This will be a fairly plotted adventure. There will be little in the
way of choices for the party in terms of major directions, but they will
have a large amount of options in the smaller things. This requires a greater
than normal amount of plot preparation, while still requiring as much preparation
as usual on the details. I don’t know how I will do it really, particularly
if events in the game demand shifts (which are almost inevitable). This
is a bit daunting!
Beourn Summons Helpers
He first summons the Moon Dog and will soon there after summon a secubus
(or some other evil creature). The ceremony of these creatures is the reverse
of what the players will expect. The moon dog looks evil but is good and
was summoned by a ceremony that looked evil. The secubus is evil, looks
good and is summoned using a ceremony that is pleasant and sexual. He is
building up his troop of "balanced helpers".
Beourn and the players are taken to Seker
Beourn says he has summoned these creatures to help him, and that the
moon dog will lead the way through the astral plane to the place on Seker
that it chooses. They will see a Dead God and an Astral City. They can
choose to investigate (and perhaps learn something) or ignore them to get
to Seker ASAP.
They arrive in the Yellow Moss Valley
They get their first description of the planet and it’s vegetation.
If they use navigation skills, they may be able to tell where on the planet
they are.
Beourn feels the pull of the mouth and knows the direction and nearness
of it.
Beourn will become agitated, but will not go crazy like he did before.
He will tell them that the mouth is thousands of miles away from them.
It is on the other side of the planet and in the N. hemisphere (they land
in the S.).
They meet and confront the Green men.
The green men come riding in on their thoats to eliminate the eggs
in the incubator. They will confront the party and may attack unless the
party does something to convince the green men that they are not connected
with the incubator.
The Green men are impressed by party spells and promise to take them
to their elders to talk.
If there is a battle, the green men will stop immediately when the
party uses a spell that is obvious (they use M. Missile as opposed to ESP
or another mind effecting spell whose use doesn’t show much). They will
be impressed if the party speaks their language and will want an explanation
of why they did not speak earlier. They will talk little to the party,
just enough to be assured they are not enemies.
The green men destroy the nursery
They will do this suddenly as soon as what will happen with the party
is settled. There will be no confusion as to who the green men are attacking,
but there will be confusion as to why the attack is happening. When asked,
they will say "the eggs are not ours", and will not reply to further questions
on the subject.
The party arrives in the city
All is in ruins here, but the ruins are vaster by far than Kou Melan.
It will be the party’s first experience with a "modern" city. Stress the
modern features like multi-story buildings with no supports, strange materials
used (concrete, steel, lots of glass which is all broken), logical layout
of buildings (the layout is one of radial parallel streets with every 4th
intersection being a park square) and so on. As they approach the part
of the ruins occupied by the green men, they will see new creatures.
They learn about the green men, but their language is difficult to
understand.
It takes 6 months of study to achieve a 4-year-olds grasp of their
tongue. It is a pitch-inflected language with a contextual syntax and grammatical
structure. Single words may be learned at the rate of one word per day.
Despite this disadvantage, they will learn much of the life of the green
men and experience meetings of the chiefs, battles for tribal supremacy,
their disregard of life, their brutality to those less strong and other
aspects of their culture.
The red man flyers appear and are drive off.
When the party starts to get ready to leave, the encounter with the
red men’s fliers will occur. This is a raid to eliminate as many of the
green men as possible by attacking from the air. The fliers have under
estimated the number of green men and their accuracy of their radium weapons.
Most of the fliers will self-destruct if severely damaged, but one will
be damaged in such a way that this is impossible. The party may help the
green men, the red men, flee the city (if they still suspect the green
men of treachery) or stay neutral. Whatever the party does, the wounded
flier will come down close to them, allowing them to see the beautiful
captive aboard.
A flyer is captured and contains Deja Thoris, Krom’s dream girl.
She speaks broken common.
As the flier is searched and Jade is found, the party will hear her
speaking common tongue and cursing the green men. They will probably want
to investigate, but will be frustrated by the green men who captured the
ship who will be jealous of the glory they have from the capture.
Jade will talk to them if re-assured
Jade will suspect the party, at first thinking they are from the valley
Dor, then wondering if they are from the lands of the Dark Sun, then wondering
if they are mutants of the green men. Casting spells will convince her
they are from DS. Other actions may shorten the time of her disbelieve.
