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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mythago" data-source="post: 664442" data-attributes="member: 3019">Mission to SunreturnAn adventure for 3-6 characters, levels 6-9Sunreturn Island  Sunreturn is a  beautiful tropical island, but it attracts few tourists. This is because, first, the archipelago of which is it a part is small and produces barely enough food for the locals; second, because it is the home of the School of the Purposeful Way, better known to outsiders as the "monks' university ."   The School is an elite boarding school, its unusual and powerful techniques taught by the most revered Masters of empty-handed combat in the world. Ambitious monks everywhere vie to be permitted to study here. (More traditional Masters frown at this sort of competitive foolishness, but as ever, the patient cousel of the old is drowned out by the eager clamoring of the young and energetic.)   To encourage the practical use of these skills, and to help burn off a bit of youthful energy and competitiveness, once a year there is a competition between athletic teams of 4-6 students. The winners get bragging rights and perhaps an extra helping of pickled fish in their evening rice meal.Where The PCs Come In  The party is going to be hastily sent to Sunreturn by their patron, or someone who is willing to pay them an extraordinary sum of money to go; work with your PCs' motivations.  The patron works for the high priest of a powerful god who would not be anathema to the PCs. The god revealed,  in a vision, that a powerful and important minor artifact was hidden on Sunreturn. The monks of Sunreturn would hardly cooperate, so the priest hatched a plan: arrange for a group of travelling monks to "visit" and get the artifact back in the confusion of the Sunreturn festivities. A band of trustworthy monks was located and persuaded to help, but en route their ship hit a shoal, and went down with all hands.  Desperate, the high priest conferred with the PCs' patron, who had an idea: why not disguise a trustworthy band of adventurers as monks and let them get the artifact? And so the plan was hatched....   The PCs are taken to Sunreturn Island by ship. They must leave all their weapons, armor, mounts, large familiars, backpacks full of items, and "obvious" goodies (like rings) on the ship; monks don't wear these things. They will instead wear plain monks' robes marked with the sigil of Master Siu, who the PCs are assured is in on the whole plan. To signal the crew to come get them, one character is given an alchemist's flare.Arrival on Sunreturn  Master Siu turns out to be old, apparently blind and senile, but nobody will challenge the PCs beyond giving the "visiting students" some odd looks. The PCs will lead the spartan lives of monks for a few days until the festival itself begins. This will give them plenty of time to explore the island and find the Witch Tree. Help in the Forest  Sunreturn was once home to several dryads. Bound to rainforest trees, not oaks, the dryads are unusual; at least six feet tall, their skin is mahogany-dark and their hair is brilliantly colored. The first monks to arrive got the idea that the dryads were "dark elves," that is, drow, and they proceeded to kill all they could find. Now, the one surviving dryad has a correct paranoia about monks. Her home tree, a coconut palm, is known as the Witch Tree for reasons that the monks no longer recall.   She will sense there is something unusual about the PCs and, curious, try to investigate them further. The PCs will do best parleying, but if they subdue, Charm or kill her, they will eventually find the gifts she has that can help them. She will be delighted to find out the group is putting one over on the monks, and will freely give them the gifts.  The first gift is a Belt of Giant Strength +6. (It can be hidden under monks' robes.) The second item is a Periapt of Proof Against Poison. (These items are "cursed"; if taken more than 300' from the dryad's tree, they permanently lose all magic.) The third is an ancient map of the tunnels beneath Sunreturn. If told of their mission, the dryad will point to a cave marked at the end of the maze of tunnels, and suggest the item is probably there. The Contests  The festival lasts three days. Each day is a mixture of tedious, but traditional,  rituals, and one contest. Each "team" of monks is the same size as the party (so if your group has 4 people, each team has 4 monks). The competitors should be a match for the characters.  Day One: wrestling. The Girdle of Giant Strength should give an advantage.  Day Two: a scavenger hunt for odd items in the forest, such as a coconut, three white-and-yellow flowers, and a living poisonous red snake. The Periapt will be invaluable in capturing the snake.    Day Three: the tunnels. These are downhill tunnels worn through the volcanic rock of the island, wet with seawater and completely dark. The goal is to reach the cave at the bottom. Once in, the contestant zooms down the wet tunnel, trying not to miss left or right turns. Wrong turns open onto a cliff face 20' over the sea.  Anyone who has carefully read the map will be able to reach the cave. There, in a shallow pool, is the plate-mail-clad corpse of a knight. His armor has rusted completely, except for his gauntlets, which are still bright. These are Gauntlets of Climbing and Swimming, once the property of a great paladin. (They are not Gauntlets of Proof Against Broken Necks, as the knight discovered.) A single upward-slanting tunnel (Climb check, DC 25) leads out of the cave and to victory.  When the PC emerges with the obvious gauntlets, the monks will finally realize they are dealing with imposters. The group will have to flee for their lives down to the shore to try and signal the ship. Luckily, the ship's crew will have heard the roar of a hundred angry monks, and will be waiting to whisk the PCs off Sunreturn in the nick of time.</blockquote>

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