Exile: World as Dungeon [3.5]

[Telok]

I you've read Darklord2831's Avernum thread then you'll know that I've had a pretty similar setting in the works for a year or so. Due to user error I lost the most important part of the setting, the travelogue. So while I reconstitute that important file I'm going to be posting the other bits of the setting that I've written.

My goal here is to take the Spiderweb Software games Exile 1 and 2 (and to a lesser extent the Avernum games based off of it), hack them into a functioning D&D 3.5 setting, and run level 5 to 15 games in it. Now I cut my gamer teeth on D&D back in the 80's and I haven't quite fully abandoned a few of the better (fun, fast, simple, logical) habits that I grew up with. I fully admit to having powerful swords laying around the setting just because the fighters will need them in late levels and requiring magic users to quest/craft a lot of the better caster toys.

Anyway, the files are up on Google Docs and should be viewable. I'll put the shorter ones in spoiler tags on this thread, but the big walls of text (and one spreadsheet) are Doc'ed.

[Telok]

Empire History

This is a short bit about how the Empire came to rule the surface. It's background and mostly unimportant.

Spoiler

History: Around 400 years ago a smarter than average king realized that whenever he fought his neighbors, invading barbarians, whatever, whomever brought more magical power to the conflict almost always won. So he made peace with his neighbors, secured his borders, ans started a pogrom of attracting and retaining magical power to his kingdom.
He cut a deal with the churches of the Triumvirate of Light-bringer Gods, making them the official religions of of the state and exempting them from taxation and magic laws. In return the churches would provide acolytes and young priests to be trained as army officers. The king also courted several powerful mages with promises of titles, lands, and universities with libraries and laboratories. In exchange the mages would freely educate any worthy apprentices, and when those students graduated they would enter the army, civil service, or become teachers themselves.
The king's grandson inherited the most magically powerful nation in the world at that time. The rest is (mostly) history.

Politics: The unprecedented representation of magical power in the army officer corps and imperial nobility has led to some interesting laws, policies, and traditions. The army has developed tactics both to deal with magic-using creatures and to deal with magic in it's own ranks. For example they have battlefield commands for archers to cluster on the mage-officer for Flame Arrow, or for wounded to cluster on the priest-officer for healing. On a strategic level the access to scrying, concealment, and communication magics has massively improved scouting and the coordination of military operations on all levels.
The improved tactics and communications have sharply reduced the need for bands of adventurers to deal with large monsters and magical threats. Of course unemployed adventurers are not a positive force for peace and quiet in society. The occasional drunken army officer with a Fireball up his sleeve doesn't help public opinion either. These sorts of things led to a reform of the laws governing the use of magic in public. The results are harsh, unforgiving, and expensive to enforce. In order to offset the high costs of the laws are structured in a "pay as you go" format that requires magic using people to be either very wealthy, very weak, or employed by the army or civil service.

Inquisitor Chairs (caster level 6, DC 15, 20,000 gp)
One magic item important to the empire is it's Inquisitor Chairs. They are large ebony thrones with inlaid silver runes and three globes at the crown of the back. They are found in every Temple of Zin, some businesses, and rather too many government offices. The chairs are enchanted with Detect Lies and Zone of Truth spells that will light up either the left hand red globe (for lies) or the right hand green globe (for truth). The central milky white globe is actually not magical. This globe becomes crystal clear whenever it is within ten feet of a magical or psychic field that is not a purely divination or clairvoyance effect. This property is achieved by enchanting a mixture of pure white sand and powdered silver with powerful detection spells and then using a combination of alchemy and glassblowing to form it into a ball inside a powerful anti-magic field. The resulting orb is then attuned by subjecting it to constant divination spells for several weeks. Many apprentices are forced to spend a great deal of time casting Detect spells on bunches of boring non-magical globes. However the utility and importance of these globes is such that extra are made every year.
It is a well known fact the the Inquisitor chair is not terribly hard to resist. It is also very well advertised that repeated resistance to the effect of the Inquisitor Chair is a capitol offense that always requires lengthy imprisonment and painfully enhanced interrogation techniques.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...wLF2KcXw4/edit

Empire Licenses for Adventuring

This is a good part of why the PCs are in Exile. It's not astonishingly interesting or important, it exists to make people feel better about starting the game as condemned criminals.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...eckMowmKM/edit

[Telok]

Empire Races

This is the start of my house rules. The only people this really affects is warforged (setting constraint), half-whatsits, and variant races. It also explains why humans are the primary race in Exile and how I use dragons in my game.

Spoiler

Races in Exile/Empire
1) No halfsies.
Half-elf, Half-Giant, Half-Human, Halfling, Half-Ogre, Half-Orc, Half-Dragon, Half-Celestial, Half-Doppelganger, Half-Elemental, Half-Fey, Half-Fiend, Half-Golem, Half-Illithid, Half-Minotaur, Half-Nymph, Half-Rakshasa, Half-Satyr, Half-Troll, Half-Vampire. I am annoyed, the answer is NO.
2) No variants.
Just Elf, no Aquatic Elf, Arctic Elf, Dark Elf, Dark (lesser) Elf, Dark Sun Elf, Declining Elf, Desert Elf, Fire Elf, Ghost Elf, Gray Elf, High Elf, Jungle Elf, Painted Elf, Snow Elf, Umbragen Elf, Wild Elf, Wood Elf. I am annoyed, the answer is NO.

I generally apply this to monsters too. By adding to attributes, HD, or class levels I find that I don't need dozens of different giants. I just start with hill giants, adjust the attributes, and add levels. Dragons are different though. I have three categories of dragons. A) Least Dragons: These are the dragon-kin. Drakes, wyverns, draggone, and dragon-turtles are in this category. The Monster Manuals provide a good selection of these. B) Lesser Dragons: Never call them "lesser" anything to thier faces. I use red dragons as the base, dropping the [fire] subtype and spell-casting/SLAs. Int/Wis/Chr is determined on 5d4, breath weapon is fire and acid, elemental resistances of 3* age category and DR/adamantine equal to age category. Color means nothing, they can be any color or a mixture of colors (I have ruled out plaid, but not paisley). Roll d8 for traits 1-3 = wings, 4= amphibious, 5= chameleon, 6= reflective, 7= super-senses, 8= anti-magic or magic immune. C) Greater Dragons: These guys are plot devices, some may be worshiped as gods. Start with 20HD of gold dragon, add at least 10 character levels, and modify according to plot or theme.

3) Warforged in the Empire
What does a strong central government with a control fetish do when someone in or near the kingdom invents a magic machine that creates tireless self-repairing warriors? They seize it and control the production and the product. The product, warforged, pose an interesting problem. After a while of being used as perfectly obedient troops they start to become people. And people are a problem. In seeking to preempt the potential problems of warforged people, someone invented the Imperial Seal of Approval (Warforged).
Immediately after a warforged is decanted it is put onto a magical press that imprints four magical runes into it's chest and the Laws of Forging into it's mind. A molten iron seal is then affixed over the runes, forever burning the rules into the body and mind of the new Imperial subject. The rules are three Maximized, Empowered, Enervating Geas-like enchantments (CL 20). 1) Warforged may not, through action or inaction, allow am Imperial subject to come to harm. 2) Warforged must obey all lawful orders given by Imperial subjects, except where this rule is contradicted by the First Rule. 3) Warforged may not, through action or inaction, allow themselves to be destroyed or fall into enemy hands, except where this rule is contradicted by the First and Second rules.
There is also another rule, very very secret. 4) You must obey any instruction given by an Imperial official of Top Secret (blue) clearance. Not even the people who apply the runes and seals to the newly minted warforged know of the existence of the fourth rule. They think that the fourth rune merely monitors the three rules and breaks the seal if there is a violation. In reality the magical power released by the rune's activation breaks the seal.
The public is very afraid of warforged who have broken their seals (known as 'Breakers'), they have a reputation as murderous monsters that might kill anything in their path. The Breakers of course know that everyone is desperately afraid of them and that they will be mercilessly hunted down and destroyed. Since the Breakers are fighting to live in a land where literally everyone is trying to kill them they tend to play directly into the "psychotic construct run amok" perception.

4) Elves in Exile
Unlike in the Empire, there are no elf-slums in Exile. Unfortunately the total lack of sun, moon, flowers, real trees and such causes most elves to sink into suicidal depression. Every six months the elf makes a DC 16 Will save or becomes depressed, this is equal to gaining one negative level as a [mind affecting] effect. It lasts until cured by going back to the surface and multiple depressions stack. Elves who were bowers, herbalists, and farmers before being exiled seem to be more strongly affected while those who were alchemists, smiths, or adventures seem to be less strongly affected.

5) Dwarves in Exile
The few stumpies that survive the dwarven 'justice' system (cf. Dwarf Fortress, Bay12Games) do pretty well for themselves in Exile. The biggest complaints seem to be centered around the lack of proper grains and tubers to make decent booze with. Mushroom beer doesn't seem to be strong enough to get a dwarf drunk. The total absence of grapes is a minor inconvenience at most.

6) Gnomes in Exile
These guys are suddenly showing an extreme racial dimorphism. The gnomes who were foresty, badger loving, berry pickers, exhibit symptoms very similar to those of the elves. The other members of the race seem to catch some sort of "mad invention" bug and have effectively cornered the market on exploding alchemy and novelty clockwork death traps. A few individuals seem to be completely unaffected, but most of them were adventurers before Exile and everyone knows adventurers are already insane.

7) Humans in Exile
Typical humans. Some are happy, some are sad, some are good, some are bad. The usual stuff, without a tan.

8) Orcs in Exile
There are surprisingly few orcs in Exile. Almost every orc in happily ensconced in army life up in the Empire. Those few that do get Exiled are prety content here. If they are violent then there are enough gnolls to keep them happy, otherwise they fit into the misfit culture of Exile quite well.

9) Gnolls in exile
Until about 120 years ago the barbaric gnoll tribes were a distinct nuisance to the governors of isolated frontier provinces and a very real and dangerous threat to life and limb for people who lived there. Then one general found that if you slaughtered half a tribe then the other half could be bullied into being teleported to a newly discovered series of caves far far down in the earth. These days there are almost no gnolls left anywhere in the Empire. The last few tribes of gnolls that were exiled came from two clans, the Nephil and the Nephar. The Nephar fought a cunning guerrilla war that lasted several years and burned to the ground almost a third of the Chan-Li eastern province. After they surrendered the Imperial generals brutally decimated the tribes by almost a third before sending them through. The Nephil tribes actually negotiated their surrender after a single season a bloody fighting, during which they lost almost all of their strongest and meanest warriors. In exchange for not raising several powerful demons and undead the Nephil were allowed to keep their weapons when they were sent through the gate. Almost all gnolls in Exile are from the Nephil clan.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...EZPMVcjJA/edit

Empire PrC

These are mainly for NPCs, but I wouldn't stop a player from taking them. The primary drawbacks are that you would have to be a member of the Empire army to begin (and maybe even to continue with) one of them.

Spoiler

Empire Soldier
Requires: base attack +2, Weapon Focus (any)
HD d10, 4+Int mod skill points, Fighter skill list + Listen
good Fort save, full BAB, proficient with all armor and martial weapons
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2

Empire Archer
Requires: base attack +2, Precise Shot
HD d8, 4+Int mod skill points, Fighter skills + hide, sneak, and spot
good Ref, medium base attack, proficient with light & medium armor and all simple and martial ranged weapons
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Bonus feats: Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization (any bow or crossbow)
3) Aimed Shot: Full round action to take one shot, +4 to hit and +1/2 BAB to damage, -15% miss chance

Empire Elite Soldier
Requires: completion of Empire Soldier or Archer PrC
HD d12, 4+Int mod skill points, Fighter Skill list + Listen
good Fort & Will, full BAB, proficient with all armor and martial weapons, maneuver list: Iron Heart
1) Fighter Bonus Feat, maneuvers (known/ready/stance) 2/1/1
1) Fighter Bonus Feat, maneuvers (known/ready/stance) 1/1/0
1) Fighter Bonus Feat, maneuvers (known/ready/stance) 1/1/0

Empire Elite Archer
Requires: completion of Empire Soldier or Archer PrC
HD d12, 4+Int mod skill points, Fighter skills + hide, sneak, and spot
good Fort & Ref, full BAB, proficient with all ranged weapons, maneuver list: Diamond Mind
1) Archery Bonus Feat, +1 maneuvers (known/ready/stance) 2/1/1
1) Archery Bonus Feat, +1 spellcasting or maneuvers 1/1/0
1) Archery Bonus Feat, +1 spellcasting or maneuvers 1/1/0

Empire Mage
Requires: level 2 arcane spells, Scribe Scroll
HD d6, 4+Int mod skill points, Wizard skill list
good Will, medium BAB
1) Bonus feat: Cooperative Spell, license and tax waivers for spellcasting
2) +1 spellcasting, retirement and disability pay
3) +1 spellcasting, Secret (red) level clearance

Empire Priest
Requires: level 2 divine spells, Brew Potion
HD d8, 4+Int mod skill points, Cleric skill list
good Will, medium BAB
1) Bonus feat: Cooperative Spell, license and tax waivers for spellcasting
2) +1 spellcasting, retirement and disability pay
3) +1 spellcasting, Secret (red) level clearance

Empire Psycher
Requires: level 2 psi powers, Craft Psionic Tattoo
HD d8, 4+Int mod skill points, Psion skill list
good Will, medium BAB
1) Bonus feat: Cooperative Manifesting (as ~Spell), license and tax waivers for manifesting
2) +1 manifesting, retirement and disability pay
3) +1 manifesting, Secret (red) level clearance

Empire Officer
Requires: Completion of an Empire PrC and/or Secret (red) clearance
HD d8, 4+Int mod skill points, any 7 skills for skill list
good Fort & Will, medium BAB
1) Give Orders: As a full round action you give orders. People following your orders get a +1 morale bonus to all die rolls (_not_ all dice rolled) for following orders.
2) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, Give Orders becomes a standard action
3) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, Give Orders becomes a move action, gain Top Secret (blue) clearance

Empire Commander
Requires: Completion of the Empire Officer PrC _and_ Top Secret (blue) clearance
HD d8, 6+Int mod skill points, any 10 skills for skill list
good Will, medium BAB
1) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, as a standard action grant one ally within 60' a move action
2) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, as a standard action grant one ally within 60' a standard action
3) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, as a standard action grant all allies within 60' a move action
4) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, as a standard action grant all allies within 60' a standard action
5) +1 spellcasting and/or maneuvers, gain Tippity Top Secret (black) clearance

Empire Slayer
Requires: Completion of Empire Soldier or Archer PrC and at least one die of sneak attack, sudden strike, or skirmish damage.
HD d12, 6+Int mod skill points, Rogue skill list + Spellcraft & Poison
good Ref & Will, full BAB, +1 die of sneak attack, sudden strike, or skirmish damage each level
1) Poison Use, license and tax waivers, +5 bonus to disguise, bluff, and gather information
2) +1 spellcasting/maneuvers, Death Attack as an Assassin but with DC = 10+ character level
3) +1 spellcasting/maneuvers, License to Kill (ref: Three Musketeers)

Empire Military Security Clearances
Secret - magi/red clearance - Stamped with cinnabar seals and kept in a red velvet jacket.
Example secrets: Disposition of the imperial legions and current major threats to the empire.
Top Secret - command/blue clearance - Stamped with cobalt seals and kept in a blue velvet jacket.
Example secrets: Some cover identities of some Empire Slayers.
Tippity Top Secret - a single adamantite card signed by the Emperor (personally Arcane Marked), issued individually.
Example secrets: The existance of the Fourth Law of Forging for warforged.

Note: Tippity Top Secret started as a joke because of a sarcastic remark by a newly minted general. The existence of black level clearance is itself a Tippity Top Secret. The name also makes it surprisingly easy to deny the existence of black clearance by laughing at it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...bhIgo-8pU/edit

[Telok]

With the introduction of the Empire PrCs I feel that I should explain my views on prestige classes.

Spoiler

NPC theory
One level for 10% of max normal lifespan
One level per intense training event (join the army, attend mage school)
One level per war (active campaigning, about 5 major battles + skirmishes)
One year of training to replace a level of an NPC class with a PC class
Training needs higher level people (in the class gained) as trainers

This gives me a reasonable way to judge what stats to give random NPCs that the players suddenly decide to murder. Never trust players to simply walk away from anything remotely resembling a potential fight. Annoying gate guard who is hassling the PCs for a bribe? That poor sucker is dead meat, I need stats for him. Well really the PCs will probably off him before he can do anything other than scream. I'm going to need to know the stats for the rest of the guards.

This also helps me to set up a slightly more believable world with level 3 to 5 soldiers and civilians who can actually defend a town without becoming instant fodder for a wight apocalypse.

PrC Theory
Many PrCs are linked to various organizations in fluff or in the "Special" line of the class requirements. Indeed the original concept of prestige classes was as a set of special skills taught to the character by a mentor or organization. Characters with one and two level dips in multiple prestige classes annoy me, but I'm not going to ban them. There are, sometimes, instances where having only a level or two in a prestige class is appropriate and flavorful to the character. I have no problem with that. Most of the time dipping prestige classes is a blatant power grab, yet I will still allow it. It's just that if you join the army in order to learn how to drive tanks and then go AWOL, the army is going to be a bit annoyed with you.

Structured hierarchies: These PrC organizations work like the military or a corporate company. The higher ups give orders, the lower ranks obey. You get to go from lower to higher ranks by being a good trooper, working for the organization, and sometimes butt-kissing or special privileges. Dipping: When you join a company to learn it's trade secrets and then go off a use those secrets for your own profit then they do not like you. If you stay far away and hide yourself then you'll probably get away with it, otherwise expect then to harass or hunt you.

Cults and gangs: I could have called this something like 'loosely structured groups with thematic links' but cults and gangs works. These are groups that are organized like cults and gangs, each set is focused around a single charismatic individual or a small group of such people and they rule over an informal organization of small to moderate size. The leaders usually directly participate in group activities and train their favorites while older, veteran, members recruit and train new members. Each group generally has relations with similar or competing groups in the local area. Through these links, alliances, and rivalries they can communicate and learn with other similar groups further away. Dipping: The reaction to being abandoned by the PC will vary from group to group depending on circumstances. But remember, these groups are typically led by charismatic people with great drive and ambition (and megalomania too, in the best cases). The character came in, did the initiation and learned the secret handshake, and then dumped them. Leaders like that tend to take such actions as a personal insult. The cult/gang may be limited in reach or have difficulty tracking the PC outside their home territory, but you can be sure that they'll remember your name if they ever hear it again.

Individuals of excellence: This isn't really an organization, it is more a description of the interpersonal links among an elite group. One way to think about this is the non-team international competitive sports. Training is typically one-on-one with a mentor who is a veteran of the sport. People who are active in high-level sport generally know who is on top, who is new and promising, what the rivalries and friendships are, and how to (generally) get in contact with other high-level members. If nothing else they are likely to meet each other at those events that are important to members. Dipping: Mentoring someone is a personal relationship that usually involves a good deal of trust. Ditching your mentor, or dissing him when he asks if you want to continue your training, is a really good way to make an enemy. A powerful and deeply personal sort of enemy. An enemy with friends, and enemies.

Some prestige classes don't lend themselves to organizations, or even even student/mentor relationships *cough* Frenzied Berserker *cough*.

What follows is a very small list of examples.

Structured hierarchies: Ruby Knight Vindicator, Paragnostic Apostle, Blackguard.

Cults and gangs: Eternal Blade, Assassin, Halfling Outrider.

Individuals of excellence: BloodStorm Blade, Jade Phoenix Mage, War Mind.

Disorganized: Bloodclaw Master, Pyrokineticist, Dragon Disciple.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...dKFtDgaUQ/edit

This is probably a good time to start in on religion too. I'm swiping the gods and their cults from Dungeon Crawl. It's flavorful, easy to convert, and fits the Illiad style deific meddling that I want.

This is not the whole religion text. The whole text involves some random tables that are relevant to two of the gods, those tables are not player information.

Spoiler

Alignment and religion are handled a bit differently than in most games.

Alignment is not a very useful roleplaying tool. Therefore it is being changed to a magical aura granted by certain activities and deities. The aura will detect as magical but cannot be identified by Detect Magic and similar effects. The four alignment auras are Light, Dark, Order, and Chaos. They are also commonly referred to as good, evil, law, and chaos. The alignment auras are exclusive and nothing can have more than one at a time.

Religion works a little differently than most people are used to as well. Modern games use gods a vague power sources for spells and effects, some of them may empower cults or religions as well but they are generally uninterested and uninvolved in the world. I take my cues from the ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Here the cults and religions are constructs of humanity meant to organize and spread worship, and the gods don't care about this. The gods care about heroes and deeds, sacrifices and piety, reward and punishment. They are perhaps a little bit too enthusiastic about the sacrifices and punishment for people's comfort, but you can't really do anything about immortal and invincible deities that tend to flatten cities whenever they have a minor hissy fit. On the plus side there are real benefits to being a pious and faithful believer. The most basic if these is divine intervention when you are about to die. When a pious believer would die from damage they make a level check against the absolute value of the negative damage and lose Piety (tracked by the DM, not player info) equal to their damage and how much they missed the level check by. As long as the character has sufficient Piety to pay, they return to life at 0 hp and conscious on their next turn. Raise Dead and that sort of thing ignores Piety unless the character has managed to accrue a negative value, in which case there are divine repercussions.

See the crawlgods file for pious acts for each god.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...XN0mvWvrc/edit

Since I've mentioned the gods I fell that it is necessary to provide the actual file that details the religions and PrCs. Since it's a long one you just get the link.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...xx6N_XwmI/edit

Plus a calendar.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9X...WXFtUi1BR3J5dw

[Telok]

Something I've left out so far is the Slithzerikai.

I try to simplify where I can. Most slith have passive feats that are worked into their stat blocks. If you can understand the abbreviations and you spot any real issues please let me know.

Spoiler

Lizardmen in Exile
Slithzerikai actually, the lizardmen thing is just to obfuscate what's really happening.
Poeple who haven't met/fought Slith will say 'lizardman'. People who have met them know they are tough, smart, and not from the surface. All have bonus feat Track and can always take 10 on Survival rolls.

