Holiday Iron DM!!!! {Final Judgment Posted!}
- Thread starter el-remmen
- Start date
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
I can't help but notice the unusually high number of church-going folks in this thread.
Being the cynical and irreligious lout I am, I chalk this up to a blatant attempt to curry His favor.
You know what they say: There are no atheists when it comes to war, final exams, and nemmerlesque-judging.
Wulf
Being the cynical and irreligious lout I am, I chalk this up to a blatant attempt to curry His favor.
You know what they say: There are no atheists when it comes to war, final exams, and nemmerlesque-judging.
Wulf
Mirth
Explorer
mirthcard vs. KDLadage
Ingredients:
Dwarven Bandits
Women's Clothing
Scroll Of Miracle
Simulacrum
Naga
Ancient Monk
The Scales Of Justice
An Oriental Adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 9-12
The Set-Up:
This adventure begins as most great adventures do - in a bar - where the party is relaxing after a long, hard ride into town. The group is approached by a weary and tired young woman of warm beauty who identifies herself as Jingquan and offers to buy them a round of expensive & exquisite sake if they will allow her to explain her plight, in hopes that they can help, for which she is willing to pay them well.
As her story unfolds, the group learns that Jingquan was traveling on a diplomatic mission with her mentor Qufen, an ancient monk, when he was abducted by a group of magically armed and armored korobokuru (i.e. dwarven) bandits from the nearby Jungle Lands to the south. She overheard the korobokuru say that they are working for Xiangkou, an infamous Yuan-Ti sorceress from the Jungle Lands. The bandits did not see Jingquan when they attacked, and she was able to escape and travel here by foot, where she began searching this evening for a group of heroes who could rescue Qufen.
When the inevitable questions pour forth from the party, Jingquan will be as patient and as truthful as possible (see below), but will only reveal that their mission was one of peace and diplomacy and that she knows that Qufen is still alive, but she cannot say how she knows. Once the party is agreeable, she will secure rooms for them all (she desperately needs to get some rest), but asks that they be ready to leave at dawn to search the Jungle for Xiangkou's hideout.
What's really going on:
The story that Jingquan tells of the sorceress and her korobokuru minions abducting her mentor is all too real. However, that is only half of the problem. Xiangkou is not only Yuan-Ti, but actually half-dragon as well - to be specific, she is a Chaotic Evil 14th level Half-Yuan-Ti Abomination / Half-Chiang Lung Dragon Sorceror.
It seems that Xiangkou's father Yushun, an ancient Chiang Lung Dragon, and her mother Nantou, a pureblood Yuan-ti, were more fond of the human form and human society than either one of them wanted to admit to themselves. Yushun and Nantou never truly knew each other, but their preference for passing and living as human resulted in a liaison of mistaken identities one horrible yet truly exotic night, of which Xiangkou was the offspring. Of course, neither the Dragon (Yushun) nor the Yuan-Ti (Nantou) wanted anything to do with the child (or each other, for that matter). Yushun was embarrased and disgusted at the thought of what he had done, and Nantou was simply uninterested in having any responsibility, especially over a child so ... unpure. Abandoned by both of her parents, the outcast Xiangkou vowed revenge against both of them and then sought refuge in the Jungle Lands, where she has now grown to be a great and powerful master of dark sorcery.
Recently, Xiangkou's father, Yushun the Chiang Lung Dragon, died in combat in a remote part of the Far East. The Dragon's greatest ally in the battle, an ancient Constrictor Naga monk named Qufen, was able to salvage and escape with Yushun's blue brain pearl (which gave the Dragon the ability to fly), so that he could take the gem back to the Celestial Bureaucracy.
Qufen and his companion, a young Greensnake Naga rogue named Jingquan, were traveling to the Great Temple with the blue brain pearl when they were ambushed by Xiangkou's korobokuru. Jingquan escaped with the blue brain pearl unseen, but has only been able to keep tenuous contact with Qufen through their Akasha (the Naga's inherent telepathic link) since, mostly because he is being tortured. Hence, she only knows the sketchiest details of Qufen's situation.
Xiangkou found out about her father's death and Qufen's transportation of his blue brain pearl some weeks ago. In the time since, she has been crafting a simulacrum of her father in a magical igloo she has created at her compound and maintains with frost spells. The missing piece that she needs to give life to the simulacrum is the blue brain pearl that Qufen and Jingquan are carrying. With the completed simulacrum, Xiangkou will have control of a mighty Chiang Lung Dragon with the added bonus of getting her revenge by ordering her father around.
