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d20zineIssue 5, June/July 2003
Chris DesRuisseau (order #2353113) 129.162.1.32
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Random Rolls and Off Tangen Thoughts ..............................................by Steven Creech, Executive Chairman
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Raves and Rants ....................................................................................by You, or Someone Like You
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15 Questions for Troll Lord Games ......................................................by Joe G. Kushner
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Express Lane: Too Many Items .............................................................by Rob Wojczyk
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Ben Hiar ...............................................................................................by John Wommer
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Alta - A Fantasy World Proposal ..........................................................by Peter E. Aperlo
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E-Tools, Version 1.2: The Revision ......................................................by Glenn Dean
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From the Annals of Ancient Lore: Sirensong .........................................by Terry O’Brien
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Superheroes in the d20 World: an Introspective Look ...........................by John Grigsby
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Grimoire Arcana: Celestial Bindings .....................................................by Timothy Crumrine
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Valley of the Dwelves ............................................................................by Bret Boyd
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Easily Defeated ......................................................................................by Robert M. Adams
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Oathbound: Companions for your Campaign ..............................................by James Wilbur
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Humble Beginnings: A PbeM Tale ................................................................by Rob Wojczyk
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Grimoire Arcana: Temple Monk ....................................................................
by Timothy Grumrine
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e Miniatures Corner .....................................................................................by Steven Creech
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Sorcerous Blood: Prestige Classes ..................................................................by Duane Nutley
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Celtic Heroes and Legendary Figures ............................................. 5
Babylon 5 Fan Fiction ..................................................................... 22
Legendary Classes for Legendary Characters ................................. 86
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From the Fast Lane .................................................................................by Steven Creech
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e-Publishers Guide ........................................................................by Steven Creech
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Midnight: A Look at the Land of Shadow ......................................by Steven Creech
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From Stone to Steel .......................................................................by Steven Creech
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Scourge of Worlds: The DVD .......................................................by Steven Creech
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Executive Chairman:Steven Creech
Contributing Authors: Jon Acheson, Robert M. Adams, Peter E. Aperlo, Richard Bax Jr., Bruce Boughner, Bret Boyd, Dave Chua, Steven Creech, Timothy Crumrine, Kevin Curow, Glenn Dean, Darrin Drader, John Grigsby, Derek Johnston, Paul W. King, Joe G. Kushner, Herman Lau, Jamie Lawson, Micheal Mattei, Joe Medina, Scott Moore, Duane Nutley, Terry O’Brien, F. Wesley Schneider, Bernard Visser, Michael Webster, J. Whiting, James Wilbur, Rob Wojczyk, and John Wommer
Cover Art: Michael Loh
Editors: Steven Creech, Andrew Garbade, Chris Sims and Wade Nudson
Graphic Layout: Jeffrey Fuller
d20zine
“Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons® Player’s Handbook, ird Edition, and the Psionics Handbook, published by Wizards of the Coast®
“Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, and are used with Permission.”
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 3.0. A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com
Chris DesRuisseau (order #2353113) 129.162.1.32
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RANDOM ROLLS AND OFF TANGENT THOUGHTSWelcome to the Summer issue of d20Zine! Getting this issue out took a little more time than normal largely due to real life insert-
ing itself into my priorities (a long list, which I won’t go into). is issue is filled with a lot of great material. We’ve got a brand new exclusive cover by artist Michael Loh, whose work continues to blow me away. We have short fiction based on the Babylon 5 universe, legendary classes, Celtic characters, product reviews galore, and some great articles by fantastic writers.
Do you realize just how truly massive the role-playing game market is? Granted, the d20 system owns a significant percentage of that market, but there is still a lot of quality merchandise that doesn’t rely on that particular system. A visit to RPGNOw.com illus-trates this difference quite well when you take the time to browse through the multitude of pdf titles (see RPGNow’s semi-monthly e-magazine Downloader Monthly for a taste). ere are games for the FUZION system, the FUDGE system, Decipher has its CODA system (which is basically d20-Lite), and other games even develop their own internal system based on any number of dice combina-tions. Remember during the days of 2nd edition Dungeons & Dragons® there was a game system based on a d30 put out by, I believe, a company named e Armoury? While d20 is clearly the top dog in the genre, there are certainly other alternatives that aren’t inferior in any way, just different.
For those of you who appreciate humor and have an appreciation for the publishing industry, take a few minutes to download Fan-tasy Flight Games’ parody video Lord of the Games. It consists of two parts and does require a broadband connection due to their size (44 meg and 47 meg, respectively), but it is likely the funniest thing you’ve seen in a long while. ere are very visible spoofs of e Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but there are also some very subtle things that anyone involved in the actual RPG publishing business will find to be hysterical. Trust me when I say there are several ‘insider’ jokes.
e quality of d20 products continues to improve with each passing month and each passing release. Companies that once strug-gled to get it right are doing better, while companies that have always performed well are still publishing top-notch stuff. Some of the better stuff to be released lately has been:
Dark Inheritance (from Mythic Dreams Studios), a d20 Modern® campaign sourcebook that combines elements of horror and fantasy and blends it nicely into a modern day setting. It is refreshing, original and has truly captured my attention (and imagination) while reading it.
Urban Arcana (from Wizards of the Coast), a d20 Modern® campaign setting that brings fantasy right smack into the modern world. Now d20 Modern players can still play dwarves and elves if they want to. is is a book that is filled with potential. Now if only Wizards would put it into the d20 Modern SRD so designers could have fun with it.
Midnight (from Fantasy Flight Games), a campaign setting where evil rules and players are among the few heroes left to oppose it. is one has all of the best elements of a fantasy campaign and is a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded genre.
From Stone to Steel (from MonkeyGod Enterprises), a hardcover supplement that puts a historical perspective on weapons and armor. Simply put, this book is incredible. It’s rare when a book makes me go “Wow” within the first few minutes of examining it. is is one of those books.
Of course, there are certain books due for release in the next couple of months that I am looking forward to reading. On everyone’s minds are the new 3.5 edition core rulebooks from Wizards of the Coast followed closely by Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed. Person-ally, I am quite anxious to see Cry Havoc (a mass combat book from Malhavoc Press), Fields of Blood (another mass combat book from Eden Studios), Babylon 5 Role-Playing Game (Mongoose Publishing), Stargate SG-1 Role-Playing Game (Alderac Entertainment Group), and Testament (Green Ronin).
e past few months and the next several are proving to be quite a ride for my career in the RPG industry. Not only have I accepted the position of Director of Marketing and Media Relations with Bastion Press, but also this summer will see the publication of no less than four books that I had a hand in crafting. Into the Green (Bastion Press) is due to be released any day now followed by Torn Asunder: Critical Hits (Bastion Press) on July 14th. Oathbound: Arena (Bastion Press) will likely be out around the time of Gen Con and finally, Dweomercraft: Familiars (E.N. Publishing) will see the light of day within the next month or so. Of all, I am most excited about Torn Asunder because I had a huge hand in determining the artwork for the first time. Many folks have lamented the decision by Bastion to go black & white, but I have to say that they will be astonished at the artwork in this book. An artist by the name of Phillip James has produced some truly fantastic images along with some by RB Hall. Stop by the Bastion Press booth at Gen Con and take a look for yourself if you don’t happen to see the book before then. I think you will agree it is some of Bastion’s best art to date.
If you haven’t seen the press release, probably around October you will see the first book that Kevin and I have written for Mystic Eye Games called Dark Walkers. is one has been very exciting to write because we get to cut loose a little and show you, the reader, how to have fun playing an evil character. ink of it as a kind of Book of Vile Darkness for player characters. Even though it is a book designed for e Hunt: Rise of Evil campaign world, the information in the book will work in just about any setting, including modern. At the moment, we are still writing it, but with luck should finish by the end of June (yes, we’re a little behind the deadline). November will also see the release of another project from Bastion Press that many folks have been chomping at the bit to have. Right now, it’s a secret project but if you ask us at Gen Con, we might be persuaded to tell… Of course, I have my hands in other projects and more than a few offers so, come September’s issue, I will likely have more news to fill you in on.
- Steve Creech, d20Zine! Publisher and Editor-In-Chief
Chris DesRuisseau (order #2353113) 129.162.1.32
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CELTIC HEROES AND LEGENDARY FIGURESEdited by Chris Sims
Fergus Fitz Walter, Lord High Steward of the Realm, male half-elf Brd5/Drd9/Rgr6: CR 20; ECL 8; Medium-size Humanoid (half-elf ); HD 5d6+10 plus 6d10+12 plus 9d8+18; hp 118; Init +5; Spd 30ft.; AC 18 (+5 leather, +1 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 17; Atk +21/+16/+11 melee (1d6+5 plus 1d6 cold/crit 18-20, +4 frost scimitar) or +19/+14/+9 melee (1d4+4/crit 17-20, +3 keen silver dagger) or +18/+13/+8 melee (1d6+3, flesh to stone staff) or +19/+14/+9 ranged (1d4+4/crit 17-20, +3 keen silver dagger); SA Favored Enemies; SQ bardic, druidic, and half-elven traits; AL NG; SV Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +18; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 13. Height 5 ft. 6 in. Weight 170 lb.
Skills and Feats: Animal Empathy +6, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +9, Handle Animal +8, Heal +9, Hide +5, Intuit Direction +9, Jump +3, Knowledge (history) +11, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +11, Knowledge (nature) +18, Listen +12, Move Silently +6, Perform (harp/lyre) +9, Perform (oratory) +9, Scry +5, Search +13, Sense Motive +12, Spot +11, Swim +4, Use Magic Device +9, Use Rope +6, Wilderness Lore +14; Alertness, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Track, Weapon Focus (scimitar).
Special Attacks: Favored Enemies (Ex): +2 vs. Dragons, +1 vs. Reptilian Humanoids.
Special Qualities: Bardic Music: Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Courage, Suggestion. Bardic Knowledge +8. Druidic Traits: Animal Companion (Uneek), Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, Trackless Step, Resist Nature’s Lure, Wild Shape (small, medium, or large; 3/day), Venom Immunity. Half-elven Traits: Immune to sleep spells, +2 saving throw bonus against Enchantment, Low-light Vision, +1 racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
Bard Spells per Day: 6/5/3 (bonus 1st level spell for 13 Cha); Base DC 11+spell level.
Druid Spells per Day: 6/5/5/4/3/1 (bonus 0/1/1/1/1 for 18 Wis); Base DC 14+spell level.
Ranger Spells per Day: 2 (bonus 1st level spell for 18 Wis); Base DC 15.
Possessions:+4 frost scimitar , +3 keen silver daggers (3), +5 leather armor, boots of elvenkind, cloak of elvenkind, gloves of swimming and climbing, rope of climbing, rope of entanglement, ring of animal friendship, ring of warmth, vestments of faith, backpack, harp/lyre, Blar-ney Stone*, two flesh to stone staves* (29 and 38 charges remaining). * See New Magic Items below.
Languages: Common, Draconic, Druidic, Elven, Sylvan, +1 (Due to
Fergus’ high Int, the GM may select an additional bonus language suitable to their campaign world, such as a local language spoken by a Celtic-based culture in their world, a real-world based language [see Languages in Celtic Campaigns, below], or any other non-restricted language specified in the PHB, such as Terran).
Uneek: Viper, Tiny: CR -; Tiny animal; HD 1/4d8; hp 1: Init +3 (Dex); Spd 15ft., climb 15ft., swim 15ft.; AC 17; Atk +5 melee (poison, bite); Face/Reach 2-1/2ft. by 2-1/2ft./0ft.; SA Poison; SQ Scent; AL N; SV Fort+2, Ref +5, Will +1; Str 6, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 1; Wis 12, Cha 2.
Skills and Feats: Listen +8, Spot +8; Weapon Fi-nesse (bite).
Poison (Ex): Initial and secondary damage: 1d6 Constitution. DC 11.
Note: Although Fergus is definitely a Celtic/Irish/Scottish-influenced character, the specifics of his country (herein referred to as “the Realm”), it’s current ruler-ship, and it’s current form of government are left purposely vague so the character, his background, and the related plot hooks can be easily in-corporated into any campaign world.
BackgroundMany years ago, two
families ruled over the Realm jointly. e royal line of kings was descended from one, while the noble line of stewards was of the other. e stewards served the kings faithfully. Acting as much more than just seneschals, the stewards took the protection and well-being of the country and its people every bit as seriously as the king himself. Although one would expect a power struggle to eventually engulf two such powerful families within the same country, the families were very close, occasionally even resulting in a marriage between the two.
After several peaceful and prosperous centuries, the kingdom fell under attack. After a long and bitter war, the king and the stew-ards were deposed and a new ruler assumed control. e king was executed, as were several of the stewards, as well as members of both families. Although the new ruler tried to extinguish any possible challenge to his authority, rumors persisted that several members of the royal and steward families escaped and went into hiding, waiting for the opportunity to rise up and take back their kingdom when the
In March, the d20 Magazine Rack ran a contest that paid homage to the St. Patrick’s Day holiday by having contestants create an
NPC fitting of Celtic, Irish, or Scottish descent. While only receiving two entries for this contest, it was evident that a lot of thought time and effort went into them and therefore, the contest was declared a tie for the first time in the history of the website. Here are those entries and their respective authors.
Fergus Fitz Walter, Lord High Steward of the Realmby Scott Moore ([email protected])Section 15: Fergus Fitz Walter, Lord High Steward of the Realm
Copyright 2003, Scott Moore RAVES AND RANTS
Have something to say about our articles or content in past issues? Drop us an email at [email protected] with “d20Zine feedback” in the subject header and let us know what you think. Your letters will be posted in this column in the next issue of d20Zine!.
Hi there!!!
I love the zine and the new opening artwork looks excellent. e article on the star trek card game was very informative. It was interesting to see how the rules had changed/clarified from when the game first came out.
Keep up the good work.
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time was right. For over 200 years, citizens of the Realm watched the prosper-
ity of their country dwindle away, as the new ruling family was more concerned with increasing their wealth and power than attending to the needs of the people and their country. Stories of the kings and stewards of old assumed legendary proportions, as the people looked to their rich history for inspiration and a sense of culture during this troubled time.
Fergus was a member of an adventuring party that started to gain notoriety throughout the Realm, as the people were eager to hear the exciting stories of their exploits. After becoming nearly the equivalent of a national hero, Fergus shocked the nation by assum-ing the title of Lord High Steward of the Realm. Previously unbe-knownst to all but his closest allies, Fergus was actually descended from the noble line of stewards that once ruled the Realm. His public claim to the title served to kindle a fire of nationalistic pride in the people who had grown weary of the current leadership. When word reached the Realm’s current ruling family, they saw Fergus’ claim as a challenge to their authority and sent a group of their finest soldiers to bring Fergus in. ey never returned, but news began to spread about the circle of standing stones around Fergus’s grove. e ruler sent another group after Fergus, this time a cell of assassins, but they failed to return as well. And news spread of even more standing stones around Fergus’ grove….
Although Fergus has made no political move against the current leadership, his very claim of the noble title has inspired as much uneasiness in the current ruling family as it has pride in the people of the Realm. At this point, the ruler may be too scared to attempt another move against Fergus, as his popularity amongst the citizens continues to grow. Can it be only a matter of time before the true king returns and reclaims the throne with the help of Fergus and the sup-port of the people?
CharacteristicsAlthough appearing perfectly human, Fergus is actually half-el-
ven. He has a round, boyish face, curly red hair, green eyes, and an ex-tremely friendly, warm, and jovial demeanor. On the occasions when Fergus’ leaves his grove and heads into town, children in the streets love to follow him and ask him to play music for them during the day almost as much as their parents ask him to tell stories or recite poetry in the taverns at night. He is always happy to oblige them.
Uneek’s StoryMany years ago, a legendary saint named Patrick who had snakes
as a favored enemy, killed or expelled all the snakes from the Realm. Several years ago, Fergus and his friends were adventuring outside of the Realm, to the far south, were Fergus got his first glimpse of a real snake. Since he had never actually seen one before, Fergus was fascinated by the creature, befriended it, and brought it back with him to the Realm. He decided to name it Uneek, as a tribute to its special status within the Realm.
Fergus’ GroveFergus’ Grove is a 180-foot diameter circle of densely packed
mature hardwoods, consisting primarily of oak, located in a generally open area otherwise devoid of large trees. is can be an open plain, a hillside, a field, or whatever setting is most useful to your campaign. e only guideline is that is must be out of sight range of any popu-lated urban center.
A circle of eight large equally spaced standing stones surrounds the grove. ese standing stones are actually the last eight soldiers the current king sent to arrest Fergus. irty feet inside the outer perime-ter is a second circle of six standing stones (the first six soldiers). is circle is a little harder to see, as the trees obscure the view between the stones. ee are no trails or paths within the circumference of the grove, and thickets and briars cover the ground, making it extremely difficult to pass through the area.
At the geometric center of the grove lies Lia Fail (see New Magic Items, below). Due to the powerful magic radiated by this artifact, the ground cover for a two-foot radius around it has been altered. Anyone closely examining the ground cover may discover some four-leaf (as opposed to three-leaf ) clover (Spot DC 30). A small handful of these plants (20 or so) carried on a person grants a +1 bonus to all saving throws for 12 hours. is bonus is not cumulative for multiple handfuls, cannot be extended beyond the 12-hour window. In addi-tion, clover transplanted from this grove and grown elsewhere will not have any unusual properties (except for the extra leaf ).
Fergus keeps additional items hidden and buried throughout his grove including 20,000pp, a rod of rulership (which he keeps in hopes of presenting to the true king of the realm someday), and two each of the following potions: cure moderate wounds, darkvision, endurance, fly, haste, hiding, speak with animals, swimming, and water breathing.
Plot HooksFergus believes the time is right for the true royalty of the Realm
to return, but he doesn’t know who they might be. Since the takeover of the Realm, the stewards have been unable to find surviving mem-bers of the old royal family. Fergus could hire the player characters to retrieve some lost ancient genealogical texts, in hopes of tracing the bloodline. ey could also help Fergus defend his grove against another wave of attacks from the current ruler. It is also possible that one or more members of the player character’s party may actually be of the ancient royal bloodline, unbeknownst to the character! Languages in Celtic Campaigns
Real-world based Celtic languages are split into three families: Continental Gaulish (now considered dead), Brythonic, and Giodelic. e Brythonic family includes the various Breton, Cornish (consid-ered dead), and Welsh languages. e Giodelic family includes the now dead medieval languages of Old and Middle Irish, as well as the more modern Manx (also considered dead) and Scottish and Irish variations of Gaelic.
For campaigns based on a Celtic culture, a GM may opt to offer any of these as possible languages. In more mixed-culture settings, where characters are likely to encounter many drastically different cultures over the course of a campaign, the GM may decide to offer “Celtic” itself as the base language for this culture rather than get overly granular with the variations. As a third option, allowing some variation in Celtic tongues, but without making all of these languages available as spoken languages, the GM may consider allowing just the families themselves (Gaulish, Brythonic, and Giodelic) as language options, without breaking them down any further.
New Magic ItemsBlarney Stone: is artifact is a baseball-sized chunk of rock that
broke off of Lia Fail (see below) many years ago. While not diminish-ing the power of its parent artifact, the Blarney Stone possesses several limited powers of its own. To activate these powers, the rock must be
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touched to a person’s skin. Since Fergus’ constantly wears his gloves of swimming and climbing and cannot simply touch the rock to activate its powers, he has taken to removing it from his pocket and kissing it “for luck”. e Stone grants +1 on all saving throws and skill checks for a number of rounds equal to the Charisma score of the person who touches it with bare skin.
Lia Fail: Lia Fail, also known by the names Stone of Destiny, Stone of Coronation, Saxum Fatale, and Simon Pure, is an ancient artifact that had been in the possession of the Realm’s original royal family for centuries, even before they assumed the mantle of kingship. It appears to be a worn and rather unremarkable sandstone block, approximately 26” x 16” x 11” and weighing 336 pounds. According to tradition, an ancestor of the royal family had a divine vision one night while resting on the stone. e family has regarded the stone as a holy item ever since. When they assumed the monarchy of the Realm, the stone was fixed beneath the royal throne. It is said that the first time every new monarch sat upon the throne, the stone let out an ear-piercing shriek. Nearly 200 years ago, when the war within the Realm took a turn for the worst, the surviving steward family members took the stone with them into seclusion in hopes of returning it upon the restoration of the original monarchy. e stone is believed to have been lost, as no one knows what happened to it during the war. Fer-gus currently keeps the stone hidden in the center of his grove.
Persons standing or sitting over the stone gains a bonus to all saving throws equal to their Charisma modifier and a +1 bonus to all skill checks for as long as they are there and for a number of rounds equal to their Charisma score after leaving. A descendant of the royal line who sits upon it also permanently gains both the Leadership feat and a +6 bonus to Charisma, as well as an additional +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks—these latter bonuses only while seated or standing on the stone.
e first time a new true king of the royal family assumes the mantle of kingship while seated on the stone, it emits an ear-piercing shriek for two rounds. e shriek causes fear (Will save DC 25 each round to resist – a character failing one check is frightened, a character failing both is panicked) in all within 60 feet who wish ill upon the new king. ose friendly to the king who hear the shriek suffer no ad-verse effects, but instead gain a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls, saves, and checks for the duration and for a number of rounds afterwards equal to the new king’s Charisma modifier.
Staff of Flesh to Stone: A pair of these staves were created specifically for Fergus by a grateful wizard whose life he saved while their adventuring party was battling a horde of undead on the Isle of Wight. Each staff originally had 50 charges and functions as a +2 weapon in melee combat. On a successful hit, a charge is exhausted and forces the target to make a Fort save (DC 16) or be turned to stone, as per the spell flesh to stone. e two circles of standing stones at Fergus’ grove were created with these staves, as were many of the standing stones found across the Realm. Typically found singly or in
pairs, they mark the sites of some of Fergus’ greatest adventures.Caster Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Craft Staff, flesh to stone.Ceannaideach MacCallum was born on the shores of Loch Sten-
ness, while still a young man, his father was killed by Romans invad-
ing from Alba, his mother, ravaged and now a widow, threw herself into the Loch. Ceannaideach swore to destroy the bronze invaders. Becoming a tall strong warrior, he challenged and became chieftain of his clan at 22 and led his clan on a new path, as reavers. Moving into North Umbria, he began raiding the stock and granaries of the Albans loyal to Rome. As his raids became more daring and devastat-ing, squads, then files and troops were sent against him. As the forces against him became greater, Ceannaideach began to gather followers who hated the Romans as much as he did, his brother Guthorm be-came an accomplished warrior and sorcerer, he recruited Eachann, the witch of Loch Durnham and most recently he has received the advice of Brother Benedict, a priest of the White God, who has returned to his homeland after many year in the empire. But his staunchest ally is his mate, Aemilius, who captured his heart with her highland beauty and warrior skills. Ceannaideach MacCallum continues his raids into Alba, baffling and slaughtering Legionnaires, stealing cattle, sheep, and grain.
Ceannaideach MacCallum is tall for his race, over 6 feet tall and over 200 lbs. Massively muscled from years of wielding a sword, he is handsome and charismatic with wild blonde hair and a braided beard. He has tattooed his clan’s wode permanently to strike fear into the Romans.
Ceannaideach MacCallum, male human Ftr12/Rog5: CR 17; Size M (5 ft., 4 in. tall); HD 12d10 plus 5d6; hp 74; Init +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+2 Dex); Attack +15/+10/+5 melee, or +17/+12/+7 ranged; SV Fort +9, Ref +12, Will +6; AL NG; Str 17, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 16.
Languages Spoken: Cymric, Gaelic.Skills and Feats: Alchemy -1, Balance +10, Climb +4, Craft +11,
Forgery +5, Handle animal +12, Hide +7, Listen +1, Move silently +2, Perform +10, Ride +7, Search +5, Sense motive +8.5, Spot +1, Swim +6, Use magic device +9; Blind-fight, Combat reflexes, Deflect arrows, Improved critical (falchion), Improved unarmed strike, Lead-ership, Lightning reflexes, Point blank shot, Precise shot, Rapid shot, Shield proficiency, Track, Weapon finesse (strike, unarmed), Weapon focus (sword, great), Weapon focus (sword, short), Weapon special-ization (sword, great), Weapon specialization (sword, short).
Possessions: +2 leather armor, great kilt, +4 great sword, +2 shield, masterwork short sword, dagger (3), flint & steel, trews, boots, belt, baldric and scabbard, cloak, spears (5), drinking horn, flask of ale, masterwork forest kit, 100,000 gp.
Chariot and team overall HP 50, AC 5, ram 3d6, face 5x5 ft,
height 5 ft, crew 1, weight 300 lb.
Aemilius ni Ceannaideach was a child when her mother and sis-ters were taken south as Roman slaves, overlooked as a babe, she was raised by her uncle Seamus MacKiern who, never having had a wife or daughter, raised her as a boy. Her size and strength were not equal to a warrior’s task but she was quick, and nimble hands made her an excellent thief. Being a woman allowed her to beguile her way into areas she normally wouldn’t be allowed to pilfer at will, and the war-rior skills she does have assured her escape if necessary. On one such
Ceannaideach MacCallumby Bruce BoughnerSection 15: Ceannaideach MacCallum Copyright 2003, Bruce
Boughner
Aemilius ni CeannaideachWritten by Bruce BoughnerSection 15: Aemilius ni Ceannaideach Copyright 2003, Bruce
Boughner; Infiltrator, Copyright 2002 Mongoose Publish-ing
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sortie, she attempted to steal a strong box belonging to Ceannaideach MacCallum, who caught her. Struck by her bright red hair and soft features, MacCallum began to win her heart. Sharing Ceannaideach’s hatred of the Romans, Aemilius searches for clues to her mother’s whereabouts.
Aemilius ni Ceannaideach is slight of build, a true Highland beauty, red-haired, freckled and quick of smile and wit.
Aemilius ni Ceannaideach, female human Rog10/*Infiltrator3/Ftr5: CR 15; Size M (5 ft., 0 in. tall); HD 10d6 plus 5d10; hp 68; Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 13 (+3 Dex); Attack +15/+10/+5 melee, or +15/+10/+5 ranged; SV Fort +7, Ref +13, Will +8; AL CN; Str 16, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 12. *Rogue Prestige Class
Languages Spoken: Cymric, Gaelic.Skills and Feats: Agility +1, Balance +11, Climb +15, Disable
Device +10.5, Disguise +12, Escape Artist +12, Handle animal +9, Hide +8, Improved Trap Evasion, Intuit direction +15, Jump +17, Knowledge (arcana) +3, Listen +7, Move silently +12.5, Pick pocket +14, Profession +9.5, Ride +7, Spot +2, Swim +13, Tools of the Trade, Tumble +8, Use rope +6, Ward Attunement, Wilderness lore +4.5; Alertness, Combat reflexes, Dodge, Improved critical (short-bow), Improved initiative, Iron will, Lightning reflexes +1, Point blank shot, Precise shot, Skill focus ( jump), Weapon focus (sword, short).
Possessions: +3 short sword, +1 leather armor, kilt, soft boots, belt, baldric and scabbards, foresters kit, masterwork thieves kit, short bow, quiver, +1 arrows (20), dagger (5), cloak, 59,000 gp.
Guthorm MacCallum is Ceannaideach MacCallum’s younger sibling. Smaller and weaker, Guthorm was a more studious youth. Learning Greek and Latin from the White God priests, Guthorm disappeared for nearly ten years following his quest for arcane knowledge. Traveling through the empire, he picked up the Assyrian language and enough sorcerous knowledge to study on his own and so returned to the highlands of Scotland. He found his brother a mighty warlord and clan chieftain waging raids on the Romans and found it the perfect opportunity to gather even more arcane knowledge and artifacts.
Guthorm is the opposite of Ceannaideach, smaller, 5’ 11” and 180 lbs, though still a puissant fighter, his skill lies in befuddling men’s minds. He is often seen plotting and planning with Eachann, whom he is smitten.
Guthorm MacCallum, male human Sor14/Ftr6: CR 20; Size M
(5 ft., 11 in. tall); HD 14d4 plus 6d10; hp 70; Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 13 (+3 Dex); Attack +14/+9/+4 melee, or +16/+11/+6 ranged; SV Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +10; AL CN; Str 13, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 15.
Languages Spoken: Cymric, Gaelic, Latin, Greek, Assyrian.Skills and Feats: Alchemy +17, Appraise +5.5, Climb +10,
Concentration +15, Gather information +4, Handle animal +11, Hide +4.5, Intuit direction +1, Jump +2, Knowledge (arcana) +17.5, Listen +4.5, Move silently +3, Perform +4, Profession +16, Ride +11, Spellcraft +17, Spot +1; Alertness, Armor proficiency (light),
Combat casting, Combat reflexes, Craft magic arms and armor, Craft staff, Expertise, Maximize spell, Quick draw, Skill focus (knowledge (arcana)), Weapon finesse (dagger), Weapon focus (dagger), Weapon focus (dagger, punching), Weapon focus (short sword).
Possessions: Great kilt, belt, boots baldric, scroll case, spell component pouches, short sword, daggers (4), chests (4), alchemist’s lab, 20,000 gp.
Wagon; overall HP 60 (hardness 5), AC 3, Ram 4d6, Face 15x10 Ft, Height 10 Ft, Crew 1, weight 600 lb,
Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/6/6/6): 0—Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Prestidigita-tion, Ray of Frost, Read Magic. 1st—Charm Person, Jump, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Ventriloquism. 2nd—Blur, Glitterdust, Hypnotic Pattern, Invisibility, Knock. 3rd—Dispel Magic, Hold Person, Magic
Circle against Law, Sleet Storm. 4th—Bestow Curse, Confusion, Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin. 5th— Cone of Cold, Mind Fog, Seeming.
Born in the Highlands, Eachann was thought different by her clan, a changeling who foresaw things that came to pass, unexplain-able thing happened around her. ese incidents grew more frequent as she approached puberty and she was branded a witch and driven from her home. She wandered south through the High Moors of England and into Wales. ere she found Cydrella, a witch who haunted a swamp. Cydrella recognized Eachann’s potential and trained her in the ways of the Wandering Path. Eachann joyously dove into the craft and soon joined Cydrella in working petty evils on nearby Welsh villages. After many years, the villagers ran down Cydrella and burned her at the stake. Eachann fled back to Scotland, where she began to repeat the terror she inflicted upon the Welsh. Ceannaideach MacCallum found her as she was about to spoil his winter stores of grain. Eachann convinced him to spare her life in exchange for her service.
Eachann’s appearance belies her true age, not yet 35, she appears to be well into her 70s, stooped, wrinkled, joints stiff with age, with stringy wan hair, wearing ragged robes. Yet in truth she is strikingly beautiful, a voluptuous brunette with wild sky-blue eyes and has many men looking for her favor and is a much sought-after partner at Beltaine fires. She hides her true nature to be effective as an advisor to Ceannaideach MacCallum and to give an appearance of age, power, and wisdom
Eachann, the Witch of Loch Durnham, female human Sor 8/*Witch Hag 9: CR 17; Size M (5 ft., 3 in. tall); HD 8d4 plus 3d6 plus 6d8; hp 44; Init +1 (+1 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 11 (+1 Dex); Attack +6/+1 melee, or +9/+4 ranged; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +11; AL LE; Str 6, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 17. *Witch Prestige Class
Languages Spoken: Cymric, Latin, Welsh.Skills and Feats: Alchemy +19, Concentration +18, Craft +21,
Hide +1, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Listen +1, Profession +10, Scry +20, Search +6, Speak Language +4, Spellcraft +18, Spot +1, Wilderness Lore +4; Brew Potion, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Power Attack, Spell Trap, Sympathetic Spell, Widen Spell.
Guthorm MacCallumWritten by Bruce BoughnerSection 15: Guthorm MacCallum Copyright 2003, Bruce
Boughner
Eachann, the Witch of Loch DurnhamWritten by Bruce BoughnerSection 15: Eachann, Witch of Loch Durnham Copyright 2003,
Bruce Boughner; e Witch’s Handbook, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson
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Possessions: witch’s staff, +1 silver dagger, spell component pouch, flying ointment, horn of the hunter, moon circlet, potion of memory, rune wand, sleeping draft, 1,000 gp.
Sorcerer Spells Known (8/5/3*/2*/1*): 0—Dancing Lights, Daze, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Light, Mending, Prestidigitation, Resistance. 1st—Cause Fear, Change Self, Crafters Curse, Identify, Sleep. 2nd— Enhance Familiar, Enthrall, Locate Object, Scare, Spell Missile, Whispering Wind. 3rd—Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Lesser Geas, Suggestion, Tongues. 4th—Divination, Scrying, Steal Youth.
*= Bonus spells 3 2nd, 2 3rd, 2 4th
Raven Familiar: HD11; HP 23; Init +2, Spd 10 Ft, Fly 40 Ft, (average); AC 20 (touch 14, flat-footed 18); Atk +8 melee (claw 1d2-5); SQ Alertness, can deliver touch attacks, can speak with master, empathic link with master, improved evasion, shares spells with master; AL LE; SV Fort +4,Ref +6, Will +12; Str 1, Dex 15, Con
10, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6; Listen +6;Speak Language (common), Spot +6. Weapons Finesse (claws)
Benedict was a Welshman taken as a child by the Romans and sold as a slave, he grew up as a slave in Gaul when missionaries took him and taught the ways of the Israeli prophets. After many years, taking the name Benedict, the brother took up the mission of bring-ing the word of the White God to Scotland. Stumbling onto the camp of Ceannaideach MacCallum, Brother Benedict recognized the witchery and sorcery of the camp and sought to bring the light of rea-son and peace to the MacCallum clan. Benedict tries often to counsel Ceannaideach MacCallum in ways of peace, but is valued more for his healing abilities.
Brother Benedict is a large man of middle years balding and bearded, with his hair turning grey from its normal mouse brown.
Brother Benedict, male human Clr 9/*Revered Elder 2: CR 9; Size M (5 ft., 9 in. tall); HD 9d8+9; hp 42; Init +1 (+1 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 11 (+1 Dex); Attack +10/+5 melee, or +7/+2 ranged; SV Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +8; AL LN; Str 18, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 13.
Languages Spoken: Cymric, Gaelic, Latin, Gaul.Skills and Feats: Diplomacy +6, Heal +7, Hide +1, Knowledge
(Local) +4, Knowledge (religion) +5, Listen +2, Move silently +1, Profession +9, Scry +4, Sense Motive+10, Spot +2; Avert Evil Eye, Craft wondrous item, Detect Truth, Great fortitude, Leadership, Lo-cal History, Maximize spell, Resist Charm (+2), Scry Eye, Spellcraft.
Possessions: 12,000 gp.Cleric Domains: Healing, Knowledge, Law.Cleric Spells Per Day (6+2/5+2/5+1/3+1/2+1/1+1):
0—Cure Minor Wounds x2, Detect Poison x2, Light, Resistance, Virtue x2. 1st—Bless, Bless Water, Cure Light Wounds x3, Divine Favor. 2nd—Aid, Cure Moderate Wounds x2, Delay Poison, Make Whole, Zone of Truth. 3rd—Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Prayer, Remove curse. 4th—Cure Critical Wounds, Discern Lies, Divine Power. 5th—Healing Circle, True Seeing.
Brother BenedictWritten by Bruce BoughnerSection 15: Brother Benedict Copyright 2003, Bruce Boughner;
Revered Elder, Copyright 2001 Rebecca Glenn
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In 2001, Joe Kushner conducted an interview with Troll Lord Games for OgreCave.com. Recently he did a follow up of that inter-
view with Steven Chenault, President of Troll Lord Games.
1. Who is Troll Lord Games?
TLG started in 1999 at a pizza joint over some Guiness, and well, pizza I guess. When Mac Golden, Davis Chenault and myself (Steve Chenault) decided to do some modules for Gencon. is was before d20 mind you, just barely. So our first modules were generic. It grew from there. Mac has since left and Todd Gray (alternately spelled Grey or Gray, I’ve known him for 18 years and still don’t know how to spell his name) has come on board to replace him. Of course, d20 gave us a nice breath of real potential and we decided to do another run of books. “A Lion in the Ropes” and “Dzeebagd” were our first d20 books. We’ve done little but grow since then. Troll Lord Games has become something of a family as well, the artists and writers who work with us have all joined in making this company what it is becoming. We try to be pretty approachable, as any who’ve been to our cluttered Gen Con booths must surely know.
I don’t know how to answer that question. Did I answer it? Heck, come over to the message boards and join in and you’ll soon know who TLG is?
2. It seems that there is some restructuring going on over there. For example, Comrades for d20Modern®. Any word on what hap-pened to this puppy?
Puppy? You must be from around here? LOL When
d20Modern® came out we really weren’t ready to go on it like we had hoped. Todd was new to the company and still learning the ropes and Davis was putting the wraps on his MA in Anthropology. Besides that, d20Modern® had too much of a fantasy/modern feel to it. We were looking for a moody, hard beaten mechanic to drive the game. e idea behind Comrades is not gaining levels and treasure or even power. It’s to be a soldier of some caliber on a field of war, the true object being to stay alive. It combines the two main drives behind our Wednesday night D&D games, role playing and intense combat. We’ll do live action theater for a couple of hours, which is shattered by the thunderous clap of iron and bone and fields washed in blood. Comrades is meant to be that in a modern setting. We want the gamer to be exhausted from the experience but elated when he drags himself to the rear.
(In a side note, one of our players, Christian Harris, takes great joy in maniacal descriptive text and has cataloged it. Some of our expressions are quite humorous. Most recently I’ve been overusing ‘washed in blood.’)
3. What book are you proudest of?
Hard to say. e Companion books are turning out to be a beautiful idea with a nice combo of game material at a good price. Personally, the Codex of Erde is my favorite, as it is the type of book I would use since it is packed with culture and history. But probably best all around books are the most recent Blood Royal or Gary Gygax’s World
15 QUESTIONS FOR TROLL LORD GAMESBy Joe G KushnerSection 15: 15 Questions for Troll Lord Games Copyright 2003, Joe G. Kushner
Builder. e rumor table in the Heart of Glass is the best I’ve ever read too. LOL
4. What are you waiting for to hit the SRD and why?
e Manual of the Planes. at material is great game expansion ma-terial and we would love to bring that material into our own setting and books. No news on its opening up however, at least not so far as I’ve heard.
5. Are there any authors you’d love to work with?
Davis Chenault. We’d like him to finish a book before a 10-month deadline has passed. LOL
6. How did the deal with Kenzer roll around? What’s it like work-ing with an ‘official’ company?
“Official”? Well with 20 odd products in print a host in the ringer and three employees I rather look at TLG as official. ;) But I know what you mean. I don’t know really. We’ve run adds in KoDT for well over three years and they have been very nice and very easy to work with. When I first met them I thought, ‘now here’s some folks with our same philosophy about gaming.” At GAMA two years ago I approached Brian Jelke and we struck up an immediate friendship. is project is a natural extension of that. Mac Golden, then in charge of our production line, was pushing hard for a TLG Studious and thought Kenzer would be the perfect company to start with. He left shortly thereafter and I kind of dropped the whole idea. Brian, being very busy, didn’t give it another thought. But after Dragon Con this year Davis and Todd talked briefly to Brian and the whole idea came up again. We pursued it and before you know it, we’re happily working on Kalamar.
7. What effect will Gen Con moving this year have on the Troll Lords?
Make the drive easier. LOL About 3-4 hours closer actually. We’ll miss the Milwaukee angle, and I’ll not be able to go to that really nice books store and scour their shelves for old musty history books. Also, no dinners with Gary Gygax, which is something we’ve come to look forward to. Davis and Gary think a lot alike politically, and Luke, Todd and myself are arrayed together. Makes for lively conversations. And Ernie, well, Ernie is the man.
8. What’s the hardest part of putting together a product?
Good sweet lord! I don’t know; we divide the work up. I think we’ve suffered from editing the most. When we lost Mac Golden we lost an exceptionally good editor. And an editor who could anticipate my writing, so personally was quite a loss. But probably the last minute stuff. Once we’ve spent weeks “making love to a book” (our euphe-mism for reading it over, playtesting and what not) we gather art and maps, do legal and credits and then throw it into the formatting stage. is can go fast or slow depending on the project. But once its done
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we’ve worked it over for about 3 months and all these last minute repairs, calls to the printer, price confirmations and so forth are labo-rious and we’re tired of the project. Todd read the World Builder over, line by line, five times–and there isn’t much readable material there. He really hasn’t looked at the book since. So probably the end game with a project.
Of course, once it goes to the printer we gather the Troll Horde and pile out to Pizza D’s for a Guiness and a celebratory dinner.
9. What book would you like to do but haven’t had time or re-sources for?
Codex Germania. Rob Kuntz had a great idea here, but for personal reasons wasn’t able to complete the project. We’ll retool it and re-launch the project soon. We have a beautiful cover painted by Doug Kovacs and an actual honest to goodness German to head up the project so we are sure to get the Teutonic feel.
10. Some say that there’s a d20 glut and that this will cause the downfall of the RPG market any day now. While there’s more product than I can remember seeing before, I don’t think the downfall is right around the corner. Professional take?
No downfall for the market. at’s a silly idea. ere have been a number of adjustments and the market has fluctuated due, in no small part, to a wave of small press companies, some of which have really good product. e real problem is that all of this product puts extraordinary stress on the retailer. It’s difficult to pick and choose what to by, and more difficult to know what’s going to be hot. So retailers are put in a bad spot by the glut. ey have been and are still correcting this by cutting orders. You’re seeing a number of smaller companies suffer from this and looking for clearing houses or pub-lishing houses to get their product out. at would be my advice for aspiring publishers, contact one of the other companies about using their services. We’ve done this from the beginning with Fiend Games and I think Mystic Eye has started it as well.
11. How does a small d20 company thrive in today’s competitive market?
Customer Service. Quality. And a constant drive to improve prod-ucts. TLG benefits from a loyal customer base that becomes increas-ingly more loyal as each product improves. Keeping your overhead down is very important as well. We have a small staff and a wonderful group of writers and artists who believe in the company. All one has to do is hop over to our message boards and you’ll quickly see the tone we take. Friendly. Friendly.
12. What role do you see the web taking for Troll Lords in the future? More Seeker? More expansions/preview articles?
As we manage to get our own page improved and ‘modernized’ (“is thing still has frames!” someone recently complained to me) we’ll clean up the e-commerce software and make it more usable. We’ve seen a marked growth in web traffic and purchases recently, a fact I attribute to the World Builder Guide coming out, the paypal e-com-merce software being loaded and the Seeker. As for our zine, the Seeker has had an on again off again life span. at is until, recently. Davis took it over and turned it something really worth reading. It has d20 material, RPG material, humor, the whole nine yards. e
Seeker has, since then, gained quite a few subscribers. We try to put it out bi-weekly. As for expanding it, I’m really having to restrain Davis from pushing it up to 18-20 pages. I’m afraid the pdf might crash peoples mail boxes or lock them at least.
13. Tell me about the Dice Game. How did that come about? What’s it involve?
e dice game, eh? Traditionally TLG gives away free promo dice baring our logo or name on them. Last year, as we set off to do the same thing we just got ambitious by making a promo game. Well it soon developed into something rather large and we decided to give it a go, package it and see if it how well it went over. e most interest-ing thing about Troll Knuckles is the misprinting. Davis and my wife, who has a number of advanced mathematics degrees, developed of the game. One of the dice is based on prime numbers. e dice were late on arrival and we only got the morning of Gen Con’s opening last year. With no time to look them over we packaged up several score and placed them on the table. Off to other things, the solid little knuckles were left unobserved. We gave some away with product sales, sold some and were happy to do so. On Friday a couple came up to us for some rules clarification. ere was a problem. One of the dice had been misprinted, and the primes were off. Needless to say we yanked the whole thing, rather annoyed at the whole thing. As I was to blame for giving the dice guy the wrong numbers there was nothing for it but to shelve the little grunts and move on. When my wife heard about it she laughed quite a bit and remarked about bone head trolls and their troll primes. Bang! ere was our solution. We rewrote the rules (they are really simple, simple rules) and remarked them as Troll Primes! Troll Knuckles did fair for us, no huge off the shelf moneymaker, but it was fun to do. We’ll design another one for this Gen Con I have no doubt.
14. What’s it like working with Gygax? I know there are a lot of fans and naysayers who either hate or love the dual statted books.
Gary Gygax is, without a doubt, the nicest man in the industry today, matched only by John Nephew. He’s easy to work with, maintains a constant, open line of communication and very amiable concerning changes and edits and what not. I don’t know what else to say, but we value Gary’s opinions and his work and that I’m extremely put out that Gen Con has moved to Indianapolis as we won’t be eating with the Gygax crew at the Hungarian Restaurant.
As for the dual stated books, there has only been one module so stated, e Hermit. It’s done very well, particularly as concerns adventure books.
15. Any last words of wisdom? Like why the Troll Lords and not the Ogre Lords? :-)
LOL e above for aspiring publishers. Contact us or one of the other companies for your publishing needs and desires. We chose the Troll Lords because the main antagonist of Mac Golden’s character Aristobulus (who we still play) in our ‘Big Game’ is the Arch Magi, Nulak-Kiz-Din, called Mongroul the Troll Lord. Of course this has led to strange writing mishaps as he exists in the Codex of Erde as well and we find Troll Lords publishing books with the Troll Lord in it and he’s not a troll at all. But that just goes to show, that Trolls aren’t the brightest jewels in the chest . . . though perhaps far more clever than one might think.
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EXPRESS LANE: TOO MANY ITEMSWritten by Rob [BarTndr] WojczykEdited by Andrew GarbadeSection 15: Express Lane Copyright 2003, Rob Wojczyk
Ever have one of those days where you, the DM, allowed one or two items that were in their own right appropriate to fall into
possession of the party, only to have these items’ usability abused by your players? An example of this that Rob Adams and I recently discussed was a barbarian who became the owner of a ring of enlarge (once per day), an item that granted bull’s strength, and a silver axe +2.
e issue that evolved was the barbarian would enlarge, then rage, then swing away. By increasing his size, the player argued it increased the die used to determine damage. Now when he en-larged, he got stronger, then there was the bull’s strength, and on top of that the rage. So a player of a mid-level character was suddenly dealing out damage far above the party’s challenge rating and not many foes presented much of a problem for them. One solution I came up with, which Rob had already tried, was to throw something a little more powerful at the party. When it nearly killed the rest of the party, the others were not happy with the result. Moreover, no one at all likes ‘DM Cheese’ when a certain item is pilfered or taken away.
Rob and I thought about it a little, and in a moment of inspira-tion, I came up with an idea. Now the basis of the idea was the method in many computer games (Diablo, Neverwinter Nights) where you must attain a certain level to use a particular device. But by its basic structure, D&D 3e does not really consider those issues. So what’s a DM to do if an overly powerful item falls to the party?
Well, one thing that 3rd edition does provide is a list of the approximate wealth value of the player characters at certain levels. erefore, what you can do is look at what the wealth value of a player would be at some level, and assume that 75% of that value is the total of all magical items that he can have outfitted for use and in his possession at one time. He can carry some other items if it doesn’t affect his encumbrance, but he is not allowed to use any items that push his value over the threshold. Items like potions of healing can be counted or not at the DM’s discretion, but rings, amulets, weapons, and the like should all count toward this total.
Now if you really want to have fun, make the total amount for the party rather than individuals. For example, a +1 longsword is going to be valued around 2,315 gp (the enchantment is 2,000, masterwork is 300, and the sword itself is 15gp [DMG]). We will use a party of four 2nd-level characters (individual wealth of 900gp [DMG], 75% of which is 675gp, so a party of four would have a total of 2,700gp). e sword’s cost puts it out of their individual ability to use – though if you allow party ‘pooling’ of wealth, a char-acter would be allowed to use it, but the total value of other magic items could not exceed 700gp.
When the four characters reach 3rd level, the wealth table jumps to 2,700gp each (75% of which is 2,025), and would equate to a party total of 8,100gp. Even at this point, no single character can afford to wield the item, but if the party collectively allows their ‘value’ to be applied to a single character, then he can wield it. It also allows others to use something of a ‘marginal’ power level. So what happens a little while later, before they level again, should they find a ring of protection or another weapon? Suddenly, the total value
of the items is just too high compared to their allocations. Now consider if the fighter decides he does not want to give up the sword to allow the mage to use the ring instead; the mage can decide to retract his share of the value allocation and neither of them would get to use their items -- until such time when they advance enough to make the required wealth rating.
is approach will give you many interesting opportunities for role-playing. It also presents a huge chance for ill will to come up di-rected between the players and ultimately at the DM (after all, you set the rule in motion). When people begin bickering and become a little testy, then you step in and remind people it is -- after all-- a game. Games are meant to be fun. We do not want to overburden the players with extra ‘home’ rules, but at the same time, we need to keep some control over what happens in our game worlds.
What this rule does is try to keep balance in the game. While the player with the item(s) would feel like he is being restricted, the other side of the coin is how useless the other players feel when he is hacking away all the enemies. Moreover, should an enemy that would more suitably challenge the player with the advantage appear, it would likely destroy the other party members.
I was in a game (a PBeM) where at first level, we had a charac-ter who’s race was a Centaur. I don’t believe the concept of effective character levels is present in the PHB, DMG or MM. I can tell you that when a first level character goes toe to toe with a troll, and wins, something is out of balance. All the fights were either too easy for him, or too hard on the rest of us. Magic items are the same way. If the players have that special item, then others (players and NPCs alike) should notice its use. ey should receive offers to purchase the item, threats about its use, and the like. e local lord could see the item as a threat to his rule, and desire it for himself.
In addition, never discount the effect of a ‘once per day’ item. Just because the players have decided that after one big fight they want to retreat and regroup – whatever they were fighting could always follow them back to where they think they are safe. After all, why should the players get to have all the fun, and be able to have a safe haven? When the adult werewolf (whose young were just slain by the PCs using their powerful devices) later ambushes the party, the PCs are bound to leave something behind when they run for the hills.
Not to beat poor Rob Adams like a dead horse, but he had wanted to implement several ‘house rules’ into a campaign he is cur-rently running - in which I am a player - with varying results. Armor damage reduction was all right (when we remembered to count it) but then came discussion of tracking the total damage taken by the armor and factoring in its hardness – a bookkeeping nightmare. So instead, we fell back on a system Rob used in a previous game where we just paid 25% of the armor’s cost as a monthly repair fee.
Some other ‘limiting’ home rules, such as armor and weapon maintenance and player taxes can quickly become a nightmare of micromanagement – so be very cautious about what you use. Be open and honest with your players, and they’ll probably be the same with you.
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BENHIARWritten by John WommerEdited by Steven CreechSection 15: 15 BenHiar Copyright 2003, John Grigsby
Race Name: BenHiar
Human name or nickname: Light bringers, Angels, Clusters, “Ben” or “Bennies”
General physical description: e BenHiar are a tiny mam-malian race, standing but 18 inches tall when fully extended, though their natural posture is more semi-upright. ey are built more for climbing and clinging then walking, though they can do so when necessary. e most predominant trait of the BenHiar is their eyes, which are enormous. ey have small noses and mouths.
Second in attention (to most humanoid observers) is their long thin arms and flattened finger tips. eir feet are elongated, and their toes have similar flattened tips. It is these flat tips that allow the Ben-Hiar to cling to almost any surface. Overall, the individual BenHiar is unimpressive physically.
General personality description: To call a BenHiar sociable is as large an understatement as to call a Kubala Khan “big”. e BenHiar are an extremely communal race, each having distinctive personality traits and habits, but each also fitting into the communal group in their needed area. To speak of an individual BenHiar is difficult if not impossible, for those that are deprived of the company of others generally will die within 48 to 72 hours of isolation. Within
their group, each individual BenHiar is still a distinct person, capable of a full range of good and bad qualities. eir racial propensity towards the group, however, causes the individual to often be overlooked in favor of the communal “person”. Note that, while the BenHiar are each fully developed persons, all share a pacifistic and gregarious basic nature.
ere are some who are more ag-gressive, or have a devote self interest – but the “self ” is their communal group (called a “cluster”). Some clusters are so well integrated that non-BenHiar that deal with them insist that they are a group mind, for they act so in concert with one another it’s as if the group were a single entity which they are all a part of. No evidence of such a (psionic or magical) link has ever been discovered, if it exists at all. For more on the BenHiar cluster and group mental-ity, see Racial Psychology and Culture below.
BenHiar Racial Traits:
Str: -4; Dex: +1; Con +1; Cha: +2 BenHiar are physically weak, but quite robust for their size. ey are also agile
and charming. ough individual members of a cluster may vary in their ability scores (and should have these sepa-rate scores recorded) the cluster PC uses but one set of abilities – generally the average of the members’ scores.
Size: Tiny. BenHiar enjoy a +4 modifier to hit, and to AC.
Gliding Flight (Ex) – e BenHiar enjoy the ability to glide for up to 60 feet, plus 10 feet for every 20 feet their launch is elevated. ey are considered a Clumsy flyer (DMG 69), with a maximum speed of 40 feet.
Darkvision to 60 feet.Low Light vision – ey
have no limited range with this sight.
Low Light vision – ey have no limited range with this
sight.Cling to any surface (Ex) – e
BenHiar use special properties of their hand & foot pads to cling to any surface. Especially slick surfaces, or magically slippery surfaces can break their hold.
Photonometry (Su) – e BenHiar have a natural ability to produce and “hold” light, gaining greater skill as they prog-
Level Ability gained
“0” Create small, “personal light effects” necessary for “twitter-ing”.
3 Create Light as the Photokinesis power (see below), using character level minus 2 as the level of use.
5 The BenHiar can actually touch light, and treat it as a semi-solid. They may push, shape, and “spin” light & shadow into a variety of shapes. The BenHiar must keep contact with their creations for them to exist, else they dissipate or return to their normal state (a sunbeam moved aside and held there by a BenHiar goes back to shining straight when re-leased). Use mechanics for the Photokinesis power Shape Light/Shadow (below) for detailed use. Use character level to determine variables for this ability.
12 The BenHiar may shape light or shadow and grant their creation temporary existence. This functions as the Photoki-nesis power Light Sculpture (see below), excepting that area affected is up to 1 cubic inch per level can be so created. Use character level to determine variables for this ability.
Playing the Cluster
The BenHiar offer a unique race to role play, as their collective na-ture tends to encourage players to play more then one character of the same cluster. The cluster itself is the PC, and is treated as an individual being in terms of normal play.
Firstly, a PC cluster must be comprised of at least two, or optimally three or four BenHiar (a 2 member PC would have to create a “cluster” with another player character). Those clusters that want to leave the BenHiar homelands and “adventure” are very rare, and so the members of such a cluster tend to be a long standing group, rarely mixing individuals with others. Members of such a cluster tend to be highly skilled individually (for BenHiar), though skills feats, and abilities are still divided between cluster-mates.
Most classes are open to BenHiar PCs, though for obvious reasons combat-heavy charac-ters are rare. Most commonly, the BenHiar adopt the Psion class, spell casters, and the occasional Rogue.
Death and the BenHiar PC
What happens if your collective is a 3rd level Rogue and two members die? What skills, abilities, & feats does the survivor have?
The levels of such PCs is actually spread evenly between the cluster-mates. If they should lose members, individual members hold on to their “share” of xps. Skills and feats are declared at the time they are gained, being given to a specific member of the cluster.
All skills and feats must be evenly spread between cluster mates – if one member has three skills the others must advance to three as well before that member can go on to four. If a replace-ment member with far fewer skills/feats is integrated when a member is lost, then the others cannot gain new skills / feats until he has caught up.
If a member is lost, then so too are those xps, skills, and feats assigned to him. Raising dead members can restore the balance (i.e. lost levels & abilities) of the cluster. BenHiar replacement members (outside of the BenHiar home-lands) tend to be hard to come by.
Note that individual members of a cluster die at –3, -6, and –10 hps. Heal-ing applied while they are in this state only saves the remaining members, not those who are beyond their threshold. Roll randomly to decide who dies.
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ress upward in character levels. ese are all Supernatural abilities, and are listed in the table below:
Communal mentality – e BenHiar are so acclimated to the communal life that to be alone actually causing their health to fail. To stay healthy, a BenHiar must be part of a group with at least 2 individuals other then itself. ough these others are normally BenHiar as well, this is not always necessary (see Racial Psychology, below).
No default skills – Due to the specialized skill set each BenHiar has, none has the ability to “make do”. us, the BenHiar cannot use skills in which they have no skill ranks, even those that normally allow a default roll.
Slow Movement – e BenHiar can only move at a speed of 10 when forced to travel on land.
Preferred Class: Psion
Racial Psychology
Racial “quirks,” likes and dislikes, or psychological peculiarities: e BenHiar are unique in their racial psychology, in that they view each member of their race as a unique individual, but each individual as a component of a greater whole. e most common unit is called a cluster, and is comprised of 3 to 12 individuals. Each individual has abilities and skills in one (usually narrow) field of expertise. Together, the members of a cluster function as a collective individual, each con-tributing as necessary for the survival and prosperity of the cluster.
Despite the appearance that this gives the BenHiar of down playing the individual, the opposite is actually the truth - each indi-vidual is celebrated for their own uniqueness, for their own strengths, and is encouraged to hone their natural gifts and skills to their keen-est ability. e BenHiar see the formation of the cluster as the great-est way to provide individual freedom – by having the cluster to look after their other needs, the individual is free to pursue that which is their greatest gift. No need to clutter their lives with unnecessary problems. Due to the fact that the individual also provides back to the cluster necessary skills or abilities, others are free to pursue their individual strengths without concern for those areas the others in the cluster “cover”. Beyond personal hygiene1, little is done in BenHiar clusters by someone who is less then an expert.
Generations of such communal mentality has evolved some
interesting social and behavioral customs, as well as affecting their physiology. Social and physiological areas will be addressed below. Behaviorally, the BenHiar have evolved a psychological need for com-panionship that is satisfied within their own groupings, but makes travel into other cultures difficult at best. “Adventuring” clusters have developed since first contact with humans occurred generations ago, which cover a diverse number of skills needed to survive outside of BenHiar lands.
Even the invention of such conventions cannot counter the unexpected loss of cluster members once beyond BenHiar lands, and it has been these rare occasions that allowed outsid-ers to see lone BenHiar behavior outside a cluster, usually with fatal results. As mentioned above in general personality, those BenHiar that are deprived of the company of others generally will die within 48 to 72 hours of isolation. is is believed to be a psychological phenomenon, as the BenHiar’s phobia of being alone grows until they die. Simply put, outside of a group they cannot thrive. A “group” must consist of 2 to 5 individuals beyond the individual, but it has been discovered that non-BenHiar may play surrogate to a stranded individual or two, taking the place of the cluster in the BenHiar’s wounded psyche. While most such arrangements are temporary, rumors abound citing newly formed “alien” clusters created with humans and the oc-casional Plainsmen.
It should also be noted that the BenHiar have a natural affin-ity with light, being both masters of its properties, and in fascina-tion of it. Many of their physical gifts are geared towards their interaction with light in super-natural ways, and many of their psychological and societal conven-tions make reference to, derive names from, or are formulated around, light. Many believe that this may explain the BenHiar’s ability to make sense of their “dual nature “ as individual and cluster member – just as light can be both particle and wave simultaneously, so the BenHiar see themselves as self and group simultaneously.
Only the Lonely
In the text, it states “those BenHiar that are deprived of the company of others generally will die within 48 to 72 hours of isolation”. To reflect this, those BenHiar who find themselves all alone (without cluster-mates or sur-rogates) lose 1 point of Con, Str, and Dex per hour. While this is considered temporary ability loss, if any of these reach 0 then the BenHiar dies. If re-united with cluster-mates, surrogates, or other BenHiar before this time, then abilities are recovered normally.
"Ben"
Many non-BenHiar have taken the race’s use of the honorific “Ben” and made it into a racist insult, calling every member of the race “Ben”. This is especially true of humans, who use Ben as a shortened form of the com-mon name Benjamin.
At first, the BenHiar took no notice, believing that the strangers were showing politeness. As time went on, it became clear that not all who used “Ben” were showing respect. The BenHiar have gotten better at reading the inflection in non-BenHiar races, and so now can distinguish a true honor from insult.
They also accept that many do not know them well, and so patiently explain when some naïve individual finds it fascinating that an entire clus-ter “has the same name”.
It should be noted that the honorific Ben is reserved for BenHiar leader-ship (called luminaries) and means “enlightened” in the BenHiar tongue. The racial name BenHiar is roughly translated into “the enlightened whole (or “ones within many”)”.
Leadership in BenHiar society
Based on age, and skill (of course). Many clusters that form retain a “core “ of two to three individuals that are always a part of the cluster – at some point, these become recognized as “luminaries” – the BenHiar terms for its leadership. Proper form is to address such individuals with the hon-orific “Ben” and their given name, or “Luminary” as an informal title (much as a King is called “Sire”).
Figure 1 Typical BenHiar Adult
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Racial or society goals: e BenHiar were “discovered” by human-ity a scant thousand or so years ago. While not primitive by any means, they are still discovering the greater world beyond their own lands, and their place in it. ey are fascinated by other races, and how they treat (or mistreat) the individual. Gender confuses them as well, as does alien sexuality. ey desire to learn and understand all of it, and some believe that the use of “alien” clusters is a way for them to create an intimacy that will allow them to learn.
ey seem most human when... they are faced with an obstacle. e BenHiar, like humans, have an insatiable curiosity and drive to achieve desired ends. To many, the whole idea of the “cluster” system is the BenHiar’s way of maximizing the ability to “win” – by combining the necessary elements to best achieve a specific task, even at the cost of being a race of “well rounded” individuals, the BenHiar demon-strate an unrelenting desire to achieve their goals.
ey seem most alien when... dealing with matters sexual. Prior to the first contact with other races, the BenHiar had no clue that “higher” life forms were engendered. ey still have difficulty with the use of engendered titles, pronouns, and tend towards being just a little too curious about other race’s reproductive rituals and “mechanics” for most folk’s tastes.
Footnotes
Even personal hygiene is, to an extent, a communal activity as the BenHiar have retained grooming rituals and behaviors from their ancestry.
Racial Physiology
Physical Properties, Quirks, and other Phenomenon: e BenHiar are Hermaphromorphs, meaning their gender can change between male & female. At most times, the BenHiar exists in a state of being as a hermaphrodite, retaining traits of both sexes and neither. At some point, an unknown trigger occurs which will cause members of a cluster to spontaneously become engendered, and mating occurs. Often, both mates fertilize each other, resulting in a dual pregnancy. After the birth of the child., both parents “manifest” the necessary anatomical features needed to nurse their young, and equally share in the parenting responsibilities.
Another set of properties is the BenHiar gift with light. While many believe this to be a psionic or magical gift, it has several physi-ological manifestations mostly resulting in various unique forms of, or increased ability in, vision.
Psionically gifted BenHiar usually have the unique gift of Pho-tokinesis, and even those lacking this gift gain the ability to spontane-ously create various light effects.
No BenHiar casts a shadow, a phenomenon which is believed to be a side effect of their light affinity. is, however, has had a negative impact with some alien races, especially those whose mythology re-lates the lack of a shadow with “evil”. In most cases, the BenHiar have overcome this superstition , but are still met with it by the uninitiated.
e BenHiar have the ability to cling to almost any surface, thanks to high friction properties of the surface area of their flattened fingers and toes. ey also have a membrane stretching from arm to leg which allows them to glide for short distances. Few BenHiar walk, performing to climb & glide, or cling to larger creatures and ride when possible.
Diet: e BenHiar are primarily vegetarian, supplemented by insects and occasional small amounts of meat.
Activity Cycle: e majority of the BenHiar race are diurnal, though a small percentage are nocturnal. ese are the “Brothers of Shadow” – a group of BenHiar who find that their light powers actually work best on shadow or darkness. ere is no nega-tive connotation to being a “Brother”, nor to being a nocturnal.
Temperature Comfort Zone: 35 to 80 FAverage Eldest Age: 55Type of Birth: Live
Average number of offspring: 2 to 5Survival Rate to adolescent: 65%
Common Illnesses, afflictions: (on-set age; % pop) Arthritis 30, 25%; e Glow (uncontrollable emission of light equal to small candle, increasing in intensity every month after onset until blinding just before death – generally 6 to 9 months) onsets at any age, .5%; Shades (BenHiar begins to appear cloaked in shadows, even in direct light, finally fades into “true” shad-ows and never returns) onsets any time after puberty, 2% of popula-tion onsets at puberty, increasing by 1% per 3 years after puberty.
What members of this race, if any, are suitable as PCs? Any BenHiar would make a good PC, though their lack of generalized skills & disadvantages related to being alone would handicap them as an individual – if played individually. As mentioned in “Playing the Cluster” (sidebar, pg. 1), I encourage players to take at least two, or optimally three BenHiar to play at a time.
Combat notes: Except to note that only BenHiar with specialized combat skills actually fight, there are no particulars on combat procedures. Faced with combat, most BenHiar will take flight rather then fight – not from cowardice, but from a lack of experience or default combat skill. e one exception is those with Psionic or magical abilities, who will bring those pow-ers to bear to defend cluster & self. Usually, these abilities are used defensively or non-lethally, as most BenHiar share the trait of pacifism.
Culture
General type of society and/or political structure: Prior to first contact with other races the BenHiar culture was rather simple, ef-fectively being maintained at the cluster and intra-cluster level. ere were no organized groups, government, commerce, or other signs of “civilization”, yet the BenHiar had all the amenities of higher Tech cultures. e clusters were an effective social form – interchangeable members provided flexibility and freshness to the system, and encour-aged invention and innovation that allowed them to use what was “at hand” in ways that (they would later discover) mimicked technologi-cal devices and systems. eir totally communal lifestyle and society made skill a valuable commodity, but this was shared freely rather then withheld for trade or favor. Leadership was granted within
Merchants and Commerce
The idea of trade, sales, com-merce, and coined money are new concepts to the BenHiar. In the past, a cluster would just so-licit for a member with the skills to create what was needed or needed done, offering member-ship in the group in return for their “aid”.
Interaction with the humans, especially the Aerin Brotherhood, has cultivated a new “Merchant” class of BenHiar that are begin-ning to appear within clusters. Most of these only use their skills to deal with outsiders, as the “old ways” are still in use within the BenHiar nation.
The increasing demand for products from the “light” industry is creating a real demand for BenHiar clusters with merchant skills, which is leading a number of BenHiar clusters to venture forth into the world with the Aerin Brotherhood to learn the ways of Merchants.
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clusters to the most skilled, and qualifications varied based upon the mission of the cluster and its membership.
Today, the BenHiar have developed a form of “higher” govern-ment based upon the cluster, but this body has no interior authority, being used only as an “official” voice of the BenHiar people when deal-ing with other races. Most BenHiar will abide by the decisions of the leadership, but are not truly compelled to.
Historical Overview/Events of Significance: As the BenHiar having only “existed” culturally for about a thousand years, they do not have
a great deal of history compared to other races. ere are legends and tales of historic figures who had near perfect skill or who embodied the total self incorpo-ration into the cluster that most BenHiar strive to achieve, but these are more oral traditions and tales told to young BenHiar as teachings then true recorded histories.