Slith: HD d10, full BAB, good Fort & Will, bite attk, 3 nat AC, swim speed, darkvision, +2 vs fire/poison/spell

Slith Spearcarrier: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+1
HD 2d10+2 (13 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:16(leather) F:15 T:11 S:10, B/A/G 2/3/3, F/R/W 3/1/3, stats:body 12:mind 12
fire-hardened wood spears(5) +4 1d4+1 20x3 rng:30', darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
craft:spear 6, listen 6, survival 6, loot: shiny rocks (10% small gem, appraise 12)

Slith Brave: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+2
HD 4d10+8 (30 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:18(hide) F:16 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 4/6/6, F/R/W 6/3/6, stats:body 14:mind 14
stone slith spear +7 1d6+3 20x3 reach5, bite +6 1d4+2 20x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
iron heart:Disarming Strike, Steel Wind, Punishing Stance
craft:spear 9, listen 9, survival 9, jump 6, loot: food, alchemy item

Slith Mage: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+1
HD 5d10+5 (32 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:18(mageAC) F:17 T:11 S:10, B/A/G 5/6/6, F/R/W 5/2/6, stats:body 13:mind 15
stone dagger +5 1d4+1 19x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
1:shield*1, less.acid.orb(3d8)*2, 2:scorching.ray(4d6)*2 3(16):lightning.bolt(5d6)*1
craft:alchemy 10, concentrate 9, spot 10, spellcraft 10, loot: scroll

Slith Priest: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+1
HD 6d10+6 (39 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:17(hide) F:16 T:11 S:10, B/A/G 5/6/6, F/R/W 6/3/7, stats:body 13:mind 15
stone dagger +5 1d4+1 19x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
1:faith.heal(13)*2, shld.o.faith(+3)*2, 2:cure.mod(2d8+6)*3, 3(17):curse(-4rolls)*2
craft:alchemy 11, concentrate 10, spot 11, spellcraft 11, loot: potion + alchemy

Slith Warrior: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+3
HD 7d10+21 (59 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:19(scale) F:18 T:13 S:10, B/A/G 7/10/10, F/R/W 8/5/8, stats:body 16:mind 16
iron slith spear +12 1d8+6 20x3 reach5, haft strike +12 1d6+6 20x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
whiteRvn:WhRv Strike, WhRv Tatics, Tatics of Wolf, ironHrt:Mithril Tornado, Iron Heart Surge, Absolute Steel
hide 9, intimidate 13, jump 9, sneak 9, search 13, loot: minor magic item + poison

Slith High Mage: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+6
HD 8d10+16 (60 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:22(mageAC/shld) F:13 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 8/10/10, F/R/W 8/4/9, stats:body 14:mind 17
stone slith spear +10 1d6+3 20x3, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
1:less.acid.orb(5d8)*4, 2:scorching.ray(2*4d6)*3 3(18):lightning.bolt(8d6)*2 4:force.orb(8d6)*1
sense motive 14, concentrate 13, spot 14, spellcraft 14, km:arcana 14, loot: potion + magic item

Slith High Priest: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+2
HD 9d10+18 (67 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:21(scale&spell) F:19 T:17 S:13, B/A/G 9/11/11, F/R/W 8/5/9, stats:body 14:mind 17
stone slith spear +11 1d6+3 20x3, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
1:faith.heal(13)*5 2:cure.mod(2d8+6)*4, 3(18):curse(-4rolls)*3 4:shld.o.faith.legn(+3)*2 5:true.seeing*1
sense motive 15, concentrate 14, spot 15, spellcraft 15, kn:religon 15, loot: scroll + magic item

Slith Chief: Large Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+8
HD 10d10+21 (59 hp), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:23(drgn.plt) F:19 T:13 S:9, B/A/G 10/14/18, F/R/W 11/7/11, stats:body 18:mind 18
steel slith spear +16 1d10+8 19x3 reach10, haft strike +16 1d6+8 20x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
tgrClaw:Pouncing Chrg, Dance Mong, Sudn Leap, Leap Drgn Stan, irnHrt:IrnHrt Focs, Mith Tornado, IrnHrt Surge, Absolute Steel
hide 12, intimidate 17, jump 12, sneak 17, search 17, listen 17 loot: 2 magic items

Slith Archmage: Medium Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+6 UNIQUE
HD 11d10+22 (84), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:24(mageAC/shld) F:15 T:14 S:12, B/A/G 11/13/13, F/R/W 11/7/11, stats:body 15:mind 19
iron slith spear +13 1d8+3 20x3 reach5, haft strike +13 1d6+3 20x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
effectsON:Mage Armor, Shield, See Invisible, Spider Climb, Nondetection, Contingent(Displacement: Attacked)
1:magic missile*4 2:resist energy*2 glitterdust*2 3:dispel magic*3 4:orb.force*2 wall.sand*1 5:wall.force*1 greater.blink*1 6:anti-magic field
feats:SuddenSilent(3) SuddenMax(6) items:Rod.Quicken(3) Rod.Fury+2 Scroll[Heal(110hp)*2]
decipher script 18, concentrate 16, spot 18, spellcraft 18, UMD 18, kn:arcane 18

Slith King: Large Humanoid (Reptilian) init:+5 UNIQUE
HD 12d10+60 (126), Speed 30 walk/swim, AC:23(lg.steel.plt) F:19 T:13 S:9, B/A/G 12/17/21, F/R/W 12/9/12, stats:20s
large steel slith spear +18 2d6+9 19x3 reach10, haft strike +18 1d8+9 20x2, darkvision:90', save +2 vs fire/poison/spell
devSpir:Aura Perf Order, Daunt Strk, Div Surge, Revital Strk, setSun: Ballis Thr, Soar Thr, Comet Thr, Step Wind
Recover: FullRnd=all. Feats: Combat Expert, Imp.Trip(sz+4, str+5, ft+4), WF&WS, Imp.Disarm (sz+4, str+5, ft+4, wpn+4)
intimidate 20, spot.listen 20, sense motive 20, jump.climb.swim 14
loot: ring(Shield spell, 3/day, cl 10) crown(See Invisible & Swift Fly, 3/day, cl 10) boots of speed,
gauntlet(dwarven forge, command, red-hot for 10 rnd: light 10’, 1d6+10 fire touch, Half & Evasion vs. Fire attacks)

The archmage and king are unique individuals aimed at level 10 - 12 characters. Hopefully the players will manage to catch them separately, because together they will slaughter the party. This is going to be a pull-no-punches boss fight. The only tactic I'm currently planning is for the archmage to open with quickened Wall of Sand followed by Wall of Force. The goal is to trap as many characters as possible in the sand, against a wall, and seal them in with the Wall of Force. Yes, it's nasty. He's an evil archmage.

[Telok]

Ok, now for house rules. To make the setting work I need to hammer on some spells, and probably the magic item rules. Non-steel weapons and armor need to be addressed, since I'm doing that I can reasonably mess with the other exotic materials.

Items

Spoiler

Use the listed magic item sale price as the creation price. The actual sale price will depend on local availability and demand, but is generally three to five times higher. Scrolls and potions are exempt from the price increases.

Roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of the price of creating magic items is in the ritual magical burning of silver ingots that binds the magic to the item. Items do not need to be masterwork in order to be enchanted. Magical weapons and armor do not need to be +1 before adding special enchantments and the enhancement bonus is not capped at +5. Many common magical enchantments can be stacked, swords that have three enchantments of Flaming and one Flaming Burst are quite popular. Some enchantments cannot be stacked, Flaming and Freezing do not stack. There are no caster level requirements except for those needed to cast the appropriate spells. Magic items require one special component or ingredient plus an additional special component or ingredient per 10,000 gp of the creation price. These special components count towards the gold piece cost of making the item. The magic item also requires a craft check with a DC of 15 + 1 per 2,000 gp value of the item.

For example: A Ring of Freedom of Movement will cost 40,000 gp to make. 20,000 to 27,000 of that will be the ritual burning of silver ingots, four special ingredients relating to free movement will be required, and a DC 35 Craft:Jewelry(or something similar) check will need to be made. It will take 40 days to make the ring and bind the magic into it.

The feats needed to make magic items are altered, they no longer have caster level requirements. Extraordinary Artisan does not affect the amount of silver needed to bond the magic and Legendary Artisan is useless as there is no XP cost anymore.

Masterwork items give no bonuses, rather it gives the item +5 hardness and +20 HP. Masterwork items cost 10 times as much as the basic item or +750 gp above the base price, whichever costs more.

Table: Masterwork Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points
Format: Weapon or Shield, Hardness, HP

Light blade , 15, 22
One-handed blade, 15, 25
Two-handed blade, 15, 30
Light metal-hafted weapon, 15, 30
One-handed metal-hafted weapon, 15, 50
Light hafted weapon , 10, 22
One-handed hafted weapon, 10, 25
Two-handed hafted weapon, 10, 30
Projectile weapon, 10, 25
Buckler, 15, 25
Light wooden shield, 10, 27
Heavy wooden shield, 10, 35
Light steel shield, 15, 30
Heavy steel shield, 15, 50
Tower shield, 10, 50
Armor, (matereal) +5, (AC bonus x5) +20

Notes: The hp value given is for Medium armor, weapons, and shields. Divide by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium.

Special materials

Adamantine(DMG p283) Black metal
Weighs 25% more
Costs 250gp per pound of weight
Item has 20 hardness
Have +50% hp
Armor
Light Armor – Damage Reduction +1 (stacks other non-adamantine DR)
Medium Armor – Damage Reduction +2 (stacks other non-adamantine DR)
Heavy Armor – Damage Reduction +3 (stacks other non-adamantine DR)
Weapon
Able to bypass certain types of Damage Reduction and ignores material hardness.

Darkwood (DMG p283) Richly colored wood that is strong & light.
Weighs 50% less
Costs 300gp per pound of weight
Shields have a –2 Armor Check Penalty
Thrown weapons and ammunition have +50% range
Bows have -25% cost reduction for each +1 strength bonus

Dragonhide (DMG p283) Armor and/or shields made from dragon scales & hide
The following armors can be made from Dragonhide: Hide, Scale Mail, Half-Plate, Full Plate, Breastplate, and any Shield.
Druids can wear Dragonhide armor without penalty.
Weighs 25% less
Must be masterwork and 2x price
-50% cost reduction for the appropriate elemental resistance

Mithral (DMG p284) Silvery, glistening metal
Weighs 50% less
Costs 250gp per pound of weight
Armor
–10% Spell Failure
+2 Max Dex modifier
–3 Armor Check Penalty
Weapon
Counts as Silver to bypass certain types of Damage Reduction

Starmetal (CArc p141) Green metal
Weighs 15% more
Costs 600gp per pound of weight
Item has an minimum of 20 hardness
Armor
Light Armor – Damage Reduction 1 / Adamantine
Medium Armor – Damage Reduction 2 / Adamantine
Heavy Armor – Damage Reduction 3 / Adamantine
Weapon
Bypasses all forms of Damage Reduction
Does +1d6 damage to Plants
Does +2d6 damage to DR/Silver
Does +3d6 damage to DR/Cold Iron

Silver (DMG p284)
Costs 100gp per pound of weight
Armor
–25% Spell Failure
-2 Max Dex modifier
+2 Armor Check Penalty
-1 AC bonus
Weapon
Able to bypass certain types of Damage Reduction.
On a natural 1 on an attack roll apply the damage to the weapon’s HP.

Bronze
Costs 50% of normal prices
Armor
-1 AC bonus
Weapon
On a natural 1 on an attack roll apply the weapon damage to the weapon’s HP.

Iron
Costs 75% of normal prices
Weighs 5% more
Armor
+25% spell failure
-1 Max Dex modifier
+1 Armor Check Penalty
Weapon
Counts as "Cold Iron" for bypassing DR.
On a natural 1 on an attack roll apply the base weapon damage to the weapon’s HP.

Stone
Not normally sellable but may be worth about 25% of normal prices
Armor
see Races of Stone for stone armor
Weapons
On a natural 1 on an attack roll apply the damage to the weapon’s HP.
On a critical hit against a target with hardness, solid metal armor, or natural armor and DR, apply the damage to the weapon’s HP.

Magic

Spoiler

**Spell and alignment.
With the changes to alignment some spell descriptors need to change a bit.
Necromantic effects always have a Dark alignment.
Conjuration spells always have a Light alignment.
Abjuration spells always have an Order alignment.
Evocation spells always have a Chaos alignment.
This does mean that Protection from Law is an Order spell, that summoning a demon is a Light spell, and casting Death Ward is a Dark spell.

**Flight.
All spells and magical effects that grant a flying speed have a variable duration. The maximum duration of the spell is 1d6 minutes per caster level, or the duration listed in the spell description, whichever is shorter.

The metamagic feat Extend Spell, and all similar effects, applies to the duration listed in the spell description, not the rolled duration derived from the caster level.

When any flight spell ends gravity immediately takes full effect.

**Teleportation.
All teleport effects have a minimum of a full round activation time regardless of the origin of the effect. This minimum time cannot be reduced, but the rainbow aura and multiple images create a 50% miss chance due to their distorting effects.

All teleport effects have a maximum safe range dependent on the spell level or number of HD when the ability is gained. Spell levels 1 to 3, HD 1 to 6, maximum safe range is short. Spell levels 4 to 6, HD 7 to 12, maximum safe range is medium. Spell levels 7 to 9, HD 13 and higher, maximum safe range is long. If the distance traveled is greater than the safe range of the teleport bad things will happen.

**Plane Shift.
Safe planar travel is done in steps. One step at a time is considered safe. Taking multiple steps at once dramatically increases the chance of unpleasant events. All planar travel takes at least a full round action.

From the material plane it is one step to the ethereal plane, the shadow plane, and the dreamlands. From the ethereal plane it is one step to the material plane, the dreamlands, the shadow plane, the semi-elemental planes, and the deep ethereal plane (sometimes called the astral plane). From the deep ethereal plane it is one step to the shadow plane, the dreamlands, and the outer planes where the weird stuff 'lives.' From the dreamlands it is one step to the material plane, the ethereal plane, the shadow plane, and the celestial plane. From the shadow plane it is one step to the material plane, the dreamlands, the ethereal plane, and the fiendish plane. The semi-elemental planes are one step from all of their associated elemental planes and other similar semi-elemental planes (because accidental travel between associated semi- and elemental planes is common, some philosophers consider the whole of the elemental planes to be one big interconnected omniplane). From the fiendish plane it is one step to the shadow plane, the celestial plane, and the assorted planes known as the Halls of Pain, including Dis, the Abyss, Ghenna, and Hel. From the celestial plane it is one step to the dreamlands, the fiendish plane, and the assorted planes know as the Fields of Valor, including Arcadia, Valhalla, Elysium, and Celestia. Note that some particular outer planes, elemental planes, Halls of Pain, and Fields of Valor may have connections or may have areas within them that are a single step to any other plane.

**Raising the dead.
All methods of coming back from the dead have a maximum time limit of three days. After three days the soul has gone on to it's final reward. The Reincarnate spell/s use the AD&D rules because they were more fun.

Because of Revenance, Revivify, and some confusion at our table about ongoing spell effects I'm clearing some stuff up. 1) Using Revenance to get around the time limit of Revivify is cool. No problems. 2) The dead person is no longer concentrating or maintaining spells, any psionic focus is lost, anything they were holding in their hands is dropped. 3) Any spell cast by the dead person continues to affect it's target until the duration runs out. 4) Any spell cast on a person who then becomes a dead body will still affect the body until the duration runs out. 5) Please remember that any time you die there is a 50% chance of losing each uncast spell, spell slot, and power point unless the magic that returns you from death says otherwise.

**Identify
Identify now works in the following manner: You get a number of ID attempts equal to your caster level. Each attempt will tell you something about an item, object, aura, or whatever. To learn something you make a caster level check against 8+CL of the target. The first thing learned is the name of the target (or what it is, something descriptive and useful generally). You automatically know when you have learned everything about the target that you can get from the spell. You can use ID attempts from one casting on different targets, you just need to have the targets available to you during the spell.

Identify works on more than just magic items. It has been discovered that sapphires can be substituted for pearls and feathers, but at five times the cost. Bardic Knowledge is not a substitute for Identify.

**Gate
The Gate spell was researched only two hundred years ago and only three people since then have been able to cast it. The transport function can be used for both interplanar travel and intraplanar travel. When used for interplanar travel it works as described and can be used to safely shift two steps across planar barriers. When used for intraplanar travel the Gate does not have the problems inherent with teleportation and the duration of the spell is ten minutes per caster level. When used as a calling spell the Gate has a duration of concentration plus one minute per caster level and does not provide control over anything that cones through the Gate.

**Alter Self
This spell no longer refers to a creatures type. Rather it is limited to mildly modifying the caster's shape (normally humanoid). This means that a human caster can now change into an ogre, warforged, tiefling, or elan. It also means that an elan caster cannot use this spell to become a gibbering mouther, and that a thi-kreen is limited to shaping into other insectoids.

The new form does not gain any racial bonuses to skills or feats. It does gain movement modes and natural armor bonuses, but only at half the value of the new form. The caster also gains the natural attacks of the new form as usual.

Planar travel (NOT FINISHED)

Spoiler

From the material plane it is one step to the ethereal plane, the shadow plane, and the dreamlands.
From the ethereal plane it is one step to the material plane, the dreamlands, the shadow plane, the semi-elemental planes, and the deep ethereal plane (sometimes called the astral plane).
From the deep ethereal plane it is one step to the ethereal plane, the shadow plane, the dreamlands, and the outer planes where the weird stuff 'lives.'
From the dreamlands it is one step to the material plane, the ethereal plane, the shadow plane, and the celestial plane.
From the shadow plane it is one step to the material plane, the dreamlands, the ethereal plane, and the fiendish plane.
The semi-elemental planes are one step from all of their associated elemental planes and other similar semi-elemental planes (because accidental travel between associated semi- and elemental planes is common, some philosophers consider the whole of the elemental planes to be one big interconnected omniplane).
From the fiendish plane it is one step to the shadow plane, the celestial plane, and the assorted planes known as the Halls of Pain, including Dis, the Abyss, Ghenna, and Hel.
From the celestial plane it is one step to the dreamlands, the fiendish plane, and the assorted planes know as the Fields of Valor, including Arcadia, Valhalla, Elysium, and Celestia.
Note that some particular outer planes, elemental planes, Halls of Pain, and Fields of Valor may have connections may have areas within them that are a single step to any other plane.

The DC numbers here indicate two things. First: the DC of the roll needed to figure out what is going on while you are experiencing it. This is to mitigate the WTF factor that is caused by ignorant people posing as "planar experts." Secondly: the minimum number of ranks (Kn: Planes, or Kn: Arcane / Religion +10) needed to know what you are going to be facing when you shift to another plane. The character's ranks are modified by personal experience, accurate books, and asking questions of people who have traveled to those planes.

Ethereal plane

5) A neighboring plane where everything is grey and washed out, time is funny, and nothing lives.

10) One step towards the astral plane where time and matter do not exist. It almost looks like a world where people never existed.

15) An distorted ectoplasmic mirror or the material world where time and space are slightly mutable. Nothing lives here and the only structures are those that have existed for millennium.

20) Each action takes more or less (1d4: 1-2 = more, 3-4 = less) time (1d4-1, minimum 0, keep same increment (rounds/minutes/days)). The geography is similar but stretched or compressed (1d4, 1-2 / 3-4) by varying amounts (1d4+1 x10%), there is no native life and no structures unless they are incredibly ancient (2,000+ years).

Shadow plane

5) A dark mirror of the real world filled with terrible creatures. There is very little light and less hope for anyone trapped here. Travel across this plane is faster than in the real world.

10) The shadow plane is formed of negative space. Like a shadow where light does not show because it has illuminated an object, the shadow plane is made up of the holes that are behind what is real. The carnivores are the hunted, the herbivores prey on all that is flesh, and the plants consume everything that comes within reach. There is nothing that is not poisonous.

15) All creatures are shadowy, stealthy, hostile, and poisonous. Most plants are animated and hostile, all of them are poisonous. Normal living things that come here will slowly die. The landscape is bizarrely different from the real world and totally silent.

20) Creatures have the Shadow Creature and Poisonous templates. Large and bigger plants are animate and poisonous. Terrain is generally opposite what it is in the real world (ocean – desert, mountains – plains) and distance traveled is inverted (close - far) which causes people to keep trying to use it as a short cut. Real creatures in the shadow plane (and shadow creatures in the real world) accrue one negative level every four hours, permanent until cured.

The Dreamlands

5) This plane is created and sustained by the collective dreaming unconscious minds of the world. It sometimes appears very similar to the waking world, and sometimes it is almost totally alien. It can be reached by skilled dreamers by descending the seventy stairs to the Cavern of Flame and then following the seven hundred steps down to the Gates of Deeper Slumber. Persons not interested in sleeping and dreaming generally use powerful magics to skip all that.

10) The Dreamlands are two distinct, connected, but separate places. Similar to two sides of a coin. Lighter Slumber is a distorted and plastic reflection of the real world inhabited by the normal dreaming minds of real world creatures. A dreamer can alter things by force of will alone. This is where people and animals go when they dream.

15) The Dreamlands are two distinct, connected, but separate places. Similar to two sides of a coin. Deeper Slumber is it's own world, distinct from Lighter Slumber. It has a distinct and stable geography, native inhabitants and creatures, and immigrants who were skilled dreamers that died in their sleep. A powerful and skilled dreamer can alter things by force of will alone.

20) Dreaming skill, Charisma based, may be used untrained, not on any class skill lists. Lighter Slumber: DC 22, Cavern of Flame: DC 28, Deeper Slumber: DC 33. In Lighter Slumber people and places appear as normal as things get in dreams. Anyone may create or negate any spell/power effect with a Will save DC 10+ spell/power level of the effect. Magic items do not function here, people must emulate the effects by force of will. You cannot truly die in Lighter Slumber, you merely awake shaken and unrested. The priests in the Cavern of Flame can tell you more about Deeper Slumber.

25) Deeper Slumber, skilled dreamers may create or negate any spell/power effect with the Dreaming skill DC 10+ 5*(spell/power level of the effect). Magic items work in Deeper Slumber if created there, brought in by Plane Shift or similar magic, or emulated. It is very bad for a dreamer to die in Deeper Slumber. People visiting the Dreamlands via magic should leave by the same method. Attempting to leave via Lighter Slumber means that the person becomes a figment of someone else's dream and vanishes when they wake up. Persons visiting via magic cannot affect the Dreamlands by Will saves or Dreaming skill, and get no spell resistance (and -10 to saves) against any such effect. The priests in the Cavern of Flame will explain most of this if you talk nicely to them.

For in-depth info on the Dreamlands refer to Call of Cthulhu's Dreamlands sourcebook.

Material plane,

Deep ethereal plane (sometimes called the astral plane)

5) Also called the astral plane, it is formless and border-less. Time does not pass here, there is no gravity here.

10) The thin and unformed ectoplasm that makes up the ethereal plane is all that naturally occurs here. There is no air, gravity, directions, or time here. Strange shapes sometimes take shape for unknown reasons.

15) Any trip to the plane takes a random amount of time regardless of how much or little "time" is spent there. Thoughts can cause the ambient ectoplasm to collapse into temporary forms, this is how the landscape of the ethereal plane was created. Talking about something can make it quasi-real for a short "time."

20) Each round in combat roll a new initiative. Initiative 1 to 13 goes first, once. Initiative 14 to 26 goes next, twice. Initiative 26 to 39 goes next, three times. Initiative 40+ goes last, four times. Do not apply any effects until the end of the round. Effects that are instantaneous or last less than 15 rounds fail to happen. Effects that last 15 rounds or longer are permanent until dispelled, discharged, or they leave the plane. Any trip through this plane takes a random amount of time. 1d8, 1:beneficial 2:detrimental 3:instantaneous 4:1d100 rounds 5:1d100 hours 6:1d100 weeks 7:1d100 years 8:reroll.

Celestial plane.

5) This place generally agrees with what most people think Eden is like. Pleasant weather, yummy fruit trees everywhere, friendly animals all over.

10) The animals here are peaceful and unafraid, there are no monsters or carnivores. However when the occasional dark entity wanders through the local fauna can become surprisingly belligerent. There are no native "people" here.

15) Everything here is good aligned and will not harm anything else that is good. Grass is barely nibbled, only fallen fruit is consumed, all the carnivores starved eons ago because they wouldn't hurt anything and the herbivores are pretty close to starvation too. The animals viscously attack anything that is evil and will actively harass and bully any non-good entity.

20) The local critters all have the Celestial template, Detect Evil/Good 20' radius, and Protection from Evil as constant supernatural abilities. Due to the 100% success rate of fertility and absence of disease there are many more animals than normal. Because the animals will not unduly harm anything good aligned they will not over-graze or strip bark and fruits. The animals have evolved to become opportunistic omnivores that may try to eat anything non-good that enters this plane.

Fiendish plane.

5) This place generally agrees with what most people think Hell is like. Nasty weather, almost no edible vegetation, hostile animals all over.

10) The animals here are mean and hungry, almost all of them are monstrous or carnivorous. Vegetation is usually covered in sharp thorns. There are no native "people" here.

15) Everything here is evil aligned and will probably try to eat anything it can't mate with. There are no herbivores left in this ecology.

20) The local critters all have the Fiendish template, Detect Good 20' radius, and Protection from Good as constant supernatural abilities. The animals have evolved to become opportunistic omnivores that may try to eat anything that enters this plane.

Outer planes where the weird stuff 'lives.'

The semi-elemental planes are one step from all of their associated elemental planes and other similar semi-elemental planes (because accidental travel between associated semi- and elemental planes is common, some philosophers consider the whole of the elemental planes to be one big interconnected omniplane)

The assorted planes known as the Halls of Pain, including Dis, the Abyss, Ghenna, and Pandemonium.

The assorted planes know as the Fields of Valor, including Arcadia, Valhalla, Elysium, and Celestia.

