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<blockquote data-quote="InVinoVeritas" data-source="post: 4997366" data-attributes="member: 41485"><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><span style="color: white"><strong>Hell’s Close</strong></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">An adventure for 4-6 PCs of character level 4-6.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Prologue</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">This encounter occurs while the PCs are traveling to a new city they have not visited before. While they sleep (it can be in an inn, outside, or wherever) the encounter occurs.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The PCs find themselves in a small, cramped alleyway. The buildings rise up on either side, and cross over the top of the alley, making a closed space. A single torch provides poor illuminates a sign on the wall: <em>Hell’s Close</em>. Beyond the alleyway, it rains, and a slick shimmering surface on the flat stone reflects the land outside. </span></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: white"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/3966141725_93362ca0b2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">The alleyway of Hell's Close</span></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p><span style="color: white">A human woman appears at a doorway in the alley. She has long, black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes, nearly white. She wears a long, white nightgown, and is barefoot. She speaks: “I am Alora, and we are in danger. Please help us…” She then shuts the door, hiding inside. The door proves to be a secret door, and melds into the stone of the building.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Let the fight begin. This is Jagganath, an evil cloud giant. Any attacks the players make should appear to be relatively trivial to him. He does not reach far into the alley on account of his size, however. As they fight, more giants rise from the stone behind him. Hopefully, a PC will think to look for the trigger to open the secret door. As the search starts, Jagganath reaches above the PCs, and tears off a section of wall at the mouth of the alley. The PCs manage to find the latch at ground level to open the door, just as the massive stone block is launched at them like a spear, with no space to dodge…</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">…and the PCs wake up, where they fell asleep, safe. No one around them has heard of Hell’s Close or Alora.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Chapter 1: Flim Flam</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Once the PCs reach the city, during their initial exploration, they find a street performer, a tall gangly fellow, in a jester’s costume, complete with bauble.</span></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: white"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/1467403085_2605581498.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span style="color: white">Flim Flam</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p><span style="color: white">He spots the PCs, introduces himself to the crowd as Flim Flam and proceeds to perform tricks for the gathered people. He will engage the PCs in embarrassing tricks for the pleasure of the crowd. If the PCs attempt to accost him, or ask him about Alora or Hell’s Close, he points his bauble at the closest PC, shouts, “Bazoom!” and the magic of his bauble (actually a Rod of Fumbling) takes effect. He then runs off, expecting to be followed. (If necessary, have him steal a coin purse from the PCs.)</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">He runs quickly through the crowd, down confusing streets. He uses the Rod of Fumbling as necessary to keep the PCs from catching or killing him. Eventually, he ducks down a covered alleyway and disappears. When the PCs approach, the do not find Flim Flam, but they find a sign on the wall: Hell’s Close.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">In the alleyway, the PCs find it identical to the alley in their earlier dream. Indeed, a little searching reveals the trigger and secret door, just where it was in the dream.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Inside, there is a room, 30’ wide and 60’ long. The first 5 feet are solid ground, falling off into a deep pool of water 20’ deep, all 30’ wide, and 40’ long. A thin bridge, only 1’ wide, spans the pool. Torches line the walls, keeping the room lit. Flim Flam cries out, “Aw, nuts!” and retreats back across the bridge. If the party tries to follow, Flim Flam points the Rod at them and shouts, “Careful! Wouldn’t want to slip and fall now, would we?” He pulls a shank bone from a large 5’x10’ tub of offal, and throws it into the water, and (regular, non-flying) piranhas leap into a feeding frenzy to strip the meat off the bone.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“That’s enough, Flim Flam.” A high pitched voice responds. Fluttering into view is a tiny dragon, held aloft by shiny platinum-colored butterfly wings. “I am Kookajib, and we mean you no harm. Please, watch your step.”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Kookajib is a faerie dragon, and the leader of the denizens of Hell’s Close. The alley is home to a number of misfits and odd characters. She introduces Flim Flam again, and then Squort, a portly Halfling who looks oddly fish-like. Squort raises the piranha both to protect Hell’s Close and sell to others—the local thieves’ guildmaster keeps a tank of piranha just to keep his lackeys in line. Then emerges from beyond the room a waifish young woman with black hair, bright blue eyes, and a white linen nightgown. As Kookajib introduces her, she responds, “Yes, Kookajib. We have met before.”