One event of significance was the first contact between Humans and BenHiar. It came approximately 1,000 years ago between a trader of the Aerin Brotherhood and a pair of Ben-Hiar who had lost their cluster mates in a freak accident. e BenHiar, who were youngsters, had been spying on the merchant as he scouted through their territory for a new pass. Several of their cluster mates, who were training for survival skill at the time, underestimated the ledge upon which they stood and fell to their deaths. e noise attracted the attention of the Human, who searched the area only to find the two survivors, badly frightened and feeling the effects of withdrawal from their cluster. Not aware of what he was doing, the Human picked up the foundlings and placed them within his cloak to calm them. e BenHiar thought this an of-fer to “join” with the Human, and adopted him on the spot. It took several months before either being began to understand the other enough to figure out the
other’s form of communication, and in that time a bond had formed between them. e Human, once he realized the BenHiars’ dilemma, returned them to their territory where he remained for three years before coming home himself, forming an alliance between his House and the BenHiar “nation”.
Since that time, the BenHiar have remained within their traditional territory in the forests of the Shieldwall Mountains as well as helping to co-found the city of Luminaria, a place where both human and BenHiar can live,
trade, and learn about one another. Luminaria is also home to the growing BenHiar industry of “light” material, created by those skilled in their natural abilities or in Photokinesis to make everything from sculptures to weaponry (the latter being rare, due to BenHiar pacifistic tendencies).
Daily Life: Beyond everything else mentioned here about clus-ters, perhaps the most important aspect of daily life to the BenHiar is what their clusters does. Cluster “professions” are defined by the majority of the cluster’s abilities – for instance, a warrior cluster may have 3 members each trained in different weaponry, one who has expertise in survival in the geographic area of the conflict, one with tactile warfare training, and one member who is expert at first aid & “domestic” chores (cooking, tailoring, etc..) Each is a contributing member of the cluster. Each has their own job to do, and will only do that job – this renders the BenHiar all but incapable of using most skills by default. Profession clusters constantly form and reform to adapt to current needs – most have a stable central membership, add-ing specialists for a short duration. Common long term members may include a domestic, survivalist, tactician or professional skill specialist, and medical member. Not all groups have all these, and some cluster may include none of them.
A day in the life of the cluster varies by its work - most BenHiar are known to work diligently, but do enjoy relaxation as well. Most BenHiar will have a recreational skill tucked away for “down time”, one of the few exceptions acceptable to the “all-energy–into-your-specialty” mentality. It is also one way in which BenHiar individuality manifests.
Events & Holidays: Unknown until first contact, BenHiar tend to celebrate most human holidays (whatever they are in the location the BenHiar are in) and “First Contact Day” a festival that commemo-rates the first contact between Man and BenHiar. ere are no “per-sonal” holidays (like birthdays) or rites of passage in BenHiar society.
Taboos & Traditions: Few things are taboo to the inquisitive Ben-Hiar. Due to their flexible social structure, few traditions exist except those that strengthen the cluster or serve to encourage the honing of skills. For all that alien races would believe that such a communal spe-cies would have strict taboo systems and the like to maintain “order”, the BenHiar seemingly have few such social mechanisms.
Origin & Related Myths: e BenHiar believe that they were formed as material forms of the universal cluster, an ambiguous mass of deity-like conscious, which is continuously shifting states from being in total physical/mental/spiritual commune with itself, and splitting into perfect individual forms.
Common Belief Systems: e BenHiar are not a religious race, though those that believe share a common belief system based on the Universal Cluster (see above). Usually, worshipers chose the specific individual mind that represents their own skill, and venerate its per-fection, invoking its aid to hone their own skills or to when working a particularly difficult task.
Role of the Gods in Society: Again, BenHiar religion does not play a major role in their society. Priests exist, but their magic is viewed (in many respects) like any other skill. Usually, priests follow the Universal Cluster in its “collective persona” rather then individual minds within it. ey will choose domains from the general list, and specialize in magics from those areas.
Race’s overall role in the “cosmic scheme”: e BenHiar, due to their gift with light, are seen by many to be the harbingers of “good” on Aramosa, though to others they are the universe’s fools. In either event, their impact at this time is insignificant enough that any role that they are meant for (if any) has yet to be played.
Race’s overall role in the campaign: I’ve introduced the BenHiar
Solid Light
A growing industry, as more BenHiar train in this Psi discipline of Enduring Light and related sculpting skills. Light retains the properties under which it is created – sunlight is vibrant and bright, containing all the color spectrum; moon-light is soft and pale (with brightness by phase “gathered” from); firelight can be the low and flickering candle, or can be the dancing brightness of a roaring bonfire.
Light shone through lens can create permanently colored light (though the discipline Color can be used at the time of creation to achieve the same effect). “Gas Light” is a container holding enduring Solid Light Gas, and is one of the fastest growing items to be made (demands are increasing constantly. Human glassblowers are settling in Luminaria in droves to meet demands for containers.)
Other Psionics
While the majority of psionic BenHiar begin with Photokinesis as their disci-pline, there are a few which manifest additional or outright different abilities altogether.
Most common after Photokinesis is Telekinesis, which to many knowledge-able about Psicraft is a strong indicator that the two share common qualities.
Second most common is Telepathy, perhaps not surprising considering the near-hive mind mentality of the BenHiar. Such individuals are often sought out by clusters which demand precise co-ordination between members to achieve their work, or those that require a gestalt to gather energy to perform high level psionic feats (a common occurrence ion the growing Solid Light industry.
After these, any Psionic discipline is open to the BenHiar, none are favored in regards to others.
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as a truly inhuman species for players to experiment with. Free of the “burden” of a long standing or restrictive culture, yet alien enough in their racial psychology to be a challenge when played correctly, I hope that the BenHiar provide for a provocative experience for players tired of Elves & Dwarves.
Photokinesis
A specialized psionic sub-discipline of %%% that allows mastery over light and shadow, Photokinesis includes the ability of the same name, as well as abilities allowing light to be manipulated and solidified. It is exclusively the province of the BenHiar.
ColorPsychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 0 / Psychic Warrior 0Display: ViManifestation Time: 1 action Range: TouchTarget: 1 objectDuration: Permanent Saving row: None Power Resistance: N/APower Points: 1
e BenHiar is able to change the color of light being shed from, reflected off of, or shining unto a light source or target. is can lead to some interesting uses, though the effect cannot be used to grant the BenHiar or others the ability to “see” light wavelengths not normally visible to them (a BenHiar cannot “shift” the Infrared enough for humans to see, though they could cause the Infrared light to “shine” blue to those that can see it), nor can it be used to change the bright-ness (luminosity) of the light. Mostly, this ability is used to “tint” Solid Light sculptures and materials.
Create / Absorb Light Psychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 1 / Psychic Warrior 1Display: Vi, AuManifestation Time: 1 actionRange: CloseTarget: 5 foot radius per levelDuration: Concentration plus d6 minutes (D)Saving row: NoPower Resistance: N/APower Points: 1
e BenHiar can create or suppress light equal to direct sunlight in a 5 foot radius for each class level they have. Light created gives off no heat, and while it gives equivalent luminosity and has the color spectrum properties of sunlight, it cannot effect undead or other crea-tures that normally are harmed by the sun’s rays. Note that creatures whose vision is “hurt” by sunlight are affected by the BenHiar’s Light.
Conversely, the BenHiar can absorb all light present, creating an area of darkness through which no visual sense or magic can be used (this includes magical “sights”, dark vision, or similar means). is renders all visually oriented creatures (including the BenHiar) in the area blind.
e BenHiar can also use this ability to dim or brighten the light within a given area, adding or deleting luminosity at a rate of 10% per
class level . Otherwise, the power manifests as total light or total dark.
Shape Light and Shadow Psychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 2/ Psychic Warrior 2Display: Me, MaManifestation Time: 1 actionRange: TouchTarget: Source touched, up to one half an inch cubed ( 1⁄2
in3) per levelDuration: While touched, onlySaving row: No Power Resistance: N/APower Points: 3
e BenHiar can cause light or shadow to take on properties of a liquid, solid or gas with their touch. Such shapes fade within seconds after the BenHiar ceases to touch it and concentrate upon it.
Liquid or gas forms created tend to flow away from the BenHiar and dissipate quickly. Solid shapes are most often a string or ball shape, though with a little concentration and sculpting more complex forms can be created (such as a flat “board”, pyramid, or cup)..
e new skill “Craft: Sculpt Light” can be exercised in conjunc-tion with this ability to create more complex shapes/items. DC is set according to the complexity of the desired shape/item. DCs for such complexities are given in Chart 1 “Power Cost and DCs” under the Light Sculpture ability, below
Solid shapes created can support no real weight, generally col-lapsing if more then a few ounces of pressure is exerted against them.
is discipline can be used to redirect light as well, allowing a sun beam to be deflected by re-shaping its “flow”; shadows may be “set aside” like a curtain to be passed by; light beams may be interrupted by being shaped into a gas which then flows away and dissipates.
Shapes still retain their luminosity, glowing with the light that created them, or absorbing light with the same amount as their shad-ow parent. Skilled users of this ability will often create “braids” – solid strings of light and shadow intertwined – for their own amusement.
PhotokinesisPsychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 3 / Psychic Warrior 3Display: Vi, Me, AuManifestation Time: 1 roundRange: TouchTarget: Varies by size createdDuration: 1 minute per levelSaving row: NonePower Resistance: N/APower Points: 5
You can bend light, creating a three-dimensional image up to 5 ft per 3 levels in size, within Medium range. e image will always glow in the dark. To create an image, the Psi must pay the point cost and make a Craft: Sculpt Light roll against a DC determined by the complexity of the image. e amount by which the roll succeeded determines how realistic the image will be:
a. Success by 0-3: Simple line images and colors are possible. A man would be a vaguely humanoid blot of light, while something simple like a doorway would lack detail, appear-ing as a rectangle with a knob in it.
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b. Success by 4-7: Basic detail may be filled in. e image is sketchy, resembling a cartoon, though from far enough away the image may seem real.
c. Success by 8 or more: Full detail and texture are possible. If one is trying to find discrepancies, make a contested roll between the target’s Spot and the Craft: Sculpt Light skills.
If an image doesn’t turn out, the psi can dispel it and try again, taking the appropriate amount of time, costing 5 power points per attempt.
Light SculpturePsychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 4 Display: Vi, Ma, OlManifestation Time: 1 minute per 3 cubic inches Range: TouchTarget: 3 cubic inches (3 in3) per level Duration: 1 day, plus one hour per levelSaving row: NoPower Resistance: N/APower Points: Varies (see below)
is Power allows the BenHiar to affect light or shadow in much the same way as Shape Light/Shadow, but the material created retains its form for a day (or more) after the BenHiar last touches it. While this has led to interesting creations such as fountains of liquid light and/or shadows, solid “cloth” of sunlight, and shadow furniture, it is mostly used to create a unique medium for BenHiar artists.
e material created by this skill can be made light enough to float in the air, and this material is used to create suspended sculp-tures that are highly valued for their ephemeral nature. e BenHiar have created an industry out of these floating sculptures of light.
Also of value is “BenHiar Gas Light”, which is simply light shaped into a gaseous form then contained within a clear vessel to act as a light source. Gas Light created in this manner is of short dura-tion, though permanent Gas Light can be made as well (see Enduring Light, below).
Material created, regardless of “consistency” is not affected by heat or cold, nor does it conduct electricity. Prolonged exposure to its opposite - light to darkness, or shadow to light – will cause “fade”, which weakens the material.
Unlike material formed by Enduring Light, Light Sculptures have no Hardness rating (Hardness costs are given for Enduring Light), and generally have but 1 base hp. Additional hps can be “invested” at the listed costs and modifiers. Also, materials created by Light Sculpture cannot be honed to, nor retain, a sharp edge (again, details are listed for Enduring Light).
Light shed by Light Sculpture forms does not extend beyond 5 feet. Normally, the light is not so bright that the form within cannot be seen, regardless of the light source used. e form itself normally appears as to contain roiling light or shadow “liquid” that swirls with-in itself, and while not truly opaque, neither can it be seen through.
Inexperienced BenHiar sculptors, who do think to use their own Create Light/Shadow abilities to create their sculptures (granting them control over the amount of luminescence), most often create sculptures of blinding brightness or sullen shadow.
Shadow forms appear to be covered in shadows regardless of the amount of light shone upon them. is affect does not extend beyond the form itself.
Note: e Craft: Light Sculpture skill only gives the BenHiar the ability to create and shape the material, but does not instill artistic
Power Costs & DCs I
Base Power Point cost per 1inch cubed
Power Points DC*
Light Or Shadow 1 --
Light & Shadow mixed
3 10
Starlight* 7 25
Moonlight* 5 15
Firelight* 5 20
* - these light sources require additional energy, due to their unique nature. Items made of these forms of light do not intrinsically have any unique properties.
Power Costs & DCs II
Power and Skill DCs by Medium and Special Properties
Power Points DC*
Fluid +1 per 3 in3 15
Gas +1 per 3 in3 10
“Plastic” +2 per 3 in3 20
Solid
Highly flexible (cloth) +1 per 2 in3 15
Rigid / easily breakable (glass) +3 per 1 in3 20
Rigid/”wood” +5 per 1 in3 25
Rigid / “metal” +7 per 1 in3 30
Holds dull edge (Solid only) +4 +5
Holds sharp edge (Solid only) +7 +10
Each additional hp +2 +3
Each additional Hardness Point
+5 +5
Opaque1 +1 +1
Translucent2 +1 +2
Additional area of light3 +1 +2
Additional area of light 3 +1(per 5’ radius) +3
Adjustable luminescence4 +1 +5
Permanent (Enduring Light)5 x2 --
*- is is the DC for those with the Craft: Sculpt Light skill to create that particular medium.1 – e item is truly opaque, though glowing colors ( of the light source) are in constant movement across its surface2 – e item can be seen through, though bits of color and lumines-cence can be seen floating within it.3 – is increases the area that is effected by the item’s luminescence.4 - e luminescence given off by the item can be adjusted from nothing to the maximum for the original light source used. (Starlight cannot blaze forth like sunlight, though the effect could be completely dampened). 5 – Permanent items are created with the Enduring Light power, if the cost cannot be met, then treat as created with the Light Sculpture power.
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ability to create something intrinsically “artistic” or “beautiful” . Most BenHiar who use this skill as a source of livelihood also have skill in “mundane” Craft: Sculpting, which grants a +2 synergy bonus (per 3 ranks of Sculpting) to the Craft: Light Sculpture skill.
Laser Psychokinesis (Con)Level: Psychic Warrior 4Display: Vi, AuManifestation Time: 1 actionRange: MediumTarget: RayDuration: Instantaneous Saving row: Reflex, halfPower Resistance: YesPower Points: 5
You can project rays of “hard light” as a ray attack, doing 1d6 damage per level you possess, with a maximum of 10d6. As with ray spells, the user must make a ranged touch to successfully hit the target.
A successful Reflex save halves damage taken. Laser rays cannot penetrate fog or heavy smoke. ey can be used to start fires.
Enduring Light Psychokinesis (Con)Level: Psion 7Display: Vi, Ma, OlManifestation Time: 1 minute per 1 cubic inchRange: TouchTarget: 1 cubic inch (1 inch3) per levelDuration: Permanent Saving row: NoPower Resistance: N/APower Points: Double cost as for Light Sculpture, see below
is, the most versatile and difficult of the BenHiar Photoki-netic skills, allows the BenHiar to create objects from light or shadow, mold them into a particular “medium” (liquid, gas, plastic, solid) and make their existence permanent in that medium.
e process is exhausting, and projects to create objects beyond a few inches in size often take a gestalt of BenHiar (usually all members of the same cluster, which is formed specifically for such projects).
Base power cost is based on the physical properties of the medium created, the source (light, shadow, or a blend), and what is being formed. Given in Chart 1 is costs for creating the form, and ad-ditional costs for any special properties the BenHiar wish the form to have (the ability to hold an edge, for instance). Enduring Light items are created using the same cost chart as for Light Sculpture, however to make a permanent item twice the calculated creation cost must be spent. Without this expenditure, the item is treated as though a product of the Light Sculpture power.
Material created has the same appearance as a Light Sculptures’, though this can be changed at the time of creation for a small power cost to true opaque, or translucent.
Note that these forms, once created, act in accordance with their medium for such conditions as breakage, though the material created is not affected by heat or cold, cannot be warped, nor does it conduct electricity. Prolonged exposure to its opposite - light to darkness, or
shadow to light – will cause “fade”, which weakens the material (treat as a loss of hardness and hps). “Mixed” material must be carefully maintained.
Solid forms can be broken, though fluids, plastics, and gases can-not be condensed nor boiled, due to their immunity to heat/cold.
Solid items created by the Enduring Light skill have an intrinsic amount of hp, and some few can be invested with Hardness as well. e basic hp & Hardness of each medium is listed below. Additional hps or Hardness can be added, see Chart 1, above.
As with Light Sculpture, the forms created shed light enough to illuminate a 5 foot radius. Additional areas of light are available, with costs listed on Chart 1. A special property, allowing the owner to mentally change the level of luminescence, is available as well (though this can never be “turned up” past the original light source).
As with Light Sculpture, the use of this skill does not substitute for skill in sculpting, weaponsmith, engineering or the like. Usually, at least one of the cluster members participating in the creation process will have the training necessary to create a functional, if not master-work, version of the desired object.
A few examples:
Example one: A BenHiar is commissioned to create four 1 inch cubes - two light, two shadow - to be used as functional decoration. e light cubes need to have adjustable luminescence.
Base power cost for each cube is 1 (for basic light/shadow), . e BenHiar decides to make the cubes solid as wood, adding 25 to the DC, and adding a power cost of 5 per cube (each is 1 cubic inch, the base cost for which is 5 points). e adjustable luminescence adds an additional “charge” of 5 to the DC, and cost of 1 power point to the two light cubes.
So to create the two “light” cubes would cost a total of 14 fatigue (7 each), and each would have a DC of 30 for medium and adjustable luminescence, the two “shadow” cubes would cost a total of 6 fatigue, and have a DC of 25.
Example Two: A cluster is commissioned to create a “firelight cloth” to be used in the making of a shirt. e shirt will take approxi-mately 2 square yards or 72 cubic inches of Firelight material to make.
Base cost is 72 x 5 or 360 power points, and granting a base DC of 20.
e material is solid/cloth, invoking another +1 per 2 cubic inches to power cost, (total of +36), and adding 15 to the DC.
As this is to be used for clothing, another +1 to power cost and DC to make the material opaque is charged.
If the cluster were actually making the shirt as well, then at least one member would need to have the Profession: Tailor skill to make the components correctly and make the shirt – this may reduce the amount of material necessary, and so could reduce power costs, though not DC.
Item Property Base Power Cost DC
Firelight 360 (5 x 72 in3) 20
Solid, Cloth +36 (+1 per 2in3) +15
Opaque +1 +1
Total 397 36
Permanent (Enduring Light) 794 --
Example ree: A cluster is commissioned to fill a public foun-tain with liquid that incorporates both light & shadow.
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e fountain takes 75 gallons to fill. ere are 231 cubic inches in a gallon of liquid, so base cost would equal (75 x 231 x 3) or an amazing 51, 975 power points. e liquid would have a base DC of 10 for mixed light/shadow.
To this would be added the cost of (75 x (231/3) 77 x 1) 5775 power points and +15 to the DC.
To fill the fountain with permanent liquid will cost 115,500 power points, and have a DC of 25. e cluster decides to call in some help.
Item Property Base Power Cost DC
Mixed Light & Shadow 51,975 (3 x 17,325in3) 10
Fluid state 5,775 (+1x [17,325/3] in3) 15
Total 57,750 25
Permanent (Enduring Light) 115,500 --
Gas Light
As mentioned in Light Sculpture, one “product” of the Pho-tokinesis industry that is gaining a rapid demand is BenHiar Gas Light. is relatively simple creation is light turned to gas form and contained within a clear, sealed container of some sort. It is most often enhanced with the adjustable luminescence & expanded area properties, and created from the brightest sunlight or Created Light. Figure that each “quart” of size of the container takes 10 cubic inches of light.
Item Property Base Power Cost DC
Basic Light 10 ( 1 x 10in3) --
Gas 3 (1 x [10/3] in3) 10
Adjustable Luminescence +1 +5
Expanded Area +4 (up to 20 feet affected) +3
Total 18 18
Permanent (Enduring Light) 36
New Skill
Craft (Light Sculpture) (Int)
is is a specialized Craft category, usable only by those with Photokinesis, or members of the Ben Hiar race. It allows those who can touch or shape light to give it a specific form. Often, other Craft skills will be used as well, if the light being sculpted is being formed into articles normally crafted from mundane materials (such as Craft: Sculpture for artistic creations, or Craft: Weaponsmith to create a Light Sword). Otherwise, this skill functions in all ways as a “normal” Craft skill.
Check: as Craft skillRetry: as Craft skillSpecial: If used in conjunction with another Craft skill to form
a Light-made object, the secondary Craft skill grants a +2 synergy bonus for every 3 ranks in the “mundane” skill possessed.
Solid Nature (per 1in3) hp Hardness
Highly flexible (cloth) 3 1
Rigid / easily breakable (glass) 3 0
Rigid/”wood” 5 1
Rigid / “metal” 7 2
Item Property Base Power Cost DC
Basic Light/Shadow 1 --
Solid, “wood” +5 x 1in3 25
Adjustable Luminescence(light cubes only)
+1 each +5 each
Total (each light cube) 7 30
Total (each shadow cube) 6 25
Total (all 4) 26 See above
Permanent (Enduring Light) 52 --
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BABYLON 5 FAN FICTIONEdited by Steven Creech
In May, the d20 Magazine Rack partnered with Mongoose Publishing to offer a contest that captured the excitement of the
Babylon 5 universe. e contestants had to write a short story of no less than 5000 words that featured original characters but could use existing Babylon 5 characters in supporting roles. e other require-ment was that a mongoose be used in the story in some manner. As one would expect, many stories built upon the classic Rudyard Kipling tale either directly or indirectly. ere were a few surprises and in the end, some very entertaining reading material. e contest was close to judge with the winner being determined by ah err… a whisker. Darrin Drader produced the winning entry with his short story, Witch Hunt. Micheal Mattei’s e Lesson of the Mongoose was our runner-up and Richard Bax was third with Where the Heck is that Rat? So without further delay, I give you the winner and additional contestants for the Babylon 5 short story contest.
Witch Huntby Darrin Drader ([email protected]) Section 15: Witch Hunt Copyright 2003, Darrin Drader
“Mister Garibaldi,” came the voice from the far end of the cor-ridor. Michael wondered how it was possible that the Centauri had a regional dialect that sounded remarkably similar to Earth’s Hungar-ian. Michael quickened his pace and rounded the corner, hoping he could claim that his sense of hearing had failed. “Mister Garibaldi,” came Londo’s voice once again.
Michael sighed, slowed his pace, but didn’t turn around. A mo-ment later the ambassador was beside him, slightly winded. Once Londo was at his side, he quickened his pace slightly. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the ambassador, he did, but this just wasn’t a good time. “Mister Garibaldi,” he said once more, “I need to have a word with you about a matter of great importance.”
“Londo, it’s always a matter of great importance with you.” Said Michael. Today the ambassador smelled slightly of alcohol, tempting him yet again with the demon of the bottle. “Unfortunately right now I’m on my way to a meeting with Sinclair, after which I need to get caught up on three days worth of reports, and then I have to assemble a team to track down the source of Brakiri Szizz coming onto the station.”
“en I assure you that I will take up as little of your time as possible,” said Londo. “Can you join me in the Zocalo for a drink?”
Michael slowed and looked at the ambassador. “In two hours. Can it wait two hours?”
Londo gave him an irritated scowl. “It can, but I must ask you that we keep this matter between us.”
“Sure, no problem,” said Michael. “Two hours, Zocalo. Got it.” He said quickly, and then before the ambassador could elaborate further, Michael started briskly walking away.
Londo shook his head sadly as he caught his breath. “You humans spend much too much time running from place to place. You should learn to slow down! You will find that you get more done when you slow it down.”
Michael didn’t bother to try figuring out the ambassador’s last comments. Instead he raced down, jumped in the lift and watched the door close. He was already five minutes late for the meeting
Sinclair scheduled hastily earlier today. Something didn’t feel right. He couldn’t put his finger on it just yet, but there was something about the tone of the message that virtually screamed CYOA at him. e lift doors parted and Garibaldi hurried down the hallway to the commander’s office. Within, Sinclair sat at his desk, obviously waiting for him.
“Sorry I’m late,” said Michael, running a hand over his ever-thin-ning hair.
“I hope I’m not taking you away from anything important,” said Sinclair with a look of genuine concern on his face.
“No,” said Michael, “Just a mountain of paperwork, the Centauri ambassador, and an investigation of Brakiri drugs being smuggled onto the station. Nothing too important.”
Without wasting any time in useless banter, Sinclair said, “We’re going to have some visitors aboard the station that you need to be aware of. You may want to prepare for your meeting with them, may-be find them something to do while they’re here.” He had a troubled look on his face as he said that. When Sinclair had a troubled look on his face, Garibaldi knew that there was something to be worried about.
“What kind of visitors?” Michael asked.“e kind you don’t want to have this soon into your tenure as
security chief aboard this station. Earth Dome is sending a couple of people here from Internal Affairs. Apparently they’ve been concerned about some reports they’ve deemed ‘troubling.’”
is wasn’t good news. Michael had only been on the station a year. He was just beginning to get used to the array of aliens, drifters, and scumbags that made their home here. “Any idea what kind of troubling reports?”
“ey wouldn’t say,” said Geoffrey. “I checked their files and they look like the type that like to find things to report.”
“You mean they go looking for trouble?”Geoffrey nodded his head. “Now I know you run things on here
on the up-and-up, so I’m not too concerned, but I’m worried that they’re coming here with some sort of agenda. You and I both know that the bean counters back home have been looking for any excuse to prove that this station doesn’t work. Finding holes in security is just another thing they could use against us.”
Michael shook his head. “Commander, if you don’t mind me asking you a personal question, why do you care so much about this station. Ever since you showed up you’ve had people try to kill you, bombs exploded, and alien attacks. I’m beginning to think myself that this whole thing is a mistake. What’s more is that with your war record and your position here, I’m sure Earthforce would find some-thing for you if you went somewhere else.”
Geoffrey smiled. “You and I both know that this station has the potential to bring people together. e front lines of the Minbarri war wasn’t pretty. By all accounts, we should have lost. What’s worse is that if something were to threaten the shaky interstellar peace we’ve managed to achieve, we might not do so well. We’ve seen entire races wiped out in our lifetimes.”
“Like the Dilgar,” Garibaldi said, reminded of their recent en-counter with the last of their kind, the Deathwalker.
“Like the Dilgar,” said Geoffrey.Changing the subject back to the matter at hand, Michael asked,
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“So when do they arrive?”“About half an hour ago. ey’re waiting for you in your office.
I told them it wouldn’t be long, but I wanted to give you a head’s up before you met with them.”
“anks commander,” said Michael. “I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting.”
Michael knew that Internal Affairs meant one thing, something had filtered back to Earth about the way things were run here on the station. What was puzzling him was that he wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t be doing for a change. Ever since landing this assignment, Michael had been dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T’. Despite the reputation he’d managed to acquire back home, he was actually re-sponsible here. If there was anything improper happening in security, he wasn’t aware of it.
Michael opened the door to his office. Seated stiffly at his desk in front of his wall of monitors were two men in suits. e one thing Garibaldi hated more than uniforms with brass was suits. Standing next to them was one of his new hires in a gray security uniform. Branson was his name, no more than twenty years old and very idealistic. Michael liked his security force young and idealistic. Unlike a lot of the veterans he knew, these kids were still interested in getting involved and doing the right thing. Of course he knew that over time the universe would beat the living hell out of them and they would end up like him sooner or later, if they survived the beating, that is.
“Ah, Michael Garibaldi,” said one of the suits. “My name is Jo-seph Connolly, and this,” he said pointing to the person with him, “is Max Weller. We’re from Internal Affairs.”
“Yeah, I was just informed of your arrival on the station. I’m sorry I’m late,” Michael said quickly.
“It’s not a problem,” Joseph said. “We were just noticing that reports haven’t been filed for the last three days.”
“I know they’re a little late, but it’s still within regulations,” said Garibaldi. He motioned to a pile of paper on his desk. “I had planned on getting to it right around now, but then I heard you were here, so now I have something else in the way of getting through the paper-work.” Michael didn’t want to play the usual game of cat and mouse with these people. ere was nothing wrong with asking them what this was all about. “So gentlemen, what brings you here?”
ere was a brief pause, and then Joseph Connolly smiled. It was the smile of a predator. “It’s probably nothing to get concerned about. We recently caught a shipment of small arms coming from an anti-alien terrorist group on Earth. We managed to lock down their bank account and found that a number of shipments and payments were moving through this station.”
Michael laughed. “So if it’s coming into the station, you auto-matically assume that we’re to blame.”
“I’m not placing blame anywhere yet, chief. Right now we’re just following the trail of cash. What I do know is that if these arms, which are illegal for civilians to possess on this station, are coming in, they’re passing through customs, which is your department. We intend to find out how they’re coming in and who here wants them.”
“ere’s a dozen groups I can think of off the top of my head that want to see the floors of this station littered with the bodies of dead aliens,” said Garibaldi.
“Yes,” said Joseph Connolly. “But the question remains, how are these arms getting onboard, and why isn’t customs catching them?”
“I’ll start going over our records,” said Garibaldi, “and our video files. ere has to be something here that will point us in the right direction. Once I find something, I’ll bring it to you immediately.”
“at won’t be necessary,” said Connolly. “I’ve already assumed
control of your records and your video files. I’ll be reviewing them myself.”
“With all due respect,” Garibaldi bristled, “I would like to be a part of this investigation. If someone on my force is involved, I should be the first to know about it.”
“Yes, you should,” said Connolly ominously. “I would assume you can watch what I’m doing as you process your paperwork.”
So he would be doing paperwork after all, Garibaldi decided. “Look, as long as you and your assistant are here, you should take the time to get to know the station… see what we’re up against. Why don’t you send your assistant with Branson and check out the sta-tion?”
“Not a bad idea, I’m sure he would like to get to know the place,” said Connolly.
Two hours later, the stack of paperwork was three quarters the height it had been before starting. Garibaldi had kept his eyes on Connolly as the man sat stony-faced, watching the video archive. Peri-odically he would stop the video, back it up, enhance various screens, and then move on. He had yet to see anything linking with anything else. “Chief,” came a call over his link. It was Branson.
“Yeah,” said Michael.“Did you make an appointment with ambassador Mollari?”“Damn,” Michael said. He looked at the clock. He was fifteen
minutes late. “He’s down here at the Zocalo demanding to talk to you at once.
He says he made an important appointment with you,” said Branson.“Sir,” he said to Connolly, “If you can excuse me a moment, I
have a meeting with an ambassador I completely forgot about,” said Garibaldi.
“Of course,” said Connolly, as he zoomed in on a frame showing two travelers arriving at the main port.
Garibaldi raced from the blue sector to the red sector. Although he was originally loathed to agree to this meeting, there was still no excuse for keeping an ambassador waiting. At least not unless there were delicate inter-species negotiations going on and there was a need to stall. is was considered just plain disrespectful.
By the time he made it to the Zocalo, he was twenty-five minutes late, and Londo was seated at the bar under the neon Zima sign with an annoyed expression on his face. Michael walked up and sat down in the seat next to the ambassador. “Ambassador, I’m sorry I’m late. I know this wasn’t high on my list of priorities for the day, but I apolo-gize for the disrespect.”
Londo smiled, as though seeing a dear friend for the first time in years. It was often like this with the ambassador when he wanted something. Garibaldi knew well that Londo was able to turn this endearing quality on and off like a switch. Right now he wanted something, and apparently it was important. “Ah, my good friend Mister Garibaldi, the bartender has been keeping me company and refilling my drink. I kept telling him I was to meet someone impor-tant here, and he kept insisting that you wouldn’t show. You have won me a drink on the house, and for that I thank you. You see, good things come to those who learn to slow down.”
“Look Londo, I appreciate your good humor, and on any other day I would drink some water alongside you, but today in addition to the list of things I told you about earlier, I now have to deal with an Internal Affairs investigation. I’m suddenly not having a very good day.”
Londo smiled pleasantly. “Don’t worry. I know you, and you will make it through this. You see, you are a good man. Despite that fact, you are also a smart man, and you will weather this investigation. I’ve
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seen you in far worse predicaments.”“Don’t remind me,” Garibaldi said. “So what is this about?”“I have a missing item that disappeared when passing through
customs that I need found as quickly as possible.”“Customs?” Michael muttered. at was the second time in the
same day customs was mentioned. “What’s the item?”“A small item from a very small family. One of my wife’s cous-
ins’ families dates back several hundred generations. ey are the Gedari’s, a disagreeable bunch of barbarians that happen to have deep ties to my own family. A thousand years ago three golden Grestars were crafted from gold. ey were immediately made family heir-looms and have been treasured ever since. Over the years, two of these Grestars have been destroyed. One was destroyed on the Narn home-world when the servants rebelled. Another one melted into a small puddle of gold when their mansion on Centauri Prime burned to the ground fifty years ago. Recently they have been traveling, so they have entrusted me with the last Golden Grestar.”
“So, what do these Grestars look like?” Garibaldi asked, wonder-ing where he would even start looking to turn these up.
Mollari frowned for a moment, then pointed at him, “ey look almost identical to one of those Earth creatures, um… what are they called? Ah yes! e mongoose!”
“So you want us to find a golden mongoose?” Garibaldi asked incredulously.
“No, mister Garibaldi, I want you to find me the missing Golden Grestar. If word should leak about this item disappearing, it would bring shame and embarrassment upon my family. Even worse, my wives would have yet another excuse to hate me,” Londo said.
“I won’t ask,” Michael said, not wanting to get into a discussion with Londo about his multiple unhappy marriages. He knew one of the things the ambassador appreciated about being on the station was that he was well away from the lot of them. “Are you sure that this thing actually made it to the station?”
“Yes, it was being shipped aboard the Noble Saber. e ship made it, the pilot disembarked, his clothing and personal items ar-rived, but the Grestar was no longer in the container he shipped it in.”
Michael looked at the ambassador who was also his friend, “Look, I’ll see what I can do. If it disappeared in customs, that means one of my men is crooked, and that isn’t something I want to deal with right now.”
“Internal Affairs,” Londo muttered as he sipped a blue alcoholic beverage from his glass. “I hope nothing is wrong, Mister Garibaldi.”
“Me too,” said Michael. “Me too.”Garibaldi and Branson met privately in his quarters. Despite the
cautions from Mollari, he simply didn’t have the time to track down the Grestar and deal with Connolly. He had explained ambassador’s situation and the need to handle I discreetly. Branson, having never been given an assignment of this level of importance, was more than willing to take on the responsibilities.
“So look,” said Garibaldi, “I know that up until now I’ve mainly had you walking the halls and making sure everyone is playing nice. I’m giving you the authority to access the stations sensor system in case that helps, and permission to bother the ambassadors if you need to conduct this investigation. I’m going to be at my office making sure Connolly finds what he’s looking for. Since you’re on this thing, why don’t you see if you can get Weller to go with you. e fewer of these guys I have to deal with the better.”
“Will do, chief,” said Branson. “I have to get back to my office. I get the feeling I’m not above
suspicion,” said Garibaldi. “Keep me informed of anything you find.
Since both of these issues trace back to customs, they might be related.”
Ten minutes later Branson had managed to extend his offer of hospitality to Weller. Branson was still new to the station, having ar-rived only a few months ago. He still hadn’t gotten used to the motion of station, and he swore that he felt the gravity increase slightly every time the portion of the station he was in rotated closer to Epsilon 3.
Unlike Connolly, Weller seemed to be riding the coat-tails of the successes of his superior. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties to his early thirties, with wavy blond hair that was immaculately placed with hair gel. “So the chief told me one of the ambassadors has been having problems getting things through customs,” he said. He knew this wasn’t the entire truth, but it would serve for now. “While the chief and your boss are going over the security records, it seemed like a good idea to me to go down to there and ask some questions.”
Weller, expressionless, didn’t seem too eager to move. “What sort of items isn’t the ambassador getting?”
“I don’t know,” said Branson. He decided a bit of truth wouldn’t hurt since Weller couldn’t possibly know the gravity of the situation. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely certain he himself fully understood the gravity of the situation. Londo Mollari had always been aloof un-less he wanted something. “I hear it’s a golden mongoose.”
Weller walked over to the nearest computer panel. “is should be easily solved. We can use the station’s internal sensors to detect gold. If it’s still on the station, it should show up.” Weller inserted a data crystal into the station terminal, giving him security clearance. He said, “Computer, run a scan for all concentrations of the base ele-ment gold on the station.”
e computer brought up a schematic of the station. ree dimensional vectors began to appear, denoting the coordinates where gold could be found. One appeared after another for several seconds. At the bottom of the screen they saw the total number of items detected: 22,150.
“We’ll need to narrow it down from this,” Weller said. “Do you have any idea how big it is?”
“Based on what Garibaldi told me, probably more than ten pounds.”
“Limit the search to all items ten pounds or heavier,” said Weller. For the next several seconds numerous items dropped off the screen. At the end, there were still over five hundred items left.
Branson looked at the screen. “No offense, but this doesn’t prove anything. Even if we checked them all, there are several methods to conceal gold so that the scanner can’t find them.”
Weller didn’t reply to the security guard. “Computer, I want you to narrow the search to any item within fifteen meters of any materials used in the manufacturing of weapons or explosives.” ey watched as most of the coordinates disappeared from the screen. e only one remaining on screen was in one of the private docking bays. “What ships are docked in that section?”
“An ambassador’s ship?” Branson asked incredulously. He punched up the station’s docking logs. “I don’t even believe this.”
“What?” asked Weller.“I think we need to pay a visit to ambassador G’kar.”G’kar came to the door wearing a loose gauzy shirt, which
indicated that he was most likely resting. Branson caught a glimpse through the door to see a barely clad human woman with long brassy hair lounging in one of the ambassador’s chairs. “Gentlemen, to what do I owe the pleasure of your arrival?”
Branson averted his eyes from the woman in the narn’s quarters. G’kar had a reputation for his conquests of human women. “Ambas-
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sador, we found evidence of some troubling items onboard your ship.”“I’m afraid I don’t understand. What sort of troubling items?”
G’kar asked with a concerned look on his face.“A large lump of gold and materials that indicate the presence of
banned weapons. ese materials link you to an investigation we’re currently working on. I’d like to ask you to show me to your ship.”
G’kar smiled. “I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. I’ll take you down there in five hours?”
“Ambassador, I understand your position of importance, but I would appreciate it if we could clear this up as soon as possible,” Branson insisted.
“Is Sinclaire aware of your actions? Do you understand that your insinuations come very close to accusations? I assure you that the Narn Regime will not take kindly to this invasion of my privacy.”
“I’m just conducting an investigation ambassador. e sooner you give me access, the sooner we can clear this up,” said Branson.
G’kar stood in his doorway for a moment. “Very well. In the in-terest of cooperation, I will accompany you to my ship so that we can put to rest any concerns you might have. Give me a moment to dress.”
A few minutes later G’kar, Branson, and Weller hopped into a transfer shuttle that took them through the low gravity zone at the center of the station from Green Sector to Blue Sector where the ships were docked. ey rode in silence. It was obvious G’kar was only grudgingly going along with this, and Weller was annoyed with the situation. Branson knew that the Internal Affairs officer would be much happier sitting behind a desk interviewing people he considered suspicious. Hopefully this was keeping some of the heat off Garibaldi while he worked to get this all sorted out.
A few minutes later the trio stood outside G’kar’s ship. “Ambas-sador, I would ask you to open this up so we can search it.”
G’kar inserted a data crystal that keyed the door to open. As the door slid open, the body of a gray suited security officer slid to the floor. His throat had been slit from ear to ear and his uniform was drenched in blood. G’kar’s eyes widened in an unmistakable mask of rage, but by that time Branson’s training had already taken over. e PPG leaped from its holster into his hand, and he was pointing it at the ambassador. “G’kar, I’m placing you under arrest!”
“is is an outrage!” G’kar practically screamed. “I have never seen this man before in my life, nor would I have any reason for kill-ing him and dumping his body in my own ship. I demand to speak with the commander immediately!”
Weller simply placed his hand on Branson’s wrist and forced him to lower the weapon. “Ambassador, I apologize for the rash actions of this security officer. I recognize your rank and position, and I recognize that this man has no authority to place you under arrest. I would appreciate it if you would allow us to search your vehicle as we had discussed.”
Branson shot Weller a cold stare. A member of the security team had clearly been murdered, and they were quite possibly faced with the murderer right here and now.
G’kar let out a long sigh. “Very well, search my ship. It’s obvious that someone is trying to frame me. I won’t resist, though this is on the verge of becoming a diplomatic incident.”
Weller entered the spacecraft while Branson nervously kept his finger on the trigger of the PPG. A moment later Weller emerged with a handful of gold in the shape of a mongoose.
Branson raised his right hand and activated his link. “Chief, we have a situation here.”
Sinclair’s office was a cacophony of hysterical voices. After bring-ing out the grestar, Weller had found numerous PPG’s and small
explosives locked in a storage trunk inside the ship. G’kar, barely a step away from a holding cell, gesticulated wildly
while proclaiming his innocence, all the while restating over and over that he knew nothing of this matter. Garibaldi stood silently next to the commander, while Connolly stood with a deep scowl on his face. Branson and Weller were busy trying to explain their findings while Londo Mollari stormed back and forth, caressing the golden grestar with one hand while pointing at G’kar, restating that he knew the narn was behind it.
“How many times do I have to tell you that we can’t trust this one?” Londo stormed at Sinclaire. He then spun on G’kar, “What were you planning to do with it. Eh? Sell it? Melt it down and turn it into one of your pagan gods?” is last comment drew an angry growl from G’kar. “Or perhaps you were planning to hold it for ransom. Shame on you G’kar!” he shook his fists at the ambassador. “Shame on you!”
“Commander,” said Garibaldi, “I seriously doubt that G’kar would be this brazen…”
Connolly cleared his throat, “I find it interesting that you would defend the ambassador, Garibaldi. Aren’t you interested in justice? One of your men is dead.”
“A fact that I feel horrible about,” G’kar interjected, “but I must insist that I knew nothing about this.”
“I demand that he be brought up on charges for murder!” Londo stormed.
“OK, everybody shut up!” Sinclair said, raising his hands above his head. “Yes, this is a difficult situation, and if anyone should be an-gry, it’s chief Garibaldi and myself. One of our men is dead, and right now we don’t have any leads.”
Londo shot Sinclaire a menacing glare.“I don’t believe G’kar did this for a second,” said Sinclair. “I’ve
seen frame-ups before, and this stinks of one.” He shot Connolly an icy glare. “Sir, I understand your desire to track down the source of the problem, but this issue just became a diplomatic matter. As a diplomatic matter, I need Mister Garibaldi’s resources at his disposal for the duration of the situation. I order you to return control of all the records you have taken to my chief of security until this situation is resolved. You can resume your business here once we have gotten to the bottom of this.”
“Commander, I must protest!” Connolly shouted. “It is very clear to me that your chief of security is involved with this in some way based on the fact that he is defending the prime suspect. e fact that you are backing him suggests to me that you are either so far under his influence that you can’t see guilt when it’s staring you in the face, or you are in on it!”
Sinclair smiled. “I was waiting for you to come to that. You’ve been on the station for a few hours and already you’ve damned my chief of security and you’re trying to implicate me. You have nothing more than circumstantial evidence to prove your allegations.” All eyes in the room were on him as his voice boomed, “You’re clearly on a witch hunt, and I’m not about to allow you to advance your agenda on my station. Now get out of my office!”
Connolly slammed his fist on the commander’s desk. “I’m going to report you for interfering with an Earth Dome investigation, com-mander.”
“Go right ahead,” said Sinclair. He motioned towards the door, indicating that it was time for the Internal Affairs officer to leave. Con-nolly motioned for Weller to follow him out and the two exited the room.
“Commander, I appreciate what you said,” said G’kar.
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“Commander, I insist that you arrest him,” Londo stated.“Londo, I have absolutely no authority to arrest him at this
time. We have a number of facts left to gather, and I’m still waiting for Doctor Franklin to report back with some basic information, like when the security guard died. G’kar, while I don’t buy any of this, you are still potentially in a great deal of trouble. Now, everybody get out of my office, except for Michael.”
e ambassadors left, bickering between themselves as they walked out. “You should be in chains G’kar!” Mollari shouted. “Chains!”
“Yes,” replied G’kar. “I’m quite certain you and your people would love to see that. May G’quan protect me from your evil.”
Branson followed the pair out, wondering for the first time if he really wanted to advance in the ranks and deal with these individuals on a regular basis.
“Michael, we need to find a solution to this quickly. Earthdome will be on the line within the hour if this isn’t resolved.
“Commander, thanks for what you did.”Sinclair rubbed his temples. A massive headache had formed in
the last hour and was getting worse. “Don’t thank me just yet. ere is a very real chance that Connolly could end up with exactly what he wants: our heads on a plate.”
“It turns out Zucker had been dead for three hours when you found him,” Garibaldi said to Branson. According to station logs, G’kar was in a meeting with the drazi at that time, so he is definitely not our killer,” said Garibaldi.
“at’s good to know,” Branson said.“But that leaves us at minus one suspect, and still one of my guys
dead,” Garibaldi said.“He was found in his uniform,” Branson mentioned. “at means
that he may have still been on duty when he was killed.“Let’s take a look at the security video in customs,” Branson said.
He called it up, and spotted Zucker on the monitor. “Looks like it was pretty slow there during that time. He noted a centauri, who looked to be in his mid-twenties walk past one of the cameras. Zucker disap-peared into the bathroom. A moment later another security officer emerged from the bathroom, moved out of range of the camera, and walked off.
“Back up the video and zoom in on that centauri,” Branson said. e computer backed up a few seconds to show them the face of the centauri. “Put that on monitor one.”
e tape played forward for about a minute. e centauri was carrying what looked like a heavy duffel bag. He moved off camera, and when he returned, the duffel bag was no longer in his arms. He then moved into the same bathroom Zucker had gone into before disappearing from the screen. A moment later the second security of-ficer on the tape emerged from the bathroom. “Zoom in on that man’s face and put it on monitor three,” said Branson. e computer did so. It was obvious that they were the same person.
“Centauri wear hairpieces,” said Garibaldi. “When they take them off, they look close enough to us to pass as human. Just one question. How did they get the body out of the bathroom?’
“It’s a short walk from customs to the docking bays,” said Bran-son. “Maybe he snuck him out.”
Garibaldi nodded. “ere’s a ventilation shaft that runs from the bathroom through to the docking bays. So if the Centauri walked away from the area disguised as one of us, who took the body?”
Garibaldi and Branson looked at each other incredulously. “Com-puter, what time did Connolly and Weller pass through customs?” Garibaldi asked.
e computer displayed the time, five minutes earlier. According to the logs, they came in on the same ship the Centauri had disem-barked from. “Computer, bring up the face of Weller on monitor four,” Branson said. Weller’s face came up. “Son of a…”
Sinclaire raced to keep up with Garibaldi, Branson, and three other security officers. “I just got done explaining to Earthdome that we couldn’t comment on this situation for security reasons. ey insisted that we stop interfering with Connolly’s investigation. I told them that he would be allowed to continue just as soon as we sorted out the diplomatic crisis. Care to tell me what’s going on?”
“Connolly and Weller are the ones that killed my man and planted evidence in G’kar’s ship. I have it all on vid.”
“So why am I here,” Sinclair asked as they walked towards cus-toms.
“To be a witness, in case they resist,” said Garibaldi. “ey obvi-ously commandeered all the videos to stop me from examining them. When you returned control of it to me, they knew it would be just a matter of time before they were discovered. at means they’re probably catching the first flight off the station, which departs in five minutes. ey’re boarding right now.”
Customs was full of passengers waiting to depart the station. e security team scanned the room, looking for the pair, knowing that they’d had the time to disguise themselves as any alien that fre-quented the station. Garibaldi scanned the room, caught a glimpse of metal, and pounced on Sinclaire. “Commander! Down!” he said. e two men collapsed in a heap on the floor as a PPG round flew mere inches over their falling bodies.
“e drazi and the Centauri!” Garibaldi shouted. e security team’s PPG’s were already drawn and firing.
e two disguised Internal Affairs officers ducked behind some luggage and squeezed off several shots. Branson heard the scream as one of the station security men went down behind him. He threw himself to the floor and fired several times. e PPG blasts destroyed the luggage of one of the terrified passengers, but the pair kept mov-ing.
Garibaldi climbed to his feet and moved quickly towards the oncoming shots. He knew they were trained with their weapons, so he tried to keep himself behind cover as much as possible. He passed behind a couple of plants, then behind a series of chairs. PPG impacts sounded around him. Garibaldi jumped up, squeezed off two shots and saw one of the figures fall.
Connolly was the one remaining, wearing a Centauri head dress. He took aim at the security officers manning the gate, both of whom ducked as he raced to the airlock. Branson knew that if Connolly made it to the ship, he would have the leverage necessary to get off the station. ey could always try to keep the ship from leaving, but Connolly would threaten to crash it into the interior of the station. At that point their decision would be between risking the lives of the humans and aliens in that section, or letting him go. Ultimately they would decide to let him go. Less than a minute after clearing the sta-tion, they would be safely through the jump gate and in hyperspace. It was a losing proposition. Connolly could not be allowed to get to the ship.
Branson ran full on, firing his PPG as he went. Connolly turned around, fired a couple shots as Branson leaped towards him. He felt the pain and the burn as one of the PPG shots connected with his chest. His body landed on Connolly, forcing him to the floor. e room became a blur for Branson as the remaining security person-nel held Connolly down. A moment later there was the sound of one more PPG shot as Connolly pointed the PPG at his own head and
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pulled the trigger.“Get him to Med Lab!” Garibaldi shouted at the remaining secu-
rity officers, pointing at Branson.Sinclair had regained his feet and walked to Weller, the only one
of the conspirators that remained alive, if only barely. “ere’s some-thing more than two rogue officers here.” Sinclair shouted. “You’re working for somebody. Who are you working for?”
e fallen man looked at Sinclair. e pain he was in was obvi-ous. “It was C… Cl….” With that, Weller’s eyes went wide as the life flowed out of him.
Branson felt a dull burning in his chest. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on a bed, surrounded by medical scan-ners. Garibaldi was sitting at his side. “Did we do it?” he asked.
“You did good, Branson. You did good.”“Who was behind it?”“We don’t know,” Garibaldi said. “We pieced together that Con-
nolly and Weller were trying to make us look incompetent or guilty of a crime while creating a major diplomatic incident in an effort to make the station look bad. If they would have succeeded, they might have been able to convince Earth to shut us down.”
“So will I live?” Branson asked.“ey shot you up pretty good,” Garibaldi replied, “but Franklin
says you’ll live.”“ank you chief,” said Branson. “I know I’m new here, but
thanks for giving me the chance to prove myself.”Babylon 5 continued to spin quietly, all alone in the night.
The Lesson of the MongooseBy Michael Mattei ([email protected])Section 15: e Lesson of the Mongoose Copyright 2003, Mi-
cheal W. Mattei
Special anks To: Laura Gonzales, Aaron Bynum and Jeremiah Wenneker for some much needed editing.- M. Mattei
I was there at the dawn of the third age of mankind. I had a hand in the shaping of history and I am proud of my contribution. My name is Jeremiah Streight and I am a ranger. However, I was not al-ways part of the army of light. is is the story of how I came to find my place within that honored body and how the unlikely influence of a mongoose saved my life.
e year was 2257, nine years after the Earth – Minbari war. At this time the Minbari remained nothing less than terrifying. e only thing that dwarfed the intimidation of the Minbari’s sheer wrath and power was their mystery. e Minbari tore a swath through every military engagement they had with us save one, and when the jug-gernaut of their fleet reached Earth, they surrendered but not before they killed my father who fought in the battle of the line just mere hours before their inexplicable surrender. Now, the Minbari had gone out of their way to be our friends, even going so far as to financially sponsor the creation of Babylon 5, the last attempt by Earth to create a meeting place where the different races could gather peacefully, to avoid the horrors of another war.
I never understood the sheer capriciousness of the Minbari, how with one hand they could bring us to the brink of extinction, and with the other help to make our dream a reality. How could I look one in the eye after they took my father away? e Minbari may have surrendered at the battle of the line, but we were truly the defeated.
I had joined Earthforce three years after the war, and served an unfulfilling four-year tour as a Starfury pilot on a cruiser patrolling trade routes with Centauri and Narn. Chasing down the occasional raider brought me no peace, so at the end of my first tour I received an honorable discharge and entered the public sector. e two years following my discharge I had spent partnering with a friend I met in Earthforce named Alexander Oden, but I called him “Lex” like everybody else.
Now, Lex was probably my best friend in the whole galaxy at the time but he was still very much a mystery to me. He was my squad-ron leader and had served in the war. Lex had even been at the battle of the line but he only knew my father in passing. Lex grew up on Earth and to listen to his stories you would think he had visited every corner of the globe. Apparently both of his parents were Protestant missionaries, and as a result he had grown up in some pretty exotic locales - at least they were exotic from my perspective, seeing as I grew up on Mars.
Lex and I contrasted each other on almost every detail. He was middle-aged, short, solidly built and dark while I was young, tall, thin and pale. However the greatest contrast between us was that Lex was gregarious where I was sullen. He was wise and relaxed where I was uptight and driven. Lex liked to talk a lot and tell stories, where I preferred to listen. We made great partners; he would secure our jobs and I would take care of all the details.
I was very proud of our track record; we never had a late delivery or a damaged piece of cargo in our two years in business. Lex was a master at planning ahead and I micromanaged every detail to the point of perfection. Our ship was one of those old solid Atlas class freighters that they just do not make anymore and frankly I think she was twenty years out of date when we bought her. We called her Anne, because that was the name painted on the side of the ship when we bought it. Anne could haul 100 metric tons for a quarter of a light-year and had a rotating command module. She was made to last and I loved her for it.
For many Babylon 5 was almost a mystical place. It was symbolic of human desire to avoid another war. at vaunted idealism meant little to me at the time and I could seldom look upon the wondrous space station without being reminded of the defeat which inspired it. However, Babylon 5 was not simply a diplomatic meeting post. It was a port in neutral territory where all kinds of commerce could freely flow with little restriction. It was at Babylon 5 that this story really begins.
Lex and I began running cargo to and from Babylon 5 as soon as it came online. It had not been online a year yet and we had already made over a half dozen stops there. Our latest shipping run, while quite drawn out and bogged down with several minor inconveniences, seemed too good to be true. We had picked up a single canister small enough that I alone could lift it. e Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5 was willing to pay for the use of our entire ship for that single piece of cargo. Lex and I were worried we might be shipping some kind of controlled substance at first, but we were told that it was simply very difficult for a Centauri to get a hold of and required extra care.
Lex and I had just docked and he was regaling me with tales of Earth when we entered the space station. He was in the lead with our paperwork and I followed diligently behind carrying the crate like a good junior partner.
Our business was small and we had no permanent staff beyond ourselves. If the cargo had been significant in size we probably would have hired lurkers to unload the ship. Lex felt sorry for those aban-
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doned people trying to survive in the underbelly of the station and I shared his sentiment. As a result they were always our first choice when trying to get some extra labor.
We had just passed through customs when we met the great Ambassador Londo Mollari himself. Mollari was not an even re-motely impressive fellow to look at, despite the fact he represented the “great Centauri republic.” His hair was propped up like the fan of a peacock, which indicated great status among his own kind. Despite his bizarre hairdo Mollari looked much like a pudgy middle-aged human in most other respects. His purple clothing was reminiscent of what Napoleon is often depicted as wearing but taken to a most gar-ish extreme and then decorated with oversized spectacularly jeweled medals to avoid any possible claims at being understated.
Mollari spotted us, that is, he spotted Lex and called to us with that thick, almost comical Centauri accent of his. “Mister Oden, my good friend, it is pleasure to see you again.” Lex and Mollari shook hands while I looked on trying to give the impression of being com-fortable standing there holding the crate. Fortunately Mollari spotted my discomfort. “Oh, you must be Alexander’s young friend, Mister Streight. I have been told much about you. Please come with me and I will show you where you need to put that.”
Mollari led us to one of the transports used to travel through the massive space station. As was his way, Lex made casual conversation with the Centauri ambassador. “Londo, I am surprised that you came to meet us yourself. Why didn’t you send someone to meet us?”
“Pah! Home world does not seem to value my position here on Babylon 5 enough to even provide me with a single aide, let alone a staff.”
“Well, I am sure that as the usefulness of Babylon 5 becomes more apparent they will send someone to help you out.”
“Always the optimist, eh Lex? With the luck I have been having, whoever they send will likely be in far less favor back home than I am. Bah, enough of my problems. Tell me, how is your father?”
“He is doing well. He and my mother are running a little church in Israel right now.”
ey went on like this catching up on old times and I ended up tuning out the rest of their conversation and turned a wary eye back to my fragile cargo. It was not long before our transport arrived at our destination.
We stepped out into one of the more spectacular areas of Babylon 5 - the gardens. Green stretched out before and above us inside the giant cylinder that was much of Babylon 5’s Red and Green sectors. e organic majesty was a welcome change from the gray surfaces found throughout most of the rest of the station. I did my best not to stare but I know I must have looked a little dumbfounded. I reminded myself to pick up some fresh fruit before we left the sta-tion, it may be expensive, but it would be a welcome change from the freeze-dried foods we kept on Anne.
Mollari did not even pause before the spectacular sight but led us down an out of the way path to a small, gated area. Mollari dialed a combination into the gate and it swung open. We entered Mollari’s private little garden and we were greeted by the sight of a Markab silently tending to several Centauri plants. Mollari motioned for me to step forward and with a giddy smile pointed to where I should set the crate. “Let’s take a look, shall we?” After I put it down Mollari ma-nipulated the locking mechanism skillfully. “It is a good thing you two always deliver on time, another day and this might have been lost.” He opened the crate to find a small rust colored plant connected to several nutrient feeds, and a ring of ultraviolet lamps arranged about it set on a timer. Mollari laughed triumphantly at the sight of it. “Do
you know what this is?” He did not even give us a chance to guess. “is is a G’Quan Eth plant.”
I beat Lex to the verbal draw “‘G’Quan Eth’, that is. . . Narnish isn’t it?”
Mollari directed his gardener to the plant. “I want you to put every effort into making sure that this blooms.” He turned his atten-tion back to me. “Yes, yes. . . It is a Narn plant. e barbarians are unwilling to trade with us and as a result squander these treasures to be burned as incense.”
Lex caught on much faster than I did. e displeasure in his voice was obvious. “Londo, you know we do not traffic in illicit items.”
Mollari’s response was slow and gentle, like a parent trying to explain a particular technical difficulty to a child. “e trafficking in G’Quan Eth is not monitored by either your government or mine. It is simply very hard to come by.”
“I have no doubt that is true, but how many Narn regulations did we just break?”
Londo waved off Lex’s concern dismissively. “Pah, Narn regula-tions! We are in neutral space. If we were bound by Narn regulations, I would be dead already.”
“If the Narns had realized what we were carrying and who we were delivering it to, we would be dead right now.”
Mollari’s expression turned dark. “Nothing happened and you have been more then compensated.”
Lex scowled, it always bothered me when Lex got angry. “I do not like this kind of treatment, Londo. Next time you need cargo run contact someone else.”
Mollari waved us away. “Fine then, be that way! Be gone!”Lex and I left without further comment. is marked the first
and last time I ever encountered the infamous Londo Mollari. For-tunately, I was about to meet someone who would soon become my most close and trusted friend. Of course, as with many life changing events, I did not see it for what was at the time.
Lex and I proceeded to meet our next client and he had just warned me about her. I was incredulous with his choice. “We are hauling cargo for a Minbari?! Lex, I know you are big on “Christian forgiveness” but this is ridiculous!”
Lex patiently patted me on the arm. “Jeremiah, my young friend, who do you think would be hurt if we simply decided to discard a whole new opportunity because of our personal feelings? I will tell you who: us and no one else.”
I relented. I always did. I loved Lex like a second father and I never could question him for long. I swallowed my outrage and after a few moments it was replaced with a morbid curiosity about our Minbari client. Despite my lingering bigotry towards the Minbari, I have wondered much about them ever since I was young man, too young to fight to protect my world from their onslaught. I had seen them in passing during our occasional visits to Babylon 5 but never had actually met one.
We were to meet our client in the Zocalo, Babylon 5’s main mar-ketplace. We got there with our expected punctuality and found our client sitting at a table contemplating a salad. She was not quite what I was expecting. She seemed rather young to me and even kind of cute. She had piercing green eyes and an upturned nose. I was almost sorry that her heart shaped face was topped with a smooth Minbari bone ridge. She was wearing the black and brown robes of a ranger complete with the pin consisting of both human and Minbari faces, but of course I did not realize the significance of her dress at the time.
Lex, of course, spoke for the both of us. He approached her table and addressed her respectfully. “Are you Sheh-nin?”
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She looked up from her meal and smiled back gently. She spoke with a faint unfamiliar accent and each word was followed by a mo-mentary pause, as if she were trying a little too hard to speak English precisely. “Ah, Mister Oden and Mister Streight, it is nice to meet you.” She corrected Lex almost as if she was sorry to have to make the correction. “My name is Sheynin. You made an admirable first effort, for a human.” Her gentle condescension stung me far more than it should have, but she instantly put me on edge.
ere may be no greater interpersonal sin than disappointing someone and Sheynin had disappointed me. I was expecting some blustering arrogant male rather than a mild-mannered girl trying to put me at ease. e worst thing about Sheynin was that I probably was determined not to like her from the moment I met her and I had a sudden realization it would not be easy. I was young and still too headstrong, and so I simply redoubled my efforts.
Lex was disappointing me by already taking a shine to the Minbari lass. He already sat down across from her and was hashing out the details of the operation while I just stood there glaring at her. Lex gave me a chilling look and then put me in my place. “Jeremiah, sit down.”
e table was small and circular, so I had to sit down next to Sheynin. She just smiled at me and knew that my glare had already failed, so I decided to simply turn my gaze elsewhere. I just let Lex do his work. e job was to be pretty basic with about a half week’s cruising time both ways. We were to deliver a full cargo-load of sup-plies to a Minbari facility located on a Drazi colony. e job sounded simple enough and lucrative enough, although the last requirement she provided got my attention.
“You want to come with us?!” I interjected and turned my gaze back to her.
She smiled at my reaction. “So you do speak, splendid. Yes, I must accompany the cargo.”
I looked to Lex to back me up but his expression told me rather clearly that he expected me to sort this out on my own.
“Listen . . . lady, we don’t run a cruise ship. It’s a cargo ship. We only have two bedrooms.”
“Is that necessary? After all, at least one of you must be at the helm at a time, correct?”
I looked to Lex again but he was clearly amused at my discom-fort, I made one last ditch effort. “It isn’t clean.”
“It will be sufficient.”Lex chuckled. “If it helps any, she can sleep in my room when I
am on shift.”I was defeated and I knew it. A Minbari was about to spend over
half a week in my ship, and I did not like the idea one bit. “You’re re-ally okay with this?”
Lex just nodded to me.I took this as an opportunity to leave. I would be trapped in close
quarters with the Minbari very soon in the future but I wanted to keep my distance for as long as possible. “I’ll head down to down-bel-low and pick out some lurkers to load the cargo. I’ll keep a close eye on them.” e biggest problem about hiring lurkers is that you had to keep a close eye on them all the time. Lurkers tended to be desper-ate, as is their right, and as a result there was always the chance they would sometimes try to steal from the cargo.
Twenty-four hours later Anne was fully loaded and our passen-ger was ready to depart. We departed Babylon 5 without incident and entered hyperspace. All that was left was three days in hyperspace and a little less than one in normal space with nothing to do but chat with our Minbari guest.
Now do not get me wrong, Lex and I had things we did on long trips when we were alone. He would paint, I would play the syn-thesizer. We both enjoyed reading and would often swap books and discuss them for days afterwards. However there is not a lot of room onboard Anne to avoid someone and Sheynin provided us with an unending stream of questions about humanity. Lex responded in kind and to be honest before long I was eagerly trying to learn anything about the Minbari race that she was willing to divulge. Two days into the trip, I had lost my ability to despise her at all and was beginning to think about how things would not be as pleasant once she left.
I did not sleep much during the trip and as a result there would often be periods when all three of us would be in the cockpit having long conversations about our races, how we differed and how we were alike. e conversation I remember the best was when we had started discussing the castes of the Minbari. Sheynin had just explained to us that she was of the religious caste of the Minbari and the two other castes: warrior and worker.
Sheynin was explaining to us her confusion at the human condition. “How is it that your people can find direction in your lives without the guidance of caste and clan?”
I was sitting at the controls and still looking forward while she sat behind me. I found it a bit easier to talk with her with only her faint reflection in the cockpit window before me. “We make do. You could say by following in my father’s footprints and entering military service I followed his caste.”
“And yet you abandoned military service for a task more suited to the worker caste.”
“It is a different galaxy, it seems all the good fights have already been fought.”
ere was an uncomfortable pause before Sheynin responded. “I would not be so certain.”
Lex was sitting in the co-pilot seat and sensed the tension in the cockpit and offered up one of his anecdotes. “Humans are not entirely without castes. Nearly half the population of India still holds great stock in their caste tiers. In fact it is my opinion that castes have kind of held back many Indians. I spent about a year there when I was about six or so.”
I chuckled. “You lived in India? I do not think you ever got around to telling me much about it.”
Lex nodded. “Well, the only thing I remember really vividly from my time in India was Ezekiel.”
Now Lex had gotten my attention. “Ezekiel? I do not think you have ever told me about an Ezekiel.”
Lex smiled to himself. “He was my pet mongoose.”Sheynin leaned forward. “What is a mongoose?”I foolishly answered her question before Lex could come up with
the words to describe the animal. “It is a kind of bird, I think: a big white . . . honking bird.”
Lex had a good belly laugh at my expense. “No Jeremiah, that is a goose. A mongoose is a . . . well it is kind of like a cat but skinnier and its fur is kind of rough with a big bushy tail. Mine was gray. ey could kill cobras. In fact I watched Ezekiel do it once.”
Sheynin did not fully grasp the description. “Cats, cobras: what are these things?”
I turned to Lex. “May I?” He nodded to me and I continued. “Cats are four legged mammals about so big.” I stretched out my hands about forty centimeters apart. “ey have teeth and claws and have been used to catch vermin by mankind for some time. Humans on Earth often keep them as pets. ere are even some on Mars. Cobras are scaly lizards without legs or arms, just a large tail with a
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mouth. ey move quickly and have poisoned fangs. ey are very deadly. I saw them in a zoo when I was in high school and they are scarier than they sound.”
Sheynin nodded to herself. “I believe I understand. So how does the mongoose defeat the cobra?”
Lex continued his story. “Well, a cobra only has to successfully strike once to kill its prey. So a mongoose denies it the single strike it needs. A mongoose would get the cobra’s attention and then dodge when it struck out. It would keep dodging until the cobra started to tire. en the mongoose would go for the cobra’s head and crush it in its jaws.” Lex was smiling as he finished his explanation, I could tell that he was reliving the spectacle of his own mongoose in combat. “It is kind of interesting how it is always a real battle. Both the mongoose and the cobra stand a chance of winning.”
Sheynin seemed to be quite interested in Lex’s mongoose. “What happened to your Ezekiel?”
“When my family went back to America for a year of fund rais-ing for missions, I had to leave him behind. Mongooses may be great pets but they can be dangerous for foreign ecosystems. ere are not even mongooses in American zoos.”