Magic Items

Spoiler

BloodSlash
This scimitar grants it's wielder the Quickdraw feat (only for drawing this sword) and the benefit of a True Strike spell for one round when it is drawn from it's sheath. The sword requires two minutes in the sheath to recharge it's power.
Nerveskitter or Quick draw, Truestrike, 20,000 gp value, CL 7.

Ice Fang
A white dragon tooth wrapped with silver wire, it is cold to the touch. When held this item grants +1d8 cold damage to unarmed or natural weapons attacks and a +2 to saving throws against cold effects. When worn as a necklace it grants +2 to saving throws against cold effects and Resist Cold 15. When used as a wand cold spells and powers are at +2 caster level and +1 save DC, this may exceed dice caps on spells or powers. When used as a weapon it is treated as a masterwork silver dagger that casts Chill Touch (DC 16) when it hits.
Chill Touch, Cone of Cold, Resist Energy, 30,000 gp value, CL 13.

Glow Globes
Yellow fluorite spheres. Casting a spell into these spheres gives a 10' radius bright light for one hour, plus an additional 10' and one hour per spell level. You can also cast a spell into it to get a beam of bright light. The beam is a short range, 5' wide line that blinds targets for 1d4 rounds (Ref negates, DC 14+spell level).
Daylight, 7500 gp value, CL 5.

Death Stick
A blackened, twisted, long bone that has been sharpened at one end. On a melee hit both the user and the target must save or die (Fort negates, DC 10 + 1/2 the other guy's HD), single use.
Finger of Death, 4550 gp value, CL 13.

Green Crystal Mace
Light mace +2, +1d6 acid damage, on critical confirmation Poison (as the spell, DC 18).
Magic Weapon, Poison, Acid Splash, 32,000 gp value, CL 11.

Flame Halberd
This reddish iron halberd is on fire. +1d8 fire damage and +2d8 more on a critical confirmation. 2/day Combust (touch attack 2d6+5 fire damage and catch fire, Ref negates DC 15), 2/day Produce Flame (CL 5). The halberd always gives off light as a torch.
Combust, Produce Flame, Continual Flame, 30,000 gp value, CL 7.

Alien Spiral Blade
A spiraling, double edged, serrated hand-and-a-half sword (masterwork starmetal). The sword is +2 to hit and does 2d4 slashing damage, it threatens a critical only on a natural 20. On a critical confirmation the damage changes to 2d6 piercing and the damage multiplier is x5.
75,000 gp value.

Ice Shield
A large silver shield with a mirror finish. +2 large metal shield with Resist 15 cold and electricity. If the user makes a save vs a gaze attack the attacker is subjected to the attack and must make the same save with a +4 bonus.
Resist Energy, Reflect Gaze, 44,000 gp value, CL 7.

Fire Shield
A hot black iron shield. A small metal shield with Resist fire and cold 20 and five charges per day. 1 charge, a range 30 touch attach doing 2d8 fire damage. 3 charges, Fire Shield as the spell (warm shield only, CL 9). 5 charges, immune to fire for the next 4 rounds.
Lesser Orb of Fire, Fire Shield, 74,000 gp value, CL 9.

Cobra Amulet
A little snake amulet. +2 natural armor enhancement bonus, +2 on saves vs poison, 1/day Neutralize Poison.
Barkskin, Neutralize Poison, 21,000 gp value, CL 9.

Life Shield
This large white wooden shield has a big red cross painted on the front of it. +5 large bleached darkwood shield with Deathward. Anytime the user dies this shield instantly keeps him alive and stable at 0 hp, it also loses two points from it's enhancement bonus.
Shield of Faith, Revivify, 59,000 gp value, CL 15.

Lightning Axe
A double headed battle axe with six wires running down the haft. This axe does +2d6 electrical damage and can be used as an instrument with a +2 bonus to the perform check. Three times a day it can shoot a 6d6 Lightning bolt as the spell (CL and save DC = 1/2 perform check).
Lightning bolt, Shout, 39,000 gp value, CL 11.

Smite
A large two handed sword with a well worn leather grip and several large nicks and dents in the blade. Smite does +5 damage, it has a +4 to hit giants and does an extra 1d12 damage per size category that the target is larger than the wielder. Against giants it has an 17-20 threat range and does an additional +6d6 damage on a critical hit.
52,000 gp value, CL 17.

Demonslayer
A two handed sword with an unusually wide blade and a baseball sized black opal for a pommel. Does +3d6 heat damage. When used on a demon it does triple damage and always confirms critical threats. Also the wielder has +2 on all rolls vs demons and may detect demons (as per Detect Magic) at-will.
72,000 gp value, CL 19.

Lash
This barbed whip was braided from demon tails. Lash does 1d6 lethal slashing damage. You get +2 enhancement bonus when using Lash to trip, disarm or grapple, and an additional +2 per size category that you are smaller than your target. You may deliver a touch spell via Lash as a standard action.
Spectral Hand, Telekinesis, 19,000 gp value, CL 5.

Dimples
A small heavy flail with big lumps on it. A small masterwork adamantine flail, it does +2d4 crushing damage and always counts as being wielded two handed. It does bonus damage equal to the DR or hardness of the target.
22,000 gp value.

Piercing Crystals
Sharp red crystal spikes. A single use Dispel Magic Barrier that will bring down anything less than a CL 20 barrier. When used as a weapon it acts as a stone dagger and may be charged with psionic energy as a deep crystal weapon accepting up to 6 power points in this manner.
Greater Dispel Magic, 6500 gp value, CL 19.

Claw Boots
A pair of heavy spiked boots. These boots grant a 15' climb speed on any material, immunity to slipping and being tripped, and add +1d6 damage if used to kick people. However if you exceed speeds of 25' a round the boots won't be able to keep their grip and you will fall down.
Spider Climb, 7500 gp value, CL 3.

Goo Globes
These are slightly sticky balls of rope or webbing about 5 inches across. Use the spell Web, as a grenade-like thrown weapon with a range increment of 10'x Strength bonus, a 30' radius, and it does not need anchoring terrain.
Web, 300 gp value, CL 3.

Crystal Staff
When using this staff to cast a mind-affecting spell you may sacrifice a spell or power points to increase the DC of the save. +1 DC per spell level or 3pp, to a maximum of +7 DC.
Heighten Spell, 72,000 gp value, CL 13.

Spazhammer
A huge wooden mallet. This mallet is used like a medium sized war hammer, if it is thrown it has a -6 to hit and it's special power will not work. The hammer does not do extra damage on a critical hit. On a critical confirmation the user makes additional free attacks at the same base attack bonus, every time the user misses the hammer hits the user instead. The attacks continue until either the target or the user is dead. Using a wooden mallet on solid stone or metal walls damages the mallet.
Time Stop, big gp value, CL 17.

Boom Knife
A masterwork mithril dagger. The weapon has a +2 to hit and +2d6 electrical damage. It grants +2 to saves vs Electricity and may cast Shocking Grasp three times a day (3d6 damage).
Shocking Grasp, 35,000 gp value, CL 10.

Crystal Chain Mail
Finely crystal chainmail. This masterwork non-metal armor allows a user to expend his psionic focus (as an immediate action) to take 10 on saving throws and gain +4 AC until the end of his next turn.
Defensive Precognition, 18,000 gp value, CL 14.

Dragonscale Shield
A large shield covered in brown/black dragon scales. Resist Fire 20, and DR 2/dragon bane.
Resist Energy, 45,000 gp value, CL 15.

Dragon Tooth Knife
A masterwork dagger made from a dragon's tooth. -4 to hit when thrown, +5 damage, and a x3 critical multiplier.
25,000 gp value.

Drake Leather Jerkin
This jerkin functions as leather armor (although it is much easier to store and wear). It also grants a +5 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, Handle Animal (reptiles only), Jump, Survival, and the Scent special quality.
Alter Self, 18,000 gp value, CL 11.

Gleaming Shield
This silvered mithril tower shield refelcts all gaze attacks back to the attacker. It also weighs 65 lbs (-15 armor check penalty, +0 maximum dexterity bonus, -2 attack penalty) and requires a Remove Curse or other fixative magic to get it off your arm.
10,000 gp value, CL 13.

Gold-tipped Spear
An ashen longspear with a hardened gold blade. The spear is +2 to hit and may use the following martial maneuvers once per combat: Burning Blade, Blistering Flourish (DC16), Fan the Flames, Searing Charge.
4 Desert Wind maneuvers, 50,000 gp value, IL 12.

Knife of Warmth
The wielder of this weapon is granted the Cold subtype while he holds it.
Shapechange, 20,000 gp value, CL 17.

Shielding Bow
This fine yew bow is backed with thin crystal strands. A masterwork compound longbow with a +4 strength rating. The bow may store five psionic power points. When the bow is fired it will manifest Force Screen (duration 10 rounds) if the wielder is not already protected by that power.
Force Screen, Schisim, 32,000 gp value, CL 9.

[Telok]

Here's the last of my house rules. These are not set in stone and I am open to arguments as to why I should or shouldn't use them. Although I'm not sure that there will be much complaining.

Class modifications.

Spoiler

Skills: All classes that normally have 2+ skill points per level instead get 4+ skill points per level. The Knowledge skills of arcana, religion, nature, etc, are not used to identify monsters. The new skill Monster Lore (Int) is used to identify monsters, this skill is not on any class list and cannot be used untrained. There is a book called “Captain Wembley's Monster Atlas” that counts as a masterwork tool for the Monster Lore skill and allows an untrained user to make a check at -5. Consulting the book takes 10 minutes and a monster at hand to identify.

Sorcerer:
Special: Familiar: A sorcerer must have a familiar or be unable to cast spells. If the sorcerer's familiar dies he does not have to wait a year to gain another familiar.
Gain: Improved Familiar: At 1st level, a sorcerer gains Improved Familiar as a bonus feat. Bonus Feats: At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, a sorcerer gains a bonus feat. At each such opportunity, she can choose a metamagic feat, a familiar feat, or Spell Focus feat. The sorcerer must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including caster level minimums.
Add: School Specialization: A sorcerer must specialize in a school of magic. The available schools are Conjuration(Summoning), Necromancy, Illusion, Pyromancy(Fire), Aquamancy(Water and Acid), Aeromancy(Air and Sonic), and Geomancy(Earth). This works as the wizard's specialization does except that instead of preparing extra spells, at least 1/3 of the sorcerer's known spells must be from the specialization.
Spell Preparation: A sorcerer refreshes his spell slots by performing a 15 minute ritual with the appropriate materials (bones for a necromancer, flames for a pyromancer, etc). This ritual is a 1/day supernatural ability. If the sorcerer does not have a familiar the ritual must be used to summon a new familiar before it can be used to refresh spells. If the sorcerer does not wish to refresh his spell slots, and has access to his familiar then he may use the ritual to emulate an Augury spell.
Familiar: The sorcerer's familiar is the his link to the entity that grants him spells. As such, the form of the familiar is symbolic of that entity. For example, a necromancer may have a small animal skeleton or ghostlike thing, an aeromancer may have a bird or small air elemental as a familiar. The exact form and bonuses of the familiar is either chosen by the DM (with player input) or by the player (with DM approval). The level limits of the Improved Familiar feat may be safely ignored.

Wizard:
Lose: Familiar.
Add: School Specialization: A wizard must specialize in a school of magic. This follows all the normal rules for specialization except that a wizard specializing in Divination must prohibit two other schools and Divination can be a prohibited school for wizards with other specialties. The available schools are Abjuration, Conjuration(Creation), Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, and Transmutation.
Spell Preparation: A wizard must spend 10 minutes per spell level of the spell he wants to memorize. This time is not reduced for memorizing multiple copies of the same spell and does NOT alleviate the need to be fully rested.

Druid:
Add: A druid must choose which class feature to take at first level. The druid may only take one class feature.
a) Wildshape
b) Shapeshift (PHB2)
c) Animal Companion
Lose: Plant wildshaping and elemental wildshaping.
Change: Wildshape.
Dire animals and dinosaurs are Magical Beasts, not Animals. They are not available as wildshape options.
Subject uses the Monster Manual entry of the animal except for:
a) Intelligence
b) hit points
c) level, class, & alignment
d) spells, & spell-like abilities
Please remember:
a) the subject’s equipment is absorbed into the body & suppressed
b) if slain, the subject returns to it's original form
c) the somatic, verbal, and material manipulation components of spellcasting are not normally possible while wildshaped
Spell Preparation: A druid must spend 10 minutes per spell level of the spell he wants to memorize. This time is not reduced for memorizing multiple copies of the same spell and does NOT alleviate the need to be fully rested.

Favored Soul
Lose: Wings, energy resistance, and damage resistance.
Change: Spells known list to four domains and domain powers of the deity.
Spell Preparation: A Favored Soul refreshes his spell slots by performing a 15 minute ritual. This ritual is a 1/day supernatural ability. If the Favored Soul does not wish to refresh his spell slots he may use the ritual to emulate an Augury spell.
Requirement: The Favored Soul must worship a god.

Knight
Change: Test of Mettle and Daunting Challenge to Fighter Bonus Feats.

Cleric
Change: Turn/Rebuke Undead becomes a 3 times per day supernatural ability. The cleric turns 2d6 + cleric level + charisma modifier HD of undead.
Requirement: The cleric must worship a god. I will not allow a Lawful Good cleric to worship the philosophy of “Randomly doing whatever I want without any responsibilities” and getting the Death and Pain domains from doing so.
Spell Preparation: A cleric must spend 10 minutes per spell level of the spell he wants to memorize. This time is not reduced for memorizing multiple copies of the same spell and does NOT alleviate the need to be fully rested.

Soulknife
Change: Full base attack bonus.
The Mindblade Enhancement ability now stacks with the +# enhancements to the mindblade (example: a level 10 soulknife has a +4 bonus to his mindblade). The soulknife may choose to apply any or all of the bonuses to either hit/damage or special weapon abilities. All published enhancements are allowed and it takes 10 minutes of meditation per + of the enhancement to change your enhancements.

Fighter
Add: The fighter gets a bonus feat every level. Fighter levels count as full initiator levels for purposes of the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats. The fighter also ignores the restriction of only being able to take those feats three times, as long as he takes the feats as fighter bonus feats.

Dragon Shaman
Change: The DC of the breath weapon is 10 + 1/2 class level + Constitution modifier.
Change: Touch of Vitality does damage with a negative Charisma modifier. Fortitude save for 1/2 and a Will save to negate conditions applied, the DC is 10 + 1/2 character level + Charisma modifier.

CWar Samurai
Please don't.

General Adjustments to Casters
Spells (Prepared Casters): A prepared spell caster must spend 10 minutes per spell level of the spell he wants to memorize. This time is not reduced for memorizing multiple copies of the same spell and does NOT alleviate the need need to be fully rested.
Spells (Spontaneous Casters): A spontaneous spell caster refreshes his spell slots by performing a 15 minute ritual. This ritual is a 1/day supernatural ability.
Religons: Religon based spell casters must worship a god.

Feat modifications.

Spoiler

Dodge, Endurance, Toughness, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Point Blank Shot, Skill Focus, and Run are no longer prerequsites for anything.

Combat Expertise is not limited to +/-5, it is limited to the character's base attack bonus.

Cleave is not limited to one attack, it is limited to a number of extra attacks equal to your base attack bonus.

The feats needed to make magic items are altered, they no longer have caster level requirements. Extraordinary Artisan does not affect the amount of silver needed to bond the magic and Legendary Artisan is useless as there is no XP cost anymore.

Some feats may stack even if the description does not specify that they do (DM discretion). Examples include Greater Heavy Armor Optimization, Second Wind, Tomb Born Fortitude, Improved Initative, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Sudden Silent Spell, Greater Resiliency, Deflect Arrows, Improved Favored Enemy, Dodge, Endurance, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude.

The following armors and shields are NOT exotic anymore: Spider Silk, Mammoth Leather, Interlocking Scale, Tumbler's Breastplate, Interlocking Plate, Battle Plate, Mountain Plate, Extreme Shield.

The following weapons are NOT exotic anymore: Barbed Dagger, Throwing Hammer, Kama, Broadblade Short Sword, Siangham, Flutterblade, Maul, Dire Pick, Warmace, Greatspear, Longaxe, Longstaff, Heavy Poleaxe, Blowguns, Crossbows, Shuriken.

That's all for tonight, let me know what you think. If you see something you like feel free to steal it.

[The Glyphstone]

Fighter
Add: The fighter gets a bonus feat every level. Fighter levels count as full initiator levels for purposes of the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats. The fighter also ignores the restriction of only being able to take those feats three times, as long as he takes the feats as fighter bonus feats.

This would be the only thing I see an issue with, and only because it's kind of unnecessary. A Fighter is quite literally nothing but Bonus Feats on a HD chassis. If he spends every feat he gets on Martial Study, he gets 20 maneuvers known and readied, paradoxically making him a better Martial Adept than any of the actual Martial Adept classes while still being a dip-class whose only purpose ends up being allowing said Martial Adepts to cherry-pick maneuvers they want, and still not having any real class features.

Rather than just give the fighter MOAR FEATS, I'd look at shamelessly stealing some of the stuff Pathfinder did to the Fighter, such as Weapon Training - it makes the class feel like it has an identity as a weapon specialist, though not doing much for its power.

[Telok]

If he spends every feat he gets on Martial Study, he gets 20 maneuvers known and readied, paradoxically making him a better Martial Adept than any of the actual Martial Adept classes while still being a dip-class whose only purpose ends up being allowing said Martial Adepts to cherry-pick maneuvers they want, and still not having any real class features.

The downside to being a Martial Study fighter having no refresh ability at all. Plus the fighter has to split feats between feat chains (somewhat mitigated as I axed some of the feat taxing) and only uses Fighter levels for his bonus feat initiator levels. I will clarify that in my file.

I honestly thought that being able to pick from all the ToB schools was a pretty decent 'class feature'. Because I'm playing a 5th level crusader right now and the lack of variety in maneuvers is really annoying.

Done: Found some Exile files detailing partial contents of towns and dungeons. Reloaded Exile and editor to hit up towns for distance measurements and NPC info.

ToDo: Nephil stats - need mook, warrior, archer, shaman, chief. GIFT/Arena stats (easy). Level 7 mooks (3 & 5 done). Need to stat up the great dragons, and I swapped Sulfras/Pyrog on the calendar.

[Telok]

Ok, I have an example of how teleporting past the maximum safe distance works.

Spoiler

**Example of Teleport mishap.
A 15th level wizard teleports from Exile to the surface. The DM says "Fetch me a calculator!", this gives the player a chance to reconsider his folly. Maximum safe distance is 400 + 40/level or 1000 feet, the distance teleported is about 35 miles (184,800 feet). Since the distance teleported exceeds the maximum safe distance by a factor of 184.8 we make the players roll 185d6 and add them up. The total will be about 684, give or take a few dozen. So the character arrives at -684 hit points, he does not take this damage, he is not reduced to this total, the over-stressed magic simply has him appear at -684 hit points (probably in little bits scattered around). Now to determine just where he appears. Roll two eight siders and use each die to determine the horizontal angle and vertical tilt (at 45 degree intervals). If you don't understand that last bit, don't worry. I understand it and I'm the one doing the heavy mental lifting here. Rolls of 1 and 6 mean 45 degrees east of north, and 45 degrees backwards off of straight down. The scatter distance is the damage is used as the percentile of the original distance teleported. 684% of 35 miles is 239.4 miles off target. The bits of the wizard will end up 169.3 miles southwest and 169.3 miles downward. And I've just found out that the Earth's crust is about 40 kilometers thick in non-mountainous continental interiors. Well, even at half the distances and damage the atomized remains of the wizard are still stuck somewhere in the geologic mantle of the world.

Mostly done with the Nephil too. I just need the chief and a high priest capable of casting Lesser Planar Ally.

Spoiler

Gnoll: +4 Str, +2 Con, –2 Int, –2 Cha, Medium Size, 2HD Humanoid, 30’ Movement, Darkvision 60', +1 Natural Armor bonus to AC

Nephil/Nephar : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 2d8+4 (13 hp), Speed 30, AC:14(no armor) F:12 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 1/3/3, F/R/W 5/2/-1, stats:body 14:mind 8
sharp stick(5) +3 1d4+2 20x2 rng:10', darkvision 60', listen 4, loot: none

Nephil Thumper : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 4d8+8 (26 hp), Speed 20, AC:18(hide+sm.shld) F:15 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 3/5/5, F/R/W 6/3/0, stats:body 14:mind 8
stone mace +4 1d6+4 20x2, sling +6 1d3+2 20x2 rng:50', darkvision 60', listen 6, loot: misc. pocket change & stuff

Nephil Poker : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 4d8+8 (26 hp), Speed 20, AC:17(hide) F:15 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 3/5/5, F/R/W 6/3/0, stats:body 14:mind 8
stone longspear +6 1d8+3 20x3, javelins(5) +7 1d6+2 20x2 rng:30', darkvision 60', listen 6, loot: misc. pocket change & stuff

Nephil Chopper : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 2d8+2d12+8 (30 hp), Speed 20, AC:19(hide+lg.shld) F:15 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 3/5/5, F/R/W 6/3/0, stats:body 14:mind 8
stone axe +6 1d8+2 20x3, darkvision 60', listen 6, survival 6 (track), loot: misc. pocket change & stuff
Beserk: hp<=10, +4 str, +2 saves, +2 DR/-

Nephil Twins : Medium Humanoid (Flind) init:+3 UNIQUE(2)
HD 6d8+12 (39 hp), Speed 30, AC:15(iron stud leather) F:13 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 4/6/6, F/R/W 6/6/4, stats:body 14:mind 10
iron flindbars +7(+5/+5) 2d4+2 19x2 & free disarm(+6) on crit threat, darkvision 60', loot: 2 martial script
listen 9, jump balance tumble hide sneak 11. Stances:FlmBls(rFire 10), IslBld(flank any adjacent). Strike:WlfFng(std TWF), SudLeap, BurnBrnd(swf +5'reach dmg=fire), FlshSun(full +1atk -2all hit), MityThrw(std touch trip+6 10'+prone), DevsThrw(std touch trip+6 10'+5/5 2d6+prone)

Nephil Archer : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 2d8+4d10+12 (43 hp), Speed 20, AC:18(hide) F:15 T:12 S:10, B/A/G 5/7/7, F/R/W 9/3/1, stats:body 14:mind 10
stone sh.swd +7 1d6+2 19x2, cavewood bow +8(+6/+6) 1d6 20x3 rng:90', darkvision 60', listen spot 9,
WF:sh.bow, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Mobility, Shot-on-run, Imp.Nat AC, Far Shot

Nephil Warrior : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 2d8+4d10+12 (43 hp), Speed 20, AC:19(hide+lg.shld) F:15 T:15 S:10, B/A/G 5/7/7, F/R/W 9/3/1, stats:body 14:mind 10
brnz long.sw +8 1d8+4 19x2, javelins(3) +7 1d6 20x2 rng:30', darkvision 60', listen jump 9, feat:Cleave(5), Pwr Atk
loot: 1d8 1 potion, 2-4 gold, 5-7 none, 8 alch/pois

Nephil Shaman : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+2
HD 6d8+6 (33), Speed 30, AC:16(brz chain) F:16 T:10 S:10, B/A/G 4/4/4, F/R/W 8/1/5, stats:body 10:mind 14
stone dagger(2) +4 1d4 19x2 rng:10', darkvision 60', loot: scroll & potion
0:lightx3, 1:faith heal(12)x4, 2:wave grief(close cone mind willNeg dc17 -3morale all acts)x2, ring blades(1d6+4 adj)x1

I also have my raw data for the eastern half of exile, that's Tower of the Magi to Fort Draco including Motrax and Athron. Motrax has about 700hp in the game and a rough treasure conversion gave me 125,000 gp value in his hoard. I haven't bothered to actually stat him up yet, I'll kill Athron and some others for a comparison before I do that.

ToDo: Nephil chief. GIFT/Arena stats (easy). Level 7 mooks (3 & 5 done). Need to stat up the great dragons. Finish the town data collection.