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Chapter 2: Alora</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Alora leads the PCs back behind the piranha tank. There is a hallway with a number of small, cell-like rooms, each packed with the poor. Alora explains that she is a seeress, able to travel to the future and across space in her sleep, appearing to others in dreams. She has been carefully watching Hell’s Close as she sleeps, and discovered that something, some group of giants, wishes to pull the whole community into their netherworld. They are using reflective surfaces as their portal between the two worlds. Unfortunately, she does not understand how this operates.</span></p><p><span style="color: white">She offers to show the PCs another scene from the future, but everyone must fall asleep in order for her to enter their dreams. Should they agree, they are given a claustrophobic space in which to sleep. Flim Flam agrees to keep watch to make sure that nothing happens—“Or gets stolen! Honest!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">After everyone dozes off, they find themselves in a dark room. A candle is lit, in front of a mirror. A small figure moves in the room, but then the mirror goes hazy. It fills with smoke, becoming fully opaque. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“O Tezcatlipoca!” a voice begins, “O Smoking Mirror! I beseech you, take these souls, fill us with your night!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The mirror clears, revealing a large, white face—a different one from the earlier dream. “You are alone?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“O yes, great master, all is as it should be!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“You have sold the fish to the Guildmaster, this is good. He works for us, now, he sees the power of Tezcatlipoca. He is running the rackets in this city, getting the mirrors placed, building the network for the Family. We shall prove our power now, pull Hell’s Close into Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm, and claim its souls for us. Do you have the recent payment?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The small figure takes a sack of coins and thrusts it through the mirror. A giant hand claims it.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“Very good. The Family will reward you well. Remember, anyone who breaks a mirror will be fed to the fish! This city will deliver their payments to us, or we will pull it all into the Night Realm!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“But I fear your plan, master! What if everyone breaks their mirrors?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“We can appear through any reflective surface; water, glass, anything... And only if we break the mirror, will we be barred entry to your world! That will not happen!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“Yes, master, Tezcatlipoca is emperor, and the Family of the First Sun are his monarchs!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Suddenly, a door is heard opening, and light streams in to reveal Squort as the small figure!</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The party awakens.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Chapter 3: Squort</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Kookajib joins the awakened party to track down Squort. They reach his room and open the door.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Squort is pulled through the mirror in the first round. Kookajib tries to stop the giant, but slams against the solid smoking mirror. In the mirror, the face of the second giant, Polyphemio, grins. He will keep the PCs from approaching the mirror by reaching through to grab anyone possible. In the next round, Polyphemio will call out, “What have we here? A bug? Burn!” A large gobbet of alchemist’s fire launches through the mirror to cover Kookajib, who bursts into flame. “Aaah! Water! Put me out!” Kookajib flies out for the piranha tank. This gives the PCs the chance to shatter the mirror.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Kookajib, aflame, flies into the entry hall with the piranha tank, and dives in—just as the water’s silvery, reflective surface becomes cloudy and smoky. The water churns with the piranha as it grows choppier. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The voice of Polyphemio booms forth from the pool, “Welcome, bug, to your new home! Your soul shall serve Tezcatlipoca forever! He has plans for you, as he has plans for these fish!” Flim Flam calls out to the PCs, “Come on! Get out while you still can! I’ll hold off any giants!” With a flourish of his bauble, he adds, “ The bigger they are… The harder they fall!”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">As soon as the PCs cross the bridge (or it becomes apparent they won’t), the smoky water bubbles and bursts forth with the piranha, held aloft on platinum butterfly wings. They swarm Flim Flam, knocking him into the water and devouring him mercilessly—his Rod of Fumbling of no use against this foe. Once the piranha are through with Flim Flam, they attack the PCs. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The water is too choppy to be a large enough surface for the giants to emerge, but the water cannot be shattered like a mirror. Dumping the contents of the offal bin into the water, however, will fill it with blood and remove the mirror-like quality of the water, shutting off the gateway to the Night Realm. Once the gateway is shut, someone can swim to the bottom of the pool safely (except, perhaps, for piranhas) and retrieve the Rod of Fumbling. It will be very useful in the final encounter.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Chapter 4: The Family of the First Sun</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Back out in the alleyway, the sounds of rain can be heard past the alley mouth. The smooth stone surface appears slick and reflective in this environment. Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">This time, the fight is for real. Two more cloud giants emerge from the stone behind Jagganath. Although the cloud giants still cannot fit down the close, they can lob boulders down it. Also, since the new reflective surface is a stone street with a sheet of water, it is not easily shattered. If the PCs manage to fight their way past the giants, they find that they, and all of Hell’s Close, are no longer in the city but in a large, silvery-black plain with nothing to see for miles. Despite a cold, silvery sun in the sky, the land does not appear to be lit brightly by it, stuck in an eternal night.</span></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: white"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/3187284545_d6020f2393.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">The Night Realm of Tezcatlipoca</span></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p><span style="color: white">However, the Rod of Fumbling can solve this. If a cloud giant is targeted by the Rod of Fumbling while holding a large stone high in the air over his head, the giant slips and falls, dropping the stone over 25’ to the ground below. This will shatter the flagstone, and destroy the mirror. Thus, the giant will have destroyed the mirror, banishing them, and returning Hell’s Close to the real world. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Epilogue</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Alora still lives, and will continue to care for the people of Hell’s Close. The PCs can now go and scour the city for the Thieves’ Guildmaster, and prevent racketeering operations throughout the city on behalf of the Family of the First Sun. Through her seeress power, she can be a source of help for the PCs or a hook for future adventures.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">The Family of the First Sun can remain a threat in the background, emerging in different cities, and performing much the same function. They are a clan of evil cloud giants who will attempt to open up portals to Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm throughout a city, and threaten to pull the city into the Night Realm unless they are paid protection money. They will typically find a slum and pull it through to demonstrate the power they hold. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Rod of Fumbling</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">When pointed at a target and the command word is said, the Rod of Fumbling causes the target to drop whatever he or she holds, and to slip and fall prone. There is no saving throw, but magic resistance does work. It takes a standard action to activate the Rod of Fumbling.</span></p><p><span style="color: white">Moderate enchantment; CL 12th; </span><a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#craftRod" target="_blank"><span style="color: white">Craft Rod</span></a><span style="color: white">, <em>Daze, Grease</em>; Price 5,000 gp.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Flying Piranha</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Use the Hawk stat block, but the Talon attack is a Bite attack instead. They have a Swim speed of 60 ft. and can breathe water.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong>Tezcatlipoca</strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">Tezcatlipoca was the Aztec god of deceit and the night. Also known as the Smoking Mirror, he was the world’s first sun, and created a race of giants to populate the world. This world of the first sun was eventually destroyed, and devoured by jaguars.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white">From Wikipedia:</span></p><p><span style="color: white"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezcatlipoca" target="_blank">Tezcatlipoca</a></span></p><p><span style="color: white"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_suns" target="_blank">Myth of the Five Suns</a></span></p><p> </p><p>Photo Credits:</p><p><span style="color: white">Alleyway by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwthomas/3966141725/" target="_blank">C.W. Thomas</a>.</span></p><p><span style="color: white">Jester by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sternoskop/1467403085/" target="_blank">Ljubica_R</a>.</span></p><p><span style="color: white">Night Realm by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikvanhannen/3187284545/" target="_blank">(Erik)</a>.</span></p><p></p><p>A <strong>Giant Mafia</strong> is <strong>Damning an Alley</strong> through <strong>Non-Reflective Mirrors</strong> and a <strong>Sleeping Watcher</strong> tells the party, who can stop this by use of a <strong>Rod of Fumbling</strong> protected by <strong>Flying Piranha</strong> so imbued by the reaction of a <strong>Flaming Dragon</strong>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="InVinoVeritas, post: 4997366, member: 41485"] [SIZE=5][COLOR=white][B]Hell’s Close[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] [COLOR=white]An adventure for 4-6 PCs of character level 4-6.