I felt slightly vindicated. “So, no wonder I didn’t see one at the San Diego zoo.”
Sheynin was interested in the mention of missions. “Mister Oden . . . .” She corrected herself. “Lex, are you saying that your family was in the business of religious ministry?”
“at’s right. I even thought about joining the force as a chaplain for a time. Although when I was younger, stories of the Dilgar war inspired me to be a crusader of sorts. When humanity entered the Dilgar war, our actions saved the lives of many species in what is now e League of Non-Aligned Worlds.”
Sheynin was really interested. “It is as if you have experienced the life of all three castes of my people in the course of your life.”
“Well, I would give none of it up.”“Is it like this for all humans, to experience all the aspects of
duty?”“Not always, but often.”
“So, your apprentice, Streight, is with you to gain appreciation of the religious aspects of the human way of life because he already knows the path of the warrior and the worker.”
I choked back a laugh but Lex delivered a rapid-fire response. “Yes, but he doesn’t know that.”
I looked over at Lex but his face was deathly serious. I shook my head, turned my gaze back towards the stars, and I saw something. I pointed towards a rust-colored gleam lost on the field of stars before us. “I think that’s a ship.”
Lex turned on the external camera and zoomed it in on the ves-sel. It was dark red missile of craft that flattened out towards the rear with a blunted nosecone and had two glowing gold indentations on either side of the nose. “at’s a ship alright, but it is like nothing I have seen before.”
I turned back towards Sheynin. She feigned ignorance but I could see some level of recognition in her eyes. I pressed the point. “What is it?”
“I honestly do not know. I merely have a . . . suspicion.”“Which would be what?” “Danger.”“Lex, arm the guns.”Lex shook his head. “Don’t forget how the last war began. I will
not provoke them.”I toggled a switch on the console and the iris-like blast seal on
the front view port slid smoothly shut. “Well, I am not going into this unprepared.” I reached over to the engine control panel and primed the engines for a maximum burn. “If you are not strapped in now would be a good time to fix that.”
Lex quickly donned his safety straps and Shaynin, seeing his haste, followed suit. Lex reached towards the radio and I stopped him. “Let’s wait until we’re sure they’ve spotted us and they care about it.” Lex nodded, leaned back and stared into the little view screen with stony anticipation.
We just sat there for maybe ten minutes, cruising without the slightest alteration of our course. We were deathly silent, as if we feared that our voices could carry from Anne through the void of space to the alien ship. For a little while we thought it might just pass by without taking notice of us. We were not to be so fortunate.
e ship turned towards us and the twin ports on either side of the nosecone were glowing even brighter. Sheynin had a recom-mendation: “Perhaps we should open the gun ports.” Lex and I turned back towards her and she did not seem to understand our bafflement. “To show that we approach them open handed. To display our weap-ons shows that we respect them.”
I turned back towards the view screen and the indentations on the alien ship were glowing even brighter. “Lex, I do not think those are high beams.” I scanned the sensors. “Yeah, I’m reading a high energy curve. Arm the guns.”
Lex nodded his ascent. “Alright. . . .” Lex was interrupted because at that moment the alien ship discharged those ports, which were very clearly weapons, at us.
Without a moment of hesitation I fired the main engines at maximum thrust and angled Anne to avoid the blasts.
It is a common misnomer held by those inexperienced in the nuances of space flight that freighters are slow and ungainly. A fully loaded freighter accelerates slowly but it is capable of reaching velocities just as high as any other ship, provided the fuel holds out to continue the acceleration. Any good Star Fury pilot knows that acceleration is simply force divided by mass. Unloaded, Anne could be fairly nimble thanks to its powerful engines. Unfortunately Anne was still loaded to capacity, so we simply did not dodge quickly enough.
e force of Anne’s engines pushed us back into our seats. Even as we saw the two golden nimbuses of energy streaking through space towards us, I knew we would not get out of the way in time.
e first of the energy orbs struck the fifth cargo module, rup-turing it. e impact batted Anne to the starboard and the second ball missed us by a narrow margin. Anne shook violently and I could hear the grinding of metal as the driver which spun the crew compartment stalled.
Lex furiously manipulated his controls as he looked over the damage report. “Cargo module five is all but gone, and the main driver is jammed. I think they may have mistaken the cargo module for our fuel tanks. We were lucky that time.”
I manipulated my controls, turning us away from the alien ship. I grimaced as I found Anne to be drifting to the starboard. “e port main engine is bent too. e ship is listing. Dump module five. On second thought, dump them all.”
Sheynin was concerned. “You are dumping the cargo?” Lex answered her as he overrode the safeties and detached
the cargo sections. “Anne is an old ship and it was designed to be modular. Its cargo area is made of five separate modules which can be detached and swapped in for another to allow for quick turnaround at the destination. Of course the modules are out of general service now, so we do not usually detach them.”
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I could feel a surge of acceleration as the modules came loose. “I am going to try to keep the detached modules between us and our friend.” Despite our sudden surge of acceleration Anne still seemed overly sluggish. A quick count confirmed my worries. “Lex, I only count three modules out there.”
Lex released his restraints, grabbed the ceiling and pushed himself to the back of the compartment as he explained. “e control relays must have been severed by the blast.” He grabbed his space suit from off the rack and hastily started putting it on. “I’m going to go manually jettison the last container.” He used the handholds on the ceiling to leave the cockpit.
I nodded. “Okay, good luck.” I activated the guns and pro-grammed the computer to aim them. “I don’t know if our weapons are going to make any difference against this thing but this is worth a try.”
Sheynin’s voice was full of desperation. “We must destroy that ship, lest it attack our facility or report our location back to its mas-ters.”
I was little annoyed. I was desperately trying to think of a way to survive this confrontation and she was demanding I destroy an enemy I knew nothing about with nearly no combat resources. Who did I look like, John Sheridan? “e guns mounted on Anne are made to discourage raiders, not take out something like that . . . .” Our adver-sary was already clearing the modules we had detached and gaining on us. “Why haven’t they fired?”
Sheynin looked over my shoulder. “Perhaps their weapons are a form of capacitor which must be charged before it is discharged.”
“Maybe we can use that. If we had anything to hit them with. . . .” I keyed the radio to Lex’s spacesuit. “Lex, how are you coming with module four?”
“I just got into place. I’ll override the relays in just a moment.”“Okay, get everything set but do not release it until I say so, and
be ready to do it a moments notice.”“Jeremiah, what are you doing?”“Ezekiel, your mongoose gave me an idea. If we can avoid the
next set of shots from our friends I think I’ll have just enough time to ram module four down their throats. It’s the same principle as the mongoose fighting the cobra. ey’ll be toothless right after they fire . . . hopefully. at will give me that one chance to ‘crush their head.’”
Right after I got Anne, I made some modifications to the controls. I can flick a switch and all the thrusters on a side are slaved together, so I can fly Anne something like a Star Fury. is switch I toggled right at that moment and while I was at it I doubled the fuel pressure to those thrusters, placing them far above safe operational levels. It was not a moment too soon because a second later the alien ship fired again.
First I fired a far above maximum burst from the port and bot-tom thrusters. is time Anne moved much more quickly that it had the last time the enemy fired upon us. Several warning lights flashed at me; I had blown out several docking thrusters. I then turned Anne back around and steered it right down the enemy’s throat. “Lex, we’re going to be there in less than fifty seconds.” I pushed the main engines the best I could. “Sheynin, go limp.”
I was using the fourth module as a very old fashioned weapon. Twenty metric tons can make a very effective bludgeon. Just as we were about to collide with nose of the enemy ship and I fired the top thrusters. “Lex, now!” We ducked under the enemy ship’s path just as the module detached. I closed my eyes and continued to accelerate past the enemy as fast as I could. I almost blacked out from the force of acceleration. A moment later a shockwave shook the ship.
I opened my eyes. “Well, do you think we got them?” I turned
and looked back to see that Sheynin was out cold. I certainly hoped that I had not killed her. I spoke into the radio. “Lex, are you alright?” I heard nothing in reply. I fired full breaking thrusters, and very slowly Anne started to decelerate. I examined the fuel gauges sadly. It looked like I had used most of the fuel pulling my little mongoose stunt and now we were leaking whatever we had left. Damage control was lit up like a Christmas tree; the shockwave really took the last wind out of Anne’s sails. I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to bring it to a full stop. e view camera was dead and the blast shutter was locked shut, which probably indicated the cockpit window had been compromised.
I release my restraint straps and turned towards Sheynin. I reached out towards her and managed to get a firm grasp of her leg and shook it. She violently kicked my hand off her leg and muttered something at me in her language which I doubt was complimentary. I held my hands up submissively and apologetically responded that: “I was just checking to make sure you were alright.”
She looked at me suspiciously for a moment and relaxed. “I apologize for my reaction.”
“I understand perfectly.” I started pulling myself to the back of the compartment towards my own spacesuit. “I need to make sure Lex made it.” Before I could make it there the compartment door opened and Lex wearily pulled himself into the room. I helped him steady himself and remove his helmet.
He looked pretty banged up but he must not have been hurt too bad because he chuckled at me. “Who taught you how to drive?” I just smiled and helped him back into his seat.
I pulled myself back into the pilot’s chair and activated our auto-mated distress call. “ere is nothing to do but wait.” I slumped back into my seat exhausted.
I am not sure how long I sat there, not quite asleep nor awake when I was roused by a clanging on our hull. Lex and I looked at each other, not sure whether we were being rescued . . . or worse. Our wor-ries were for naught because a moment later a pair of male Minbari dressed like Sheynin entered the cockpit. ey spoke with Sheynin rapidly in her language and she responded in kind. ey seemed satisfied with her response. ey towed Anne back to their base and recovered the surviving three cargo containers.
Uncharacteristically the Minbari explained what had happened. ey told us of the great war of against the Shadows that the Minbari fought a thousand years ago. e Shadows brought with them great death, destruction and chaos in their wake. ey told us how back then some races sided with and the Shadows just as alliances were forged to resist them. When the Shadows were finally defeated the only way their allies could survive was to join them in hiding. e Minbari’s greatest leader, Valen, prophesized that the Shadows would return and that time was now upon us. Apparently some of their agents from the past survived to return with them and that is what we had just faced. We never were exactly sure which particular agent I had managed to kill with my mongoose maneuver. I suspected that what I had fought was a kind of automated probe but there was not enough left to be sure.
e Minbari who rescued us had one other thing to tell Lex and me: that they were the Anla’shok, the army of light made up of mem-bers drawn from all castes of the Minbari, preparing to do battle with the Shadows when they again make themselves known. Until then the Anla’shok wait and watch, patrolling the rim and training for the com-ing battle. is base where we were towed to was a training facility to which we were delivering supplies. en they dropped the real bomb – I could join them if I wanted. I had learned of the foe and destroyed
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one of their agents. ey judged me and Lex worthy of membership in their number. We accepted their offer without hesitation.
I stayed at the Anla’shok, or Ranger, training facility learning Minbari fighting styles, how to fly their ships, how to use the Minbari fighting pike and probably most importantly I learned the language of the religious caste Audronado as well as certain parts of the Minbari religion, specifically those which explained and described the Shad-ows.
Lex did not stay nearly as long as I did. He left soon after I started training, using Anne to smuggle Ranger operatives from place to place. It was unfortunate but I never saw him face to face again. He and Anne disappeared shortly after the Shadow war began. Even in his absence Lex’s influence in my life is still strongly felt. Like him, I have come to appreciate the full value of stories and I feel that as long as I tell his story, he is still with us.
Amongst the Rangers I felt I had found my true purpose and I threw myself into my new duties with a renewed vigor. My initial resentment of the Minbari fled as I realized the war was as much a tragedy for them as it was for us, because they needed us to fight the coming Shadows and survive the coming darkness.
Among the human Rangers I became known as “e Mongoose” I would like to think is because I have molded much of my fighting style after these creatures, but I know the real reason is because of this story which I must have told to every Ranger I have ever met.
Sheynin became my partner as we acted as scouts and spies for the Army of Light. We had many great adventures as we served, and I flatter myself that we made a difference is shaping the galaxy as it is today.
But those adventures are another story.
Where the Heck is that Rat?By Richard Bax, Jr. ([email protected])Section 15: Where the Heck is that Rat? Copyright 2003, Rich-
ard L. Bax, Jr.
“For the love of ……IT’S A FRAGGIN FUNNY LOOKING RAT!!!!” At this point the vein in Garibaldi’s forehead was throb-bing like a badly tuned plasma conduit. Now normally I find these moments highly entertaining, as I love twisting his tail when I can get away with it. But in this case I was honestly confused and it seemed a simple enough question. I really didn’t know what a mongoose was. How in the world could a…uh…mongoose get into Garibaldi’s hair…uh…scalp like that?
Generally, when Garibaldi’s looking for a favor he tracks me down and starts dictating. At some point, usually about the point when I get bored, I invariably make a wise crack comment and he shifts to threats of bodily harm or how he’s going to make my life a living hell. I especially like those moments because he makes it sound just like he’s wishing you a nice day even as he describing his process for ruining your life. It makes me feel…needed. But he almost never resorts to yelling…well at least not this quickly. Obviously Garibaldi was under some high level pressure. Not good. Not good for me.
By now Garibaldi had slipped into his permafrost mode, which meant it was definitely time for me to keep my mouth securely shut. “Now I’m going to lay this out one more time Freddy and use small words so you can keep up. Some brat of a Senator’s kid lost his pet mongoose…his…funny looking rat. It was last seen running towards downbelow. Now despite the fact that this fool of a fraggin Sena-tor broke just about every customs and quarantine rule in the books
bringing his kid’s pet on the station, he’s decided to blame the Com-mander for loosing it. But you know how this works. Commander Sinclair’s is far to busy to deal with this stupid rat problem so now it’s my problem and you know how busy I am. So now it’s your problem. All you have to do is find the damn thing…ALIVE…in the next three days and deliver it to me. Nothing could be simpler. Right?”
Figuring it was safe to answer this one I nodded in agreement. “Sure Garibaldi. No problem…three days? You bet. I’ll find this…funny looking rat and….”
Garibaldi raised his hand and I shut. “Fine…whatever…just…go. And so help me Freddy, if you screw this up, I’ll come looking for your ass and when I do I’ll…” By then he was out of earshot as I hurried down the corridor. I couldn’t help but smile. Some things just never change.
By now you’ve realized that my name is Freddy. Actually, most call me Fast Freddy or Fixit Freddy if they need something or Fraggin Freddy if I’ve done something they feel I shouldn’t have. I live in the less reputable portion of Babylon 5 known as downbelow. Now I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m one of those pitiful “lurk-ers” ISN likes to do the occasional story about to make people like you feel all superior. Well you can just stuff it. I don’t lurk and I’m not pitiful. I just happen to live and work in downbelow. Yeah it can be hard and if you don’t keep your wits about you it can be down right lethal. But if I learned anything while in the Gropos it was how to stay alert. Surprised you with that one, didn’t I? And you heard right. I was ground-pounder. Even fought in the Earth-Minbari war, so I know a thing or two about staying alive. at’s why Garibaldi throws me the odd job every once and awhile. One vet to another.
Of course this was definitely one of the odder jobs he’s ever passed my way. Why bring a mongoose here? In space? Politicians have got to be some of the weirdest people in the universe. Probably a lawyer to boot. Chuckling at my own cleverness, I maneuvered my way through brown sector towards green sector. Confused? It’s really rather simple. e station is broken up into colored sectors. Brown sector is mostly engineering and the low rent district better known as downbelow. Interestingly, brown sector also happens to border on green sector that houses most of the alien population. Not that people of my position can happily mosey into green sector and say hi to the neighbors. Of course, green sector has its own downbelow as it were.
One of the more downwardly mobile areas of green sector is populated by a race known as the Pak’ma’ra. You know…big squidy looking things. No? How about their less pleasant name? e carrion eaters. You see, before I waste one second of my obviously valuable time looking for some funny looking rat I need to know if it’s even dead or alive. And if anyone would know it would be the Pak’ma’ra. Everyone in downbelow knows that Pak’ma’ra claim to have very refined tastes. Go ahead and laugh. I did the first time I heard it but they pay good credits for anything new, different and…well…dead. So if some funny looking rat carcass happened to appear in downbe-low, someone would have already tried to sell it to them.
Dealing with the Pak’ma’ra can be tricky. ey are shrewd busi-ness people. at and its hard to negotiate when you’re fighting not to spew your lunch across their dinner table. And the smell! Did I mention that they like their food nicely aged? And you wondered why their area of green sector is downwardly mobile. All of the other races would like to move them right out green sector. Heck, right out of this sector of space.
But if I was going to bring this little search and rescue mission to a successful conclusion I’d just have to skip lunch and bite the bullet.
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Speaking of which, I slipped my lucky bullet out of my pocket and into my mouth. e taste helps with the nausea. And you thought I was just being cliché. e stench was really starting to build as I moved closer to the Pak’ma’ra section of green sector. is particular area isn’t watched very well by security for obvious reasons and there’s this bulkhead that isn’t nearly as solid as it first appears. Following a quick scan of the area I eased the panel open and slipped inside.
Fifteen gut wrenching minutes later, and I do mean gut wrench-ing, I slipped back into brown sector. Seems my mongoose was alive and scampering or least not aging on some Pak’ma’ra’s larder wall. Of course that meant I was going to have to actually find the little bug-ger. But where should I begin? I could hardly look in every nook and cranny of this station. Searching all of brown sector alone would take years. No, I had to play this smart and think first. Do a little deduc-tive reasoning before I acted. And nothing lubricates the thinking box better than a tall frosty one, except maybe something smooth and mellow. Of course down here I’d have to settle for something semi liquid in form with a good deal of alcohol. An hour later, I was cool-ing my heels at the “Happy Daze” while swilling my first round and pondering my latest Garibaldi special.
e key point to this little problem has got be the fact that this mongoose is a pet of some little kid. at means it won’t have your typical wild animal’s fear of people. In addition, since it has never had to fend for itself when it starts getting hungry it will expect someone to feed it. at obvious someone would be its owner, but barring that, other humans. So all I have to do is be there when it gets hungry and comes out of hiding.
Not a bad bit of deduction, and yet, something didn’t quite add up. And then it hit me. It’s already been nearly a day since it…he…her? Call it a he….where was I? Oh yeah. It’s already been most of a day since he ran off. He’s already hungry. So he should have already made an appearance and the logical place for him to do that would be where he disappeared in the first place. But that clearly hasn’t hap-pened. How do I known? Simple. I know Garibaldi. And knowing Mr. Garibaldi as I do, I know that his first move would have been to assign several security squads to sweep the local area and he’d have made dang sure that they would have taken the time to look in every nook and cranny. After that failed to turn up anything, Garibaldi would have then left several troopers in the area with orders to keep an eye out for the little runaway. And he’d have let that play itself out for several hours before bothering to contact me which indicates they must have come up zero. So why would our hungry little mongoose leave the area? A better question is why would a kid’s pet run so far away as to not be found by Garibaldi’s troops in the first place? at was a tough one and would need further liquid consideration.
Raising my hand, I called for another round. When it finally arrived, I mistakenly asked how things were going. e waiter/bartender took my off-handed comment as an invitation to have a seat and begin to bore me with the details of his sad little life. Obvi-ously aware of my total lack of interest he quickly shifted to the latest gossip. It was pretty standard fare. Stuff that I’d heard hundred’s of times before. You know, the Vorlon ambassador eats people, other people keep disappearing in the lower parts of Grey Sector, Na’Grath got another con going…the usual. Bored to tears, I grunted at this last one hoping to keep the guy on one subject long enough to keep my brain from melting out of my ears. Besides, everyone in down below likes to hear about Na’grath’s latest con. It’s how we downbelowers like to feel superior to you.
Spurred by my grunt of interest, the bartender gets all coy and lowers his voice, as if he’s letting me in on some big secret. Apparently
Na’Grath got some little racket going with some human big wig that just arrived on station. I snort into my brew with heartfelt amusement as the bartender finally wanders off. I love when with Earth Alliance big wigs get it in the….Earth Alliance big wig? As in, Earth Alliance Senator? NO! ere’s no way. It’s a kid’s pet. Yeah it’s an Earth Alli-ance Senator’s kid, but it’s just a pet. Yet I knew, with 100% certainty. at mongoose didn’t just happen to escape, he was mongoose napped!!!!!
I must have sat at that table for a good 10 minutes staring into my now empty glass as I pondered that bit of realization. I mean come on! Stealing from an Earth Alliance senator, on an Earth Al-liance station, crawling with Earth Alliance soldiers! And stealing a pet! at does not strike me as a reasonable way to make a living. But then again, not all criminals are human and some might attribute far more importance to pets than we humans. And when it comes to alien criminals, Na’Grath is all that and more. He’s most certainly alien, assuming you consider a human sized praying mantis alien and he’s THE head honcho of the Babylon 5 crime syndicate. He’d certainly have the reproductive organs to give this kind of caper a try.
Here’s another interesting tidbit. Na’Grath’s headquarters is in the same area of green sector as where the mongoose first went missing. Now assuming Na’Grath did arrange to capture the little critter, he won’t be able to keep it with him. Word on the street is that Na’Gath’s species can’t breathe normal air and as a result, he has to live in a series of special environment rooms. Besides, Na’Grath would never risk having something incriminating close enough to implicate him. No, he’d have to keep the mongoose somewhere with a normal atmosphere while he made his ransom demands. Oh hell? Garibaldi will love that. I’m surprised I can’t hear screaming even now.
Still, it’s tempting to call in Garibaldi and let him deal with it. But I can already hear him complaining about the difficulty he has in enforcing Earth Alliance laws in the alien sector and how it’s my problem now, so I should quit whining and cope. But it’s Na’Grath for crying out loud. He’s made people disappear before and there’s this ugly rumor he likes to watch people go space diving without a spacesuits.
In the end, it’s an ego thing that stops me, from making the call, a reputation thing. I’ve got one down here and it counts for allot, and one thing you don’t do is go calling up the man when all you’ve got is guess work and B.S. No, the right call here is to play this one out on my own. Play it smart and cut the margin of risk but do it myself. us bolstered I leave the Happy Daze and head out to pay a couple of discrete calls on some of my more, ah, well informed acquaintances. With luck they might be able to find out where Na’Grath has a normal atmosphere safe house. Of course while they dig I’ll continue to canvas downbelow and see if I hear anything about a funny looking rat. Just in case my imagination’s got the better of me and run off with my common sense.
Two days later, all I have to show for my efforts are sore feet and an upset stomach resulting from another visit to the Pak’ma’ra. I’m down to my last day and I’m starting to think that this has turned into a colossal waste of time whose only result will be to buy me grief from Garibaldi. As it is I’m dodging security guards left and right assuming that in addition to trying to find the mongoose they’ll have orders to escort one Freddy Jones to Chief of Security Garibaldi. My precautions are confirmed a few hours later when word comes down the line that Mr. Garibaldi is becoming rather impatient.
ings are looking a bit desperate when, finally, my luck takes a turn for the better. A certain friend I contacted earlier seems to have caught a break. Turns out he’s found a place that one of Na’Grath’s
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goons has occasionally rented in the past. More importantly, this particular goon just happened to rent the place again the same day my mongoose went missing. Now isn’t that interesting? Being a firm disbeliever of coincidence I head for the address given with the expec-tation of performing a little reconnaissance.
It’s a non-descript little hallway with rows of access doors to the low rent apartments behind. Actually it looks every other hall on the station, a little grubbier than some, a little less than others. It’s in a better are of brown sector and three hallways always from another of those hidden accesses panels to green sector. Seems pretty obvious why this place would be used as a safe house by Na’Grath. Close to the boss so he can maintain some amount of control without being to close to be a bother. Unfortunately, it’s a rather empty hallway right now, which means I can’t just hang out and watch the place for a while without sticking out like a sore thumb. Not that I ever really planned on watching the front door. at’s for detectives in those silly crime novels you law abiding citizens love to read. I’m more of an alternate access watcher myself.
Specifically, I’m more of ventilation duct watcher, which is easier then you might think. Brown sector has its fair share of heavy equipment and of course it’s adjacent to grey sector which has the really heavy duty stuff. As a result, most compartments in these areas are equipped with high output atmospheric systems to vent off any escaped toxic vapors or other gas emissions which might occur during an accident. Unlike green and blue sectors, security around the access points to these air vent system is pretty basic. Generally little more than an access card scanner at the heavily armored entry points. Now if you’ve paid attention you know that one of my operating names is Fixit Freddy. In order to fix things one must have access to areas others cannot go. My access is currently provided by certain friend of mine. Yes, another friend. No, I’m not going to bother telling you his name. ey’re my friends and not yours if you get my drift. Anyway, my friend owes me a favor or five. It also happens that he’s a general maintenance worker, and in payment, he’s provided me a copy of his access card to maintenance only areas, like… air vent systems.
Two corners later I found the maintenance entry point and two minutes later I was in. It’s a tight squeeze but doing my own funny looking rat impersonation, I manage to wriggle my way down the vent without waking the dead. By avoiding my more voyeuristic impulses, I manage to find the right room in fairly short order. I’ll spare you the details of the room. Suffice it to say, if you’ve seen one boring low rent apartment then you’ve seen them all. But there in the corner, trapped behind a crude cage of boxes and screen material is what must be a mongoose…or a funny looking rat. He’s moving rapidly around the limits of his cage clearly looking for a way out. Suddenly, he slinks into a corner and curls up into a tight ball as his jailer enters the room from what must be the bathroom.
You have to give Na’Grath credit. e goons he hires are con-sistently big, mean and nasty. But then that’s the point. Who would want to mess with something that is so clearly capable of ruining your day? But they do come smarter and that’s where my best chance lies. All I have to do is out think this particular brute and I’ll be on my way with mongoose in hand and Garibaldi owing me yet another favor.
I know what you’re thinking. Trip the fire alarm system and when he runs out grab the mongoose. Good idea but the station com-puter is far to smart to trip the fire suppression system without there being a real fire. A distraction. I could create a distraction and when his attention was diverted, grab the mongoose and bolt. A possibil-ity, but remember my earlier comment on this particular individuals
level of brainpower. It’d take a fully loaded cargo lifter doing about 40 to even get his attention. Anything less probably won’t even get his synapses firing. ere must be a way.
For the next hour I watch the brute sit and watch the vid. When he isn’t sucking down container after container of some vile smelling liquid, he’d occasionally throwing nuts of some kind into the cage, though judging by the numerous nuts already scattered about the cage the mongoose isn’t eating. And throughout that entire hour I wracked my brains and tried to come with something simple and easy that did not involve me going toe-to-toe with this wrecking ball or resulting in him seeing my face. Well of course he couldn’t see my face. I have to live here after this little favor is over and if Na’Grath knew it was me who sprung the mongoose he’d make sure my remaining time on the station would be brief and painful. One little mistake and I’m done. So before I make one move, I need to have a good solid plan that minimizes the risk, something clever.
And then fate stepped in. Well actually it was the dozen or so beverages he’d consumed in the last hour. With a belch that set dust falling about me in the duct he lumbered up out of his chair and moved into the bathroom. Without thinking I pushed the screen covering the duct out of the way. It landed in the room with a sur-prisingly loud bang that set off a startled grunt from the bathroom. Wriggling like a madman I managed to hurl myself from the vent and across the room. With a hefty shove, I jammed a chair against the door to the bathroom just as the handle began to turn. So much for coming up with a clever plan. Within moments the door was rattling with a flurry of heavy blows. Realizing that the door would not last long under that pounding I tore across the room and scooped up the mongoose and stuffed him into my jacket. A moment later I was in the hallway and moving casually down the corridor.
At first I forced myself to move randomly down one corridor and then another. Had I moved directly out of the area someone might have noticed, so by taking my time and moving in no obvious direction I hoped I’d be overlooked. Of course this became progres-sively more difficult as the mongoose inside my jacket struggled harder and harder to get out. Finally I came to halt and tried to orient myself. at I was still in green sector was obvious but where? A few moments later I realized that I had actually traveled a fair distance through green sector. In fact, at this rate I could be in blue sector in another hour and in Garibaldi’s office soon after that. Feeling smug, I decided to take a closer look at my prize and see just what exactly a mongoose looked like. So I paused in an out of the way corner and hauled him out from under my jacket. Whereupon he promptly bit me right on the thumb and proceeded down my hand with the ef-ficiency and speed of a sewing machine.
e obvious result was me bellowing in pain and dropping the ungrateful creature as I grabbed for my injured hand. is in turn spawned a second bellow when it proceeded to scamper down the corridor and around the corner. For a funny looking rat, that sucker could really move. Within seconds I was pelting down the corridor in hot pursuit. I lost ground rapidly and was barely managing to keep up when I tore around the latest corner and slammed into a pair of Centauri. All three of us went down in a tangle of arms, legs and goofy looking hair.
“Which way did it go?” I yelled even desperately looking down one corridor after another.
“e what?” was the somewhat shaky reply? “e mongoose….my mongoose,” I cried. “Your what?” “Never mind” I replied hastily and stood.
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Unfortunately one of my new Centauri acquaintances rose with me, “Now see here my good man, one can hardly come tearing around bowling over nobles such as myself without facing the consequences.” He paused then finally noticing my shabby state of dress, “Are you even supposed to be in this area? I think it time I called security.”
At that point the second Centauri managed a groan from his still prone position and a dramatic shudder. “I…hate rats” he moaned. Rat! Did he say rat!
“Where?” I coaxed as I scanned the corridors yet again. “ere” was his weak reply and an unsteady hand pointed down
the second corridor. Even as I looked I caught a flash of brown fur at the far end of the hall.
“ere!” I yelled triumphantly and pushed off in that direction. Unfortunately, the first Centauri grabbed me by the arm and
pulled me up short. “I don’t think so ruffian. I think you’re going to stay right here until security gets here.” He smiled coldly in that way only Centauri can pull off. e smile lasted only a heartbeat before I turned and let him have a right cross to the bridge of the nose fol-lowed by knee in the gut. He went down like pile of dirty laundry. Right across his still down companion, which incited another round of pained groans.
Down the hall I flew only skidding to a stop when I got to the spot where I’d last seen him. A few moment of panic later I again caught a flash of fast-moving fur. is pattern would be repeated far too many times, and each time when I’d almost managed to convince myself that I’d lost him, I’d see another flash of movement and the chase would be on. Exhaustion was becoming a real problem when it finally reached my oxygen starved brain that I was gaining on him. As I slowed to assess the situation I came to the realization that we were now deep in blue sector, hell we were practically at the docking bay. Ahead the mongoose was acting strangely. Its tail seemed to have grown about 10 times bigger and he was moving in a slow then quick slinking motion. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was stalking something though for the moment I had no idea what.
At the next corner I again spotted the mongoose, only he was much closer now. His tail was still puffed up big and just ahead of him was a Drazi hurriedly moving down the corridor towards what I now recognized was the passenger terminal of Babylon 5. I groaned with the realization. If the mongoose made it into the terminal I’d never be able to track him down among all the activity. And based on the way mongoose’s attention was focused on that Drazi it was clear that was exactly where he would end up unless I did something fast. With little choice I started sprinting down the hall again. As the Drazi passed into the terminal the mongoose paused at the entryway opening the door for one last ditch effort. It was now or never and with that I dove for him.
If only I had been a little quicker. Somehow managed to leap just a bit further. Something. In short, I missed. e little weasel leapt away just as my hands closed on where he had been a fraction of second earlier. Worse, my momentum and the well-polished floors of the passenger terminal left me skidding cross the floor and into the middle of the terminal entryway. Only the fact that my face was gen-erating sufficient friction with the floor did I manage to finally come to a stop. Muttering darkly, I lifted my face only to notice 4 pairs of shoes standing around my head. One pair was all swank leather, while the second pair was similarly shod was much smaller. Worst of all were the other two pairs of shoes that were clearly Earthforce issue. Looking up was like a nightmare for there was Chief of Security Garibaldi glaring down at me and beside him was…could it get any worse…Station Commander Sinclair. I groaned and buried my face
back into the deck plates. Could anything else possible go wrong?“RIKKI!!!! Oh RIKKI. I’m so glad you’ve come home. I’ve been
so worried! You’ve been a very bad mongoose! And why were you chasing that poor Drazi? Bad mongoose!” Looking up once again I realized the small pair of shoes belonged to a little girl who was even now hugging the agitated mongoose to her chest. A huge smile of relief was obvious to see.
“Rikki was chasing a Drazi honey?” said the well dress man who leaned down beside her.
“Yes.” replied the little girl, who then unabashedly pointed at the same Drazi I had seen earlier who was now waiting in line to board his shuttle. “at one right there.”
“I see,” replied her father who looked over at Sinclair for some clarification.
Commander Sinclair glanced at Garibaldi briefly and then down at me. Garibaldi responded by grabbing me by the collar and yanking me to my feet. Sinclair stepped between me and what had to be the big wig Earth Alliance Senator and nodded towards the Drazi, “Rep-resentative Nag? I doubt he was even aware he was being stalked by Rikki-tikki-tavi here.” Sinclair nodded at the mongoose that contin-ued to wriggle in the girl’s firm grasp.
“at not his name!” complained the girl. “Its not?’ replied Sinclair. “No. It’s Ricky Speed. You know. He’s the famous rock star. He’s
so dreamy.” Sinclair responded with a frown, “I see.” en turning back to the
Senator he reached out and shook hands, “Well, in any case, every-thing worked out in the end. I hope to see you again Senator and have a safe trip home.” e Senator nodded and then herded his daughter and wayward mongoose towards the shuttle gates.
“Rikki-tikki-tavi?” mused Garibaldi. “Certainly Mr. Garibaldi,” smiled Sinclair, “you need to read your
Kipling.” At which point, smiling smugly, he exited the room. Unfortunately that left me to face the music with Garibaldi.
Unexpectedly, Garibaldi was actually smiling, which only made me more nervous. “Freddy, Freddy, Freddy. After that little entrance you just made I’m not sure what to do with you.”
I shrugged apologetically and stammered out, “It’s not my fault Garibaldi. I’ve been chasing that stupid thing across half the station. I wasn’t going to hurt it. Honest. I was trying to catch it. You gotta believe me.”
At this point Garibaldi was practically shuddering as he tried to contain his laughter, “It’s… it’s OK Freddy. I believe you. Of course I’d have preferred a much less dramatic presentation of the silly thing but the important thing is you got the job done.” He paused and eyed me closely, “I owe you one.”
I smiled for the first time in what felt like forever, “I think it should be two. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through trying to get that… funny looking rat of yours back.”
Garibaldi responded by throwing an arm over my shoulder and aiming us both back into the station, “Tell you what, lets go grab some food and you can tell me all about it, my treat.”
Headed out of the passenger terminal, I shook my head in amazement with the realization that I’d somehow managed to come out of this unscathed. Better still I had a favor coming from Garibaldi and that was no small thing. All things considered my little adventure had turned out about as well as it possibly could.
“Uh Freddy…?” “Yeah Garibaldi.” “You wouldn’t happen to known anything about a Lurker who
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beat up a pair of Centauri nobles earlier today in green sector would you?”
I turned to Garibaldi and innocently replied, “Haven’t a clue Mr. Garibaldi.”
Birth of a DreamBy Derek Johnston ([email protected])Section 15: Birth of a Dream Copyright 2003, Derek Johnston
e Babylon Project was a dream given form, or so they say. Well, I was there at the birth of that dream, or, rather, at the start of its realization. And I won’t be surprised if you don’t believe me when I say that it was all thanks to a centuries-old story, and a mongoose.
Let me begin properly by introducing myself. My name is omas Jackson, and I was a Captain in Earth Force. At the start of the Earth-Minbari War, I commanded the EAS underchild. We saw action exactly once, and my ship met its death from the fire of Minbari fighters that took it apart piece by piece. Our analysts say that they were probably taking the opportunity to find out how much of one of our ships they could destroy without destroying it outright. All I know is, whatever led the Minbari commander to take us apart like that, it saved the lives of most of my crew. In any other engage-ment, at any other time, we’d have been sliced apart by one of their great cutting beams, like so many other Earth Force ships. But we were lucky. As far as luck went in that war.
We spent most of the rest of the War on the colony of New Providence, which we had been orbiting when the Minbari attacked us. I led the surviving members of my crew in guerilla warfare against the occupying Minbari forces. Our intelligence suggested that the Minbari were avoiding non-military targets in their push for Earth; we guessed that they thought that they could come back and wipe out the rest of the human race more easily once the fighters were gone. Or maybe it was some sense of honor on behalf of their Warrior Caste. Don’t ask me; by the end of the War, I probably had more direct ex-perience with the Minbari than just about anyone else in Earth Force, and now I’m working alongside them, but I still do not understand them.
I mean, that planet should have been nothing to them. Our colo-ny had been there a couple of years, so it was barely established, only a few thousand people. It wasn’t on a major trade route, and it had no real strategic value. ere wasn’t even any sort of defense network in place, not even in-system fighters. But they occupied that planet and held onto it until the surrender at the Line, and all because of an old Minbari woman who was the toughest fighter I’ve ever met, and some ancient tunnels with carvings depicting a war that happened a thousand years ago, a war in which the Minbari played some part.
Now, I have studied history, and I have a great respect for what it can teach us, but I still cannot understand why the Minbari leader-ship devoted all the resources necessary to establish and maintain a garrison because of these carvings. Anla’shok Jokari told me that I might come to understand the importance of those carvings, but that, if I did, I would wish that I did not.
I hate it when people talk to me in riddles like that.Anyway, as you can maybe tell, after a while we ceased our
hostilities towards the Minbari, in the interests of survival. I defy anyone to do otherwise, when your enemy is more than willing to massacre innocents to gain your compliance. Besides, I had come to respect Anla’shok Jokari, possibly more than some of the Minbari officers, and allowed her to convince me that co-operation was the
best way to secure our survival. After all, as far as we knew, we were the only humans left alive, and I just didn’t feel comfortable condemn-ing the human race to extinction without at least conferring with the noncombatants.
And so the War passed for us. A couple of times, the Minbari allowed alien traders to begin trade with New Providence, supplying items that the colony couldn’t provide for itself. Mainly, it was a Cen-tauri called Vantari, but there were a couple of Brakiri as well, maybe some others. But I got to speak to Vantari and the Brakiri a few times. Vantari even seemed ready to help a few of us off-planet at times, but I could never figure out a way of confirming this, or of putting that plan into action. But the traders were our only real source of outside information, and, even then, they were not well informed regarding what was happening to the Earth Alliance, beyond the fact that it was losing. We’d hear of scattered groups of humans, crew of trading ships, private explorers, IPX teams, travellers, but we were the only concentration of human life that they knew of.
en, one day, the Minbari were gone.We didn’t know what had happened for a while. And then the
IPX ship arrived. ey distributed some relief supplies, and sent a message to Earth Force for me. And the Brakiri turned up again with more supplies, but they were driving a hard bargain now, and the colony didn’t have much to bargain with, and they still weren’t taking my
promises of repayment from Earth Force as credit. en, a couple of months later, the Menelaos arrived to take us home; those of the underchild’s crew that remained, anyway.
On the way, we were told about the surprise of the Minbari surrender at the Line. And we tried to explain everything that had happened to us on New Providence. Frankly, I think our data just provided even more confusion for the backroom boys back home.
Anyway, once we were back at Earth, the crew were scattered. ere was a lot of work to be done rebuilding the fleet, re-contacting Earth colonies, re-establishing diplomatic links and security, all the things that have to take place after a War, even if you’re the winner. Not that it felt like we’d won. In fact, like lots of other people, I was pretty much just waiting for the Minbari to turn around and wipe us out, like this was all some huge joke. We felt like our doom had been delayed, postponed, not diverted, not changed. Maybe that’ll help you understand why lots of us veterans still don’t feel comfy around the
Minbari.Well, I spent some time working at the shipyards in the Solar
System, managing the new-build projects to rebuild the fleet and de-velop new designs. It was a bit of a mish-mash of a job, to be honest, but it kept me busy. And, frankly, there wasn’t a ship available for me.
And it gave me time to think. I had seen the Minbari do some pretty brutal things during the War, like the officer who had calmly bashed out a civilian’s brains with one of those steel staves of theirs because the poor guy had charged at him in desperation. But I also knew that we had done some pretty bad things in our final scrabbling for survival. And those things had changed Earth Force. Not all of it, but now there was a strong element who believed that Earth had to remain strong in case it was attacked again, and they didn’t much care where that strength came from. ey came to me a couple of times, feeling me out, but I made it clear that I had my morals and that there were things that I would not contemplate, that I still believed that there were situations where death was preferable. What they’re doing now, I don’t know, but I fear that their actions will have dire conse-quences for the Alliance some day.
So I took some time off, to go back to Earth, back to my family.
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Getting there took me to Prosperity Station, from which I was sched-uled to take a shuttle down to Addis Ababa. While I was waiting, I went to the lounge, to look out onto the stars and the planet below. It tends to surprise civilians, but you don’t actually see much of the stars from the bridge of an Earth Force cruiser, and that little porthole in my quarters? Nothing much to write home about. Besides, the spin of the station provided a light sense of gravity on the outer rim, and anything to help me adjust back to gravity was a good thing.
e lounge was busy with Earth Force personnel, suits and a handful of others traveling through. I spotted a seat at a table by a port and made my way over. ere was someone already sitting at the table, a tall man in a traditional African robe and pillbox hat, a distinguished looking man whose skin was even darker than mine, more ebony than
mahogany, if you like.I asked if I could sit down, and, at his nod, slid into the chair,
placing my squeeze-bottle of drink in the table clips before me. Re-member, I said the station only had a light sense of gravity. We sat in silence for a while, just looking out into space as the view rotated from the stars to Earth and back around again. After a while, I realized that the man had turned to look at me. I returned his gaze levelly.
“Please forgive me,” he said, his accent West African, I’d guess. “Have I possibly seen your face before?”
“I doubt it. My name’s omas Jackson. I’m a Captain in Earth Force.” I held out my hand to him. Grinning, he shook it.
“My name is Calvin Natawe. Pleased to meet you.”“Have you worked out where you think you know me from, Mr.
Natawe?”“No, Captain. But maybe you can help me. Have you had much
contact with the other races in your time with Earth Force?”I shook my head at first, but then reconsidered. “Actually, Mr
Natawe, come to think of it, I’ve probably had a fair bit more contact than a lot of other Earth Force personnel. But there will be others who’ve had more than me. Why? What do you want to know?”
He smiled politely. “Have you had any personal dealings with the Minbari?”
I tensed, I don’t mind admitting that. And Natawe noticed. “I’ve dealt with the Minbari. at’s one alien that I probably have more experience with than most others. I don’t know if it means anything to you, but I was on New Providence.”
Natawe simply nodded. “en that will be where I know you from, Captain. I have an interest in cases like that of New Providence, where different races lived together.”
“Not through any particular desire on our part!” I immediately regretted the way that I had bitten off the retort, but Natawe didn’t seem bothered.
“Maybe not, Captain, but that just makes it all the more interest-ing. Because, ultimately, it did work, didn’t it?”
I hated to admit it, but I was man enough to do so. “Yes, it worked, after a fashion.”
“en maybe you can help me.” Natawe paused a moment, studying me, with a faint smile on his lips, before he asked, “Are the Minbari muskrats, rats, tailor birds, cobras or mongooses?”
“I ... I beg your pardon?” Needless to say, I was deeply puzzled by this question.
Natawe laughed. I must say this: that all the time that I knew him, he was always ready to find the joy in things, to laugh and smile, even when times were at their darkest. I think that it was his strength.
ough, frankly, there were times when it irritated the hell out of me.
“Are you familiar with the works of Rudyard Kipling, Captain?”“e Nineteenth Century British imperialist writer?”“at’s one way of seeing him, Captain, although not entirely
correct. As a writer, he had many sympathies with the native people that he wrote about as well as the British colonialists. In fact, I would say that he was more in sympathy with people than with any particu-lar politics.”
I shrugged, “What of him?”“He wrote a story called ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’, about a small mon-
goose who defeats the dread cobra Nag and his mate and thereby saves a family from the snakes. But he only accomplishes this with help from a rat, a muskrat and a tailor bird.”
“And what does this have to do with the Minbari?”“Well, Captain, I suggest that you read the story, and think about
it, and see what you think. In the meantime, I’m afraid that I have to leave; my shuttle to Geneva is due to depart. When you have an answer, let me know.”
As he said this, Natawe stood, carefully in the low pseudo-grav-ity. He held out his hand for me to grasp; I did so, and felt a slip of plastic in his hand. I looked at it: a business card, with the picture and name of Senator Calvin Natawe, President of Nigeria and member of the Earth Senate. By the time I had absorbed this, and looked up to say something to him, he had slipped gracefully away.
I had accumulated plenty of leave to take, and so, after having spent some time with my parents in Addis Ababa, I then went to visit my Uncle omas back in Missouri. Hell, I’d been named after him, and he’d been the one who started me learning blues guitar, and I needed to get back into practice, so I reckoned it would be time well spent.
It’s strange how people become locked in a little stasis bubble of time while we’re away from them. Our memories hold them as we last saw them, and we don’t consider how they might have aged. But Uncle had aged, and aged badly. He wasn’t the man who had taught me the blues, who had bought me my first guitar, who had taken my in when I went to the Earth Force Academy in the States. He was an old, frail man who needed a stick to walk, who seemed to spend a lot of time to sleep, and who needed looking after far more than he could look after me.
We talked, or, rather, I talked. He liked to listen to me, and it turned out that that was what I needed. I mean, it wasn’t like my parents and I hadn’t talked when I visited them, but somehow there was a lot more to talk about than my feelings of unease about my cho-sen career. In the face of Uncle’s fading, my mid-life crisis should have been unimportant. But, somehow, he just helped me to put everything in focus. With nothing else to talk about, with so little reaction from him, all I really had to talk about was me.
And when I didn’t feel like talking about me, I would read. e music that had meant so much to us didn’t seem appropriate some-how, and I’d never been a big reader of fiction, so I didn’t know where to start when it came to finding something to read to Uncle. Which is when I finally got around to reading “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”.
e story was a little strange to me, but I understood it. e human part of it wasn’t important beyond providing a world for the animal characters to interact in. At least, that’s how I read it that time. When I had finished reading, I looked at Uncle in his comfortable chair by the doors out to the balcony, and he looked at me and smiled. I settled back and took a sip of my drink, then looked back to the ter-minal on my lap into which I had downloaded the story and skimmed through it again.
After a time, Uncle swallowed and asked, his voice frail and
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quiet, “is story mean something to you, omas?”“I don’t know, Uncle,” I replied, honestly. “I mean, it’s just a kid’s
story, about bravery, but then it’s more than that. Isn’t it?”“I guess so,” Uncle wheezed.“Rikki, the mongoose, he couldn’t have done what he did without
help from the tailor birds. And he needed the information from the muskrat, who got it from the rat. Without their co-operation, pooling their knowledge and skills, the cobras would have won.”
Uncle nodded his head slowly over his two hands clasped on the top of his walking stick.
“Guess so.”I glanced through the story again, but I already thought I knew
what Natawe had been getting at. Now I had to decide on an answer. Once I had helped Uncle’s nurse, Marion, get him to bed, I went to the comms terminal in his sitting room and recorded a message to be delivered to Senator Natawe’s office. It read, “Who are the cobras?”
e following day I had a reply. All that said was, “Come to Geneva.”
I went to Uncle’s room and told him about the message. He nodded to me from his chair sitting looking out of the window. I remember that he was still in his pajamas, a ratty old robe wrapped around him, his hands resting on that damned cane of his.
“Guess you’re going to leave, then?”“I guess so,” I replied. “I think I just need to find out what this
Senator means when he talks about this story and the Minbari.”“Damned expensive way of finding out, if you ask me. Can’t you
use the EarthComm like everyone else!” But Uncle smiled at me as he wheezed after this exertion.
“I couldn’t sleep too well last night,” he continued after a mo-ment. “Seems like you can’t when you get to my age. Patterns all messed up. Sleep in the day; awake at night.”
He paused for breath again. ere was a sparkle in his eyes, though he did look tired. Marion hadn’t shaved him this morning, and I could see the white hairs haloing his chin as the light from the window shone through them. And I realized that the way that age had crept up on Uncle meant that age had crept up on me as well, and that I needed to get myself and my life into order. I guess that that was the moment that really confirmed to me that I had to follow up with Natawe, whatever followed on from that.
Uncle gathered his breath and continued. “Anyways, I got to thinking about your mongoose. Seems to me that he never gave up; that was one of his strengths, ‘longside listening to other folks, no matter what he thought of them. Don’t give up on your dreams, omas. Don’t give up on hope. Sometimes, it’s all we have.” He smiled, “Blues taught me that. But sometimes, hope, dreams, ‘s all we need.”
I left him there, sitting in the sun, looking out over the street, watching people going about their lives like an old Spanish don observing his people’s industry with approval. He died three months later, but we spoke one more time and exchanged a couple of letters. I learned that he was happy with his life, proud of me, and hoping that he’d be prouder still with whatever I went on to. And he mentioned other things to me, things to make me think again and again about the relevance of the story that brought together the talents of mon-goose, tailor bird, muskrat and rat. He mentioned names and
events, Dr Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, de Klerk ... people with dreams, hopes, or simply pragmatism, who helped to bring the people of Earth closer together, despite any superficial outward differences.
But that was to come.
I met Senator Natawe in a terrace restaurant at the Senate House, overlooking Lake Geneva. We each ordered a light lunch and then, once the waiter had left us, I asked the first question.
“So, Senator, which do you think the Minbari are: mongoose? tailor
bird? muskrat? rat?”He laughed, then leaned across the table towards me.“You know, Captain -”“Jackson,” I interrupted. “I prefer to just be called Jackson.”He accepted this with an inclination of his head, and carried on.
“Well,Jackson, you know that there really is no answer to that question.
A metaphor is a metaphor, not the thing itself.” He leaned back in his chair, then cocked his head to one side and smiled again. “On the other hand, I would say that, for this time at least, the Minbari are the rat. If you remember, the rat knows something, but does not directly tell Rikki-Tikki-Tavi; in fact, we never see the rat directly, only hear about it through the muskrat. But it is important, for without the rat knowing where the cobras had laid their eggs, Rikki-Tiki-Tavi could never have sought them out and destroyed them. Similarly, we know little about the Minbari, and most of that is hearsay. ey remain a mysterious race, rarely telling us anything directly, but we learn some of what they know through the other races, through little tidbits of indirect communication. And I believe that they know things about the universe that we will need to know, and that will fall to us to act upon. ey are an ancient race, though powerful, and they have with-drawn within themselves, as if their scope were diminishing in old age. But they will still come out of their homes when provoked by the actions of those younger and less experienced than themselves.”
“So, Jackson,” and his gaze was level and serious now as it met mine, “what do you think? And what do you think I plan to do about it?”
I shook my head, sipped from my drink, eased myself back in my chair, and looked out at the yachts on the lake. But I couldn’t avoid answering, in the end.
“I think that you may be right, Senator. Of course there’s no direct mapping, but the tailor bird? Why, to me, that’s the Centauri, loud, displaying, but nervous, able to take part in the fight where nec-essary, but not the main combatant. e Narn aren’t quite the musk-rat, because they have their own bravery and are more than willing to fight on their terms, but they do seem to sneak around the edge of galactic politics, providing information and resources here and there.
“e Minbari? ree years ago I’d have said that they were Nag and Nagaina, the cobras.” Natawe frowned at this, but I carried on: I had to explain myself now, regardless of what he had expected or wanted to hear. “ey were dangerous, they were invading our terri-tory, we had to root them out and destroy them. But I guess that that is what we were doing, that that was how they saw us. Because we always cast ourselves as the hero, Senator, but maybe we’re not the mongoose after all.”
Natawe nodded at this, obviously thinking. A gesture of his hand indicated that I should continue. I took another sip of my drink, buy-ing myself time to put my thoughts into words, then continued.
“You want to make us the mongoose, Senator. You want us to be the center of some sort of alliance between the races, pooling our different strengths to make us stronger as a unit. But I don’t see that happening. Because, you know what? It’s just like you said: metaphors are just metaphors. We’re not the mongoose, or the muskrat or the rat or the tailor bird, and the Minbari aren’t the cobras, and nor is anyone else you may be worried about. We are humans. ey are Minbari, or
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Centauri, or Narn, or Drazi, or whatever. We are different.“But it’s a great dream, Senator, and one that I would like to be a
part of. I just don’t see it happening.”Natawe nodded sagely, and contemplated the table for a moment.Our food arrived at that time, and I automatically reached for
my fork, but I found that I didn’t have the appetite to do much apart from move my pasta around the bowl.
“I can’t deny that you have a point, Jackson,” Natawe finally responded, his voice clear and quiet now, serious. It made me stop shuffling my pasta around, put down my fork and listen. “But I think that it can work. I do not expect all of the species to suddenly join to-gether in glorious harmony. It took centuries, millennia for us to reach the level of togetherness that we currently have on Earth, and we still have a long way to go before we can really consider ourselves as one. But I think that we can make a start.
“In fact, I think that it’s happening already. I’ve seen it myself on some of our trading stations. When it comes down to it, when hu-mans and aliens have to live together day after day, depending on each other for trade, news, survival even, then they begin to forget their differences. Not completely, not at all, but they do one very important thing: they communicate. ey have to. And so, like Rikki-Tikki-Tavi listening to the tailor birds, or the muskrat, they learn, and they work together, consciously or not.
“at is my dream, Jackson. Not everyone together in harmony, although that is certainly a dream that I have. But my realistic dream, because I truly believe it can be achieved, is of a place where we can begin to talk, where we can begin to learn to live together. I want to create that place. And I want you to help me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I had flip-flopped between various states of mind on my way over to Geneva. I had wanted to believe that we were the brave mongoose, aided by alien friends of varying degrees of ability. And I had also realized that that was just a story, a dream, and not one that was achievable. And now it appeared that I had been looking too much at the big picture, and that Natawe had pinned down the essence of the thing that allowed us to hope that we could make something of the dream come true.
“What do you plan to do, Senator? Start a sort of interplanetary parliament for all of the alien races? Some sort of shared colony? I think that you’re right, that I underestimated you, that there is something practical that can be done, but I’m not sure what, and I’m not sure how I can help. I’m only an Earth Force ship’s captain, not a diplomat.”
Natawe’s face broke into a smile again, and somehow that reas-sured me. “No, not a parliament, Jackson. We cannot readily force people to talk without breeding resentment. We have to create a place where they have to talk just to continue from day to day. And when they are talking every day, that is when they will start to talk about the serious things, the things that really matter. And that’s not bound-aries and treaties and politics, but the things that we have in common and the differences that we can learn from and benefit from.
“But all that has to come naturally. We just have to provide the place. A colony is more like it, but people have to have a reason to live together, and I do not see a government-mandated colony as a good enough reason. Besides, what government would give up claim on an entire planet that it could use itself?”
“Okay, not a planet. What then?”“Do you not have any ideas? What have you seen that has
brought people of different races together best?”I thought about this for a while, chewed a couple of mouthfuls of
pasta, but that didn’t really help me think. en I remembered.
“Mokata Station. It was a Drazi outpost, but it wasn’t of any real strategic interest, and it was pretty much devoted to trade. We stopped over there on our way back from New Providence; it was be-ing used as some sort of staging post, so there was a fair Earth
Force presence; I think that we’d rented some of the station from the Drazi. e place was old and falling apart, and there wasn’t much in the way of real government there, but there were Drazi and Brakiri and humans, some Centauri and Narn from time to time, Pak’mara ... a whole load of races, and some of them there at least semiperma-nently.
And there were fights, and people kind of kept to their own, but that was never entirely possible, because there was always somebody else that you needed to deal with to get what you needed: work, repairs, rooms, food, whatever.”
Natawe nodded. “at’s the idea I needed! A trading post, and a diplomatic station. Open to all races, and with all races to take a hand in the running of the place, interdependent. And it will be a space station, with nowhere to run to escape your alien cohabitants, with everyone needing each other for the whole to function.”
I laughed, “I thought you wanted this to be organic! Not to force the diplomats into talking.”
He grinned that huge grin.“Well, I think it maybe worthwhile to give them a little push,
don’t you?”We laughed together, then I asked, “Alright, I like the idea. Now,
where do I fit in, or did you just want a sounding board?”“Oh, no. I’ll need a lot of people to help me with this, if it gets off
the ground. You have contacts in Earth Force, and you have experi-ence with aliens, and with the bureaucracy of Earth Force, and with construction contracts. I hope that this will not become a military project, but I don’t see how there can be no involvement from them.
at is where I will need your skills.“But first, I must present this to the Senate. And I will need a lot
of help preparing my case, researching examples of such communi-ties where they may already exist, and helping with costings and all of that. So, Jackson, can I offer you a job?”
I smiled ruefully, picked up my glass and said, “You certainly can!”
Natawe grinned at me in return, lifted his glass and replied, “en I will!”
Our glasses clinked together in agreement.And that is how the Babylon Project really started. Or, at least,
where I became involved with it. And it’s taken us a few years to get where we are, but now construction’s under way on our new, best hope for lasting peace in the galaxy. And to think that the idea for this huge chunk of spinning metal all stemmed from a story about a mongoose.
The Keepers of the DeadBy Jon Acheson ([email protected])Section 15: e Keepers of the Dead Copyright 2003, Jon Ache-
son
e starship hung in orbit like an eagle or a vulture, wings spread, surveying the planet below. Its name was sketched out on the upper hull in patches of aging paint: Mongoose. ere had once been an insignia as well, but Mongoose was all that remained.
Once, the planet’s name had been spoken in the language of its native race, but the Marcab race had fallen silent, the victims of the
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Drafa plague, a virulent disease which had spread to all areas of the homeworld and its colonies offworlds before striking down those infected. e Markab homeworld was all that remained of them, its atmosphere streaked with the soot of colossal pyres marking the gravesites of entire cities, the smoke still rising months after the onset of destruction.
“e ash-heap of history,” thought Captain Paul Wells grimly as he stared out at the sight through a small porthole in the wall of the bridge. Wells was a big man, burly but trim for his fifty years. Like the rest of his crew, he was dressed in functional coveralls of an Earth-force make. He wore his graying hair close-cropped over his blocky skull, his face clean-shaven. It was a face that the years had tempered to a sound and clear-cut fastness.
He pushed away from the porthole gently, floating backwards, weightless, across the short span between the window and his com-mand chair. e bridge was a small utilitarian space, lit with a low amber light, humming with instrumentation, crowded with consoles and acceleration couches, its walls covered in readouts and access pan-els. e captain’s command chair dominated the center of the room, hanging on a powered arm from a track in the ceiling, so that it could move about the bridge under acceleration.
Reaching his chair, Wells grabbed a handhold mounted on the overhead arm and turned himself to address the flight crew. “Is there any sign of that landing beacon yet?”
“Sir, we should be coming around the planet onto it shortly.” re-plied Lt. Robert Eckstine, his second in command, glancing up briefly from the console at the copilot’s position. Eckstine was a younger brush-haired man with a narrow long-nosed face and lucid eyes.
“Keep me informed, Lieutenant. I’ll check in with Pat on the shuttle.”
“Aye aye, sir.”Wells swung himself away from his chair and around behind it
to the exit, fingers automatically finding the button to open the door. It was much less trouble to have powered doors in microgravity.
Using the handrails by the door, he pulled himself into the corridor, past the entrances to the crewmens’ berths. e contours of the walls and ceiling made it easy to propel himself along, as they provided a constant series of handholds and footholds. Along the right edge of the floor, a run of cables was fastened down out of the way with silver repair tape.
At the end of the corridor, it opened up into the mess area, one of the main gathering areas for the crew of eight. He could hear voices raised in friendly discussion. It sounded like Carson again, making his usual case for the intelligent design of the universe. As he entered the mess area, he could see Carson, Eliot and Philips seated around a table, hashing out the argument for the umpteenth time.
“For instance, the Goran system has two habitable planets in the same orbit, exactly opposite each other. Do you know what the odds are of that?”
As he passed, he commented, “In the Goran system, Mr. Carson, the odds are one in one.” He liked Carson, and agreed with him on several points, but Carson didn’t know when to quit: to him victory was always just one more arguing point away. It was best to gently rein him in from time to time. As he departed out the other side of the mess area, he heard the other crewman snickering over Carson’s protests.
Drifting down a ladder, he moved forward through a storage bay to reach the shuttle hanger. It was, after the engine compartment, the largest room in the ship, but the huge wedge of the shuttle filled it, looming up overhead on its landing gear and eclipsing the ceiling
lights. Its three immense rocket nozzles were big enough for a man to climb into, framed by thrust-vectoring flaps like barn doors. e smell of the place triggered memories of every garage he had ever been in. A compressor whine pierced the air, and a subtle vibration ran through the floor like electricity.
He moved forward to where Pat Francona, the ship’s engineer, was peering up into the nose gear wheel-well with a flashlight. Fran-cona was a small-framed man with a Roman nose and stringy brown hair that poked out from around his rumpled mechanic’s cap. As Wells approached, he nodded and switched off his flashlight.
“Is Gladys ready to go?” Wells called out over the mechanical noise.
“She’ll fly.” he drawled with an easy confidence, “I was just double-checking the hydraulics, is all.”
“Any problems?”“None at all. Still, you’ve got to check. Captain, I give the old girl
a clean bill of health.”“anks, Pat,” he replied, “I- hold on,” he said, as the comm link
on the back of his left hand beeped. He spoke into it and held the link up to his ear. He nodded, then dropped his link hand to his side. “at was Eckstine, we’ve picked up the landing beacon. Clear the bay for drop, Pat.”
“Aye, aye.”Returning back up through the ladder well, he headed through
the mess area again, passing Carson, who was already headed for the ladder with his gear.
“ank you, Mr. Carson!”“Yessir!”He headed forward into the hallway to the crewmans’ berths,
where two tiers of half-height doors were set into the wall. Rapping on one door with his right hand, he called out “Mr. Hedges!”
e door slid up to reveal Hedges’ tiny quarters, 1.3 meters wide, 1.3 meters high, and just deep enough for a mattress and some lock-ers. Hedges blinked out at Wells through hooded, uncomprehending eyes, looking as usual like he’d just woken up. Around him, his bunk-space seemed to have been decorated by some kind of pornographic cargo cult.
“Mr Hedges, I need you and Mr. Eliot in the shuttle bay with your gear in five minutes.”
Hedges winced. “Yes, sir.”“Very good.”Wells continued on to the bridge. As he came through the
doorway, Eckstine called out “I’ve sent the coordinates down to the shuttle.”
“Excellent. We’re headed down now. You have the command.”“Yes, sir. Stay careful, sir.”“Roger that.” He left through the doorway, and typed a combi-
nation into the keypad of the first door on the right. It slid open to reveal his quarters, which were four times the size of the crew’s quar-ters, making them luxurious by Mongoose standards, and not much by any other standards. A plaque on the far wall congratulated Captain Miles DeVriess. As usual, the sight of it twisted his stomach, but the damned thing was welded to the bulkhead.
Wells pulled his feet up and drew off his ship-shoes, tossed them into a locker and pulled out a pair of lug-soled combat boots. Fasten-ing them on, he added a flak vest over his coveralls, followed by web gear and a jacket. Typing another combination into a second locker, he drew out an Earthforce PPG carbine, which he slung over his shoulder, and a PPG pistol, which he holstered in his web gear. Spare PPG caps went into pouches on his belt, and a survival knife clipped
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upside-down to the left suspender. en he paused, considering. A second passed, then he reached into the locker a second time, drew out a second PPG pistol and holster, and clipped them to the small of his back, where the jacket would hide them.
As he returned to the hanger bay, Wells saw Crewman Eliot waiting for him full combat gear, his helmet tucked under one arm. Eliot was a tall, blond-haired man with an athletic build.
“Captain,” Eliot said briskly, nodding.“Mr. Eliot. Where is Mister Hedges?”“Right here, Captain” said Hedges behind him. He turned to
see the crewman floating in the doorway, struggling to fasten his web gear around his lanky body. Hedges looked at Wells’ jacket, his eyes bulged, and with a silent “Oops” he disappeared back towards the lad-der to the upper deck.
Wells and Eliot wordlessly tsk’d at each other before heading for the shuttle’s access ramp.
Minutes later, the shuttle plunged towards the surface of the Marcab homeworld. It was daylight on that side of the planet, and they could see the broad green curve of the landscape. eir target was on the outskirts of a burning city, and the shuttle flew down past the immense column of black smoke which towered for kilometers. From a height, it was distressing how much the scorched grid below resembled a normal human city.
In the copilot’s seat, Wells tracked the location of the beacon relative to their shuttle while Carson flew the shuttle in. It was located on a local starport, the sort that serviced orbital, suborbital and atmo-spheric craft. It was a good choice: there was plenty of space to land. From the air, they could see that the roads were choked with ground vehicles of every type. Nothing moved, of course. e fires from the city had spread to many of the roads, burning everything that could burn, even the road surface itself.
e shuttle had the ability to hover and land nearly vertically, so landing it on the starport tarmac was trivial. On the ground, the shuttle rolled to within sight (and PPG range) of the beacon, then stopped.
“is is where I get out.” Wells said, getting out of the copilot’s chair. “Carson, I’m going to leave my link open. I want this shuttle ready to take off at the first sign of trouble. If the worst happens, you have to make it back to the ship.”
Eliot looked out the window nervously. “Sir, are you sure we should stay in here? It seems like, well, a big target.”
“Would you really be safer out there on foot?”Eliot thought about it. “I guess not.”“Right. Watch the shuttle. I’d better be going.”Wells walked down the boarding ramp a little unsteadily. It had
been a while since he and his crew had been out of weightlessness: Mongoose’s only concession to gravity was a small centrifuge that housed the restroom facilities. Even though you took the pills and did your exercises, it wasn’t the same. God help him if he had to run for it.
Looking around as he left the bottom of a ramp, he saw no one else. He began to walk towards the beacon, trying not to scuttle, though he felt very exposed. It occurred to him that he was walking across a whole new world, just what he’d joined Earthforce to do.
e sun was just beginning to set, and it seemed like a spec-tacular sunset was starting. e air of the Marcab homeworld tasted acrid, like ashes. ere was ash everywhere, blowing like dust or caked into black mud where moisture had collected. Fortunately, the smoke from the city was blowing away from them. He wondered if the remains of any Marcabs were in the aircraft and ground vehicles nearby. He tried not to think about that. ere were a lot of insects.
He tried not to think about that either.Soon he arrived at the beacon, just a small plastic cone with a
flashing light on top. e color was odd, and he looked more closely at it. e writing was… Minbari?
Why were the Minbari of all people looking to hire on mercenaries?He looked around, slowly inspecting every inch of the terrain
that surrounded him, turning as his eyes swept in a 360-degree circle. He hadn’t expected to meet Minbari on the Marcab homeworld. e contact that had put them onto this job had been Narn.
“I don’t see anything,” he said for the benefit of the shuttle crew.G’Tankh, you bastard, did you set me up? He could feel his heart
beating, breathed deeply to keep himself calm. He completed a second 360 turn, but everywhere he turned was empty and vacant. He stopped facing the shuttle, so that they could watch his back, and waited.
Off to his left, he spotted motion. He fought the urge to whip around, and turned steadily to face in that direction. “Here we go,” he said cautiously.
e figure stepped away from the side of a utility truck. It was a Minbari! He was tall, with an aristocratic face, the bony crest of his skull intricately fluted. But the uniform was strange. He’d seen the black robes their Warrior caste wore, seen them up close during the last war. is was different, a coarser brown robe with a hood, and some kind of pin that caught the light.
e Minbari began to walk towards him. Wells met him halfway, careful to keep his hands at his sides. ey stopped just outside of arm’s reach.