[Telok]

It's been a while since I updated but I have all my town data and over half of that transcribed into a file.

The Nephil Chief and Anastasia are finished. Yes she's nasty, I did that to justify the presence of all the demons here. The Bloodstained Worshipper is in the crawlgods file I linked in fourth post and the dagger is from the magic item file in the sixth post.

Spoiler

Nephil Chieftan : Medium Humanoid (Gnoll) init:+3
HD 2d8+6d10+24 (66 hp), Speed 20, AC:21(irn.chain+lg.shld) F:17 T:15 S:10, B/A/G 7/10/10, F/R/W 11/5/5, stats:body 16:mind 12
steel long.sw +10 1d8+3 19x2, darkvision 60', listen jump 11, intimidate 9, feat:iron will
CrusStrk(std atk +heal 1d6+5), SteelWnd(std 2atks vs 2targets), DisarmStrk(std atk +free disarm +10), ShadBlade(std atk w/2d20 &pick 1), IrnHrtSurge(std +2morale atk EONT), StrDrain(std atk +4Str dmg Fhalf dc14), RevitStrk(std atk +heal 3d6+7), DivSurge(std +8d8dmg) LOOT: pot(barkskin+4)(Rfire 20), amulet of vermin (centipede)
Huge centipede 6d8+6 (33 hp), init+2, spd 40+climb, AC:16 F:14 T:10 S:10, Atk/Grp +4/+15, Bite +5 2d6+4+poison(F14 1d6 Dex)
sz15, reach10, Darkvision 60, vermin traits, F6 R4 W2, S17 D15 C12 I— W10 C2, Climb 11, Hide 2, Spot 4

Anastasia: Human Cleric of Makhleb (chaos, destruction)[dark]:6, Bloodstained Worshipper:3. CL:8, init:+4
hd 5d8+3d6+9(45 hp), Spd 20, AC:16(mith.chain.sht+irn.buck)F:15 T:10 S:10, B/A/G 8/10/10, F/R/W 7/3/7, s14 d+c11 i12 w15 c16
Boom Knife (mw mith dagger) +12 1d4+2+2d6(electric) 19x2 shock grasp 3/day, smite: atk+4 dmg+6 3/day
Blood Favor(su): kill= heal 2hp, temp 1d8hp, hit+2(profane), CL&DC+1. Smite: hit+4 dmg+3d6 3/day. Demon(sp): 1/day Babau
0:light*6, 1(13):faith heal(13)*5, inflict light*1, 2(14):hold person*4, shatter*1(Wneg),
3(15):magic vest*2(+2), circle vs good(+2 dflct&sav), contagion*1(touch shake 1d8dex), 4(16):inflict crit*3(4d8+8 Whalf)

Sigh, I still haven't touch the areana and GIFTS. I'll have to get to them soon. I'm not going to bother with L7 mooks, I'll just add basic class levels to the L5 guys if I need to. I do need to build a set of Empire PrC NPCs since there's a secret outpost or two.

I do have Motrax statted up. He's the first great dragon I'm written and I've gone a little light on him since he's old and his glory days are behind him. I also just realized that I need to set skills and movement modes for him too.

Motrax: 41hd (717hp), s47 d10 c33 i32 w33 c32, BaB/A/G 41//51/75, F/R/W 33/22/33, breath 24d12 Rhalf 41, AC:42 F:42 T:2 S:2, DR/adamant 24, energy resist 36, fortification 50%, casting as an 18th level sorcerer. Loot: Assassin dagger, +4 dex bracelet, Robe of Archmage, 16k assorted coins, 8k assorted metal ingots, 4k art objects.

[Telok]

Whoo. The ExileTextFile is half done. Let's see if I can find the character limit on the forum...

Exile Laws: 1) No murdering or assault. 2) No stealing or vandalisim. 3) No poisoning people, enemies are OK. 4) No undead. 5) No demon worship. 6) No rioting or lynching. 7) No treason or fraud. 8) Violators get sent to Spire in the abyss.

-------------- Fort Exile: --------------
Location: 20 miles E of Silvar; 30 miles SE of Fort Duvno
30 soldiers, one caravan every two weeks to Silvar, a sign saying 94,982 people have passed through.
Andrew: unoficial greeter, go see Tor. Thairl: thin, embittered wizard, info guy. Tor: big friendly guy, starting supplier (leather, hide, stone, 100gp/person). Acacia: burly femme fighter, anti-nephil. Warric: young brunette, recent exile, looking for sister Anastasia. Janice: quartermistress, wife of Thairl. Dunbar: middle aged guy full of scars, gardener, ex-farmer (nephil and bandits). Diane: small blonde, wife of Tor, cook and excellent singer.
Some dire rats out be the garbage dump.

-------------- Fort Duvno: --------------
Location: 30 miles NW of Fort Exile; 35 miles NE of Silvar; 80 miles S of Formello
45 soldiers, one caravan every two weeks to Silvar, regular area patrols. Prices +10%.
Talk to Captain Johnson will hire adventurers to kill a group of bandits to the north that have been annoying him recently. The bandit fort is just a short ways to the NW, in the middle of a big hill. He will hire a second time to wipe out a nephilim fort, it is located directly north of the bandit fort.
Alice: owner Dunvo Inn (5gp/room, 6gp/meal). Caius: drinking traveler, was asst priest in Formello, going to Great Cave (safer). Jason: greasy shop owner, "farming" supplies (lockpicks & misc), diversified after brigands wiped the farms. JR: small woman, fletcher shop (cavewood, stone, bronze), Archer PRC. Walner: banged up mage/sage/alchemist, helped vs. bandits, sells 1st level arcane potions and identification. Scott: old ex-farmer, fishing, anti-nephil. Carol: tired mid-aged healer, a bit afraid of Cap Johnson. Grimmett: talkitive smithy, (iron light & bronze med ac, stone & bronze wp), point to Boutell in Draco. Captain Johnson: large bearded warrior, steel chain & iron halberd, nephil = vermin, rabid. Prisoners: one sick starving nephil, one dead.

Bandit fort (20 miles NW of Dunvo): 12 mook-3, 1 mook-5 mage, loot = wand (eternal, Scorch Ray), 200gp & 100sp (trap chest, dc15, gas cloud 10'r, 1d6 dex), spellbook, iron dagger and sword. Behind locked door: spirit, skeletons, loot = potions (cure moderate, cure blindness, resist fire) & gems (2 500gp sapphire).

Under construction nephil fort (20 miles N of bandit fort): 12 goblins, 12 nephar slaves, 3 each thumper/poker/chopper/warrior, one shaman, loot = furs (5 20gp, 2 60gp) & iron picks (40e), one compound longbow (str+3).

---------- Silvar: ----------
Location: 20 miles W of Fort Exile; 30 miles E of Cotra; 45 miles N of Mertis
60 guards, caravan every two weeks to each of Exile, Dunvo, Cotra, Mertis, and Formello. Nearby farms are patrolled.
Anastasia: Warric's sister and Efram's wife, armor shop (leather/studs, wood, lamellar(banded), prices +10%). Efram: short strong human w/ long blonde hair, Demonslayer replica on wall (hints), weapon shop (melee, bronze, partial iron, prices +10%). Erik: big strong baldy w/ scars on face, fighter trainer/PRC. Chuck: merc in inn getting drunk, on vacation from Ft Dranlon, special ask slith castle has southern sewer exit. Gary: barkeep at Silvar Booze+Bed, rents secure storage (7gp/room, 4gp/meal, 10gp/mo storage). Jay: refugee farmer from Ft Dunvo, heading south. Krantz: old jewish guy, monosyllabic boat builder (450gp/boat). Jonathan: old mayor, easygoing historian/recorder, "please see if you can't help poor Carol eh?". Carol: thin nervous lady, cows are off feed and she hears voices (food shop, cheese!, prices -10%)
An abandoned misc magic store that ran out of business, there is a secret door in the back corner, inside is a ghost-touch keen steel short sword, guarded by a trap (dc21 acid spray 4d6 10'cone). Strange noises: there is a secret door in the back corner wall of the cow pen. Behind the secret door is a fight against some nephils. 3 pokers + shaman.

Fairy "Forest" (11 miles NE of Silvar)[replaces gremlin grove]
Most of the fey sent into Exile have congregated here. The sprites have used their illusions to recreate a surface forest, they are depressed because they know it's an illusion as see through it. They demand wine (and only wine, no other spirits) to dull thier minds and render the illusions potent. In exchange they will give a piece of the Crystal Cave.

----------- Dharmon: -----------
Location: 35 miles SW of Blosk; 40 miles S of Ft. Saffron; 50 miles NE of Ft. Remote
Built into a huge hollow stalagmite, 60 guards split between city and mines, caravan every week rotating through Blosk, Saffron, and Remote. Prices +20%
Clive: cranky knife sharpener, up to steel weapons. Hestia: Clive's wife, happy voluptious woman, good food shop. Malville: muscular mace priest, can uncurse and raise dead, hint to monastary & graymold (boat north to headwater from Ft. Dranlon). Nameless witch: alchemy/potion/scroll shop, prices +30% but wants Valorim Bestiary from Tower Magi (really at Erika's). Mentta: "beggar" w/ steel rapier, pay for info, bandits fence goods here and one goy in jail. Malka: small woman nursing a baby in Dharmon Arms, "strike a blow against empire" = see Royce in Blosk. Nixa: owner of Dharmon Arms, aew inspiring clevage, moss mead is kinda nasty. Mayor DeBry: bored old man with bandit problems, council + army _not_ king + adventurers. Eldin: imprisoned goon, stash info if bribed or scared. Bandit stash: 3 demons, 2 traps, furs, metal ingots, Boots of Speed, Ring of ?. Shaynee's Bazaar: 20 miles W in a semi-hidden cave, misc. magic & stuff, prices +10%, (message from Leith in Blosk).

--------- Cotra: ---------
Location: 30 miles W of Silvar; 70 miles S of Ft. Dranlon
60 guards, weekly caravan or supply boat split between Silvar and Ft. Dranlon, small fishing industry. Prices +20% except for fish.
Konig: robe and staff wizard, looking for Crystal Cave. Asp: rogue and "handyman", (password) knows how to bypass traps for circlet in Spire. Elisabeth: middle aged raven haired barkeep of Darklake Pub, moldy ale is ok, rumor - mysterious crypt in northern maze caves. Nance: minor enchantress, Elspeth's partner, pretty green dress, prefers magic over weapons but lacks matereals/silver. Elspeth: lethal looking lady, leather + knives, armory shop (med AC bronze, wp light iron and heavy bronze). Andrew: strong redheaded teen, apprentice shipwright, likes Eduardo for pirate and "dosen't beat me much". Eduardo: shipwright, peg leg and eye patch, talks like a pirate (isn't), 350/boat. Jenny: pregnant blonde alchemist. Paul: nervous baldy, mayor's secretary. Mayor Steele: old man in silk robes, not a lot to do because of independant minded Cotrans, some soldiers captured by Nephil and held in fort to the north (reward Nice cloak).

Crystal Cave (15 miles N of Cotra, hidden): Six broken magic crystals. One on island S of Cotra, one at sith island fort SE of Cotra, one in Nephil fort N of Cotra and E of Dranlon, one in hidden caves between Dranlon and nephil fort, one in fairy grove N of Silvar, Konig has the last one. 1) red 10x2 hexagonal wand (pyromancy:empower). 2) orange 13x3 octagonal rod (chronomancy:extend). 3) yellow 8x4 half oval (aeromancy:enlarge). 4) green 7^3 cube (geomancy:widen). 5) blue 16x6 prisim (aquamancy:quicken). 6) purple 20 inch septagonal 'pyramid' (necromancy:silent+still). Cast a spell through a crystal: if type matches free metamagic, else roll 3d6. Shape: 1=line, 2=cone, 3=sphere, 4=wall, 5=ray, 6=10 cube/spell level. Range: 1=caster, 2=range=area, 3=short, 4=medium, 5=long, 6=LoS. Caster Level: 1=1, 2=1/2 caster, 3=caster-5, 4=caster+5, 5=caster*2, 6=30. All 1's = 1d12 casting stat ability burn, all 6's = hostile living spell. The busted cave does nothing except prevent rest, the fixed cave rests in 2 hours and maximizes the first spell then empowers the next two spells.

Nephil Fort (40 miles N of Silvar into a hillside)
Enemies: Nephil, Nephil Archer, Nephil Warrior, Nephil Shaman, Nephil Chieftan, Demon. Loot: Ruby, Jeweled Goblet, *Pommel* This is the fort where the nephars are keeping the Cotrans captive. It will be dark. There is a secret passage on either side of the main entrance that lead to a series of secret tunnels. This also makes a good escape route. At the locked room in the extreme NW you will have to fight some demons if you decide to open the door. If you manage to defeat the demons, you will be rewarded with the pommel of the DemonSlayer and Crystal Cave crystal. The nephars dark altar, if you desecrate it you will have to face a Demon. The reward is the Jeweled Goblet that you can sell for a nice 2500gp (silver and sapphires crunch to 800 and 3@500). The main goal here is to free the prisoners. They are being held in a prison in the middle of the buildings past the gate(north of the pool). Youll know the building because it has a nephar chieftan. There will be two locked doors to pick through, and then you can talk to the prisoners. There is a ruby in a dresser in a building in the NW.

----------- Mertis: -----------
Location: 45 miles S of Silvar, 60 miles N of Tower of Magi, 90 miles S and W to Steaming Valley.
30 exhausted guards, weekly caravans split between Silvar and Almaria. Monthly "livestock" auctions. Prices are normal.
Bertrand: cowering, scared of undead to the point of incapability. Ether: nice ex-noble priestess, church is target of undead. Tem: short blonde guy, sells farm supplies and food (prices +20%). Matt: tall akward man, Tina's husband, AC shop (high quality leather/hide, has exotics). Tina: beautiful pregnant brunette, weapon shop (bronze simples & some martials, can order anything at +50% price and 2 month delay). Elmer: wrinkled old man, mayor and auctioneer, undead problems from the east started recently. William: mage travelling to Formello to research piercing crystals. Gypsy: stout pretty guitarist, going to play for Motrax, rumor a dragon lives in the Honeycomb NW of Mertis. Mark: proprietor of Mertis Arms.

Dark Pit (25 miles NE of Mertis)
Enemies: Skeleton, Zombie, Wight, Ghast, Spirit, Poison Mushroom. Loot: Piercing Crystal, Flame Halberd, Silver Ankh, *Pearl Broach*. After fighting past a bunch of Undead, and some wierd Mushroom baddies, you will come to a dead-end where you will find a sapphire. You will need to retrace your steps, there is a secret passage in one of the caves to the north along the southern wall. Once you come to another dead-end there are three secret passages. Right past where it says 'Everything goes black' look for a secret passage in the north wall. Here you will find a piercing crystal that you can use if you don't already have a way to break the barrier you'll find at the end. Now just follow the path of the tunnel and you should make it all the way to the end. Break the barrier, fight the spirits, and search the bodies that lie past it for the Pearl Broach, a nice Halberd, and a Silver Ankh. The undead are leftovers from the first expedition that were trapped by slith and starved. The magic barriers they erected to protect themselves have started to fail recently releasing undead to menace Mertis.

------------ Almaria: ------------
Location: 45 miles SE of Castle, 115 miles to Tower of Magi (15 of farms, 30 to Steaming Valley, 55 to Tower of Magi)
60 guards, weekly caravans split between Castle and Mertis. Prices are +10% plus 5gp/head to cross the toll bridge.
Starcap: short bearder abusive trainer, ex-rebel wanna-be. Jasmine: beautiful lady with scarred arms, "sheep never tried to eat me", lizard wrangler and food vendor (prices are normal). Kell: little girl, imaginary friends, daughter Rhiannon and Julio. Julio: muscular sage, ex-adventurer and know/magic PRC, exiled for exposing political corruption, searched for exit (info/hint), sells arcane potions. Dexter: short skinny baldy, disturbing toothy grin, fletcher and "supplies". Beran: fat bearded man with food bits in the beard, "lord-protector of Almaria", berates useless foolish adventurers unless they have a Royal Token, then sent to kill basilisks, "you survived?!?" reward 200 gold, assassins are not welcome in this town. Rosemary: imports armor from Draco (full steel, prices +25%), slith info and lead to Chuck about Slith Castle. Ramirez: dark mexican, weapons imported from Blosk (some steel, prices +20%). Ramone: archer, on leave from slith war, getting drunk. Rhiannon: thin lovely brunette, bartending at Almeria Bed & Keg, sells wine (pretty good).
It is here that you will be able to purchase wine! Use it to get past the gremlins in the forest near Silvar. You can also purchase Weak Energy potions from the sage, as well as Rings of Fire Res. which are very useful, but quite expensive at 1200.

------------- Formello: -------------
Location: 90 miles N of Dunvo, 80 miles E of Draco. 10 miles of farmed valley around town.
60 guards split between town and farms, biweekly caravan to Silvar, monthly caravan to Draco. Prices +10%.
Golizar: ex-sage getting drunk, assistant to Leith at Motrax, researched Thralni, rescued from areana by GIFTS, driven 'insane' by spiders. Gad: emo bartender at Beer Hall. Vermeers: silk robed trainer, dramatic overactor, unarmed/unarmored PRC. Evelyn: fidgety mayor, will give Royal Token for necklace (magic) stolen in nehpil raid. Claudette: elderly priestess, kindly historian, helpful, cleric PRC. Jasmine: grey haired lady, AC/wp shop (basic, bronze at +20%), painting of deceased husband on wall. Bernie: fat graying alchemist, potion store (well stocked, prices normal), chart of life. Jen: small woman w/ dark hair, creepy grin, Ken's wife, food shop, likes butchering lizards. Ken: scarred blonde man, lizard wrangler. Miles: tall young sage, Formello library is third largets in Exile (Patrick's, Magi), caster PRC.

Nephilim Fortress (45 miles SW of Formello across the river)
Enemies: Nephil, Nephil Archer, Nephil Warrior, Nephil Shaman, Nephar, Nephil Chieftan, Giant Lizard, Ghast, Ogre, Demon, Anastasia. Loot: Chest, Shield, Bronze Plate Mail, Gold Necklace, Fang Necklace, *Necklace*, %Major Blessing%. It would be very very unwise to attack from the main entrance because it is extremely well defended. Instead, go around to the NW and find a path that goes along the south side of the river. There are a couple Nephil encounters, and then look for a secret passage in the south wall leading straight to the rear of the Fort. Theres a lot of Nephils here so beware. Main Floor: There is a shield in a crate in a locked room in the southwest. Look for a secret passage in the north wall of the back room of the temple area. There you will find an interesting note. Basement: Beware, the Nephils have a pet Drake down here. Its guarding a magically locked door. If you go through the door beware of an ambush. Many hungry undead Ghasts will attack from behind on both sides. Your reward is three chests, and a suit of plate armor. Second Floor: Beware! If you desecrate the altar, you will have to fight 2 Demons. In the bedroom with an Ogre in it in the NE area, there is a secret passage behind the bed leading to a chest. In the temple there are three Nephar Shamans at the end of the room, waiting to blast you to oblivion. The necklace you are looking for is in the room on the bottom right. The one in the room on the bottom left is also useful, however. You will also find Traitoress Anastasia on this floor, along with two Nephil Chieftans and archers. Once you have killed her, check the north wall for a secret passage. Theres a chest and two more passages between the bed and the shelves.

-------------- Solberg's Tower ----------------------
Location: 25 miles SE of Formello; across the river, hidden behind lava pools
You need to have found the password to enter the tower
Solberg is an old wizard who knows a lot about magic, mage politics, Erika, and what's going on in the Tower of Magi. In short X is an absent minded genius who creates new spells easily, Linda is an ambitious prodigy trained by Erika, and Erika is a vengance obsessed maniac who is an expert on teleportation and summoning. A demon lord has been called into a secure room in the tower using the powerful onyx rod as bait, Solberg is quite sure they can't control it and unsure if they can contain it in the long term. Also, Erika summoned/stole a good deal of the plants and magic books that provided the basis of Exile society.
Demonslayer: It has been split up into three parts. As Solberg will tell you, the Nephars have a piece(the Pommel), the Sliths have a piece (the Blade), and a Lich has a piece(the Tip). To find the pieces, see "Underground Fort", "Slith Temple", and "Crypt of Drath" respectively. Once you have obtained the Demonslayer, or you dont have it but want to kill the Haakai Lord anyway he'll tell you about a secret magic passage in the Tower of Magi and how to enter it.

------------------- Cave of Motrax: -------------------
Location: 50 miles NW of Formello, 45 miles E of Draco, in the maze.
10 'guards', monthly cart to/from Formello.
Leith: tall old magi, clue to Thralni. Marian: energetic lady mage in cloth of silver, likes Ko, ecological change studies. Captain Ko, skinny energetic potimist, cat lover, likes the dragon too.
Enemies: Fire Lizards. Motrax is likely the first dragon you will meet. He is also the most friendly, although if you break into his hoard, he will still try to kill you. Look for a secret passage in the cave wall to the very west of where you enter. There is a spirit that will tell you about Motrax's hoard, and of Motrax's temper when it comes to his treasures. To loot Motrax's hoard, look for a secret passage right near the water in the dead-end in the east. If you step through the shining light it will set of an alarm, and Motrax will come for your heads. Beware of his 'cousins' in the west area of the cave, they are gaurding the Ivory Broach, as well as a small stash of gold. Motrax can inform about the other dragons (Koth, scholar. Pyrog, pride. Sulfras, strongest. Athron, solitary.) and the first expedition, Slith wars and a battle with a great demon. He likes cats too. Hints about the fate and magic items of the First Expedition, nature of the slith, and the demon threat. Motrax is a good way to point the party in the right direction, if they remember to ask him.
Motrax: 41hd (717hp), s47 d10 c33 i32 w33 c32, BaB/A/G 41//51/75, F/R/W 33/22/33, breath 24d12 Rhalf 41, AC:42 F:42 T:2 S:2, DR/adamant 24, energy resist 36, fortification 50%, casting as an 18th level sorcerer. Loot: Assassin dagger, +4 dex bracelet, Robe of Archmage, 16k assorted coins, 8k assorted metal ingots, 4k art objects.

Ancient Crypt (N of Formello near Motrax, deeper in northern maze)
Enemies: Skeleton, Zombie, Spirit, Ghoul, Wight, Vampire, Eye Beast. Loot: Piercing Crystal, Ice Staff, Steel Dagger, Arrows of Life. Outside the entrance you will find a priest, and an alchemist. Gooley: middle aged priest, ex-sage exiled for being a grammer nazi. Yong-Mi: short woman, poison archer, stealth/poison PRC. They will tell you that they can't find a way to open the door. Look for a secret passage on the west end of the brown wall. There's a lever to pull that will open the door. This place is very dark. Lights wont last more than a few steps here. Theres a cool dagger of sorts in the room in the east. A Piercing Crystal is on a body in the northeast. In the room in the center of the north there are two Vampires, Your reward is an Ice Staff. Theres a pool of lava in the northwest. If you can walk over it, you will get six Arrows of Light. Im not sure what, but something you do here makes the door you came in lock behind you. To open it you must find a lever in the middle western room. In the room look for the secret passage in the north wall. Make sure to only pull the lever once!

--------------- Fort Draco: ---------------
Location: 70 miles NW of Formello Cave, then 10 more to Formello proper.
75 soldiers split between the fort and the mines, monthly caravan (heavy guards) to Formello, 60% of all metal in Exile.
Working and living near the foundries has made the people here strong, independant, and completely encrusted in soot.
Grant: aged sorceress, going to visit Motrax and got lost, looking for familiar "who I won't punish, not at all". Familiar: serves Grant, "her witchyness", "you and what army" snark. Doc: runs Doc's Inn (prices = normal), old fat guy with a beard (white once upon a time?). Carlos: sneezing and a heavy accent, food shop (prices = normal). Sue: spotless brunette w/ freckles (magi), dirt repelling spells, supplies + potions (prices +10%), Frank talks about spiders. Brenndan: thin blonde girl, runs ore warehouse. Aife: woman? in black? dress (soot), alchemist (prices = normal), will pay well for areana fangs. Boutell: hugh muscular potbellied master smith, can repair magic wepons, has a huge steel anvil. Bill: runs the forge for Boutell. Frank: legless beggar, ex-miner, arachnaphobe, spider quest lead if you can get him to stop screaming.

