ok, I haven't looked at seasong's post but I know from a glance mine is a lot longer. I do have all the stats for the various NPCs, but left them out for brevity's sake. Anyone wants them I'll post them separately.
Ingredients
Mountains
Unable to be Flanked
Teleport
Ravid
Cold Slaves
Ghost Touched Spiked Gauntlet
The spirits of Anuk’Tai an adventure suitable for a party of average 6th level adventurers.
Background
Over a thousand years ago, the great monk Nau-phen, leader of the grand order of the Phoenix disappeared from the great north plains, taking with him the mysterious Staff of Law, an artifact of great power that supposedly granted the ability to change the very fabric of reality. The order of the phoenix was destroyed nearly 500 years ago by the members of the order of the Crow, a rival group of monks dedicated to the fine art of assassination. In the long years that followed, the cold from the north grew over the mountains, the great ice sheets advanced down to the northern edge of the mountain range that bordered the plains to the north. The area is now mostly inhabited by tribal peoples, with a few scattered towns that link the road between the great kingdom of Amaldris to the southwest and the more temperate, sheltered sea kingdom of Barassa to the northeast. 20 years ago, Jinak, the latest leader of the order of the Crow, was able to glean from ancient texts the area he felt the old monk had disappeared in: the top of the great mountain Anuk’Tai in the center of the Arbarin Mountains. His group created a monastery on the mountain, inhospitable and nearly impossible to infiltrate, to base their quest to capture the Staff. They have enslaved members of the local barbarian tribes and some townspeople in their efforts to build the monestary and search the mountain within and without for the artifact. Jinak has finally reached the cave containing the Staff. While slaves hack away at the thousands of years of ice surrounding the ancient monk, he has begun the second part of his plan, needing to charge the staff which is powered by positive material energy. To do this he had captured a Ravid to charge the staff, but the Ravid escaped before they uncovered the staff, and he is seeking to recapture it.
The Adventure
The party is traveling through the town of Tinpei. It is mid-autumn, and the snows have already piled on the road making travel slow. Tinpei’s only inn, The Hearthstone, is mostly empty of travelers this evening. The party is seated on one of the tables near the outer wall by the large fireplace when one character’s favorite weapon (randomly chosen) starts shaking, then quickly extracts itself from its owner and begins to swing wildly around the room. It quickly bolts out the door and rounds the corner (speed 60’). The characters, hampered by the snow, will have a hard time keeping up with it (the weapon in question was the accidental addition of items to a Ravid, who happened to be passing outside the building). It rounds another corner between two larger buildings, where the characters come upon a group of black-swaddled and masked individuals looking rather surprised (by the ravid that just flew between them and away), who have three local tribesman down on their knees and tied. Their leader quickly casts a wall of fog between the party and themselves, and by the time the group gets through the wall of fog, the kidnappers and their hostages are gone (they have been teleported away).
Investigation should reveal some of the following information:
1. The disappearance of tribesman and some townspeople has been going on for several years. It does not happen often, and the black swaddled kidnappers have been seen before but have ‘disappeared like magic’ before they could be caught. People believe that the kidnappers are actually mountain spirits in the service of the great mountain protector, who apparently is angered by something the people have done.
2. In the past few days others have had similar occurrences of items getting up and flying around.
3. A long silver dragon has been seen in the area at a distance twice in the last two days.
4. Spirits haunt mount Anuk’Tai, and have since earliest rememberings. The great mountain protector spirit has been seen on the mountain trails for hundreds of years. Lately though, things have changed. The shelter and shrine to the great mountain protector was destroyed several years ago, and after every attempt to rebuild it it is destroyed again. People simply don’t go there anymore.
5. One of the latest kidnapping victims is the only son of tribal chief To’Duk, and he is desperate to get his son back, willing to pay in gold.
The PCs, whether motivated by their need to get their weapon back, the kidnapping of the tribesman, the gold of To’Duk, or the mystery of it all, are pointed to the ‘mountain spirits and the great mountain protector’s shrine as a possible source of the strangeness of the area.
The great mountain protector's shrine
This is a small round stone building with a thatched roof. The building's roof has recently seen some damage, and the stout door has been blown off its hinges. Windswept snow covers the interior floor. Inside there are a few small beds and tables that have been broken in pieces, and the shrine above the fireplace has been desecrated.
Searching the shrine turns up a small scrap of black fabric hanging on one of the shattered furniture pieces. After a few minutes, the room becomes extraordinarily cold, even colder than the biting winds from outside. A wind whips through the door, blowing out any flame-based light sources. The fireplace begins to glow with a blue aura, and the ghost of a warrior calmly steps through the chimney wall into the room. He is dressed in ancient garb, mailed in splint mail and spiked gauntlets, and carrying ancient styles of sword. He bows deeply to the party.
If the party tries to initiate combat or turn the spirit, the ghost will bow and walk backward into the fireplace again, saying "I thought you were here to help. My pardons if I intruded". If the party attempts to parlay with him, he will explain that he is Te-run, honored and trusted companion and guard to Grand Master Nau-phen. When Nau-phen died on the top of Mount Anuk'Tai (from his advanced age), Te-run placed the master on a bier, and guarded him faithfully until his own death. Stalwart in his charge to guard his master, he continues his guard a thousand years beyond death. He can only roam the mountain and the shrine that was built here at its foot by the tribes. He can tell them of the order of the Crow and their monestary at the top of the mountain, and how they have recently found the cave containing the grand master's remains. Apparently the evil monks destroyed this shrine repeatedly because there was no other place that the ghost could go to request help. He asks the PCs if they might help him stop the evil group from activating the Staff, and can tell them that the monks will need to charge it with positive material energy, which they hope to get from a small "dragon spirit" that they had captured. He can also tell the party about a teleporting gate that the monks paid handsomely to set up, about three miles to the east of the shrine. He says he will meet the party when they reach the monestary, but now needs to return to his master.