“I am Captain Paul Wells, of the starship Mongoose. G’Tankh sent me.”
“I am Dulaan, Shok’Na, of the Anla’Shok,” the Minbari replied formally. “You are expected. G’Tankh speaks well of you.”
“G’Tankh is a good friend for a man in my circumstances.”Dulann became still. “What are your circumstances?” e words
were an accusation, and his eyes were merciless as a winter sky.“My crew and I are mercenaries, Shok’Na Dulaan. Once, we
were Earthforce. We were a patrol vessel assigned to the edges of human space. Our captain was… not well. He was fearful, suspicious, terribly so, of all of us, and without cause.
“ose of us in his crew tried to get along, but he couldn’t be soothed, in fact our efforts only worsened his suspicions. Finally, he fixated on one of us and fabricated a charge of treason. It was ridicu-lous, we all knew it, but the offense was punishable by the death of personality.
“We decided to relieve the captain of command, but he guessed what we were doing, and he and his officers were ready. It went wrong and turned into a bloodbath. After that, we couldn’t go back.” His mind formed images, knives, gunfire, but he pushed them back, kept his eyes fixed on Dulaan, who regarded him steadily.
Dulaan spoke, maintaining that piercing gaze, choosing his words carefully: “And when you consider those events, that which you did, that which you might have done, do you think that your actions were right?”
Wells looked away. He remembered Eckstine’s sheer terror as he was handcuffed and locked in his berth. He remembered the meet-ing in the shuttle cabin, the faces of the other crewman, the smell of panic. He remembered Captain Miles DeVriess, a sudden lion in the face of his accusers, the fury in his eyes as he drew his PPG and fired, how he roared as their knives stabbed him. He remembered wrapping crewmates in white plastic and stacking their bodies in the airlock. Right? What was right about that?
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He turned back to face the Minbari, composed his thoughts. “I don’t want to call any of it right. It was in almost every way a failure. People died, who need not have died, and we who survived are now outcasts. ere are many things I think now that I should have done differently, or better. But, on balance? Yes. What I did, I did for my fellow crewmen, and I believe that given the circumstances, it was right.”
Wells and Dulaan stared into each other’s gaze unflinchingly, each measuring the soul behind the other’s eyes.
Dulaan nodded, finally. “It is as we had heard, then,” he said.He turned, raised a hand, made a handsign. All around, without
a word, Minbari in groups of one and two stood from their cover, their weapons held at rest.
It was nicely done, though the Mongoose crew had known that they had to be out there. As Dulaan turned back, Wells found himself grinning. Dulaan replied with the ghost of a smile, and handed him a data crystal.
“At the coordinates contained on this data crystal, my people maintain an orbital salvage yard. ree days ago, a transport of Centauri manufacture came in through the jump gate and raided our salvage yard. We were able to cordon off the jump gate, but they fled into the asteroid belt and we lost contact with them.”
“e belt that intersects the large gas giant?”“Yes. It is believed that the gas giant devoured a planet, fairly
recently in terms of cosmological time. As a result, the field is unusu-ally dense, and the frequent high-energy collisions of asteroidal debris with the gas giant are quite spectacular. ey are in there somewhere, but the motion within the asteroid field is significantly chaotic, so it is difficult for us to pick them out.”
“You’re sure they haven’t jumped out?” Wells asked, considering the situation.
“at class of transport is not jump-capable. Moreover, we would have picked up the jump gate forming.”
“And we should-?”“Follow them. Find them. Bring them back to us.”Wells considered this. He hadn’t expected to be asked to bring
them back. On the other hand, Mongoose carried two boarding pods as part of her interdiction gear. ey also served as escape capsules. It could be done, he decided, if they could find them.
“I think we can do that.”“at is good,” Dulaan replied evenly. “You are no doubt wonder-
ing about payment.”“Here comes the big one,” thought Wells. Speaking aloud, he
began, “G’Tankh had quoted a price of 500,000 credits…”“We would be willing to pay up to 300,000.”Wells was unsurprised. 500,000 had been a high number: they
had expected to be haggled down. Before he could respond, though, the Minbari continued,: “However, we Minbari believe that in this universe there are some things of greater value than wealth. Captain Wells, do you trust me?”
Now it was Wells’ turn to measure Dulaan. He measured the Minbari’s frank gaze, and found no falsehood there, or condescen-sion. Dulaan’s attitude was confident, even regal, but not domineering. Wells read him as a commander who was at once both committed to his command, and at peace with it. It was a good combination.
“I trust you.”“en know this: we are of course prepared to meet your price.
Above that, however, we may be able to expand the limits of your hopes.”
“What do you mean?”
Dulaan smiled, enigmatically. “I cannot say at this time. We will observe the progress of your mission. After its completion, we will talk again. e data crystal you hold contains all the information we have on the interlopers, as well as the details of how to get in contact with us should you so require.”
“Very well, Shok’Na.” said Wells.“en I bid you good hunting, Captain.” And with a formal nod,
Dulaan stepped back, turned and walked off the way he had come.e shuttle ride up was a buzz of questions. Eliot wanted to
know what the Minbari was like. Carson wondered what he had meant about hope. Hedges was sure Dulaan was of the Worker caste. “e robes!” he repeated, “ey’re not Religious caste! And they’re certainly not Warrior!”
On board the Mongoose, Wells called the crew together in the mess area and laid out the mission. “We know they’re in this asteroid belt,” he said, indicating the ellipse of the belt, “and that they entered at this point. What we have to do is find them.”
“But sir, they could be anywhere!” objected Eliot.Eckstine broke in: “Not necessarily!”“What are you thinking?” asked Wells.“Captain, if they’re in there, it’s for sure they’re not standing
still. ey’re trying to get to somewhere, so they’re going to be on the move. But that field is DENSE. So they’re going to have to be maneu-vering all the time to avoid the big stuff. at’s going to cut down how fast they can travel. And since we have data on how fast they can go, and how well they maneuver, I think we can calculate how fast they can travel based on the density of that asteroid field.”
“Accurately?” Wells asked.“Not super accurately, but it’ll cut down the area we have to
cover.”“Ok!” Wells picked up a pointer and indicated an arc of the
asteroid belt. “We know they have to travel within the asteroid field to avoid detection, and once Lt. Eckstine finishes his calculations, we’ll have an idea of how far along the arc from their entry point to begin our search. at leaves one question: which direction did they go in?
Carson spoke up, “Sir, if they travel in the opposite direction of the field’s orbit, they’ll put the most distance between themselves and the salvage yard.”
“at’s true, Carson,” Wells replied. “But these are Centauri. Giv-en a choice, I think they’ll go for misdirection over pure mathematical advantage. Eckstine, I want you to figure out your best estimate of their position, and we’ll do a grid search from there. Once we locate them, we’ll close and try to take out their weapons, then we launch the boarding pod. Eckstine, you’ll command the ship in my absence. I want Eliot, Hedges, Carson and Francona in the pod with me.”
Eckstine protested, “Sir, I really think I should be the one to go in that boarding pod.”
“Noted, and overruled. Sorry, Bob, I lead from in front. All right gentlemen, we have our plan, I want this ship cleared for acceleration, double time!”
e meeting broke up into a flurry of activity as equipment was stowed or fastened down, and personnel headed for their acceleration couches. Wells headed for the bridge. He strapped himself into the command chair as the others took their positions. ey ran down a quick checklist as the other crewmen reported in over the intercom system, then broke the ship out of orbit.
e flight out to the asteroid belt was a long and tedious one, all the more so for the apprehension that was building about the mission ahead of them. e asteroid belt covered an immense area, and was it-self dangerous. Wells kept the crew occupied by checking the function
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of the ship’s plasma cannons, and plotting as much of the asteroid belt as they could. In a normal asteroid field, the asteroids were hundreds, often thousands of kilometers apart from each other, but this field was fairly fresh, and the distances were often kilometers or less. ere was much more small debris than in an older field, where most of it would have aggregated around the larger asteroids or been drawn into the ring of debris that was forming around the gas giant itself. at small debris interfered with the orbits of larger objects, while being too small to show up on the ship’s sensors. e result was extremely chaotic, and it would be difficult to spot the Centauri ship among the seemingly random motion of the field. On the other hand, it would be difficult for the Centauri ship to spot Mongoose, as well.
e Centauri transport had entered the asteroid field at one of the densest points on its orbit, the trailing trojan point, where a cloud of debris was held in an equal tug-of-war between the gravity field of the gas giant, and the larger but more distant gravity field of the Mar-cab star. Wells believed that they were travelling through the orbit of the asteroid field toward the gas giant. It was possible, he thought, that the transport would try to enter the ring of debris circling the gas giant, and use the bulk of the superjovian titan to mask its transmis-sions as it called for pickup.
As Mongoose reached the field, bits of dust and debris began to patter and spang off the outside of her hull. Her sensors were designed to concentrate on the larger, faster-moving projectiles that posed a more serious threat, and the small stuff had to be ignored. ey lowered the blast shields over the portholes and continued on.
On the bridge, the crew lurched in their seats as the ship swerved to avoid a collision. Wells moved the command chair up on its over-head track and raised it slightly so that he could see over the shoulder of the sensor operator. Philips was working at full speed, identifying each piece of rock around them. Objects that had been identified turned translucent in his display. ey were slowly tunneling their way through the field. Up front, Carson at the pilot’s controls and Eckstine at the copilots worked as a team, identifying threats and avoiding them, improvising a course as they went along. Eliot at the weapons control console functioned as an auxiliary sensor operator.
For his part, Wells could only be a facilitator, coordinating the efforts of his crew, acting as a go-between, and staying out of their way. It left him without much to do, at a time when everyone else was busy. It was tough, there was little to keep his mind off his doubts. Had he made the correct decision, or were they moving farther away from the target with each passing second? ere was no way to know. He pushed the thoughts away, but they remained.
Carson and Eckstine swore suddenly and in unison as Carson yawed the ship violently to the left and punched her engines. Mon-goose turned and shot clear of a hurtling boulder the size of a shuttle which flashed past and disappeared into the distance.
“Sorry!” said Carson, sheepishly.“Not at all, good work!” replied Wells relieved. Settle them down,
get back to the routine.Hours passed, measured in sweat and tension. Finally, Wells
ordered Carson to coast for a bit. He ordered food brought up to the bridge to keep up their energy. e crew quickly munched down the rations, sipped imitation coffee though straws from insulated pouches. A piece of his food bar got away from Phillips, and he had to snag it with a napkin before it floated across the room. “Sorry!” he mumbled through a mouthful of food, then “Eh?” He leaned closer to his console, swallowed. “Captain, I’ve got a contact at 1000 clicks. It’s got energy readings.”
Wells leaned forward in his command chair. “Are we catching up
to it?”“Currently, sir… no, it’s starting to accelerate.”“at’s them! Pass on the coordinates!” ordered Wells, trying to
stand up despite his seat harness. Phillips’ hands flew, and an indica-tor appeared on the piloting and weapons consoles.
Mongoose leapt forward like a hound chasing a rabbit. Ahead of her, the Centauri vessel picked up speed. It was a sleek midnight-blue craft, a flat semicircular hull with twin tail booms trailing behind. Two weapons turrets mounted on the back of the Centauri vessel swiveled and elevated to bear on the pursuing ship. Its fire went high as Mongoose dipped suddenly and surged forward.
“Centauri vessel!” Wells thundered into the headset he held in his hand. “You are ordered to decelerate and prepare to be boarded immediately!”
Engines flaring, Mongoose pulled up even with the fleeing trans-port, and level with the plane of its hull. e Centauri ship’s weapons continued to fire, plasma bolts scoring Mongoose’s outer hull.
“Take out those guns!” ordered Wells on the bridge.Turrets on Mongoose’s upper hull turned to bear on the Cen-
tauri ship, and bursts of plasma shot across the transport’s hull. e point of aim shifted down, and the bolts struck first one turret, then the other in gouts of sparks and molten metal. e Centauri vessel immediately dove and turned, swooping dangerously close to a larger asteroid in a clearly desperate attempt to escape.
Wells shook his head. “If we don’t stop them soon, they’re going to plow that ship into a rock. Eliot, can you take out their engines?”
Eliot winced. “at’s not a good shot on this type of ship, Cap-tain. I’d be as likely to hit the reactor.”
Wells cursed under his breath. He keyed his command link, “Boarding party to the starboard boarding pod!” en, he unclipped his seat harness. “Carson!”
“Uh, sir?” replied Carson, struggling with the ship’s controls.“I guess you’re staying where you are. Carson, you have the conn.
Eckstine, you’re with me. Come on!” Wells swiveled his command chair sideways and dove for the exit. Moving quickly, he, Eckstine and Eliot scrambled for the back of the ship. As they arrived at the board-ing pod lock, Hedges and Francona were already inside the small round capsule, securing themselves in and checking the PPG carbines that were stowed by each seat. e others quickly boarded, Wells ushering Eckstine to the controls.
“You’re a better pilot than me.”e spherical, six-legged boarding pod detached itself from
Mongoose’s flanks and rocketed towards the Centauri transport. e transport tried to swerve, but was bracketed by shots from Mongoose’s cannon. e boarding pod swooped low over the surface of the Cen-tauri vessel’s hull and clamped on with the powerful magnets in its feet. It settled its round base against the hull.
e men inside the boarding pod unfastened their harnesses and unclipped their weapons as the pod began cutting through the transport’s hull. e angry whizzing of PPGs heating up filled the space. “Flash-bangs,” ordered Wells, “e moment the hatch opens.” Eliot and Hedges nodded and prepared the non-lethal grenades. e cutting stopped and the hatch dropped open.
“Now!” Eliot and Hedges pulled pins and threw their grenades down
through the hatch. ere was a blast of light and concussion. “Go! Go!” yelled Wells, as Eliot then Hedges bailed down
through the hatch and he followed.e pale green room had artificial gravity. Two singed and dis-
oriented Centauri lay dazed on the floor, and Eliot quickly batted the
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PPG pistols from their hands with the muzzle of his carbine while Hedges moved to take up a firing position on the doorway beyond. Wells surveyed the doorway while Eckstine and Francona quickly bound the Centauris’ hands behind their backs with repair tape.
Eliot moved up beside Hedges and looked to Wells, who nod-ded. Eliot readied his carbine, unfolding the folding stock, as did Hedges, then headed through the door. As he came through the door-way, a Centauri ran up and swung a freaking sword at his face! Eliot blocked with the barrel of his carbine and leaned left. On cue, Hedges reversed his carbine and came in from the right, ramming the butt of his carbine into the Centauri’s face. e Centauri went down hard.
“anks,” said Eliot.“Nar,” replied Hedges.ey were in a passageway leading forward and aft. Wells fol-
lowed them out into the hallway, motioning the two of them forward. He motioned to Eckstine and Francona to head aft, then proceeded forward, walking backwards to cover their rear.
e end of the passageway was a door. Eliot and Hedges were on either side, waiting for him. Wells readied a flash-bang and they hugged the walls on either side. He nodded to Hedges, who pressed the door control. Wells hurled the grenade past the opening door, heard the grenade go off, and all three ran into the room, which was empty. It was obviously the Centauri common room. It had a nice rug on the floor, and paneled walls. Hedges gave a low appreciative whistle.
e door at the far end of the room opened, and Wells shot into it, hitting a Centauri poised to throw. e Centauri cried out, drop-ping the grenade at his own feet. It went off, knocking him backward, as another grunt was heard from outside. Eliot and Hedges hurried up to the door. Hedges leaned into the hallway and PPG fire flashed into the doorframe by his head. He dropped to one knee, crying out and firing a long burst back in the direction of the gunfire. Hedges got to his feet and stumbled through the doorway, and Eliot followed, aiming his gun down the outside hall in the other direction.
Wells followed them out. ere was a very dead Centauri on the floor in front of Hedges. Hedges was wincing and touching a number of small burns where particles of metal had struck him in the face, but was not otherwise injured.
Wells took the lead and headed for one of two doorways leading forward. Hedges followed him, and Eliot brought up the rear, facing backwards. As he neared the door, the other door facing forward opened, and Eliot fired into the Centauri who leaned out with a PPG.
Wells hurried forward and opened the other door, ducking inside and covering the far end of the wide, shallow room that was clearly the bridge. e bridge crew froze, as Hedges and Eliot followed him in, and slowly, unhappily, and above all carefully put down their weap-ons. ey straightened up again and raised their hands. Wells quickly moved forward to the controls and verified that the ship was stopped.
Eliot nodded towards a tall dour-faced Centauri whose uniform and hair-crest marked him as the captain, and said to Hedges, “You hear the one about the Centauri who screwed up so bad, they busted him down to a ponytail?”
Wells triggered his command link “We have the bridge secured. Eckstine, Francona?”
Eckstine responded, “Captain, we’re in the hold. All secured. I think you should see this for yourself.”
Wells looked at Eliot and Hedges, who nodded. “Be right there,” he said. When he got to the hold, he saw that it contained two hulk-ing metal cylinders covered with cables, vents and cooling lines. It took a second to register what they were. He looked at Francona. “Are
those-?”“Jump engines, sir, aye. Marcab, by the writing on them. If this
ship had the power, they might have left on their own, eh?”Wells was impressed. Jump engines required Quantium-40, a
rare mineral that was insanely valuable as a result. Each jump engine was worth a fortune.
Eckstine asked Wells “We are returning those, right?”“Yes, we’re going to return them. at was the deal. Let’s secure
this ship, so we can deliver it to the salvage yard.” He looked back at the jump drives. Damn. “You have a camera?” he asked.
Sprawling across the airless surface of the Markab homeworld’s moon, the salvage yard was a graveyard of Markab starships, row upon row, parked on the surface of the airless moon, there were thou-sands of them, more than cold be counted. A Minbari cruiser floated overhead, guarding the site from further interlopers.
“Sir, you figure all of those ships have jump drives?” asked Ecks-tine on the bridge of the Mongoose.
“Not all,” replied Wells, “but probably a sizeable percentage.”“So, what are the Minbari are doing with all of them?”“I have no idea. Somehow I don’t think they’re going to tell us.”e communications consoles beeped. Phillips at the sensor
console took the call. “Captain, I have Shok’Na Dulaan on the line for you,” he said.
“Put him on.”Dulaan’s image appeared on the main viewscreen. “Captain, I
thank you. We are pleased at the outcome of your mission.”“It is my pleasure as well, Shok’Na“ replied Wells.“Excellent! I am sending you a set of landing coordinates. Please
land your ship there. I’ll meet you, and we can make your payment.”“Very well, Shok’Na.”e coordinates led the Mongoose to a broad green meadow high
in the mountains. A cave had been dug into the mountainside, and a magnificent stone gateway could be seen within, shaded from view from above by the upper edge of the cave opening. Dulaan walked towards the ship from the cave mouth, accompanied by an entourage of Minbari in casual dress.
e crew of the Mongoose walked down the main ramp and out to meet him, and Wells introduced Dulaan to his crew. Dulaan nod-ded graciously to each in turn.
He turned to Wells, opening a large, elegantly lacquered box containing 300,000 credits in Centauri ducats. “As you can see, your payment is here. But, do you recall our conversation at the star port?”
“I do.”“Good. Tell me, Captain Wells, does your crew prefer money, or
hope?”e crew of the Mongoose looked at each other questioningly.
Francona spoke up, “Begging your pardon, sir, but we like a little of both.”
Wells shot him a look, but Dulaan only smiled. “at is accept-able. And we are in a position to grant both. And, I believe some answers are in order.” He waved in the direction of the stone gateway. e crowd parted, revealing an orange-skinned humanoid, hairless, with a jutting jaw and domed skull that carried a regular geometric pattern.
“A Marcab!” exclaimed Wells, “But, I thought you were all dead!”“All but,” the Markab said, walking towards him. “ere were
thirty-nine of us left, after the Drafa plague. I myself was on an extended business trip, and so escaped the calamity. irty-nine, out of two billion.”
“I am terribly sorry,” said Wells gravely.
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“Do not be sorry, Captain Wells. We grieve the dead, but this is not about them. 39 of us still live. And we must keep on living. I am Anthenn, and I am the caretaker of my race. Follow me.” He turned back towards the stone gateway began to walk.
“In the final days, before the end, our government took steps to preserve our knowledge and our greatest cultural treasures. ey moved them here, to this place. It was built as a shelter for our gov-ernment in the event of an orbital bombardment, and as you will see, they spared the people no expense.”
Entering the gateway, they could see a long hallway of the same richly veined stone as the gate. Statues lined the hallway. Wells glanced at the nearest one, and then stared. e workmanship of the statue, and the fineness of emotion it conveyed, made him apprehen-sive to be allowed so close to it. It was a masterpiece.
Anthenn led them onto a large metal disk with railings around it. Once they were on board, he took the controls, and it began to move smoothly and silently down the long hall. At the end of the hall, the disk entered into a cavernous room filled with light. Its walls were all of white stone, and above, a great arched roof stood tall overhead, bearing an image of the daytime sky. In front of them stretched a great oval shaft fenced with marble, and below they could see tier after tier of galleries descending to a courtyard at its bottom. Innu-merable statues, paintings, tapestries and artifacts filled each level of the space. In the courtyard below a fountain splashed and scattered light about, filling the place with its gentle noise and a sense of life. Anthenn slowed the transport disk to a stop and turned to face them. Spreading his arms, he declared, “is, my friends, is the fortress of our inheritance.”
Stepping from the transport disk, he continued, “And it is more than a mere warehouse for the relics of our art and culture. We col-lected genetic material from our fallen, as many as we could, and that work continues both here and offworld. is place is the storehouse for that genetic material. We hope to use it to return our race to a stable breeding population one day.
“All this is possible through our partnership with the Anla’Shok. ey provide us with protection, food, and extra hands for the work ahead. In return, we have turned over to them the spaceships you saw in the orbital salvage yard. We had no further use for them.”
Wells turned to Dulaan. “What will you use them for?”“We Minbari have long believed that we would one day be called
on to join with another race in a great war against a terrible darkness. e Anla’Shok are our army for that war. We now believe our time of destiny is upon us, and that our ally is your race, Captain. To that end, we are preparing a great fleet of ships, that will form the back-bone of our defenses against the forces of darkness. e Markab ships provide us with the raw materials to build that fleet.”
Dulaan continued, “In our war against the forces of the shad-ows, we are constantly searching to recruit additional personnel. e ranks of the Anla’Shok are composed of not only Minbari, but Narns, Drazi, even Humans.”
“is was all a test!?” asked Wells.“Yes, and no. e pursuit of the Centauri transport was very
definitely a real, unstaged exercise. However, we were fully aware of what she was carrying. When you returned her cargo, we knew that you would be worthy of our trust. And so now I put it to you: will your crew join with us?”
“Become Anla’Shok?”“Perhaps eventually. It is not a privilege we grant to everyone
we encounter. In the near term, we have need of a crew here that can move in human space without drawing attention to itself. We would
be honored if your ship could be that crew.”Wells turned to talk to his crew, but the looks on their faces said
all that needed to be said.He turned back, “e honor is our own.”Dulaan smiled, “I am pleased.” He began to walk back towards
the transport disk. ”Come we must move your ship to a safer haven. en, I have an errand I would like you to run on Babylon 5…”
Kitsune ShijuroBy Jamie Lawson ([email protected])Section 15: Kitsune Shijuro Copyright 2003, Jamie Lawson
Kitsune dropped hard to the deck as the freighter lurched, throwing her out of her hammock and knocking her back into con-sciousness. Slowly, she pulled herself upright, cradling her head in her hands.
e past weeks had been difficult enough. Kitsune was running from the Psi-Corps, hiding out on whatever third-rate spaceship she could hitch a lift on, going wherever she could that was away from Earth and Earth-controlled space.
Not long ago, there had been an “underground railroad,” which would have gotten her from Earth to Babylon 5 and then to whatever League systems might offer a human telepath shelter.
But that was gone, and Kitsune – like any other telepath who did not want to join the group actively fighting the Psi-Corps, using the slogan “Remember Byron” and whatever weapons they could get – had to fend for herself. She had set herself the goal of reaching Narn space. e Narn had no telepaths; with any luck they would be willing to protect her and let her earn her keep, as the Yakuza clan had, before now. She was living by all the wits she had, and so far had survived.
en last night, some equally derelict person, also hitching a ride on this freighter, had gone on a Dust trip, not knowing – more likely not caring – that his companion was a telepath.
Kitsune tried a scan of the cargo hold, though it was nearly impossible to focus past the pain in her head. She got nothing. Sigh-ing, she settled her back against the bulkhead, and looked at the blood smear on the ridge beside her hammock. Her badge of survival, she thought.
Not long after her companion had taken the Dust, the pain started blossoming in Kitsune’s head. Within a minute or two, he was physically and mentally charging her, pushing himself off a crate and flying through the zero-gee space. She had already put up her mental walls, but against a Dust-driven mind, she might as well try to hang a tatami mat to stop a truck.
She dodged him, kicking out and sending him tumbling, to smash into another crate. It broke his concentration, buying her time – no more than a few seconds, she guessed.
She bolted to the far end of the cargo bay, bouncing off bulkheads and crates, putting what distance she could between herself and her assailant, breaking his line of sight. Anything to slow him down.
Desperately she looked for a weapon. Her judo – the only unarmed combat she knew – was worse than useless. In zero-gee it would look like ballet, and the last thing she wanted to do was touch a man high on Dust.
He was coming, crawling hand over hand across the crates, grabbing for her mind, ripping memories out like pages from a book.
A tri-colored cat leaped at her face, snarling, claws lashing for
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her eyes – Stop it, damn you! She found the chemical fire extinguisher, bolted to the bulk-
head. With strength born of terror and rage, she ripped it loose from its binding.
Stepping into her lover’s room, looking across at the man on the bed, over four times her size –
Filthy Dust-sucking bastard, get out of my head – Priming the extinguisher, she set it off, at the same moment
throwing it bottom first at her assailant. Her frantic strength com-bined with the force of the pressurized carbon dioxide flowing turned the canister into a missile, and it caught the man right between the eyes. He tumbled backwards, heels over head, until his tumble was stopped abruptly as his head impacted on the hatchway leading to the exterior of the ship.
At once, the pressure on Kitsune’s mind evaporated. Letting herself go limp, she floated back toward her ham-
mock, trying to rub life back into skin nearly frozen by the blast from the extinguisher. Just as she reached it, the ship lurched violently – it must have been passing through a jumpgate. Kitsune was thrown forward, smacking her forehead into the bulkhead.
She pitched into the hammock, unconscious. e ship lurched and bumped twice more, then was still. A
voice on the intercom said, “We’ve landed on Altair. e cargo hatch is now unlocked. Don’t be aboard five minutes from now, unless you feel like chatting with the Customs guys.”
Picking herself and her small bag of belongings up, Kitsune threaded her way through the cargo containers toward the hatch. It was there that she spotted the Dust bunny, as she’d taken to calling him.
No wonder she hadn’t been able to scan him, she thought. He was dead.
She crouched over him, rifling his pockets – you did what you had to, if you wanted to survive – and thinking. Perhaps she had killed him, by knocking him into the hatch. Or perhaps it was just the stress of the Dust on his system.
Grimacing at the memory of the telepathic assault, Kitsune kicked the dead man until the hatchway was clear. She spun the clamps open and slipped off the freighter.
It had gotten into a routine now. At each stop, Kitsune had to find her way into the local underworld, and locate a ship going toward Narn space which wouldn’t mind an off the books passenger.
A fair supply of credits made the job easier. Sometimes, being a telepath helped too. e Psi-Corps was an unpopular organization – more unpopular the farther out from Earth you got, as Kitsune had figured out quickly.
Other times, she had to work a deal for her passage. is was shaping up to be one of them, she thought, as she sat in a corner of the small bar. At least the wait wasn’t too bad – the barkeep had actually managed to locate half a pint of sake, and it was almost palat-able.
e tall human in a dark suit walked briskly through the door, flanked by a pair of Drazi bodyguards. One of them carried a small, rectangular crate with a wire door.
Kitsune opened her eyes. ese three were the ones she was waiting for. But even more intriguing was the crate. ere was some-thing alive and aware inside. Not anywhere near human awareness, but intelligent nevertheless.
She pictured herself in her mind’s eye, hoping there was enough somewhere about her to make the right impression. A human
woman, a scant meter and a half tall and not even forty kilos in weight; Asian by ethnicity – Nihonjin, to be precise. A little past forty, although months of constant fear for her life had aged her con-siderably. Black hair cut short for simplicity’s sake, and dark brown eyes – bloodshot and deeply underlined with black – that had seen far too much.
“Gentlemen, welcome,” she said, taking the initiative and address-ing the human. “You must be the one they call Doctor Morbius.”
He frowned. “Yeah. You Kit … Kit, sun …”“Kitsune,” she said. “Yes. You got my request, I take it?”“Yeah. In fact, I got you on a ship that leaves in two hours. Narn
passenger transport, bound for Dra’shu. Interested?”Kitsune’s eyes widened despite herself. An actual passenger
transport, and Narn besides, destined for Narn territory. It seemed too good to be true – but Morbius was telling the truth.
Or at least part of it.“What’s the catch?”Morbius jerked his head toward the Drazi carrying the crate.
e reptilian creature stepped forward and put the crate onto the table.
“You gotta take that with you,” Morbius said. “Keep it alive, keep it happy, and when you get there, hand it over to a man named Rupert Delgoda.”
“What is it?”“It’s a mongoose, I guess. A very special one, so they tell me. Get
it to Delgoda, and he’ll make it worth your while. Mess it up, and you’ll have worse than the Psi-Cops on your ass, get me?”
“Very clearly, Doctor Morbius.”e gangster rolled his eyes, and seemed about to open his
mouth when Kitsune spoke again.“ey call you that because you run Altair,” she told him. “You
should watch more old movies.” She put a hand on top of the crate, sliding it toward her – and sliding the sake bottle out of the way with her other hand. “Tell me about the ship I – or should I say we? – are going out on.”
ree hours later, Kitsune lay back in the berth of the Narn ship, feeling a sense of relaxation almost like bliss as the pressure of Altair’s gravity faded away. Another jump point coming up; another step closer to freedom.
e berth was torpedo-shaped, barely more than an oversized coffin with a sleeping mat lining the bottom, and a few lights, tem-perature controls and a tiny view screen in the top half. But designed for the average Narn, even with the mongoose’s crate, it was roomy for Kitsune.
en the fear hit her.Frantic, panicked. Escape – escape – escape –Of course, she realized, leaning out of the straps of the tiny berth
to catch the crate, which had started to float. She brought it up and held it to her chest, looking through the wire door and trying to catch the mind of the frightened creature inside.
No harm. No fear. I will protect you. Calm.Few people gave the idea of telepaths being able to communicate
with animals much credit. And few telepaths ever bothered to try, at least as far as Kitsune knew. But she had worked for years with her cats, had even bred those which seemed to show the greatest respon-siveness.
To think of the cats, which she had been forced to leave behind, brought a wave of grief to her mind, almost threatening to overwhelm the calming thoughts she was trying to send to the frightened mon-goose. She took a deep breath and refocused herself.
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No harm. No fear. I will protect you. Calm –Who you? Can’t walk! Escape!Kitsune’s head jerked back. at had been a question! In all the
years she had worked with her cats, they had never asked questions. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, scanning the mind of the mon-goose in the crate.
She quickly realized it – she – was not a typical mongoose. Her intelligence had been significantly enhanced, at least to the level of a human child. Whether this was the result of selective breeding, or more direct genetic manipulation, Kitsune couldn’t tell.
She also couldn’t guess why this had been done. Who would want a sentient mongoose? And what for?
Who you!Kitsune blinked at the repeated question, and the sense of impa-
tience it carried. She’d been rude, she realized.I’m sorry, she told the mongoose. I’m Fox. Do you have a name?Riki.Well, whoever made this creature had a sense of literary history,
Kitsune thought. Or perhaps Kipling knew more than anyone ever realized.
Don’t be afraid, Riki. I’ll let you out of the crate. But you have to stay with me. Will you stay with me?
I’ll stay.Kitsune nodded to herself, unhooking the latches and putting a
hand inside the crate. Riki latched onto her hand and Kitsune pulled the mongoose free of the crate.
Can’t walk. What’s wrong?Kitsune contemplated a few moments – how do you explain zero
gravity to a child? – then gave it up. You’ll get used to it. She looked over at the walls of the cabin, lined with thin, threadbare fabric. Try climbing on the wall.
Riki jumped and latched onto the wall, ran up and across it, then back and forth across the ceiling. Fun!
Kitsune grinned. I thought you might like that. After a few minutes, the mongoose tired, and ran back down to
Kitsune’s berth. She curled up on Kitsune’s chest, hooking her claws into the webbing and wrapping her tail around her nose, and dropped off to sleep.
Kitsune smiled. She could let herself rest, she thought, more than in weeks. If anyone tried to break into her berth, they’d be in for a shock. As her thoughts began to drift as she neared sleep, she found herself wishing she had a tail – a fox’s tail – to wrap around her nose.
Some hours later, Kitsune left Riki in the berth and took a walk around the ship. It was small and quite Spartan by human standards, although she guessed it was luxuriant for the Narn, who made up the vast majority of the passengers.
And after weeks traveling in cargo holds, it was absolutely heav-enly for Kitsune. One of the best things was that there were regular meal times.
On the second evening out of Altair, Kitsune headed for the din-ing room as dinner was called, and found herself seated with a Bra-kiri, dressed in an immaculate black suit and white shirt. His broad, flat face was covered with a tracery of fine tattooing that Kitsune tried not to notice.
She had learned that members of the Brakiri underworld shared a fondness for tattooing with the Yakuza clans she had fled from. is man could be dangerous. “Good evening, sir,” she told him, hop-ing he wouldn’t choose to talk further.
“Good evening, madam,” he responded. “You look very tired. Have you been traveling long?”
“A while.”“My name is Kethtrell. I travel this route often, but I haven’t
seen you before. Have you come all the way from Earth?”“Yes.”He continued asking questions, and Kitsune kept giving him
monosyllabic answers, focusing on keeping her mind closed. She couldn’t sense any other telepaths in the vicinity, and she didn’t think she was being scanned. But she didn’t trust the Brakiri. She didn’t trust anyone – couldn’t afford to. As soon as she could, she excused herself, almost running back to her berth.
Riki ran into her lap, and Kitsune fed her with the breen she’d saved from dinner. Riki made it clear this wasn’t her favorite food, but she was hungry enough that it would do.
Over the next several days, Kitsune kept running into Keth-trell – literally, as often as not. Kitsune’s unease kept growing, for although he didn’t speak to her again, she could feel him watching her, studying her. She began to feel like a mouse, being stalked by one of her cats – or a snake, as Riki might pursue it.
She considered scanning him, but decided against it. An active scan – even a quick one – could be detected by another telepath, if one was aboard. And she had never tried to scan a Brakiri before – if she could do it at all, it would take her far more time than she dared.
Kitsune spent as much time as she could in the berth, playing with the mongoose. She brought what meat or fish she could from the galley, and protein cakes when she couldn’t. Riki tried not to complain, though it was clear to Kitsune – and would have been even without telepathy – that these were far from the mongoose’s taste. But hunger makes gourmets out of everyone, mongoose or human, Kitsune thought.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay in the berth all the time. She – and Riki – had to eat, and Kitsune had to go to the communal head, at the end of the corridor.
It was when she was on her way back from one of the latter visits that Kethtrell came up behind her. Before she could react, he grabbed her, throwing one arm around her neck in a choke hold. She got a glimpse of a truncheon out of the corner of her eye, and then the whole world exploded and went black.
Kitsune struggled back to consciousness, her head a throbbing wash of pain. Too many blows to the head lately, she thought. At this rate, she would lose her telepathic powers – along with the rest of her brain – before she ever found a sanctuary.
A soft chuckle brought her attention back to the moment. “Good evening again, Miss Kitsune,” Kethtrell said. “I wasn’t sure you were going to come back.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, feeling too much pain to put ire behind her voice. “You have no right to do this.”
“Who needs rights when there’s good credits to be made?” he asked. “And I think I can make some very, very good credits from you, especially since you’re alive. e Psi-Corps pay well for rogue telepaths turned over to them – not that they make the fact all that well known.”
She narrowed her eyes, staring at him, trying to get a handle on his mind. It was too late to try and hide any more.
“Don’t,” he said, his tone turning from smug to harsh. “I don’t have any of your human sleeper drugs, but I have plenty of others. Who knows what they might do to you?” He pulled several small bottles out of his pocket and showed them to her. “e first time you try anything inside my head, we’ll start experimenting.”
She muttered something in Japanese.“I don’t understand that, but I can imagine it’s not a compli-
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ment,” he said. “Curse me all you want, I’ve heard it all before, in one language or another.”
She slumped in the chair, fighting the desire to burst into tears. It had been such a long run. She had come so far, and was so close – less than 24 hours from safety, she guessed. It wasn’t fair that it end like this.
She wasn’t going to let the Psi-Corps take her, that much she knew. She remembered the first time she’d fled them, taking the Kitakyushu ferry across the straits from Korea – it had taken all her will to hold the deck rail and not throw herself into the waves –
“Where’s the animal, Miss Kitsune?”Kitsune startled violently; she’d fallen so deep into a suicidal
reverie she’d forgotten Kethtrell. e Brakiri leaned closer, repeating the question. She simply stared back at him, tilting her head up and pressing her lips together.
e Brakiri’s hand whipped out, lacing his fingers into her hair and yanking her head all the way back. A short groan escaped Kitsune’s lips. “Don’t think you can hide it,” he said. “I saw you carry it aboard. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s important. Morbius wouldn’t have paid a telepath to smuggle someone’s pet. So where is it?”
Fear for the mongoose banished despair from Kitsune’s heart. She had to find a way out of this, to save Riki. She wasn’t going to leave her to this bastard, no matter what. “She escaped my berth. She could be anywhere on the ship.”
Kethtrell’s free hand cracked across her cheek. She grimaced, but said nothing. Suddenly releasing her, he took a few steps away before turning back. “I think you’re lying,” he said, his voice suddenly quiet and even more dangerous. “But I have a way to fix that too.” He left the cabin and slammed the door.
Kitsune took several deep breaths, trying to focus. Better not to think about what would happen when Kethtrell came back, but rather about what she could do before then. She tested the bindings on her hands, wedged behind her back. ey felt like fabric cord, but were tied tightly enough that there wasn’t any give.
She looked around Kethtrell’s cabin. Far larger than her own berth, of course, but still a rather confined space. She couldn’t see any sharp edges readily to hand, though.
Sighing, she thought of another tack. Telepathic attacks were never her strongest skill, but maybe if she prepared now, she could hit Kethtrell hard enough and fast enough when he came back to disable him. at might buy her time to find a way to free herself, or at least call for help –
Fox? Fox, are you here?Kitsune almost gasped aloud. Riki, where are you? e mon-
goose felt close, but she didn’t have the skill to be able to see through her eyes.
It’s dark. Metal. Round. Wind. I can smell you.A ventilation shaft. She must have climbed into it from Kit-
sune’s berth, wandered through it. Can you follow my smell?Sure. You need to wash.Kitsune chuckled. I’m sure. Follow my smell. I need your help.
She wasn’t sure if Riki could discern emotions, especially over dis-tance, so she added, Afraid. Escape.
e silence felt interminable, but it couldn’t have been more than two minutes. Understand. I can smell you better now.
Kitsune hardly dared to breathe, as she tried to locate the mon-goose nearby, without speaking – the last thing Riki needed was a distraction. More minutes that dragged into near infinity. What was Kethtrell doing, Kitsune wondered. When would he be back.
Here I am.Kitsune’s eyes widened in wonder as the little mongoose wiggled
between the bars of the cabin’s ventilation grill and scampered down the wall and across the thin carpeting to her chair. Escape?
My hands are tied. Can you help?Riki climbed up and over Kitsune’s shoulder, down to the ropes.
I can chew.Please do it. But be ready to run and hide when I say.Kitsune could hear Riki chattering to herself, then felt a tiny tug-
ging at the ropes as the mongoose began chewing. She could sense its distaste, and tried to send what reassurances she could.
At the same time, she searched outward, trying to find Kethtrell among the many, mostly alien presences on the ship. Her headache got worse as the eternal minutes passed.
ere! Kethtrell was just outside the door, and there was an-other person – human – with him. e door latch began to move.
Riki, hide!e tugging at her wrists stopped as the mongoose ran for cover.
Kitsune forced herself not to look over her shoulders, instead fixing a defiant glare at the door. Kethtrell stepped through, with a human she recognized as another steerage passenger right behind him. ere was barely room for all three of them once Kethtrell closed the door.
“Have you changed your mind, Miss Kitsune?” he asked.“Why should I? Who’s your friend?” She tried to test the cord
on her wrists. It wasn’t free. But it was close, she thought. She hoped.
“His name is not important. But he is going to get the informa-tion I want out of you.” e human said nothing, but simply leered as the Brakiri pulled a small, clear packet out of his pocket. “Do you recognize this?” he asked, showing it to her.
Kitsune’s stomach turned over. A single word wrenched from her lips. “Dust…”
“at’s right. Dust. Very profitable stuff, too. You humans all want to dive into each other’s minds, it seems. Well, I’ll let him dive into yours.”
Kitsune had started to tremble. ere was no place to flee, here. No fire extinguishers to throw, no escape. “Please, don’t do this … it will destroy me,” she whispered.
“Well, it might lower the payment for you a little, but consider-ing what I’ve heard the Psi-Corps do to rogues they catch, maybe it won’t be so bad.” Kethtrell turned to the human, handing him the packet. “Go ahead.”
e man downed the contents of the packet, looking from Keth-trell to Kitsune, almost panting in anticipation. e Brakiri seemed unfazed, even offering another taunt. “She looks like she’s had quite an interesting life, I’d say. Just make sure you remember what I want to know.”
Panic was eating away Kitsune’s consciousness, when suddenly a rush of anger washed through her mind – even as a furiously chatter-ing mongoose suddenly emerged from beneath the bed and launched herself toward Kethtrell. e little creature swarmed up his clothes, clawing and biting at his face in a protective fury.
“Riki!” Kitsune wrenched her hands as hard as she could, and the last threads of the rope parted. Inertia carried her out of the chair, which was bolted to the deck, and to her knees before she brought herself upright. She glanced at the human. He had taken a step back into the corner, oblivious to anything but the effect of the Dust, as it began to take hold.
Blood was flowing from half a dozen bites and slashes on Keth-trell’s face and neck, drops growing on his skin then floating off, small
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globes of gore suspended in the air of the cabin. e Brakiri swatted at the mongoose, sending her flying. Kitsune caught her, pressing the small body against her chest with one arm, while shouldering past the Brakiri and wrenching open the door.
e human suddenly cried out, a sound of pain and lust twisted together as he plunged toward the Brakiri. Kitsune dove through the door, slamming it shut on the tableau of Kethtrell trying in vain to twist out of the man’s grip on his face.
Half-floating, half-creeping along the bulkhead, Kitsune slowly made her way toward her berth. Riki, are you all right?
I’m all right. You were scared. Like a kit. I had to protect you.Kitsune smiled, hugging the small creature close. An anguished cry echoed faintly from Kethtrell’s cabin. Kitsune
tried to move faster, until another thought from Riki stopped her short.
Can I have some breen?I thought you didn’t like it.It’s better than the bad man’s blood.Kitsune glanced over her shoulder, then moved on. I can believe
that.She did have to explain what had happened, to a Narn security
officer. She learned that both Kethtrell and the human had been found in deep comas. e security officer wasn’t sure if they’d survive, and frankly didn’t care. If the aliens were going to make that kind of trouble, they might as well kill each other off – that was his attitude.
Kitsune was able to convince him that she had been entirely the victim, and was allowed to return to her berth for the duration of the trip. She spent most of the time sleeping, and by the time the ship made planetfall on Dra’shu, the headaches had finally begun to fade away.
She consulted a datanet terminal at the passenger station. To her surprise, she found Rupert Delgado listed in the public directory, with a complete address. As she printed out a set of directions that would get her there, Kitsune began to wonder if this was where she could stop running at last. Dra’shu was well within Narn space, one jump point from the Narn homeworld. Only the Narn had jurisdic-tion here, and she knew they could care less for the Psi-Corps’ wishes.
Better to finish her present task, though, she thought, before thinking too much about what would happen next. She carried Riki to a large house in the wealthier section of the spaceport city. She paused at the front door, holding the crate up so she could see the mongoose inside.
I have to say goodbye, she told Riki.Goodbye?In a few minutes, I won’t see you again. Someone else will take care
of you. She smiled sadly. He will feed you better than I could.I won’t forget you, Fox.“I bet you won’t,” Kitsune murmured aloud as she knocked. A
human man, whose spectacles and graying hair suggested he was only a little older than she, answered.
“You are Rupert Delgoda?” she asked.He nodded. “I am. You must be our courier.”“I am Kitsune,” she said with a bow. “Morbius of Altair gave me
this, to give to you.” She showed him the crate.He smiled, ushering her inside and taking the crate after the
door was closed. “ank you,” he said. “I’m very grateful. How was the trip?”
“Delgoda-san, I don’t want to be rude, but I honestly think you’d rather not know that,” she told him.
He looked at her again, his brisk demeanor gentling. “You do
look like you’ve had a very hard time. Tell you what. ere’s a bath-room there, where you can take a little while and have a bath, even freshen up your clothes.” He pointed to a door at the end of a short hallway. “While you do that, I’ll get the mongoose settled.”
“Her name is Riki,” Kitsune said.Delgoda nodded, and walked off. Kitsune turned toward the
bathroom. She knew she shouldn’t trust him, but the prospect of a proper bath overrode her caution.
She imagined she could hear Riki laughing.It was nearly an hour later when Kitsune emerged, feeling like an
entirely new person. Delgoda was waiting for her, and ushered her into a sitting room. A pot of tea sat on a side table.
Delgoda smiled as he offered her a seat and poured the tea. “I wished to thank you again for bringing Riki to me, Miss Kitsune. You will find a – substantial – sum of credits already in your account.”
“I’m glad I could bring her here safely,” Kitsune answered politely. “I haven’t any right, of course, but I was wondering if you might answer just one question for me.”
“Sure, if I can.”“What will she be used for? What was she created for?”He chuckled. “at’s two questions, but they have the same
answer, so I’ll let it pass.” He handed her a small plate of cakes.“e Narn are desperate for an intelligence gathering capacity
within their own space and out into the League. After what hap-pened with the Centauri, they haven’t much in the way of technology, or funds to pay for the latest advances. So they look for unconven-tional solutions. I, with Riki and her kin, will supply that.”
“Mongoose spies?”“Just so. ey can get into places people can’t go, plant probes,
act as watchers,” Delgoda said, his enthusiasm clear. “With the proper training, who knows what Riki could do?”
Kitsune thought about the rapport she had achieved with the mongoose, and how Riki had saved her sanity, if not her life. “I think … she will do very well, if she is well treated. You will treat her well, won’t you, Delgoda-san?”
“Absolutely,” he answered. “ere’s been far, far too much in-vested in her creation to do otherwise.”
at was the truth, and Kitsune felt grateful for it. She and Delgoda ate in pleasant silence, until Kitsune finished her tea.
“ank you again for your hospitality, Delgoda-san. I will take my leave now.” She rose and bowed. Collecting the small sack of her belongings from the doorway, she slipped out the door and away into the streets.
How Sharp a Serpent’s ToothBy Michael Webster ([email protected])Section 15: How Sharp a Serpent’s Tooth Copyright 2003,
Michael S. Webster
“Endiron. You are cleared for docking in Docking Bay 3. Enjoy your stay.”
“ank you, Control. Have a good one!” Matching rotation, Earth Alliance Shuttle Endiron glides effortlessly through space into the gaping maw of Babylon 5. e docking could be considered textbook, but all the passengers were aware of was a slight bump as the shuttle came to a stop.
e passengers slowly filtered out of the shuttle into the station’s reception area. Lieutenant Foster greeted them as they exited. In turn he took their documents and processed them. A kindly gentle-
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man with an animal carrier stepped up next and offered his creden-tials.
Foster glanced down at the carrier then at the owner. “What’s in the case, sir?”
e gentleman smiled warmly. “Why, that’s my little Zinn,” he answered, his British accent lilting gently.
At the mention of his name a small black nose poked into the grate at the front of the carrier. Two sparkling eyes shone from the shadows.
“He’s a mongoose. He’s my companion.” He nodded and indicated his paperwork. “I’m sure that you will see everything is in order.”
“Yes, sir it is.” confirmed Foster. “I also see you’re here for the Conference hosted by Dr. Franklin. We’ll let his office know you arrived.”
“ank you, lad.” e gentleman smiled warmly again and continued on his way.
e soft bump signaled to Zinn that they had reached their destination. Ever since leaving home, his nose had been bombarded by all kinds of new and exciting smells. Smells that had to be left uninvestigated for now, which left Zinn awfully anxious.
e door opened, and finally stayed open. “At last!” thought Zinn, “a chance to explore!”
e opening erupted in a streak of brown fur as Zinn raced out to investigate the room. e gentleman’s laugh was a familiar sound in this new environment. It smelled nothing like the bungalow they came from. No soil or plant smells anywhere except for the potted plants here.
Running about the quarters was fascinating to Zinn. Few things in here smelled like what he was used to. Most everything was not made of wood, but by what the gentleman called plastic or metal. But there were faint smells coming thought the big screen that air came through. New and exotic smells.
Zinn raced to the bed where the gentleman decided to take a nap. Good. He hadn’t been able to rest the entire trip. Zinn, how-ever, had lots of rest, and was ready to explore. “Now, how to explore,” thought Zinn.
e mongoose sense of curiosity is well known, and they must investigate everything that their nose takes attention of. ey also have very agile paws, almost like human hands. is enables them to work and handle most objects, such as door controls.
e door wheezed open, allowing some of the odors that Zinn had sampled on the way here from the shuttle. Zinn peeked out into the corridor and took notice of the forest of legs moving up and down.
Racing off along the corridor wall, Zinn followed some of the more interesting scents. Turning a corridor, he came up to a pair of maintenance workers making repairs on the air duct. “Aha!” thought Zinn, “that’s how I can get to some of those interesting smells!”
e maintenance workers missed the streak of brown fur enter-ing the air duct as Zinn headed for the source of his curiosity. Taking a turn he followed a strange smell that seemed close. Suddenly the duct slanted down sharply and Zinn tumbled head over tail down and through the now open screen.
Standing up he looked around and checked his head for any wounds. Screams greeted him from a man with a head like the pea-cock, Nambur’s tail. Deciding that this might not be the best place to investigate, Zinn charged headlong into the grate and back up the
conduit.
“Mister Garibaldi!” wailed a familiar screech from across the Zocalo. “Mister Garibaldi!!!!”
Garibaldi turned towards the voice, his shoulders sagging in resignation. “Yes, Ambassador Molari? What may I do for you?”
“ere is an alien on board this station,” exclaimed the Cen-tauri.
“Yes, Ambassador,” signed Garibaldi. “In fact, depending on your standpoint, there are over a quarter million aliens on board. What’s your point?”
“ere is a dangerous alien running loose in the air ducts!” Although Londo lowered his voice, it still came across as a screech. Gesticulating wildly, he continues, “e vermin burst through the vent in my quarters, looked at me, stood up on its hind legs, bared its fangs and . . .”
“And?” asked the Security Chief.“… and saluted me,” came the incredulous reply. Londo seemed
as surprised as Garibaldi at what he said. “It gave me a proper salute. Not a Centauri salute, mind you, but it was obviously a salute.”
“Uh-huh. en after this ‘salute’, it go into rifle drills or some-thing?” Garibaldi’s eyes lit up restraining the laughter.
“No, then the thing shot back into the air ducts!” replied the Ambassador, returning to his angry tone.
“Okay and you want me to track it down.” Putting on a serious face, Garibaldi still had to struggle from chuckling. “Can you describe it, Ambassador?”
“Yes, of course. It was this high. . . well, it seemed taller at the time, especially when standing. It was covered all in fur and had huge fangs.” e Ambassador using his index fingers as an illustration nearly made the Chief burst out laughing.
“Okay, Ambassador. We’ll see if we can track it down. Mean-while I suggest you return to your quarters and close your vents. For the time being,” he added quickly as he turns to leave.
“You do that, Mister Garibaldi,” called after the retreating chief. “Be sure to take a large weapon after it. Preferably something long and pointy!” Fortunately the Ambassador couldn’t see Garibaldi’s shoulders shaking with laughter.
Zinn followed a wide range of odors further down into the station. e nose of a mongoose works with its brain to sort all the smells that come across it. ere is someone cooking some strange food. ere is the smell of something that’s been dead for three days. And there is . . .
Zinn stopped in his tracks immediately. Sitting up his tail bushed up and twitched. His eyes gleamed red in the darkness. His whiskers shook as Zinn realized what it was. It was different than what he was used to, but similar enough to warrant investigation.
Zinn streaked through the vents in pursuit of the scent. So single-minded was Zinn that he didn’t notice when the air duct branched off . . . right below his feet!
Zinn tumbled through the air, finally dropping through the vent covering and into the corridor below. Chiding himself for his foolish-ness he started to look about for a way back into the vents. Streaking around the corner, he nearly stumbled into a figure that seemed to take up the entire corridor.
Wearing some kind of hard shell, its head cocked slightly at the
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appearance of the mongoose. Lights on a chest plate flickered while a strange chime sounded just before it spoke one word. “Adequate.” It then turned and returned from whence it came.
Zinn decided that investigating the Vorlon would be for a later date, he had responsibilities to undertake. Finding a nearby open grate, Zinn resumed after his quarry again.
After following the scent for several minutes, Zinn came up to a grill that was located in someone’s private quarters. Zinn could hear them sleeping on the bed, but the scent he pursued did not come here.
Zinn’s instinct told him to wait. Seconds later, the door to the quarters slid quietly open and a hooded figure stepped in. e being’s scent washed over Zinn, vindicating his instincts. As the glare from the corridor faded, he saw that the hood was actually part of the creature.
It stepped up to the bed, as silent as death. A claw reached out and grasped the com and PPG that rested on the bedside table. A hiss escaped as it opened it’s maw to reveal two long fangs dripping poison.
e vent cover went flying as Zinn struck the serpent-man from behind, just below the hood. It screamed in pain and surprise as it flailed to get Zinn off. But Zinn has had experience with cobras, and knew that he had to hold on with all his might or he might be flung off and killed by those poisonous fangs.
e noise awoke the occupant who scrambled for his pistol which had been flung into a corner with the link. “Lights,” he called and as the computer turned on the lights, he saw a huge reptilian humanoid, with a broad cobra’s hood flinging around the room. Oc-casionally he caught a glimpse of a small furry form firmly attached to the back of its neck.
Sheridan looked around for his weapon, and leaped upon it. e whine of the weapon’s charge was followed by a brief staccato of super-heated mercury bolts.
e passengers slowly filed into the shuttle, Zinn in his case with his owner. Handing his paperwork to the steward, he prepared to board.
“Sir?” Sheridan called out as he rushed to greet his savior’s owner. “Pardon me, I’m Captain Sheridan. I’m in charge here. Your little mongoose there is quite a little fellow.”
“Oh yes, Captain Sheridan,” his eyes sparking. “Zinn here has been my constant companion for many years.”
“Well, I just wanted to thank you both. By the way, what is your name?” asked Sheridan.
“My name is Rudy, Captain,” he replied as he turned to enter the shuttle. “Rudy Kipling.”
The Politics of ContrabandBy Joe Medina ([email protected])Section 15: e Politics of Contraband Copyright 2003, Joe
Medina
“Heat ‘em up, kids. Spatial insertion in five, four, three--”A jolt of acceleration cut off Nu Leader’s countdown as the
Earthforce cruiser emis jumped back into normal space. Darquin flipped open the fire control guard and powered up the guns. His onboard comp declared the weapon systems online.
He sighed into his helmet, shaking his head. He had an instant sweet spot in his Starfury. But Nu Leader promised she’d bust him if
she caught him playing music. And he was still trying to work off the big black marks on his record now.
Reverberating, the fighter bays opened onto a rolling starfield.Nu Leader’s girlish tones was laying down the law. “Nu Two plus
Four through Six will be our fighter screen. Take position as soon as we’re clear. Nu ree, you’re my wingman.”
“I’m with ya, boss.” Darquin poked the relevant keys, then gripped the joysticks. “ELINT online.”
“Stay sharp, people. Launching on XO’s mark.”As soon as the telltale chirp came over his control boards, the
bay harness flipped open and sent his fighter sailing. Space flowing around him, points of starlight with smears of glowing indigo and amber from distant nebulae, he came around to complete the forma-tion.
He smiled to himself. Even without some tunes, it was perfec-tion.
Back to work. His targeting screen was sketching out the opera-tional theater in varying shades of green. Eight bogeys, two capital ships and six fighters, were five klicks out. e emis had jumped in at the perfect angle. A raider ship--a Pak’ma’ra clunker, tweaked way off the factory specs from the looks of it--was blocking the path of a Pinnacle-class freighter. And the EarthForce emis was pointing right at the raider’s belly.
She announced her intentions over the comm for all to hear. “Earthforce Cruiser emis to raiding party, stand down and prepared to be boarded.”
Nu Two piped up. “Reading one Pak freighter, weapons hot. One Pinnacle-class freighter, engines damaged.”
“Bandits at 53 by 114 by 70! Fangs out!” He smirked, adding under his breath, “All guts, no brains.”
“Roger that,” Nu Leader said. “Paint the weapons on that Pak freighter. Fighter screen, Battle Sequence A! Give us cover!”
e rest of Nu Squadron peeled off after the bandits, starting a wave of radio chatter, as Darquin formed up on Nu Leader’s star-board. His blood was pumping. e gees had nothing to do with it.
Tapping a foot pedal, he pulled up the Pak freighter on his tar-geting screen. “Boss, we got two beamers on us. Hardpoints aft and ventral-aft.”
“Confirmed, particle beam--Heads up! Fire in the hole!”A blinding plasma barrage shot across their eight o’clock, a swift
kick in the Pak raider’s gut courtesy of EarthForce. Darquin braced himself as the shockwave barreled right on through.
Like all the other pilots in this furball, he was holding his breath. is whole policing action hinged on a lightning-fast surgical strike. e emis could’ve easily taken out the raider’s engines, but the freighter was right behind it. Nobody wanted to see it go foom in the crossfire. It was up to Nu Squadron.
Darquin checked the raider ship. “Minor damage. Aft weapons still online.”
“Take aft point. I got the ventral. Fox ree, stand by.”“Copy, Nu Leader. Locking on.”As they hit the forward thrusters, an alarm went off on his con-
trol board. He was already moving when she yelled, “Evasive!”Taking a couple of deep breaths, he sent his ‘Fury twisting. e
gees smacked him like a hail of bricks, even through the suit. Nu ree and Nu Leader pivoted, breaking into mini-bootlegger turns as the raider ship jabbed with its particle beams, rotating to face their targets.
“Re-acquire!”“Okay, I got mine!” Darquin said.
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“Fox ree, Fox ree!”He pulled the trigger without hesitation. e missiles sent a jolt
through the cockpit as they fired. He brought himself around, turn-ing in place and poured on the thrusters before the raider got another bead on him.
Or the boss. He spun himself around, pointing his plasma can-nons at the raider ship, his fighter still pulling him away.
“Computer, lock on the raider--”e shockwave as the missiles exploded rammed him hard. His
restraints tore at him, holding him down, as the cockpit kicked him like a mule. e navigation stick was fighting him, hammering inside his gloved fist. On his other hand, he was busy trying to finesse the thruster controls on the other joystick without crashing into anything. Lucky for him, the proximity warnings weren’t going off.
“Guns, guns, guns!” Nu Leader was too busy taking an evasive to answer. He wasn’t about to wait. He switched to plasma cannons and pounded the raider’s hull. At worst, it could rattle their gunners the way they were rattling him.
His readouts confirmed the kill. e raider ship was cutting power to the emitters. ey were now fragged, crunchy goodness.
e raider was dropping her nose to bring more of her weapons to bear, leaving the freighter. Both Starfuries hit their afterburners. If the raiders got stupid, they didn’t want to get caught in the backblast.
“emis to raiding party, our forward batteries are on you. is is your final warning! Stand down or you will be destroyed!”
On the command channel, Darquin heard Nu Leader and the XO putting everybody on stand by. Waiting. He kept the raider ship in his sights. On his screens, the other fighters were curling away from each other, avoiding each other’s kill zones, probably wondering whether this was a cease-fire or a set-up. Waiting.
At least they’d all made it this far.e comm crackled. Darquin held his breath.“Standing down, emis. We’re recalling our fighters now.”True to their word, the enemy fighters were pulling out. Nu
Squadron tracked them all the way back to the raider ship. When the last bandit went into the hangar, the command channel rang with cheers.
Once the commotion died down, Nu Leader picked two fighters for escort duty of the civilian freighter. Tomás Darquin was one of them. It was dullsville duty, but what the hell. He got to hang out in space like a bum.
As the remaining Starfuries formed up on each other, he slipped a data crystal into the computer.
“Nu Six to Nu ree.”“I copy, Six. ‘Sup?”“What’s on the jukebox today?”“Nylon Oxygen. Some Chun-Bunny, Goofer’s Grey Wanderers,
Dire Straits, SRV....”“Any show tunes?”“Lemme see. No, different crystal. Sorry.”“No worries. What else?”“Some Hendrix. A little U2.”“A lot of U2.”“Yeah, yeah. Cry me a river, Jud.”“Just keep it off the command freq, okay? Or we’re both
screwed.”“Any requests--”“Hold on.” e comm crackled as another signal was patched in.
“e boarders are reporting in. ey’re inspecting cargo. e raiders must have cleaned out the other freighter before we came out of
hyperspace. I...think there’s a problem.”Darquin made out the grumbling and raised voices over the com-
mand channel. “Sounds like their fun meters are pegged.”“ey’re taking it all back to the barn. It’s been confiscated!”“Damn. What’d they find?”“Come on.” Judson was bringing his ‘Fury around. “Back to play-
ing escort.”“Right with ya, on your five. So what was it? I didn’t catch that.”“I didn’t either.”“is is gonna kill me until I find out,” Darquin muttered.e two Starfuries escorted the raider ship back to the emis.
After docking, Darquin soared through the decon scans in record time. Literally. e zero-g environment made it easy. Judson caught up with him, pretending to tag along so he could razz him. No, he wasn’t interested in the mystery package in the cargo hold at all. Re-ally.
ey drifted into the hold, monitored by a security detail stand-ing in front of four metallic crates wrapped in translucent sheets, held down by heavy straps. As Darquin and Judson approached, the guards glared, not saying a word.
“Hi there.” Judson gave them a wave. Darquin studied the guards. “How do you guys do that? Hey,
Jud, you see that? Tiniest shrug I ever saw, I swear.”“It’s okay if we look around...?” He waited. “I’ll take that as a
yes.”“He did it again? Damnedest thing.”“Darquin, can we get this over with? Your big mystery, remem-
ber?”“Yeah, whatever.”ey let themselves float around the crates, squinting through
the sheeting.“What’s all that?” Darquin muttered.Judson shook his blond head. “No idea. Wait, that looks like
Interlac. at’ll help.”“Assuming the raiders didn’t scrape some letters off.
Departure...Brifed?” He nodded. “Borthonan. at’s it.”“Near Kor-Lyan, I think.”Darquin continued his orbit around the crates, staring. en he
took a firm grip of the sheeting, to steady himself.“Uh, Darquin? Hey, Sherlock!”He moved to look back at Judson when he caught a glimpse
of one of the guards reaching for a truncheon. “Sorry, I don’t have thrusters. Just relax, okay?”
Darquin and Judson watched the guards, trying not to tense. Or move. Or float. EarthForce had trained them for zero-g, but never reviewed the issue of standing still in freefall. Suddenly their records, probably their health, depended on it.
e security detail continued to stare them down. en the grunt with the truncheon glided back into position. His buddies followed suit.
Judson pushed off a supporting beam. “Hurry up. I didn’t get any doggie treats for....”
Darquin was pointing a thumb at a narrow slit near the top of the nearest mystery crate.
“What’s that?”“Little opening, just about eye level? C’mon!”“If something squirts in your eye, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”“Jeez, what an old lady.” He craned his neck to peer in.Judson glanced at the guards. “Well?”“I need a light.”
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“You should’ve thought of that before you left.”“You’re gonna be in one of these any minute. I’m this close.”Judson snickered in his usual way, his voice going up and down
as if singing scales. Only more annoying.Sighing, Darquin looked around the cargo hold, looking up at
the lights overhead, then down at the ones built into the deck. His next exhale sounded more deliberate, more determined. “Can you move over here?”
“Sure.”“Back a little.” Leaning to one side, he looked into the slot again.
“Half a step back. No, too much. A little to the right--”“ere’d better not be an anvil over my head or something.” “Don’t be a--Wait!” He checked the slot. “Oralé! Right there.”“What are you doing any--” Judson paused, then chuckled to
himself. “You’re reflecting the light off my rank bars. Sharp.”“And spiky.” ey pretended to high-five each other from a
distance, but stayed in position.Darquin turned his attention back to the crate, one step away
from solving this pet obsession. But then the light started flickering, obscuring the contents of the crate. Darquin glared at Judson behind him. His peanut gallery kept waving his hand over his rank insignia, a fiendish look in his beady little eyes.
“Nice strobe effect.”Darquin called out to the guards. “Hey, guys! You want us to
leave before we hit civilized space, right?”“Fine,” Judson chimed in. “Sorry, couldn’t pass it up.”He looked back into the crate, shaking his head. In the reflected
light he saw row after row of transparent boxes lined in frost. A long dark shape lay in each one, almost cylindrical, all stacked up like cord-wood. He was all set to write them off as alien tubers or something.
en he saw the light glint off of tiny, dark eyes, sightless and staring at him through the frost.
“See anything?”“Yeah, it...looks like a ferret. Here.” He took Judson’s place so he
could look.“What the...it’s a mongoose. I think they all are!”“How can you tell?”“I’ll show you. Do you see that one? It has--” Judson pointed to
show him, then shook his head at himself. “e ears have black tips on them. e fur is more or less the right color. I think I see dark bands on the back of that one over there. It’s hard to tell. Hm, maybe it’s a meerkat. And the body is the right shape and length. On all of these.”
“Uh, Mister Mongoose Hunter?” Darquin said, “how do you know so much about mongoo--Is it mongooses or mongeese?”
“Mongooses.”“Doesn’t sound right no matter how you say it, does it?”“You had a question, supposedly.”“Yeah, since when are you an authority on mon--on the mon-
goose?”“Kipling and Chuck Jones got me started. Blame them.”“I will, I will,” Darquin said. “Okay, rewind. What are these for?”Judson shrugged. “ey might still be alive, but the cryo doesn’t
look sophisticated enough. ey’re kind of preserved and that’s all.”“So this crate is one big...deep freeze?”Darquin and Judson exchanged a long, disturbed look.“Ew.”“Aye-yai-yai...it’s a mongoose meat locker.”Judson frowned. “Don’t say that.”“en what?”
He didn’t have an answer. Instead he hopped off the deck and drifted away from the crates. He was bugging out, and Darquin couldn’t blame him.