The only caveat to this whole plan of Xiangkou's is that she has grabbed the wrong person. Qufen doesn't have the blue brain pearl, and in torturing him she has only just found out that someone was traveling with him. Her korobokuru are searching the town for Jiangquan while the party are sleeping. It is when they find her that the action begins.
The Main Event:
The party is awakened (or alerted) by piercing screams coming from Jingquan's room. As they rush the door to investigate, the first thing they see on the floor of the darkened room is a pile of bloody women's clothing. After some quick inspection, a noise from outside draws their attention just in time to glimpse a giant snake and a bunch of shorter beings racing through the darkness down below, headed out of town. Unbeknownst to the party however, this is not Xiangkou (as they would assume), but instead Jingquan in her true Naga form persuing the korobokuru who now have possession of the blue brain pearl.
What happens now is all up to the party. Several things are possible and/or probable:
---They could persue and attack Jingquan thinking her to be Xiangkou, which would cost valuable time and could weaken all of them (Jingquan included) right before the battle to come. The korobokuru will continue running away into the jungle, regardless.
---Once the party enters the Jungle, it may be no easy task finding their way to Xiangkou's retreat. Jingquan will help, if she's able, by providing what scattered and confusing information she knows from Qufen about the location, and, if pressed, everything else that she knows about what is going on. However, Jingquan feels that Qufen will be in greater danger of death once Xiangkou has the blue brain pearl, so the stress of that will color her reactions to any needless waste of time that extensive questioning from the party could cause.
---Xiangkou is already in the middle of casting the simulacrum spell (it takes twelve hours) when the korobokuru arrive with the blue brain pearl. She learns that her servants are being pursued, but rather than kill Qufen now, she wants to relish the sight of he and his companion dying at the hands of the Dragon that was once his greatest ally. She may or may not know about the party, depending on how they interacted with the korobokuru back in town.
---This is not the first simulacrum that Xiangkou has created either - her first one was a duplicate of herself, of course. When the party arrives, they will be met by the simulacrum of Xiangkou and many of the korobokuru. If the party happens to defeat them, they may think that they have won. Too bad for them. Again, Jingquan will help the party with what info she can. Once she gets within 30 feet of Qufen, she will have instant access through the Akasha to everything Qufen has seen and heard. If they can release Qufen and heal him he will join them in the battle as best he can.
---The primary focus of the battle is to stop Xiangkou from completing the simulacrum of Yushun. However, nobody knows that that is what she is doing. Of course, the party will probably be drawn to the odd sight of a igloo in the middle of the jungle, but Xiangkou hasn't shared anything of what her trues plans are with Qufen, so there is no way for the party to know what they will find as they approach the igloo (other than a few more korobokuru waiting outside).
---If the party can stop Xiangkou's spell, they will still have to deal with her - and she will be angry, very angry. Not a pretty picture. She will try to escape with the blue brain pearl if at all possible, so that she can try to make the simulacrum again later. Of course, if they don't stop her spell ... better not to think about that.
The End?:
---Qufen and Jingquan both know that a Scroll of Miracle is in amongst Qufen's belongings. If they can find it in time, they will use it, but only to do something truly heroic (it is one of the great artifacts of their monastery which was given directly to them by their God and has been handed down from Head Vedic to Head Vedic). If there is no other way to defeat the Dragon, if one or the other of them has died, if one or more party members have perished - all of these would be suitable reasons for using the Scroll. Lastly, if the party (or one individual) has proved themselves exceedingly worthy and honorable (through good roleplaying) at the adventure's end, they will offer the Scroll to them. Because this can be an overpowering item, DMs are advised to use it sparingly or not use it at all, if they deem it so.
---What will become of the party now? If they've left Xiangkou and/or her Dragon alive, then they have made an extremely powerful enemy that could plague them for a long time to come. Of course, if they've saved Qufen and/or Jingquan, then they've made some powerful allies as well. The Celestial Bureaucracy will be pleased if the party is helpful is avoiding this disastrous situation, as well. And the surrounding countryside will be grateful to be rid of the menace.
---Xiangkou's hideout should have a fairly sizeable cache of magic. Of course, if she's alive, she'll be wanting it back.
---Regardless, it should be interesting to see how the PCs handle it the next time they have an innocent drink at a bar
Ingredients:
Dwarven Bandits
Women's Clothing
Scroll Of Miracle
Simulacrum
Naga
Ancient Monk
The Scales Of Justice
An Oriental Adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 9-12
The Set-Up:
This adventure begins as most great adventures do - in a bar - where the party is relaxing after a long, hard ride into town. The group is approached by a weary and tired young woman of warm beauty who identifies herself as Jingquan and offers to buy them a round of expensive & exquisite sake if they will allow her to explain her plight, in hopes that they can help, for which she is willing to pay them well.
