A political opponent from Valenar has embarked upon a mission to reduce House Lyrandar’s profits by undermining its airship operations. A member of Keepers of the Past, Isela M’daarkith, sees the growing power of House Lyrandar in Valenar as a threat to her own pursuits. She has devised a brute and simple plan to crush the income of House Lyrandar, and as such has targeted Lyrandar Tower in Sharn.
One of her agents is currently in the docking port waiting for an airship to arrive. His name is Ivorus Khan, a strange former member of the order of the Silver Flame. What he believes is the voice of the Silver Flame is in fact the voice of the demon currently bound to the flame by the woman who became the voice. As such, he is attuned to a different set of domains and abilities than an ordinary priest of the Silver Flame would be. He is working for Isela as part of a contract, which will earn him a great deal of wealth if he is successful. The voice of the demon seems quite pleased with his choice, as it could result in thousands of deaths and ensuing anarchy among house Lyrandar. Ivorus is only the front man, however, for a much larger operation. A high level artificer employed by Isela constructed the tools that Ivorus uses, and the plans, and actually hired Ivorus.
The plans consist of a multi-part “magic bomb” designed to cripple the structure of Lyrandar tower and send it crashing into the ground below. Lyrandar has very heavy security (as per the Lyrandar Tower web enhancement) including a number of wizards with goggles of detect magic. It is Ivorus Khan’s job to place the six “magic bombs” in critical positions throughout the tower. Each bomb has a handful of security precautions detailed below. Even if three bombs were disarmed, it will only take any three of the six to cause properly devastating damage. Disarming four would at least reduce the damage, though the tower would have to be evacuated and quarantined for months while repairs are enacted. A single bomb will only damage a few levels of the tower, and force those to be closed off.
The PCs have received vital clues that point to the agent’s presence, but they must find him among the crowds in order to interfere with his plans. Ivorus is waiting (rather impatiently) for a Lyrandar airship embarking for Valenar. He has already placed four of the bombs, and soon enough the first bomb is going to be found and the entire tower is going to shut down and start searching for the others. Ivorus has to try and find some way to get out of the tower (and for all purposes, out of Sharn) as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the party is going to be trying to search for him.
The PCs that have relevant “hooks” into this adventure are:
1) The warforged who is currently “employed” (endentured servitude) by Archierophant Ythana Morr in Sharn. She knows a little bit about Ivorus, and believes that he could still be useful to her. She may very well send the warforged out to search for him after hearing that he was seen in Sharn. He’s a mithral bodied warforged fighter 8 with “big problems with little fleshies.”
2) The resident “detective” of the group would quickly be called in after the first of the “bombs” is found. He would likely be called in, along with a dozen other investigators from all over Sharn. He’s a 9th level rogue with track and urban tracking.
3) The groups’ wizard is a diviner, and has worked with the detective on most of his high profile cases. He would likely receive a message through the detective, and show up immediately to start searching using his spells available. He’s a 9th level specialized diviner.
4) The groups’ cleric is a former brother of the current leader of House Lyrandar in Sharn. His brother happens to keep him on a short leash, often calling on him when he has needs. After the first bomb is discovered (by NPCs) he would likely send calls for help out in all directions. The cleric is a 5th level cleric/4th level dragonmarked heir.
Ivorus Khan's Stats
[sblock]Ivorus Khan: Male human rogue 2/cleric 3/black flame zealot 7; CR 12; Medium humanoid; HD 2d6+4 plus 3d8+6 plus 7d6+14; hp 71; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 Base Atk +8; Grp +8; Atk +12 melee (1d4+1 plus 1d6 fire 15-20/x2, +1 keen kukri); Full Atrk +10/+5 melee (1d4+1 plus 1d6 fire/15-20, +1 keen kukri) and +10 melee (1d4+1/18-20, +1 kukri); SA death attack, poison use, rebuke undead 2/day (+1, 2d6+2, 3rd), sneak attack +3d6, sacred flame, smite 1/day (+4 to hit, +3 damage); SQ evasion, fateful stride 1/day, zealous heart; AL LE; SV Fort +7, Ref +12, Will +12; Str 10, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8.
Skill and Feats: Balance +10, Climb +5, Concentration +14, Hide +23, Jump +7, Knowledge (religion) +9, Listen +15, Move Silently +18, Spellcraft +2, Spot +15, Tumble +14; Extend Spell, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Martial Weapon Proficiency (kukri), Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse.
Death Attack (Ex): If Ivorus Khan studies his victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage the victim must make a DC 18 Fortitude save or die.
Evasion (Ex): If Ivorus Khan makes a successful Reflex save against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage.
Fateful Stride (Sp): Once per day Ivorus Khan can take a single step and pass through obstacles or distance as the spell dimension door. Ivorus Khan’s caster level is 6th for this spell.
Poison Use (Ex): Ivorus Khan has the ability to use poison safely.
Sacred Flame(Su): Ivorus Khan can command a single melee weapon in his possession to gain the flaming ability, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage per successful attack in addition to its normal weapon damage. Once per day, as a free action Ivorus Khan can instead bestow the flaming burst property on a weapon in his possession for 1 minute.
Sneak Attack (Ex): +3d6 points of damage against flat-footed opponents within 30 feet, or against targets Ivorus Khan is flanking. Creatures without discernible anatomies or that are immune to critical hits are immune to sneak attacks.
Zealous Heart (Su): Ivorus Khan is immune to fear, magical or otherwise.
Cleric Spells Prepared (5/4+1/4+1/2+1; save DC 12 + spell level); 0 – detect magic, detect poison, guidance, light, resistance; 1st – burning hands*, cure light wounds, entropic shield, obscuring mist, shield of faith; 2nd – aid, bear’s endurance, divine favor (extend), shatter *, silence; 3rd – blindness/deafness, magic vestments, resist energy (fire) *
*Domain Spell. Domains: Destruction (smite 1/day, +4 attack, +3 damage), Fire (turn water creatures or rebuke fire creatures 2/day).
Possessions: Amulet of natural armor +1, masterwork studded leather, +1 keen kukri, +1 kukri, cloak of elvenkind, scroll of divine power; hat of disguise, ring of featherfall, slippers of spider climbing, potions of blur (2), cat’s grace (2), and darkvision (2), 40 pp, 9 gp.[/sblock]
Bomb Statistics:
[sblock]Arcane Explosives Trap: CR 11; magic device; time trigger; no reset; hidden lock bypass (Search DC 25, Open Lock DC 30); (all targets within 400 ft., ignores hardness) 32d6 fire damage and 32d6 bludgeoning damage, reflex save DC 30 for half damage; never miss; Search DC 30; Disable Device DC 25. Market Price: 36,000 gp.[/sblock]