She tells them that they will find help among her people and she will gladly
help them if they can get her out. She is heavily guarded, but the green
men don’t suspect that they will attempt to help her unless they have a
good reason in the action of the party.
They leave the city of the green men and head out into the desert.
The party can try to steal a thoat, a cart or some other items to make
their journey easier. What ever they do, they will be attacked as they
leave. If they escape safely, they will gain respect from the green men
and will not be begrudged their freedom if they are strong enough to take
it.
They cover the 900 miles of desert seeing the atmosphere machines,
oasis, murders etc.
This will be mostly an exercise in descriptive encounters and creature
encounters to give them more of a flavor of the planet.
The see a farming outpost who sends a message to Jade’s father.
This outpost home will be crude, primitive and unappealing. Jade will
act the princess she is demanding (and getting) anything the poor people
have to offer saying it is her right. She will demand all comfort they
can offer and be emperious in the extreme.
They meet the rest of JaDe’s family and are taken to Greater Helium
via airship.
It will take a day for the fliers to make the journey from the city.
When the ships arrive, they will get a lot of info about the red man culture
and their nobility’s relation to the common people (they are nothing but
animals to produce the raw materials of empire). They will also meet the
members of Jade’s family and members of the opposing royalty (who are there
to see if the capture of Jade by the green men was the result of her actions).
They will arrive in the afternoon, and leave for Helium almost immediately.
They will arrive in Helium the next evening seeing the city for the first
time at night.
They speak to the nobility, ask about the quest and what will happen
to the party next.
Greater Helium is a city much like the ruins and indeed is surrounded
by ruins of great size. It’s glories will be made clear to the party. The
party will be imprisoned, but in good quarters. The next day a hearing
of the nobles will be convened to determine:
They are sent to the researchers in Lesser Helium.
This is a subway journey full of wonders, but uneventful otherwise.
The scholars recommend that the party go the white men in the south
pole.
The red men know a considerable amount about the ancient times, but
know little or nothing about the details of what is going on in the Dark
Sun where the mouth is located. They are interested in the party (understatement!)
and will desperately desire the power of magic without dissipation. They
have a strange mixture of technology and medieval accoutrements, but come
off being knowledgeable as opposed to ignorant. They are embarrassed by
their ignorance of the DS but explain that this civilization arose suddenly
during the dark time and was strong enough to prevent anyone from finding
out about it. The white men are the only ones on the planet who have the
means of getting info on the DS.
The party travels to the S. pole via airship
They have to ground the airship as they know there are powerful protections.
This requires the party to take the high mountain pass to get into the
valley Dor.
They fight the white apes
They win, but there will be some casualties as these are a form of
intelligent battle beast set up as guardians who will attack by surprise
and show no mercy. They will attack at a narrow point in the road and will
seek to throw their enemies from the trail down the side of the mountain.
They meet the Priests
The white race are obviously Greldans, although they have a fringe
of white hair (except for high caste Therns who shave secretly). They are
very sad and know little about their original crime for which they were
exiled here. They will be very standoffish and will not talk to the party
at all.
They make restitution for the killing of the apes
There will be a trial before The Hekkador named Matai Shang. If necessary,
Beourn will know how to get the problem solved by offering to allow them
to speak to a Greldian via the globe Gal. carries.
They are told the most likely place to seek is in the city of Tyr
on the other side of the continent.
Once they know the party has Been to Greld, their attitude changes
entirely and for the parties words of their ancient homeland, they will
tell the party anything they know outside of some religious mysteries (The
river of the dead and so on).
They say Tyr is the center of a joining of the city states.
This is the plot for the next part of the adventure. The party will
learn of the plotting of the Mage Emperor of Tyr and his plans to use the
support he has gained from uniting the disparate city states allowing him
to do what no other leader has done; provide the wealth to allow an army
to cross the desert to the rich countries of the south.
They return to Greater Helium
Their uneventful trip back allows them to see the country and plan
ahead, but that’s about all.
The party will request resources from the Helliumites and they agree
if the party acts as an advance group, sending information back and signal
them when battle is best.
Jade will meet with her father and explain the plot of the DS folks.
She will request an audience with the Jeddak of Helium which will be granted.
He will ask for a meeting of his nobles and they will discuss the situation.
They equip themselves.