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Prologue[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]This encounter occurs while the PCs are traveling to a new city they have not visited before. While they sleep (it can be in an inn, outside, or wherever) the encounter occurs.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The PCs find themselves in a small, cramped alleyway. The buildings rise up on either side, and cross over the top of the alley, making a closed space. A single torch provides poor illuminates a sign on the wall: [I]Hell’s Close[/I]. Beyond the alleyway, it rains, and a slick shimmering surface on the flat stone reflects the land outside. [/COLOR] [center] [COLOR=white][IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/3966141725_93362ca0b2.jpg[/IMG][/COLOR] [font=Book Antiqua]The alleyway of Hell's Close[/font] [/center] [COLOR=white]A human woman appears at a doorway in the alley. She has long, black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes, nearly white. She wears a long, white nightgown, and is barefoot. She speaks: “I am Alora, and we are in danger. Please help us…” She then shuts the door, hiding inside. The door proves to be a secret door, and melds into the stone of the building.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Let the fight begin. This is Jagganath, an evil cloud giant. Any attacks the players make should appear to be relatively trivial to him. He does not reach far into the alley on account of his size, however. As they fight, more giants rise from the stone behind him. Hopefully, a PC will think to look for the trigger to open the secret door. As the search starts, Jagganath reaches above the PCs, and tears off a section of wall at the mouth of the alley. The PCs manage to find the latch at ground level to open the door, just as the massive stone block is launched at them like a spear, with no space to dodge…[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]…and the PCs wake up, where they fell asleep, safe. No one around them has heard of Hell’s Close or Alora.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Chapter 1: Flim Flam[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Once the PCs reach the city, during their initial exploration, they find a street performer, a tall gangly fellow, in a jester’s costume, complete with bauble.[/COLOR] [center] [COLOR=white][IMG]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/1467403085_2605581498.jpg[/IMG][/COLOR] [font=Book Antiqua][COLOR=white]Flim Flam[/COLOR][/font] [/center] [COLOR=white]He spots the PCs, introduces himself to the crowd as Flim Flam and proceeds to perform tricks for the gathered people. He will engage the PCs in embarrassing tricks for the pleasure of the crowd. If the PCs attempt to accost him, or ask him about Alora or Hell’s Close, he points his bauble at the closest PC, shouts, “Bazoom!” and the magic of his bauble (actually a Rod of Fumbling) takes effect. He then runs off, expecting to be followed. (If necessary, have him steal a coin purse from the PCs.)[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]He runs quickly through the crowd, down confusing streets. He uses the Rod of Fumbling as necessary to keep the PCs from catching or killing him. Eventually, he ducks down a covered alleyway and disappears. When the PCs approach, the do not find Flim Flam, but they find a sign on the wall: Hell’s Close.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]In the alleyway, the PCs find it identical to the alley in their earlier dream. Indeed, a little searching reveals the trigger and secret door, just where it was in the dream.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Inside, there is a room, 30’ wide and 60’ long. The first 5 feet are solid ground, falling off into a deep pool of water 20’ deep, all 30’ wide, and 40’ long. A thin bridge, only 1’ wide, spans the pool. Torches line the walls, keeping the room lit. Flim Flam cries out, “Aw, nuts!” and retreats back across the bridge. If the party tries to follow, Flim Flam points the Rod at them and shouts, “Careful! Wouldn’t want to slip and fall now, would we?” He pulls a shank bone from a large 5’x10’ tub of offal, and throws it into the water, and (regular, non-flying) piranhas leap into a feeding frenzy to strip the meat off the bone.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“That’s enough, Flim Flam.” A high pitched voice responds. Fluttering into view is a tiny dragon, held aloft by shiny platinum-colored butterfly wings. “I am Kookajib, and we mean you no harm. Please, watch your step.”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Kookajib is a faerie dragon, and the leader of the denizens of Hell’s Close. The alley is home to a number of misfits and odd characters. She introduces Flim Flam again, and then Squort, a portly Halfling who looks oddly fish-like. Squort raises the piranha both to protect Hell’s Close and sell to others—the local thieves’ guildmaster keeps a tank of piranha just to keep his lackeys in line. Then emerges from beyond the room a waifish young woman with black hair, bright blue eyes, and a white linen nightgown. As Kookajib introduces her, she responds, “Yes, Kookajib. We have met before.”