Instead he threw his hands up in the air, nearly sending himself into a skid across the deck. He was exasperated, not just with Judson, but himself, not to mention the whole situation. ere was nothing immoral about eating a mongoose, at least as far as he knew. Why did it bother him so much? To him, they were either cartoon characters or cute little critters you saw at the holo-zoo when you were a kid. Somehow that didn’t seem like enough to explain it. Lots of animals are cute, even personable.
He paused when his mind pulled that word out of the air. It led him to a disturbing thought. As a soldier he was trained to see his enemy as less human, easier to kill, than himself or any other loser in his unit. If you listened to everyone from loudmouth DI’s and big brass to even civvie mass media, survival in combat hinged on it. e enemy had to be a faceless blank in his head, living strictly in the abstract. Enemy bad. Splash enemy, good.
Maybe the same applied to food. He couldn’t kill something named Fluffy, not unless it was biting him or something. Where he grew up, back in the Flagstaff arcology, most people didn’t eat pretty flowers either. And you didn’t keep an orange around for aesthet-ics. It was all cultural, practically random. One guy’s cannibal was another guy’s neighbor.
Darquin gave that thought a derisive snort. It didn’t hold up in light of stuff like Mad Cow Disease.
“Hey. Are you done in here?”As the haze of mega-deep thoughts lifted, he found himself
face to face with one of the security guards. He was thick, seemingly composed of big balls of muscles like a snowman. e name on his uniform was Ford.
Ford got the same idea, reading the name on the flight suit. “Hey, Dar-quinn.”
“Dar-keen.”“Did you hear me or not?”“Yeah. I think we’re done. Just...a little weirded out.”“I heard,” the guard said. “So we’re standing watch over some-
body’s dinner.”Darquin nodded. “Probably lots of dinners.”e guard pursed his lips. “I left lunch for this.”“Now this is getting....”“What.”“Nah. Forget it. But yeah, I heard ya. All of us rode fire for it
too.”“Damn straight,” Ford said. “Gromes, Narns, and Centauri are
on my frag list, starting today.” He grinned as he caught the puzzled look on Darquin’s face. “at’s where they’re going.”
“So these are all going back to them?”“at’s right. I’ll bet you 20 credits we even have to drop it off.”Darquin rolled his eyes.“Yeah, I’m right there with ya.”at was when Darquin’s idea began to coalesce. “Are
ya?”“I said so.”“at you did, that you did.” Darquin glanced around, knowing
full well it made him look more suspicious than if he had just came out and did or said the slightest, dumbest, very first thing to come to mind. He lowered his voice, which probably made him look worse.
Aw, what the hell.
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“Listen,” he said. “What would you say....”“Say about what.”“Hypothetically.”“Are you coming on to me?”“No. Just listen, okay? Good, now focus. How would you feel
about screwing over the shrock-heads who are supposed to get all this mongoose meat?”
e guard scrutinized him. “How.”“Easy. Poetic justice. Make ‘em lose their lunch.”e guard burst out laughing, nodding with enthusiasm.Darquin was stunned. Did somebody switch cruisers on him?
is guy was all set to join the Flyboy umping Contest a minute ago just for someone touched a stupid crate. All of a sudden they were gelling.
Or maybe he had gone over the edge, just plain Lost It. Yeah, it definitely made sense. at explained everything, up to and including the whacked-out idea his fevered little brain was hatching.
e plan called for some intelligence. Ford had plenty for starters. According to him, the next sentry watch wasn’t for another four hours. If they timed it well, they could move before the next shift could respond. e next question answered itself. Anyone with enough flight time, soldier or civilian, could tell by sound and sensation when a ship was in transition between normal space and hyperspace. Ford and Darquin definitely qualified. Getting past the surveillance cameras, now that was a challenge.
ey waited until the telltale lurch of jump engines punching a hole into spacetime, then make their move. Ford told the other guards he was going the ship’s head, and Darquin stuck around to talk their ears off. Ford’s confidence in Darquin’s ability was a little stronger than expected. Or wanted.
Meanwhile, as the pilot was distracting the others, Ford snuck back in and cycled around them until he reached a few junction boxes. His makeshift sabotage wasn’t enough to knock out the cameras, but it could set off some interference between them and some choice hatch control mechanisms. Circuits and chips got burned out or popped loose all the time.
At the very least, it was bound to mess up video signals. He just couldn’t guarantee by how much.
Ford then returned to his post, starting the next phase. He put his jarhead face on and told Darquin to leave. e pilot pretended to give the grunt a light-hearted but otherwise hard time. Ford went into his mean-looking statue routine. Seemingly defeated, Darquin sighed and started floating to the door.
Before he reached the door, red lights were flashing, alarms shrieking in double time all over the cargo hold. Decompression warnings.
“Move,” Ford shouted, “get some people on it!”He keyed his handlink to report when a rumble started shaking
the hold down to its deckplates. e inner hangar doors were yawn-ing open.
“Go! Get out of here--” Ford shoved the other guards into the corridor and sent him reeling deeper into the cargo hold.
Behind a bulkhead, Darquin slapped a control pad and the pres-sure doors came folding out, shutting with a roar, sealing them both in. He kicked off the wall, grabbing Ford by the leg and bracing his own against a support beam to brake.
“Great, now what?” Ford shouted.“Cargo!”“Right!”ey sailed straight to the freezer crates, attacking the straps that
held them down. e sheeting over the crates was flailing, whipping at them. Taking firm grips on the straps, they set them and the crates loose. Together Ford and Darquin swung into the crates, giving each of them a hard kick. In seconds the freezer crates were tumbling through the inner hatch, toward the outer hangar.
Ford and Darquin headed for a hatch control panel, one of several installed near each corner at the cargo hold, and latched onto a railing on the walls. With a vengeful grimace on his face, Ford stabbed the hatch controls. If he didn’t get to have lunch, nobody did.
e cargo hold groaned as the teeth of the inner hatch snaked out of the bulkheads. en came from deep within the outer hangar a bellow, building like an approaching storm.
Ford and Darquin gaped at each other. e outer doors were opening too soon.
Swearing, Ford raised a hand to slap the controls. His desperate thrash knocked him off-balance and sent him flying.
Darquin gasped despite himself. Without a thought he kicked off the wall and bolted after him. e windstorm was growing, draw-ing him into a tailspin. at didn’t change his plans. He snatched a fistful of Ford’s uniform as soon as he was in reach, swinging with everything he had. Ford went one way. He went the other, between the converging doors of the inner hatch, toward the outer hatch. Let Newton sort it out.
As the vacating atmosphere carried him away, he saw a slice of hyperspace hellfire getting closer. He realized then: is was the dumbest thing he had ever done.
He figured he might as well go for an encore. Digging deep he kicked out and sent himself rolling, slamming face-first into metal. He groped, scraped at it, his brain absorbing the metal’s dimensions long after his limbs were grappling with them.
A metal bar. And a wide flat surface right against it.A rail. He’d found a rail. It must have been a safety rail for tech-
nicians and dock workers.He laughed out loud, then he started choking. e burning void
outside was a mean-spirited thief, stealing his breath.e inner hatch was closing. It didn’t have much time.He wanted to see how far the railing went, where it led him. He
slunk on it like a worm, dragging himself. e wind was tugging at him, tearing.
His sight was turning grey. Battleship grey. at just made him mad. is wasn’t over yet. He knew it. He was close to something. Come on. Hyperion-class. ere was a short but servicable outer hangar shielding an inner cargo hold, designed to accommodate maintenance as well as emergency hull breach scenarios--
Emergency hatch.He followed the rail to the end and saw the name plate on the
wall, luring him back into freefall damnation. No, they had to make it easy. ere had to be a release--
He kicked at the space under the name plate. His feet got him this far. He was thinking about suing them.
e wall let out a hard clack. He stomped on that spot and got another clack. A lock.
A panel opened with a shrill report. A blast door.Darquin threw himself at it, bringing his arms and legs in close
long enough to splatter himself all over the wall beyond it. Behind him, the wall sealed itself with a hard clang of metal on metal.
Passing out seemed like a good idea. At least he didn’t have to worry about falling in here...or be conscious for the court-martial.
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Peace of MindBy Bernard Visser (bonzai_bert@ yahoo.ca)Section 15: Peace of Mind Copyright 2003, Bernard H. Visser
Standing on the flight deck of the Delphi, I never felt so alone be-fore. Just looking down the deck to space, I feel like I’m on a precipice in my life… A short while ago, Captain Williamson announced our ETA to Babylon 5, so after two days of hell I might have a chance to be free of the madness.
e “experiment”, as far as I can tell, is a fiasco. EarthGov had ordered a new program for trials: we have been assigned a PSI Corps liaison officer to our destroyer. e crew is very nervous now. My flight mates are envious of my impending return to civilian life. Earth Force has treated me well, but my departure couldn’t be at a better time. Or so it seemed, until today…
“Officer” Dyson seemed like a decent fellow when he came on board a few weeks ago. We were told about his observer status on the ship, and to accord him the respect one would give a dignitary. He sure asked a lot of questions, and when he got answers, he kept on prying… I think he’s here looking for “Teeps” who slipped through the cracks in the system. Anyways, he’s been interviewing the crew, one by one. e ship’s flight crew are the last bunch subject to what seems to be more and more like an inquisition… Dyson seems to pull names almost randomly, but I know my flight commander won’t allow too much disruption in our routines, so we are given 3 hours notice beforehand. It seems I’m up next, after we escort the Delphi to Babylon 5.
My flight mate, Michael, aka “Longshot”, was the second to be interviewed 2 days ago. He came back to the bunkroom white as a ghost, all sweaty and trembling. at night, “Jock”, “Piper” and myself awoke to Michael’s screaming. We took him to sickbay, and haven’t heard of him since… “Piper” demanded answers from command staff yesterday morning, and got the run around. After his interview yes-terday afternoon, “Piper” became very quiet. He’s standing by his Star Fury right now, avoiding my eyes…
e whole ship is nervous, rumours run rampant day to day, and with that episode over Michael, everyone on the flight deck is itching to for the Delphi to get out of hyperspace and into our Furys. Anything to keep our distance from that Dyson creep… Any moment now, once the Delphi pops outta hyperspace, we climb in, and take-off!
“Hey… ‘Mongoose’!”It’s “Jock” on the com. “Did ya file your papers yet?”I look at him, and signal a “thumbs up”. Too bad we’re in our
flights suits, I would’ve said more… Better keep my head down right now. e reflection of the lights in the hangar masked his face behind his visor, but I could tell from his voice he’s looking for chatter to keep his mind free of fear.
“Pilots. Prepare for launch.” Ugh. Commander Christopher was always loud on the COM. I wonder why she didn’t go into singing—such a great voice!
*Phew.* We’re on a roll now. A pit in my stomach tells me this may be my last flight. Climbing in I see the flight computer recalibrate to normal space navigation settings. e Delphi is exiting the gate. We must be approaching Babylon 5 now…
Babylon 5. I’ve never been there. Captain Williamson promised us a layover; probably a reward for putting up with Dyson. Smart man, the crew really needs stress relief!
Okay. We’re off now. All systems check. “Jock” is leading, “Piper” is behind me, and another trio is set to launch behind us. Man, I love
space! Stars everywhere! 10 years of service flying Star Furys and I still get a thrill from the freedom of flying…
As the Delphi slows to approach the station, we pull a “U” to the left and rotate to flank the destroyer. e other three will take the right flank . My sensors tell me the ship’s in touch with the station. In a few minutes we’ll do a fly-by as the ship assumes a stationary posi-tion… at’s interesting, the station’s launched a small greeting party of Star Fury’s… 4 of them. Protocol I guess.
“Hey. We have friends out here, over.” Jock noticed too.“Good to see. Right Piper?” I wonder how he’ll respond.“Look at that station. It’s huge!” Piper seemed to be himself for
the moment.“Yeah… Impressive. Can’t wait to get aboard, over.” I’m smiling, I
hope they guys feel the same. Babylon 5 is big. A shining beacon some say. I believe it!
e station’s Furys halt about halfway between the approaching Delphi and station. ey rotate to assume a complementary escort position; I guess we’ll be joined on the last 100 kilometers.
“is is Lieutenant Cortez, in Star Fury 11. Welcome to Babylon 5, pilots, over.” Her cheery voice on the Fury channel is a moment of brightness.
“Hey. Do we get a chance to mingle?” Jock can be a real cad.“We heard you’re dropping by. I guess you might get your
chance… Over.” Good, coy answer from Cortez. We introduce ourselves as they swing around and join us to
escort the Delphi to its allotted position in orbit. e station pilots seem eager to talk a bit as we maneuver. It seems they are hungry for news from home. ISN doesn’t cut it with some of them. Piper doesn’t say much, as if a cloud returns over him. As the ship halts, my atten-tion glances to a shuttle that launches from the Delphi. e Captain’s on his way to the station, as expected, and we are instructed to provide a brief escort. Aside from commands and confirmations, the Star Fury COM channel is quiet now. Something in my head tells me Captain Williamson is on his way to the station on matters beyond the cordial protocols of Earth Force…
As the shuttle enters the gapping red maw of the station’s dock-ing portal, we cruise onwards along the immense length of the station. Eight kilometers long I’d say. e sight of it is stunning!
“Holy crap. It’s incredible. I wonder how much it cost?” Jock again, whistling over the COM in awe.
“More than most mega corps could afford, I bet. Now I really want to get onboard!” Even though I’m impressed, I am concerned about Piper’s silence. Cortez and the other station Furys veer off with salutations and an invitation to drop by during our layover… After they drop out of our channel, Piper speaks up.
“I don’t think Dyson will let us get onboard for the leave Captain Williamson promised.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Jock sounded incredulous. As was I.
“Piper,” I said, as we slowly arced around to return to the Delphi’s position, “I have an idea. Say no more for the moment. Over and out.” I contact the ship and offer to briefly reconnoiter Epsilon III, the planet around which Babylon 5 quietly orbits, as a matter of security procedure. Initially Commander Christopher would have denied the idea, but she was a stickler for procedures, and consented after a mo-ment of thought…
Within 5 minutes our flight was in close orbit around, Epsilon III. As soon as we were in the communications shadow of the planet I urged Piper to speak his mind. I encouraged Jock and the others to listen up.
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“I-I don’t know for sure, but I think Dyson’s trying to control the crew…” I almost spun my Star Fury in shock at Piper’s remark.
“You’re nuts man.” Jock was getting irritated, the stress of the last few weeks started to seep through his voice. “ere’s no way one man, even a Psi Cop, can mess with the whole crew.”
“No. But he can mess with the few minds in charge of the ship,” I said thoughtfully. “ere were a lot of unhappy faces in Earth Force when Gov announced this exchange program. I’ve heard enough brass mutter warnings… What did he do to you by the way?”
“I-I don’t remember. He asked a lot of questions. Personal ques-tions. Probing questions. It felt like a snake slithering up and down my spine. He’s looking for something too.” Piper was getting jittery.
Or someone, I thought…“Something to look forward to, Mongoose!” One of the other
wing pilots piped up.“Yeah. Some of the other guys on deck said similar things when
they were interviewed…” at was another pilot.“You’re lucky you’re leaving, Mongoose.” Jock said with a note on
envy in his voice.“Yeah. Could be.” I was wondering now if things would go my
way…We chatted some more about our doubts and concerns until we
left the planet’s “shadow” and arced across the stars towards the Delphi dwarfed by the station, we kept radio silence until the ship requested our return to the flight deck.
“I don’t want to go back!” Piper suddenly cried out. He immedi-ately veered off and headed for the gate full throttle.
“Hey. What are you doing! Piper! Piper!” Jock yelled out. He was just as upset, I could tell. I had a sinking feeling. First Michael, now Piper?
“Piper, you’ll ruin your career! Turn back man!” I was not about to let a colleague and friend mess up.
Piper refused to respond. We were immediately hailed by the Delphi. Commander Christopher barked an order for Piper to return to the ship. Piper, uttered an expletive and closed his COM.
“Star Fury 8 and 12. You are to pursue and intervene, over.” at was Commander Christopher addressing Jock and me. “Other pilots return to base.”
“Roger that Delphi, over.” I said. Jock responded in the affirma-tive too.
We careened off to follow Piper, as the others cruised home.“Piper! What do you think you’re doing? You’re not equipped
to wander hyperspace in a Star Fury. Man, you’ll be lost forever out there!” Jock was trying to get through to him too.
“Piper. Listen to me. Your life isn’t worth sacrificing over the fear of Dyson. He’s just a Psi Cop. You have all of Earth Force to back you up if you want redress.” I knew he could still listen to us…
“Back me up? After what happened to Michael? Where’s he now?” Piper screamed back. e madness of the last few weeks was taking its toll again.
Piper’s Fury roared closed to the gate… We could barely keep up.en a new voice chimed in.“is is Lieutenant Commander Ivanova from Babylon 5. Delphi
you have a Star Fury attempting the gate. Is there a problem?” She sounded puzzled, no doubt broadcasting on all our channels.
“Lieutenant Commander Ivanova, this Commander Christopher, we have matters in hand.”
“We have not received a signal to open the gate for your Star Furys.”
“Open it, Lieutenant Commander.” “By whose order, Lieutenant Commander? I have no authoriza-
tion at this time.” She sounded even more perplexed. Obviously the Lieutenant Commander on the station was not one to be trifled with; there are proper channels to follow.
“Lieutenant Commander Ivanova, this is Star Fury 8. If you open the gate we will not be able to rescue our flight man safely. Please keep it closed.” I crossed my fingers, hoping good sense would prevail. Odd that Commander Christopher would exacerbate the situation for Piper by letting him cross into hyperspace…
Dyson! It hit me, I don’t know how I know but I’m sure he’s at Christopher’s side right now. at murderous spider!
“Should we knock out his boosters?” asked Jock.“e range is too far for a good shot I think.”“A rescue team is on its way, Fury 8, over,” announced Lieutenant
Commander Ivanova.“Roger, Babylon 5. We’ll continue pursuit as long as we can.” I
now wonder what’ll happen to Piper…We continued a stretch further, trying our best to close in on
Piper, while Ivanova and Christopher started arguing about jurisdic-tion. Ivanova won. Good!
Just then, the gate opened to expel a civilian ship, a freighter. Piper’s Fury screamed on towards the gate, hoping to slip past no doubt.
“Piper! Stop, man, you’ll get killed!” I called out, time running out down to the seconds now. I swore to myself that Dyson would pay a price for this!
“Man. If he goes into the gate against the polarity he’s toast!” cried Jock. “We gotta shoot now!” Two bolts of white blaster fire erupted from Jock’s Fury. Just as Piper’s Fury passed the freighter. ey missed, thankfully; Jock forgot he could have damaged the gate too.
Piper flew on… right into the collapsing field of the gate. e electromagnetic backwash of the gate energy fried his power and tossed his Fury aside like a child’s toy. It veered wildly aside and slammed into immense armature of the gate’s left power channel. Piper, and his Fury, dissolved silently into sparks and fragments…
Jock and I swooped by the outer perimeter the gate where Piper lost his life. e COM channels were quiet, save for the angry ques-tions of the freighter captain wondering why there were explosions behind his ship.
EarthForce protocol requires accident investigations be adminis-tered by command staff separate to those involved, so I am sitting in a shuttle with Jock on our way to B5.
When we returned to the Delphi’s flight deck, there were many somber and worried faces from our colleagues. Commander Chris-topher was in conference by COM with Captain Williamson, so Lieutenant Commander Shane, our immediate flight commander, debriefed us. Shane informed me that my interview with Dyson was suspended until further notice. I sensed some satisfaction on his part when he saw the relief on my face. Jock just knowingly glanced over to me at the time. Shane then informed us that we were grounded until this all blew over, but it was up to Commander Christopher what was to happen next, either an inquiry held on the Delphi, or on B5. I could see the sadness cross Shane face when the debriefing was over. Poor Piper.
Now in the shuttle, I am wondering what words were shared between Christopher and our Captain. It seems the station’s com-
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mander would be in charge of the inquiry tonight or tomorrow.“Hey Mongoose, what’s in the package?” Jock asked, breaking the
gloomy silence between us.“I’m not sure.” I looked at the plastic envelope in my hand.
“Shane gave it to me just before boarding. It’s timed to release its lock by midnight, local time I think. en I am to read it Shane said.”
“What do think it is?”“Data logs from what happened I bet.” I wasn’t sure though. “Well, if it can damn Dyson, I’ll be happy.”“Me too.” I don’t think we would have been so free to speak if we
weren’t alone in the shuttle’s passenger deck.“Longshot, Piper, and then who else?” Jock sighed running his
hand through his blond hair.“Well, we don’t know that Longshot’s dead, Jock. All we know is
he is in medical isolation on the Delphi.”“But his status is kept secret. Is this to avoid too many questions?
Ever since Dyson came on board there has been a shutdown in com-munications between the crew and the command staff. Secrets don’t help morale, Mongoose.”
“But sometimes they save lives…” I don’t know why I said that; it just came to me. Jock looked at me in silence for a moment and lay back in his flight couch.
Quiet ruled the remained of our trip to B5.
In service to EarthForce one usually has little direct contact with aliens. When we boarded at the customs gate on the station, Jock and I were amazed by all the aliens before our eyes. I guess civilians are more used to this. ere were Brakiri, Centauri, Drazi, and several others I had never seen before. Our arrival must have been expected; a young officer from station security greeted us, and she led us by the crowds, smiling at our wonder. She then escorted us to our quarters.
“Lieutenant Commander Ivanova will be contacting you shortly, welcome to Babylon 5 gentlemen.” She smiled again and left as the door to our room swung shut. We looked around the room, it was small and set for up to four persons—typical of the Spartan facilities commonly awarded to EarthForce personnel. Jock immediately threw his overnight bag on a bed and disappeared into the privy.
Glancing now at the COM screen on a wall near the door, I am wondering if I should contact home. ere’s time now, and we are technically off duty…
e COM snapped on just then.“In coming priority message.” e BABCOM voice chirps
smoothly. e image of a dark haired man in black uniform material-izes.
Dyson.“Good to see you are safe on the station Mr. Kennedy. I presume
you and Mr. Ward will rest well after such a terrible outcome earlier today?”
“I’m sure we will.” He’s not getting any reaction from me now.“I am sorry we weren’t able to follow through on our interview
Mr. Kennedy. I’m sure you would have appreciated the opportunity to get that out of the way from interfering with your duties. However, events have conspired to delay things, and I find my time is rather pressed.”
“I’m sure you’ll have your chance Mr. Dyson.”“Indeed, it seems that since you are technically off duty, I am
pleased to inform you that my jurisdiction has expanded. As you know, we Officers of PsiCorp have our roles to fulfill, and we are less restrained in a civilian environment than a military one.”
“What do you mean?” I try not to show alarm.“Well, I’ve been notified that the hearing regarding the accident
earlier today will be held tomorrow morning, Babylon 5 time, so I am at liberty to see you beforehand.”
“I see” Not if I can help it… “When should I expect you?” I smile, insincerely of course. He returns the same, his steely dark eyes intense with expectation.
“Your enthusiasm is heartening, so many of your crew mates have been rather recalcitrant. You should expect me within the hour Mr. Kennedy.”
at means he’s on his way or already on the station!“I believe we are not to leave our quarters until the inquiry, so-”“Oh, arrangements have been made. See you shortly, Mr. Ken-
nedy!” With one last smirk the image of Dyson snaps to darkness.I swear profusely.“I just saw that.” Jock commented from the back of the room.
His face pale with fear, Jock looked at me questioningly.“I have to delay this somehow.” I’m sure my face didn’t look any
calmer than his.“We can’t leave Mongoose.”I walk over and open the door.“Well, they obviously trust EarthForce personnel, ‘cause the coast
is clear…”“Where will ya go?”“Well, this is a big station…” Talking over my shoulder from the
door.“Well… let’s go explore!” Jock was smiling genuinely, obviously
content to do something rather than mope all night.“Hand me that envelope, and let’s go!”
It was a good thing Jock reminded me that we should change into the civilian clothes Shane suggested we take with us, for within moments of entering a main passageway in what is know as Blue Sector, we walked right by two Psi Cops. We turned down another corridor walked quickly to where we thought we’d find some tourist information.
“at was close!” Jock tried not to show his anxiousness.“Yeah.” I exhaled slowly. “Okay. I’ve got four hours before I can
open this file. We need to loose ourselves somewhere…”We politely ask for directions from a station security officer,
and get to a terminal. In short order we decide to visit a place called Zocalo… Conveniently enough a transport tube was adjacent to our location. We join a few others and found ourselves in Red Sector within minutes.
Stepping off the tube we were immediately surrounded by a host of aliens and humans. Words escape me if one were to ask me what we saw before us. e Zocalo is a huge gathering of peoples. e noise and exotic scents of goods and wares were beyond anything I’d ever experienced before.
“I think we can spend a good while here, Jock.” I smiled.“Is there a casino near here?” Jock was always the gambler in our
crew.“Ya, we can check that out too.”We barely step forth into the Zocalo when a Brakiri merchant
calls out to us to offer his trinkets for a good deal. Ignoring him we wander into the crowd…
It’s amazing how time passes when you are distracted. While looking over some exotic goods offered by a fellow human who was enthusiastically explaining the latest in personal entertain systems
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from Earth, Jock tugged my anxiously sleeve and gestured to a BAB-COM channel on a nearby wall.
Mug shots of Jock and I were being broadcast all over now. My heart turned very cold. We were made to look like criminals!
“is is madness!” I exclaimed. e merchant was oblivious to my alarm.
“Pardon me?” He looked confused.Jock shoved me aside of the merchant’s stall out of sight. “We
have to get back!” He whispered urgently.“You go. I’ll move on. I got you into this mess.”“Yeah, and flight mates don’t abandon each other!” He looked
hurt and angry.“You’re right. We didn’t abandon Piper… Okay…” I look around.
“Ya know those traveling cloaks we saw earlier?”Jock nodded.“Let’s get busy.”
Jock and I decided to split up. He agreed it would draw less sus-picion. So we settled on meeting at a place called e Zen Gardens, deep in the hydroponics area of Green Sector. e cloaks with the large hoods we purchased were apparently of Minbari origin, so we figure that might help too.
I wished Jock luck, he returned the sentiment and we parted. I found a transport tube to the Core Transport Shuttle platform in Red Sector. As luck would have it, a group of Minbari were boarding it. I stepped in right under the nose of the station security who didn’t pay much attention to the Minbari. at was close! I never thought I’d meet a Minbari, but life has its twists and turns. Since the war we had with them I still feel very awkward about them, but my own plight drives me to extremes I never expected.
e Minbari took little notice of me until I boarded the Core Transport Shuttle…
“Brother… We have not met before.” A Minbari lowered his cowl and looked into my eyes. e jig was up!
“I’m just a traveler.” I lowered my own hood and saw I was alone with 5 Minbari. Damn, I should have been paying attention more!
“A human. I am Lennier. Where are you traveling to?” Two other Minbari started whispering to their compatriots.
“A garden.” What a strange thing for me to say.“at can be a wise choice for some,” smiled Lennier. What a
strange thing to hear!“What garden do you seek?” Lennier seemed to be a spokesman
for this troop.“A Zen garden.”He smiled again. “e Zen Garden? A human place we much
appreciate here. We are going there too.”I smiled a bit. “I hope you don’t mind if I follow.”“You are welcome to join us for a time there,” nodded Lennier.“ank you.” I nodded in return. Might as well be polite with
them.Once the core shuttle shot out into the open core of the station
I witnessed the amazing view of it’s wide open interior. Above and below, slowly rotating around us, were the fields, forests and farms that fed this station. Incredible.
“You are new here?” asked Lennier, obviously aware of my focus on the immense view.
“Yes.” Better not say too much!
We arrived at the Zen Garden with little attention to us with our hoods up. Station security seemed light here, and those that were on duty were occupied with various tasks. e garden itself was empty as we stepped into it. Again I couldn’t resist looking at the fantastic view of curved terrain around me. Now it was a matter of time before Jock would show up. I hope he’s not going to freak out about the Minbari here. His father died in Earth’s war with the Minbari. So far he’s kept his cool…
“What is your name?” Lennier addressed me again as we were walking into the garden area. I don’t know why I expected plants here, having heard of the Zen garden concepts on Earth, of course there were none. We were surrounded by carefully placed stones, benches, sand and a discrete fountain at one side. Peaceful.
“Mr. Smith.”Lennier looked at me. “One of the tenants of faith is Truth, Mr.
Smith. I’m sure, like most humans I have met, you would agree.”“Perhaps it Truth that I’m in search of.”“en join us as we meditate upon this. Be at peace Mr. Smith.”Lennier led us to a sandy spot that had several flat stones in
a circle to sit upon. We settled down and a Minbari female named Shal’an hummed quietly to set the mood for everyone. I kept my cowl up and placed the envelope I had to my side.
e strangeness of the situation didn’t last long though; the sound of running feet echoed for the hall outside the garden area. e Minbari seemed oblivious at the moment.
It was Jock, out of breath, and glancing warily over his shoulder.“Mongoose!” He whispered loudly. I don’t think he saw me; he
looked confused by the group of Minbari sitting in the garden.Before I could react, there were more running feet and a cry of
halt from the corridor. I heard the telltale sound of a PPG charging. Jock moved to run into the garden. A shot fired and he went down, tumbling into the sand and stone. e Minbari jumped up defensive-ly, shocked and angry at the violent interruption. ey rushed over to where Jock lay, and I followed to get to his side.
“D-Dyson.” He gasped lying on his side. He saw my face under the cowl. He was scared and badly hurt.
“Jock. What-““I-I think he got into m-my head. ey must have followed me!”
He passed out after that.Just then two Psi Cops appeared at the door, demanding every-
one to stand aside. Dyson stepped up behind them.“Well, we found one…” A satisfied smirk crossed his face when
he spied Jock on the ground.“Shal’an, be ready,” whispered Lennier tersely behind me.Dyson surveyed the group 10 meters before him. “Many apolo-
gies to our Minbari friends. We have been looking for this criminal for quite some time. If you would be so kind, step aside and we will remove him for your safety.”
Just then a tiny sound chirped behind us all.e envelope!I turned carefully to walk back and pick it up. I felt something…“Halt!” It was Dyson’s voice.I stopped without turning to face him. I could hear the Minbari
step aside as the boots of a Psi Cop stepped noisily upon the sand and stones behind me.
“You are not Minbari are you? Mr. Kennedy!” sneered Dyson. He was very close behind me now.
With a firm tug he pulled down the hood.“Yes. Indeed you are not… What’s there?” e envelope kept
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chirping…He stepped past me and picked up the package. Lennier was
looking very carefully at me, as was the Minbari Shal’an.“Well, well, Mr. Kennedy what do we have here? An EarthForce
document.” He opened the envelope. I moved to grab it from him but he was far enough away to pull his PPG out.
“Not so fast, Mr. Kennedy. I will confiscate this as evidence. Sto-len data? Perhaps this is a fraudulent document? Or perhaps it never was worth reading…”
e anger within me, hit critical mass; I started shaking, know-ing any other action could spell my demise at gunfire.
“It’s addressed to me Dyson, not you!”“Well, since you are in my custody now, whatever is yours is now
property of Psi Corps. We have time; let’s have a quick look… Oh, I can tell right away you won’t be needing this.” e snake smiled as he closed the envelope and stepped before me, by now one of his troop-ers was at my side clamping cuffs to bind my wrists. “I think it’s time for our interview Mr. Kennedy. You can be sure it will be a thorough one.”
Dyson patted my shoulder in a patronizing manner. I flinched as I suddenly felt another mind burrow into my head. A gasp was ut-tered from one of the Minbari, I couldn’t hear who it was. Everything cleared out again.
Dyson spun to face the Minbari. “You would do well to stay out of human affairs.” He was suddenly very angry with them. As I looked over to them while I was led up to the exit, I noticed Shal’an and Len-nier were engaged in urgent whispers.
“Pick up that one there,” ordered Dyson to the other officer regarding Jock, then he looked at me. “is should be most interesting Mr. Kennedy.”
“Interesting for you, Sir. But you’ll have to wait!” At the same time, some Minbari gasped in surprise.
At the top of the Garden entranceway to the corridor beyond, stood an EarthForce executive officer flanked by three station security officers on each side. She was not at all prepared to give anyone ground.
“Pardon me Lieutenant Commander Ivanova. I-”“I don’t think you will be going anywhere with our personnel Mr.
Dyson.”“He is my responsibility now, Lieutenant Commander.”“Not on Babylon 5!” Four more station security officers joined
behind us from another entrance. Dyson was thoroughly surrounded.“By whose order?”“What you are holding in your hand…”Dyson opened up the envelope again. As he did so Lieutenant
Commander Ivanova stepped forward and smugly showed that she too held a similar envelope. For a moment I caught her glancing at Lennier. Do they know each other?
“Lieutenant Commander, we would like to leave you to matters at hand.”
It was Lennier. She nodded, and the Minbari walked out of the garden without hindrance from the station security officers.
“What the devil?” Dyson was not pleased with the contents of the documents he read. He glared at me. “It looks like you have a few friends in high places Mr. Kennedy—for now!” And threw my papers to the ground.
As Dyson stomped off in disgust, followed by his two goons, Ivanova stepped before me with two officers at her side. ey released me from the cuffs. Two others lifted Jock off the ground.
Looking at me, she called out to the Psi Cops, “when you leave,
Dyson, don’t let the door slam your behind.”e sense of relief was intermingled with in trepidation. What
wrath must I face from her having technically breached protocol regarding my role here?
She looked at me… “You are one hell of a lucky man, Lieutenant Kennedy!”
I was aghast. I’m not a Lieutenant… am I?
A short time later I was permitted a chance to look over the docs I was issued. Pleased with the contents, I sought out Jock in the station’s Medlab early in the next morning. He was conscious and recovering well.
“… And furthermore, be it known that immediately upon the cessation of your duties with the Delphi, you will report to Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova for briefing regarding your promotion to Lieutenant on Babylon 5. ere upon you will assume the role of Chief Flight Instructor of Beta Squadron effective immediately…”
Jock was stunned as I read out the promotion.“But I thought you were quitting?”“Well, I felt I was due a promotion, and let it be known that I
was also considering a return to civilian life. I told Shane, well before that creep Dyson came aboard, of my hopes and intentions. Shane knew I was due for a change, and he said EarthForce would miss me. He challenged me on my love of flying Star Furys. ‘How could you give that up?’ he demanded.”
“Mongoose, everyone on the Delphi knows you wouldn’t give it up!” Jock genuinely smiled, and gave a “thumbs up” with a wink. “I would go for it if I were you!”
“Little could Dyson do about anything as I was considered EarthForce assigned to B5 at the stroke of midnight--with the option to refuse the promotion within 24 hours if I felt differently.” Jock laughed at that.
“I think you would do well here on Babylon 5, Lieutenant Ken-nedy.”
I turned around to see Lennier at the doorway to the recovery room. Shal’an was next to him.
“You quite fortunate to have Shal’an around. She’s one of the gifted few of us who could intercede.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”Lennier stepped forward a bit and looked at me. ere was
an awkward pause; I glanced at Jock, and looked at Lennier again. “Shal’an was able to shield you as soon as she discovered there’s more to you than even you realize ‘Mr. Smith’.”
Lennier almost smirked upon mentioning that pseudonym. “You have great potential. Someday you will discover, that it was fortunate Officer Dyson never found out!”
DowntimeBy J. WhitingSection 15: Downtime Copyright 2003, J. Whiting
Walking slowly, simply because the density of the crowd down here in the markets was making her, she makes her way over towards the stall she’d visited just a week before. Weaving round people, and covering almost twice the distance she would have done if the place was empty. However, despite the fact that she’s only got a short time before she has to be back on the ship, she welcomes the crowd, know-ing she’s less likely to be spotted making the purchase than if the place
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was empty.As a large group of shoppers spill out of one of the less reputable
establishments, after clearly having too much to drink with their afternoon meal, she’s forced to stop and wait for them to get out of the way. Even were she dressed in her Ranger uniform, she doubts they’d have paid it much heed. Leaning against the wall, she checks her chronometer, not wanting to have to explain herself should she delay the ships departure.
Finally, after almost five minutes, the group of companions has organized itself enough so that she can slip past them, lengthening her pace a little to try and make up some of the lost time. Her slender, but muscular, legs propelling her along, aided somewhat by the look on her face, dispersing those people who catch a glimpse of it. Not that she looks angry or anything, just determined to get where she’s going; she has the look of someone who’s rather confident in them-selves about her, a look that parts the crowds like the bow of a ship.
With this new pace, she soon makes it to her rendezvous with the Minbari trader, the only person she’d been able to find on the station specializing in somewhat exotic accessories. However, she once again has to wait whilst the trader finishes serving his current customer. Only once this is done does she step over to the stall, slip-ping inside the shadows beneath its awning.
Wasting little time on pleasantries, she gets straight to the point. “I got the message you left me. You say you have the gloves?”
Chuckling softly, “My, you’re in a rush today, you ought to take things a little more slowly, something might catch your eye.” ough upon seeing the look on her face, he gets to the point, “Yes, I have the gloves you wanted, though they didn’t come cheap.” He reaches under his makeshift counter, and produces a slender box, which he places in front of her. “You want to try them on?”
She shakes her head, “No, I’m sure they’re a perfect fit, that’s one of the reasons why I came to you in the first place.” She places one hand on the box, the other going to her pocket, reaching for her credit chip. Placing the single use stick into his hand whilst scooping up the box, “Nice trading with you, maybe I’ll require something else from you one day.” is said, she turns and walks off again.
Her return trip is a little slower, not just because of the crowd, she’s forcing herself to walk a little slower lest her excitement get the best of her and she arrives back at the ship looking disheveled. It wouldn’t be seemly for someone of her position to look rumpled and flustered, even if it was just from a brisk walk back, certainly not with the things that are going on inside her mind. Oh, how glad she is that there are no known telepaths in the crew that she’s part of. Even though they’d break all sorts of rules by looking at that, she’s sure that some of them would gladly take the punishment just for a few seconds worth of her thoughts.
Still weaving between the crowds, without really thinking about it, she reaches the lift back up to the docking area. Stepping inside, she enters her destination, and the once more leans against the wall as she waits. e anticipation of actually taking a look inside the box building to an almost unbearable level, as she’d deliberately not done so out in public, this was something she wants to save for her private quarters.
With a slight jolt, she’s brought back to the here and now as the lift stops, it’s doors opening so she can step out into the docking area. Once more, she starts walking, making her way out to the docking pylon reserved for the Rangers, and their Whitestars. e private docking area was both a boon and a bane at times, it’s nice and out of the way, so that the number of random people in the area is reduced to a minimum, but at the same time there’s no direct lift there from
the market areas, meaning a somewhat considerable trek. Not many of the others seem to mind though, as all the official supplies are brought up in the service lifts.
However, as before, the walk back passes in somewhat of a blur, her mind on the contents of the box, and all the things she has planned for them. Her thoughts venturing down a few of the paths presented, but always turning back before she reaches the point where her thoughts would start to become noticeable to the few engineers busy with whatever it was engineers were doing out here at the mo-ment. It was hard to tell at times, what with all the grease and oil that many of them seem to be constantly covered in.
Finally reaching the docking ring once more, she opens the first door of the lock and slips inside. Closing that door behind her, and then waiting for a moment before opening the inner door. Sure, they were docked at the impressively large Babylon 5, but they were still a cautious group of people. Especially whilst only here for a short stay, which was why they’d used one of the few docking rings rather than just landing down in the main bay.
After slipping through the inner lock, she pads almost silently down the corridor, nodding to those few people that she passed, and guessing that everyone else was making the best of the brief time that they were here on the station. ough she does wish that her request for some proper shore leave had been granted, but even if she was stuck aboard the ship, she still had a few days to herself before most likely being put to work on some obscure file someone managed to dig up from the data networks.
Ah, it wasn’t a bad life, really, and she’d certainly found some other uses for her skills in data retrieval. It still surprised her some of the things the crew asked her to try and de-scramble, but the long list of owed favors was certainly pleasing. inking of this, she gives the little pocket on the inside of her uniform a little pat. at’s where she kept her more private data crystals, tucked away inside her clothes so people couldn’t find them accidentally. Something she did both for her own peace of mind, and to protect all those who she’d done jobs for in her spare time. Yet, at the same time, she also had copies of the crystals stashed in a safe box at one of the more reputable storage companies on the station.
Feeling the reassuring shape of the crystals pressing against her, she lets her mind wander again. Going over a few of the things she’d been asked to de-scramble, in particular the file she was working on at the moment. One of the younger members of the crew, though she couldn’t recall his name, had brought it to her a few days before. e file was badly garbled, but the fact that it just appeared to be text made things much easier, and she’d already managed to recover some fairly substantial parts of what appeared to be a story, though there were also still some rather large chunks missing, including most of the end of the file.
Still lost in her thoughts about the file, she reaches the door to her cabin, and lets it slide open before stepping into her own private world. In here she could do what she wished, and work however she preferred. Yet working is the last thing on her mind. Once the door’s shut behind her, and she’s made sure it’s locked, she walks over to her work console and sets the box down on it. Running her fingers over the top before slipping them down to the catches and unfastening the box.
Holding her breath, she slowly lifts the lid, letting it tilt back on its hinges. ere, nestled into the liner of the slender box, is the pair of fur gloves she ordered. But it’s not just any fur, oh no, this is mongoose fur, something she’s always had a liking for, ever since being fascinated by the creatures when she was younger. Letting go of the
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lid, she trails her fingers over the smooth fur, mming a little at the feeling.
Glancing round, as though expecting half the crew to have just materialized inside her cabin, she reaches down and takes the gloves out of the box. Just holding them in her hands for a few moments as she luxuriates in the feeling, enjoying the softness of the fur against her hands. Before long, she’s slipping her fingers into them, trying them on for the first time. Sure enough, the gloves are a perfect fit, just as she thought they would be. e thin fabric clinging to the contours of her hands, fitting almost as well as a second skin, but with enough left over so that clenching her fists doesn’t pull the gloves too tight over her hands.
Unable to resist, she trails the tips of two fingers over her cheek, brushing the soft fur covered gloves over them, and bringing a smile to her face for the first time that day. “Hmm, now these were certainly worth every credit. Soft enough to enjoy yet supple enough to work in.” It’s a bad habit, she knows, talking to herself, but there are times when it’s just too difficult to control the urge to do so.
Leaving one hand resting against her cheek, just cupping it with the glove, she uses the other to move the box. Tossing it onto her compact bed for the moments, until she can find somewhere else to put it. en she sits down at her console, intending to try out the gloves for what she’d originally bought them. e softness of the fur is just an added extra.
Slipping out her data crystal, the one that she keeps all her cur-rent projects on, she slips it into the provided slot and then brings up the file that the young crewmember had brought to her. Scanning though the document, she starts at the top, intending to try and finish the few paragraphs that she’d been able to partially rebuild. Once she finds her place, she reads as she works, making sure that what’s already been de-scrambled makes sense before moving on.
She… literally done so if such things weren’t frowned upon. Once safely in… she locked the door, even going so far as to drag… she looks round her room, as though half…appeared whilst she was dealing with the door. Finding that this isn’t the… and flops down on her bed, her robes falling slightly open to reveal a fair portion of… as she does so.
Sitting legs… the edge of the bed, her… discarded and laying on the floor, she tucks her robes into her lap. is pulls them… white sock clad feet, and … her socks. Clearly, the room is warm enough for her to not bother pulling her robes back into place, something that she’d….
Once she’s in position she places the… to support it as she opens it. e cover, visible for the first time, appears to be red leather, with… gold lettering upon the front. However, any other words are obscured as… introduction to the book.
Not finding what she’s looking for in the introduction… starts turn-ing pages. Skimming through the pages, she glances at the title… chewing on her bottom lip as she gets further into the… her shoulder wouldn’t tell you what she was looking at, you’d just see page after page of squiggly… that appear to move and reform themselves… them.
Deciding that everything recovered so far makes sense; she de-cides to read on, something within her wanting to know what exactly the girl in the story is up to. e book certainly doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you see every day, but that said she’s never seen many physical books about the station. Her fingers hover over the few con-trols she needs, mainly just the text scroll button, so she lets her free hand rest on the desk, her fingers almost absentmindedly stroking her forearm as she scans through the text.
Drawing little patterns on her skin as she reads the fragmented text. However, every now and then, she finds a group of paragraphs that have been fully recovered, even though she’s not actually had
chance to proof read them yet. Upon reading the first of these her breath catches in her throat. ere, the teenager who’d been sat with the book in her lap, was now naked and being pleasured by someone. Frustratingly, she couldn’t tell who was doing the pleasuring, that part of the story was too fragmented to read.
Reading on, now unable to stop herself even if she wanted to, the sexual activity in the story calling to something inside her. Even though she wasn’t generally that way inclined, the story, or those bits of it that aren’t heavily fragmented, is causing an unmistakable tingling sensation inside of her. It doesn’t take much longer before the idly stroking of her fingers changes to a much more noticeable caress-ing, as she continues reading the story.
However, long before she reaches the last of the sections she’s done some work on, her comm. beeps and she leans over to answer it. Sounding slightly irritated as she says, “hello?”
“Hi Jen, did you forget about our little get together this after-noon?”
Smiling as she recognizes the voice of her only real friend here on the ship she gives a light nod, “I’m sorry. Want me to come down and join you now? We’ve not lost all that much time.”
“Sure, just be ready to get a beating, I’m on good form at the mo-ment. See you in a few, right?”
Giggling a little at her friend’s confidence she replies with, “I think it’ll be you getting the beating, but yeah, I’ll be down in a mo-ment. Just got to sort something out first.” Hitting the off button, she quickly dumps everything back onto her data crystal and tucks it away with the others. However, she then slips the little pouch from inside her clothes and stashes it under her pillow, not wanting to risk having them damaged whilst sparing with her friend.
at done, she grabs her small gym bag and heads down to the small area set aside for training and recreation. A slight spring in her step even though she doesn’t really want to be away from her work. It doesn’t take her long to get there, and she spots Sarah as soon as she walks into the room. “Hi, sorry again about forgetting this.”
Still stretching a little, to warm herself up she shakes her head, “Oh, don’t worry about it. I figured you’d be tucked away working with those files of yours. But you need to get out girl, do more than sit on your rear all day.”
Joining her friend in stretching she nods, “I know, I know, but you know what I’m like when it comes to work. Even if it is only a private project for some young member of the crew.”
“at’s true, you always seem to have yourself sat in front of that screen for one reason or another. So, you ready to see what the rest of us have been doing whilst you’ve been cooped up in your room?”
Glancing round Jen gives a light nod, “Ready as I’ll ever be, most likely. So, it’s not those silly sticks again is it? You know how fighting with giant cotton buds makes everyone look silly.”
“No, it’s not those, unless you really want to use them.” She reaches over to one of the benches, and then throws Jen a pair of gloves, “Put these on, we’re doing a little boxing today.” at said she slips her own gloves on, tightening the easy fasten strips with her teeth as she waits for Jen to do the same.
Catching the thrown gloves one handed, Jen follows her friend’s lead and slips them on, “oh, now this is a little more like it. None of those silly sticks to have to worry about.”
“Oh, hush you, I know you like using those sticks really.” She then steps over to the middle of the room, and waits. Giving Jen chance to finish readying herself. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”Not waiting for anything else, Sarah launches a few light, quick,
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blows at her partner, most of which are either blocked or dodged. en, once she’s gotten over the initial onslaught, Jen returns with a few of her own. e two soon settling into what looks as though it’s going to be a rather long match, the pair both seeming to have similar skill levels.
After quite some time, with neither of them really gaining an advantage, Sarah’s comm. chirps and interrupts the light banter that the friends had been sharing. Putting up her hands for a break she answers it, “Go ahead?”
“Sorry to do this, but could you get up to the bridge, we’re leav-ing earlier than we originally planned.”
“Sure, I’ll be right there.” She flips it off again and turns to Jen, “well, looks like we’ll have to finish this another time. Sorry about just dashing off like this.” She then turns and heads off towards the com-mand deck, removing he gloves as she goes.
Having little else to do herself, Jen removes her gloves and then wanders back to her cabin, looking forwards to a quick shower and then getting back to work. Her walk back is as uneventful as her walk out, which is something that she’s thankful for, and she’s soon washing away the sweat from her workout under a nice cool shower. Emerging, feeling refreshed, after a long while to dry herself off, and then slip into some fresh clothes.
Taking her seat before the console once more, a towel wrapped round her still damp hair, she sets to work on the file. Running through a few of the de-scrambling algorithms that she’s not tried yet. Watching them work, something which she needn’t really do, she watches them slowly piece together the first paragraph of the story, along with part of the title, even though that is still partially scram-bled. Reading through the text, as it’s pieced together, she manually works on a few of the more garbled words that no algorithm she has access too would ever be able to figure out.
A Summoning…
Lkyftpsk moved silently through the empty library, not wanting to get caught in there at this late hour. Her black robes allowed her to easily blend in with the deep shadows between the stacks, her pale face a beacon in the deserted room. It didn’t take her long to reach her destination, as she’d made sure of where it was during the day. Step-ping between a row of bookcases that look just like all the other rows of bookcases in the gloomy room she walked on, a definite purpose in her stride.
After almost a half hour of work, she’s left with just one word that she can’t figure out. Somewhat reluctantly, she gives up, as-suming that it’s most the name of someone, something that it’s impos-sible to just guess at from the words around it. However, with a bit of luck, parts of the name elsewhere in the story wouldn’t be scrambled, so there was still a chance of rebuilding it once more of the file was de-scrambled.
Working for a while longer, mostly because she was rapidly becoming engrossed in the story, as her algorithms repaired it section by section before her eyes, she finally takes another break when the growing emptiness in her stomach becomes a little too much for her to ignore any longer. Stopping what she’s doing, and stopping the computer at the same time, she saves everything onto her data crystal and tucks it away with the other two, inside the little pocket. She then steps over to her bed and reaches under her pillow to retrieve her stashed crystals, slipping the pouch back into place as she wonders what she can find to eat down in the mess. Judging by the time, she’s probably going to have to settle for whatever’s left, but that’s some-
thing she’s used to with all her strange hours.Making sure she looks presentable, and that her gloves show no
traces of what she used them for earlier, she unlocks her door and slips out. Not bothering to lock it behind her, as the crew are trust worthy and she has the only things of any real value with her anyway.
Walking through the ship once more, she bumps into the young crewman whose file she’s been working on. “Ah, Mr Tesla, about that file you asked me to work on. I’m afraid it’s rather garbled, going to take me a while to put it all back together again properly. I do so hope you’re happy with it once it’s all done.”
“Oh, I’m sure I will,” is his reply, “after all, most of the crew speaks very highly of your skills. If there’s anything I can ever do for you, just let me know.” With that he walks off again, being part of the crew currently on duty, judging by the fact that he’s walking around in uniform.
Watching him go, and once more thankful for the somewhat tight uniforms that come with being a Ranger, she turns around and heads off towards the mess once more. ough her steps are a little slower this time, as she muses over her rather brief conversation with the young man. True, she was never short of offers, but there was something about his tone of voice as he’d made his offer, thinking about it makes her think a few things that she’d only ever ponder in the privacy of her own head.
is was again something unusual for her, she didn’t usually think about fellow Rangers in this way, generally because it had al-ways led to difficulties and complications whenever anyone had done so in the past. But there was something undeniable about the fact that the young crewmember clearly found her attractive, and in all honesty she had to say the same about him. With his rugged features and athletic body.
Finally turning into the mess, she glances round and returns the few nods of greeting directed her way. However, as she’d expected, the place is mostly deserted, with people either off making the most of what time they have here on Babylon 5, or having eaten their meal and then gone back on duty. Wandering over to the serving hatches, she takes a peek inside, looking for anything vaguely interesting to feed her hunger.
After a few moments she decides on a suitably tasty looking chicken salad sandwich, something that most of the crew tend to avoid for some strange reason. Taking the plate over to one of the corner tables, intending to do some thinking whilst she eats. Slipping into her chair, and setting the plate down with a slightly audible clat-ter, she pouts herself a glass of water from the decanter placed on each table, and takes her first bite from the sandwich.
She’s soon lost in her thoughts again, eating the sandwich on something akin to autopilot as she considers her conversation from earlier once more. inking that getting her current project finished soon sounds like a rather promising idea. ough not before she does a little checking up on her young admirer, just to make sure that she read him correctly. Wouldn’t do for someone of her standing to go making a pass at a younger member of the crew and having it rejected because he wasn’t interested.
ough all this she’s forgotten about her gloves, and is only reminded by them when she feels the fur covering her thumb brush against her cheek. Blinking back to reality for a few moments she realises what she’s done. ough putting the remains of her sandwich down for a moment she inspects them. Fortunately, and something she already sort of knew, the gloves have been treated with something or other to protect them against damage from most substances, with-in reason that is, so dropping them into a fire would still ruin them.
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Smiling at this discovery, she goes back to her sandwich, and her daydreams about the young Mr Tesla. Judging by her own reaction to the story, she could quite easily guess at why he wanted it de-scrambling. But then it was the same with most of the other things she’d worked on for the crew, which was why she kept everything on a separate data crystal. Wouldn’t do to have someone stumble across all that in the main computer, not unless there was some reason for certain parts of it to be found. at was why she was so popular though, amongst the crew, as the last person who did anything to really annoy her had soon found a certain private file spread over the ships computer for everyone to see. e woman in question had soon apologized for what she’d done and nothing else was said.
Bringing herself back to reality once again, she downs the last of her water and then stands up. Scooping up her plate and glass, so she can carry them over to the kitchen area for the people on kitchen duty to wash, even though she’d usually wash her own dishes. For some unfathomable reason she’s loath to remove her gloves right now, and doesn’t want to risk getting them too wet, just in case there’s a limit to their resilience.
Heading back to her room once more, without bumping into anyone who wishes to talk to her this time, she locks the door and sits down before her computer console. Smiling wryly and patting the well-used terminal she softly says, “Ah, here we are again, old friend, back to normal.” She reaches into her clothing, and withdraws her data crystal and slips it into the appropriate slot, letting her fingers play around the opening as she waits for the data on it to be accessed.
Loading up the file once more, she goes back to work, still intending to put in as much work on this as she can, wanting to get it over and done with. e accursed thing’s taken a grip on her life, mak-ing a few things change. She’s hoping that once she’s finished it things will go back to normal.
Once more, time passes seemingly unnoticed as she works, the various algorithms that she’s running slowly assembling the story again after countless years as little more than scrambled data on some long forgotten storage machine. Stifling a few yawns, having had a busy day, she forces herself to stay focused on checking the recon-structed file for any glaring errors, though there will undoubtedly be a few minor ones that only a few reads through will spot.
Before she allows herself to stop work for the night, even though there’s no visible indication of the lateness of the hour, she waits for the much slower algorithm to finish putting together the few missing paragraphs at the start of the story, wanting something to show for her evening’s work.
Despite the gloom, or possibly even because of it, she didn’t waist much time in looking round. Instead, her feet carry her down the end of the isle, into one of the many secluded cul-de-sacs in the library. Once secluded into the gloom she lifts one of the ancient tomes aside, and then pulls out the much newer one hidden behind it.
is newer looking tome is quickly concealed within her robes. However, as she hides the book away there’s an almost imperceptible flash of paleness from inside her robes. With her newly acquired read-ing material secreted about her person she heads out again, moving a little more rapidly this time as she’s obviously eager to get somewhere private so she can study her book.
However, despite having the first three paragraphs almost fully reassembled, and the three after that mostly complete, there’s still not another mention of this character’s name, something that’s a little perturbing for some strange reason. Especially with what she knows happens latter on in the story. Pushing these thoughts to the side, she saves everything to her crystal once more, and then slowly withdraws
it from the slot. Having decided that it’s time for her to get some rest.Dimming the lights a little, before wandering back over to her
bed once more, she starts removing her clothing. Shedding her outer clothes first, all apart from the gloves, and then starting to remove her underwear. Her movements somewhat slow, but still part of who she is, working herself until she’s almost too tired to undress some nights. Even in her downtime, such as today, she still works herself hard. It’s either that or face up to the fact that she doesn’t really have many friends in the Rangers, certainly not aboard this ship. Sure, people are polite to her, but she knows the real reason for that. In some ways she’s like the mongoose that gave it’s life for her gloves. Generally unloved, but kept around because she does a job that most others wouldn’t really wish to do.
Once again forcing her thoughts away, as she slips on the over-sized t-shirt that she sleeps in, she climbs into her bed, big enough for one, and then turns the lights down onto their lowest setting. Leaving the room almost dark, apart from the vague light coming from the lamp above her bed.
Lying there with her thoughts, she closes her eyes and just waits for sleep to come and take her, whisking her away from her own thoughts. Slowly, and not really thinking about it, she starts softly skimming the gloves, which, even after only a short period of time, feel like too much a part of her to remove even for sleep, over her forearms again.
After nary a few minutes, she falls into a light slumber. Sleep’s hold growing firmer as time passes and she’s soon slipped into a deep sleep. Dreaming unknown dreams, and heading towards another day of downtime, another day in which to be driven by the job she’s trying to do, another day of being alone in the Rangers.
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FANTASY WORLDS PROPOSAL: ALTAWritten by Peter E. AperloEdited by Steven Creech Section 15: Fantasy Worlds Proposal: Alta Copyright 2003, Peter E. Aperlo
Core Ethos Sentence
Alta is a world of sword-and-sorcery adventure and in-trigue, where heroes battle monsters and kingdoms vie for dominance. Humans are under the thumb of the Elven Proctectorate.
Who are the Heroes?
Geren, a Human apprentice wizard; Nariel, a Half-Elven druid; Kelendra, a renegade Elf archer/sorceress; Artinax, a Human war-captain; Tartro, an athletic Halfling barbarian/rogue; Nomis, a Human priest.
What do they do?
Geren seeks to regain the power and glory of the Old Human Empire and actively seeks out artifacts toward that end. At first he does this for selfish reasons, but he soon sees the difference he can make for his people; Nariel is a virtual hermit who worships the old, pre-Empire, pre-Protectorate nature gods, and although reticent to get involved, she may be the best hope for bringing back a balance to the dealings of Elves and Humans; Kelendra lives only for sport and for the next wild adventure, not caring for politics but fiercely loyal to her friend Nariel; Artinax is a loyal subject of the Protectorate, defending its lands against outside invaders, but he will soon be forced to choose sides; Tartro is a rogue from the borderlands looking for his next score; Nomis is the secret leader of a cell of Human rebels, quietly building his power until word comes to strike.
Threats, Conflicts, and Villians
To many Humans, the draconian rule of the Elven Protectorate is the greatest evil in the world. ose on the borderland are more apt to be thankful for the Elves’ protection from the Halfling Horse-Nomads. e newest threat, which should have everyone worried, is the Gnomes. ey mysteriously appeared several years ago, but from where, no one knows. ey could have come from deep within the earth itself or even off-world. ey peddle technological items that will definitely upset the balance of power, but could also destroy the world.
Nature of Magic
For Humans, magic is rare, its use being forbidden to them by the Elven Protectorate’s edicts. Even clerics and druids must be careful, allowed only to use their healing powers. Dwarves practice magic freely in their hidden enclaves, creating items of great power, but they are loathe to share with other races. e Halfling barbarians are naturally suspicious of the magic of others, but a few of them are skilled in the arcane and divine arts.
What’s New? What’s Different?
e devastating civil wars that ended the Old Human Empire millennia ago nearly ended all life on Alta as well. e Elven Protectorate came into being to prevent Humans from doing that again. Although the Elven rule is (mostly) fair, many Humans chafe at being a permanent underclass and being denied access to arcane knowledge. ere have been skirmishes, but open rebellion by the Humans is still only a threat. e Gnomes have appeared as saviors to some Humans, selling incendiary and other devices that could counteract the Elves’ magical advantage. But the Gnomes have darker designs; they are in league with various Infernal Princes, and they have also been arming another race as well: those well-trained soldiers bred for service in the Old Human Empire, the Orcs.
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E-TOOLS, VERSION 1.2: THE REVISIONWritten by Glenn DeanEdited by Steven Creech
E-Tools v1.2 is an electronic aid for the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ® game released by Wizards of the Coast and updated by Code Monkey
Publishing. E-tools is available as a $30 download from CMP; this review is of the version with CMP’s v1.2 patch added (the patch will be available as a free download from the CMP website).
Once upon a time, the Dungeons & Dragons® 3.0 Rules were released. e new rules included compact disk with a character generator program to demonstrate the new rules, with the promise that eventually a fully function-al, all-encompassing gaming program called MasterTools would be available to meet every gamers needs. Time passed, and MasterTools failed to appear. It passed from developer to developer, languishing despite gamer demands, un-til eventually a slightly reduced version called E-Tools was released. Gamers were overjoyed – until they tried E-Tools, and discovered it was full of errors and bugs. Wisely, Wizards of the Coast hired Code Monkey Publishing, developers of the popular PCGen application, to come in and fix E-Tools, so that gamers would again be happy. is article is a review is of the new, patched version of that software – now ready for your game.
is version of E-Tools is designed to run on a PC running Windows 98 or better, with a Pentium II/200Mhz or better processor, 64 MB RAM, 40 MB hard disk space, a CD-ROM drive, and Internet Explorer 6.0 or better. e program may be purchased on CD from Wizards distributors, or purchased directly as a download from Code Monkey Publishing.
CMP fixed over 150 bugs and rules errors to bring out the v1.2 patch. In the process, they also gained the rights to produce the data sets that will eventually provide full support for all Wizards of the Coast products for E-Tools, including the upcoming revised rules (commonly referred to as D&D 3.5).
Installation goes fairly quickly – it actually takes longer to install the patch than the base program. Once run, a brief splash screen is followed by the full program window, which displays a nice new graphics collage that includes the D&D logo, a skeleton, a Red Dragon, and a beholder. e window is full resizable and switchable – unlike the original character genera-tor included with the Player’s Handbook. E-Tools is a completely different program than that original demonstration.
So what does E-Tools consist of? Essentially, it provides four tools in each of two options: a character editor/generator, a monster editor/generator, a treasure editor/generator, and a table editor/generator. e editors allow creation of the character, monster, etc from scratch with the user in control of every option; the generators randomly create a character or the like, and then allow the user to make modifications using the editor. ere are some additional, smaller tools, as well: a race creator that allows custom creation of a user-specified character race; a house rules editor; which allows for the entry and/or modification of feats, skills, deities, treasures – virtually all of the E-Tools data – to fit your home campaign; and a dice roller. Between the data sets, tables, and help files, virtually the entire text of the core rulebooks is contained in E-Tools.
ere are seven main elements in the menu – File, Editors, Generate, Tools, Links, Toolbars, and Help -- all of which can be accessed from either drop-down menus, or configured as buttons using the Toolbar control. File allows loading and saving of all data – either user generated, or core rules elements (use this to load a standard NPC from the DMG, for instance, or a generic monster). Importing databases is also accessed from the File menu. e Editor and Generate menus run the Character, Monster, Treasure, and Table editor/generator; Tools handles the Race Builder, House Rules editor, and Die Roller. Links provides internet access to the CMP website or the Wizards of the Coast website through your browser. Help allows for search of the help files by keyword or index list; the core rules text elements are in the Help section of the program.
Character Editor/Generator
e character editor is used to create any character or creature (monsters included) that have class levels –PC, NPC, or prestige classes. Character creation follows the basic steps from the rulebook. e first screen allows for selection of race, alignment, and one or more class levels (you could add all 20 if you like – though you can’t add prestige class levels until the feat, skill, and other requirements are met; building a prestige-classed character requires a slower process of core classes first, then prestige classes – though the process is facilitated a bit by a “requirements” checker that highlights ac-complished prestige class requirements). Once the base race, class, and align-ment are set, there’s not return to this screen – to change them, you’ll have to start over from scratch. Note that the core classes from the PHB and DMG are the only ones supported right now, until the data sets are released.
e next screen brings up an entire menu of options that you can switch between in creating the character – Stats, Bio, Features, Skills, Feats, Languages, Purchase, Equip, God & Domains, Funds, Schools, Spells Pre-pared, Notes, XP & Level Up, DM Notes, Stat Block, and a File menu which allows saving, exporting, or printing of the character file. ese menus can be accessed in any order – to see the character sheet you’ll have to use print pre-view, but checking data is fairly easy using the Stat Block page, which brings up a window that can be used for cut and paste operations.
Stats shows the character’s essential stats (initiative, saves, AC, hp, and attack rolls) along with all of the modifiers used to computer them. e character’s sex is selected here, and ability scores are rolled – with the option of a variety of methods to include random rolls or point buy (though the DM Notes allows a DM to check the number of rolls used to generate a character’s stats or hit points). Multi-classed characters actually have mul-tiple options in their class field (one for each class possessed) – this becomes important when assigning skill point for multi-classed characters or selecting spells – you have to repeat the process for each class the character possesses.
Features allows for viewing of class and racial features, as well as any special qualities or attacks the character has (particularly for monstrous characters – note that they start with their full monster abilities, and don’t follow the monster progressions in Savage Species). Skills allows for assign-ment of skill points (separately for each class) and shows total skill modifiers as well as class/cross-class skills. Feats does the same, allowing selection of feats, and only allowing selection of those feats for which the character meets prerequisites – though there is nothing to prevent you from taking the same feat multiple times (say, three iterations of Armor Proficiency: Heavy). It is possible to override prerequisites if you choose.
e Languages menu allows selection of bonus languages based on Intelligence and skill points; be advised that if you create a character at higher than first level, you can’t select his bonus languages – the program only allows that for first level characters. Purchase and equip handles all the mundane equipment in the book, as well as magical items. e equipment must first be purchased in that menu, and then equipped in the next menu for the effects to appear in the stat block. One nice feature is that weapons may be equipped in multiple combinations, with the appropriate modifiers appearing in the stat block or on the character sheet. Most magical items – there are some exceptions – will have their effects figured in to stat blocks; items not on standard lists can be custom made on the purchase screen, then purchased and equipped (this feature allows scrolls and potions of any type to be made, and note there are no rules checks on these items – you can create a vorpal mace if you so desire). If you don’t have the money for a purchase, the Funds menu allows manipulation of character wealth (or turn it off entirely, and get everything for free – the program “grays out” items you can’t afford).
Clerics can select their God & Domain abilities from the database, subject to their alignment restrictions. All spellcasters the use the spell screen to choose spells known (as appropriate) and spells prepared – to include domain spells, schools prohibited by specialists, and specialist bonus spells. ese print out in stat blocks and character sheet as lists of spells known/prepared. One fault of the system, however, it that it doesn’t identify cleric
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domains in stat blocks, nor does it identify specialist wizards as such – all wizards are wizards; you only recognize specialists by the “+1” in their “Spells per Day” line on the stat block.
Free text for background, appearance, and the like can be added on the Notes page. e XP page allows experience points to be added; when sufficient XP for a new level are accumulated, the “Level Up” button becomes active, and you can add another class level, and make further character adjust-ments. For GMs, note that this is the only way to create prestige-classed NPCs: you have to meet the requirements with a basic character, then assign XP to level the character up enough to add prestige class levels, which is a slow, frustrating process.
e newly created character can be printed out on a standard D&D character sheet. e sheet looks quite nice – but the printing system works through Internet Explorer. I had difficulty getting the sheet to fit on the page; eventually by reducing the margins to the minimum I was able to get the sheet to print without cutting any portions off. Spellcasters get a nice cheat sheet of their spells prepared and known printed with the character sheet, that includes brief spell summaries as well -- a nice touch for a spellcasting character.
e character generator performs these tasks with a click of the button – select a race, class, level, and alignment, and the program automatically generates an NPC based on a default ability array, equips him/her/it with the equipment appropriate to the character’s level, and incorporates everything into the stat block. is is a great tool for GMs to save time in NPC genera-tion; unfortunately, it doesn’t work for multi-classed characters, characters with NPC levels, or prestige-classed characters. To build them, you must generate them as a lower level character first, then switch to the character edi-tor to make the appropriate changes, or add character levels – but eventually you can create the character you want, as customized (or not) as you desire.
