time and the danger to her this failure caused. He will speak cryptically about how things seemed a good idea in a past time, how long friends of Inan were able to keep a good bluff going, and Inan having one trick left for the world. He motions for Syra to open a small, nearby chest. No healing magic will work on Behrain, and if tried he will smile grimly and tell the heroes that they are witnessing the dying of an era, and such magic will not work on those that helped usher it in. He also states that Syra’s appointed champions have bested Tiam an both land and sea, and now she must be bested in the place between order and chaos. Behrain will die and the winds will be whip up in alarming speed, driving the distant, strange storm closer to the sinking ship. Druids can use their powers to hold it at bay for awhile, but it is clear that the storm is not natural and cannot be pushed back forever. Any attempt to pick open Behrain’s chest will fail, as it lacks a lock. However, it will open at Syra’s touch, creating a doorway to another place and whisking Syra and the party away from danger. The chest is either a doorway to the Beginning of Time or the Beginning of Time is inside the chest. The Beginning of Time is a place, or a moment, or both. Whatever the reality, the party finds itself standing at the same place where Inan’s pact with Tiam was made. Tiam’s physical avatar and Inan’s shade are also present. It is at this time that Inan meets Syra for the first time and explains that she is talking to his accumulated memories of agriculture and land cultivation, the last remnants of him left as a gift to her. He had evaded death through old age for as long as his god-like wit and penchant for tricks enabled him to do so, but nothing lasts forever and Tiam’s creeping influence was always going to eventually win out. But if Syra accepts his accumulated knowledge, a part of his divine spark will live on with her and she will take his place, becoming a demigod and keeping Tiam at bay through the pact agreed upon long ago. The shade of Inan also explains that it is important that Syra is the one to take up the spark, as she is a commoner without special powers or status and will therefore strive to find more ways to advance civilization and ease the burdens of mankind. Tiam urges Syra to leave the spark of divinity alone and let it fade into nothingness. She explains to Syra that Inan might not have broken the law of the pact, but he broke its intent. Tiam cannot act directly upon the earth until Inan’s divine spark is gone, and man will continue to run roughshod around the world if not culled. Unless the party intervenes, it should be clear that Syra will decide to help mankind, and bind Tiam once more at the Beginning of Time by taking up her father’s mantle and heralding a new era for the Cities of the Plains. Tiam won’t take this lightly. As Syra attempts to absorb the divine spark, Tiam lets out her rage and calls upon beasts made of chaos to attack the party for the third and final encounter. Once victorious, Tiam will disappear and Syra will return the heroes to the campaign world once more. It is up to the Dungeon Master whether Syra will take residence at her father’s earthy estate or if she will disappear and lay low to escape Tiam’s machinations while devising new inventions to help the people grow food and find water. Agriculture and civilization will continue to advance to the benefit of the local populace. If Syra is killed during the quest or gives up the spark, the land will begin to suffer wild seasonal changes that make it more difficult to plant crops. The cults of Tiam will grow during this confusion, and heroes will be needed to hold back the encroaching chaos. Either way, new adventures will beckon. [/QUOTE]
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