As her story unfolds, the group learns that Jingquan was traveling on a diplomatic mission with her mentor Qufen, an ancient monk, when he was abducted by a group of magically armed and armored korobokuru (i.e. dwarven) bandits from the nearby Jungle Lands to the south. She overheard the korobokuru say that they are working for Xiangkou, an infamous Yuan-Ti sorceress from the Jungle Lands. The bandits did not see Jingquan when they attacked, and she was able to escape and travel here by foot, where she began searching this evening for a group of heroes who could rescue Qufen.
When the inevitable questions pour forth from the party, Jingquan will be as patient and as truthful as possible (see below), but will only reveal that their mission was one of peace and diplomacy and that she knows that Qufen is still alive, but she cannot say how she knows. Once the party is agreeable, she will secure rooms for them all (she desperately needs to get some rest), but asks that they be ready to leave at dawn to search the Jungle for Xiangkou's hideout.
What's really going on:
The story that Jingquan tells of the sorceress and her korobokuru minions abducting her mentor is all too real. However, that is only half of the problem. Xiangkou is not only Yuan-Ti, but actually half-dragon as well - to be specific, she is a Chaotic Evil 14th level Half-Yuan-Ti Abomination / Half-Chiang Lung Dragon Sorceror.
It seems that Xiangkou's father Yushun, an ancient Chiang Lung Dragon, and her mother Nantou, a pureblood Yuan-ti, were more fond of the human form and human society than either one of them wanted to admit to themselves. Yushun and Nantou never truly knew each other, but their preference for passing and living as human resulted in a liaison of mistaken identities one horrible yet truly exotic night, of which Xiangkou was the offspring. Of course, neither the Dragon (Yushun) nor the Yuan-Ti (Nantou) wanted anything to do with the child (or each other, for that matter). Yushun was embarrased and disgusted at the thought of what he had done, and Nantou was simply uninterested in having any responsibility, especially over a child so ... unpure. Abandoned by both of her parents, the outcast Xiangkou vowed revenge against both of them and then sought refuge in the Jungle Lands, where she has now grown to be a great and powerful master of dark sorcery.
Recently, Xiangkou's father, Yushun the Chiang Lung Dragon, died in combat in a remote part of the Far East. The Dragon's greatest ally in the battle, an ancient Constrictor Naga monk named Qufen, was able to salvage and escape with Yushun's blue brain pearl (which gave the Dragon the ability to fly), so that he could take the gem back to the Celestial Bureaucracy.
Qufen and his companion, a young Greensnake Naga rogue named Jingquan, were traveling to the Great Temple with the blue brain pearl when they were ambushed by Xiangkou's korobokuru. Jingquan escaped with the blue brain pearl unseen, but has only been able to keep tenuous contact with Qufen through their Akasha (the Naga's inherent telepathic link) since, mostly because he is being tortured. Hence, she only knows the sketchiest details of Qufen's situation.
Xiangkou found out about her father's death and Qufen's transportation of his blue brain pearl some weeks ago. In the time since, she has been crafting a simulacrum of her father in a magical igloo she has created at her compound and maintains with frost spells. The missing piece that she needs to give life to the simulacrum is the blue brain pearl that Qufen and Jingquan are carrying. With the completed simulacrum, Xiangkou will have control of a mighty Chiang Lung Dragon with the added bonus of getting her revenge by ordering her father around.
The only caveat to this whole plan of Xiangkou's is that she has grabbed the wrong person. Qufen doesn't have the blue brain pearl, and in torturing him she has only just found out that someone was traveling with him. Her korobokuru are searching the town for Jiangquan while the party are sleeping. It is when they find her that the action begins.
The Main Event:
The party is awakened (or alerted) by piercing screams coming from Jingquan's room. As they rush the door to investigate, the first thing they see on the floor of the darkened room is a pile of bloody women's clothing. After some quick inspection, a noise from outside draws their attention just in time to glimpse a giant snake and a bunch of shorter beings racing through the darkness down below, headed out of town. Unbeknownst to the party however, this is not Xiangkou (as they would assume), but instead Jingquan in her true Naga form persuing the korobokuru who now have possession of the blue brain pearl.