Monster Editor/Generator
e monster editor works very similarly to the character editor, only for creatures from the monster manual without class levels. e generator cre-ates a generic monster from the manual, which may be advanced a number of hit dice. e monster editor can then be used to adjust ability scores, skills, feats, equipment, and the like – or continue to advance the monster by hit dice. Ironically, generic monsters that advance by class level can’t be created with the generator (use the character generator and assign them a class) – but they can be created using the monster editor. It’s actually a real pain to gener-ate a bunch of plain orc warriors, since it can’t be done randomly (though orc fighters can be created).
Treasure Editor/Generator
e treasure editor/generator allows for the creation of specific of ran-dom treasures. Specify a level of the treasure and it can be created randomly from the treasure tables, and edit it as desired, or create it completely from scratch. You can add coins, gems/jewelry, mundane, or magical items to any treasure combination, and then cut/paste from the “Treasure stat block” into the adventure you’re writing. e treasures are full customizable – you can create unique magical items, to include those with intelligence or curses (though there are no artifacts in the database).
Table Editor/Generator
e table feature is one that I wouldn’t have thought to include, but that proves quite useful. e table generator allows access to any random table in any of the three core rulebooks, and allows the user to roll up a result from them. For example, you can roll up a random town by accessing the appropri-ate DMG tables. e table editor is even more interesting – it allows you to create random tables that could include just about anything. It takes some experimentation to get it to work, but with a little practice you can create a table that might allow for random determination of a room’s contents – vari-ous monsters, treasures, traps, or other items from random tables.
Other Features
e other features -- aside from the Die Roller, which is fairly self-explanatory – allow for increased customization of your database. You can build a custom race, complete with all modifiers and special abilities/qualities, to include in your campaign – you’ll have to do this to use some of the racial variants from other sources, for example. e House Rules option allows you to create custom feats, skills, gods, domains, spells, magic items, or goods – or modify those in the existing database. is is a powerful tool for campaign customization that is very easy to use, but be careful – since there’s no “re-store” feature to fix your unwanted mistakes. Incidentally, CMP also hosts a free third-party database editor on its site, that has a feature that can be used to back up your database, or to create custom classes and class abilities – it’s a shame this feature isn’t part of the base program.
Overall, E-Tools has a very large number of features, with lots of options for customizing PCs, NPCs, monsters, and assorted dungeon dressing. e good news is that Code Monkey has taken what was a marginal product and made it into a usable one. E-Tools contains the essential tools that people who are strictly players of the game will find useful – the ability to create and manage characters level-by-level, with the entire range of options and rules in the core products just a mouse click away.
For GMs, E-Tools puts a number of useful tools together into a single product. I’m primarily a GM, and use five different software tools when preparing my adventures. ree of them – a treasure generator, a town generator, and a monster database – E-Tools easily replaces, and provides even greater functionality with the ability to generate data off of any table in the DMG. As to the other two – a character editor and NPC generator – E-Tools may yet replace them as well. E-Tools’ ability to generate fully-equipped NPCs, with complete spellbooks and appropriate magical equipment, with it all incorporated into a correct stat block, is a definite boon, since those are all tasks I perform manually.
I consider myself fairly proficient with the rules, but E-Tools was still able to teach me a thing or two – I’d see a modifier that didn’t make sense (like a –2 to a Craft skill), pull out the rulebook, and usually discover a syn-ergy I wasn’t aware of before (like not equipping a set of proper artisan’s tools results in a penalty to Craft skills). ose minor details have been built in, so you don’t have to worry about them.
GMs and players who like to operate off of laptops, without any printed material will likely also find E-Tools to their liking, especially with the ad-ditional rulebook text. ough it isn’t yet a complete campaign management tool, when CMP releases the additional data sets that cover the remaining WOTC D&D products – and especially the 3.5 rules set – E-Tools may yet become the must-have game management tool. Unfortunately, it’s not there yet.
e bad news is, though a significant number of bugs were squashed, a number of rules implementation errors remain. Armor stacking bonuses don’t function properly, for example – armor bonuses from regular armor and bracers of armor will stack, as will the bonuses from amulets of natural armor and a creature’s natural armor. e skill system has a few errors (like fighters with Alchemy as a class skill). Some information still needs to be errata’s, like the price on boots of striding and springing; other magic items like bracers of archery don’t provide their input to stat blocks where most magic items do. Code Monkey does have a handle on these remaining errors and they will be fixed – but it will probably require one more patch, with the waiting time associated. Luckily, the remaining errors are fairly few, and can be worked around.
ere are a number of features that E-Tools is lacking, however, and these are unlikely to be fixed, as they are limitations built into the original programming structure that CMP inherited. e program doesn’t have the ability to handle templates, for example, despite how common and useful a tool these are – you still have to do this work by hand, and implementing it in E-Tools would require a major software re-write. Printing through Explorer will stay, as annoying a feature as that is. Random generation of multi-classed NPCs will also remain beyond the reach of the program – GMs will have to do this work the hard way, by building multi-classed NPCs from scratch.
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As to other great features – mapping software, campaign management tools, combat tracking software – they aren’t a part of E-Tools, and probably will never be.
E-Tools does have a few irksome usability problems, too, but some of these are on their way to being fixed. Right now, the program lacks any sort of tutorial, and the help files are structured like a Microsoft help program – which is to say they need their own help software. Users who are experi-enced with the rules won’t have a program with this, but a relative newcomer to the game will have some difficulty learning the system at first. CMP is working on updated help files that may be ready when the final 1.2 patch is released, though some of the DMG and MM help will likely end up in a follow-on patch.
Error recovery is something to watch out for when using the program. Once you level a character, data from the previous level is locked – no issue for a player managing a single character, but a pain for a GM trying to create a high-level NPC when you realize you just screwed up a feat requirement at a low level, and can’t go back. e House Rules tool can be both a blessing and a curse in this regard – it’s easy to delete core data, since the program doesn’t warn you against it, but you can add it back in manually (I managed to delete Corellon Larethian from the deities list while playing around, for example, but just decided the elves didn’t need a deity that much – restoring the original database took a full reinstall!).
Screen color and font choices are a bit poor for long-term usability as well. e light colored text on a black background makes the graphics look really good, but over time causes a bit more eyestrain than black-on-light text would, and the interface settings aren’t user-configurable. Some of the colors make highlighting to cut/paste text, or reading some of the text boxes
virtually impossible when they’re faded out due to lack of contrast. [Note to software developers: red text on a black background is never a good choice if you’re looking for a user-friendly interface design!]
Unfortunately for all of the parties involved in the development of E-Tools, the timing on this product is just poor. It absolutely had to be fixed to do justice to the purchasers of the original product – it looks like CMP has done that for the most part, and will continue to provide good support. For those continuing 3.0 rules-based campaigns, the tool is useable as of this patch. For planning to switch to the 3.5 rules set immediately, you’ll probably want to wait until the 3.5 data set is available to purchase E-Tools if you haven’t already, so you can get the new data sets as well as any updated patches. Given CMP’s attitude toward the product, though, that future looks pretty bright.
Right now, E-Tools contains the essential information from the SRD, plus a fair amount of flavor text from the core rulebooks – so most of the information is essentially open content, though not labeled as such. Some errors in rules implementation remain; while a capable product, there are competitors that accomplish similar tasks, in some cases more effectively. Right now, players will likely be more satisfied with the product than GMs, given the implemented feature set, but that may improve with future releases. Current owners of the product should be very happy with the 1.2 patch; the value of the product to new owners will increase as more data sets come available.
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E-PUBLISHER GUIDE: A REVIEWWritten by Steven Creech
When you visit RPGNow.com, one of the first things that stand out is the sheer number of available electronic products for sale. ere are pdf files galore; some from professional and established publish-ers, some from amateurs with a simple desktop publishing program. e numbers are staggering and they are growing.
e ePublisher Guide is meant to serve as a valuable resource for anyone who is seriously considering getting into the electronic pub-lishing business. e book is written by an excellent line up of design-ers with contributing names as Monte Cook, Chris Davis, Phil Reed and John Nephew. It is published by Minion Development Corp. and carries a retail price of $19.95 for an electronic version or $24.95 as a print on demand product.
ere are nine chapters in this 83-page document, the first eight relating directly to the process of e-publishing and the final one serving as a comparative checklist against other publishers. After a forward by Monte Cook surmising his shock at the success of a little pdf known as the Book of Eldritch Might, we jump right in with the business end of things.
Chapter one addresses the importance of prepress and planning. Doing exhaustive research is key to even having a shot at success. For example, is your product going to be d20 or use its own game me-chanics? Here is where you not only research consumer demand but also the feasibility of creating your own system. What is your target audience? Is this geared for a specific age group or gaming niche?
It’s also important to factor in your development and design costs. Are you inserting artwork? Hiring a layout artist? ese are important considerations. Do you want to publish in a format other than electronic pdf? You could go with e-books, CD-ROMs, or even print on demand (POD).
Chapter two addresses budgetary and staffing needs, and helps prepare you for those costs. Included with the file is a budgeting worksheet developed by Atlas Games president, John Nephew. is is an absolutely invaluable resource itself, let alone as a part of this pack-age. Funding is a necessary first step, and while you aren’t given the answers, you are given some good advice. Cash flow issues and time budgeting concerns are addressed next. Staffing is treated with a fairly in-depth treatment. A significant number of entry-level e-publishers start out as a one-person operation whereas the book illustrates the need for a larger staff. Recommended levels are 3-5 staff with people performing multiple job functions. Now that you have a staff, it’s time to fill in the holes.
Good editing is vital to a product’s success as well as good writ-ing. Freelancers both fill this void within a small company. Freelancers are an absolute necessity for a company’s success and longevity. Not only are they often a means of keeping costs down (writers are paid .03-.05 cents a word and editors make approximately half that), but they free up your resources to focus on running the business of pub-lishing. Methods of paying your freelancers are also addressed.
Chapter three discusses the legal aspects of publishing. For instance, is your business a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a limited liability company (LLC)? e advantages and disadvantages of each are covered. Explanations of copyrights and trademarks and their use are touched upon, as is the issue of piracy and its effect on sales.
e subject of licensing makes up chapter four. Why would you want to license a product for use? What licensing options are there? Can you go with an open game system instead? Is there an advantage
of choosing one system over the other? What are some of the more common pitfalls and mistakes? All of this (and more) is answered in this chapter.
Chapter five examines design and layout as a part of the pre-publication process. Here the importance of choosing a good title, selecting cover and interior art, proper layout and design are all un-derscored. Simplistic instructions on creating a pdf are also included.
Marketing is the topic for chapter six. Now that you’ve created a product, it’s time to sell it. A good website is essential for the pdf pub-lisher. e need for a good domain name is underscored, especially for separate product lines. Further website details and suggestions are also addressed, including listing your site on search engines. e art of writing good press releases are also covered as are obtaining (and dealing with) reviews. Additional internet “marketing” techniques are discussed, such as banner exchanges, pay-per-click search engines, auction referrals, e-zines, and online chats. Convention presence is touched upon as well as investing in print advertising.
Sales are, of course, an important and vital aspect to publishing. No sales means no income. Chapter seven gives a solid rundown on what to expect in terms of sales volume at RPGNow.com. e type of product offered will determine the overall amount of sales as a rule. Having a strategic and planned release schedule is also a key factor in sales. Order processing is discussed, as is the need for bandwidth allowance.
Finally, chapter eight is a comprehensive listing of internet resources. is includes publisher forums, discussion lists, layout/design forums, freelancer resources, directories, and review sites along with many others.
e bottom line is that ePublisher Guide is a great and essential resource for any publisher and not just those in the electronic end of the business. ere are several areas that should have been covered in more depth, such as the chapters on marketing and sales, but all of the basic knowledge is presented. If you are seriously considering publishing a product, this will help you look more like a professional and less like an amateur. Consider it required reading!
The Gamer’s Rating: (Maximum 5 pts per category)
h Originality: 5.0h Playability/Usability: 5.0h Value for the Dollar: 5.0
Overall Rating: 5.0Final Grade: A+
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FROM THE ANNALS OF ANCIENT LORE: SIRENSONGWritten by Terry O’BrienEdited by Andrew GarbadeSection 15: From the Annals of Ancient Lore: Sirensong Copyright 2003, Terry O’Brien
Bards have often lamented their ability to only affect one person at a time with some of their bardic songs.
Long ago, a clever bard figured out a way to expand his repertoire and his affected audience at the same time by creating the harp he named Sirensong. By crafting and playing his harp, he was able to use any of his bardic songs that normally affected only one person to now af-fect multiple individuals at the same time. His secret was thought lost to history, but the harp and its secrets have recently been rediscovered. It is also known that several instruments made using these secrets have been recently crafted, but the identities of those responsible are cur-rently a mystery.
Although sirensong instruments are usually crafted as small travelling harps, any stringed instrument may be en-chanted. e secret of the magic is the strings are actually made from the long, flowing hair of sirens. e enchanted strings echo the spellbinding song of the sirens, as well as the bardic song played on them. is echo effect allows the following bardic songs to affect more than one person at a time: fascinate, inspire confidence, and inspire greatness.
For each additional person to be affected, the bard must use another of his bardic music slots for the day. e bard may only choose one song to play at a time, and makes one Perform check. e Perform result and the bardic song effect is applied to all targeted persons as normal. All other limitations (ranks in Perform, distance, being able to see and hear the bard, etc.) also apply.
If the bard has targets fascinated, he may also use suggestion without stopping the song; the same suggestion must be given to all affected persons.
e strings are the focal point of the instrument’s enchantments and they require the most finely crafted in-struments in order to fully produce their magical effects. Any sirensong instrument is considered a masterwork instrument, giving a +2 circumstance bonus to all Per-form checks.
Caster Level: 12th. Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, charm person, suggestion, a minimum of 12 ranks in Perform, crafter must be a bard. Market Price: 5,300 gp. Weight: 5 lbs.
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SUPERHEROES IN THE D20 WORLD: AN INTROSPECTIVE LOOK
Written by John GrigsbyEdited by Steven CreechSection 15: Superheroes in the d20 World: An Introspective Look Copyright 2003, John Grigsby
SECRET ORIGINS
ough the comic book as we know it was first introduced in 1933 (and comic strips had been around since 1896), it was in 1938 that the face of the industry would forever change. In June of that year, a company called National Periodicals would publish Action Comics #1, featuring a new character created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster that was able to “leap an eighth of a mile, hurdle a 20-story building, raise tremendous weights, run faster than an express train, and nothing short of a bursting shell could penetrate his skin.” His name was Superman and he would be the beginning of a new era of entertainment.
In 1974, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson formed a partner-ship called TSR and published a new type of game that drew from miniatures warfare and wargaming. ough the initial sales were less than encouraging, the popularity of the game grew swiftly. Similarly to Siegel and Shuster decades before them, Gygax and Arneson had ushered in a new era of entertainment.
It seemed inevitable that these two giants would eventually go head to head, and in 1978, Gamescience released Superhero 2044, a game of super-hero role-playing. is was swiftly followed by Villains & Vigilantes from Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1979, and Champions from Hero Games in 1981. It seemed that the super-hero genre was firmly entrenched in the world of role-playing (which had formerly been dominated by fantasy and science-fiction).
en in 2000, following several shake-ups, changes of owner-ship, and general disarray, Wizards of the Coast introduced the 3rd edition of the venerable Dungeons & Dragons® game. e new version of the classic role-playing game revolved around a unique concept called the Open Gaming License, which permitted others to utilize the base rules as a foundation for their own games. Initially, of course, most companies focused on providing new fantasy supplements, but it wasn’t long before someone realized that more than just fantasy was possible under the OGL.
Nightshift Games (a division of Team Frog) was the first to try a d20-based super-hero game with their release of e Foundation, but the disjointed (and seemingly incomplete) rules were paned by fans and critics alike. For a brief period, this seemed to be the end of the foray of super-heroes into RPGs. en came the blockbuster success of the movies X-Men and Spider-Man. Suddenly, super-heroes were a hot property again, and the OGL made it easier than ever to produce a super-hero role-playing game. All you needed was a solid system for handling super-powers.
Today, the d20 market is saturated with super-hero games. It seems that everyone with a computer, from big-name companies to individuals is producing d20 rule expansions to handle super-powered heroics. ere are so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to decide which is best for your needs. at’s where this article comes in. Over the next few pages, we’ll examine a handful of the
d20 super-hero games on the market today, comparing strengths and weaknesses.
ough there is a glut of games available, my time and our space is limited, so I’ll restrict myself to a small handful of representatives. I have chosen, for purposes of this article, to compare six different super-hero games, all based around the Open Gaming License. My effort here is not to review or critically examine them, but rather to compare strengths and weaknesses within the systems.
We will be taking a close look at Vigilance: Absolute Power (Mystic Eye Games), Mutants & Masterminds® (Green Ronin Publishing), Silver Age Sentinels (Guardians of Order), Paragon (free download, D. Jon Mattson), Four Color to Fantasy (E.N. Publishing, formerly known as Natural 20 Press), and Power Overwhelming (free download, Nils Babcock). While Mutants & Masterminds® is, techni-cally speaking, not a d20 game, it has its roots in the OGL and thus, is close enough for our purposes. Paragon and Power Overwhelming are free PDFs. Four Color to Fantasy is a PDF ($7.95) available for sale from RPGNow. Vigilance: Absolute Power ($19.95), Silver Age Sentinels ($39.95), and Mutants & Masterminds® ($32.95) are prod-ucts published by their respective companies.
BUILDING CHARACTER
e single most important consideration in a super-hero game is the character generation system. Ideally, a player should not be constrained by the pre-conceived notions of the game’s author. ey should be able to design absolutely any type of character they can envision, no matter how strange or complex. ough super-heroes are known for certain archetypes (brick, blaster, mentalist, etc.) they all too often cross over boundaries with one another, and it isn’t all that unusual to see a speedster/brick, for example. us, any game that confines the characters to pre-designated roles is doomed to failure as a super-hero game.
Vigilance
In Vigilance, each character must first select an origin that defines how they received their amazing abilities. e origin determines the character’s ability adjustments and favored classes, as well as any bonus feats, powers, or skills that the character is due. e choice of origins runs the gamut of comic book possibilities and includes Advanced Training, Alien, Artificial Life, Cybernetic Enhancement, Mutant, Mystic Experiment, Normal, and Scientific Experiment. Naturally, few player characters will take the Normal origin.
Classes in Vigilance are based largely around archetypes and include the Acrobat, the Brick, the Detective, the Energy Projector, the Gadgeteer, the Gangster, the Psychic, and the Vigilante. Each has its own special talents, balanced by factors such as hit dice, class skills, class powers, and power points per level. us, it is possible to have a Brick with the power of Blast, but they will never be as good at it as an Energy Projector, for whom Blast is a class power (and in fact, is
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gained as a bonus power at 1st level). No mention is made of multi-classing, though a few of the NPCs in the book are multi-classed, so it must be possible (and would presumably be handled in standard fashion, applying penalties to characters that take classes not favored by their origin).
Vigilance adds a few new skills to those found in Core Rulebook I (such as Criminology, Driving, and Piloting), but their focus is on a new type of skill called Combat Maneuvers. ese skills do not re-quire skill checks, but modify other abilities, most often a character’s attack or damage roll. ey also require that a character have the ap-propriate feat in order to acquire the skill. ere are several new feats to choose from in Vigilance, but there are no metamagic feats and item creation feats have been revamped to apply solely to technologi-cal items.
Powers are gained at a rate determined by the character’s origin (usually one every two levels), though everyone (except Normals) begins with one power). A character may not spend more than 10 power points per level on a class power, and no more than 5 power points per level on a cross-class power. A power itself costs no points. Points are used to buy skills for the power. Most powers have sub-skills. Some powers are noted as exclusive, meaning that a character can buy points in only one sub-skill of that power. To gain points in another sub-skill, they must select the power again (with their next power gain).
For example, as a 1st-level Mutant, a character receives one power. If the character buys the Feral power, he need spend no power points because Feral has no sub-skills. If he chooses Invisibility, he should probably spend some power points to be able to use the power, but he may divide them as desired among the three sub-skills of Invis-ibility (Invisibility, Invisibility by Touch, and Improved Invisibility). e Invisibility skill can be used without training, but the others must have points put into them before they can be used. Finally, if the character instead chose Blast, he would have to decide whether to take the Energy Blast skill, the Physical Blast skill, or the Psychic Blast skill because Blast is noted as an exclusive power. If he wanted to have two different Blast effects, he would have to wait until his next power gain and purchase the power again (most likely spending more skill points to improve the second effect). e level of skill with a power often determines duration, damage, or effectiveness. Invisibil-ity, for example, lets a character remain invisible for 10 minutes per power point, while Blast does 1d6 damage for every 4 power points spent on the appropriate skill.
A glance down the list of powers reveals a few gaps. ere are powers that allow a character to control light, earth, and fire, but not water, air, or other forms of energy. e Super Running power makes no mention of running across water or up the side of a building (which is done on a fairly regular basis in comics). ere is no power that would permit a character to steal the powers of another, and while there is an Insect Control power, there is no Animal Control power. A significant flaw (in my opinion) is that it is not possible to play a traditional wizard or sorcerer in Vigilance. It would be easy enough to play a mystical character whose powers were based on mysticism, but not a spellcaster.
Characters may also choose disadvantages. Some disadvan-tages are power-specific (No Range for Blast, for example). Others are somewhat more generic, such as Enemy. Disadvantage Ratings (DSRs) vary by how tough the disadvantage makes life for the hero, but most are between 2 and 4. For each disadvantage chosen (and the GM is encouraged to limit the number permitted), the character gains a certain amount of experience as a “kicker” (thus, a character
could begin the game as high as 3rd level). Of course, the more DSRs a character has, the tougher his life as a hero is going to be. Disad-vantages can be removed, but it’s a slow ad costly process, requiring the character to sacrifice new power gains in order to remove a single point of a disadvantage.
Vigilance offers a few prestige classes, most of which logically build upon the base classes. Psi Lord, for example, is the obvious pres-tige class of choice for the Psychic, and few Bricks would not choose to go the way of the Behemoth. Often these prestige classes have certain power requirements in addition to the other requirements.
Silver Age Sentinels
Like many of the others, Silver Age Sentinels is a class-and-level based system. e GM will determine how many power points character may allot to their powers and inform the players, but that’s where it gets tricky. A character with 150 power points is equal to a 10th level character, even though they may be only a 1st level Powerhouse. Alternately, the character may purchase 10 ranks of the Highly Trained Attribute (power) and be a 10th level character with 50 power points (still a 10th level character).
Ability scores are generated according to Core Rulebook I. Attri-butes may then be modified up or down as desired. Finally, the total value of all six abilities is divided by 2 to get the cost in power points. All of this begs the question, why bother rolling? Why not just let them assign their abilities? It is worth noting that because of the way that armor is handled in Silver Age Sentinels, a character’s Strength always provides a +0 modifier to attack rolls, regardless of the ability score. Damage modifiers from Strength are also changed significantly. On the other hand, encumbrance (since it is much less likely to be a factor in a superhero game) has been greatly simplified.
ere are no races, per se, in Silver Age Sentinels. Certainly, be-ings other than humans may exist in the campaign, but you don’t get any automatic bonuses or penalties for playing one. If you wish to play a non-human character, you will have to design the character as such from your power point pool.
Classes in Silver Age Sentinels include the Acrobat, the Adven-turer, the Costumed Fighter, the Costumed Wizard, the Gadgeteer, the Powerhouse, the Psychic, the Skulker, and the Speedster. Most gain class abilities that are appropriate to the class and almost all gain skill points at the same rate. e Adventurer however, is much less specialized ad gains extra power points in place of special abilities, making this class very flexible, but not quite as powerful compared to more specialized characters.
Powers are referred to as Attributes in Silver Age Sentinels, and all Attributes are sub-categorized as Powers or Characteristics. e difference is in whether an Attribute is superhuman (Power) or more of a talent (Characteristic). Characteristics can be thought of as similar to feats (which do not exist in Silver Age Sentinels). Power Attributes are modified by a number of factors collectively known as PMVs, allowing a player to customize each Attribute to the character. Attributes can be further customized by choosing reductions and restrictions for the Attribute.
e list of Attributes available is impressive and allows for the full-range of comic book heroes. In addition, there are some unique abilities that aren’t typically seen, such as Pocket Dimension and Reincarnation. A handy table of Attribute Name Equivalents makes it easier to find that special power you’re seeking. A quick glance at the table reveals that web slinging, for example, can be found under Special Movement.
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e skills system has been slightly reworked for Silver Age Sentinels, introducing the concept of Specialization. For certain skills, a character may choose a specialization when the skill is acquired ad thereafter gains a +1 bonus to the skill check when it deals with their specialization. e list of skills is greatly broadened, with a lot of skills that could be considered subsets of the Craft, Knowledge, or Profession skills now given their own heading (and in fact, these three skills are no longer on the list). Weapon proficiency and similar feats have been replaced by combat skills and the skill rank adds to the character’s attack bonus or armor class modifier.
Players needing a few extra power points (or just desiring a more rounded character) can choose character defects. Once again, a table of name equivalents makes finding just the right defect easier. Finally, if you just can’t seem to find it anywhere else, there’s always the Unique Defect, which can be customized to suit your character.
Four Color to Fantasy
By virtue of its design, character creation in Four Color to Fantasy is pretty much just like creating a character for any other S® game. e only real difference is that if you want to have super-pow-ers, you need to take one or more levels of the Hero class. is gives you access to super-powers. However, because the Hero has no class skills, gains no skill points, and gets no weapon or armor proficiency, most characters will take another class at 1st level and wait to take a level in Hero until at least 2nd level. e few new prestige classes that are included seem more geared towards flavor than substance.
is has the effect of making Four Color to Fantasy truly unique among all the other entries. With this campaign template, your super-hero games need not be restricted to modern-day or later periods. It is perfectly feasible to run a supers game set on a fantasy world with medieval technology and the presence of magic. What is more, it’s possible to have a character that uses both magic and super-powers! Imagine a dwarven cleric with super-strength!
Four Color to Fantasy offers only a few new skills (all modern-day equivalents), but does provide a selection of feats appropriate to the genre. All new feats described here are super feats, which can be gained in the usual manner or by paying 2 Hero Points (HrPs) on the Gain Feat superpower. All have some kind of superpower as a prerequisite.
Powers in Four Color to Fantasy are purchased by rank, with each rank in a power costing 1 HrP. Some powers have a base rank, a mini-mum number of ranks, which must be purchased before the power can be used. is may restrict particularly dangerous or potent pow-ers to higher-level characters, as no character can have a power with a cost more than their total character level +3. For example, in order to have Danger Sense (base rank 11), a character needs to pay 11 HrPs. Since the limit is character level +3, only a character of 8th level or higher can acquire this power (mostly because a character with this ability is never flat-footed and never surprised). Some powers become more potent as more ranks are put into them. Characters may also choose enhancements and restrictions for their powers, if desired. Restrictions could bring a power within reach of a less-powerful character. For example, Animate Objects normally has a base rank of 5, meaning that only a 2nd level or higher character could obtain it. However, by specifying that the hero can only animate a broad class of objects (instead of any object), the cost can be reduced to 3, making it possible for a 1st-level character to gain the power. Restrictions may be bought off later at the cost of Hero Points.
e powers provided present a good range of capabilities, but are hardly exhaustive. Energy control powers, for example, are not offered. However, Four Color to Fantasy includes a section on creating your own unique super-powers and keeping them balanced with the rest of the system.
Paragon
Characters in Paragon are created just as they would be for most any other S® game, save that the available races and classes are different. In Paragon, each different kind of hero origin is represented by a race; human, alien, augmented human, cyborg, and mutant. Each has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Hybrid races (such as an alien cyborg) are permissible with permission from the GM.
Classes available in Paragon are the Expert, the Extra (an NPC class), the Gadgeteer, the Martial Artist, the Metahuman, the Rogue, the Sorcerer, and the Warrior. Of these, the Martial Artist is equiva-lent to a monk and the Rogue and Sorcerer are identical to their Core Rulebook I equivalents. e Expert is an expansion on the NPC class from Core Rulebook II, making it more suitable for use as a PC. e metahuman is the base “super-being” class, available only to those with super powers. Like Vigilance, certain races have certain favored classes and while multi-classing is possible, the standard penalties apply.
Paragon has its share of prestige classes, most of which seem to narrow the focus of a character. e prestige classes offered by Paragon are the Blaster, the Brick, the Champion, the Dark Avenger, the Martial Master, the Mastermind, and the Mentalist. Most have at least one power as a requirement.
A few new skills are offered, mostly to bring the system into line for modern-era play. Many of these are new Craft, Knowledge, and Profession specialties. ere are also a few new uses for old skills. Two new categories of feats are introduced; power feats and metapower feats. Power feats can be taken only by those who possess super powers, while metapower feats enhance existing powers, but with a cost. Using a metapower feat to enhance a power may result in burnout, rendering a power useless for 3d4 hours (determined secretly by the GM).
Players who find themselves in need of a few extras may choose to saddle their character with a weakness. Taken during character creation, a weakness can grant a character a small edge (for example, a mutant that chooses to take a weakness gains an extra mutation). Weaknesses can also be gained during play, and these seldom offer any sort of compensation.
Unlike the other systems we have examined so far, most of which permit characters to gain entirely new powers over the course of the campaign, Paragon generally limits characters to the few powers they are granted at the time of creation. While this is more in line with comic book thinking, it also makes characters with a vast array of powers very rare. Powers come in three amplitudes; standard, improved, and ultra. e higher the amplitude, the more powerful the ability is.
Also unique among the other systems, Paragon uses an ability score called Energy to measure how often a character may use their powers. Each use of a power has an energy cost. When a character runs out of energy, they can no longer use their powers until they have had time to recharge. A character in dire straights can call on their “second wind” and regain 1d6 points of power, but this causes subdual damage.
Paragon boasts an impressive array of powers, and it seems as
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though they’ve covered most all the bases. Powers may be modified with Amplifiers and Reducers, giving a greater degree of flexibility and customization. For many powers, Amplifiers are suggested, while most Reducers are generic enough to work with any power.
Power Overwhelming
Power Overwhelming is unique in that it is designed specifically for use with the M® rules from Wizards of the Coast (as opposed to the D D® rules, which most of the others rely on). is set of rules is really little more than a template that can be added to the M® rules to handle super-powered campaign play. It also suggests that as the characters grow in power, they can become unbalanced in comparison to normal S® characters.
Power Overwhelming begins with having the characters select their archetype, which can be a category or a race. e three catego-ries are high tech wonder (all their abilities stem from equipment or natural skills), alchemy (magical enchantments, spells, and items), and altered gene structure (drug-induced mutation, genetic manipulation, etc.). e races available are mutant, alien, and robot. A character that does not choose one of these races must choose one of the categories to have access to super-powers. Each has unique advantages and disadvantages.
Characters then choose an archetype (didn’t we just do that?), which we are now told are special advanced classes that enable a character to become a “true” super hero. As these are advanced classes, most characters will need to have obtained at least three levels in a mundane class order to meet the requirements. While realistic, this can be frustrating for humans as the mutant gains their powers at 1st level and begins using them immediately, while anyone not playing a mutant must wait until they can meet the requirements to choose an advanced class and “develop” their powers.
Each archetype (elemental, enhanced human, powerhouse, psy-chokinetic, and psyonic) gains access to a specific group of super-pow-ers (based on the archetype selected). Other powers may be chosen, but cost two skills points. As they increase in level, each archetype also gains a number of power slots to use towards purchasing the powers they desire from their allotted group.
Power Overwhelming has no new skills, but does offer six new feats; Advanced Researcher, Forward inker, Inventor, Photographic Memory, Researcher, and Weapons Proficiency (blasters). Most of these deal with permitting characters to develop technologies more advanced than would normally be considered possible.
Powers in Power Overwhelming are essentially little more than stackable feats. Each time the same power is chosen, the Power Level of the ability is increased. A fair number of powers are described, though the list is hardly all-inclusive and, unlike the other systems, there is no means of customizing them through enhancements or limitations.
e Power Overwhelming rules do go into some detail on cybernetics, which several of the other rule systems merely gloss over or treat as powers. It also makes cybernetic heroes drastically different from other super-powered beings (which is as it should be). While this shows great potential, the rules are sparse and need to be expanded on.
Mutants & Masterminds®
Mutants & Masterminds® is not so much a descendent of the
S as a close cousin. It has its roots in d20, but the mechanics works a little differently. Every aspect of character creation, instead of relying on random rolls and chance, is controlled through a point-buy system. Unlike any of the other entrants, Mutants & Masterminds® does not use a class-based system and even level is shoved into the background.
e number of points available for character creation is deter-mined by the Power Level of the campaign, which is set by the GM. ese points are then applied to almost every aspect of the character; ability scores, base attack and defense bonuses, skills, feats, and pow-ers. ose who find themselves in need of a few extra skill points can take a weakness. To prevent abuse, attack and defense bonuses, skill ranks, and power ranks are all given maximum caps determined by the Power Level. is not only provides characters with the ultimate in flexibility, but also insures that everyone begins on more or less equal footing. As characters gain experience, they also gain power points that can be used to increase attributes, skills, power levels, and to purchase new feats and powers (if the GM permits). ese points can also be saved and accumulated for later use.
e list of skills is very familiar to any d20 player. Only a few new skills have been added, along with some new Craft and Knowl-edge specializations. ere are plenty of new feats, however, many unique to the genre. Feats in Mutants & Masterminds® are not divided into categories (without classes, there is little point), but there is a unique type of feat that is only available to those with super-powers. ese are called, logically enough, super-feats. e system also gives a few notes on creating new feats.
Super-powers is where Mutants & Masterminds® really shines. In six months of playing time, I’ve not had to create a single power for any character or NPC that I’ve created. Everything I could dream up has been workable by the existing rules. at’s an impressive claim (because I can come up with some pretty twisted ideas). at isn’t to say that you might not run across this problem, however, and if you do, Mutants & Masterminds® stands ready to aid you with a very detailed section on creating new powers and making them balanced.
All powers are given an origin, and a character may have powers from several different origins. e list of powers in the rules is pretty expansive and I really can’t think of any that they’ve left out. What makes the powers even more flexible is the system of power modifi-cation. Modifications come in three forms; extras, flaws, and power stunts. A power stunt is a super-feat that is applied to a power, allow-ing it to be used in a different manner or granting a bonus when the power is used a certain way. Extras expand the capabilities of a power. ese increase the point cost of the power, but also make it more powerful. Best of all, almost any power can be made into an extra of another power, giving the player unlimited freedom of design! Flaws are the opposite of extras and reduce the effectiveness (and costs) of a power.
ZZAP! BAM! POW!In a game where the heroes are going to be blasting one another
with energy beams and swatting each other with light poles, the me-chanics of combat are a major consideration. What kind of damage do super-powers inflict? Can a character be knocked for a loop? How does moving at super-speed affect damage rolls? All are valid ques-tions in this genre.
Vigilance
Combat in Vigilance isn’t that much different from the standard
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S®. e rules provide some information on improvised weapons (like flagpoles and cars), and of course firearms and grenades are available, but beyond this, the differences are minimal. Armor, instead of providing a bonus to armor class (or defense, as it is called in Vigilance) provides DR to the wearer. A character’s defense rating is equal to 10 + his Fortitude and Reflex saves.
ere are a few variant rules in effect to better simulate comic book combats. e Clobbered variant rule from Core Rulebook II is in effect, and massive damage threshold has been altered so that it is more dependent on the character’s Constitution and resilience. Any attack that inflicts more than 20 points of damage may cause knockback, sending an opponent flying through the air. Finally, there are a number of new skills called combat maneuvers which may affect the outcome of super-powered combat.
Vigilance also uses a system of Hero (Villain) points which allow a character to roll 1d6 per five levels and add the result to any attack or skill check roll. ese points also have other uses that vary depending on which side of the law the character is on. Heroes can use them for defense and to avoid death, while villains use them to alter different kinds of die rolls, make deadly attacks, insure escape, and cheat death.
Silver Age Sentinels
Silver Age Sentinels combats are, in many ways, just as familiar. Armor Class, hit points, and Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves are common terms to anyone familiar with the S®. However, one particularly interesting concept introduced here is the defense roll. Instead of presenting armor class as a static value, a character that is successfully attacked by an opponent makes a defense roll equivalent to d20 plus appropriate modifiers. A character may defend against more than one attack in a single round, but suffers penalties to the defense roll when so doing. e defense rolls stems from the idea that the standard system of armor class represents a character “Taking 10” on defense. By making the effort random, the variables of combat are better reflected. Attack rolls are still made against the target’s Ar-mor Class, the defense roll just makes for unpredictability in combat.
Several new combat maneuvers are explored in Silver Age Sen-tinels. Called Shots may be utilized to disarm an opponent, strike at areas unprotected by armor, hit vital spots, and attack specific weak points. Combined attacks may be used to bring down a particularly tough opponent or overwhelm a force field and characters may choose to strike to wound rather than kill or render unconscious opponents. Rules governing the throwing of heavy objects (and the damage caused by such) are also addressed.
Movement in combat becomes an issue when there are characters that can run in, hit a foe, and leave the arena again, all in the course of a single movement (thanks to super-speed). For a character with extra attacks, this can devastate foes. ankfully, the designers spotted this potential for abuse and squelched it with a graceful idea that involves dividing the speedster’s attacks over the course of a round instead of all lumped on one initiative. Characters moving at high rates of speed also incur penalties to attack rolls and Block defense checks (using a shield or other large object to deflect the brunt of an attack). Some-thing that is often ignored in these kinds of games is the amount of damage that moving at a high rate of speed can inflict. ankfully, this is addressed in Silver Age Sentinels. A speedster striking someone at high speed will inflict a lot of damage, but will suffer a like amount.
Damage works a bit differently, more suited to the genre. If a character’s hit points reach 0, the character has suffered a severe
wound and falls unconscious. Even if reduced to the negative value of the character’s total hit points, they will usually lapse into a coma rather than die. Death should be reserved for dramatic effect in a Silver Age Sentinels campaign. For player characters, death is never accidental. ey must declare that they are intentionally stepping over the line and striking to kill. An optional rule allows for difficulty penalties to be assigned to ability, skill, and combat rolls based on the amount of damage a character has suffered. Characters exposed to emotional trauma may be given a chance to get their “second wind,” removing all penalties (temporarily).
Knockback is a constant event in the super-hero genre and any set of rules that deals with such should have some means of handling this. Silver Age Sentinels is no exception. Distance is calculated based on damage inflicted and the target’s Constitution, modified by certain powers. Naturally, getting knocked back into a building or other structure can be devastating.
An optional rule included for gritty campaigns is Shock Value. When a character suffers damage equal to or exceeding his shock value, there is a chance that he will be stunned. An attack which penetrates the skin also causes a critical injury, which must be tended to or the character risks death. ough the rules do not recommend using shock value and critical injuries in four-color campaigns, they can add a new dimension to any game into which they are introduced.
Another aspect of combat ignored by most games is mental combat. Silver Age Sentinels addresses that subject as well, providing a simple set of rules for handling combat between minds. Everything from physical attacks on the mind to brainwashing is discussed.
Finally, there are plenty of rules to handle the unexpected things that supers do, like toppling buildings, blowing up planets, push-ing their powers to their limits, or using their powers for attack or defense. While these kinds of things may be relatively uncommon (at least, we hope so), they can still occur and it’s good to be prepared.
Four Color to Fantasy
Four Color to Fantasy, much like Vigilance, replies pretty heavily on the standard d20 combat system. Besides a few words on unortho-dox use of powers (using claws for climbing), a section on incredible strength and giant weapons, and the perils of moving at super-speed, all else remains unchanged.
e usage of giant objects as weapons is a common staple of the genre and Four Color to Fantasy does an admirable job in their treatment of the topic. While Core Rulebook I provides rules for larger weapons, it doesn’t cover things like hitting your opponent with a wagon. ese rules append those in the core rules with a very simple expansion that bases the effects on the size of the object. e larger the object’s size, the more damage it does, the easier it is to hit the target with, and the more reach it has. A couch, for example, has no effective reach, does 2d6 damage, and provides a +1 to attack rolls. On the other had, slapping your foe with the Arc de Triomphe provides a reach of +60 ft., grants a +16 on the attack, and does 32d6 points of damage! e rules also govern how far a character with super-strength can hurl an object.
Where Silver Age Sentinels touched on the effect of hitting a target while moving at super-speed, those rules assumed that the character’s reaction time was matched to their relative speed. Four Color to Fantasy makes no such assumption, imposing realistic limits on turning radius, stopping power, and hitting targets. Two versions are presented; the realistic version and the simplified rules. In either case, moving at high speeds is not a good idea in enclosed spaces.
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Paragon
Paragon also uses the standard d20 combat rules as a base. is system, however, takes the stance that while weapons do lethal (normal) damage, powers cause subdual damage by default (although they can cause normal damage if desired, but such must be specifically stated). While this may not be terribly realistic, it is appropriate for the genre. Super-heroes and villains beat on each other all day long, seldom emerging with more than bruises.
An optional rule introduced with this system is that of active defense. Essentially, by giving up one attack option in a given round, the character can make an active defense (the equivalent of a parry or all-out dodge). e benefit applies only against a single attack; if a melee attack, the target adds one-half the total attack bonus sacri-ficed to AC (effectively, a parry); if the attack is a ranged attack, the target adds one-half the base attack bonus given up to AC (an all-out dodge).
Paragon has a slightly different take on oversized weapons (the damage is not quite as extreme as in Four Color to Fantasy) and the range increments are determined a little differently, but the overall effect is still pretty much the same. Knockback is also addressed, with a character’s size and Strength being the determining factor as to whether he is affected, and the damage inflicted determining distance. Balance checks are used to determine if the character rolls with the punch and lands on his feet.
An optional system of Fate Points will go great lengths in simu-lating the four-color feel. At the beginning of a new story, all heroes get 3 Fate points (humans get 4). ese may be used to gain a +4 luck bonus to any saving throw, ability check, or skill roll, to halve damage from an attack (turning a solid blow into a glancing one), or to stabi-lize the character’s condition when dying. Villains also get Fate points and can use them just as heroes can, but can also use them to turn an ambiguous demise into a successful escape. Fate points do not carry over from one adventure to the next.
Power Overwhelming
Power Overwhelming uses the standard M® combat system, making no alterations or changes. A very simplified system of called shots is included, but nothing else.
Mutants & Masterminds®
Of all the systems examined here, Mutants & Masterminds® is the most drastically changed. Gone are Armor Class, hit points, and other familiar terms. Armor Class has been replaced by Defense, which works in an almost identical fashion. Hit points, on the other hand, have been replaced by a mechanic called the Damage save. A character’s Damage save determines whether the character is injured, stunned, or disabled, based on how successful the roll was. Injuries can stack up, making Damage saves tougher to make and resulting in a greater likelihood that the character will be disabled.
In short, combats are that simple in Mutants & Masterminds®. Two die rolls, one for each combatant, tell the whole story. Knock-back, massive damage rules, and impairment to a character’s fighting ability due to damage are offered as optional rules, but the base sys-tem is quick and easy. Naturally, some people won’t be satisfied with a simple system or will just miss hit points. For them, a more detailed system involving hit points is offered.
Damage in Mutants & Masterminds® comes in two forms; lethal and subdual. Like Paragon, the base assumption is that most damage from super-powers is subdual, while damage from weapons is lethal. Unlike Paragon however, the decision must be made at the time the power is acquired. A power-stunt is available that essentially makes the damage switchable, doing lethal or subdual damage (as the char-acter desires).
ere are, of course, several circumstances that can make a dif-ference in the way that combat is handled. Attacks of Opportunity don’t really fit the genre and have been absolved, replaced by a simpler solution. Combined fire can make it easier to hit a target (in contrast to the Silver Age Sentinels rules, where combined fire is hard to hit with, but does more damage) and mental combat (and the differences between mental and physical combat) is also addressed.
Mutants & Masterminds® also has a system of Hero Points that can be used for various purposes. Re-rolling a die roll, escaping death, and overcoming injury are just a few of the potential uses of hero points. Players should remember that the villains have access to Villain Points that work in a similar fashion. Hero Points do not carry over from one adventure to the next, but are regenerated at the start of each new adventure.
BEYOND THE CAPE
Villains & Vigilantes, one of the first super-hero role-playing games, was focused mostly on super-powered combat. ere were no rules for handling skills or talents, and the characters’ social lives were largely ignored. ough this greatly simplified game play, it also left a large gap in the comic book feel of the game. A character’s private lives are, for some players, almost as important as how a character behaves in costume. Certainly, Spider-Man™ wouldn’t have been the same character if Peter hadn’t been forced to struggle to make ends meet and spend time with Aunt May. Several years ago, Superman™ comics would sometimes run stories around “e Private Life of Clark Kent,” focusing on the periods of time when everyone’s hero was “off-duty.” For some, how a system handles these sorts of things is almost as important as how it handles the other elements of super-heroics.
is topic also embraces the world beyond the heroes. It’s easy enough to simply assume that the world, in which the campaign takes place, is the familiar world that we know. But is it really that simple? ink for a moment how the presence of people with super-pow-ers might have changed World War I or World War II. How might things be different today if we had people who could fly and shoot energy beams from their hands? Some GMs are perfectly comfort-able making up these details, but others would rather have everything defined for them.
Vigilance
Vigilance provides a fairly detailed timeline that tracks the rise of super-powered individuals from 1095 to 2000, with the majority of the focus being on the 20th century. ough supers (often known as Jinxes, though this term applies mainly to mutants) have been around since about 1095, the rise of costumed heroes did not truly begin un-til the war years. e timeline makes for some very interesting reading as it elegantly combines the presence of super-beings into real-world history. Vigilance serves as an excellent example of how the presence of metahumans can be woven seamlessly into history.
ree new concepts that are introduced in Vigilance are contacts, reputation, and resources. Contacts are primarily a role-playing ele-
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ment, largely determined by the player. Characters begin the game with a single contact, someone from the character’s personal life. Oth-ers may be acquired at a later time. Reputation is used to judge who famous (or infamous) an individual is. A character begins with a rep-utation equal to their level + their Charisma modifier. is result is used as a bonus to certain skills, depending on the moral bent of the character. It also affects the number of contacts a character may have (one-half the reputation score). Resources are a means of tracking expenditures without having to resort to a bookkeeping nightmare. It most closely resembles the wealth checks used in M®.
ough there are no specific rules for handling a character’s off-duty life, the rules presented in Vigilance work adequately. Dis-advantages like Enemy and Alter Ego have no respect for one’s social agenda, and can make life very difficult for a super-hero who tries to maintain an air of normalcy. A secret identity is, of course, the old standby, but disadvantages like Selfless Savior (the character’s origin was public) means that a character cannot maintain a secret identity. ese kinds of problems can go a long way towards providing the GM with plot hooks to foil and otherwise hamper player characters.
Silver Age Sentinels
Silver Age Sentinels devotes almost as much space to developing the campaign as it does to developing characters. e chapters on paying super-heroes and GMing super-heroes are almost essential reading for anyone planning a supers campaign, and provide charac-ter archetypes, motivations, style elements, teams and team tactics, what it means to be a hero, designing adventures, keeping the players interested, troubleshooting, campaign tones, settings, gamemastering techniques, and so much more!
e chapter on worldbuilding discusses how to put together a coherent and consistent campaign world, designing villains, death-traps, and comic conventions. en, of course, there is the default campaign, set in Empire City (which bears a startling resemblance to New York). As with Vigilance, the default assumption is that heroes first began making public appearances largely during the war years, although a few made themselves known before that time. Rather than a simple timeline, Silver Age Sentinels goes into tremendous detail on the default campaign, spending an entire chapter on the history and a second chapter on the geopolitical overview of the world as of the year 2000. is is followed up by a very detailed overview of Empire City, complete with maps, points of interest, and other pertinent information.
All of this weighs heavily on characters’ private lives. With such detailed information on the world and the default city, it is easy to become as absorbed in detailing the man behind the mask as it is the heroic identity. Combined with disadvantages like Significant Other, Famous, or Involuntary Change, the potential is nearly limitless. e only aspect of life that seems to be glossed over by Silver Age Sentinels is that of wealth. ere is a characteristic for such, but money within the campaign seems to be a secondary concern (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Four Color to Fantasy
Four Color to Fantasy doesn’t delve too deeply into the private lives of the characters, but it does offer a few considerations for GMs and players to use as plot hooks, as well as some alternate methods of character advancement, so that the increase in character levels doesn’t seem so meteoritic. Setting, tone, power level, and other essential ele-
ments of the genre are also discussed in brief. Finally, a sample campaign setting is provided; Dark De-
cade. ough it isn’t very in-depth, the setting does provide enough information to establish a game which the GM can them expand at their leisure. e campaign is centered around 1980s New York and includes a few adventure hooks for the GM to run with.
Four Color to Fantasy does incorporate a fairly detailed system of reputation. Characters begin with a reputation score of 10. is initially increases at the rate of +1 per level gained, but as the char-acters become known, it begins to increase faster, largely through the news of super-feats. Characters are also instructed to record how they are perceived by different power groups (police, criminals, the public, etc.). Wealth, as is the case in most of the other games, seems to be a secondary concern. Weapons are given a cost, but little other mention is made of money.
Paragon
Wealth is addressed in a little bit more detail in Paragon, with starting wealth level determined by race. Wealth level replaces the nickel-and-dime approach used by D D®. Basically, at each wealth level, the character has three totals; normal, stress, and crisis. Normal represents the cash they can obtain with little or no no-tice, stress is how much cash they can get on short notice if they haven’t made any other major expenditure that week, and crisis is the amount they can scrounge together if they cut all extra expenses and live on sandwiches. A character’s wealth level also determines their starting possessions.
Beyond this and a few sample characters and NPCs, not much is said about the world around the characters. ere is no default setting, although the inclusion of weaknesses such as Dark Secret and Irratio-nal Attraction can make for some interesting role-playing situations. I should note, however, that a free sourcebook for Paragon, Vancouver 2020, is available, and that work describes a very detailed campaign setting.
Power Overwhelming
Power Overwhelming is really little more than a framework for su-per-powers that is added over the M® rules. e wealth sys-tem from those rules is used and there are no character weaknesses, nor a default campaign setting. ere are no notes on playing super-heroic characters, although a sample organization is provided, but with very little detail beyond a suit of powered armor created by the company.
Mutants & Masterminds
e core rules of Mutants & Masterminds® do not provide a lot of information on the world in which the heroes live. e gamemaster-ing chapter does give some good information on creating adventures and rewarding heroes, as well as some basic information on creating a campaign, but there is no default setting described in any great detail. e sample adventure that is included does give a little bit of history on Freedom City (the default setting), though it’s relatively sparse. at said, it is only fair to note that Freedom City is more fully detailed (and beautifully so) in the supplement of the same name. If you’re looking for a default campaign setting for Mutants & Masterminds®, pick up your copy of Freedom City. You won’t be disappointed!
ere isn’t much discussion on life behind the mask here, but a few of the weaknesses could be used to develop sub-plots. Wealth also does not play a big role in Mutants & Masterminds®, though there are
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some optional mechanics for handling this consideration if the GM desires. e reasoning is that in the comics, wealth generally has little or nothing to do with a hero’s capabilities.
SO WHICH ONE IS THE BEST?
Tough question, and I don’t have a ready answer. Certainly when it comes to flexibility in character creation, Mutants & Masterminds® is, hands-down, the best system out there and the price tag isn’t too exces-sive. Both Mutants & Masterminds® and Silver Age Sentinels have an impressive selection of powers available, and Mutants & Masterminds® has a system by which you can create your own, but then so does Four Color to Fantasy, and it’s a lot less costly.
If you’re looking for a setting, Silver Age Sentinels is the way to go. It has the most extensive notes on playing super-heroes that I’ve ever seen in a game and Empire City (and the world) is described in great detail. e price can be a little daunting, however. On the other hand, Vancouver 2020 is a PDF supplement that describes a setting for Paragon, and it’s free. It probably isn’t as lavish as Silver Age Sentinels (I haven’t looked), but you get what you pay for. Vigilance doesn’t have as much to offer in terms of detail, but their timeline combines history with the presence of supers in an excellent blend, making it a great reference point, and the price is right for what you get.
In terms of mechanics, Mutants & Masterminds® is probably the simplest, but Vigilance, Paragon, Four Color to Fantasy, and Power Overwhelming all rely on established systems, which may make them more familiar to players. Silver Age Sentinels adds quite a few features which make it the most complex of the games, but some people like complexity and SAS will doubtlessly appeal to them. Inarguably, Power Overwhelming is the one that will be fastest to get into, as it is essen-tially nothing more than a template for adding super-powers to M®. Drop them in and go!
e types of heroes the characters want to play is also a consid-eration. Paragon, for example, limits characters to the powers they select at the time of character creation. Gaining new powers, while not out of the question, is rare. On the other side of the coin, Mutants & Masterminds® permits players to be fairly powerful right out of the gate (depending on the power level the GM sets for the campaign) and they advance steadily from that point. With any of the games, it will be difficult for players to create Superman™ right out of the box, as the majority of them build the characters up slowly over time. is is more realistic, but it may irk some players who want ultimate power right now.
So back to the question, which one is the best? I’d have to say it’s the one that you find most suited to your needs, given the informa-tion I’ve provided here. I can’t tell you what will work best for you and your players. If complexity is your bag, go with Silver Age Sentinels. If your group is familiar with M® and doesn’t feel comfortable learning a modified system, try Power Overwhelming. If you hate being confined by classes, look at Mutants & Masterminds®. If you’re on a tight budget, Paragon or Four Color to Fantasy might be the way to go.
Ultimately, the decision must be your and that of your group. My advice is to let everyone in the group read through this article and then get together to discuss your options. As a whole, you should decide on the system you wish to use, based on budgetary constraints, type of campaign, ease of use, and what kinds of characters the players wish to design. Each system has strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately, it’s up to you to decide with what you feel most comfortable.
Good gaming!
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GRIMOIRE ARCANA: CELESTIAL BINDINGSWritten by Timothy CrumrineEdited by Wade NudsonSection 15: Grimiore Arcana: Celestial Bindings Copyright 2003, Timothy Crumrine
After almost a week on the road the opportunity to sleep on her own bed seemed a better treasure than any hoard of gold
a dragon could have. Snuggling deeper under the patchwork quilt, Tarra’s sleepy mind continued on that fragmented thought. en again, Arasaun didn’t really hoard gold did he? She turned over, straw crackling softly as she moved, and idly thought she would have to ask him next time she saw him. Her eyes flew wide open and she sat bolt upright in bed. Arasaun! She had left with Akane without telling Arasaun she was leaving! e elf would have come into the village days ago and she would have missed him! Tumbling out of bed she struggled into her boots and grabbed her sword belt. Her siblings blinked in sleepy annoyance at her for disturbing them as she bolted out the door and into the crisp autumn air. e fields that surround-ed the village were bare, the harvest having been taken in while she had been gone and hence her family’s late morning, but Tarra ignored the scenery as she made her way past the fields and towards the forest and mountain paths beyond. An hour later, as she raced into Arasaun’s home, she saw a travel pack leaning against the stone table and the elf sitting nearby calmly reading from book. She stood pant-ing for a moment as he placed a folded sheet of paper within its pages, set the tome down carefully on the tabletop and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “A little anxious to be back out on the road little one?” he asked dryly. “I would have thought that you would have slept in at least for a while your first day back.”
“Arasaun, I’m sorry,” She said between lungs full of air, “I got home that night and Akane was already there and then there was this monk and…” she trailed off at his amused smile. “And you already know don’t you?”
“Iljrene sent me a message in her usual unusual fashion the morning after you left,” he said, withdrawing the sheet from the book before him. Clearing his throat slightly as he unfolded it he began to read. “Arasaun. Needs being what they are, we require the help of Tarra in a small matter for about a week. One of her Sisters will have already left with her this morning. Will try to return your protégé in one piece. Regards, Iljrene.” He set down the paper and looked at her critically up and down. “I see she managed to fulfill her pledge,” he added.
“You’re not angry?” Tarra asked. He gave a snrot that would seem more natural coming from his dragon form.
“Angry?” he echoed. “No, not angry. A little annoyed yes, but not at you. I just wanted to be there for your first night out.” He sighed wistfully, “Oh well, ere is, as they say, a time for now and a time for the past.” He rose to his feet and picked up the travel pack. “Both fortunately and unfortunately, I was here to receive a summons.” He shouldered the pack and gestured at the book on the table. It floated back into its slot on the wall. “e Council requests my presence and I cannot take you with me, Tarra. However,” he turned and looked at one of the doorways that led to the other chambers of the cavern. “I think you will enjoy what we have planned for you while I am gone.” From the doorway came Kyla, in armor and with a faint smear of brown at the corner of her mouth.
“I suppose its too great a hope that there is any left?” he groaned when he saw her. Kyla gave them both a puzzled look until Tarra silently tapped a finger against the corner of her own mouth. en
with a flash of guilt her hand flew to the incriminating mark. Arasaun shook his head silently as he left.
“Greetings, Sister!” Kyla said happily, embracing Tarra in a warm hug. “You saved me the trouble of going down to meet you.” Tarra looked at the woman with mild curiosity.
“What are we supposed to do while he’s gone?” she asked. Kyla gave her a bright smile.
“Well since you just joined our little group, I thought it would be fun for you to visit Safehaven,” she said.
“What’s Safehaven?” Tarra asked, confusion clearly visible on her face.
“Safehaven is home, Tarra,” Kyla said, and then added in a seri-ous tone, “e only home some of us in the Sisterhood have.” She turned and began to retrace her steps back into the cavern. “Come on, I’ll show you.” She entered into the storeroom and stood in the center of the room. Kneeling down, she brushed away some of the sand on the floor to reveal a small portion of engraved stone. “is is a sending circle, Tarra.” She said as she stood again. “Arasaun keeps it hidden here for our use.” She pulled on the chain around her neck and withdrew her pendant from within her armor. “You have yours as well, right?” she asked. Tarra nodded. “Good,” she said, as she grasped the symbol tightly in her hand. Light began to filter up from the sand. Faintly at first, then more brightly, until with a small flash they were somewhere else.
e room was about the same size as Arasaun’s storeroom but the floor was stone and carved with an intricate circular design, with compass arrows on four sides. e only means of exit appeared to be a stout wooden door across from them. “Okay, Tarra,” Kyla said as she stepped off of the raised platform. “First lesson about the Sisterhood. Your pendant is a spell key. It will gate you to Safehaven at anytime. However,” the paladin held up a cautionary finger. “ere are some restrictions to this. First, only certain sending circles will do this without price. Arasaun’s is one of them. With Arasaun’s circle you can use your pendant to bring yourself and up to five others with you here, no problem. If you try to use a circle that is not attuned to this one, you can still take up to five people and yourself, but the pendant will be destroyed. You can also use the pendant itself to transport only yourself here at any time but it will likewise be destroyed in the process. To do any of these things just grasp it in your hand and think the word Lendel.” She looked at Tarra intently. “Did you understand all that?” Tarra nodded.
“Myself and five at Arasaun’s, Myself and five at any circle and only myself without one.” She recited. Kyla gave a nod of satisfaction. She walked over to the door and stopped. e door was crafted of thick wood planks and bound in steel bands. On the bands and on the stones around the portal were carved several characters in various languages.
“Second lesson,” Kyla continued. “Don’t ever use the latch on this door. To open it, look at the symbols.” She pointed to the engraved images. “Day, night, light, dark.” She moved over to the other side. “Wind, water, fire, earth.” en she moved onto the center band on the door. “Sun, moon, star, sky.” She grinned at Tarra. “It’s easy to remember. Watch.” She placed her hand on the symbol of dark on the door jam and with the other gently pushed on the door where the
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symbol for moon was engraved. With a faint click the door swung open. “Iljrene’s sword.” Kyla said. “Darkmoon. e symbols will switch around from time to time, but the password is always the same.” ey passed through the door into a large rectangular room. e walls were hung with tapestries of dwarven and elven origin, and four stone statues stood, one in each corner. e statues stood roughly ten feet high and were intricately sculpted into the forms of female knights in full armor, with matching greatswords clasped point down in front of them. Ahead, flanked by two of the statues, was a large archway with the motto “Heart to heart and hand to hand” engraved overhead in the common tongue. Kyla turned towards the left wall and moved the hem of a tapestry depicting a group of dwarven runesmiths crafting weaponry at a forge. Behind the heavy cloth was a section of stone wall that the paladin pushed, causing a section to swing inward slowly and revealing another room. “Lesson three,” she said as she held the hanging away to let Tarra through. “Don’t exit the Hall of Hearts with any weapon. Weapons go behind the weapon makers.” She followed Tarra into the room and stopped short as the girl had paused just past the doorway. Lining the room were several cabinets and hang-ers for weapons, mostly empty, but the racks on the floors were filled with a weaponsmith’s art. It was obviously an armory; the myriad of weaponry displayed was both lethal and beautiful. Kyla opened up a case on the far wall that was lined in faded black velvet and with-drew her sword from the sheath on her back. Placing the blade gently within its embrace, she also withdrew a short bone-handled fighting dirk from within one glove and placed it on the shelf below the case. She gestured at three other cases on the wall. ese were also lined in velvet, but the frames were engraved with several lines of arcane script. Two were empty, but the third held a sword with an S-curved guard and a pommel of a phoenix head. “ose three are for Iljrene, Anna, and Onyx. Don’t use them, any others are fair game. Leave all your weapons here no matter how small.” Tarra withdrew Ar’Quisst from her back and set it in another case next to a gleaming Dwarven rune axe. “Anything else?” Kyla asked as she shut the case. Tarra shook her head and Kyla left the room.
“Are there that many members here at one time, Kyla?” Tarra asked as the girl pulled the concealed door closed behind her. Kyla looked puzzled for a moment before comprehension erased the lines on her brow.
“Oh!” She said, “You mean all the weapons in there.” She shook her head. “No, most of the weapons in the armory are collected by the various Sisters and stored there until another use can be found for them or their true owners are found. e cases on the walls are what we use for our personal weapons, and they have only been full once in my recollection.” She lead the way through the archway past the stat-ues, pausing a moment to point them out. “If you try to go through here with a weapon, these four are sentinel guardians who will attack you.” She looked at the face of the one on the left. “Right Beryl?” Tarra was momentarily surprised as the statue slowly nodded her head. “ey’re only basically intelligent. ey are constructs Onyx made and their orders to attack a weapon bearer can only be stopped by one of the Trio, but other than that, a bearer of one of our pendants can ask them do certain things, like lifting. Also, they can answer yes and no questions, provided they know the answer.” Kyla pointed to the other one on her right. “ey are named after gemstones and if you look carefully, you can see their namesake set in their helms. at one is Lapis, and the ones behind are Opal, and Jade.” She waved goodbye to the statues and proceeded through the arch. Sunlight streamed from overhead onto a spacious garden before them. A covered walk-way surrounded the vegetation leading to several doorways.
“is is the garden.” Kyla said with pride. “ose of us who have the talent for it all pitch in and tend it when we are here.” She led the way down the left-hand path, stopping in from of the first door. “Be-hind this door is the Hall of the Fallen, Tarra. It’s a memorial to every Sister that has ever given her life in the fulfillment of our cause.” She opened the door and reverently entered. e decoration was somber, running in blacks and grays. On all sides were multi-leveled tables that held small framed paintings and a small token; ribbons, small hammers, and small golden statuettes. e air was still and quiet and next to every painting was a small shard of clear crystal shining a small amount of light on the surface of the portrait. Kyla hesitantly reached out and touched one of the frames. e image was that of a young smiling girl with an incredibly long ponytail. Before the frame was lay a brooch of silver and emerald. “is was Shilvi. A friend of mine from before I joined. She and I were from the same village before my parents died.” Kyla removed her hand from the frame and wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes. “I convinced her to join and she met up with Entropy a few months after.”
“is, as we keep telling you, was not your fault, Kyla.” A soft voice spoke from behind them. e two turned to see a figure step from the shadows. Honey blond hair cascaded around a breathtaking elven face marred, if it could be called that, by a single thick lock of mithril silver on her right temple that shone with intensity. Her violet eyes were lined in kohl like an exotic princess, and upon her cheeks and brow were tattooed sigils of spellcraft. Her shoulders were bare and tattooed as well, but she wore a tightly laced corset of deep brown studded leather that displayed a great deal of cleavage and belly. Upon one arm she wore a glove of studded leather, covering her arm almost to her shoulder. e other arm bore only a battle bracer of adaman-tine alloy and black lacquer set with emeralds and a black fingerless glove. At her waist was a swordbelt and empty sheath worn over a skirt of overlapping studded leather strips cut high on the sides, re-vealing shapely hips. Her legs were clad in a snug web of golden cords and she wore low cuffed black suede boots. Despite her rather sensual appearance, there was an aura of power around her that was almost tangible, like lightning before it strikes.
“Onyx.” Kyla said respectfully in greeting. Tarra’s eyes widened. is was the descendant of Gamiela Ari’Telmithus, the heroine of the Necrite Wars. e elf noticed her reaction and gave a warm smile from blood red lips. Bowing slightly in front of her, Onyx lifted and spread her hands, palms upward. Tarra placed her arms over them and gently grasped her wrist, feeling Onyx do the same.
“Lytheral hanullun” Tarra intoned formally. ‘Lifeforce shared’ the ancient greeting of the elven people.
“Lytheral hanullun” Onyx responded in kind and gently pressed her lips to Tarra’s brow. Releasing her hands, the elf then moved to wipe away the faint red mark on the girl’s forehead with a roguish wink. “Greetings, Sister! I must assume you are Tarra, Arasaun’s young student?” At her stammered reply, Onyx lifted a hand. “is is not the place for conversation, perhaps we should leave.” She turned to Kyla for a moment. “We shall be in the Warm Hearths when you wish to find us.” en gestured for Tarra to follow her leaving behind the young paladin.
“You will have to excuse me if I do some tasks while we converse. ere is much I have put off for a time that cannot wait any longer,” the elf said as they made their way down the walkway. “So how do you find our sanctuary?” she asked the girl as they walked.
“It’s amazing!” Tarra said. “It’s approaching autumn and the tem-perature is still warm out here. Where are we exactly?”