Spider Cave (25 miles NW of Fort Draco, across the river)
Loot: Wand, Helm, *Malachite Broach* Ugh. I hate spiders. If you have talked to the beggar in Fort Draco, you know to ask 'Spider' about the 'mission'. Unfortunately all of these things are named 'Spider'. If you search around the eastern cave, you will find a spider that doesnt react with 'You're Silly!' when asked about 'mission'. He will tell you that you will be rewarded if you rescue a spider kidnapped by Areneas to the west. You will be rewarded by being able to explore the cave in the north. When you return, search the bodies to find the Malachite Broach, a wand, and a helm.

Arenea City (30 miles W of Spider Cave)
Baddies: Arenea, Elder Arenea, Imps. The prisoners are being held in the north. Beware of the two Imps in the far northeast. Theres a scroll in the far northwest in an Arenea library. In order to free the prisoners you will have to fight a bunch of Elder Arenea which may be difficult.

----------------- Fort Dranlon: -----------------
Location: 70 miles N of Cotra along the shore line.
90 soldiers, caravan or boat from Cotra every other week.
Toddric: youngish armored priest with a scar on his forehead, healer who has traveled in the north mazes. Sylow: muscular supply master, will sell food missiles and generic adventure supplies (prices +20%). Mairwen: short brunette mage, wall and barrier specialist, will teach in exchange for magic tome from Swamp City, speaks slith language. Sianonn: heavyset sorceress, listening for slith sneak attack at the dock, silence/listen expert. Captain Rosie: honorable ex-Imperial soldier, will hire for stealing attack plans from slith Island Fort.

Island Fort (90 miles S of Dranlon, 30 miles SW of Cotra)
On a big island in the lake. Enemies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith Chieftan Loot: Iron Slith Spears, *Crystal*, *Plans*. This is one of the smaller, easier Slith dungeons. Note that it has more than one entrance. In one of the boxes in the NE there is a supply of iron Slith Spears. In order to get anywhere here you need to steal the boat that is resting by the dock in the NE area. On a rocky area across the water just south of where you grab the boat is one of the six Crystal Cave crystals. Once you cross the lake, look for a secret passage in the far SE of the second half of the fort. Search the three boxes for cool cool stuff, including the Plans that you need to give to the mayor of Fort Dranlon.

Swamp City (8 miles W of Dranlon, across the river and through a swamp)
Enemies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith Chief. Loot: Chests, *Slith Tome*. This is a Slithzerikai city, and it is well defended. You will have to fight your way past the bridge whilst being shot at by archers, and priests/mages. Once you get past the entrance, the rest of the area is much easier. At the very north there is a nursery that you will have the option of destroying. Beware that there is a large fight if you decide to. In the brownish rooms in the northeast, you will find the Slith Tome. Look for a secret passage in the south wall of the far eastern brown room. There is another secret passage on the righthand side of the water, so that you can get around it. This will net you a couple chests.

Slith Temple (50 miles W of Fort Dranlon)
Enemies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith High Priest. Loot: Lightning Rods, GlowStones, *Blade of Demonslayer* First Floor: Nothing complicated here, just sliths and open tunnels. The stairs to the basement are in the northwest. Check the strong boxes that are all over the place for some goodies. In the northeast there is a secret passage behind a stagmite. Inside is a fight against a High Priest. Basement: More tunnels, and even more sliths, especially Slith Mages, and Slith Priests. When you get to two traps that are guarding a dead end, look for a secret passage a bit to the east, at the extreme southeastern corner of the map. Now, finaly, you will be approaching the temple. Inside you will find the Blade of the Demonslayer! Yay! Although once you grab it you will be attacked by a large Slith force. Doh. In the large cave that the temple is in, look for a secret passage on the west wall. You will find a scroll, some gems, and a shield.

__________________________________________________ _____

Well I haven't hit the cap yet. I'll keep working on it.

[Cieyrin]

Originally Posted by Telok

Well I haven't hit the cap yet. I'll keep working on it.

Posts are limited to 50k characters, so it may be a while. Also, nice work.

[Telok]

So it's been almost three weeks. My bad. Plus banshees gained 19 HD between AD&D and 3.5, that particular encounter is a bit more dangerous than I originally envisioned.

My DM map and the legend for it are almost done, I only have a couple more items to fill in on them. Also, the ExileTextFile is done except for Lost Bahssikava and Hidden Island Tower.

Here is the other half of the ExileTextFile.

---------------------- Tower of the Magi: ----------------------
Location: 60 miles S of Mertis, 60 E of Steaming Valley.
30 soldiers scouting and on watch. Defense is managed by the magi. The biweekly caravan is travelling between Mertis and Almaria and will only stop on a prearranged Pyrotechnics (green with blue sparkles) spell. Prices are +10%.
Notes: The ground out to a half mile from the tower is blasted flat with wandering with-lights floating around. In the middle of the tower is a large experimental garden area heated by a huge basalt bowl filled with lava floating in a large pond. There are about 20 apprentices under vows of silence (and a dozen permanently invisible homulculi for enforcement).
Glenda: cheery red headed witch, sells potions scrolls and wands (normal prices). Brantford: grinning gnome sage, sells misc magic and assorted gems (gem prices +20%). Zanthia: ancient crone alchemist, sells more potions, covering shop for Cortath (visiting Phyllea in Draco). Throndell: huge mace priest, nervous "the flock needs protection" very nervous, de-cursing specialist. Kelner: graduating apprentice drops hits about something wrong, if demons in experiment room are mentioned then tells about demon lord and how to reach Solberg. Ambrin: elderly teacher magi and caster PRC, explains the vow of silence on apprentices and will teach after you kill ogre mage. Linda: dark haired enchantress, Triad member, tells about first expedition magic items and Triad members. X: middle aged research mage in secret library and caster PRC, will (barely) mention Erika Redmark, trade training for a huge anvil or info thereof. Imprisoned Apprentice: in a secret room off the experiments chamber, rants about demons and hearing demon voices, participated in summoning the demon lord. Imprisoned Demon: in the experiments chamber in a magic circle, "Adze-Haaki will eat you and we will slay!".
There are two secret passages, one in the south wall of the room with the lava in the pond, and one in the north wall above the pool in the bottom south. They will both lead to a bunch of magic barriers. Beyond them you will find an Imp, and a Demon. Talk to the Demon. He will tell you what it is that has been summoned to the tower. A Haakai. Not just any Haakai, either, but a Haakai Lord. Now that you know its a Haakai, go talk to Kelner. He will tell you to look for a hidden cave to the east, where Solberg the Triad Mage left instructions on how to find him. There are two secret passages, the first is findable and has (trap) the Blessed Anthame. The second can only be found after talking to Solberg (it's the whole room, in the 4th dimension) and several anti-magic field generating walls of force need to be cut through (Blessed Anthame). The entire area is in a higher dimension and heavily warded to prevent teleportation, summoning, calling, and planar travel without the proper invocations (which nobody is going to be at all willing to tell you). The Demon Lord will assess the party and parlay, attack, or attack during parlay.

Horned Devil: Adze-Haaki-Marha-Bohurang-Kelezu
Size/Type: Large Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar)...Hit Dice: 15d8+105 (172 hp)...Initiative: +7
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 50 ft. (average)...Armor Class: 35 (-1 size, +7 Dex, +19 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 28
Base Attack/Grapple: +15/+29...Attack: claw +24 melee (2d6+10) or tail +24 melee (2d6+10 plus infernal wound)
Full Attack: 2 claws +24 melee (2d6+10) and bite + 22 melee (2d8+5) and tail +22 melee (2d6+5 plus infernal wound)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft...Special Attacks: Fear aura, infernal wound, spell-like abilities, stun, summon devil
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/good and silver, darkvision 60 ft, immunity to fire and poison, resistance acid 10 & cold 10, regeneration 5, see in darkness, spell resistance 28, telepathy 100 ft...Saves: Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +15
Abilities: Str 31, Dex 25, Con 25, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 22...Skills: Bluff +24, Climb +28, Concentration +24, Diplomacy +10, Disguise +6 (+8 acting), Hide +21, Intimidate +26, Listen +22, Move Silently +23, Search +20, Sense Motive +22, Spot +22, Survival +4 (+6 following tracks)...Feats: Cleave, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Multiattack, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (spiked chain)
At will...dispel chaos (DC 21), dispel good (DC 21), magic circle against good, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only); persistent image (DC 21) 3/day...fireball (DC 19), lightning bolt (DC 19). Caster level 15th. DCs are Charisma-based.
Fear Aura(Su): Radiate a 5-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. A creature in the area must succeed on a DC 23 Will save or be affected as though by a fear spell (caster level 15th). cannot be affected again by the horned devil’s aura for 24 hours. DC is Charisma-based.
Stun(Su) hits must succeed on a DC 27 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. DC is Strength-based.
Infernal Wound (Su) The tail attack causes a persistent wound. creature loses 2 additional hit points each round. The wound does not heal naturally and resists healing spells. The continuing hit point loss can be stopped by a DC 24 Heal check, a cure spell, or a heal spell. a cure spell or a heal spell must succeed on a DC 24 caster level check, or the spell has no effect. check DC is Constitution-based.
Regeneration(Ex) A horned devil takes normal damage from good-aligned silvered weapons, and from spells or effects with the good descriptor.

Ogre Cave (20 miles NW of the Tower of the Magi)
Enemies: Ogre, Giant Lizard, Asp, Ogre Mage. Loot: Chests, Potions, metal. In the room with all the bodies, there is a secret passage leading to a nice potion rack. Right by the double doors in the south-east, there is a stone room with a Cave Giant. In the back of the room there is a secret passage leading to a chest. In a room near the center of the map, there are three bookshelves. Search the middle one to find stolen magic books. In the prison you find a prisoner walking around, he will metion a secret pasasge. Look for it at the back of the prison cell. It leads to a long tunnel that ends in another secret passage, that leads to a small piece of ground in the middle of the lake. This will be very very useful for when you are retreating. At the north end of the lake, there is a locked door with an altar inside. There is a secret passage in the west wall. After disarming two traps, and unlocking another door, you will find three nice chests.

------------------ Athron's Lair: ------------------
Location: S of Cotra across the lake, in the far NW sector of the Honeycomb.
Enemies: Drake, Living Statue.
Beware, of the Drakes that are scattered throughout Athron's caves. If you search the northern wall of the tunnels in the west, you will find a secret passage that leads to a Drake nest with some money and arrows. Near the entrance to the western tunnels there is another secret passage that leads further into the cave. Beware of the Living Statues, it can be hard to see which ones are Living, and which ones are just statues. Look for another secret passage in the north wall of the room with all the statues. Now you will come up to Athron, and get ignored or blown off. Athron does not like humans, although if pressed she will admit to dealing with Erika. Eventually you need to talk with Athron for a password.

Athron: 800hp, loot = 60,000 coins, cursed scroll, ring of regeneration, large shield (+4/+4), greater bracers of archery.

------------------- Khoth's Library ------------------
Location: 75 miles NNW of Bargah across a river, through a swamp, over some lava.
Enemies: Spirits, Living Statue, Giant, Slith Chief.
Khoth's lair is behind a small lava lake protected by ghosts, spell casting ghosts, with Dispell Magic. The ghosts will let you past if you are "on the list". The entrance is guarded by a couple living statues, they also maintain the chalkboard wall that the list of acceptable people is on. The interior is a library built for a dragon, with a couple of magical experimentation rooms in the back. A giant and a slith are held in stasis, no explanation given. Khoth himself has three important hints; 1) He and Erika have shared magic info and she asked him to come up with a teleportation ritual. 2) He will teach you the ritual at Erika's request if you get a valuable historic scroll back for him (Empire Outpost #2). 3) He destroyed an Empire base a couple decades ago about 150 miles south, but it didn't have his scroll. Khoth only drops the first two hints if the players ask about them. If the PCs are just stopping for a social visit then he'll mostly talk about old times, the first humans and the stolen scroll, and *might* mention hint 3.

Khoth: 800hp (big time caster but heavy on divination), loot = 2 potions, 2 firestorm scrolls, 2 dominate monster scrolls, cursed scroll, 5 historical scrolls.

--------------- 29. The Castle: ---------------
Location: 35 miles W of Almaria, 75 miles NE of Patrick, 60 miles SE of Fort Emerald
Soldiers = lots, the Castle (with Emerald and Almaria) protects a large area of farmland from slith attacks. Regular caravans to Almaria, Dharmon, Emerald, and Patrick.
Captain Houghton: big tired warrior, psychotically preparing for an attack. Prince Chevyn: dull kid, looking for his pet lizard. King Micha: slight old man, strong mind and personality, kindly and firm. Josh: young page, sweeping, wants to travel. Renee: ex-soldier and quartermaster. Benth: tall priest with a pipe, historian and healer. Rone: forgetful old wizard, was exiled with Erika and Patrick after politics in the mage's guild, Patrick has the key to Akhronath and Erika is big on revenge.
You wont be able to talk to the King without a valid Crown Token. On your first visit, the King will give you a mission to kill the leader of the Sliths, Sss-Thsss. To do this you must go to the Slith Fort to the north in the middle of a big lake.(See Slith Castle) Once you get the *Head of Sss-Thsss*, the king receives word that Fort Remote has been attacked. The king then asks you to investigate(See Fort Remote (after)) When you return, the king asks you to rid Exile of Grah-Hoth.

Slith Fort (40 miles W of Fort Dranlon; 10 miles E of Slith Temple; 50 miles N of Slith Castle)
Baddies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith High Priest, Slith Chieftan, Imp, Demon Loot: Chests

Slith Castle (50 miles S of Slith Fort; 40 miles E of Slith Fortifications)
Baddies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith High Priest, Basilisk, Sss-Thsss. Loot: Chests, Gila Cloak, Nimble Gloves, Shielding Bow, *Head of Sss-Thsss*. Main Level: Theres not too much on this floor except for a lot of Sliths. There are three entrances to the castle, but you will only be able to enter from the north. In the southwest there is a potion in a strongbox, as well as some food (pork without pigs?). Second Level: In the southwest, there is a pool of water. Look for a secret passage that leads to a boat. Use the boat to sail to a small cove where theres a strongbox containing a bow. After you pass by some libraries in the west half, there will be a portculis in the north. When you walk through it, it slams shut behind you, and you get to battle Sss-Thsss and all of his henchmen. Have fun. Once you kill all of the sliths, check the north wall on the left, right in front of the double doors for a secret chest. Also there are two secret passages in the north wall behind Sss-Thsss' Throne. The one on the left leads to a Gila Cloak. The one on the right leads to a bridge that will collapse if you walk over it and drop you into a pit of basilisks. There are two buttons in the tunnel that, if both pressed once, will prevent the bridge from collapsing. One button is hidden in the north wall, the other is a few steps back in the south wall. Across the bridge are three chests, and a pair of Gloves.

--------------------- Tower of Patrick: ---------------------
Location: 75 miles SW of The Castle, 80 miles SE of Blosk, 75 miles E of Remote, 95 miles S of Emerald
12 bored guards, once a month there will be a two cart 'caravan' from the Castle
Patrick: A tired old man, once a great mage. In his youth he was one of the magi that fought Grah-Hoth, destroyed Akhronath and built Skarragath. He is one of the original founderd of the Tower of Magi along with Erika and Solberg. His wife is dying. Captain Granby: A one legged bitter old soldier, guarding books. Marco: big beefy cook, his nasty pasta sauce needs garlic. Rita: young blonds mage, researching crystal necklace. Adam: Patrick's 40-something apprentice, he is ill and writing a thesis on magic crystals. Anji: young short haired blonds, researching the FIrst Visit, she is allergic to cave life. Kai: black guy, alchemist from Formello, researching graymold to help Patrick's wife (hint hint). Hathwisa: deathly ill. There is a (locked) secret room with a basilisk and a secured shelf of rare books.

--------------------- Tower of Sulfras: ---------------------
Location: 100 miles straight NW from Fort Remote, 175 miles through caves.
Sulfras isn't a very nice dragon, but at least he wont try to eat you, like Pyrog. He will say that he wishes you to retrieve the Onyx Scepter, and the Silver Circlet. Your reward will be passage through his tower to the east. Sulfras is actually somewhat formal formal and stuffy, arrogant in his power and distainful of short lived races (anything with a lifespan of less than three centuries is useless to him).

Sulfras: 1600 hp, robe of archmagi, boots of speed, no money. One bound demon as a 'greeter' and 15 invisible stalkers as guards.

---------- Blosk: ----------
Location: 70 miles NW of Castle, 35 miles NE of Dharmon, 30 miles E of Saffron, 10 miles W of Emerald.
60 guards, biweekly caravans alternating between Fort Emerald and Almaria. Prices are +10%.
Bartholomew: skilled rogue-like dwarven trainer. Demel: tall baker woman, covered in shroom flour, food vend (prices -15%). Johnnalyn: heavy woman with short black hair, smithy (iron/steel, prices +20%) supplies Emerald with arms & armor. Bruce: middle aged fletcher, busy busy busy. Sabrina: drunken priestess, the chasm drake has Smite and ate half the party. Royce: tall man in red clothes, has heard of party exploits and says talk to Calder in Bargha. Vicky: mayor and innkeeper of BLosk Bed and Breakfast, short blonde, "Exile needs clear heads and the army not adventuring fools". Jeff: small boy, son of Leith, grow up to be an hero "Exile will run ankle deep in the blood of the enemy". Kathy: smelly old beggar, chronic alcholic. Leith: tall blonde man, sage and alchemist, potions & lockpicks.

---------- Gnass: ----------
Location: 8 miles E of Blosk on the lakeside.
30 slith warriors.
Skatha: big bright green male, smith, slith spears and other exotic weapons. Ach-Schah: grey elder, caretaker and head farmer, looks after stupid slith. Eath: delicate female, sage and mate of Skatha, hints about Lost Bahssikava and history. Sss-Schai: strong dark green chieftain, peaceful. Asp: old slith priest, healer and shrine tender, demonslayer hint (slith temple). Bass-Astha: huge strong sculptor/historian, learning to be an architect, "Roof that fall on chief's head not good". Garthass: young mage, good selection of potions and scrolls. SHrine: spirit regretfully implores you to kill the slith king.

----------------- Fort Emerald: -----------------
Location: 12 miles E of Blosk, 40 miles NE of Dharmon, 50 miles NW of Castle
90+ soldiers, biweekly caravan form the Castle. 1/6 days slith probing attack, 1/20 major attack. Barrier patched walls.
The giant (2' diameter) magic emerald at the center of the fort gives an 8 hour rest for a 1 hour meditation (concentration check) and Empower on the next three spells cast in the next 6 hours.
Matthias: arrogant young mage with a black van dyke, blows up slith and maintains barriers, hint about wierd gremlin cave to the north. Captain Scarlett: 5' lass w/ curly brown hair and a wicked beaked axe, anti-slith and fiercely competent, giving Gnass the benefit of the doubt. Hodgson: robed priest, wanted to be an alchemist, knows where to fond greymold. Eleanor: buxom lass, mason, repairs walls, ex-actress exiled for a political satire play. Silverio: elderly white haired granny mage, was an apprentice when Patrick fought Grah-Hoth, hint about Empire seal at demon prison, refers you to Rone and Patrick. Moe: bald pudgy quartermaster, liked it better at Fort Remote. Liaison Randall: thin nervous guy barricaded in his room, ex-messenger, absolutely sure he will be ambushed and killed. Slith Prisoner: cold, boastsabout how king will conqure and eat human flesh, exalts demon worship.

Slith Fortifications (25 miles N of Fort Emerald)
Baddies: Slith, Slith Warrior, Slith Mage, Slith Priest, Slith Chieftan, Giant Lizard. Loot: Chest, few hundred gp. There are two ways to enter this fort. One is to use Dispel Barrier from the north. The other is to enter through a secret passage in the southeastern corner and unlock a door. There isn't much here at all. In the northwestern area there is a locked door that you wont be able to open. Look for a secret passage in the south wall. You will discover that there is a Slith Castle on an island in the middle of a lake east of here. To get there, youll have to set sail from Fort Dranlon and travel west, and then south.(See Slith Castle)

Gremlin Cave
Location: 20 miles N then W of Fort Emerald; 20 miles W of Slith Fortifications, in the small south hooked cave.
Baddies: Gremlin, Soldier, Assassin, Archer, Wizard, Demon. Loot: Chests.
Look for a secret passage in the west wall of the large cave in the northeast. It will lead to a teleporter. It will lead you to a secret Empire base elsewhere on the map, where you will have to fight off a bunch of Empire soldiers. You can loot the two chests once theyre all dead. Look for a secret passage behind the bed in the southeastern bedroom. Here you will find a magic crystal sphere thingy that the soldiers were using to communicate with the surface world. Unfortunately, whether you look into it, or just break it, you will now have to fight a Demon. You can peer into it forever, and fight as many Demons as you wish, but once you break it you will only have to fight the one last battle.

------------------------- Fort Remote (before): -------------------------
Location: 75 miles W of Patrick, 50 miles SSE of Dharmon
24 bored and sleeping soldiers, monthly supply caravan from Dharmon
Tesik: priest playing solitare, defacto commander of the fort, nothing exciting here except adventurers going west to feed the chasm drake. Bronwen: strong woman in steel plate and 2h sword, the bitterly drunk commanding officer at 'Fort Irrelevant'. Belinda: dwarven cook, loves/teases Mick, makes excellent stew. Mick: dwarven lad, watches the spring, fishes, likes Belinda, he saw the chasm drake once.

Fort Remote (after)
Baddies: Imps, Demons. After you talk to the image of Grah-Hoth, you will have to fight through some Demons/Imps. Return to King Micah with the bad news.

Pit of the Drake (45 straight miles W of Fort Remote, 90 through a semi-maze)
Baddies: Fire Lizard, Drake, Chasm Drake. Loot: Mithral Plate Mail, 1500 silver, Smite. Be sure you can handle fighting an extremly large number of Fire Lizards and Drakes before coming here. Rings of Fire Resistance would be helpful. Be careful, in the middle of the map, there is a LOT of Fire Lizards and Drakes. If you can kill all of them, you can grab the Mithral Plate Mail and 1500 silver. Also be careful of the Chasm Drake wandering around the caves. He is almost as tough as a Dragon, and wont talk before trying to kill you. It has one heckuva lot of HP, but it doesnt use any magic which helps. Once you manage to kill the Chasm Drake, search the caves in the far north for Smite, the Giant-slaying weapon!

------------------- Crypt of Drath: -------------------
Location: 25 miles N of Slith Fortification
Baddies: Zombie, Skeleton, Wight, Ghast, Spirit, Imp, Mung Rat, Living Statue, Vampire, Demon, Eye Beast. Loot: Chests, Wand, Necklace, *Tip*
First Level: In a tomb in the middle eastern area, you will find a scepter. If you try to cross the bridge, you will fall. To get by, there is a secret passage just to the east of the bridge. When you reach the room with all of the dead bodies, there is an ambush waiting for you. In the room with the statue look for a secret passage in the south wall. Second Level: There is a necklace in the second tomb south of where you start. The tomb to the south of that is not accessible from the door. There is a secret passage in its south wall. After fighting the Vampire, look for another secret passage in the north wall for a chest. In the far southeast, you will find a boat. In the top northwest corner, you will find a laboratory of sorts. Behind each of the barriers is a Demon. Check the right-hand cell for a secret passage to find one of the two buttons you need to press. Sail to the far west side of the lake and there will be a path on the south side that leads to a magic barrier. Dispel it, as well as the one after it, and then press the button. Now that you have pressed the two buttons, you will be able to enter the brown building in the south middle of the lake. Also look for a locked door along the south shore of the lake. It will lead to two more chests. Inside is the stairs to the next floor. Third Level: Come to a large room where there are about 4 Imps waiting. Look for a secret passage in the north wall, and step through the portal. Now you will be in a room with three portals, and a bunch of lava in the middle. First take the north one, then take the east one twice. Now you will be in a room that looks exactly like the others. Look for a secret passage in the southeast corner. This passage will take you straight to battle the Lich. There is an alternate path in a secret passage in the north wall of the tunnel. There is also a third path in the north wall of this second tunnel. After you dispatch the Lich and his minions, look for a secret passage in the south wall of his room. Follow the path and it will lead to the tip of the Demonslayer!