What happens now is all up to the party. Several things are possible and/or probable:
---They could persue and attack Jingquan thinking her to be Xiangkou, which would cost valuable time and could weaken all of them (Jingquan included) right before the battle to come. The korobokuru will continue running away into the jungle, regardless.
---Once the party enters the Jungle, it may be no easy task finding their way to Xiangkou's retreat. Jingquan will help, if she's able, by providing what scattered and confusing information she knows from Qufen about the location, and, if pressed, everything else that she knows about what is going on. However, Jingquan feels that Qufen will be in greater danger of death once Xiangkou has the blue brain pearl, so the stress of that will color her reactions to any needless waste of time that extensive questioning from the party could cause.
---Xiangkou is already in the middle of casting the simulacrum spell (it takes twelve hours) when the korobokuru arrive with the blue brain pearl. She learns that her servants are being pursued, but rather than kill Qufen now, she wants to relish the sight of he and his companion dying at the hands of the Dragon that was once his greatest ally. She may or may not know about the party, depending on how they interacted with the korobokuru back in town.
---This is not the first simulacrum that Xiangkou has created either - her first one was a duplicate of herself, of course. When the party arrives, they will be met by the simulacrum of Xiangkou and many of the korobokuru. If the party happens to defeat them, they may think that they have won. Too bad for them. Again, Jingquan will help the party with what info she can. Once she gets within 30 feet of Qufen, she will have instant access through the Akasha to everything Qufen has seen and heard. If they can release Qufen and heal him he will join them in the battle as best he can.
---The primary focus of the battle is to stop Xiangkou from completing the simulacrum of Yushun. However, nobody knows that that is what she is doing. Of course, the party will probably be drawn to the odd sight of a igloo in the middle of the jungle, but Xiangkou hasn't shared anything of what her trues plans are with Qufen, so there is no way for the party to know what they will find as they approach the igloo (other than a few more korobokuru waiting outside).
---If the party can stop Xiangkou's spell, they will still have to deal with her - and she will be angry, very angry. Not a pretty picture. She will try to escape with the blue brain pearl if at all possible, so that she can try to make the simulacrum again later. Of course, if they don't stop her spell ... better not to think about that.
The End?:
---Qufen and Jingquan both know that a Scroll of Miracle is in amongst Qufen's belongings. If they can find it in time, they will use it, but only to do something truly heroic (it is one of the great artifacts of their monastery which was given directly to them by their God and has been handed down from Head Vedic to Head Vedic). If there is no other way to defeat the Dragon, if one or the other of them has died, if one or more party members have perished - all of these would be suitable reasons for using the Scroll. Lastly, if the party (or one individual) has proved themselves exceedingly worthy and honorable (through good roleplaying) at the adventure's end, they will offer the Scroll to them. Because this can be an overpowering item, DMs are advised to use it sparingly or not use it at all, if they deem it so.
---What will become of the party now? If they've left Xiangkou and/or her Dragon alive, then they have made an extremely powerful enemy that could plague them for a long time to come. Of course, if they've saved Qufen and/or Jingquan, then they've made some powerful allies as well. The Celestial Bureaucracy will be pleased if the party is helpful is avoiding this disastrous situation, as well. And the surrounding countryside will be grateful to be rid of the menace.
---Xiangkou's hideout should have a fairly sizeable cache of magic. Of course, if she's alive, she'll be wanting it back.
---Regardless, it should be interesting to see how the PCs handle it the next time they have an innocent drink at a bar
Quickbeam
Explorer
Zappo said:Congrats Quickbeam; you definitely deserved to win.
Now, good luck for the next match!
Thank you very much!! I'd have to say that my kids get some of the credit, since my wife and I have just finished all of the holiday shopping and I've still got toys on the brain
. I was very surprised to discover how difficult it was to articulate my story ideas in anything that resembled a brief synopsis, while still making it seem interesting and coherent.Good luck to you for next time. I know you'll be back!!
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
I am going to try to get this last match judged by tonight some time - but I have a company x-mas party to go to and well, honestly, I plan to party like Andrew W.K. 
Anyway, I will be away Tuesday/Wednesday, so in any event, round 2 will not begin until Thursday at the earliest (maybe Wednesday night if people are around).
I think I already know who won in this last match - it is just a matter of double-checking and writing it up.
It's not gonna be pretty. ..
Anyway, I will be away Tuesday/Wednesday, so in any event, round 2 will not begin until Thursday at the earliest (maybe Wednesday night if people are around).
I think I already know who won in this last match - it is just a matter of double-checking and writing it up.
It's not gonna be pretty. ..
Similar Threads