“I’m afraid for the safety of your Sisters that is one question I
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cannot answer, Tarra.” Onyx said, pausing in front of one another iron bound door. “Only myself, Iljrene, and Anna know the location of this place. To protect you from having the information fall into the wrong hands, we keep it hidden from you. It is here and that will have to be enough.” She placed her hand on the latch and depressed it. A faint stirring of air fanned her hair and briefly revealed her ear, pierced several times almost up to its delicate elven point and bearing several small hoops. e runes on her face and arms glowed azure for a mo-ment then faded as her hair fell back in place. She opened the door and stepped inside. “Careful, Tarra,” she cautioned as the girl followed her. “is is one of the most dangerous portions of Safehaven. Do not touch anything.” e elf led her back through a room housing a complex alchemical setup and several stone tables bearing scrolls and books. rough an archway Tarra stopped short as she saw a room filled with the most diverse displays she had ever seen. Onyx went straight to one in which a black bladed sword bearing a demon’s face on the guard was held in the tight grip of a metal vice and wrapped in a long silver chain. Small mirrors were arranged around it, reflect-ing the sunlight coming from an opening overhead. Where the blade was exposed, Tarra could see smoke slowly curling from the sword as if it were burning under the sun’s gentle gaze. Onyx studied the contraption for a moment and then made a few minute adjustments to the mirrors before moving on. She paused for only a moment at a vat nearby before moving to the next table. Tarra gave a peek into the tub and saw an old book, wrapped in another of the silver chains and immersed in what looked like water. e cover of the book bore the image of a face, which was gagged by the chain. It appeared to be screaming soundlessly and struggling against its bonds as its pages were slowly but noticeably being eaten away. e eyes of the face locked on to her and Tarra felt an overwhelming wave of compassion wash over her. e face seemed to plead silently for her to help it in its defenseless state causing a groan of pity to escape from her lips. In that moment there was nothing in this world, only the book and its need for release. It was all she wanted, all she needed in this world. It would protect her from the dangers that the Sisterhood would subject her to. It would help her if only she would help it. Her whimper of despair distracted Onyx’s attention from the adjustments she was making to a flute carved from a yellowed femur half buried in loam and surrounded by plants.
“What is I,t Tarra?” Onyx asked as she pushed the macabre instrument back under the earth.
“It’s in pain!” Tarra exclaimed in horror. She moved to withdraw the book as a word of power cracked out around her, freezing her movement. Rage blossomed in her head as the book struggled once more against its bonds and Tarra saw it true face, so ugly and twisted in contrast from her memories only moments old. Onyx hurriedly strode over to her and with a word, released her from those bonds.
“I am sorry Sister, but that was for your own good.” She looked at the struggling book and her eyes grew hard. “I’m glad it is in pain. It brought enough pain in this world on its own to warrant it.” She drew Tarra away from the tub and set her down on a corner of a table. “Tarra, this is the Victorious Chamber.” She gestured to the devices around her. “ese all are items of Necromancy and evil. Here we destroy a little more of their power day by day. e tome in there was one created centuries ago, a work penned in the blood of the Necromancer’s own family and he bound his own spirit to the pages. It contains the knowledge to enslave the will of others and to create a type of construct known by mages as a Wraith Golem.” She looked into Tarra’s eyes intently. “If you had taken it from the vat of holy wa-ter, it would have enslaved your body and possibly blasted your soul
to oblivion.” She reached beside the girl and took a length of silver chain from the wall. “ese chains bind their powers and keep those of evil heart from using them, but I spend days in research to find how to finally destroy them.” She paused and tilted her head forward slightly, shutting her eyes. “Perhaps this wasn’t the best place to show you right now. I am sorry.” She stood and helped Tarra to her feet. ey left the chamber and Onyx turned toward the door again after it had shut, once more activating whatever magical protections the room had. Tarra shook her head as they continued. She felt raw inside, violated and slightly nauseous. e power of that book had unnerved her slightly, and something that she had thought about during her studies with Arasaun crept to the fore of her mind.
“Onyx?” Tarra began hesitantly. e elf turned to look at her with her violet eyes. “How come there are so many things of evil in ex-istence and nothing of good?” Her eyes held a desperate hope within them as she stared at Onyx. e elf in the meantime seemed almost physically knocked back at the question.
“You don’t really think that do you, Tarra?” she asked. Tarra looked uncomfortable under Onyx’s gaze and looked away. A hand covered in warm supple leather was placed on her shoulder, and Tarra felt the strength of the Onyx’s grip as her other hand gently tilted up her eyes. “Sister,” e elf said to her, drawing one of Tarra’s hands within her own and bringing it to rest upon her chest. “Feel.” She said as Tarra’s fingers felt the pulse of her heart under warm skin. “Heart to heart and hand to hand, I stand with you against any who work in darkness. I do this for good and hope and the belief that you and those we hold dear to us are worth protecting, my Sister, my friend. We are the instruments of good set against the creations of evil. We, our families, our children, these are the creations of good. e creations of darkness prey on blood and pain and stand alone in the darkness they have wrought, never possessing the joy of companion-ship. We are the instruments of light that endure through time and carry on the treasure of life, joy, and all that it worth seeking in this world.” She gave a soft smile and released Tarra’s hand. “ough if it is actual crafted items that you are referring to, they exist but work in a more subtle manner than their evil counterparts.” Onyx turned again and began walking. “I think that you will enjoy this next area even more so now.” Onyx opened another door and stepped back to allow Tarra to enter. e sight that greeted her was enough to stop her in her tracks. e room was large, larger than Arasaun’s cavern, and as his was, filled with books and scrolls. If she was pressed to guess though, Tarra thought Arasaun had more written works. His cavern was filled to overflowing in every conceivable location, while here they were in orderly bookcases surrounded by large stained glass windows that threw jeweled rainbows across the floor. Two huge fireplaces stood in the rough center of the room surrounded by large overstuffed chairs. ere were railings and a spiral staircase of iron and wood that lead to a second story filled with freestanding bookshelves. Armor stands, paintings and tapestries completed the decorations of the room and combined with the fireplaces, made her feel as if this were the most comforting place she had ever been.
“is is our library. Welcome to the Warm Hearths, Tarra,” Onyx said as she came in behind her. “And here comes someone that I’m sure you will become very close friends with.” Tarra tore her gaze from the shelves and looked at the figure walking towards them. She was dressed in a pair of loose fitting white linen pants and what appeared to be some form of surcoat like a knight would wear. It was sleeveless and with a hem that almost reached the floor but slit high on the sides to allow one to ride a horse. Both were devoid of color or decoration, but around her waist was a sash of deep forest green. Her
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facial features were tanned from the sun and her brown hair pulled back and tied into a tail with a simple flaxen cord. She smiled at them both and gave a small bow.
“Hello, Sisters,” she said in a soft-spoken voice. “How may I assist you today?” She then stood in front of them, hands clasped demurely in front of her awaiting their reply.
“Tarra,” Onyx said, “is is Rashel, our resident librarian, gar-dener, and sometimes sparring partner.” She turned her gaze back to the diminutive woman waiting patiently before them. “Rashel, Tarra needs a work on the items of magic forged for the use of good.” e woman nodded, turned and swiftly rushed off with a quick patter of her slippered feet. “A single book, if you please!” Onyx called out to her as Rashel climbed the stairwell, disappearing into the stacks on the second floor. “Not that it will do any good,” Onyx added with a mutter. e tiny woman returned within minutes with a small stack of books and two scroll cases. Onyx took the books from her and handed them to Tarra. “I have to do some research of my own here. If you like you may read these while we wait for Kyla to rejoin us.” e elf gestured for Rashel to follow her into the stacks of the library, leaving Tarra alone. Tarra set the pile on a nearby table and sat in one of the chairs. After a few moments of gleeful bouncing in the comfortable seat, she settled back amid the sounds of gentle crackling from the fire and opened the first book.
Celestial BindingsMagical Restraining Chains
Powers: ese restraints, when properly affixed, have a series of interconnected locks that are 100% resistant to knock spells or similar magic. e only way to open them once they are affixed is for a good aligned individual to unlock them without coercion, or for the individual to brave the trials of the four celestials. e first lock is known as Gabril’s Trump and has an Open Lock DC of 10. When opened by an individual of evil alignment, a thunderous horn sounds out, stunning them for 1d4 rounds and causing permanent deafness if they fail a Fortitude save (DC 12). e casting of a remove blindness/deafness spell can remove the effects. e second lock is known as Mikal’s Blade and has an Open Lock DC of 15. When opened, the individual and all those around them are affected by a blade barrier spell centered on the opener. e spell has a caster level of 20 when determining duration and damage. e third lock, Azral’s Call, has a Open Lock DC of 20 and causes a special version of the harm spell to be cast on the opener. To any evil individual, it affects them normally, but if the opener is good aligned, the effects are reversed causing a heal spell to occur and most likely breaking any evil hold over the individual. is is the only lock that causes any effect when opened by a non-evil individual. e final lock has an Open Lock DC of 25, and is known as Rafil’s Rebuke. When opened, a wave of force pushes all nearby away from the locked item and casts a forbiddance spell on the area around itself, keyed to a lawful good alignment. Area of effect for this spell is a 60-ft. cube.
Appearance: Celestial bindings are long chains forged of of silvery metal that shines even under the weakest light. e links are small and well crafted and the whole length unbound is about thirty feet. Spaced equidistant on the chain are four metal shapes forged of the same metal and engraved with characters from the celestial language. When the chain is wrapped around an item the shapes fit within one another and lock into place forming a complex mechanism. Any excess amount of chain contracts to fit snuggly around the item. Only
the opening of all four locks will allow the chains to be removed.
History: e servants of good, those beings known as the celestials, often have need to work through mortal hands in their duties. And often those mortals are ill equipped or incapable of the destruction of the artifacts of evil they find. e celestials therefore devised these chains to bind a tome of evil closed or keep a weapon of darkness within its sheath until a more sure means of destruction can be found. Blessed with the power of four of the greater celestials, these chains can be found in a myriad of locations. ough it is possible for a prisoner to be bound within their silver coils, such a deed is cruel and evil, and good aligned people would be tormented by such an heinous act. It is important to note that this is only the most common form of this item and that other versions with different powers do exist, some with special requirements beyond the alignment restriction to open them.
Gauntlets of RetributionMagical Gauntlets
Powers: e gauntlets of retribution are a powerful tool in the battle against evil. When worn, the gauntlets boost the Strength score of the character by +1. is however, is not the power that causes such dread in those of darkness. Tied to the Prime material plane, these gauntlets allow the wearer to not only ignore the special touch attacks of undead, but to reverse them and instead strike the attacker. Any undead creature that can cause level or point drain by touch, even if it is from the effects of a spell or magical item such as a life stealer weapon, will find that they, and not their intended target, must make the appropriate saving throw or suffer the effects. is power functions at all times. Any individual of evil alignment who dons these gauntlets takes 1d10 points of damage when the gauntlets are first put on, and suffers a temporary –1 level loss for as long as the gauntlets are worn. Removing the gauntlets will regain the lost level, but not the damage done. If the wearer is unarmed, he may punch with the gauntlets for normal unarmed damage. If the opponent is an undead creature, unarmed strikes will do an additional 1d6 points of holy damage.
Appearance: e gauntlets of retribution are a set of finely crafted armored gauntlets forged of the strongest steel. ey fully cover and protect the hands and forearms of the wearer and the craftsmanship is fine enough to allow a high level of dexterity with their hands. Engraved upon the shining surface of the gauntlets are the symbols of the Lords of Light, the primary deities of good. Around each of the symbols are inscribed repetitions of the words light, justice, mercy, and deliverance in the various languages and scripts of the world. e gauntlets are fashioned so that they can replace almost any existing pair of non-magical gauntlets in a suit of full or half plate armor or be worn with a suit of chain mail.
History: ere are several sets of these gauntlets in use across the world. Most are currently used by the holy paladin orders of Arik, though some can be found in the possession of other priesthoods of good gods. Some can also be found in the tombs and lairs of the undead where they tend to lay still on the bones of the fallen, unable to be picked up by the creatures of darkness within. e first known set of these items is often linked to, surprisingly enough, a group of priests worshipping Tawn, Protector of travelers and patron god of
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adventurers. ough not normally the sort for armored combat, this sect patrolled the roads near the Bone Ruins, an area known as a breeding ground for the undead. It is said that the sole paladin of the group was gifted the gauntlets by the priests to aid in her efforts to defend the caravans that braved the roads past the ruins. Over time the gauntlets were duplicated and often awarded to those who aided the faiths in some way. ough not always the case, often there is an inscription on the inner surface of one of the gauntlets that bears the name of the original owner and what service they performed for the faith. It may be possible to return the gauntlets to the family or faith in this manner or the GM may use this as a hook or clue for their own adventure.
Ilyth’harii+3 Composite Longbow of Distance
Powers: Ilyth’harii is a composite longbow that is enchanted with the distance enchantment. In addition, the bow possesses a few other enchantments. e silver tipped arrows held within Ilyth’harii’s quiver are enchanted to return the round after being fired. When used against a lycanthrope, one of the silver arrows fired from Ilyth’harii will act as a slaying arrow. If the lycanthrope makes its Fortitude save, double damage is done instead. Lastly, during the nights of the full moon, the slaying enchantment is strengthened making the arrows act as a greater slaying arrow and the damage is tripled if the save is made.
Appearance: Ilyth’harii is a composite longbow of remarkable appearance. Crafted from some form of cloudy white crystal, polished smooth and possessing the textile strength of fine steel, Ilyth’harii nonetheless bends easily when drawn. e bowstring is woven from filaments of several different materials, including giant spider silk, mithril, and unicorn mane. Inscribed both above and below the grip of the bow are several runes, which are filled in with mithril. e end caps holding the bowstring in place are mithril as well. e bow can be unstrung as normal, but one end of the bowstring is permanently fastened to the bow. e matching quiver is crafted from chimera leather and bleached white. e buckles, studs, and metal trim of the quiver are also of Mithril silver, and the quiver is home to the twenty silver tipped arrows used with the bow. Each arrow is a masterful work of art with a broad head of purest silver inscribed with a beautiful ivy pattern. is arrowhead is mounted on one of twenty perfectly straight and smooth white ash shafts and fletched with griffin feathers of purest white. Even after all this time of use, there is no hint of blood or dirt on any of the arrows or the bow.
History: Ilyth’harii was crafted many decades ago as a tool to be used by the knights of Hana, the goddess of the moon. ose tainted by the touch of the Unseelie fey to be lycanthropes forever were an abomination to the Order of the Moon, a holy order of the faith, and so they petitioned a renowned elven bowmaster to craft a weapon for the hunt. In an ironic turn of events, the bowmaster traveled to the temple a century later to present the weapon only to discover that the order had been disbanded long ago. However there was no doubting the power of the bow, and it was used by the church for many decades. It became so famous in the region that it became immortalized in verse by the local bards.
Moonlight races across the night,Bathing all in silvery light.
In shadows deep where dark things sleep,e huntress’s quarry slips into sight.A breath, a pause, a whispered hissDarkness struck with silver’s kiss.‘Neath starry seas the quarry fleesFor shelter in the shadowed mist.A breath, a wait, a silken sigh,
She sights her quarry and lets arrow fly.To pierce the heart, let life depart,Cleansing forest, earth, and sky.
Ilyth’harii’s recent history begins with the forces of darkness staging a daring raid on the Temple of the Moon and seizing several weap-ons from the armory, including the bow and its companion quiver. ough the temple sent warriors to track down the thieves, the bow and other weapons were never recovered. e temple has a standing reward of service to the group or individual who returns the bow to the temple, but as it was lost within the Forest of Temptations where giant spiders, orcs and a colony of Drow live, there has been little response to the offer.
Soulfire+3 Undeadbane Scimitar of Returning
Powers: Soulfire is enhanced with a +3 bonus. It is also a bane weapon vs. undead, and as such gains an additional +2 to hit and does an additional 2d6 points of damage to undead. e sword also has additional enchantments placed upon it that heighten the wielder’s reflexes, granting him a +2 bonus to any Dexterity checks the character makes, as well as granting him the use of the Dodge and Mobility Feats if he does not already possess them. e scimitar may also be thrown with the same range of a throwing axe and will return to the wielder’s hand thanks to the returning enchantment placed upon it.
Appearance: Soulfire is a superbly crafted scimitar of silvery blue meteoric steel. e curved blade is 34 inches in length and is slightly wider than most scimitars, averaging 2 to 2 1⁄2 inches along the length. Engraved on both sides of the blade are several characters in the script of the desert tribes that translate into a brief history of the blade’s original wielder. e crosspiece is crafted from mithril silver in the form of spread wings with gold inlay highlighting the individual feather detail. e grip is wrapped in an overlapping horizontal pattern with leather strips dyed electric blue. e pommel of the weapon is fashioned in the image of an eagle’s head with sapphire eyes. e sheath for the blade is mithril-plated wood, set with sapphires, and inscribed with various designs. Soulfire manifests its bane power with a golden glow that burns undead with its touch. is glow is strong enough to act as a light source but only manifests when undead are within 10 yards of the wielder.
History: Soulfire is the legendary blade of Dashul “e Golden Eagle”, famed founder of the Eagle Tribe of nomads that dwell within the Desert of Blasted Shadows. As the half brother of Ascar “e Desert Wolf,” he was a presence in almost all of the oldest nomadic campfire tales. Legendary as a swift and deadly swordsman, his blade Soulfire used the power of the desert sun to burn away the unliving.
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e inscriptions on the blade tell of the adventures Ascar and Dashul had while searching for the fallen star that Soulfire’s blade was forged from. It goes on to include the battles in the shadow realms where Dashul freed his future bride and her people, bring them to live in the desert and founding the tribe that would eventually bear his name. ere the tales of the blade’s inscription end but the adventures of Dashul are without measure and the lorekeepers of the tribes can recount several dozen more; how Dashul slew the six-armed demoness of the mountains, or turned back the wrath of an efreet army by trickery, guaranteeing the tribe’s survival. Dashul and his wife had many children and he led his tribe for several years after retiring from an active adventuring life. After his death, the blade was passed down to Dashul’s eldest son who became the Shan, or leader of the tribe. From generation to generation, the weapon was handed down as a symbol of the right of leadership for the tribe until almost a century ago, when war between the united tribes and the warriors of the kingdom of Istaria caused Soulfire to be lost within the shifting sands of the desert. Now it could be almost anywhere. Within a blue dragon’s hoard, traveling at the side of an adventuring band, within the armory of the Caliph of Istaria, or still buried under the dunes, Soulfire will surface into legend again, and when it does, the Eagle Tribe is waiting to reclaim their heritage.
The Eye of ArmynorMagical Headpiece
Powers: e eye of armynor is a magical headband constructed to aid a spellcaster in battle against the forces of necromancy. Firstly, it acts as a headband of protection +2 at all times when worn. Secondly, the star sapphire constantly shines with an inner light which, if the opposing caster is of evil alignment, causes a –2 penalty to any Concentration checks they attempt. Due to a minor augury charm on the sapphire, any spellcraft checks for counter spell attempts gain a +2 circumstance bonus. And lastly, the wearer may attempt to use the headpiece to cast dispel magic once per round. However, this spell may only be used to counterspell a magical attack and cannot be cast directly at any target. In effect, the spellcaster is using the raw magical power of the item to channel their knowledge of magic, and not their own personally prepared spells. e spell acts in all ways as normal, including the requirement of a dispel check. During the round following a casting the dispel magic, the +2 protection ability of the headpiece lays dormant and does not function while the item recharges itself.
Appearance: e eye of armynor is a headpiece crafted of electrum and silver, set with a 1-inch star sapphire of deep blue in a claw setting within the center of the piece. Minute dwarven runes are inscribed around the setting and on each side of the gem, but are small enough to remain unnoticed from a distance of five feet or more. e simple elegance of the piece belays its power as a mage’s tool. When worn, the individual seems to be enveloped in a barely detectable blue aura that seems to help ward away blows aimed at them. When confronted by a spellcaster of evil alignment, the gem glows with a blue white light that to most is only the brightness of a candle, but to the evil spellcaster seems like the blinding radiance of a lightning bolt.
History: e origin of the eye of armynor dates back several centuries to the time of the Reign of Fire. Crafted by the dwarves for the war against the Necromancers, the eye was given to one of the few
mages of good during those times. His name was Armynor, and he was the half-elven bastard son of the Necromancer lord known only as ‘e Dark One.’ Having never known his mother, he was raised by the slaves of the household and his father to take his place at the Council of Bones when he came of age. It was he who discovered the slave that would become known as “e Black Lion” and would lead the humans in revolt against their masters. It was also he who freed and protected this slave and hid him from the mind probes of Hexal the Witch Queen. Little did the mage suspect that that one act, done to ease his conscience, would become the turning point that would bring about the end of his father’s tyranny. For the slave was found, barely alive, by the guards of the dwarven city, and when he could again speak, his words kindled the wrath of the dwarven clans against those of the surface who grew fat on the blood and sweat of others, and would drag back a man’s soul to his body if he died to continue in his toils without mind or desire. ey forged him armor and an axe and gave him the strength of two hundred dwarven warriors. e slave liberated a slave mine and the dwarves armored the ex-prisoners. en he struck another and his numbers grew again. en, with the strength he had, the slave leader attacked the city of Armynor’s father and tore down the walls of the fortress. e life of “e Dark One” was claimed, but at a terrible price. His body was burned in the first of many bonfires as the Black Lion gave his famous speech, stating that “the common man would take back their humanity and begin a new reign, a reign of fire to burn away darkness forever.” Armynor was spared the flames as the ex-slave recognized him and declared him his friend and advisor to this new reign. e dwarves crafted the eye for him to augment his spell abilities and aid him in overcoming the foes they would face. When Hexal was found dead and her power was shattered, Armynor withdrew from the spotlight of the new order and was thought to travel the lands. In many cases he aided those agents of the new rulers, known as “e Flames of Freedom” or more commonly as “e Flames” to find and dispose of pockets of Necromancer resistance, but it was said that he also spend a great deal of time with his mother’s people, the elves. With the end of e Black Lion’s life, and the squabble over his succession, Armynor withdrew from the human world entirely and lived within the cities of the elves until his death many years later. It was known that he did have children and that one of them, a girl, inherited the eye. Unfortunately, the chronicles of the elven histories do not have a listing of her name or any children she might have borne, and as a result the eye was lost for a while before being rediscovered by an elven battlemage calling herself Arcana. is woman was the instructor to Onyx, one of the founders of the Sisterhood of Steel and the eye was left in her care after Arcana’s mysterious disappearance. To this date it remains within the armory of the Sisterhood and is used when needed by the Sisters.
Tarra let the book she had been reading slide down to lay flat on her lap. She picked up the mug of tea the small librarian Rashel had provided, along with honey cakes and a blanket Rashel had called a ‘Reading Quilt’. e diminutive caretaker seemed so very determined to see to her every need that Tarra didn’t know how she was ever going to leave the confines of the library’s walls.
“You seem cozy.” Kyla’s voice came from behind her as the paladin came into view and sat in a chair to Tarra’s right. Within moments Rashel was at her side. “I’m fine,” Kyla said waving her away in a manner that was half irritation, half bemused affection. “So,” she continued looking at Tarra again, “It looks like you’ve made yourself at home.” Tarra blushed a little at that statement. “So tell me Tarra,”
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the paladin said as she settled back within the chair. “What do you think of Safehaven?”
“I think it’s unbelievable!” Tarra said, setting aside her books. “It seems just like a castle from a fairytale.” Kyla gave a soft snort of amusement at that statement. “Onyx seems nice,” Tarra said, her curiosity bending the conversation’s topic. “She’s definitely not what I pictured though from all your descriptions.” e two looked over at the elf who sat alone at a table in the far corner of the library. Her face was a mask of fierce determination as she studied the tome in front of her.
“Are you referring to the fact that she looks like she should be in a pleasure palace somewhere, with the scandalous lack of clothing she wears, or was it something about her personality?” Kyla asked wryly. Before Tarra could reply she continued. “Never mind, I know what you mean.” Kyla looked around and spotted Rashel busy within the stacks and reached over to Tarra’s plate quickly, snatching a honey cake. “I only want one.” She explained as she wolfed it down. “Mother librarian there would bring me a tray big enough to feed a family of halflings if I asked.” She licked the crumbs from her fingers. “e girl’s a year younger than me and she plays mother hen to us all.” She sighed theatrically. Shaking her head she picked up where she left off. “Anyway,” she started. “You’re thinking, ‘She’s the daughter of Gamiela. Why isn’t she regal and like some princess?’ or something like that right?” Kyla gave another sigh, this one more genuine than the last. “At one time she was like that. Polite, regal, in gowns so beautiful they would make you weep twice, once from the sheer splendor of it, and again when you found out how much it cost.” e paladin looked a little unsure as to how to continue. “Her father was, and still is a lord of an elven kingdom. Ruled there a long time, seen a lot of war, a lot of hatred. He doesn’t much like humans, or dwarves, in fact he doesn’t much trust you unless you’ve got points on your ears, and even then sometimes, well…..” Kyla trailed off and looked back at Onyx again with a sad expression. “Onyx was brought up a proper noblewoman just like her father wanted. No getting into trouble, always with the proper element.” Kyla looked at Tarra with a brief grin. “You think being in your teens is tough? In an elven society you’re not an adult until you’re two centuries old. She felt smothered, but she loves her father so much. One day she’s in the woods and she meets another elf, an adventurer. e woman only called herself Arcana, or ‘the unknown’ and she began to teach Onyx about the real world outside her father’s boundaries. Well, when her father found out was he furi-ous.” Kyla mimed throwing things. “Boy I heard it was something to see. e next night the princess was gone, and Onyx was on the road with her new teacher. She got a little wild during that first season of adventuring. Discovered men for one thing, if you know what I mean.” Kyla gave a brief raise of her eyebrow and a knowing smirk at Tarra who giggled in reply. “Especially human men. Her father’s restrictions kind of backfired on him. Arcana taught her magic and the sword and most importantly, to be herself. She dresses like that because she wants to. ere’s magic in the outfit that keeps her warm, so if she wants to show off what she’s got, hurray for her!” Kyla shrugged unconcerned. “Her father did give her a deep respect for elven history and her people though, and she is a champion to them just like her ancestor.” e paladin turned a serious look to Tarra then. “She cares Tarra, more than you may ever know. She will risk life itself to protect any of us, or the defenseless, or her people. She learned hard that a night elf, who learned from infancy she was the most hated of crea-tures, can have a good heart, that every living thing must be judged as themselves and not their race. She mourns for fallen Sisters like they were blood kin to her.” Kyla drew a breath in and gave another sheep-
ish grin. “Sorry, I’m not usually the one for big speeches.” “No please!” Tarra begged. “I want to know all about her.” She
leaned towards the paladin. “Is that why she was in the Hall today?” Kyla bit her lip for a moment as if weighing her words.
“Today was special.” She finally said. “Today is the anniversary of a Sister named Olorae’s death.” Kyla seemed reluctant to continue but she did. “When Onyx started out, she didn’t just discover men, and Olorae and her were very close.” Kyla looked at Tarra’s blank face and sighed. “Onyx takes women as well as men for partners Tarra. Olorae was her partner.” She gave a sharp look at Tarra. “Now don’t judge her badly, she’s the same as she was before I told you. ere’s nothing different about her because of that choice.” Tarra looked shocked at her suggestion and Kyla regretted her accusation. “Sorry, a lot of people have a bad reaction to that news. ey start thinking that Onyx is trying to get them in her bed.” She shook her head at the world’s stupidity.
“Tell me more about her please?” Tarra persisted, unoffended by Kyla’s remarks. “I want to know all about her first adventures.”
“I’m not really the one to ask Tarra.” e paladin said. “I only know what I’ve heard. You should ask her if you want to know. But I’m afraid that it will have to wait. It’s getting late and I promised Arasaun that you would be home before dark.” Tarra looked around her. Surely it wasn’t that late. But yes, the lights of the stained glass windows was dimming as the sun set and she knew that it was indeed time to return. Bidding goodbye to Rashel, they left Onyx undis-turbed and deep in her studies and began their return to Arasaun’s home. Retrieving their weapons, something caught Tarra’s eye. Walk-ing over to the three rune inscribed containers, she ran a hand lightly over the case that contained Onyx’s blade. “Careful!” Kyla cautioned. “It’s warded.” e weapon was an ancient elven design. Tarra knew from her studies that the blade was old because its blade was not straight like those made after the Necrite Wars. e elves had altered styles from the influence of dwarf and human smiths after that time.
“Where did it come from?” Tarra wondered out loud. ough the question was rhetorical Kyla chose to answer.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It has an elven name, but I’ve never been able to say it. Onyx says that it’s translated as Bloodquick though.”
“Krilyth’hanalyon” Tarra whispered. “e sword of the heart, and one of the True Blades of elven history.”
“You know about it?” Kyla said in surprise. Tarra nodded dream-ily.
“It was a weapon that came from Faerie where the elves once lived. Only six weapons left Faerie’s borders at that time and this was one of them. As long as the wielder’s heart was strong it was said to never fail.” Kyla laid a hand on Tarra’s shoulder and looked at the blade as well.
“en it never will, Tarra.” She said in full faith. “Come on, let’s go.”
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LEGENDARY CLASSES FOR LEGENDARY CHARACTERSEdited by Chris Sims
In all the lands, the greatest champions of justice, peace and beauty are often the strongest, fairest paladins. Fate can try the faith of any man, but it takes real tragedy in the face of a well-led life to try the faith of a paladin. Sadly, legends are full of good and great heroes whose faith is broken by tragic events. Most heroes feel fortunate that fate or some god smiles upon them and they are secure in this knowledge--the cursed champion believes that fate and his god have abandoned him, but fights on despite this.
Epics are often full of sorrow and despair. e heroes almost always triumph over evil and villainy, though sometimes at the cost of their own lives. Many such tales, however, speak of the suffering of those around the hero. eir friends and allies are killed, tortured, abused and suffer at the hands of the hero’s enemies. e hero must often choose between some greater good and the lives of innocents. e hero suffers too, knowing that his actions and his stand against evil have brought death and sorrow to those for whom he cares.
e cursed champion has been marked by fate to fight until his last day—and perhaps until the end of the world—for the causes of his deity. At first, he did so out of loyalty and duty to the cause, but some event has altered his perception, and the champion feels that the god is somehow responsible for some tragedy in the hero’s personal life, the needless death of innocents, or perhaps the willing sacrifice of others for some higher purpose. Either that or the champion thinks that his own service to the god is responsible for some tragedy. As a result, he has lost faith in his master and possibly himself—but not in the cause.
e cursed champion fights on, then, serving as a pawn of his gods, while no longer believing in their righteousness. He fights for the cause, hoping that he will somehow wash away his own complic-ity in the suffering he has witnessed, hoping to help some, and know-
ing that fate will strike down others. While his power and abilities are great, he finds that fortune does indeed turn against him at times, taking the lives of his closest friends and allies—at the hand of his en-emies or even at his own hand. e fear that he is cursed can drive the champion to despair and even into bellicose rages. At the forefront of some great cause, charismatic despite his loss of faith, the cursed champion continues to attract supporters.
Hit Die: d10
RequirementsTo qualify to become a cursed champion, a character must fulfill
the following requirements. Alignment: Any goodBase Attack Bonus: +12Abilities: Wisdom 13+, Charisma 15+Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranksFeats: Great Cleave, Iron Will, any one feat of the DM’s choice. Special: e cursed champion must have at least one level of
paladin, but must have left that path due to some personal, tragic event. e cursed champion may not be able to cast divine spells.
Quests
e cursed champion does not choose his own fate, going out of his way to become a cursed champion. Instead, his deity approaches him with an offer rarely refused (though, if the character declines, he does not become a cursed champion). A DM should make clear to the player what is being offered when his deity approaches with the first of the following quests.
e cursed champion blames himself or his god for some hor-rible tragedy (see Notes below for examples). His deity comes to him in a dream and offers the chance to right a past wrong in which the character was complicit. e deed varies depending on the tragedy that caused the character to cease to be a paladin and the nature of the god. If the character was unable to protect a loved one from death, perhaps the evildoer responsible for the departed’s death is behind some plot the deity wishes to frustrate. In return for helping the god, the cursed champion receives the opportunity to avenge. If the charac-ter was forced to decide between the will of the god and innocents, then the quest may involve a way to make amends to those who
In March, the d20 Magazine Rack teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to offer a very attractive contest. e object was to design a
completely original Legendary class like those seen in Fantasy Flight’s Path of… series. e results are clearly evident by the numbers of entries that we received, which you may now read below, including Herman Lau’s winning entry.
Cursed Champion (Cch)Written by Kevin CurowSection 15: Cursed Champion Copyright 2003, Kevin Curow
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suffered or the relatives of victims. e quest must involve a challenge appropriate to the aspiring cursed champion.
Immediately upon completing the first quest, the would-be cursed champion is visited again by his deity, who requests that the character fulfill another quest. e fulfillment of the quest clearly aids the deity in some way, but must also play on the character’s sense of duty by aiding innocents or friends. is quest must at some point involve the character making a decision between assisting friends and doing the right or “best” thing. For example, the character finds himself in a position where he must either ride to the aid of friends facing some terrible creature or fearsome opponent, or he must ride to a village about to be raided by marauding orcs. ere must be no way to accomplish both. e character learns, after the fact, that the results of his decision were worse than he believed initially. Perhaps, choosing to aid the village, he later discovers his fellow adventurers faced not an evil wizard, but a lich against whom the aspirant would have been instrumental. Perhaps, choosing to aid his friends, he discovers that instead of the village being plundered and dozens dy-ing, the villagers were all killed or enslaved, suffering indignities and torture as well.
Upon completion of the second quest, the character becomes a cursed champion. For the cursed champion, however, the curse lives on. At times he may be approached with offers similar to the original two quests. Whether officially approached by his deity or not, the cursed champion finds that many of his decisions are in fact fulfilling the goals of his deity. e intent is to give the character the feeling that his doom is predetermined, he has no control over his own desti-ny, and that he is in fact a pawn of his deity. Perhaps upon completing an adventure proposed by a fellow adventurer, the champion discovers that the evil that was overcome had long-ranging plans, which some-how directly opposed the goals of the cursed champion’s deity.
Notes
e event that caused the cursed champion to cease to be a pala-din can vary, but in any case the paladin should either blame his god or the dogged pursuit of his own goals for some tragic event. In some cases it may be simple. Some action of the cursed champion may have directly led to the death of a personal friend or hundreds of inno-cents. Or it may be more complicated. Perhaps while away on a quest or adventure serving the cause, a loved one was struck down and the paladin torments himself for not being there to protect that person. Perhaps he was required—or chose—to push onward to defeat some foe, when diverting his attention to a secondary goal may have saved innocent lives. Regardless, he should have renounced his faith for some such reason. Whether a misfortune is tragic enough is up to the DM’s discretion.
e cursed champion must care about the suffering of others and must therefore be of good alignment. If his alignment becomes something other than good, the cursed champion loses all class abilities, only regaining them if his alignment reverts to good and he undertakes and fulfills additional quests similar to those by which he became a cursed champion in the first place.
Class Skillse cursed champion’s class skills (and the key ability for each
skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class FeaturesAll the following are class features of the cursed champion
legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A cursed champion is profi-
cient with all simple and martial weapons, all armor, and shields.
Cursed Champion Abilities
All of the following are potential abilities of the cursed cham-pion:
Enhanced Charisma: e cursed champion inspires many to follow him despite any protestations he may make in an attempt to dissuade them from following his doomed cause. e character gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Charisma per power level.
Enhanced Wisdom: e cursed champion is world-weary and experienced. He knows how beneficent and how terrible destiny can be and how fickle the gods are. As a result, he has gained a great many insights into life. e character gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Wisdom per power level.
Weird Fate (Ex): One of the curses of the champion is living to see friends and allies cut down by blows intended for the champion. Once per power level, a blow, spell, or other attack that would result in the death of the cursed champion strikes the nearest ally (PC or NPC) instead. If there is more than one ally equidistant from the cursed champion, each rolls a d20—re-rolling ties—the ally with the lowest roll automatically suffering the damage or effect that should have struck the cursed champion, with a normal saving throw. In the rare cases when the spell or effect that struck the ally would not normally affect that ally, then choose the next nearest ally. is power is only activated a number of times equal to the power level—after that, it is gone forever. is power is activated automatically, not by player choice.
Fateful Blow (Su): Perhaps because they believe the gods and fate do not smile upon them, the cursed champion often surprises himself by his ability to strike down legend’s most powerful foes. Once per day (only once, regardless of the power level), the cursed champion may declare prior to an attack that he is attempting a fateful blow. e attack is made as normal and if successful causes an additional amount of damage equal to the power level times his Charisma.
If the attack fails, roll to see if it strikes a friend or ally within reach of the attack causing the same amount of damage. is ability may never be used in conjunction with Strike of Fate. If there are multiple targets within reach, determine the target randomly as per weird fate above.
Strike of Fate (Su): Fates seems at time to smile upon the cursed champion, with a cruel sense of humor. Once per day per power level the cursed champion may declare a strike of fate prior to making an attack roll. With such a blow, the cursed champion adds his Charisma bonus additional +2 per power level to the attack roll.
If the cursed champion misses this attack, roll to see if a nearby friend or ally is struck (with the bonus), suffering normal damage. is ability may never be used in conjunction with Fateful Blow. If there are multiple targets within reach, determine the target randomly as per weird fate above.
Cursed Rage (Ex): e cursed champion is under great stress in combat, precisely because he fears the roll providence plays in his life.
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Sometimes the pressure becomes too great and the cursed champion flies into a killing rage. is rage functions exactly as the barbarian Rage class ability with the following exceptions. e cursed champion may fly into a rage a number of times per day equal to the power level of this ability, and the rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s Charisma bonus + the power level, or until all visible enemies are defeated.
Instead of being fatigued by the rage, at the end of the designated duration the cursed champion makes a Charisma check (DC 15). If he succeeds, then the rage is over. If he fails, the champion remains in the rage for 1d4 rounds, during which he cannot distinguish friend from foe. At the beginning of the cursed champion’s turn in each of these additional rounds, he attacks the nearest target with whatever weapon is in hand. If there are multiple targets within reach, deter-mine the target randomly as per weird fate above.
Devoted Ally: e cursed champion is one of the few who recognizes that he is cursed. His devotion to helping others and the fame he has gained for supporting the cause of some god are enough to attract devoted allies who are unquestioning in their loyalty to him. ey are not sycophants, however, and should not be played as such. e devoted ally is like a cohort as described in DMG, Chapter 2, Leadership. e devoted ally is reticent to leave the champion’s side, and may disobey an order to do so if the odds look to be against the champion. e NPC attracted by the devoted ally is always a fighter, ranger, barbarian, monk, or paladin and his is the same as a cohort attracted by the Leadership feat.
Determine this specialized Leadership score in the normal man-ner, subtracting 2 for the cursed champion’s reputation for ill-fate, and adding 2 for each power level of this ability. In the event of the death of a devoted ally, another ally is attracted within 1d6 months or at the discretion of the DM.
e dwarven stalwart is willing to lay down his life to defend dwarven homelands and the dwarven way of life. However they have been so successful killing goblinoids and defeating hordes that this has not been necessary. Instead the stalwart is willing to teach what he has learned to aspiring dwarven warriors and stay on the frontline to ensure that a dwarven kingdom is not overwhelmed.
“A rock pounded by the relentless waves of a stormy ocean” was how the half-elf bard Luriar Finehand once described his dwarven companion as they defended a dwarven outpost against a goblin horde. Like the rock the dwarven stalwart can be worn down, but it does take time and lots of punishment.
Hit Die: d10.
RequirementsTo qualify to become a dwarven stalwart, a character must fulfill
all the following criteria:Race: Dwarf.Base Attack Bonus: +12.Skills: Sense Motive: 3 ranks.Feats: Great Cleave, Improved Critical (any weapon), Weapon
Focus (any weapon), Weapon Specialization, and any one feat of the DM’s choice.
Special: Defensive Stance class ability.
Questse character must defend or clear a place that has racial sig-
nificance to dwarves with only a small band of friends (less than ten). e enemy force must include at least one formidable individual of a CR equal to the aspirant stalwart’s level for every two defenders (or multiple, lesser foes of significant CR). Further, the EL of the entire enemy force should be more than four times that normally thrown at the defenders, stretching the party’s resources to the breaking point.
e character must single-handedly slay a significant dwarven enemy—usually a leader of some sort. Traditionally, such heroes face giants, orcs, dragons, or goblinoids. It does not matter whether the battle is a single-combat duel or part of a larger melee. e enemy must be of a CR no more than one point lower than the would-be stalwart’s level.
Class Skillse dwarven stalwart’s class skills (and the key ability for each
skill) are Craft (Int), Intimidate (Str), Listen (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the dwarven stalwart
legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A dwarven stalwart is pro-
ficient with all armors and shields as well as all simple and martial weapons.
Dwarven Stalwart AbilitiesAll of the following are potential abilities of the dwarven
stalwart:Dwarven Grievance (Ex): e stalwart gains a +2 legendary
bonus per power level on damage rolls against all traditional dwarven enemies—usually goblinoids, orcs, and giants—with one weapon for which he possesses the Weapon Specialization feat.
Enhanced Strength: With a body like wiry steel, the stalwart gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Strength per power level.
Enhanced Constitution: A paragon of dwarven toughness and resolve, the stalwart gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Con-stitution per power level.
Hardened Skin (Ex): e stalwart gains damage reduction equal to the power level.
Improved Defensive Stance (Ex): e character extends the du-ration of his defensive stance class ability by 1 round per power level. Further, the stalwart gains one use of the stance per day at each odd power level. e stalwart is only winded by the stance for 6 rounds – the power level.
Cursed Champion Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Cursed
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Cursed
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Cursed
4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Cursed
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Cursed
Dwarven Stalwart (Dst) Written by Duane NutleySection 15: Dwarven Stalwart Copyright 2003, Duane Nutley
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Immovable Stance (Su): A number of times per day equal to power level + the character’s (improved from the stance) Constitution bonus (minimum 1), the stalwart may root himself in place, gaining all benefits of the defensive stance besides the bonus to AC and Re-flex saves. e stalwart is considered one size category larger for the purposes of any bull-rush or grapple attack, and the effects of wind and water; he cannot be tripped. Despite the size-category modifica-tion for grappling, he is considered to be normal size for the purposes of determining how many opponents can grapple him and whether he may join a grapple. In this stance, the stalwart cannot use any skills or abilities or take any action that requires him to move from his posi-tion. He may end this stance at will, and must do so to make a Reflex saving throw against any area attack that affects more than a 10-ft. radius around him. e ascetic may choose to forgo the Reflex save, and maintain his stance.
Precision Strikes (Ex): e stalwart gains a one-time +1 leg-endary bonus to attack rolls with one weapon for which he possesses the Weapon Specialization feat.
While many spellcasters have the ability to create magical items, the high artificer is the undisputed master of his craft. ese people take their creation seriously, spending countless hours toiling over their craft. rough their devotion, they can reduce the time and energy required to create, and create more potent items than others.
Hit die: d6
RequirementsTo qualify to become a high artificer, a character must fulfill all of
the following requirements:Skills: Craft (any two): 15 ranksFeats: Any five item-creation feats.Special: e character must have the ability to cast 6th-level
spells.
QuestsOnce a character announces that he wishes to become a high
artificer, he must create magic items whose base market price exceeds 500,000 gold pieces. e experience points expended in creating these items must come from adventuring, and cannot be the result of a wish, deck of many things, or some other form of magic that grants a character experience. At least one of these items must have a base market value of at least 150,000 gold pieces.
is class is a constant quest of perfecting the art of creation. To progress another level in this class, the character must create at least
one magic item whose base market price is 50,000 gold pieces.
Class Skillse high artificer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill)
are Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (all skills, taken indi-vidually) (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Scry (Int, exclusive skill) and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class FeaturesAll the following are class features of the high artificer:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A high artificer gains no
new proficiency in any weapon or armor.
High Artificer Abilitiese following are potential abilities of the high artificer
legendary class:Economical Creation (Ex): e high artificer knows how to
get the most out of his materials. e base market price, for creation purposes only, is reduced by 10% per power level.
Efficient Creation (Su): e high artificer can create items with-out taxing himself as greatly. Normally, the experience point cost to create an item is 4% of the item’s base price. Each power level in this ability reduces the experience cost by .5%.
Empowered Creation (Su): e high artificer can create more potent items. e save DC for spell effects from items created by the high artificer is increased by 2 points per power level.
Enhanced Charisma: e high artificer gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to their Charisma per power level.
Enhanced Intelligence: e high artificer gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to their Intelligence per power level.
Enhanced Spellcasting: e high artificer gains spells per day and caster levels in one spellcasting class equal to the power level of this ability. is is a one-time bonus.
Enhanced Wisdom: e high artificer gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to their Wisdom per power level.
Rapid Creation (Ex): e high artificer can create an additional 500 gold pieces per power level per day than normal. So, a character that takes this power at second level in the high artificer class can cre-ate 2,000 gold pieces worth of items per day.
When a goblinoid or orc lives long enough, he gains a reputation for viciousness, survival, and victory—just the qualities other gobli-noids are looking for in a leader. A horde warchief is a legend amongst his people and a terror amongst other races as well. Such leaders
Dwarven Stalwart Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Dwarven Stalwart Abilty I
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Dwarven Stalwart Abilty II
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Dwarven Stalwart Abilty III
4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Dwarven Stalwart Abilty IV
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Dwarven Stalwart Abilty V
High Artificer Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 High Artificer Ability I
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 High Artificer Ability II
3 +1 +1 +1 +3 High Artificer Ability III
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 High Artificer Ability IV
5 +2 +1 +1 +4 High Artificer Ability V
High Artificer (Hia)Written by Paul W. KingSection 15: High Artificer Copyright 2003 Paul W. King
Horde Warchief (Hwc)Written by Duane NutleySection 15: Horde Warchief Copyright 2003, Duane Nutley
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bring down a horde of organized tribes against the civilized folk of the region. However the warchief can also use this force for personal means, usually against a specific location or race that the warchief particularly hates.
Any core class that emphasizes strength and prowess in battle is suitable to become a horde warchief. Barbarians are most suited, with fighters a close second. Spellcasters are rarely warchiefs, due to their lack of fighting prowess and the superstitious nature of the goblinoid and orc peoples.
Hit Die: d12
RequirementsTo qualify to become a horde warchief, a character must fulfill all
the following criteria:Race: Goblinoid or Orc.Base Attack Bonus: +12.Charisma: 13+Intimidate: 6 ranks.Feats: Great Cleave, Weapon Focus, Toughness, Endurance,
Leadership, and any one feat of the DM’s choice.Special: Rage or a class ability or feat that resembles rage.
Questse aspiring warchief must prove himself in battle by leading a
successful campaign against the enemies of his people. Other than at least six successful raids and guerilla actions (successful meaning the aspirant’s team accomplishes the goal and at least half of them come back alive), the hopeful must choose a sizeable settlement in the area and lead a military action against it. e forces must be roughly equal (thus giving an advantage to the defenders) and settlement soundly defeated. During the ensuing melee, the contender for horde warchief must seek out and slay the settlement’s leader in single combat, also slaying any who interfere (including his own followers).
e hopeful must then negotiate alliances with all of the tribes in the area under his banner of war, slaying any who oppose him. ere must be at least three other parties to whom the warchief allies, but these can include races not of the potential warchief ’s type. An orc warchief ’s alliances with two other orc tribes and a clan of giants are perfectly acceptable.
is united force must be led in an initial campaign against a chosen target of roughly equal power. e chosen area or settlement must be totally defeated and subjugated or destroyed. Only then is the warchief proven, and he ascends to legendary status.
Class Skillse horde warchief ’s class skills (and the key ability for each
skill) are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Str), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the horde warchief
legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A horde warchief is proficient
with all armors and shields as well as all simple and martial weapons.
Horde Warchief AbilitiesAll of the following are potential abilities of the horde warchief:Bear Skin (Su): A number of times per day equal to 1 + Con-
stitution bonus (minimum 1) the warchief hardens his skin like that of an animal gaining a +2 natural armor bonus to AC per power level for a number of rounds equal to the power level plus the warchief ’s Constitution modifier. e uses per day of this ability are never in-creased by a temporary change in Constitution (such as that provided by rage).
Burst of Speed (Su): A number of times per day equal to the power level, the horde warchief can move faster in medium or lighter armor for a number of rounds equal to three + Constitution modi-fier + power level. With this power, the warchief moves at +5 ft. per power level per round and gains the benefit of the Run feat.
Enhanced Strength: e horde warchief gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Strength per power level.
Enhanced Constitution: e horde warchief gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Constitution per power level.
Enhanced Leadership (Ex): e horde warchief gains a one-time +3 legendary bonus per power level to his Leadership score.
Enhanced Rage (Ex): When the character rages, he gains a +1 legendary bonus to Strength and Constitution and extends each rage for a number of rounds equal to the power level. Each even power level adds one rage per day. At power level 5, the horde warchief is not fatigued after a rage.
Inspire Frenzy (Su): e character can inspire frenzy in all fol-lowers within 60 ft. who can hear him. e frenzy gives the followers a +1 enhancement bonus per odd power level of the character to Strength, Constitution and Will saves, and lasts 1 round + 1 round per power level. At the end of the time limit, all surviving, affected followers are fatigued.
ere are many archaeologists who spend there times at digs discovering what our predecessors have left behind. Master archae-ologists, though, are driven to find that which, by all rights, should probably still be left lost. ey pour over ancient tomes looking for clues to discover what time has forgotten. Concerned more with uncovering antiquity than with propriety or regional law, these folks are constantly getting into trouble with local authorities. (is class is for use with the d20 Modern roleplaying game.)
Hit Die: 1d8Action Points: 7 + one half of character level, rounded down,
every time the character attains a new level in this class.
RequirementsTo qualify to become a master archaeologist, a character must
fulfill the following requirements:Abilities: Intelligence 15+
Horder Warchief Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Horde Warchief Ability I
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Horde Warchief Ability II
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Horde Warchief Ability III
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Horde Warchief Ability IV
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Horde Warchief Ability V
Master Archeologist (Mar)Written by Paul W. KingSection 15: Master Archeologist Copyright 2003, Paul W. King
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Feats: Educated (Knowledge (history), Knowledge (arcane lore) or (theology and philosophy)), Studious and one other feat of the GM’s choice.
Skills: Decipher Script: 12 ranks, Disable Device: 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcane lore): 6 ranks, Knowledge (history): 12 ranks, Knowledge (theology and philosophy): 6 ranks, Navigate: 6 ranks, Search: 6 ranks, Read/Write: 3 ancient languages, Research: 12 ranks
Questse master archaeologist must find/uncover three objects or
evidences of places thought lost to history. At least one of these things must be something believed to be pure myth by the public at large. Examples include: Ark of the Covenant, Atlantis, El Dorado, Holy Grail, Round Table and Shangri-La.
Class Skillse master archaeologist’s class skills (and the key ability for
each skill) are Computer Use (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (elec-tronic, mechanical, structural, writing) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Demolitions (Int), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Knowledge (arcane lore, current events, earth and life sciences, history, physical sciences, streetwise, theology and philosophy) (Int), Listen (Wis), Navigate (Int), Profession (Wis), Read/Write Language, Research (Int), Search (Int), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int) and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 9 + Int modifier
Master Archaeologist Abilitiese following are potential abilities of the master archeologist
legendary class:Apostolic: e archeologist finds the location of an ancient
artifact holy to her patron deity (requiring an adventure to recover). If the character has no patron deity, this deity becomes her patron. is entity immediately is added to the character’s list of allegiances when the archeologist takes possession of the artifact. Finding this item grants the character the ability to cast divine spells according to power level:
e apostolic master archeologist may only cast spells of a level equal to or less than her Wisdom –10. She never gains bonus spells for high Wisdom from this power. e character must spend an hour each day in quiet contemplation or sup-plication to regain her daily
allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether the character can prepare spells. e DC for spells is 10 + spell’s level + Wisdom modifier. Concentration (Con), Spellcraft (Int, trained only) and Use Magic Device (Cha, trained only) become class skills.
Arcanist: e archeologist finds the location of an ancient tome filled with arcane spells (requiring an adventure to recover). is tome allows the character to acquire the ability to cast arcane spells according to power level, using the same chart as the apostolic power for spells per day.
e tome contains all cantrips, and 2 other spells per power level. High Intelligence never allows the archeologist to gain extra spells via
this power. e character must prepare spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep (8 hours) and spending one hour studying her tome. e DC for spells is 10 + spell’s level + Intelligence modifier. Concentration (Con), Spellcraft (Int, trained only) and Use Magic Device (Cha, trained only) become class skills.
Artifact: e archeologist discovers the location of a magical or psionic item from antiquity (requiring an adventure to recover). Each power level of this ability allows an enhancement bonus or +1 or a special power, with the exception that the item must have an enhance-ment bonus of at least +1 before gaining any other ability. Unlike other legendary powers, this ability may be selected more than once.
Catacomb Master (Ex): rough years of experience, the arche-ologist is adept at skills that aid in uncovering the lost. e character gains a +2 legendary bonus per power level to the following skills: Decipher Script, Disable Device, Navigate, Research, and Search.
Enhanced Intelligence: e archeologist gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus per power level to her Intelligence.
Enhanced Wisdom: e archeologist gains a one-time +1 leg-endary bonus per power level to her Wisdom.
Find the Path (Su): Once per day per power level the arche-ologist can cast the spell of the same name. e caster level is the character’s power level.
Luck of the Draw (Ex): e character gains a +2 legendary bo-nus per power level, which may be distributed among the character’s saving throws. No one saving throw can have a bonus higher than the power level.
Master Linguist (Ex): rough years of studying ancient and modern texts and deciphering cryptic and lost languages, the arche-ologist gains 2 Read/Write or Speak Language skills per power level, these can be ancient or modern languages. So, a character taking this at first level could choose two read/write language skills, two speak language skills or one of each.
Psionicist: e archeologist has found a crystal containing psychic power. is crystal awakens latent psionic abilities within the character according to the power level of this ability:
A psionic character must have a score in a power’s key ability
equal to 10 + the power’s level in order to manifest the power. e psionic archeologist does not gain bonus power points and cannot manifest any power for free. e DC for powers is 10 + the power’s level + the psionic character’s key ability modifier. Autohypnosis (Wis, trained only) and Psicraft (Int, trained only) become class skills.
PowerLevel Spells per Day
0 1 2
1 2 1 -
2 2 2 -
3 4 3 -
4 4 3 1
5 5 3 2
Power Level
Power Pts./Day Powers Discovered by Level
0 1 2
1 2 2 - -
2 3 3 - -
3 4 3 1 -
4 5 3 2 -
5 7 3 2 1
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acter must eradicate three entire communities of his favored enemies. At least one specific creature from each of the prospective nimrod’s favored enemies must be selected. For example, Venator (Rgr 12) has three favored enemies at this point: beasts, goblinoids, and oozes. To become eligible for nimrod status, Venator must eradicate three groups of favored enemies from the region. He decides to rid his area of a goblin tribe, owlbears, and ochre jellies. e DM must approve any choices the player makes, and the aspirant may not be aided by more than five other characters.
e nimrod hopeful must select a wilderness locale to serve as his home. e DM must approve the player’s choice, and the geo-graphical limits of the area. e great hunter is responsible for clear-ing his new habitat of monsters and other unwelcome creatures. Once that is accomplished, the character must seek out, befriend, and gain the support of the barbarians, druids, and rangers in the region and enlist their aid in protecting the balance of nature, and keeping the vi-cinity free of unnatural dangers. Any individuals unfamiliar with the contender’s efforts will present him with trials to test the sincerity of his words. Lastly, the character must meet with the local governments of the civilized common races in the area and convince them to regu-late their use of local resources. Hunting, fishing, trapping, farming, logging, and other development is permitted, but must be regulated wisely. Some settlements won’t appreciate what the character is at-tempting to do, seeing nature as something to be exploited.
Class Skillse nimrod’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Animal Empathy (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direc-tion (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the nimrod legendary
class.Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Nimrods are proficient with
all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.
Favored Enemy: A nimrod continues to select favored enemies as if his effective ranger level was equal to the sum of his current ranger and nimrod levels. In doing so, the nimrod is obligated to exterminate, per “Quests” above, one local gathering of creatures from the newly selected favored enemy type, if there are any.
Nimrod Abilities
All of the following are potential abilities of the nimrod:Animal Kinship (Sp): e nimrod can speak with animals once
per day per power level. Nimrods can also summon animals, per the summon nature’s ally I and II spells. ese spells may be cast as if the nimrod had one level of free spell slots available per power level. us, if this ability was selected at third level, the nimrod could use summon nature’s ally I three times a day, or each spell once per day. Duration of these spells is determined as if the nimrod’s character level were his caster level.
Many Tongues: e nimrod gains the Druidic language and one additional spoken language per power level. e additional languages
Nimrod is the name given to the individual who has demonstrat-ed his abilities as a mighty hunter. Once every few generations, there comes a hunter who has achieved complete attunement to nature, and is held in awe by nature-dwelling and civilized folk alike for his abili-ties and knowledge of the wild. is occurs so rarely, that there has never been more than one nimrod alive at any time. In fact, there are many years without anyone holding such a title between the passing of one and the attainment of legendary status by another.
Nimrods are familiar with nearly all of the native animal species of the forest region they call home. ey survive primarily off the land, but are constantly aware of the delicate balance that exists be-tween species (including their own) in a forest, and work to maintain that balance. Monsters are viewed as violating that precious equilib-rium and are considered blights on the natural landscape. Just as the Nimrod may be considered a legendary hero in some civilized lands, he is considered a fearsome enemy by the races of creatures he has sworn to eradicate.
Hit Die: d10.
RequirementsTo qualify to become a nimrod, a character must fulfill all the
following requirements. Alignment: any non-evil neutral (LN, N, NG, CN).Abilities: Dexterity: 15+, Constitution: 13+, Wisdom: 15+.Skills: Hide: 5 ranks, Intuit Direction: 5 ranks, Knowledge
(nature): 10 ranks, Listen: 5 ranks, Move Silently: 5 ranks, Spot: 5 ranks, Wilderness Lore: 15 ranks.
Feats: Alertness or Hunter’s Wisdom*, Endurance, Precise Shot, Track, and any one feat of the DM’s choice.
Special: e character must possess at least two favored en-emies, either through the ranger class ability or some other means, such as a feat or prestige class ability.
QuestsBefore becoming eligible for achieving nimrod status, the char-
Master Archeologist Advancement
Class Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical Defense Bonus
Reputation Bonus
1 +0 +2 +0 +0 Ability I +1 +1
2 +1 +3 +0 +0 Ability II +2 +1
3 +2 +3 +1 +1 Ability III +2 +1
4 +3 +4 +1 +1 Ability IV +2 +2
5 +3 +4 +1 +1 Ability V +3 +2
Nimrod (Nim)Written by Scott MooreSection 15: Nimrod Copyright 2003, Scott Moore, Path of the
Sword Copyright 2002, Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.; Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns, Copyright 2002, Natural 20 Press; Wild Spellcraft, Copyright 2002, Natural 20 Press; Traps & Treachery Copyright 2001, Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.; Deadlands d20 Copyright 2001, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.; Dragonstar” Starfarer’s Handbook Copyright 2001, Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.; Open Game Content from e Tide of Years Copyright 2001, Michelle A. Brown Nephew; Seafarer’s Handbook Copyright 2001, Fantasy Flight Publishing, In
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may only be selected from those spoken by the character’s favored en-emies. A druid must be sought to teach the nimrod Druidic; he holds a special position of honor among druids, allowing them to teach him their secret tongue.
Child of Nature (Ex): e nimrod can gain the druid class abili-ties nature sense, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, and venom immunity. When selecting this ability, the nimrod gains only those abilities that would be possessed by a druid of the same level as this ability’s power level; venom immunity is gained at power level five.
Wild Gift (Sp): e nimrod gains the ability to cast druid spells as if he was a druid of the same level as this power level.
Environmental Attunement (Ex): When in his home area, the nimrod is especially attuned to his environment, granting him a +1 legendary bonus per power level to Animal Empathy, Hide, Intuit Direction, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot skill checks, as well as Wilderness Lore checks for tracking. e legendary hunter cannot be surprised in this location and gains +1 to initiative per power level.
Great Hunter (Ex): e nimrod gains +1 legendary bonus to ranged attack rolls per power level against any creature caught flat-footed in a surprise round. Against targets to which this bonus would apply, the critical threat range of a ranged attack is increased by one for each power level, stacking with any other such modifiers after multipliers are applied. e damage multiplier for a critical hit is likewise increased. If a nimrod had the feat Improved Critical with his longbow and this ability at power level three, the threat range for his bow in this situation becomes 16-20 (normally 20, doubled to 19-20, then add three for 16-20) and the damage multiplier is raised to x6. Finally, the nimrod receives a bonus of +1 per power level to his Wilderness Lore skill when attempting to provide food for himself and others.
Patience: Due to tireless patience, a nimrod gains a +1 legendary bonus to Wisdom per power level.
Outdoorsman (Ex): e nimrod gains a +1 legendary bonus per power level to his Wilderness Lore skill for all purposes other than tracking, stacking with the great hunter ability when applicable. A nimrod also gains this bonus to Craft (cartography) checks to create and read maps, Knowledge (nature) checks to identify animals, plants, and poisons, Profession (fishing), and Profession (herbalist) to make herbal antitoxins that work just like the alchemical substance of the same name.
In the shadows of champions and epic legends stand those of divine insight, the shadowy manipulators of fate, oracles of tomor-row. Prophets. For their god and themselves, they steer the agents of change through the flow of time. With a cryptic edict and an aura of command, lives are changed at their whim. ose that fail the prophet are lost to time, but those that succeed are forever known as heroes.
Prophets are creatures outside of normal existence, their insight and proximity to divinity making them more akin to celestial beings then mere mortals. ough their goals are obscure, and span life-times, prophets are merely acting on the in accord with the heavens. Granted powers to assure this, prophets rarely need the intervention of their god.
ough powerful in their own right, prophets find their greatest skill and most called upon talent to be their legendary guidance. With a divine hint of the future, their careful words craft the history of to-morrow. eir prophecies are the harbingers of world-shaking events and the guides followed by those that would save or end the world.
ough their talents may be the same, prophets are as different as the gods they serve. Where a prophet of the god of law may sit as divine judge in a realm’s highest court, the god of death’s prophet may subtly fan the flame of discord among the peasantry, and all the while the goddess of nature may guide her worshipers to confer with her prophet upon a mountain peak. eir orders are to be followed, their wrath is to be feared, their council is to be sought, and doom on any who ignore the prophet’s word.
Hit Die: d12.
Class Requirementse qualify to become a prophet, a character must fulfill the fol-
lowing criteria:Wisdom: 17+Skills: Knowledge (religion): 15 ranks Feats: Iron Will, Leadership, any one feat of the DM’s choice.Special: e character must be able to cast 7th-level divine spells
and must have made direct contact with his god or an avatar of that god.
Quests
When a priest is deemed worthy of becoming a prophet, a direct agent of his god contacts him, questing him to retrieve a specific item of lesser artifact status or greater. e journey of the would-be prophet must take him longer then one year or farther then 10,000 miles from his home. He may take with him any companions he pleases, but only he may touch the artifact once it is recovered. No other may touch the device
Once the would-be prophet returns to his home, he must will-ingly bestow the artifact to an ally of the church (of 10th-level or
Nimrod Advancement
Class Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Ability I
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Ability II
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Ability III
4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Ability IV
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Ability V
ProphetWritten by F. Wesley SchneiderSection 15: Prophet Copyright 2003, F. Wesley Schneider
“At forty-five degrees, the sky will burn,Fire approaches the great new city,Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps upWhen they want to have verification from the Normans.”
~Nostradamus
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less) and quest him to use the artifact to right a great wrong (wrong meaning something opposed to the goals of the prophet’s deity). Ap-propriate wrongs consist of defeating a monster or villain of CR 18 or higher, throwing down a corrupt government, recovering an even more powerful artifact for the church, ending a war, and so on. e prophet must aid his chosen ally in the task, but he may never use any of his spells or special abilities to defend his champion in any way. Once the champion completes her quest, the would-be prophet is allowed to take levels in the prophet legendary class.
Note e prophet is forever bound to the champion he chose to aid
him in attaining this class. For as long as he achieves levels in the prophet class or wishes to use the skills of the class, he may never deny that champion his council. If he does, his prophetic abilities are stripped from him and he may never again take levels as a prophet, progressing only in other classes, destined to never become a legend.
e same goes for a prophet that violates the edicts of his god or changes alignment to one not allowed as the god’s worshippers. Minor breaches, or those imposed by some outside or supernatural force, may be forgiven (DM option) or erased via an atonement spell cast on behalf of the prophet. Gross infringements cause the loss of all powers and abilities associated with this class. Such fallen prophets often go on to serve the enemies of their former patron.
Class Skillse prophet’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Read Lips (Int), Listen (Wis), Scry (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier
Class FeaturesAll the following are class features of the prophet legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A prophet gains no additional
weapon or armor proficiencies.
Prophet AbilitiesAll the following are potential abilities of the prophet legendary
class:Animal Form (Su): Part of the mystery that surrounds prophets
are their inexplicable disappearances and their ability to reach a point faster then might humanly be possible. ese appearances are actually correct, such feats are not humanly possible, but they are possible for animals. A prophet with this ability is able to change his form into one specific Small or Medium animal per power level, as many times per day as he wishes. e type of animal the prophet can transform into must be chosen at the same time as this ability is selected. Only specific animals may be chosen, not types, therefore crow is a valid selection, where bird is not.
Aura of Command (Su): It is difficult for many, even the en-emies of a prophet, to defy the wishes of such a powerful agent of a god. is ability raises the DC of all a prophet’s enchantment/charm type abilities and spells by +1 per power level. Further, the prophet gains a +2 to any Charisma-based skill check when operating in direct agency of his deity. is ability can aid other prophet abilities such as proselytize and order of god.
Aura of Grace (Su): Even the most religiously blind can see that the prophet is cloaked in the grace of a god. e prophet gains a one-
time +1 legendary bonus to Charisma per power level.Aura of Divine Sanction (Su): e prophet is a powerful force,
not just for his own formidable powers, but for the allies he brings with him. Assured that the agent of a god fights with them, allies of the prophet gain a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls, a +4 morale bonus to saves against the Enchantment school, and immunity to fear effects while within 100 ft. of the prophet. Allies must be able to see or otherwise sense the prophet for this ability to work. ese bonuses may be granted five minutes per day per power level. ese minutes need not be used consecutively, but cannot be used in incre-ments less than one minute.
Oracle (Su): Once per day the prophet is able to commune with his god, asking for insight on any matter. is divine audience requires the prophet to spend an hour in meditation, doing noth-ing except focusing on his god and his questions. If the prophet is attacked or disrupted in anyway during this meditation, his use of this ability is lost for the day. At the end of the hour mediation, the prophet receives his answer or a response pertaining to the answer’s arrival.
To limit the information a prophet may gain, he is restricted to asking 1 of 6 different types of question. His question may only start with the words “Who”, “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why”, or “How”. If this ability is taken at a level higher then first the prophet may ask a number of questions equal to this ability’s power level. No prophet can ever achieve a level in which he might ask all 6 questions of his god, thus representing that no mortal may ever know the full mind of the divine.
It is up to the god (the DM) when and how the prophet’s ques-tion is answered. Commonly an answer is immediate, but when the strands of fate are obscure or another god acts on the same matter, it may take as much as one day to obtain an answer. Also, answers to a prophet’s questions need not be forthcoming and plain; gods are known to speak in the same cryptic remarks and metaphors as prophets.
Proselytize: A prophet brings with him not just the commands and edicts of his god, but the divinity’s entire canon. rough his preaching, a prophet can influence the masses, gaining the abil-ity to cast arcane spells of the Enchantment school as if they were divine spells of the same level. e prophet has access to one level of Enchantment spells per power level. us, this ability at power level IV grants access to all arcane Enchantment school spells of up to 4th level.