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Chapter 2: Alora[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Alora leads the PCs back behind the piranha tank. There is a hallway with a number of small, cell-like rooms, each packed with the poor. Alora explains that she is a seeress, able to travel to the future and across space in her sleep, appearing to others in dreams. She has been carefully watching Hell’s Close as she sleeps, and discovered that something, some group of giants, wishes to pull the whole community into their netherworld. They are using reflective surfaces as their portal between the two worlds. Unfortunately, she does not understand how this operates.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]She offers to show the PCs another scene from the future, but everyone must fall asleep in order for her to enter their dreams. Should they agree, they are given a claustrophobic space in which to sleep. Flim Flam agrees to keep watch to make sure that nothing happens—“Or gets stolen! Honest!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]After everyone dozes off, they find themselves in a dark room. A candle is lit, in front of a mirror. A small figure moves in the room, but then the mirror goes hazy. It fills with smoke, becoming fully opaque. [/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“O Tezcatlipoca!” a voice begins, “O Smoking Mirror! I beseech you, take these souls, fill us with your night!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The mirror clears, revealing a large, white face—a different one from the earlier dream. “You are alone?”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“O yes, great master, all is as it should be!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“You have sold the fish to the Guildmaster, this is good. He works for us, now, he sees the power of Tezcatlipoca. He is running the rackets in this city, getting the mirrors placed, building the network for the Family. We shall prove our power now, pull Hell’s Close into Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm, and claim its souls for us. Do you have the recent payment?”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The small figure takes a sack of coins and thrusts it through the mirror. A giant hand claims it.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“Very good. The Family will reward you well. Remember, anyone who breaks a mirror will be fed to the fish! This city will deliver their payments to us, or we will pull it all into the Night Realm!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“But I fear your plan, master! What if everyone breaks their mirrors?”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“We can appear through any reflective surface; water, glass, anything... And only if we break the mirror, will we be barred entry to your world! That will not happen!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“Yes, master, Tezcatlipoca is emperor, and the Family of the First Sun are his monarchs!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Suddenly, a door is heard opening, and light streams in to reveal Squort as the small figure![/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The party awakens.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Chapter 3: Squort[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Kookajib joins the awakened party to track down Squort. They reach his room and open the door.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]“Fool!” calls out the giant, a hand bursting through the mirror to grab Squort.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Squort is pulled through the mirror in the first round. Kookajib tries to stop the giant, but slams against the solid smoking mirror. In the mirror, the face of the second giant, Polyphemio, grins. He will keep the PCs from approaching the mirror by reaching through to grab anyone possible. In the next round, Polyphemio will call out, “What have we here? A bug? Burn!” A large gobbet of alchemist’s fire launches through the mirror to cover Kookajib, who bursts into flame. “Aaah! Water! Put me out!” Kookajib flies out for the piranha tank. This gives the PCs the chance to shatter the mirror.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Kookajib, aflame, flies into the entry hall with the piranha tank, and dives in—just as the water’s silvery, reflective surface becomes cloudy and smoky. The water churns with the piranha as it grows choppier. [/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The voice of Polyphemio booms forth from the pool, “Welcome, bug, to your new home! Your soul shall serve Tezcatlipoca forever! He has plans for you, as he has plans for these fish!” Flim Flam calls out to the PCs, “Come on! Get out while you still can! I’ll hold off any giants!” With a flourish of his bauble, he adds, “ The bigger they are… The harder they fall!”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]As soon as the PCs cross the bridge (or it becomes apparent they won’t), the smoky water bubbles and bursts forth with the piranha, held aloft on platinum butterfly wings. They swarm Flim Flam, knocking him into the water and devouring him mercilessly—his Rod of Fumbling of no use against this foe. Once the piranha are through with Flim Flam, they attack the PCs. [/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The water is too choppy to be a large enough surface for the giants to emerge, but the water cannot be shattered like a mirror. Dumping the contents of the offal bin into the water, however, will fill it with blood and remove the mirror-like quality of the water, shutting off the gateway to the Night Realm. Once the gateway is shut, someone can swim to the bottom of the pool safely (except, perhaps, for piranhas) and retrieve the Rod of Fumbling. It will be very useful in the final encounter.