RP: A War of Two Evils Characters involved: Squintz (Squintz) Solis (Shaun) Mahou (Amanda) Derill (Divinegon) Aya (Kate) Basic plotline: SOME OF THESE THINGS HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED! IGNORE THEM!!! Unless, of course, they apply. On the Doman coastline, there exists a city called Telluria, a rather grand city built almost entirely as an enormous marble fortress. Walls, gates, rivers and aqueducts are common sights in Telluria. Telluria, however, is under constant attack, and is ravaged by a current war--the city and the surrounding countryside is serving as the current staging front for a war between two Liches. Telluria's local government, an extension of the Doman monarchy (a governor heads the city) has requested help multiple times--thus far, no Doman aid has been sent. The adventuring party is the city's only hope... One of the liches lives in the forest to the north, within a network of barrows. His name is Malik, and he is (was) a human mage. The other lich resides on an island to the easte of the city of Telluria, a fairly small island in fact, with one major port and capital city--the city of Veran. Veran is at first glance a VERY happy, utopian city. The people within live seemingly within perfect harmony and such forth, but at the same time, seem stiff and ill at ease. The city is in fact headed by a puppet dictator (outside of any of the major country's jurisdiction). Said puppet dictator is named Lawrence, and is in fact under the control of an Illithilich (Mind Flayer Lich), whom of which runs the city. Periodically, children and adults vanish from the care of their parents, or are taken from them by the government for "education" or "special studies." In fact, these people are used as food for the Illithilich... However, chances are the party is FAR too weak to deal with these liches, much less their guardians, on their own. While it may be possible for them to hack through armies of generic undead, things become far trickier when nasties such as Doomspheres (Ghost Beholders) enter the fray. In order to make such easier, three items are going to need to be acquired. The Wand of Undead Negation: A powerful relic which deals 30+2d6 damage to all undead within a 10 yard wide cone in front of the wielder once per round as a free action, as long as the Wand is activated. Only a character with at least 4 MAG may wield this item and control it--it requires a single action to activate and a single action to deactivate. The Rod of Corporeality: A stafflike item which causes all incorporeal or ethereal undead within 20 yards of the user to become material involuntarily so long as the Rod is active. Only a character with at least 4 MAG may wield and control this item--it requires a single action to activate and a single action to deactivate. The Stone of Mental Suppression: This relic is actually an enchanted flawless sapphire that prevents the use of mental magic or psionic powers within 50 yards of its location, so long as it is activated. Activating the Stone requires a turn, as does deactivating it, and it can only be controlled by a character with at least 2 MAG. The Wand and Rod are owned by fearful wizards--the Rod is in Telluria, and the Wand is in Veran. Both wizards guard their treasures, praying they will not fall into the wrong hands. Proving the party's worth to both wizards can be done in order to secure the artifacts. To acquire the Rod, the adventurers must, through negotiation, get the wizard's tower back from the city's government--it was confiscated as he was suspected of a variety of criminal acts, including necromancy. The Wand can be acquired by presenting proof of possession of the Stone of Mental Suppression, which would convince the wizard that the party is strong enough to free the city. The Stone is hidden within the Cavern of Ooze on the island where Veran is located, and is not far from the area at all. At some point throughout the adventure, most likely within the barrows of Malik, is the following item, which will attempt to seduce one of the characters to take it, and most likely one of the more evil characters will be the one who complies. The item is Elkar's Carapace. Elkar's Carapace: This item is a gauntlet which appears to be of high quality make, and is smooth, solid, black as night, and weighs about 5 pounds. When it is put on, it expands into a full suit of black spiked plate mail covering the entire body of the wearer from head to toe, complete with a helmet with very narrow eyeslits, and boots with spiked toes. The gauntlet itself glows with a visible deep purplish aura. The armor confers no penalties to the wearer either magical or physical, and has an AC of 30. The wearer is not subject to critical hits. The armor is sentient and evil, and communicates with the wearer telepathically. Attempting to remove the Carapace requires a check vs COU*3+d20, and the DC is 30. The Carapace also grants the wearer the ability to cast (and can cast on its own without being ordered to) the following spells: Fear--paralyzes target for 1d4 rounds with fear. Death Ray--deals 50+2d6 damage to a target. Does not affect undead. Obliterate Undead--deals 80+1d10 damage to any target undead. The Carapace has an MAttack of 30, and this is independant of the wearer's magical skill. Over time, the Carapace begins to exercise subtle control over the wearer, and eventually possesses him or her totally, causing them to embody the evil of its creator, Elkar. Another evil artifact exists, possessed by the wizard in Telluria. This artifact is Nikumu's Lens: Nikumu's Lens: This artifact is at first a deceptively simple looking glass lens. On closer inspection, it becomes obvious that the item is in fact magical, and swirls of deep purple and black mingle within the item. Nikumu's Lens causes any spell cast through it to be twice as effective, but the penalty for doing so is that the caster suffers 10+1d10 shadow damage as a result of negative feedback. Each time the Lens is used and the caster suffers this magical feedback, a small portion of their life essence is lost forever. The caster must make a magic resist save vs. a DC of 10, with the DC being +4 each time the Lens is used. If the caster fails to make this save, he or she is affected by dark magic, and will eventually become a wraith! This transformation will occur in 1d4 days. The evil artifacts ARE a way to solve the problems, but have their obvious disadvantages! --------------------------- OK, plans have changed, with the parties splitting up. The group with the unicorns is going to acquire the unicorn that healed Solis (he managed to befriend it). It's considered "tamed," and the black unicorn and its evil no longer taint or cloud its mind. The reward for the unicorn is probably monetary (500 GP each?), and the artifact Aya has set out to borrow is the Wraithslayer Blade. Wraithslayer Blade: This weapon gets a +8 bonus to hit any incorporeal undead, and it always hits for its maximum damage against them. The blade also imparts a +1/+1 AT/PA bonus and counts as a magical weapon. The next stop is most likely the barrows of the lich for them. The party on Veran needs those artifacts prior mentioned before they challenge their lich...who is actually Xzar'il (yep, him again).