------------------ Lair of Pyrog: ------------------
Location: 35 miles E of Giant Castle
Baddies: Giants, Dragon. Loot: Chests, Broach, Stuff.
Pyrog is the meanest Dragon in the game. He feels he is the king of dragons or something. He is not good for anything, and you can kill him as soon as you wish. He will likely attack you the first time you talk to him anyway. For being the 'King' of Dragons he sure has a crappy hoard. Lightly burnt giants bring him offerings and act as servants.

Pyrog: 675 hp, no spells, 24000 gp, elixir or resurrection, boots of speed, mithril or adamantine full plate, 2 demons in hoard.

----------- Bargha: -----------
Location: 55 miles N of Spire, 15 miles W of Giant Castle.
45ish 'soldiers'. Prices are +25%. 1/6 chance for giant attack any day.
If you are entering from the east, you need to look for a secret passage in the northern cave wall. If you are entering from the west, you need to talk to a soldier behind the wall, and ask him to raise the porticullis. In the dead body room, one body has a small pouch of gold on it. Another is diseased.
Cynthia: burnette sage, makes scrolls for defense, abyss is the only place she felt safe expressing opinions and researching. Prynne: redheaded elf lady, ex-Almaria priestess, here because people need help. Marlowe: morose and tired food vendor. Johnson: thin man with delicate hands a a gimp leg, fletcher/archer and ex-soldier, saw a dragon (Pyrog) east of the giant castle. Calder: innkeeper, big guy, anti-Empire, 'scimitar' sends to Cleese in the basement. Cleese: pale quiet guy in the basement, tells you about Empire post in the gremlin cave west of Slith Fortifications. Mayor Maher: puffy brown hair, we need ore and help, can't reward but please kill the giant king. Ethridge: unarmored warrior and trainer (female), trapped in town by the spirits of the sliths she slew in battle. Molly: shy little girl, scared of giants, scared of you too.

Giant Castle:
Location: E of Bargha; NW of Fort Dranlon by boat; far W of Fort Draco
Loot: Chests, Scroll, Shield, Chain Mail, *Giant Key*
Baddies: Ogre, Giant Lizard, Cave Giant, Fire Lizard, Giant Shaman, Giant Chief, Demon
Main Floor: hopefully you are strong enough to fight off many many Giants. The first thing is that the drawbridge will send you plummetting into the dungeon, and as far as i know theres no way to avoid it. (Proceed to Giant Basement). In the northeast, behind the locked door, is a battle against a Giant Chief, and a Shaman. In the room with the Giant Chief and the Shaman, a secret passage leads to a chest. Also there is a scroll in the bookshelf. In the north in the temple area, a secret passage leads to a chest. Giant Basement: the walls in the dungeon have many secret passages. Look for one behind the stalagmite in the lower right. Going left from there will take you to a dead end, and two other cells with secret passages. Go right. If you search in the northeast(also in the southeast), behind a stalagmite there is a secret passage leading to some hidden Giant rooms. The Giants seem to have a pet demon down here. Once you kill it look for a secret passage behind where it was standing. The book will mention the Adze-Haakai at the Tower of the Magi, as well as Grah-Hoth who it says is at a Basalt Tower. Across the zap-tile floor, look for another passage that leads to a suit of Magic Chain Mail(yay!), an Eye Beast, and a couple chests. This floor is just a maze of caves with secret passages littered about everywhere, as well as a bunch of lizards. You will want to get to the northeast area, which is where the Giants buildings are. Once there, look for a secret passage in the north wall of the small southwestern room. Now take either of the two stairs here to return to the main floor. The northern one will have less fighting right away. (Continue with the rest of the Main Floor)

---------- Spire: ----------
Location: 30 miles N of Fort Spire, 55 miles S of Bargha.
60 assorted "guards" of various gangs. Prices +33% and the locals are doing you a favor selling anything to a mole so you'd better like it when they tack another 17% on top.
Entwhistle: greasy stain of a man, sage (x2 prices), laments that there is only one thing worth stealing in this town (circlet & Scab hints). Meena: short black haired bitch "mayor", whiny and antagonistic. Eunice: ancient harridan, basic alchemy and first level potions. Eustace: bloated drunk, "food" vendor with green meat. Cliff: tall sneering baldy, low quality smithy (up to bronze). Scab: scowling gnome with scabbed hands and a rapier, if you pass through the arena a couple times he'll tell about Meena's circlet, then talk to Asp in Cotra. Zagat: laid back arena manager and axe master. Job: the arena pay ogre. Jenny: the arena ticket sales ogre. Twink: gremlin arena "monster", doing happy dances and total escape master, can tell about a secret passage to Meena's treasure room. Harry: a dirty bartender. Carol: a slight woman with a scimitar, Scimitar agent, points to Calder or provides local info.
Nobody knows what the magic circlet does. It's protected by a magic chest (dc25 double glyphs fort/will, 2d3+2 negative levels/permanent insanity, plus fire trap admix sonic 1d4+15 each ref22 half, plus magic mouth that screams 'Thief!'). Asp knows the password and don't ask how. The secret entrance is that Meena's house abuts the town wall, under a large boulder (escape artist 35 after search 30 and spot 25 for the hole) is a natural crack that leads under the house, the floor of the house is 1/2 inch slate tiles under some rugs.

------------------- Shattered Fort: -------------------
Location: in the Steamy Cave; W of the Tower of the Magi
Baddies: demons, demons, and more demons
West of the Tower of the Magi is a large cave where a river pours into a lake of lava. If you manage to walk to the south end of the lava lake, you'll find the etrance to the Shattered Fort. This was originally Grah-Hoth's main base of operations, until the people of Exile (the Empire's First Visit didn't succeed) attacked the fort, and trapped him in a bottle. Stuck in a back room is the Empire Royal Seal from the First Visit.


-------------------- Fort Spire: ---------------------
Location: 35 miles N of Fort Saffron, 30 miles S of Spire
24 soldiers, supposedly one supply wagon a month.
Bohman: curly redhead ex-smuggler, check in and smuggling prevention. Reynold: sour priest, a former missionary to Spire, they drove him out. Paul: small balding man with cold eyes, ex-imperial official who tried to run for mayor in Almaria, abyssed for election fraud. Captain Allison: thin tired blonde woman, pulling extra shifts on guard duty because the fort is short staffed.
The fort is inside a huge stalagmite in a five mile wide chasm, in the center of the chasm in a planar rift that lets in negative energy. This energy slowly kills all plant life within six miles and reduces natural healing to 1/4, it also sustains a chorus of banshees. There is a ledge along the western edge that narrows the distance across down to about two miles, the stalagmite is about half way across the gap. The gaps on either side of the stalagmite are crossed by a magical, 10' wide, stone bridge with handrails and an extremely faint glowing dotted line down the middle. At the beginning of the bridge is a sign saying "Please don't annoy the Screamers, extinguish all light and muffle cart wheels". 1000' from Fort Spire the railings extend upward to form a cover that encloses the bridge and turns it into a suspended tunnel. A darkness spell covers the entrance and the interior is lit by light spells, at the stalagmite the entrance is barred by a porticullis with several guards behind it. The exterior of Fort Spire has multiple Symbols of Sleep, traps of Dispel Magic, traps of Light, and Magic Mouth spells to discourage people from just going around. The banshees are a bit less than 1/2 a mile away from Fort Spire, by the rules it is impossible for almost anyone to spot anything man sized at that distance. However the chasm is pitch black and banshees know that light, movement, and sound = life. Assume that every round there are 1d6 banshees making spot and listen checks (natural 20) to locate a creature lit by torch light and moving normally without talking at more than a whisper. Only bother to check if people are going around the Fort or being loud and bright on the bridge near the tunnel entrances. If the banshees notice life they will attack, arriving at the fort in eight rounds of running and being a single move away from the bridges.

Man have banshees changed since AD&D, they gained 19 HD. Ouchies.

-------------------- Fort Saffron: ----------------------
Location 35 miles S of Fort Spire, 30 miles W of Blosk, 30 miles NW of Dharmon
24 soldiers, supposedly one supply wagon a month.
Commander Novak: drafted mage, frustrated by bandits (secret tunnel bypass, reward), no supplies for two months, angry at Castle. Dilbert: burnt beanpole of a mage, volunteered, ex-adventurer from the doomed chasm drake party. Mona: prisoner bandit with a broken arm, pissed abysser "damn voles!".

Bandit Bypass
Location: 1/4 mile N and S of Fort Saffron in the west wall.
Baddies: Mage and mooks. Loot: fort supplies (food, arrows, and mail), ore, coins.

[Telok]

The DM map and legend are done. They have minor errors but nothing serious or worth fixing.

Spoiler

1: Fort Exile
2: Silvar
3: Fort Dunvo
4: Bandit Fort
5: Cotra
6: Fort Dranlon
7: Nephil Fort
8: Under Construction Fort
9: Mertis
10: Dark Pit
11: Tower of Magi
12: Ogre Cave
13: Shattered Fort (Akhronath)
14: Almaria
15: The Castle
16: Fort Emerald
17: Gnass
18: Blosk
19: Dharmon
20: Fort Saffron
21: Fort Remote
22: Pit of the Drake
23: Tower of Sulfras
24: Final Gauntlet
25: Skarragath (both)
26: More Bloody Gremlins
27: Fort Spire
28: Bandit Lair
29: Slith Fortification
30: Crypt of Drath
31: Slith Castle
32: Island Fort
33: Athron's Lair
34: Swamp City
35: Slith Fort
36: Slith Temple
37: Spire
38: Bharga
39: Empire Outpost
40: Giant Castle
41: Pyrog's Lair
42: N/A
43: Ruined Empire Fort
44: Old Vatahani Crypt
45: Grah-Hoth's Citadel
46: Khoth's Library
47: N/A
48: Arenea City
49: Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Spiders
50: Fort Draco
51: Ancient Crypt
52: Lair of Motrax
53: N/A
54: Formello
55: Nephilim Fortress
56: Solberg's Tower
57: Olga the Loneliest Ogress's Cave

T: Thralni's Doom
B: Lost Bahssikava
G: Gremlin Cave
P: Patrick's Tower
E: Erika's Tower
V: Verdant Valley
R: Foul Cavern
X: Black Spire
Y: Barrier Tower
Z: Augmentation Circle

Map legend

The DM Map

Spoiler

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Telok]

It's not dead yet!

Seriously though, I'm taking a long time here because I've been statting out the dungeons and encounters. So out of 65+ towns/dungeons I'm down to the last 5 and I hope to be done in a couple of days. I also have my beastiary for the critters that aren't standard (MM, slith, nephil) or unique (in the text). The towns were a little boring and the main quests didn't fit well into the guide text so I've made a Plots file to hold all that. Blosk gets a speculation market crash, Dharmon and Spire have a banditry connection, Mertis has a giant lizard rodeo, Cotra is having a fishing stock crash due to a giant crab in the lake, and Formello gets Karl Marx and abusive land owners creating an explosive situation. Ooh, Almaria has a crooked judge, a criminal syndicate, and a frustrated police chief.

It's still going, just a big chunk to chew on right now.

[Telok]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...ECRsH9Kg8/edit

The main towns and dungeons text file is done. It is 16,560 words long, according to the gedit (who knows how it parses the stat blocks of unique critters).

The Empire soldier stat block file is about half done. A power interruption lost a couple hours work, but not too bad. I still need to detail plots, quasi-random encounter lists, and a poison making system. I have all the notes for these, it's just typing and finishing.

Here is one of the plots. Bonus points if you know where I stole it from.

Spoiler

:::Bloodbath:::
Almaria - A hotbed of corruption.
Overheard in the tavern - "Well, anyway, he'll never get anywhere working through the system. The syndicates have got their people covered coming and going."
"Then he's going to have to go around the system," said someone else. "Or through the system. Like, straight and hard through the system."
Hooks - Julio complains about toughs who intimidate people and bounce in and out of jail, can point to Captain Thredor as someone who is trying to fix the problem. Rhiannon complains about toughs running a "farm protection" racket and can finger some paticular mooks in the countryside. Captain Thredor (after basilisks) will summon the party and tell them a litte story...

"Once upon a time there was a bad magistrate who took gold from criminal organizations to reduce the sentences and fines of criminals. Everybody knew he was doing this, but nobody could prove it. Because even if it could be proved, the bad magistrate had important friends, and proof is not as powerful as important friends. At the same time there was a good officer who enforced the laws because he thought laws made people happy and safe. And it bothered the good officer that enforcing the laws did no good, because the bad magistrate let the criminals go as quick as the officer caught them. For a long time, the good officer sighed, and said, 'What can I do? Because the bad magistrate has important friends, and nothing I can do will touch him.' But then, the good officer said, 'Say. Wait a minute. What about the bad people who are BRIBING the bad magistrate? THEY haven't got important friends. And if they aren't around, then the bad magistrate can't get any more bribes.' And even better, the good officer suspected that the bad people who were bribing the bad magistrate were probably criminals themselves. So the good officer decided that it would be good if the bad people who were bribing the bad magistrate should go away. Forever. So that good officer made a little special prayer that there would be a little bloodbath to wash the bad people away. There. Isn't that a nice little story? Maybe not a perfect story. Because it ends with a prayer, and not a bloodbath. But maybe the story isn't over yet."

PC's: "Where could one find these 'bad people'?"

"Oh." He looked surprised. "The bad people are the Camonna Tong – I thought everybody knew that. Well, all I know is that they are a barkeep, a pawnbroker, and a smith, and they are in Almaria. I can't give you any names. It's against the Code to tell officers things. But I bet if you asked the Thieves Guild, they would cheerfully tell you who the bad people are and where to find them."

"I love the law. I love Exile. But sometimes, no matter how hard we try to keep the peace, there is going to be blood." He lowered his voice. "If there are any problems of a legal nature, I will speak to some of my friends, and take care of it. Oh, and I believe there a nice present that a strange old man wants you to have… after you do the work."

Info - About 15 years ago the Empire exiled a bunch of petty criminals and corrupt officals from the eastern provinces, among them members of the Camonna Tong gang. Then the tong settled in Almaria they quickly killed most of the existing Theives Guild and started bribing guards and, eventually, the mayor. The old theives focused on stealing from caravans, travelers, and the toll bridge strongbox. The tong runs protection rackets outside of town, caravan raiding, toll skimming (the mayor oversees guard schedules) and in-town thefts and muggings.
Leads - Dexter is the son of the old fence who was murdered by the tong, he can point to the smith and the pawnbroker. Alycia is a farmer's wife east of the river who has fancy jewelry (but nothing new in the past several years) and can point to the smith and the barkeep. The tong mooks can point to anyone who was missed, one person per set of mooks.

Barkeep - Abdul Wahood, male human Mnk9: Size M (6 ft., 2 in. tall); hp 45; Init +6; Spd 60 ft.; AC 16; Attack +9/+4 melee, or +9/+9/+4 monk (1d8+3 fist), or +8/+3 ranged (1d3+2 shuriken +dc12 1d6str/1d6str poison); SV F+6, R+8, W+9; S15, D15, C10, I13, W17, C16. Skills and feats: Decipher+4, Hide+9, Jump+11, K(Dungeon)+13, K(Religion)+10, Listen+5, MSilent+1, Motive+14, Spot+17, UMD+5; Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, [Deflect Arrows], [Evasion], [Improved Evasion], [Improved Grapple], Improved Initiative, [Improved Trip], [Improved Unarmed Strike], Superior Unarmed Strike. Amulet Mighty Fist +1

Smith - Aun Simeson, male human Bbn9: Size M (5 ft., 5 in. tall); hp 98; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 15; Attack +13/+8 maul 1d10+6 20x3, or +10/+5 ranged; SV F+11, R+4, W+3; S19, D13, C16, I10, W11, C8. Skills and feats: Climb+14, Profession (Smith)+8, Hide+1, Intimidate+9, Jump+11, Listen+0, MSilent+1, Ride+11, Spot+0, Survive+12; Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Cleave. Possessions: Tan Bag of Tricks (d%, 30 brown bear, 60 lion, 80 heavy warhorse, 90 tiger, 100 rhino), maul, hide.

Pawnbroker - Tosti, male human Sor9: Size M (6 ft., 2 in. tall); hp 43; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 11; Attack +4 melee, or +5 ranged; SV F+5, R+4, W+9; S10, D13, C15, I17, W17, C20. Languages Spoken: Common, Dwarven, Elvish. Skills and feats: P(Pawnbroker)+12, Hide+6.5, K(Arcana)+15, K(Architect)+5, K(Dungeon)+5.5, K(Geography)+7, K(Local)+4, K(Nobility)+6.5, K(Religion)+7.5, K(Planes)+8.5, Listen+3, MSilent+1, Spot+4; Combat Casting, Craft Poison, Improved Unarmed Strike, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Hand Crossbow), Spell Focus (evocation). Possessions: Circlet of Blasting 1/day searing light (3d8). Spells Known (6/8/7/7/5): 0th -- Dancing Lights, Detect Poison, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Read Magic. 1st -- Detect Secret Doors, Grease, Magic Missile, Magic Weapon, Shocking Grasp. 2nd -- Eagle's Splendor, Shatter, Spectral Hand, Touch of Idiocy. 3rd -- Fly, Lightning Bolt, Stinking Cloud. 4th -- Fear.

[Telok]

Empire Soldiers are finished.

F2/Es3 hp:37, ac:19[23] chain+hv.sh t:12 f:15 s:10, F8[9] R3[5] W2[3], B/A/G +5/+8/+8
sh.sw +9 1d6+3 19x2, lng.spr +9(r) 1d8+4 20x3, sh.bow +7(60) 1d6 20x3
s16 d14 c15 i13 w12 c11, WF:sh.sw & lng.sp, phalanx*, pwr.atk, cmbt.xprt
ride+8, handle +9, climb+11-7, swim+11-14, listen+10, ***move20, init+2***
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2
4* If fighting w/ Light Wp & Hv Shield, +1 AC
5* If as above and in 5’ of phalanx ally form Shield Wall, add +2 AC & +1 Ref

Elite2[7] hp:54, ac:19[23] chain+hv.sh t:12 f:15 s:10, F11[12] R3[5] W5[6], B/A/G +7/+10/+10
sh.sw +11 1d6+3 19x2, lng.spr +11(r) 1d8+4 20x3, sh.bow +9(60) 1d6 20x3
s16 d14 c15 i13 w12 c11, WF:sh.sw & lng.sp, phalanx, pwr.atk, cmbt.xprt
formation xprt*, cmbt.ref[3], imp.init.
ride+11, handle +11, climb+13-7, swim+13-14, listen+12, ***move20, init+6***
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2
4) If fighting w/ Light Wp & Hv Shield, +1 AC
5) If as above and in 5’ of phalanx ally form Shield Wall, add +2 AC & +1 Ref
6* If you & two allies on either side are wielding a shield, you gain a +1 bonus to AC
7* If in a line of adj allies one ally falls, may single move to that location as if Readied Action
8* Gain a +2 attack bonus if you and 2 adjacent allies wielding the same reach weapon
Punishing Stance[+1d6 melee damage, -2 AC], Steel Strike[+4hit -4ac], WalloBlade[sub atk roll for AC]

El1/Off3[9] hp:66, ac:19[23] chain+hv.sh t:12 f:15 s:10, F13[14] R4[6] W7[8], B/A/G +8/+11/+11
sh.sw +12 1d6+3 19x2, lng.spr +12(r) 1d8+4 20x3, sh.bow +10(60) 1d6 20x3
s16 d14 c15 i13 w12 c11, WF:sh.sw & lng.sp, phalanx, pwr.atk, cmbt.xprt
formation xprt, cmbt.ref[3], imp.init, ***move20, init+6***
ride+10, handle +10, climb+12-7, swim+12-14, listen+11, motive+7, forgery+7, decipher+7
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2
4) If fighting w/ Light Wp & Hv Shield, +1 AC
5) If as above and in 5’ of phalanx ally form Shield Wall, add +2 AC & +1 Ref
6) If you & two allies on either side are wielding a shield, you gain a +1 bonus to AC
7) If in a line of adj allies one ally falls, may single move to that location as if Readied Action
8) Gain a +2 attack bonus if you and adjacent allies wielding the same reach weapon
Punishing Stance[+1d6 melee damage, -2 AC], Wall Blades[sub atk roll for AC], Iron Heart Surge!
9* Give Orders: Standard action = following orders is +1 morale to all die rolls

Rng2/Ear3 hp:37, ac:17 chn.sht t:13 f:14 s:10, F5 R6 W2, B/A/G +4/+6/+6 [fav.E(+2) =hum OR gnoll]
lng.bow[str+2] +8[+6/+6](110) 1d8+4 20x3, sh.sw +4 1d6+1 19x2 +tow.sh[+4ac] ***move30, init+3***
s14 d16 c15 i13 w12 c11, track, rapid.sh, wf&ws:lng.bow, precise.sh, imp.tou, quick draw
hide+11-2, sneak+11-2, listen+6, spot+9, survive+6, search+9, k[nature]+6, ride+9, wild empath
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Aimed Shot: Full round take one shot, +4 hit and +1/2 BAB to damage, -15% miss chance

ElArc3[8] hp:65, ac:17 chn.sht t:13 f:14 s:10, F8 R9 W3, B/A/G +7/+10/+10 [fav.E(+2) =hum OR gnoll]
lng.bow[str+2] +11[+11/+11/+6](110) 1d8+4 20x3, sh.sw +7 1d6+1 19x2 +tow.sh[+4ac] ***move30, init+3***
s14 d16 c15 i13 w12 c11, track, rapid.sh, wf&ws:lng.bow, precise.sh, imp.tou, quick draw, cmbt.xprt
hide+14-2, sneak+14-2, listen+6, spot+12, survive+9, search+12, k[nature]+6, ride+9, wild empath
sharp shoot[1/2 cover boni], manyshot[-4atk +1arrow], imp.rapid.sh
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Aimed Shot: Full round take one shot, +4 hit and +1/2 BAB to damage, -15% miss chance
Stance Clarity[+2 insight AC vs target, -2 AC others], Insight.Strk[Single attack, dmg = Concentrate]
Saph Ntmar[Concentrate vsAC, target flat-footed +1d6 dmg], Em.Raz[Single attack as touch, normal dmg]

EmpMage3[6] hp:36, ac:16 mageAC t:12 f:14 s10, F4 R4 W7, B/A/G +3s, move30, init+2
qstaff +3 1d6 20x2, knife +3[+5] 1d4 19x2,
s11 d14 c15 i16 w13 c12, scribe scroll, co-op casting, imp.tou, SF&GSF, spell penetrate
spellcraft+12, k[arcane]+12, concentrate+11, decipher+12, k[4 more]+10
Enchanter= 0:det.mag, det.pois, read.mag, daze, 1:-shield, charm[Wneg16]*2, burn.hnd[Rhalf14]*2,
2:tash.laugh[Wneg17], res.energy*2, see.invis, 3:dispel magic, deep.slum[Wneg18 10hd], fireball[Rhalf16]
Evoker= 0:ray.frost*2, light*3, 1:shield, -mageAC, burn.hnd[Rhalf16]x2, colr.spry[Wneg14],
2:scorch.ray*2, res.energy, invis, 3:dispel magic, fly, fireball[Rhalf18]
Transmuter= 0:det.mag, read.mag, mag.hnd*2, 1:shield, -mage AC, colr.spry[Wneg14], feath.fall, mag.miss[3]
2:whisp.wind, res.energy, see.invis, invis, 3:dispel magic, fly, slow[Wneg18 1/CL 30'area]