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Chapter 4: The Family of the First Sun[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Back out in the alleyway, the sounds of rain can be heard past the alley mouth. The smooth stone surface appears slick and reflective in this environment. Suddenly, at the mouth of the alley, the shimmering surface changes. It grows opaque, smoky. The city beyond fades away, turning to the black of night. A sense of vertigo occurs, as if the entire alley became unmoored, and floated adrift in some dark, forbidding river. Then, a huge hand rises through the smoky slick stone, white as the moon. The rest of the figure emerges, a huge man, three times normal height. He is white, almost ghostly in color, and he wears the skin of a giant jaguar.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]He speaks: “Welcome to the land of the Night Realm, the Family of the First Sun, the World of Tezcatlipoca. Your souls shall feed our Maimed Lord forever.”[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]This time, the fight is for real. Two more cloud giants emerge from the stone behind Jagganath. Although the cloud giants still cannot fit down the close, they can lob boulders down it. Also, since the new reflective surface is a stone street with a sheet of water, it is not easily shattered. If the PCs manage to fight their way past the giants, they find that they, and all of Hell’s Close, are no longer in the city but in a large, silvery-black plain with nothing to see for miles. Despite a cold, silvery sun in the sky, the land does not appear to be lit brightly by it, stuck in an eternal night.[/COLOR] [center] [COLOR=white][IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/3187284545_d6020f2393.jpg[/IMG][/COLOR] [font=Book Antiqua]The Night Realm of Tezcatlipoca[/font] [/center] [COLOR=white]However, the Rod of Fumbling can solve this. If a cloud giant is targeted by the Rod of Fumbling while holding a large stone high in the air over his head, the giant slips and falls, dropping the stone over 25’ to the ground below. This will shatter the flagstone, and destroy the mirror. Thus, the giant will have destroyed the mirror, banishing them, and returning Hell’s Close to the real world. [/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Epilogue[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Alora still lives, and will continue to care for the people of Hell’s Close. The PCs can now go and scour the city for the Thieves’ Guildmaster, and prevent racketeering operations throughout the city on behalf of the Family of the First Sun. Through her seeress power, she can be a source of help for the PCs or a hook for future adventures.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]The Family of the First Sun can remain a threat in the background, emerging in different cities, and performing much the same function. They are a clan of evil cloud giants who will attempt to open up portals to Tezcatlipoca’s Night Realm throughout a city, and threaten to pull the city into the Night Realm unless they are paid protection money. They will typically find a slum and pull it through to demonstrate the power they hold. [/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Rod of Fumbling[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]When pointed at a target and the command word is said, the Rod of Fumbling causes the target to drop whatever he or she holds, and to slip and fall prone. There is no saving throw, but magic resistance does work. It takes a standard action to activate the Rod of Fumbling.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Moderate enchantment; CL 12th; [/COLOR][URL="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#craftRod"][COLOR=white]Craft Rod[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=white], [I]Daze, Grease[/I]; Price 5,000 gp.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Flying Piranha[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Use the Hawk stat block, but the Talon attack is a Bite attack instead. They have a Swim speed of 60 ft. and can breathe water.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][B]Tezcatlipoca[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Tezcatlipoca was the Aztec god of deceit and the night. Also known as the Smoking Mirror, he was the world’s first sun, and created a race of giants to populate the world. This world of the first sun was eventually destroyed, and devoured by jaguars.[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]From Wikipedia:[/COLOR] [COLOR=white][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezcatlipoca"]Tezcatlipoca[/URL][/COLOR] [COLOR=white][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_suns"]Myth of the Five Suns[/URL][/COLOR] Photo Credits: [COLOR=white]Alleyway by [URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwthomas/3966141725/"]C.W. Thomas[/URL].[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Jester by [URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sternoskop/1467403085/"]Ljubica_R[/URL].[/COLOR] [COLOR=white]Night Realm by [URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikvanhannen/3187284545/"](Erik)[/URL].[/COLOR] A [b]Giant Mafia[/b] is [b]Damning an Alley[/b] through [b]Non-Reflective Mirrors[/b] and a [b]Sleeping Watcher[/b] tells the party, who can stop this by use of a [b]Rod of Fumbling[/b] protected by [b]Flying Piranha[/b] so imbued by the reaction of a [b]Flaming Dragon[/b]. [/QUOTE]
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