There will be many things the party may want from the storehouses of
the Jeddak, and little will be denied them. It will be announced that these
item still belong to the Jeddak and it is criminal not to return them.
They plan with the help of the friends made in Helium.
The best minds of the Jeddak will help them plan and tell them what
little is known about the city of Tyr and the mind of the Mage King. They
will be told of some of the more common monsters, characters ect. I will
offer the route I have planned as advice from these advisors. The information
of the players plan should be clesarly detailed and it will be voted on
by the advisors.
Deciding What to do
They will have a number of options at this time, although they are
not unlimited. They could find some magical means to get to Tyr. A whish
would do it, and a combination of spells might do it. They might find a
means to protect them from the elements and atmosphere in the Dead Zone.
They might decide to find some means of allowing the air cars to take them
a way. They might create a new invention (like a bag full of 7th ray gas
bulbs). These suggestion may be provided to them via their advisor in Helium,
but they should be allowed to choose their course. Allow them to make their
own decision. However, whatever they decide must be OKed by the council
who will demand that there be a way for the men they send with the party
to report back (they will OK from 2 to 300).
Travel over the Dead Zone.
Once they decide the way they will travel, several things must be determined
before the next part begins. How much damage do they take?Where do they
come out? What do they do to try to make contact with others on the other
side of the zone?
Out of the Dead Zone
When they get past the zone, they will have decisions to make. They
will decide to travel via air or ground. If they can get to Tyr via air,
skip to where they know where the mouth is. Otherwise, continue.
They travel to a place near Tyr where they can join/steal a caravan.
The caravan is from the details in the basic adventure in the DS rules.
They take the caravan to Tyr.
Interesting sights of the N. desert area, random encounters and meeting
other groups will be the introduction to the party of this wild territory.
They Arrive in Tyr
They will need some time to investigate the city and find aout about
the people at first hand. Beourn will be VERY anxious to find the mouth,
even if it can't be gotten to immediatly. Beourn will be able to find the
building where the mouth is kept, but they will not be able to get it without
intrigue and help as it lies within the most sacred building of the entire
city. They will need to find a way of getting information about the inside
of the Ziggurat and how to get it. There is no way the party can get in
without help and lots of it. They will gather information and find that
the city is ripe for revolution. The best way to get in is to participate
in the revolution.
They will find the way to the temple via the underground passage
from the palace.
Once they make contacts among the revolutionaries, they will begin
to find out the kind of stuff they need to know. This will come only if
they pay money, perhaps kill someone or perform some other dangerous act
of mayhem in the service of the revolution. If they seem to be liking the
DS stuff, a small adventure can be inserted here (like knocking off one
of the emperors caravans).
They help organize the revolution
They will primarilly be interested in what magical help can be achieved.
This is where the party will get an idea of the battle to come and help
where they think they are willing. This will require about a dozen small
"situations" or battles that are the "keys to vicvtory" that the players
can choose where they want to go. Not all should be allowed to participate
in the battle of the Mouth.
They let the Helliumites know of the coming battle
Not that they can do much, but volienters will be called for from the
flyers. They will send a fleet of 10 ships with 10 marines each with radium
rifles for the hot spots.
The battle will bifrucate some with the party seeking the mouth and
some with the revolution.
It will get chaotic and confusing here. If possible, a party for each
"situation" should be made up of PC and other players playing NPCs specially
created .
This will be another battle systems game to decide the fate of Tyr
and normal rules for the rest.
The battle systems war will bee between the rebels with their numbers
and crummy weapons, the Hellium forces with their technology and the forces
of the Mage with his withering magic. Several smaller adventures to secure
key sights (like the armory of the main platoons). Talk about swaging!
This will have to be done from scratch as there are no existing adventures
that will serve.
They will best the traps and creatures guarding the palace, in the
tunnels and solve the riddle that releases the mouth.
Most of the palace and tower details will come from the original DS
map and notes.
They cut off Beourns lips and teeth and fit the mouth to them.
Once again, make this as gory and gruesome as possible. Don’t forget
to knock out ALL the teeth!
They rejoin the rest of the party where ever the battle has led them.
Getting them back together again may be difficult as they will be pritty
well spread out. Arangements for a place to meet away from either side
should be made in advance.
They head out to the Seven Heavens
To the Pearly Heaven