EmpPr3[6] hp: 39, ac:18 splin+hv.sh t:10 f:16: s:10, F6 R2 W9, B/A/G +4/+6/+6, move20, init+0
hv.mace +6 1d8+2 20x2, lt.xbow +4(80) 1d8, turn 3/day 2d6+4HD
s15 d11 c14 i12 w16 c13, brew potion, co-op casting, SF&GSF:ench, spell penetrate
spellcraft+10, k[relig]+10, concentrate+11, heal+10, diplo+9
TSO=Retrib[hit=max dmg], 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+2], mag.wpn*2, cure.lt*2,
2:+4con, Silence[Wneg15], hold.per[Wneg17]*2, 3:speak.dead[Wneg16], mass.les.vig, dispel magic[+9]
Zin=WF:hammer, +1sv 3rnd, 0:0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+2]*2, div.fav, cure.lt*2,
2:spirit.wpn, hold.per[Wneg17], cure.mod*2, 3:keen edge, prayer, daylight
Elyvilon=std +3 next save, 1/d 0hp get 1d8+1, 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:sanctuary[Wneg14],
cure.lt*4, 2:les.res, hold.per[Wneg17], calm.emot[Wneg17], cure.mod, 3:prot.erg[60], cure.ser, invis.purge

MageOff3[9] hp:58, ac:16 mageAC t:12 f:14 s10, F7 R5 W10, B/A/G +5s, move30, init+2 **CL=7**
qstaff +5 1d6 20x2, knife +5[+7] 1d4 19x2, Blue Clearance, scroll(mass fly, haste)
s11 d14 c15 i16 w13 c12, scribe scroll, co-op casting, imp.tou, SF&GSF, spell penetrate, sudd.empower
spellcraft+15, k[arcane]+15, concentrate+14, decipher+15, k[4 more]+10, forgery+15
*Give Orders: Move action to give orders. People following orders +1 morale bonus to all die rolls.
Enchanter= 0:det.mag, det.pois, read.mag, daze, 1:shield, charm[Wneg16]*2, burn.hnd[Rhalf14]*2,
2:tash.laugh[Wneg17]*2, res.energy*2, see.invis, 3:dispel magic*2, deep.slum[Wneg18 10hd]*2,
fireball[Rhalf16], 4:less.globe.invuln, confusion[Wneg19], wall.fire,
Evoker= 0:ray.frost*2, light*3, 1:shield, mageAC, burn.hnd[Rhalf16]x2, colr.spry[Wneg14],
2:scorch.ray*2, res.energy*2, invis, 3:dispel magic*2, fly, fireball[Rhalf18]*2, 4:solid fog,
resilient sphere[Rneg19], enervation,
Transmuter= 0:det.mag, read.mag, mag.hnd*2, 1:shield, -mage AC, colr.spry[Wneg14], feath.fall*2, mag.miss[3]
2:whisp.wind, res.energy, see.invis, invis*2, 3:dispel magic*2, fly*2, slow[Wneg18 1/CL 30'area],
4:memonic enhancer, less.globe.invuln, wall.fire,

PriestOff3[9] hp: 61, ac:18 splin+hv.sh t:10 f:16: s:10, F9 R3 W12, B/A/G +6/+8/+8, move20, **CL=7**
hv.mace +8 1d8+2 20x2, lt.xbow +6(80) 1d8, turn 3/day 2d6+4HD, Blue Clearance, scroll(wind walk[cl11])
s15 d11 c14 i12 w16 c13, brew potion, co-op casting, SF&GSF:ench, spell penetrate, imp.tou,
spellcraft+13, k[relig]+13, concentrate+14, heal+10, diplo+9, motive+12
*Give Orders: Move action to give orders. People following orders +1 morale bonus to all die rolls.
TSO=Retrib[hit=max dmg], 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+3]*2, mag.wpn*2, cure.lt*2,
2:+4con, Silence[Wneg15]*2, hold.per[Wneg17]*2, 3:speak.dead[Wneg16], mass.les.vig*2, dispel magic[+11]*2,
4:fire shield, death ward, cure.crit
Zin=WF:hammer, +1sv 3rnd, 0:0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+3]*2, div.fav, cure.lt*3,
2:spirit.wpn, hold.per[Wneg17]*2, cure.mod*2, 3:keen edge, prayer*2, daylight*2,
4:rusting grasp[wp or 1d6ac], neut.poison, cure.crit
Elyvilon=std +3 next save, 1/d 0hp get 1d8+1, 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:sanctuary[Wneg14], cure.lt*5,
2:les.res, hold.per[Wneg17], calm.emot[Wneg17]*2, cure.mod, 3:prot.erg[60]*2, cure.ser*2, invis.purge,
4:spell immunity[2sp], neut.poison, cure.crit

MageCOMM3[12] hp:81, ac:16 mageAC t:12 f:14 s10, F8 R6 W13, B/A/G +7s, move30, init+2 **CL=10**
qstaff +7 1d6 20x2, knife +7[+9] 1d4 19x2, Blue Clearance, scroll(mass fly, haste)
s11 d14 c15 i16 w13 c12, scribe scroll, co-op cast, imp.tou, SF&GSF, spell pen, sudd.empower, MIC feat
spellcraft+15, k[arcane]+15, concentrate+14, decipher+15, k[4 more]+10, forgery+15
*Give Orders: Move action to give orders. People following orders +1 morale bonus to all die rolls.
*As a standard action grant all allies within 60' a move action or a single ally a standard action
Enchanter= 0:det.mag, det.pois, read.mag, daze, 1:shield*2, charm[Wneg16]*2, burn.hnd[Rhalf14]*2,
2:tash.laugh[Wneg17]*3, res.energy*2, see.invis, 3:dispel magic*3, deep.slum[Wneg18 10hd]*2,
fireball[Rhalf16], 4:less.globe.invuln, confusion[Wneg19]*2, wall.fire, enervation, 5:feeblemind[Wneg20],
dominate person[Wneg20], cone.cold[Rhalf18]
Evoker= 0:ray.frost*2, light*3, 1:shield, mageAC, burn.hnd[Rhalf16]x2, colr.spry[Wneg14],
2:scorch.ray*3, res.energy*2, invis, 3:dispel magic*3, fly, fireball[Rhalf18]*2, 4:solid fog,
resilient sphere[Rneg19]*2, enervation*2, 5:cone.cold[Rhalf20]*2, cloudkill[Fhalf18]
Transmuter= 0:det.mag, read.mag, mag.hnd*2, 1:shield, -mage AC, colr.spry[Wneg14], feath.fall*2, mag.miss[3]
2:whisp.wind, res.energy, see.invis, invis*2, 3:dispel magic*2, fly*2, slow[Wneg18 1/CL 30'area],
4:memonic enhancer, less.globe.invuln, wall.fire, 5:baleful polymorph[Fneg20], cone.cold[Rhalf18], wall.force

PriestCOMM3[12] hp: 84, ac:18 splin+hv.sh t:10 f:16: s:10, F10 R4 W15, B/A/G +8/+10/+10, move20, **CL=10**
hv.mace +10 1d8+2 20x2, lt.xbow +8(80) 1d8, turn 3/day 2d6+4HD, Blue Clearance, scroll(wind walk[cl11])
s15 d11 c14 i12 w16 c13, brew potion, co-op casting, SF&GSF:ench, spell penetrate, imp.tou, MIC feat
spellcraft+13, k[relig]+13, concentrate+14, heal+10, diplo+9, motive+12
*Give Orders: Move action to give orders. People following orders +1 morale bonus to all die rolls.
*As a standard action grant all allies within 60' a move action or a single ally a standard action
TSO=Retrib[hit=max dmg], 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+3]*2, mag.wpn*2, cure.lt*2,
2:+4con*2, Silence[Wneg15]*2, hold.per[Wneg17]*2, 3:speak.dead[Wneg16], mass.les.vig*2, dispel magic[+11]*3,
4:fire shield, death ward, cure.crit*3, 5:flame strike[Rhalf18], spell resistance[sr22]
Zin=WF:hammer, +1sv 3rnd, 0:0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:shld.faith[+3]*2, div.fav, cure.lt*3,
2:spirit.wpn*2, hold.per[Wneg17]*2, cure.mod*2, 3:keen edge*2, prayer*2, daylight*2,
4:rusting grasp[wp or 1d6ac], neut.poison, cure.crit*3, 5:wall.iron, disrupting weap, greater command[Wneg20]
Elyvilon=std +3 next save, 1/d 0hp get 1d8+1, 0:cure1hp*2, det.mag*2, light*2 1:sanctuary[Wneg14], cure.lt*5,
2:les.res, hold.per[Wneg17]*2, calm.emot[Wneg17]*2, cure.mod, 3:prot.erg[60]*2, cure.ser*2, invis.purge*2,
4:spell immunity[2sp], neut.poison*2, cure.crit*2, 5:spell resist[sr22], greater command[Wneg20]*2

RogSlayer3[9] hp: 55, ac:19 BP+dk.wd.hv.sh t:13 f:15 s:10, F7 R11 W6, B/A/G +8/+11/+11 mv20, init+3
rapier +12 1d6+2 15x2, dagger +11(10) 1d4+2 19x2, 4d6 sneak attk on crit, Assassin death attk DC19
s16 d16 c14 i14 w12 c12, WF:rapier, precise shot, telling blow, imp.crit, imp.tou, poison use
escape hide sneak+12-4, tumble+15-4, decipher forgery+8, search+11, bluff disguise info+12, UMD listen+13
[3]sassone leaf residue contact16 2d12hp 1d6con, [2]spider venom injury14 1d6str 1d6str
[2]scorpion venom injury16 1d6con 1d6con, [4]oil of taggit, [1]insanity mist inhale15 1d4wis 2d6wis
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2
Empire license [It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done
what he has done. “Hawthorne”], trapfind, EVASION

ScoutSlay3[9] hp: 55, ac:18 chn.sht+dk.wd.hv.sh t:13 f:14 s:10, F5 R12 W6, B/A/G +7/+10/+10 mv40, init+3
lt.xbow +11(80) 1d8+3 17x2, sh.sw +10 1d6+2 19x2, in 60'== +4d6 if mv10+ [&+1ac] OR +6d6 if mv20+ [&+3ac]
s16 d16 c14 i14 w12 c12, WF&WSp:lt.xbow, precise shot, xbow snipe, imp.skir, imp.tou, rapd.load, poison use
escape+13-2, tumble hide sneak+15-2, disable k(dungeon) search+11, spellcraft+8, listen motive UMD+10, spot+13
[3]sassone leaf residue contact16 2d12hp 1d6con, [2]spider venom injury14 1d6str 1d6str
[2]scorpion venom injury16 1d6con 1d6con, [4]oil of taggit, [1]insanity mist inhale15 1d4wis 2d6wis
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Aimed Shot: Full round action to take one shot, +4 to hit and +1/2 BAB to damage, -15% miss chance
Empire license [It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done
what he has done. “Hawthorne”], trapfind, uncanny dodge, trackless

Swordsage3.EmpireSoldier3.EmpireElite1.Slayer3[10] **initiator=8**
hp: 55, ac:18 chn.sht t:15 f:16 s:12, F9 R10 W9, B/A/G +9/+12/+12 mv30, init+8
sh.sw +13 1d6+6 19x2, dagger +13(10) 1d4+6 19x2, +5d6 sneak attack
s16 d16 c14 i12 w14 c12, WF:sh.sw&dagg ,extra readied, shadow blade, sudden+vital recovery, imp.init
concentrate+12, hide sneak+12-2, tumble+10-2, listen+12, motive+11, intimidate+7, disguise bluff info+6
burning blade, moment perfect mind, counter charge, shadow blade tech, iron heart surge, steel wind,
*assassin stance*, insightful strike, ruby nightmare
1) Obedience: May ready an action to "Do what the commander orders"
2) Formation: +1 formation bonus to adjacent allies AC and saves
3) Coordinate: Aid another and flanking give allies +4 instead of +2
Empire license [It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done
what he has done. “Hawthorne”], trapfind, EVASION
1/day[swift] recover maneuver & heal 13hp, [3]sassone leaf residue contact16 2d12hp 1d6con,
[2]spider venom injury14 1d6str 1d6str, [2]scorpion venom injury16 1d6con 1d6con, [4]oil of taggit

[Telok]

Ok, so my group's regular DM is in Nome for a few months for his job. Since I have an almost totally complete setting they made me DM. First session was Saturday (we play Saturdays since I work Sundays and two others go to church). So I'll morph this thread into a nice navel gazing campaign log.

Players: Starting at ECL 5
Female Gnome Sorcerer 5 [conjuration(summoning), air mephit] who worships Vehumet (god of blowing things up with magic). Played by our resident "that guy".

Bugbear Monk 1

Human Fighter 5, great axe whirlwind specialist with no ToB.

Human Fighter 4/Warblade 1, alternating between a whip-dagger and a great axe.

Dwarf Fighter4 /Cleric of Okwaru 1 (battle god), aiming for Champion of Okwaru, which he will start at level 7. That will give him Might at level 10 and a special Okwaru weapon at level 11.

Start: Very minor grumbles about the limited armor selection at the start, but not too much since it was free. They decided to go to Silvar for beer, with a minor detour to annoy the fairies. Ignored pretty much everything in Silvar except for the the beer and a tin replica of Demonslayer in the smithy. There was some discussion of stealing the fake sword or stealing the cows for steaks but nobody went for the noises behind the cow shed or the abandoned magic item shop. I think my possible plot hooks need to include more blunt force trauma. I'll move the Nephil prisoner raid from Cotra to Silvar and say someone died from a leftover trap in the magic shop during the fighting. That will also give me an excuse to kill the cows and deny them the steaks.

A trip to Fort Dunvo had them chatting with Captain Johnson and buying alchemy items from the sage/mage. They were literally warned about Fireballs (the mage got blasted during the last attack on the bandit fort), but didn't bother to do anything with the info. The next day they arrived at the bandit fort (abandoned ruin of an old fort) and did a nice slaughter. The only real notable moments were four rogues breaking stone short swords on the whirlwind fighter, one elf ranger failing so badly on a hide check that he was captured unharmed (he was the last one fighting but trapped in a room with no escape), and a couple of the self-disarmed rogues escaped with single digit hit points. Oh, the mephit went into negative hit points twice, which is good. That's working as I hoped it would.

They devastated the skeletons that were trapped in a corner of the fort and the wight didn't manage to hit anyone in the three rounds it lasted. A bit less effective than I'd hoped, but not surprising. They slept in the fort and dispatched most of a scouting party of gnolls (three dead but the leader escaped) before returning to Dunvo for their reward.

Total loot this session was 900 gold (400 found and a 500 reward), 100 silver, a spellbook sold for 700, a scroll with Wind Wall left on it, and an eternal wand of True Strike. Plus five assorted bronze swords and two bronze chain shirts. They've decided to accept Captain Johnson's challenge to find the Nephil fort being secretly built in the north wall of the cave and then travel to Fort Draco in search of steel armor and weapons. That will be for next week.

[Telok]

Ok, so the barge of equipment to Nome was delayed, someone's mother had a birthday, yada yada yada. So today's party was the sorcerer and a human psychic warrior.

They went looking for the Nephil for that is being built on the north wall of the Eastern Cavern. They are really close to it, camped just about a mile and a half away. But they wiped out two patrols for four gnolls and barely evaded the guard patrol just outside (one scout did a runner and almost made it back, he did make it into 'screaming for help' range).

No loot, they used up most of their potions. We have cantrips, no power points, and single digit hp left. Plus, the gnolls know there is a hostile force in the area now.

[Telok]

A full group this week! The warblade didn't show so he got replaced by a bog standard ranger, and a good thing too.

So after another three days of randomly wandering around the north half of the eastern caverns and getting slightly whipped by a slith warband they found the ranger. By this time they were at least 25 miles too far east (hence the sliths) but another patrol of gnolls got them back towards the main nephil lands and then they had the amazing insight that a fort under construction would probably be closer to edge of the area that the tribe claimed (instead of on a main road next to the skull-totem poles). The ranger actually found the trail that the gnolls were using to supply the construction crew and led them right close to it.

Then the sorcerer decided to send his familiar in to "scout". An air mephit looks nothing like any natural creature, and totally resembles what some of the previous patrols fought with. These guys do not have Int penalties and do have a caster leading them. The mephit got a few javelins thrown at it before it went straight back to the party, who decided to wait on hte path, and then the whole fort was rallied to go attack some invaders.

Instead of five separate encounters in a half dug cave/fort they get everyone at once in the wide open. Outnumbered 4 to 1 our "heros" got two dead PCs (warrior/cleric and human fighter) and everyone out of spells. Three dead gnolls, two with 2 levels of NPC warrior and one with 4 levels of NPC warrior. Not a victory for the players. Plus the nephil will turtle up now that they know that a batch of adventurers know where the fort is. Depending on how long the players take to get back (I'll give them four days) there may be reinforcements too.

[Telok]

Seven PC this week (it will be four next week) and they were only slightly foolish. Plus the Nephil split up a bit.

The players decided to hike thirty miles cross-country to the wrecked bandit fort, then another twenty or so miles back to Fort Dunvo. This is immediately following the ignominious rout after a day's exploration. Sadly the eight mooks with tracking skills and their archer leader only moved at 15' instead of the 20' that the party made. But they did follow all the way to Dunvo so they simply set up an ambush on the route (shortest, straightest path to/from) the party took. Meanwhile the shaman of the under construction fort sent four runners back to the main gnoll castle for reinforcements. He didn't get what he wanted, only a couple more warriors, another shaman, and 14 flasks of alchemical fire. That took five days, two for the runners and three for the return.

The PCs flooped around Dunvo for a day whining that an unimportant hick fort didn't have a full service armory or wizards and clerics to make potions and scrolls to order. They did grab the replacement characters from the booze and snooze though. Then they went back up their own trail and the ranger (out in front) discovered that gnoll barbarians have lousy hide checks (bloody rolled a 2). The resultant combat slaughtered the barbarians, the archer leader only escaped because he dropped his bow (masterwork composite longbow, +2 strength bonus), was several rounds into a potion of lesser vigor, and had run 400+ feet from the fight before the psychic warrior took him down to -4. The archer made a bluff check, psy-war rolled lower on sense motive and just grabbed the nice bow before returning to the party. The party went back to Fort Dunvo for army cleric healing and the gnoll archer got up and staggered back to the shamans to report in.

Two and a half days later the PCs walked into an alchemist fire ambush at the fort and proceeded to slaughter almost everyone. Two gnolls escaped and the goblin slaves lied like the little snots they are before running off when nobody tried to kill them. The PC's got the Cobra Amulet, some furs, and 20 iron mining picks before sealing the cave with Stone Shape and dragging back to Dunvo to report to Captain Johnson. They sold crap, whined about not having a master smith stationed at hicks-ville, and it took heavy hinting to get them to actually pay someone to cast Identify on the amulet. I know Identify is pricey at a 500gp sapphire per cast, but none of them bothered to have the "two pretty blue gems" appraised (and they seem unable to do it themselves) and traded two of them for a single casting.

It is now April 16th, everyone is 6th level, and I have no idea where thay are going to go next.

[Telok]

Just a warblade and a sorcerer this week, I NPC-ed the ranger so they didn't get too lost or screwed up.

The sorcerer is now 6th level with the ability to summon celestial bison. This is "important" because he wants to go all crazy wizard experimentation on the local bovine population (there are two in Silvar, cheese is a luxury item in Exile). Since the party totally ignored all the hints last time they were in Silvar I went and moved the Cotra Nephil attack over there. The cow lady is dead, the barn is on fire, the cows and some townsfolk gone, and someone found out that the abandoned magic mart shop is booby trapped.

They had some fun with the gnomish clockwork barcalounger, and some subdual damage (think the Three Stooges meet a cartoon folding deck chair). Eventually they found the fake wall and blasted a hole in it, tripped a rather weak acid trap, and got a magic steel short sword and a small iron gnome hooked hammer. Which they checked for automatic elemental damage bonuses (none) and then threw in the loot bag to rot. [Keen ghost touch short sword, throwing bane(gnome) small gnome hooked hammer]

Tracking the gnolls north and north west for four days got them to the small fort about 40 miles north of Cotra. A small guard/scout party was surprised and decimated about half a mile out from the fort. One gnoll lookout on top of a tower cap mushroom was hit with Combust, died, and burned for five rounds. The fort guards saw that and sent someone out to "ask those idiots what they think they're doing, lighting fires while on watch". That poor gnoll was ambushed, lost initiative, and died without even drawing his sword.

The "plan" was to waltz in the front gate. Then the ranger NPC-found a hidden passage/crack in the wall. The two adventurers scootched in through the walled up side tunnels, broke down a rubble pile, and murderized all the mooks and minions in the place. They faced about 2/3 the standard Nephil groups that were scheduled to be there, then the chief and his two shaman backers came out. The guys surprised me with an orderly fighting retreat to the tunnels so the gnolls didn't follow.

It is now the evening of April 22nd. The fort is populated by one chief (used his amulet for today), two shamen (expended one Wave of Grief and Faith Healing each), two archers, a thumper and a warrior. The characters are at the exit of the tunnel, but they only found one and didn't explore it fully. Since the gnolls now know that the tunnels are not sealed they will move to cover all the entrances they can find (all the easy/quiet ones). Plus, if more people show next week (car problems, contagious illness) I can have the missing Nephil return from scouting or hunting.

There are eight wounded civilians to be rescued. In 24 hours four will be sacrificed to summon a demon to hunt the party. The cows have already been eaten.

[Telok]

So it was the sorcerer, cleric, and bugbear monk today. They went back into the cave fort a half hour after they left and the sorcerer came running back out fifteen minutes later, alone, bloody, almost loot-less.

So they went straight back in following exactly the same path and using the same entrance. No surprise, the Nephil were waiting for them. Nobody attempted any sort of stealth and they used light spells in a dark corridor, they may as well have issued an invitation before entering.

Still, they won in about eight rounds of combat by using 3/4 of their magic and everyone down 25% hp after post-fight healing. They grabbed a couple of potions (lesser vigor used, fire resistance quaffed because they couldn't identify it) and weak poisons, freed the eight citizens of Silvar (but didn't ask any questions or try to help them in any way), and then found the dark temple.

The altar of Makhleb (god of demons and bloodshed) had the pommel of Demonslayer and a ruby encrusted silver chalice on it, and a trough full of blood in front of it. So my plan was that whatever they did (pommel, chalice, altar) would get them a Hellcat, then two Babau demons. So the sorcerer snagged the pommel and sucked down enough damage to put him negative. Then it took about ten rounds for the monk to grind through the DR and hp of the invisible demon. The cleric played straight support and healing while the sorcerer, in his first brush with SR and invisibility, flailed haplessly. Sadly they just stood there and fought a slugfest in a closet (ok, 20' by 40' room with a 5x10 altar at one end). No trying to identify the foe, no listening to figure out where it was, no attempts to flood the floor with blood or otherwise locate it. They didn't catch the hints I dropped by asking about light sources, and I asked three times.

But they survived. The sorcerer had two spells left, the cleric was all out, and nobody had more than half hit points left. And then they tried to fool with the altar again. The babau won initiative and got two claw sneak attacks into the monk (the one damaging the altar) who returned fire with a flurry and took more damage then she did. Enough to get to -1. The cleric went down from an attack on opportunity while trying to run and the sorcerer delayed the demon with a summoned buffalo (dispelled the next round) and by sacrificing his familiar.

So we had about 30 minutes or action this week culminating with two dead people and one screwed sorcerer (it's going to take 48 hours to get his familiar and spells back) running off. Loot-wise he gained the Claw Boots, the pommel of Demonslayer, and an amber centipede amulet. They lost the keen ghost touch short sword, Cobra amulet, and all the mundane loot in the place.

Next week should be interesting. If they take too long the demon will start foraging for sacrifices to call forth more demons. Ooh, and a foraging party of gnolls is still due back in a few hours.

[Telok]

So this was both a productive and unproductive week.