On the way to the gate, the party sees through the swirling snow in the far distance a group of black-dressed monks fighting with a small bright flying dragon-creature, and several flying animated articles. One manages to lasso the creature, and he and the creature suddenly disappear. The rest of the monks (5 5th level monks) turn and face the party.
After the party battles the monks (or retreats till they go away) they can proceed on to the gate. The gate itself is a small niche in the slope of the mountain, about 3' across. Inspection shows small stones embedded in the rock face on either wall of the niche, carved with mystical symbols. Just walking into the niche doesn't activate the gate, a command word should be spoken. A successful spellcraft check (DC 13) will show that the characters on each rock together spell a word that when spoken will activate the gate. If the party doesn't have spellcraft abilities or read magic combined with an intelligence check, hide a scrap of paper containing the word in a tiny crack in the rock face (Search DC 20)
The Monestary
The walls are built of rough-hewn stone quarried from the mountain. The monestary is rather small, consisting of a temple, an exercise room, two communal living areas for the monks (with floor mats), a kitchen, two smaller private rooms (one for Jinak, one for Ten-fan the Wizard/Monk), and a large holding cell containing about 8 tribespeople. No other people are found within the monestary. A successful pick locks (DC 13) should open the door to the tribespeople. The son of To'Duk is not among them.
If the slaves are questioned, the PCs find out that the monks have a 'magic man' (cleric) who is able to enspell them for hours to get them to work out in the icy mountaintop, digging through the ice and rubble to find a cave of some kind. 4 of the tribespeople agree to lead the PCs to the door leaving the monestary out into the whipping winds of the mountaintop (in fact, they will insist that they get the chance to avenge themselves upon their captors). The others are still under the influence of the enchantment, and prefer to stay within their cell to await their next meal. The cave is about a half mile away, reached through winding crevices in the mountains surface. When they reach the cave, they can peer around the corner of the last crevace to see that 2 monks guard the cave mouth. There is some shouting and hissing going on in the cave. Te-Run appears behind the party and explains that the two tribesman inside have just about released the Staff from its icy home, and that the fighing is with the dragon-spirit who is apparently giving the monks a hard time.
The PCs should be able to either defeat or distract the guards and enter the cave. Inside the cave is almost complete pandemoneum. Two tribesman chipping away at a wall of ice, they have just about uncovered the staff resting on top of the body within. Several monks are battling with the Ravid, and there are various objects (kama, slings, poles, nunchaku, ice picks) flying around the cave beating on anyone within reach (1 in 10 chance of an item attacking a PC in any given round). A spellcaster of some sort is casting spells to aid in the battle agains the ravid, and a particularly mean looking monk is barking orders. One of the monks notices the PC's arrival and will shout out a warning.
Combatants: Jinak (Mnk6/Asn6), Ten-fan (Wiz5/Mnk4), 6 Mnk2, 4 Mnk5
Ravid (per MM), 2 Bbn2, 2 Bbn4, PCs.
Basically, chaos ensues. Jinak is interested only in recharging the staff, which will be freed two rounds after the PCs arrive in the cave. Once he has it in his posession, he is going to try to get the ravid to attack him with a positive energy burst so he can activate the Staff. The ravid is trying desperately to escape, and is attacking the monks around him. Once per round a random object has a chance of joining the fray as per the MM, and may choose to attack a PC or tribesman. Te-Run stays at the edge of the fray away from Jinak, getting in blows where he can. Ten-fan will actively cast spells, but he is divided between protecting Jinak, subduing the ravid, and defeating the PCs. The monks will divide themselves between the ravid and the PCs. The four tribesmen who followed the PCs will fight the monks and attempt to free their companions, who 3 rounds after having completed their task will snap out of their thrall and begin to fight the monks.
The suggestion is that once the staff is free, Jinak will start trying to attack the ravid, though he will need to get there through the various animated objects and must fight the party if necessary. The ravid is very confused and attacks randomly each round, energy attack to one attacker and claw attack to another. Hopefully the PCs are able to defeat Jinak before he activates the staff, otherwise he will use his ring of teleportation to escape as soon as the staff is active (seeing as he does not yet know how to use it).
The Big Finish
The PCs have either defeated Jinak or he has escaped with the staff (further adventur hook?). Ten-fan wil also attempt to escape if possible. The Ravid will escape as soon as there is a chance for him to do so. Hopefully the PC who lost his weapon will be able to retrieve it before the Ravid takes it away again. The one tribesman uncovering the Staff is the son of To'Duk, and his father will happily pay the PCs in a bag of gold dust (gathered from the mountain streams, equivalent of 25 gold) for his safe return. If the PCs have managed to save the staff, Te-run is very happy for their help, and will reward them by giving them his gauntlets, the only item of worth he has left. He has the PCs return the staff to the body of the master and seal the cave with an avalanche. If the PCs failed to save the staff, Te-run still thanks them for their help, but since he has failed to effectively protect his master he realizes that his time of usefulness has ended, and he fades away to join his master in eternity.