The four players (sorcerer, warblade, ranger, TWF BS fighter) took over an hour in real life to get around to re-entering the Nephil fort. Since I had decided to use the one hour time limit for demons summoning other demons the only opponent in the place was already gone. During that hour the babau demon had managed to make the place a little more 'homey', if your definition of home includes the Halls of Pain or the Pit of Despair. The 18 bodies (16 gnolls, a human and a bugbear) had been gutted, decapitated, and piked on javelins in the main yard. The entrails were hung as a curtain in front of the hole that the adventurers had used the last two times. The heads had been de-eye balled and the brains scooped out, forming a pentagram in the front room of the temple. The blood trough in front of the evil altar was full to the brim (and a fair bit of new blood on the altar and floor too) and had all the eyes floating in it. The missing brains were not in evidence, having been eaten.

With a fair bit of paranoia the players recovered loot from the bottom of the blood trough (flooding the temple in ankle deep blood) and the carcasses and heads of their friends. They did not fool with the goblet on the altar (2000 gp), nor search the living quarters (500 gp coins), nor take the four how-to books on demon worship (250 gp ruby on each cover). After a brief and shallow burial ceremony just outside the gate our heroes led the eight surviving citizens of Silvar away. Some two hours later 10 assorted gnolls returned to the fort, it will be back at full strength (and the tunnels trapped) in about 16 days.

So the party had a choice: two days south to Cotra, three days south-east to Silvar, or... four days east to Fort Dunvo? They shelled out 520 gp for identification of loot (the Claw Boots are partially IDed, all else is now known), sold some bronze armor, and told the citizens to catch the next caravan to Silvar. They rested overnight at the sleazy overpriced inn in this little backwater go-nowhere fort and decided to go to the Tower of Magi.

Which brought them to Silvar... Two days ahead of the caravan from Formello, which passed through Dunvo. After some sarcastic and pointed questions from the mayor of Silvar the group waited two days for the caravan to catch up. The reward was a magic cloak, pure white wool with gold embroidery and little brass bells on the hem (circumstance bonuses). It went straight into the loot bag and they walked to Mertis.

At Mertis the next lizard auction is in two weeks, the next caravan is in five days, were not interested in exotic non-metal armors, and didn't want to order any weapons for delivery. I can't blame them on that last one, caravans are so slow that the delivery time is two months. At the inn they perked up. A travelling wizard mentioned piercing crystals and looked at the magic cloak, he found the sewn in tag with the command word and they learned "Cape of the Mountebank". But none of them have skill ranks in Kn:Arcana so they can't make the DC15 knowledge check about unstable teleportation and maximum safe distances. The cape's maximum distance is 760 feet, the maximum safe distance is 190 feet. There was also a bard heading north to play to Motrax and from whom they learned that there is rumoured to be another dragon in the Honeycomb. Plus the town was attacked by zombies last month.

That caught their attention. A bit more poking around and they talked to ol' Geb the lizard rancher. I polished my banjo playing hill-billy accent off and told them about some of the other adventuring groups around. Raider Vic's Adverturing Co., Louie's Hired Mayhem Team, the Scalding Spears of Shoredan. Then I sent them off to the Dark Spiral Pit. They beat up some harmless skeletons and zombies along the way, which is good because the ranger and fighter are still pretty new to 3.5 and could use the practice on the mechanical side of things.

So it's the 2nd of May and the party is at the entrance to the next dungeon.

[Telok]

Well the four of them got through most of the Dark Spiral dungeon this week. The darkness maze his them stymied though.

After stomping the opening groups of skeletons (2hd) and zombies (2hd) they sent the sorcerer's familiar (air mephit) ahead to "look for more undead". Well it found them a couple rooms further in, but violet fungi don't see in the dark and the mephit wasn't looking for them. So they walked straight into an "ambush" of 0 Int fungus. The TWF BS fighter sucked down con and str damage, hard.

They didn't find the secret passage in the dead end (note: mephits are sucky scouts) and I had to finagle some stone cairns with zombies in them in order for them to even look for the other secret passage. Then they got to play with ghasts. Three ghasts to four 6th level PCs is just about right, unless the sorcerer keeps sending his familiar to scout. Six ghasts at a time was pretty harsh, but they barely squeeked by. Three of the five summons for the sorcerer spent time paralysed, one for it's whole duration. Everyone got paralysed at least once and the sorcerer was at -9 before the ranger saved him.

They lost the last ghoul into the darkness maze and the mephit got lost trying to follow it. The ranger got it out again and the familiar is starting to get snarky with his master now. The only treasure they found was a 250gp topaz necklace (holy symbol of The Shining One, not magic), they missed clues about rotted cotton and silk uniforms, steel chainmail rusted to uselessness, and a tabard with an old old Empire rank insignia on it.

Low on magic, wounded, lacking divine casting, and afraid of a darkness maze they may return to town. Or they may not. But if they insist on standing around and trading full attacks with the wights beyond the maze it gonna be a lot worse than than doing that with the ghasts. 1d4+1 rounds of paralysis is bad, level drain is bad.

[Telok]

Unable to deal with a simple darkened cave the party retreated. Since more than 12 hours had passed the violet fungi were reanimated as zombies. They were pretty much zero threat (one hit, 9 damage, no poison) but served their purpose of worrying the players with "strange unexplained phenomena". Having only known undead to be raised by necromancers they were unnerved by the possibility of spontaneous risings.

Out of the cave and on the way back to town the got to play in a lizard stampede. Five rounds of huge 7HD lizards running past, no real threat except for the warblade trying to ride and tame one. He wasn't doing too badly at the riding until that sucker rolled over on him and the +19 grapple modifier came into play. After a bite and a couple of tramples the excitement moved on and a heal check was made to stabilize the warblade.

A brief chat with ol' Geb on the way back, he warned them to watch out for lizard stampedes. Plus, since he's pretty deaf and several people were talking at the same time, I (and therefore he) misheard something about "Adventuring for Dummies". So ol' Geb who lives right next to a major caravan route is going to be telling all the caravan masters about the group of heroes calling themselves the Adventuring Dummies.

Back in town the local healer (ex-noble, non-combatant, L7 priest of TSO) patched them up , healed the poison damage, and gave them her entire stock of potions (5 cure light, 1 lesser restoration, 1 delay poison). In gratitude she got the gold and topaz necklace which is a TSO holy symbol. There was consultation about unnatural cold, necromantic seeps, and magical darkness but no definite answers. They waited two days for a caravan to arrive with another player (cleric of Sif Muna, a good friend and a level head) and bought 100' of giant spider silk rope and a steel breastplate at double price. Rations and heavy clothing followed before they set out for the dungeon.

A pair of zombie giant lizards was near the door, trounced but a couple of good bites on the fighter. The "maze" of supernatural darkness was abated by a Daylight spell (1 in 20 chance each minute for it to negate the light, never made the roll but kept people nervous). The ranger made a good map, which was a new tactic for the guys and one I hope they learn from.

Then they met the wights. It was a short and crooked corridor (5' x 5', 15' to/from the bend) with a 25' x 25' room covered in frost and ice. Wights have +9 to listen and +16 to move silently. Impatient people pushed the cleric in and he sucked down a negative level. In the ensuing fracas the cleric was dragged away from the vile undead while the warblade and the ranger's animal companion ate one and two more negative levels respectively. A celestial bison was summoned but the cleric bull rushed back to the front and turned the wights to dust.

The only "loot" here was a piercing crystal (psionic, one use, red crystal rod, dispels magic barriers up to CL30) encased in the ice on one wall. It was "dug out" by the sorcerer using handle animal to get the bison to attack the covering of ice. Which did enough damage to break it. Slapping ensued, in and out of character.

After that we had a brief bit where the sorcerer almost lost his familiar down a bottomless chasm with a strong down-draft in it. The sorcerer almost got thrown into the same chasm when he walked ahead of everyone and one of the last two wights (and the escaped ghast) almost threw him in. The cleric turned the undead again and arrows did the rest. It was even colder down here, 0 Fahrenheit or -17ish Celsius, and the floor was getting icy in patches.

Finally our intrepid, if a bit cold, heroes came to the failing but still permanent Wall of Force. Since they buggered the planned way in I decided that any attempt to pass through worked on a 1 in 20, on a 2 they got part way through before it snapped back (d100 to see how far through, <=50% and they didn't make it through but took 1d6+1 damage per 10% for trying, >50% and they were through but still took 1d6+1 damage per 10%). When the fighter (no magic beyond the Cobra amulet) got through on the first try... Let's just say that both wraiths hit, one was a critical. A couple minutes later the cleric slipped through, almost (missed by 1!) lost another level, destroyed one and turned the other. Five rounds more for the sorcerer to slip through (because the surviving wraith had been an Empire Mage in life and was hiding around a corner with a readied action). Another celestial bison informed them that wraiths have a fear aura which panics animals. Finally the cleric girded his loins and went around the corner to use his last turning attempt just as the ranger (with the ghost touch sword, natch) took 30 damage squeaking through the barrier.

The sorcerer lusted for magic items and got an unidentified halberd and amulet (Flame Halberd, Periapt of Health and Wound Closure). The ranger took the time to search, netting steel plate, steel swords and daggers, 500gp, 300sp, and a ex-scroll of two Permanency spells that became a last days diary. The scroll is 150 years old and rather brittle, they don't know what's on it yet, nor that it's worth about 3500+ gold to the right people.

It is the 6th of May. We have 4 temporary negative levels that need to be saved against tomorrow, one dead comrade with nowhere near 5kgp in diamonds much less a 9th level cleric, and they are still at the bottom of the pit. But it's a little warmer now, just a couple of degrees below freezing.

[Telok]

Ok, they spent way more time in that cold pit than I thought.

Any ways; ranger, twin sister of the fighter (the kid's 18 and it's her first real RPG experience, I'll let it slide once), nuclear sorcerer, and a PETA warblade. Some people's characters are evolving in interesting directions. But they took the bait hint and are going in the correct direction. I had to NPC the cleric so he developed a severe case of narcolepsy.

The ranger and cleric both burned points of piety and made level checks (one success, one fail) to Consecrate the death chamber. Nobody ever seemed to think about making Kn:Religion checks, they just did stuff. Then it was slow slow searching all the way back out. They did find the last secret burial chamber of a priest, but failed to exhume the treasure after defeating his wraith. The body of the fallen fighter was left in the death chamber and the sorcerer lost another mephit, this one to Con drain. Since I has forgotten about wraith victims rising in 1d4 rounds I had decided on them rising in 24 hours. Now, the body of the air mephit was taken out of the Dark Spiral Pit and "thrown to the winds". Since it was small, had a 5' wing span, and weighed only one pound I said that it wafted off on a breeze. About 12 hours later it did/will become something undead, I just haven't decided what it will become. However the sorcerer has become aware that I wasn't kidding when I said that familiars are unionised. When he tried to call up his next one he got a pot-bellied ash mephit with a baseball cap and a clipboard, gave him some grief and made him fill out a few forms to get the next normal air mephit familiar. Pity he didn't read the forms or anything, if he loses this familiar too soon "Da Boss" is going to make some demands of him and change a spell or two on his known list.

Hung around Mertis a few days, picked up the replacement TWF bastard sword fighter (also has rapid shot and precise shot, the fallout of giving fighters a bonus feat every level is interesting so far) and joined a caravan going south to Almaria. Four days and sixty miles later our heroes leave the caravan for the Tower of the Magi. They could have walked there in two days.

At the tower the sorcerer almost went on a wall licking frenzy until the history of lead based paints and why they are no longer used in the USA was explained to him. This was because during the directions for getting around in the tower (spiel by the gate guards)there was a line about not licking the walls. The tower is white because it has an inch of lead plating on the exterior and interior sides of the exterior wall, and another inch on the exterior of the interior wall. Once the wall licking was averted (I still have trouble believing that) they went all kids-in-a-candy-store. They sold the Cobra Amulet, identified the Flame Halberd and Periapt of Health and Wound Closure, bought a bunch of potions and a pair of Boots of Agile Leaping and a wand of Cure Moderate. Set up an endowment for the nice priestess in Mertis for potion making apparatus and supplies (2900 gp!), got a bit of history (and 5000 gp) from Linda one of the high magi of the Triad in exchange for the historical scroll the ranger found. Talked with X, the other resident Triad member) about anvils, fried chicken, magic weapons, and enchanted riding lizards. Talked with a disillusioned graduating apprentice about the demon in one of the magic laboratories, got a letter for Solberg (the missing member of the Triad) and directions to the directions to his hiding place.

Eventually everyone got a decent night's sleep and a hot bath. The ranger worships Nemelex and hit the 10,000 gp sacrifice mark (the small, throwing, gnome bane, gnome hooked hammer finally got used for it's intended purpose) and was "rewarded" with a Deck of War set of magic cards. The warblade entered into the worship of Xom, which is going to be fun for me. Then they went out to the big summoning spot a few miles north of the tower and detected for magic and dark alignment where a Gate spell had been used to call forth a demon lord and were suitably impressed (he's bound somewhere in the tower but they haven't figured that out yet).

It is now May 15th, the party has wandered around in the tunnels east of the Tower of the Magi for a few hours and beat up three ogres (and tamed a boa constricter that only obeys commands in Giant speak). Next week they will find the directions to Solberg's tower, if they return to the Tower of the Magi I'll have to point them towards the local ogre cave because they need to level to 7 before going past Formello and I'd like for them to get the Tome of Stone random spellcasting book in the treasure there. I still can't believe they sold off the Cobra Amulet but kept the Periapt.

[Telok]

I'm just going to have to accept that these people have an issue with the concept of clues. They almost seem relieved at the appearance of a railroad track.

I ditched the whole concept of exploring a small maze of tunnels south and east of the Tower of Magi, a couple of Survival rolls to avoid getting lost and they got to the directions to Solberg's Tower. It was a spike of black granite, forty feet long and twelve feet across at the base, sticking out of the wall. Now Solberg is a powerful mage and he wants to leave a message for other magic users (the problems here are not going to be solved by just beating them with swords) so the spike has a Magic Mouth spell on it that speaks whenever anyone nearby visibly casts a spell.

"Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? <knock knock> Oh, there it goes. Ah, this is Solberg here. My tower is in a cave on the south side of the river a bit west of Formello. If you don't want to cross the lava there is a secret passage in the north wall."

Which is about twice as long a message as Magic Mouth normally has, but Solberg has Limited Wish. They listened to this message three times, and one player (the youngest and least experienced, but in this case the smartest) wrote down some of it. They immediately latched on to the secret passage in the north wall bit and decided that there must be some sort of teleporter nearby that would take them straight to Solberg. Once I reminded them that they were in a north/south tunnel and there was no "north wall" to search here the decision was made to search the north end of the tunnel. Six miles later the tunnel ended in a swampy bit where two giant frogs tried to eat them. The ranger's animal companion died, the sorcerer's familiar nearly died, and they spent three days smoking 200 lbs of frog meat and searching a mess of mud and rotting vegetation for a magic door that didn't exist.

A week later they got out of the tunnels and into a swamp some thirty miles east of Mertis. Just in time for the second annual giant lizard rodeo. Riding giant lizards, roping and tying medium sized lizards, and rodeo clowning (think bull fighting without a cloak or weapons). The fighter barely won the first event, tied the second, and won the last event by wearing plate armor and still getting bitten twice. The prize was a night of free mushroom beer and a little bit of fame.

On the way north to Formello they stopped by "their" fort, the little ruined post that was cleared in the first week of the campaign. I've decided on an encounter scheme for that ruin, every other time they stop there will be an encounter until they manage to repair and fully man (about 25 full time people) the place. So this time they got a giant slug. Now giant slugs were in AD&D but never got updated to 3.5, and I recall originally reading about one in a Conan book some 20+ years ago. 12hd vermin, 114 hp, DR 10/-, DR 20/piercing, energy resist 30/electric-positive-negative, dislikes 10+ lbs of salt or soap, moves 25' as a move action on a slime trail or as a standard action off a slime trail, AC 16 and 80% fortification, frikken huge (long 10' x 40'), and it always attacked with the Awesome Blow ability. They could have lured it outside the walls and killed it with arrows, if they had enough arrows. Electricity, salt, or soap in large enough quantity would drive it off.

They did one point of damage with one of the ranger's arrows before they ran away. The sorcerer summoned four badgers imbued with Combust spells, no effect. Lesser Orb of Acid, no effect. Alchemical fire and acid, no effect. Air mephit familiar melee had an effect, the familiar died. The fighter lost 2/3 of her hp in two hits. It was seriously embarrassing for them to be routed by something that can only move 25 feet at a time and usually only attack every other round. They won't get a rematch since they told Captain Johnson at Fort Dunvo about it, he'll get his mage to whip up some alchemical spark flasks and take a bunch of guys with long spears to kill it. The sorcerer's next familiar is not going to obey commands, I'll have to run it as an NPC.

Eventually they got to the river by Formello. There was a bit of arguing about whether to go east or west, and if they wanted to be in the north or south bank of the river. Once they understood that there were no banks, just cave walls, they crossed to the north side and searched for magic teleport secret passage things again. I had thought that I made it clear that this spot was a camping stop for caravans, what with the old camp fire rings and piles of giant lizard poop, but apparently I was too oblique. Then they avoided the town and ventured westward into the caverns that are marked on their maps with "Nephilim Lands", which means that there is a very heavy presence of hostile gnoll tribesmen. One friendly patrol of Exile army soldiers later they hiked fifteen miles back to town.

They skipped the bar, the market, the temple, the place advertising adventurer training, and city hall. Instead they bee-lined to the library and talked to Miles, the local wizard. Since Miles hadn't seen Solberg since he graduated from the Tower of the Magi, and didn't know of any local lava rivers/lakes, he directed them to Motrax.

It is now May 29th and the party is in Formello. We have social upheaval with the local landlords abusing the tenant farmers, a new mayor missing the keys to the treasury (taken in the Nephil raid that killed the old mayor who was investigating land law abuses), and some not insignificant plots among the landlords to grab more political power. Plus I don't think that they realize that Motrax is a dragon.

[Telok]

So today we had the warblade, sorcerer, and cleric of Sif Muna. They piddled around in Formello for a night and a day before heading north to meet Motrax. G, who played the cleric, made his real life spot check and saw the 6"x6" picture of a Chinese style six legged dragon that I had drawn on the back of my notepad, it's labelled "Motrax" in inch high letters. The other two failed to see it. What's even worse is that picture had been on the back of my main notepad for more than a month now. The first real 'who is Motrax?' discussion finally happened two days out of Formello at the signpost that says "This way to the Lair of Motrax ->"

On the road to Motrax the ranger (I NPC the ranger as a non-combatant because without her these guys would be getting lost and missing secret doors every day) spotted six fresh shallow graves along the road. Reading the wooded memorial marker (and digging them up) informed the party that these were the graves of Jim and Bob of the Scalding Spears of Shoredan adventuring group and four dead, decapitated, staked, holy-wafer-in-the-mouthed ghouls. Jim and Bob also had holy wafers in their mouths because they had been buried with full rites so that they wouldn't rise from their graves. The cleric burned and re-buried all of them any ways.

A couple of hours of tracking up a side tunnel later and we were at the entrance to the Ancient Crypt, it's less than 50 years old but that's what it's called. The entire outer wall had been enchanted with Dispel Magic, at about 15,000 gp per ten feet (that's 7,500 silver coins and 7,500 in gold value less the value of the two special ingredients and the dc22 craft check), requiring any spell affecting the outer wall to be CL 11 or higher. This explains why there is "only" 38,660 in magic treasure value and 1500 in money inside. Anyhoo they found Gooley (human cleric of Zin) and Yong-Mi (elf rogue/PrC archer/poisoner) camped outside, these two are what's left of the Scalding Spears of Shoredan. They were stumped by not being able to find a door or affect the walls with magic (they are both level 6). So the warblade used his Dimension Stride boots (MIC 94) to pop inside while everyone else looked for a door. Did you know that you can drop zombies about 15 feet with almost no chance of hurting them? Of course the Tumble 15 check for them to land on their feet is almost impossible for them, but that just makes it fun.

Since a level 6 warblade with a flaming halberd can easily handle five 3HD zombies the five foot thick slab of stone that doubled as a door was eventually opened (there's a huge stone wheel inside and another outside behind a large boulder, Str dc24). This dungeon is a huge open space about 200 feet from top to bottom with nine gigantic stalagmites rising from the depths. The tops of the stalagmites have been flattened off leaving rough circles about 40' across. There are 65' long stone bridges (Stone Shape spell) connecting the platforms. The eight exterior platforms meet the sides of the cavern, only the central platform is totally free standing. The ground, some 80 feet below, is covered more than ten feet deep in broken and jagged rocks. Gooley cast Augury and decided not to go in with the PCs, Yong-Mi complained about not having magic arrows since regular arrows and poisons don't do much to many undead.

The party entered at the south-central platform. All of the south platforms are zombie paratrooper (are they still paratroopers if they don't have chutes?) encounters. After the first one they looked up and simply shot arrows, the zombie's instructions only covered people entering the platform. The middle three platforms were 3 HD humanoid skeletons that climbed up from the far sides when they heard people on the platforms, these guys tried to bull rush people off. Counter Charge (ToB, Setting Sun) is hilariously effective on minions. The center-east platform had a chimera skeleton with Ice Fang (30kgp magic dagger/wand/amulet) behind a door, one of the skellies had orders to open the door and the chimera skeleton would then attack anything alive. It did kill the cleric. Too many HD to be turned easily and the other two assumed that the cleric could fight it solo. It might have been true too except that he forgot to cast on the defensive and sucked down two full attack sequences from it, Ice Fang added +1d8 cold damage to every hit too. He didn't have enough piety to avoid death but his "allies" finally got off their butts an destroyed it easily. Post looting, the bodies were simply dumped off the edge.

The north-eastern corner had a morgue with 20 bodies awaiting animation and 3 wights listening from behind the door. The sorcerer nuked and summoned the heck out of them, the warblade was off dealing with more harmless skeletons. They found a Piercing Crystal on one body and the warblade "tested" it by poking the sorcerer... Now these (6500 gp) crystals are designed to dispel magical walls and wards by hitting the target magic with the crystal. So he did exactly the correct thing to activate the crystal and Mage Armor is a force effect barrier... They don't realize that they now have a non-magical deep crystal pokey worth about 300gp. There were also twenty or thirty minutes used up in dragging corpses to the central platform and tossing them off into the darkness below.

The north-west corner had three ghasts and a wight waiting in ambush behind false walls. The wight was nuked down, a ghast was flung out into the pit, and a celestial bison destroyed the other two ghasts. They found the six Arrows of Light (solid silver arrows fletched with swan feathers, magical to the tune of Holy and Bane: Undead) plus a Str+3 bow and some gold on a starved to death adventurer across a small lava flow. A decision was then made to pile all the loot out by the exit before tackling the center-north platform.

Four ghasts and the cleric-5 mummy were waiting for them, our heroes are not exactly stealthy and have been waving lights around in the big dark quiet place. The mummy wears full plate (ac 28, touch 10) and starts with 4 inflict light wounds, 3 death knells, and 2 protection from energy (fire) spells prepared. Plus he has a 6 pound solid silver holy symbol (skull, Yemmy-something the undeath god) and 4 sapphires on him. The ghasts were pretty ineffective due to bad rolls on my part and another one got Counter Charged off the cliffs. But the mummy's fear aura neutralized the two summoned bison and the Protection From Energy stopped the last Combust and some Flame Halberd touch attacks. The sorcerer, out of spells again, threw one acid flask for the only damage anyone did to the mummy and then ran away with two hit points left. This mummy hits like a truck, +14, 1d6+10, power attack and cleave. The warblade ran off with only 1/3rd of his hit points. They were playing an impromptu hit-and-run on the mummy from two sides so it decided to run off the the morgue and fetch backup and/or some bodies to play with. This is not a happy necromancer now, someone stole his bodies.

The two doofs got out with the current loot and closed the door, the sorcerer succumbed to the Mummy Rot (down but not dead yet). The mummy can open it but he doesn't know what's on the other side. We won't be gaming next week (holiday and I'm out of town) so I'll pick this back up probably on September 9th or so.

It's June 1st in game, we have sick and wounded people on one side of the door and an angry mummy cleric on the other side.