Order of God (Su): e prophet is the agent of a god, and his orders are given divine authority. Once per day per power level the prophet may utter any one of the following spells, restricted only by the prophet’s deity and alignment: blasphemy, dictum, greater com-mand, holy word, power word stun, or word of chaos. In place of one of these uses, any creature that shares the prophet’s faith or alignment may be given a verbal or written order that functions as a geas/quest spell. e written version is only effective for one reading.
Overpowering Faith (Su): e power of faith the prophet has in regards to his god is overwhelming when compared to that of normal worshippers and lesser priests. is faith can block and dispel divine spells cast in the presence (or within the awareness) of the prophet. e prophet can dispel divine magic once per day per power level as if he had cast greater dispelling. is ability may be used according to normal counterspell rules.
Uncanny Dodge (Su): Preternatural insight and divine grace protect a prophet from all physical harm. Each power level counts as 3 rogue levels for the purposes of gaining the rogue’s uncanny dodge
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class ability only. us, at power level V a prophet has the uncanny dodge ability of a 15th-level rogue.
Wrath of God (Su): ose who defy the will of the prophet are also defying the orders of a god. Once per day the prophet may call down a blast of energy upon one opponent who has defied his direct order (such an order can be as brief or simple as “move” or “surren-der”). is blast deals 4d6 points of damage per power level. Half of the damage is divine, while the other half is elemental in nature (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic)—the prophet chooses which element at the time this ability is selected, but it should be appropriate to the god providing the power.
Without a voice, without a song, trapped away in the darkness, many downtrodden people search for signs of light. A Requiem of the Death Moon becomes that distant voice carried on the night breeze, an expression of emotion in the gloom. Peering into the souls of the weary, the Requiem is the bearer of the song of change and cycles. An elusive sect of the moon god, the Death Moon represents the light in the darkest hour, a harbinger of death, but also a symbol of hope. Once chosen by the sect, the Requiem of the Death Moon waxes and wanes, biding his time when forces are brewing under the surface and appearing to signal the end of a cycle and the beginning on of a new one.
Most of those who have become Requiems of the Death Moon have had backgrounds as bards beforehand. Understanding how to communicate to the hearts and souls of people is a key trait of a Re-quiem. ey are dark messengers and heralds, sighted at the outskirts of town when a turn in the tide is eminent (or plotted), their eerie voices echoing out from under their pale robes. More than one ner-vous monarch has abandoned the position when a Requiem appeared
on his or her land. Free to roam in quiet times, once the Requiem is given the call or comes across a volatile situation, he must be ready to once again play the role of the foreboding ghost.
Hit Die: d6
RequirementsTo qualify to become a Requiem of the Death Moon, a charac-
ter must fulfill the following criteria:Alignment: Any non-lawful, non-evil.Charisma: 17+
Skills: Intimidate: 4 ranks, Knowledge (religion): 7 ranks, Per-form (singing): 15 ranks, Sense Motive: 7 ranks.
Feats: Endurance, Iron Will, and one other feat of the DM’s choice.
Special: e character must possess the bardic music class abil-ity and must be ordained by the Death Moon Sect.
Questse first step in becoming a Requiem of the Death Moon is find-
ing the Death Moon Sect, which is a quest in itself. ese mysteri-ous priests are keepers of forgotten knowledge and history, and have access to powerful divination magics. Once the Sect is found and petitioned, they set up a trial to determine if the character is even worthy of further observation. Such a trial could be to defeat a certain creature without harming it or retrieving a certain item useful for the Sect (usually some tome or ancient artifact). e test is always one that must be solved without violence as the primary solution. e aspirant may bring companions along, but the difficulty of the quest is adjusted accordingly.
A hopeful successful in the first trial is told of a locale where an important change is needed—often the overthrow of a tyrannical order. He is asked to lead the way to that change, rallying people to throw off their shackles. Such a sentiment may already be strong, or it may be that no one has had the courage to start such a movement. e candidate must not, however, lead the group into combat, but must cultivate or inspire leaders out of one or more of the oppressed people. is quest is to prove that the character can influence people to change themselves and compel the wheels of transformation for-ward without directly turning them. e character’s companions may join him in his quest, but they must not directly lead the resistance either.
Class Skillse Requiem of the Death Moon’s class skills are Bluff (Cha),
Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimi-date (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the Requiem of the
Death Moon legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: e Requiem is proficient
with no new weapons, armor or shields.Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new Requiem level
is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before he became a
Prophet Advancement
Class Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical Spells Per Day
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Ability I +1 level of existing class
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Ability II +1 level of existing class
3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Ability III +1 level of existing class
4 +3 +1 +1 +4 Ability IV +1 level of existing class
5 +3 +1 +1 +4 Ability V +1 level of existing class
Requiem of the Death MoonWritten by Herman LauSection 15: Requiem of the Death Moon Copyright 2003, Her-
man Lau
“Tyrants quake at the sound of the Death Moon rising.”
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Requiem. He does not gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. is means that he adds his new level of Requiem to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spellcasting class, he must decide which class he adds each level of Requiem for purposes of determin-ing spells per day, spells known and caster level.
Resolute Voice: e character stacks his number of Requiem levels with his bard level when determining his number of uses of bardic music per day.
Moon Mind: e character stacks his Requiem levels with his bard levels to determine the efficacy of his bardic knowledge.
Requiem of the Death Moon AbilitiesAll of the following are potential abilities of the Requiem of the
Death Moon:Crescent Step (Ex): e Requiem learns to move defensively to
escape dangerous situations. When taking the total defense action, the Requiem gains an additional +2 dodge bonus to AC per power level. In addition, the character gains a +1 competence bonus per power level to Reflex saving throws while taking the total defense action.
Full Moon Dirge (Su): When the tables turn, the Requiem’s voice can drive the victory home. When using his bardic music ability to inspire courage, the Requiem’s allies gain a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls per power level and the normal +2 morale bonus to saving throws against charm and fear effects. e effects last for 5 rounds + 1 round per power level after the Requiem stops sing-ing. Full Moon Dirge expends two daily uses of bardic music.
Icon of Hope (Ex): Finding the resolve within himself, the Requiem becomes immune to fear spells and effects. Also, any allies within 10 ft. + 5 ft. per power level above the first gain a +2 morale bonus per power level to saving throws against fear spells or effects. is secondary effect is supernatural.
Moon’s Allure: Becoming an enigmatic, inspiring figure, the Requiem almost seems to glow with an inner aura of assurance. e character gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to Charisma per power level.
Moon Sight (Sp): e character gains a sixth sense for which auras around him are resistant to change. e Requiem may cast detect chaos, detect law, detect good, or detect evil, choosing which to use at each juncture and using this ability for free three times per day per power level. e only difference between static sense and the normal spells is that this ability goes immediately to the third round of effect as described in the appropriate spells.
Alternatively, the Requiem can choose to consume five uses of this ability to gain blindsight in a radius of 5 ft. per power level. e blindsight lasts as long as it is maintained with a move-equivalent ac-tion and 1 round per power level after the maintenance ends.
New Moon Veil (Su): Hiding his mind like the new moon in the night sky, the Requiem gains a +1 bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting spells and effects per power level. In addition, the character can cast invisibility (on himself only) once per day per power level as a spell-like ability.
Waning Melody (Sp): When the Requiem feels he is no longer needed, he fades back into the night. e character can cast ethereal jaunt as a spell-like ability once per day and gains that spell as a 6th-level bard spell. e spell-like version lasts for 3 rounds per power level and those rounds need not be used consecutively.
Waxing Song (Su): e Requiem sings a melancholic song that
makes him seem stronger and more imposing, creating an aura of fear. is causes all opponents who can hear the Requiem to make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + one half of the Requiem’s level + power level + Charisma modifier) or become panicked. If the Waxing Melody is used while the Requiem is invisible, the DC is increased by 2. Waxing song expends two daily uses of Bardic Music.
is Legendary class is for an Oriental or Eastern setting; the character can come from any class normal for that setting.
unders are created to represent their clans at times of apoca-lyptic turmoil. e character must face loss and hardship and remain true to the Code of Bushido (honor). Loss of face, loss of faith even loss of limb is necessary for the creation of a under. e prospec-tive under must also acquire an artifact level magic item. Jade or Obsidian Hands that graft themselves onto and become part of the under are examples of this. ese artifacts give the under an elemental mastery to rival the gods and make them the pinnacle of the ideals of their clan, i.e. Lions are the epitome of the Samurai and Scorpions are the gatherers of secrets. e under would become the supreme example of those traits; there are only seven known unders.
e time of crisis to become a under and the trial to master this new state of being can be deadly, if no crisis of appropriate sever-ity exists to challenge a under, the artifact’s detrimental effects can destroy the wielder of the item. If intelligent the artifact could subvert the personality of the character and turn him into a threat of unbelievable destruction and chaos.
unders who achieve their status prior to the cataclysm may live to venerable ages, maintaining a state of health belied by their years, waiting for their time to come, becoming venerable counselors to the Daiymos of their clan. unders have shaped the world twice, in the dawn of time when the Gods warred and Fu Leng was impris-oned in the Shadowlands. e next when Fu Leng escaped through the power of the Black Scrolls, the Seven unders defeated him.
Hit Dice: Per class.
RequirementsAlignment: Any LawfulBase Attack Bonus: +10Skills: From Original class, but are not limited by this class and can
grow per the PC development.Special: per artifact
Quests:
Requiem of the Death Moon Advancement
Class Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical Spells Per Day
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Ability I +1 level of existing class
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Ability II +1 level of existing class
3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Ability III +1 level of existing class
4 +3 +1 +1 +4 Ability IV +1 level of existing class
5 +3 +1 +1 +4 Ability V +1 level of existing class
Thunder (Thn)Written by Bruce BoughnerSection 15: under Copyright 2003, Bruce Boughner
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e Path of Enlightenment: e under must face the loss of his original purpose, for example, a samurai losing a hand and being unable to wield a sword. If successful, the under advances towards true enlightenment. e under must find or acquire the artifact, Greater or Lesser of their clan and become bonded to it.
e Code of Bushido: e under must learn the ability to think beyond the blind obedience to the Code of Honor and find new Enlightenment. e under must rise above the Tao of their clans to embrace the philosophies of other clans and grow to embrace a new way of life.
e Tao of under: Once enlightened, the under must find his purpose and the goal they strive to achieve. e under must survive the Cataclysm that created the need for a under and still cleave true to the tenets of their philosophy.
e Tao of Enlightenment: If the under achieves their goal, they become enlightened, becoming sage advisors and speaking the true words of the gods. unders who achieve this state become the writers of enlightened philosophies and prophesy, altering the way whole nations think.
Class Skills:is depends on the under, what Clan they are from and
those skills they wield from their original class and/or Prestige Class.
Class Features: Artifact Usage (Int): A under becomes permanently grafted
to an artifact, a hand, a claw, an eye etc. and must master and domi-nate any intelligence or turn it to their own purposes.
Elemental Mastery (Wis): A under becomes master of one elemental force, wind, lightning, tide etc.
Weapon Mastery(Str): A under, strive becomes a master at a particular weapon, be it katana, bow or spear. ey must have mas-tered the known katas of their clan and begin to develop new ones
ere are always those that survive the wilds beyond civilization. Wilderness walkers are those who have been there and done that, and yet still survive the harshness of reality.
Hit die: d10
RequirementsTo qualify to become a wilderness walker, a character must fulfill
all of the following requirements:Wisdom: 15+Feats: Alertness, Hunter’s Wisdom, Master Tracker, Track, and
any one feat of the DM’s choiceSkills: Intuit Direction 10+, Knowledge (nature) 10+, Wilder-
ness Lore 15+.Special: e character must possess the ability to cast 3rd-level
divine spells.
Questse wilderness walker must survive for six months on his own
in the wilderness. He may have no help from anyone, taking only his personal gear with him. No pack or riding animals are allowed. is quest must be repeated three times, choosing a different wilderness type each time.
Class Skillse wilderness walker’s class skills (and the key ability for each
skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive skill), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex) and Wilderness Lore (Wis)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
Class FeaturesAll the following are class features of the wilderness walker.Weapons and Armor Proficiency: e wilderness walker is
proficient with all simple weapons, martial ranged weapons, and with light armor.
Wilderness Walker Abilitiese following are the potential abilities available to the
wilderness walker legendary class:Child of Nature (Ex): e wilderness walker can gain the druid
class abilities nature sense, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, and venom immunity. When selecting this ability, the wilderness walker gains only those abilities that would be possessed by a druid of the same level as this ability’s power level; venom immunity is gained at power level five.
Enhanced Spellcaster: e wilderness walker gains a +1 legend-ary bonus to his spellcaster level per power level. is is a one-time bonus. If the wilderness walker did not have any spellcasting class before, he uses the druid spell list.
Enhanced Wisdom: e wilderness walker gains a one-time +1 legendary bonus to his Wisdom per power level.
Favored Terrain (Ex): e wilderness walker may select two regions per power level in which he has exceptional experience. A region is comprised of a terrain type and a temperature type. ere are seven primary terrain types and three temperature types:
Terrain TemperatureAquatic* ColdDesert HotForest TemperateHill Marsh Mountain Plains Underground
* Aquatic may only be chosen if the wilderness walker has some
Thunder Advancement
Class Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +1 +1 +3 +3
2 +2 +1 +4 +4 Path of Enlightenment
3 +3 +2 +4 +4 Code of Bushido
4 +4 +2 +5 +5 Tao of Thunder
5 +5 +3 +5 +5 Tao of Enlightenment
Wilderness Walker (Wwa)Written by Paul W. KingSection 15: Wilderness Walker Copyright 2003, Paul W. King
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natural or magical means to breath water.
When a wilderness walker is in his favored terrain, he gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC (which is lost anytime the character is denied his Dexterity bonus to AC). Further, the walker gains a +2 bonus to any Hide, Intuit Direction, Knowledge (nature), Move Silently, Search, Spot, and Wilderness Lore checks. Base speed increases by 5 ft. on favored terrain, so long as the wilderness walker is wearing medium or light armor. ese bonuses do not apply if the character is in a building or other construct within their terrain.
Increased Animal Companions: e wilderness walker can increase the number of hit dice worth of animal companions he has. Under normal circumstances, a character can only have twice his caster level in HD. is multiplier increases by 1 per power level. For example, if this is taken at third level, the character can have five times their caster level in HD worth of animal companions.
Nature’s Armor (Su): By surviving on his own, the wilderness walker gains a +1 natural armor bonus to AC per power level.
Resistant to Elements (Su): e wilderness walker gains a +5 legendary bonus to resist elements per power level. ese bonuses may be distributed between cold, fire and electricity resistance.
Survivalist (Ex): e wilderness walker gains a +2 legendary bonus per power level to Heal, Intuit Direction, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Search, and Wilderness Lore.
New Feats
e following feats are required for the wilderness walker leg-endary class:
Hunter’s Wisdom [General]Your knowledge of animals makes you more skilled at killing
them.Prerequisite: Knowledge (nature) 5 ranksBenefit: Whenever you are in combat with an animal or beast,
you can make a Knowledge (nature) check at a DC of 10 + the creature’s hit dice. If you succeed, the threat range of any weapon you use against the creature is increased by 1.
Master Tracker [General]You have mastered the ways of the hunter, allowing you to follow
enemies through even the most difficult terrain.Prerequisites: Track, Wisdom 15+Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all Search checks and Wilder-
ness Lore checks while tracking.
Wodeslinge (Wos)
Written by David ChuaSection 15: Wodeslinge Copyright 2003, David Chua
e wodeslinges are a legendary group of halfling warriors who combine their slingshot skills with druidic magic. ey are a mischie-vous lot, fond of pranks, but the damage they deal out is nothing to laugh at. eir abilities allow them to make use of natural compo-nents as ammunition, transforming an innocuous berry into a deadly explosive device. ose who take up this class become legendary snipers.
Wodeslinges appear when halfling communities are in great need, such as when they are under attack by goblinoid invaders. ey frequently lead the community into battling their foes, as they know the strength of the halflings lie in numbers. ey never stay long with one community, as it is their creed to battle for the good of halflings and their causes everywhere.
Hit Die: d8
RequirementsTo qualify to become a wodeslinge, a character must fulfill the
following requirements: Race: HalflingBase Attack Bonus: +10Alignment: Any neutral, non-evil.Skills: Knowledge (nature): 8 ranks, Wilderness Lore: 6 ranks.Feats: Craft Wondrous Item, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon
Focus (Sling), Weapon Specialization (Sling), and one other feat of the DM’s choice.
Special: Ability to cast 3rd level druid spells.
Questse aspirant must single-handedly hunt and slay at least one
creature that poses a threat to a halfling community. e creature must be killed with ranged attacks from a sling and/or divine magic. e CR or EL of the creature(s) must be no less than two less than the contender’s total character level.
e character must find (a quest unto itself ) and challenge an existing wodeslinge to a contest. In the contest, the would-be wodeslinge must hit any targets designated and also struck by the challenged wodeslinge. Neither character may call upon magical skills for aid. If he loses, the character may challenge the same wodeslinge a month later, if the latter can be found and is agreeable. Otherwise a new contestant must be sought and defeated.
If the character does defeat the challenged wodeslinge, he is honor-bound to perform one task for that person. is final quest proves the sponsored hopeful’s mettle and determination. Failure means the seeker can never become a wodeslinge. Success means the existing wodeslinge becomes the character’s mentor and the aspirant may advance towards legendary status as one of the few wodeslinge’s in the world.
Class Skillse wodeslinge’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill)
are Concentration (Con), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str) and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
Wilderness Walker Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Wilderness Walker Ability I
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Wilderness Walker Ability II
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Wilderness Walker Ability III
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Wilderness Walker Ability IV
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Wilderness Walker Ability V
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Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the wodeslinge
legendary class:Weapon and Armor Proficiency: e wodeslinge gains no new
weapon proficiencies. As with druids, they lose their magical powers if they don prohibited armor or wield a prohibited weapon.
Wodeslinge Abilitiese following are the potential abilities available to the wodes-
linge legendary class:Explosive Acorns (Sp): Once per day, the wodeslinge is able
to enchant acorns into explosives. ese acorns may be shot with a sling or thrown, at double the normal range increment. With a ranged touch attack, the acorn strikes its intended target and explodes upon hitting any hard surface. Together, the acorns can cause an amount of fire damage equal to (power level x 3)d8, divided up amongst the acorns as you wish. e acorns deal 1 point of splash damage per die and ignite any combustible materials within 10 ft. If a creature within the burst area makes a successful Reflex saving throw, it takes only half damage; a creature struck directly always sustains full damage (no saving throw). e acorns retain their enchantment for 20 min-utes per power level or until used.
Animal Rock (Su): Once per day per power level, a wodeslinge can use a full-round action to enchant a single stone. Upon land-ing, the stone becomes the focal point of a summon nature’s ally spell with a Roman numeral rating equal to the power level of this ability. e creatures summoned attack whatever is in their vicinity unless instructed otherwise. e duration of the spell is a number of rounds equal to the wodeslinge’s character level + power level. e stone retains its enchantment for the same number of rounds, or until used.
Big Bad Boulder (Su): e wodeslinge can make any ammo he shoots to change into a boulder in mid-flight a number of times per day equal to 1 plus the power level is boulder does 1d6 +1d6 per power level, and should be treated as though it were a stone flung by a light catapult for purposes of deviation (see DMG, Chapter 3, Using Miniatures and Grids, Grenade-like Weapons). e boulder changes back into a sling stone 1 round after impact.
Deadly Snipe (Ex): e wodeslinge gets a sneak attack bonus while using the sling equal to +1d6 per power level. e sneak attack stacks with other, similar bonuses. e sniping is only effective within 30 ft. plus 10 ft. per power level, but other sneak attack bonuses only stack if the ability is used within 30 ft. of the target.
Enhanced Dexterity: e wodeslinge gains a one-time +1 leg-endary bonus to his Dexterity Bonus per power level.
Imbue Ammunition (Su): e wodeslinge gains the ability to place an area spell upon his ammunition. When the ammunition is fired, the spell’s area is centered upon where the ammunition lands. is ability allows the wodeslinge to use the sling’s range rather than the spell’s range. It takes a full-round action to cast the spell and fire the ammunition, which must be fired in the round the spell is cast, or the spell is wasted.
Magic Stones (Su): e wodeslinge is able to enchant his am-munition once per day with an enhancement bonus equal to thrice his power level. e character may spread out this enchantment between different ammunition as he wishes, but no single stone’s bonus may exceed the power level. For example, if he selected this ability at power level IV, the wodeslinge could enchant three stones with a +4 bonus, or six with a +2. ese stones retain their enchantment for a
day.Skip Stone (Su): A number of times per day equal to the power
level, the wodeslinge is able to make his sling rock jump from one target to another within 30 ft., skipping a number of times equal to thrice the power level. Each subsequent attack after the first is at –2 to the attack roll, and if any attack misses the rock cannot jump any further.
Stalk (Ex): e wodeslinge gains a +2 per power level bonus to his Hide and Move Silently ability.
Traveling Shot (Su): e bullets the wodeslinge fires are carried further by magic. He adds 10 ft. to the range increment of his sling per power level.
Wodeslinge Advancement
ClassLevel
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Speical
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Woodslinge Ability I
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Woodslinge Ability II
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Woodslinge Ability III
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Woodslinge Ability IV
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Woodslinge Ability V
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This regular column examines the latest products on the market for gamers including role-playing supplements and other acces-
sories.
Cloud Warriors
Sizing Up the TargetCloud Warriors is a 128-page hard-
cover supplement from Fast Forward Entertainment that retails for $24.99. Cloud Warriors is written by a large team of designers that includes Skip Williams, with cover art by Monte Moore and interior art by Alan S. Dyson.
First BloodCloud Warriors contains rules and sug-
gestions for including aerial adventuring into your campaign world. In this book, you will find new aerial feats and skills, three new prestige classes, magical and non-magical flying devices, spells, and creatures. ere are also rules for aerial combat and training flying creatures as mounts. Lastly, aerial and airborne societies are discussed.
Unlike some of Fast Forward’s other books, the game mechan-ics appear quite balanced and are more along the baseline that you’d expect for d20 rules. e aerial combat rules are comprehensive but a bit confusing and overwhelming with the different elements that are factored in (such as line of sight, wind effect, turbulence and ham-pered aerial movement). If you were to use these rules on a continual basis, I am willing to bet that they would make better sense.
Critical Hitse greatest strength of the book lies in its completeness. All
factors that are aerial in nature are covered with the exception of instructions on developing your own aerial society. e inclusion of this would have really been an asset.
Critical MissesCloud Warriors does have editing issues. ere are several typos
and font changes that were missed in layout that detracts from the reading. Fast Forward also admitted to OGL violations recently concerning other products. is book also contains violations by using the terms “Dungeon Master’s Guide” and “illithid” frequently. ese terms are the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast and cannot be used.
Coup de GraceCloud Warriors is a good resource for those wanting to add an
aerial component to their campaigns. If supplemented with other aerial books such as Bastion Press’ Airships and Goodman Games’ Aerial Adventures series, you have the makings of an impressive aerial campaign. e price is a bit steep if you compare it against the page count and consider the wealth of game rules, it will be justified to those who use it.
FROM THE FAST LANE: CAPSULE REVIEWS OF CURRENT PRODUCTS
Written by Steven Creech
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.0 (Game mechanics only,
not counting spells or a creature names.)-d20 Compliance: 4.0 (Use of intellectual property with
stated permission.)-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 4.0 (Useable by both player and GM, but fits a
specific niche.)-Value for the Dollar: 4.0
Overall Score: 4.00Final Grade: B+
Available from FRP Games for $19.95 (a savings of $5.04)!!
Dragonstar: Player’s Companion
Sizing Up the Targete Dragonstar Player’s Companion
supplement is a 128-page perfect bound tome published by Fantasy Flight Games. e book lists a large team of writers in-cluding Mark Chance, Andrew Christian, Minke Hinds, David Lyons, Michelle Ly-ons, James Maliszewski, and Mike Mearls with Greg Benage serving as lead devel-oper. It carries a retail price of $19.95.
First Bloodis is the much awaited expansion to the core rules found in
the Starfarer’s Handbook. e book opens with 15 new prestige classes followed by 5 legendary classes (both sorely needed in the campaign setting). ere are new schools that allow characters to develop their skills and abilities by spending both experience points and cred-its. Two new clerical domains and several pages of new spells and spellware further add to a player’s options. e final chapter of the book addresses psionics in Dragonstar, complete with the current core classes and new prestige classes and powers.
Critical HitsAfter getting books on new equipment (Imperial Supply) and
new player races (Galactic Races), we finally get the expansion guide that is sorely needed. e prestige classes do a good job at meshing components of traditional fantasy with those from science fiction. e amount of open content is game mechanics and rules related, but that is typical fare.
Critical Missesis is being nitpicky, but this should have been a hardcover
book, especially when you consider how much it will be used by player and GM alike. Soft covers fall apart too easy when under heavy
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use. e other complaint is the less than satisfactory table of contents and index. Both are quite weak.
Coup de Gracee Dragonstar Player’s Companion offers some excellent options
for the Dragonstar world. Diehard players will certainly want this as soon as they get their hands on it.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.75-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 4.5-Value for the Dollar: 4.0
Overall Score: 4.45Final Grade: A-
Available from FRP Games for $15.95 (a savings of $4.00)!!
Dungeon World: Catacombs
Sizing Up the TargetDungeon World: Catacombs is the
latest offering for Fast Forward Entertain-ment’s Dungeon World campaign setting. Once again, Lead Developer Christof-fer Trossen oversees a large contingent of eleven writers that includes James M. Ward and Tim Brown. Graphic design and layout are done by William W. Con-nors with cover art by Monte Moore and interior art by Marcio Fiorito. Catacombs is a 128-page hardcover that retails for $24.99.
First BloodCatacombs is a sourcebook that details seven new adventure loca-
tions within the Dungeon World setting. People who are unfamiliar with this setting may have a difficult time locating the core campaign setting book since it was one of the books that had to be destroyed for OGL violations. However, it is not necessary to own the one setting book as it is written to be mostly world neutral.
e opening chapter gives an overview of the Dungeon World setting and sets the stage for the more in-depth chapters that follow, which describe the seven locations. Each subsequent chapter address-es not only the location, but the peoples, encounters and hazards that adventuring parties will face there. e book wraps up with four new prestige classes and a handful of new monsters.
Critical Hitse versatility of this book in that it is useable outside of the
Dungeon World setting is a definite strength. e locations can be popped into almost any dungeon crawl or even Underdark campaign.
Critical MissesAgain, there are OGL violations, but some of these may fall
under a grandfathering of being at the printer when the SRD was
finalized. Regardless, there are other violations, such as the use of the term “illithid”, which are clear violations.
Coup de GraceDungeon World: Catacombs does offer some interesting locations
and encounters. GMs and players who are looking for something more unusual will find that this book has possibilities. e monsters show imagination and are basically balanced. e price is high when you compare it to other mega-adventures like Rappan Athuk, so prospective buyers will want to look this one over first to make sure it is what they want. It certainly has potential.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.0 (Game stats only.)-d20 Compliance: 4.0-Originality: 4.5-Playability: 3.5 (GM only)-Value for the Dollar: 4.0
Overall Score: 3.80Final Grade: B
Available from FRP Games for $19.95 (a savings of $5.04)!!
Enchanted Locations
Sizing Up the TargetEnchanted Locations is a 160-page
hardcover supplement written by James M. Ward and illustrated by William W. Connors. It is published by Fast For-ward Entertainment and carries a retail price of $29.99.
First BloodEnchanted Locations is a book of
encounters built around a specific loca-tion. Seventy-five different maps are used for twenty different locations. Each is generic enough in nature that a GM can use them multiple times with little work. Each map key has two different creature’s stats included. Unlike most other books, these are stats for advanced creatures, not carbon copy MM entries. Treasure is also already included in the location entry, making a GM’s job easier. ere is no flavor text describing the locations, that being left to the GM so it fits his campaign more easily.
Critical Hitse concept and utility of the book is a real selling point. I like
the fact that advanced creature stats were used rather than normal ones.
Critical MissesSeveral criticisms come to mind. First, black & white maps. is
is a book that should have been printed with color maps. e lack of color makes it very difficult to tell the differences in textures. Another issue is the generic nature. Rather than showing a single map with twenty numbered encounter locations, why not show the map and then use the following pages to zoom in on those areas, listing what
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may be found in each. is would be more practical in my mind. Finally, despite the advanced creature stats, there are a few errors, especially with the CRs. GMs will want to watch carefully or double check the stats before using them.
Coup de GraceEnchanted Locations is a fantastic concept with mediocre execu-
tion. More effort by going with color maps and even providing de-scriptive flavor text would make this a much more attractive product.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.5 (Game stats only.)-d20 Compliance: 4.5-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 3.0 (GM only)-Value for the Dollar: 3.0 (High cost vs. map readability.)
Overall Score: 3.80Final Grade: C+
Available from FRP Games for $22.95 (a savings of $7.00)!!
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs
Sizing Up the TargetEnchanted Locations: Crypts &
Tombs is a 128-page hardcover supple-ment written by James M. Ward, edited by Christopher Trossen, and illustrated by William W. Connors. Published by Fast Forward Entertain-ment, the book carries a retail price of $24.99.
First BloodEnchanted Locations: Crypts &
Tombs is a bit of a misnomer. It would be better titled as Enchanted Locations: Quests & Relics since the entire focus of the book is about grand quests for relics of incredible power. e location and the relic is provided, you just have to weave the story to your players. Addi-tionally, each location has the creature stats for the various encounter areas (including several straight from Monster Manual II).
e artifacts are broken down into class types (wizard, cleric, rogue, etc.). Each artifact consists of sections describing the item’s initial power, initial reaction of others, the effects of the item on the wielder, and any hidden powers it possesses. Some items may be combined with others for even greater powers.
Critical Hitse book is more geared towards the high-powered campaign
with relics that are not for the weak. It takes an original approach in building maps and locations around these various relics. I would characterize this book as a powergamer’s dream.
Critical MissesUnfortunately, there are many problem areas. As I mentioned,
the book uses creatures from Monster Manual II, which is a HUGE
violation of the open gaming license. is action resulted in Fast Forward destroying every copy that was in their possession. Another criticism is with the power level of the artifacts. e powers granted are simply off the map (such as “wearer is no longer effected by dragon breath attacks”)! e lack of explanation and description for each of the locations really hurts the book. Finally, the decision to use black & white maps over color is once again (as in Enchanted Locations) poor. Putting it simply, the maps are hard to read.
Coup de GraceEnchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is a decent book, but not
in the way it intends based upon its title. If you are looking for a book built around very high (almost deific) powered artifacts, this fits the bill. However, for its $24.99 pricetag, the cost is considerably substan-tial when you examine the amount of work that remains in the GM’s hands.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.0 (Game stats only.)-d20 Compliance: 3.0 (OGL violations, improper section15
declaration, unbalanced artifacts.)-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 2.0 (GM only tool that requires a high magic
campaign.)-Value for the Dollar: 3.0 (High cost to value ratio.)
Overall Score: 3.20Final Grade: C-
Available from FRP Games for $19.95 (a savings of $5.04)!!
Encyclopedia of Prestige Classes
Sizing Up the TargetJust when you thought everything was
covered by Mongoose’s Ultimate Prestige Class-es, along comes Fast Forward Entertainment with their entry into the field. Encyclopedia of Prestige Classes is a 128-page perfect bound supplement that retails for $24.99 and collects over fifty different prestige classes into a single source. Representing the collective effort of the entire Fast Forward design team, past and present, this book show-cases prestige classes from all other Fast Forward products to date.
First BloodWhile there are new skills, feats and combat rules in chapter one,
the meat of the book is its prestige classes. Airmasters are spellcast-ers who concentrate on the lore and power of the air. Charnelers are masters of assassination, torture and secrecy. Death legionnaires are mercenaried who live for continual warfare. Engineers create non-magical inventions. e lunatic is a prestige class that is exclusive to gnolls. Shadow Knights are cleric-warriors who have sworn them-selves to the service of a vile and evil demon lord. Star Knights are also elite warriors of evil demon lords.
Critical Hitse diversity of the classes are a definite strength. It is unlikely
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you will find copies or similar classes in Ultimate Prestige Classes. Many of the classes are for NPCs only because of their flavor and design.
Critical MissesMost of the classes have abilities that take the characters above
the baseline d20 scale in terms of power. Many are meant for Green races only or as NPCs (such as the Escort). ere are also several editing gaffes relating to typos and wrong fonts, which does distract from the overall quality of the book.
Coup de GraceEncyclopedia of Prestige Classes is not a book for everyone. ose
who run high-powered campaigns or use Fast Forward’s Green Races campaign setting will likely get the most use from the book. GMs who want more NPC prestige class options will want to take a good look at this book. It certainly has promise and potential, but it isn’t the right cup of tea for all of us.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.5 (Only the game mechan-
ics are open.)-d20 Compliance: 4.5 (e section 15 of the OGL declaration
does not properly cite the sources used.)-Originality: 4.5-Playability: 4.0 (Not for low-powered campaigns.)-Value for the Dollar: 4.0
Overall Score: 4.10Final Grade: B-
Available from FRP Games for $19.95 (a savings of $5.04)!!
River of Blood
Sizing Up the TargetRiver of Blood is a 48-page adventure writ-
ten by Douglas Sun and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. It is designed for four to six characters of levels 7-9 and carries a retail price of $14.95.
First Bloode adventure is set up in three different acts in a linear progres-
sion. e adventure takes place in a region torn by war between three countries. In a nutshell, there has been so much bloodshed that the land has been tainted and the dead are rising as a result. e charac-ters must make their way through the staged encounters and deduce the necessary clues in order to solve the mystery.
Critical Hitsere is ample opportunity for role-play as there are many char-
acter interactions. is is an aspect that is often missing or glossed over in an adventure. e carrion dragon is intriguing, even if it is more of a plot device than an actual encounter.
Critical Misses
e biggest problem with this book is the complete lack of numbered encounters on any map! e linear nature of the adventure necessitates the need for those numbers to appear on a map. How else is a GM supposed to know what encounters go where? Another criti-cism is the lack of information to make the adventure scalable. e only suggestion lies in “increasing the total number of monsters in any single encounter.”
Coup de GraceRiver of Blood has a great conceptual vision, but the execution
hurts the overall quality and usefulness of the book. e manner in which it was written would be better suited for beginning GMs and starting characters rather than the more experienced GM that one would expect at 7-9th level. To be honest, there are better adventures available so GMs will want to look this over carefully to make certain it fits their needs. Hopefully future adventures will have fewer prob-lems.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.5 (All game mechanics,
magic items, monsters, etc. are open.)-d20 Compliance: 4.5-Originality: 4.0-Playability: 3.0 (GM tool for 7th-9th level parties.)-Value for the Dollar: 3.0
Overall Score: 3.60Final Grade: C
Available from FRP Games for $11.95 (a savings of $3.00)!!
Sacred Ground
Sizing Up the TargetSacred Ground is a 112-page campaign
sourcebook done in the tradition of Seven Cities and Seven Strongholds and published by Atlas Games. It is written by James Malisze-wski, Rick Neal and Chris Jones with illustra-tions by Chad Sergesetter and carries a retail price of $19.95.
First BloodSacred Ground consists of four chapters, each outlining a holy
site. e first chapter develops an aerial location. Essentially a floating island one mile above the earth, it is a temple area dedicated to wind and air spirits and is filled with clerics who soar on mechanical gliding contraptions.
e second chapter presents the scenario of a deity who is responsible for the changing seasons. At the coming of winter, his body “dies” and his spirit travels to the Underworld. At the appropri-ate time, his spirit is then guided back to his body (which has been guarded) by a selected individual heralding the coming of spring and summer.
e third chapter gives an island location where servants of the god of death reside. ey are judges of both the dead and living and weigh matters carefully before raising or resurrecting anyone. Natu-rally, undead are not welcome here.
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e final chapter is essentially a monastery dedicated to a minor deity. It is a training school for monks who seek to oppose tyranny. Of the four, this one falls into stereotype the most, but it is still decent.
Critical Hitse neutral flavor of each location makes them idea to drop
anywhere. Fleshing out each of the major characters has already been done and new rules-related information is presented in classic Atlas style and is easy to comprehend and use. Essentially, GM preparation time is cut to a minimum because of the thoroughness of Atlas.
Critical Missese only real problem with the book is that many of the char-
acters fall into a formulaic pattern one expects. ere are no real surprises. e villains are easy to pick out, as are the good guys.
Coup de GraceSacred Ground achieves exactly what it sets out to do by provid-
ing quick and easily usable locations to drop into your campaign. Obviously, it is not for everyone, but GMs who find themselves in need of ideas to expand their campaigns will likely find this book as invaluable as its predecessors. It’s a good value for the cost.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 4.0-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 4.5-Playability: 3.0 (GM tool.)-Value for the Dollar: 4.5
Overall Score: 4.20Final Grade: A-
Available from FRP Games for $15.95 (a savings of $4.00)!!
School of Evocation
Sizing Up the TargetSchool of Evocation is a 64-page
perfect bound supplement and part of Fantasy Flight Games’ Legends & Lairs line. Written by Kevin Wilson, Mark Chance, Lysle Kapp and Lizard, the book carries a retail price of $14.95.
First BloodSchool of Evocation is the second
book by FFG to examine a school of magic more closely (School of Illusion was first – see March, 2003 d20Zine!). Evocation is broken down into sub-schools or “disciplines”: acid, cold, electricity, energy construct, fire, force, light and sonic. A new core class (Devoted Evoker) and eight prestige classes are presented along with new feats, equipment, magic items and spells.
Critical Hitse prestige classes bring out the flavor of the evocation school
quite well and show why evocation magic is so formidable and power-ful. My personal favorite is the Wintermage. e new spells and magic items are always a welcome addition and show balanced game mechanics. As with most Legends & Lairs books, the open content is substantial with only descriptive text being closed content.
Critical MissesNot so much of a miss as a limitation, the application of the
book is fairly restrictive. e book is useable by both player and GM, but is meant for wizards and sorcerers only.
Coup de GraceSchool of Evocation gives the specialist wizard a new world of
options in terms of potential prestige classes and spells. Evokers have always been powerful, but now they will really be a force of reckoning.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 4.0-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 4.0-Value for the Dollar: 5.0
Overall Score: 4.60Final Grade: A
Available from FRP Games for $11.95 (a savings of $3.00)!!
Twisted Lore
Sizing Up the TargetTwisted Lore is a 64-page perfect
bound supplement in Fantasy Flight Games’ Legends & Lairs line of books. Written by lead developers Kevin Wilson and Rob Vaughn (along with a large team of contributing writers), this book carries a retail price of $14.95.
First BloodTwisted Lore is bestiary collection
of aberrations, oozes and shapechangers. Here you find creatures like the Bloodgnarl Tree, Curtain Crawler, Face Hunter (very cool artwork), Lurcher, Ooze Sentry, Sailor’s Bane, Sound Devourer, Steel Ooze, and Yeoman Jelly. ere is also a brief section on templates that discusses swarm drones and alternate lycanthropes.
Critical Hitse diversity of the selection of creatures is a definite plus. I’ve
always been a fan of oozes and jellies, but players quickly learn how to defeat the standard ones. Now I have a supplement with new material to surprise them with. e amount of open game content is also a strong selling point to game designers. Essentially, only the descrip-tive text is closed content. All monster names, statistics and abilities (anything rules related) are open.
Critical Misses
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A minor complaint, but due to the nature of the book, it has limited application and use. It is certainly a book that falls into the “GM-only” category.
Coup de GraceTwisted Lore is a great and relatively inexpensive monster
supplement compared to the more pricey hardcover books. e game mechanics are sound and most of the creatures show originality. is is a good resource for your library.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 4.0-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 3.0-Value for the Dollar: 5.0
Overall Score: 4.20Final Grade: A-
Available from FRP Games for $11.95 (a savings of $3.00)!!
Uncommon Character
Sizing Up the TargetUncommon Character is a source-
book of ready-to-use characters put out by Atlas Games for their Penumbra d20 line. Written by a large team of writ-ers with editing by Christina Stiles and Spike Y Jones, this 128-page supplement retails for $21.95
First BloodUncommon Character details
36 individual non-player characters that are ready for use in your campaign. e challenge ratings vary considerably from low levels up to 20th level characters. Each character is fully stated and fleshed out complete with background information, appearance, personality, and adventure seeds.
Critical HitsOne of the things I like about Atlas Games is there attention to
detail. Vary rarely have I ever picked up a product and found errors in the game mechanics itself. is book continues that tradition. A quick check of a few characters’ stats showed no math errors in terms of skill point assessments or feat allocation. Another high point to the book is the introduction of something new with every character. Whether it is new armor, weapons, spells, feats, magic items or the like, each character has something unique about it that separates it from the run-of-the-mill NPC.
Critical Missese inherent problem with NPC books like Uncommon Char-
acter is that it fits a specific niche. You have to have a need for a book of NPCs in your campaign. ere are other NPC books available (Denizens of Freeport, Villains, Adversaries & Allies, Everyone Else) so
you may ask, “Why do I need another one?” Unlike other books, this one has an abundance of characters that are more than just common-ers; most have class levels and a couple even templates. is may work against the book depending on the GM and his need for NPCs. In my personal campaigns, I’ve had more of a need for common NPCs rather than those who are classed characters.
Coup de GraceUncommon Character is a very good product given its intent. As
a book of NPCs it stands as one of the better ones available. e new game rules material makes it interesting enough to have on the shelf just to surprise your party when they get too arrogant or set in their ways. e price may seem a bit steep, but the fact that you needn’t worry about math errors and that the book is almost entirely open game content is certainly worth consideration. It will make for a good investment for professional game designers and GMs alike.
Fast Tracks Score (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 5.0-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 4.0-Value for the Dollar: 4.0
Overall Score: 4.50Final Grade: A
Available from FRP Games for $16.95 (a savings of $5.00)!!
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VALLEY OF THE DWELVESWritten by Bret Boyd ([email protected])Edited by Neil RachynskiSection 15: Valley of the Dwelves Copyright 2003, Bret Boyd
Dwelves
Since dwelves are in the unique situation of being new to the world, they are not particularly known for anything yet. Folk make educated guesses that the blood of dwarves and elves make these people lovers of family and nature (above and below the ground). Such guesses are correct, but society does not yet appreciate that dwelves are not just a combination of dwarven and elven characteristics but an extension of their union.
Personality: In any encounter with non-dwelves, a dwelf is reserved in speech and expression. is is not because of dwarven or elven bias against another race but because the reaction to seeing a dwelf is almost universally one of confusion, anger, or fear. Cen-turies of isolation make it difficult to open up and trust an outsider; much less count him as a friend. Dwelves value life and knowledge, not yet understanding the other beings’ preoccupation with material possessions. ey take others at face value unless given reason to do otherwise. “Cautious optimism” is a phrase used by sages to describe the dwelven mindset. Among other dwelves, the race is independent, almost carefree in their daily lives.
Physical Description: At a distance, dwelves appear to be overly-tall dwarves. ey retain the broad torso of the dwarven parent and the height and angular features of the elven one. ey have pointed elven ears and males find their beards grow quickly if left unchecked. Averaging four-and-a-half to five feet tall, dwelf males and females are indistinguishable by height. eir skin is a light brown with eyes tending to be a light green or soft tan. Clothing is plain and function-al, commonly without ornamentation outside Kel’Ahallish. Among their own, however, dwelves enjoy personalization through jewelry on the clothing and in the hair. A dwelf is considered an adult at age 75. ey generally do not live beyond their 600th year. Elven blood and ritual meditation as a child grants adult dwelves the ability to trance as their elven forebears once per week.
Relations: Dwelves are so new to the outside world that fully realized thoughts on other races have not yet taken shape. Most dwelves have only met a handful of each race, and then of only one particular region. Generally speaking, dwelves see humans as overly-impatient, gnomes as innovative allies, halflings as greedy and lazy, half-orcs as hated racial enemies, and half-elves almost as brothers because of their similar place in society. Full-blooded dwarves and elves are considered honored cousins. A dwelf thanks Landrech
whenever he encounters a healthy member of either race, immediately counting the individual as a comrade. All other races see dwelves as curious crossbreeds that deserve pity. e exception is half-elves who see dwelves as equals in the same way that the new race views them.
Alignment: While inheriting an innate sense of goodness from his parents, a dwelf is taught by his peers that order and chaos both have usefulness when it comes to surviving in life. erefore, the dwelf veers to a more neutral stance in most situations.
Lands: Kel’Ahallish is the only known homeland of the dwelves. is subterranean community is considered a paradise by non-dwel-ven visitors. A forested glade beneath the mountain holds a flowing stream with areas of arable farmland and a peaceful residential area around it. A magical enchantment replicates a “sun” at the great cavern’s ceiling that moves across the “sky” giving the illusion of an aboveground environment. e sun is artificial but still provides the life-giving warmth and nutrition to the local plant life. It is here that the dwelves continue to preserve their unique way of life. All dwelves have their turn at farming, mining, and learning the art of defense with hammer and sword.
Religion: e first two generations of elves and dwarves in Kel’Ahallish clung to their respective deities as the only heritage remaining from their races. But when the first dwelves were born, it was obvious that the community’s descendants would require a more suitable god. As the ballad “Special Birth” describes it, the elven protector goddess and dwarven forger god fashioned a child from their omnipotent powers and made him in the dwelves’ image. e new god’s name was Landrech and he was given sole dominion over Kel’Ahallish. Even full blood elven and dwarven priests here would unknowingly receive their spells from him. e ballad sings of Landrech’s appearance in the air above the firstborn dwelf ’s home and his promise to the community and all of its inhabitants from that time forward. As proof of this promise, Landrech created the Well of Souls, which ultimately led to the imprisonment of the evil lich Kruldig (see below).
Language: Dwelves speak Dwarven, Elven and an archaic form of Common taught by their ancestors (65 % chance for any other race to understand that form today). ey also have their own tongue which is a Dwarven-Elven hybrid of graceful phrases interspersed by sharp consonants. ose dwelves who have been outside Kel’Ahallish for more than a few months can speak normal Common.
Names: Dwelves are given birth names by their parents. When they reach adulthood, they can choose another name if they so wish, although it is not mandatory. Common belief is that dwelves choos-ing another name enter an industrial, labor-intensive vocation while those keeping their birth name devote themselves to the creative fields such as fine arts or magical study. Family names are kept as the last name.
Male Names: Akben, Cael’tui, Haship, Nanowatt, Que’Ballt, amik.
Female Names: Anastilla, Drekin, Fynae, Pal’tanii, Teleste, Ventia.
Family Names: ese are determined by the parents of the first dwelf in the family line. e name is a combination of the parents’ last names and is kept to honor their memory and their dedication in
This article deals with what might happen if a group of elves and a clan of dwarves became trapped together for several millennia.
eir offspring, called dwelves, are detailed first in a PHB-style writ-eup. e way in which the article is written assumes that the dwelf colony has recently been discovered by the outside world and as many as 100 of the dwelves have left to investigate it. Following this writ-eup is a comprehensive look at the Kel’Ahallish area’s history, culture, and personalities as well as the new magics one might discover among this new and interesting race. e author declares all written text as Open Game Content.
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keeping the community alive.Adventurers: Adventuring is a new profession to the dwelves
and they see it from their own unique perspective—a way to learn about the outside world among tolerant folk who do not equate merit with appearance. Dwelves take up this itinerant lifestyle to determine how many dwarven and elven communities survived through the millennia and to tell them of the heroic flourishing of Kel’Ahallish. Dwelven adventurers also desire an exchange of knowledge so that new ideas can be brought back to invigorate the community’s “stale” cultural attitudes.
Dwelf Racial Traits
h +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence: Dwelves are ag-ile but have a strange physical blending of elf and dwarf that most others find unnerving. eir newness to the outside world makes them ignorant of other’s ways and their ability to adapt is slow after centuries of stagnated development.
h Medium: As Medium creatures, dwelves have no specific bonuses or penalties due to their size.
h Dwelf base land speed is 30 feet.h Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and
a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantments spells and effects.
h Low-Light Vision: A dwelf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
h Weapon Proficiency: Dwelves receive Martial Weapon Pro-ficiency feats for longsword, shortsword, and warhammer as bonus feats. Dwelves are trained in the favored weapons of Kel’Ahallish’s founders.
h +1 racial bonus on Craft checks related to stone or metal: Dwelves are quite capable with stonework and metalwork.
h +1 racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A dwelf does not have the elf ’s ability to notice secret doors simply by passing near them. Dwelves have keen senses, but not as keen as those of an elf.
h Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a dwelf is con-sidered an elf. Dwelves, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves.
h Automatic Languages: Dwarven, Dwelven, and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Dwelves are eager to learn the languages of the outside world’s races now that cultural interaction is upon them.
h Favored Class: Druid. A multiclass dwelf ’s druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. e function of a druid meshes well with the sacred grove-like nature of Kel’Ahallish, so it is common for a dwelf to choose this vocation to protect this home.
Kel’Ahallish (“New Hope”)
If one did not have to travel through a few miles of subterranean passages to get there, Kel’Ahallish would appear to be just another forested valley aboveground. A stream splits the mammoth cavern
that houses the dwelven race. e two-thirds total amount of land between the stream and the passage to the surface comprise the residential part of the land. Between the homes and the stream is a stretch of resilient pine and oak trees. e opposite third of the cavern’s land is used for farming and the homes of the farmers and miners. Tucked against the cavern wall here is a settlement of dwel-ven miners who continue to honor the dwarven life by delving deeper and deeper into the earth for gems and precious metals. But not all was as idyllic as it is now and the forces of evil permeate into even this secret refuge as detailed in the history below.
History: e Ironhelm clan, like many other dwarven com-munities of the day, lived inside a stony mountain range. is clan had close ties to the outside races through trade and a mutual desire to stop goblinoid incursions in their area. For at this time, over 7000 years ago, orcs, goblins, and other monstrous humanoids roamed the lands in hordes, unchecked until they touched one of the good-aligned races’ buffer zones. en the threatened race would ride out and bloody the horde’s nose just enough to make its lazy members move elsewhere.
e god of the orcs became tired of his people’s constant defeats and provided one tribe with powerful weapons of destruction. Each orc in the Snakeblood tribe became the equal of any 10 of his kind and the tribe’s shaman received the god’s directive to march out and take back the land the other races had stolen that was rightfully theirs. e enhanced Snakebloods attacked every elf community, dwarven stronghold, and human tribe (this race had only recently emerged in the world) in their path. e dwarves of Ironhelm heard of the unstoppable army but took no precautions until the horde sud-denly swept toward their mountain home. As the stout folk hurriedly prepared for invasion, elven refugees from the nearby forest fled to the stronghold’s gates and pleaded for asylum. e clan leader took pity on these elves, mostly women and children, and took them into the hold. It was only a few days afterward when the Snakeblood scouts appeared near the gates.
Leaving no community unconquered in its wake, the orcs laid siege to Ironhelm. e dwarves were not as prepared as they should have been, acting too late to stockpile food and supplies. e pres-ence of destitute elven refuges did not help matters either. Daily as-saults on the stronghold wore down the clan’s resolve. With supplies low, nerves frayed, and no help in sight from other clans, the dwarven and elven leaders agreed to retreat into the mines and seal the way behind them. All reports before the siege began indicated that no earthly force had been able to slow down the horde, much less stop it, and the two groups feared for their own races’ very survival. Dwarven miners had recently discovered a large natural cavern with a running stream and the Ironhelm host withdrew from the stronghold with that place as their destination.
Dwarven ingenuity and elven magic crafted a single entrance that only another dwarf or elf could enter. e two races knew that if they were never discovered, then there must have been no other elves or dwarves left to search for them. ey would forever live far beneath the earth—the last of their kind. e retreat was orderly, every person carrying what they could, and without incident. e Snake-bloods broke into Ironhelm the following day, taking what was left behind and burning the rest. e ladder leading to the secret shaft the Ironhelm host used was destroyed during the evacuation and so the orcs never discovered the inhabitants’ whereabouts.
Settlement inside the cavern was, to no one’s surprise, decided by race. e elves were on the eastern side of the subterranean river and the dwarves were to the west. ere was friendly interaction between
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both sides, but it felt more comfortable for each race to live with its own during this trying period. e already scarce supplies were augmented by magic and the beginning of multiple gardens near the stream. e total number of occupants at the time was 350 (only 89 of those being elves).
To keep some form of order and a constant interaction between the races, a council was formed to govern the colony. ere were seven members in all—three elves and three dwarves. e leader of the council was chosen by majority by the members from the remainder of the residents. e position was referred to as the seltar (dwarven for “principal”) and the first person to hold the office was a dwarven stonemason named Tashig Bittermoot. e seven-person council remains as the government to the present day, the term of each member being for life or retirement.
In the years following, the council decided it best to expand the cavern while creating a more natural setting for the elven residents who had been suffering mentally because of the radical change in en-vironment. It required many centuries of work and attention to detail to bring the cavern to its current state. ere are farming and mining settlements near the arable land to the west and a gently sloping for-ested area to the east. As the elves saw to the growth of the trees, the dwarves expanded their new home in all directions. What was once a quarter of a mile in every direction gradually became a two mile by two-and-a-half mile area. e cavern’s ceiling reaches up to approxi-
mately a mile-and-a-half.Working and living side
by side for so many centuries proved more difficult when the council considered that the avail-able breeding stock of each race was quite low. ey knew that dwarves and elves would one day need to intermingle for the colony to survive. To allow stubbornness about mating outside one’s race to end life in the cavern would dishonor the memories of those who died at the hands of the Snakebloods. e council secretly decreed that dwarf-elf relation-ships would not be frowned upon. It was also at this time that the members decided on a name for their colony—Kel’Ahallish. Kel is dwarven for “new” and ahallish is elven for “hope.”
ere were, of course, holdouts among each race that refused to mate outside their own. And when the first inter-relation-ships became public, it was these same individuals who came to the council in protest. e aged seltar Tashig stated that the survival of Kel’Ahallish would be determined partly by choice and partly by fate; only one of which the council had dominion over. Who the colony’s residents decided to love was out of their control. And while this
answer would normally have been enough to quell the dissenters, there was another power urging them on.
is was the first of many encounters with the dwarf Kruldig. e evil sorcerer was being tried for murder when Ironhelm took in the elven refugees. His public execution was delayed as prepara-tions for war took precedence. e dwarf remained shackled, unable to work his vile sorcery, and was eventually taken with the refugees during the evacuation. e dwarven clan leader believed that perhaps Kruldig’s arcane talents would come in handy. And he was, after all, a fellow dwarf during a time when it seemed as though the race was faced with extinction. When the sorcerer arrived in the cavern, he was somehow able to escape his bonds and retreat unseen into the darkness.
He reemerged during this time of internal discord, when the question of racial separation threatened to tear the colony apart. In the five centuries since his escape, Kruldig had become a lich and had used his arcane magic to sway certain members of the populace to mount a coup. Fortunately, the lich’s involvement was discovered soon after the failed attempt to overthrow the council and the creature was chased from the cavern into one of the mines. A party of elven wizards and dwarven warriors hunted the lich to assure its evil would not resurface. e best their limited numbers could do, however, was to keep Kruldig at bay. As the group prayed to their respective gods, the first dwelf child was born back in the colony.
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e elven Protector goddess and Dwarven Forger god both saw the danger embodied by Kruldig and the emergence of the dwelf race. e two deities fashioned a god from their awesome powers and gave him control over Kel’Ahallish. is god was Landrech and his appearance matches that of a dwelf. Given the knowledge of the colony’s current state, Landrech decided to physically appear to its residents and claim the area as his protectorate. In a flash of light, a great stone well appeared just outside the forest close to the riverbank. Landrech declared the object was to be a burial place for all deceased residents from that day forward. e souls of the dead would power the artifact, called the Well of Souls, and an impenetrable field of magic that would defend the colony.
e appearance of the Well also signaled the end of the lich-hunt. A magical field encased Kruldig in a cocoon of clear stone as his hunters looked on. And while the lich would later escape his prison, this dangerous point in Kel’Ahallish’s history had been over-come. e first dwelf was soon joined by another and then another. e joining of the two founding races birthed a unique people that carried on the time-honored traditions of their parents through the seven millennia of the colony’s existence. e last pureblood elf died quietly over 2000 years ago amidst his dwelven descendants. Today, over 1000 dwelves live peacefully in Kel’Ahallish. is number would be far more if the dwelves had not inherited the slow birthrates of their forebears.
Areas of Interest: e following areas make up the basic layout of Kel’Ahallish as one moves from east to west.
Slopes: Like the forest and grassy earth that have been encour-aged to grow in the cavern, the slopes were an elven idea to further distance the subterranean world from their minds. Snow enhances the illusion when it is added every “winter” for the younger residents to enjoy. ere is also a smattering of pines along the base and face of the slope. e corridor leading up to the surface lies on the south-eastern rim.
Main Village: e dwelves live and work in common structures no different than one might find in any other large village. Each building is made of stone, the residential structures having a leisure room, eating area, and sleep chamber. Additions are common when one of the home’s occupants takes up a hobby or trade that requires space of its own. Other buildings include a temple to Landrech, an eatery specializing in new foods and old dwarven and elven favorites, workshops for specialist trades (industrial, creative, and magical), and a community center. is last building is the home of the colony’s history as written by one of the last generation pureblood elven bards 3000 years ago. e dwelves have added to the history since then and placed relics from their dwarven and elven forebears inside, creating a museum-like atmosphere. A domed meeting hall inside is the home to the village council. A few homes at the far north of the village area were once the homes of those elves that absolutely refused to integrate into this new culture. ey eventually succumbed to old age and their abodes now remain abandoned, being over a mile from the main village. Surprisingly, no one has been inside them in centuries and legend has it that they are haunted by angry elven spirits who were not welcomed into the Well of Souls.
Forest: Part pines and part oaks, the forest was limited by the seeds that the original elven refugees brought with them. A certain type of cave lizard native to the cavern has found the forest to its lik-ing and taken up residence here along with dozens of its fellows.
Kruldig’s Lair: After escaping his imprisonment many cen-turies ago, Kruldig secretly moved to his current lair. About 70 yards upstream, one cannot get to the lich’s chamber without being
underwater for an extended period of time. e former dwarf found the natural chamber when it was conducting its coup attempt mil-lennia earlier. Since no one had discovered the dry chamber, the lich returned. e glowing boundary of protection created by the Well of Souls is visible just a few yards upstream from his home. Kruldig experiments with the field’s magic in an attempt to either shatter it or use it for its own evil ends. A magically-created chair and desk are the only furniture in the lair. Here the lich pores over magical writ-ings he had owned in his youth and those he pens to this day. His research continues on a way to escape from Kel’Ahallish and bring back a force to destroy those who tried to destroy him. A treasure horde of gemstones and magic lies at the far side of the cave. e lich is utterly mad but extremely patient. e supposedly haunted homes to the north of the village are justified in their reputation for Kruldig frequently uses them to spy more easily on his neighbors.
Well of Souls: A perfect stone circle marks the presence of this wondrous item. It has a 12-foot-diameter opening and stands 2 ft. high. Stairs hug the inside of the Well leading into catacombs. Every dwelf that dies is placed inside these corpse-filled corridors to help power the protective field around Kel’Ahallish. e Well is prayed at daily by kneeling clerics of Landrech, who place one hand on its surface while tracing divine runes in the bare dirt at its base. All dwelves make a point of visiting the Well of Souls at least once a week to pay homage to their racial deity with words and trinkets. Legend states that the bodies inside will rise up to defend the colony during its “darkest hour.”
Halchev Stream: Halchev is the elven word for “holy.” e river was so named by first seltar Tashig Bittermoot. ere are three stone bridges that cross its average 20 foot width.
Farmland: Tilled all year round, these fields produce all manner of vegetables, wheat, and rice. is area stretches from the north end of the cavern to the south in an impressive line. Skinny stone roads run from the bridges through the fields to the work huts on the other side.
Work Huts: Farmers and miners live out their work time inside these functional two-room stone adobes. e individual dwelf whose turn it is to work at these positions can tailor the inside of the huts to his specifications.
Mines: Expansion is slow due to a small workforce. e magical protection of the Well of Souls reshapes itself to encase any new mine tunnels. Output from the mines is minimal, but the real reward to the dwelves is not fistfuls of gems, but the same actual mining experi-ence that their dwarven ancestors had.
Culture and Society: e government still consists of the coun-cil of six under a seltar’s leadership. e council does not have much to discuss during its monthly meetings. Each dwelf family must note anything unusual or interesting that has happened to it over the previous month and report it to a council member. ese reports are of a mundane nature—how many animals carved by a dwelven father infatuated with woodworking, whether a dwelven son has chosen to perform a tour of farming or mining for the coming season, etc.—but must be heard nonetheless. Not only do these reports allow the council to keep tabs on the community but they also inspire ideas for public events. In the first example mentioned, the father seems handy with woodcarvings. e council might decide to honor that dwelf with an official ceremony when he has completed fifty such works.
Music is used in both religious and secular circles. Dwelves normally pipe on wooden flutes with some kind of harp or percus-sion accompaniment. Singing and chanting is never accompanied by no other instrument except percussion. Like any culture, the dwelves
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behind. [DM’s Note: e creature can be suited to the appropriate Encounter Level of the party but should not be an easy challenge.] Another door opens and another creature (or group of monsters) threatens the PCs whenever subsequent wrong notes are played. When the five correct notes are played in the correct sequence, a blue radiance outlines the doorway to the dwelf colony, which lies a few miles beneath the surface of the earth.Plot and Adventure Hooks: Use the following ideas as a springboard for bringing dwelves into your campaign.
• In an urban market, a crowd is throwing curses and stones at a person huddled against a wall. e individual is obvi-ously defenseless and needs assistance against the mob. Good-aligned PCs are obligated to disperse the crowd and rescue the person—a dwelf! Fearing the unusual, the townsfolk immediately fell to abusing the dwelf when he entered the marketplace looking for food. e man has only recently come from his home in Kel’Ahallish and would gladly accept aid or information in exchange for his services (the dwelf could fill a role that the party currently lacks).
• e exposing of Kel’Ahallish to the outside has given the lich Kruldig new weapons in his quest to eradicate the dwelves. With a cache of gems saved up from raids on the mines, the lich has hired monsters to invade the colony. e PCs enter the scene when they fight with one of these mon-strous groups. e strange gemstones on them are traced to the mountains above the colony. Investigation reveals that the dwelves are guarding the old Ironhelm hold as a first defense outpost. e party is invited to tour the colony to seek out who might have carried out their unique gems and why. Kruldig watches the events unfold and prepares a reprisal for the characters’ interference.
• e only witness to a kidnapping that the PCs are investi-gating was a dwelf who was slain in the assault. Unfortu-nately, when the characters attempt to contact the dwelf ’s spirit to ask it about the event, nothing happens. is is because the man’s soul has already returned to Kel’Ahallish and the Well of Souls. e body must be returned to the colony in order to discover the details of the kidnapping. For only here can the spirit be contacted and the body prop-erly laid to rest. Along the way, however, the PCs may en-counter resistance in the form of the kidnapper’s hirelings. Once the party makes it to the colony, the situation may put more than their own lives at risk, for the kidnapper takes extraordinary measures to keep the dwelf ’s spirit silenced.
• A dwarven PC is entrusted with a mission by his superiors (or his clan) to find a long lost relic of his people. e item was a weapon wielded by the warrior Keltarin. e dwarf ’s last known residence was Ironhelm. When the PCs arrive at the new outpost for the dwelves, there are a number of directions the DM can take this plot. Maybe Keltarin had left prior to Ironhelm’s fall or maybe the warrior is entombed in the Well of Souls but his weapon was never
have songs for birth, death, marriage, prayer, and the handful of offi-cial feast days celebrated. Songs are usually just one part of the ritual that accompanies these events. e most sacred ritual is the Lowing. When a dwelf dies, his body is brought to the Well of Souls and given an elaborate funeral wherein the presiding clerics extol Landrech to accept the body and its soul to use for the greater good. e corpse is then carried into the catacombs and placed into an empty wall space.
Dwelf children are lovingly raised, for each one is considered precious by a people with such a low birthrate. A child is as well-educated as one can be in an isolated community. By the time she reaches adulthood, the dwelf knows everything there is to know about Kel’Ahallish and its environs. ey are also taught the ins and outs of every trade available within the cavern—mining, farming, crafts, magic—and are allowed to enter whatever vocation seems right to them. e only caveat is that a dwelf must complete one cycle of farming and one cycle of mining (a cycle lasting 6 months). Earth-quakes and accidents have claimed the lives of multiple dwelves of a single profession and the council deems it wise for every resident to be familiar with the workings of these so they can step in if needed. When devoting a cycle to one of these workplaces, the dwelf lives in one of the work huts. He can certainly leave the areas but must re-turn for the following work day. e council enforces this restriction so they dependably know who is where at certain times.
ere is no currency or other monetary form in Kel’Ahallish but the concept of personal possessions does exist. Goods and services are traded for the same (unique items or lessons in some skill the “buyer” is curious about). If our woodworker friend from the above example would like a pie from the eatery, he must present a little known fact about something the chef knows nothing about. No tid-bit of information is too mundane to be traded for an item or service, for one never knows when it could come in handy.
Dwelves in Your Campaign
is article provides the DM with any number of things he can pick out and use for his own campaign. A player may want to try out a dwelf PC or maybe the DM wants to introduce the race with an NPC. Either way makes for good roleplaying potential. A DM could even have the players be the ones that discover Kel’Ahallish. e former Ironhelm fortress is today a hive of troll activity. ey have been festering in the former dwarven stronghold for many centuries and are why no one has managed to yet discover Kel’Ahallish. e ingenious entrance is at a spot in the hold that requires climbing a 70 ft. vertical cliff up to a plateau. A domed chamber here has an ivory flute atop a short pedestal. e name of a dwarven and an elven lul-laby is inscribed on the dais in the respective language. Only a dwarf or elf playing the first five notes of the lullaby causes the secret door to open.
When each correct note is played, a soft blue rune glows on the ceiling. Playing a wrong note causes a harsh red rune to appear and opens a door near the chamber’s entrance. Out of the door shuffles some kind of guardian beast summoned by the ambient magic left
New God: Landrech the Preserver (Neutral Good)
Landrech is the solitary deity of the dwelven race. When he ap-pears, he resembles a common bearded male dwelf in a dirty work apron. His clerics have access to the following domains: Earth, Magic, Plant, and Trickery. Landrech’s portfolio includes magic, survival, and secrets and his favored weapon is the warhammer.
Rule Variant: e idea of the soul being inaccessible outside a certain area is unique to the dwelven race. Any ritual or spell that involves a dwelven spirit must be performed inside of Kel’Ahallish because it immediately transports to the Well of Souls upon the body’s demise. is includes speak with dead, raise dead, reincar-nate, and so forth. e DM is free to disregard this restriction, but he should recognize the adventure possibilities of this racial trait.
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accounted for (and is currently in Kruldig’s horde). If there is an el-ven PC but no dwarven ones, have the search be for the blade wielded by Adelphi, a great elven swordmaster from the refugee’s village. In either case, the weapon could be needed because it legitimizes an heir or has a unique power necessary to stop an ancient evil (pretty much insert any clichéd fantasy plot here).
Prominent NPCs
Akben Moonbeard: Male dwelf Ari4/Clr8; CR 11; Medium-size humanoid; HD 12d8+12; hp 66; Init +1 (Dex); Spd 30ft.; AC 19 (+1 Dex, +6 chainmail, +2 small steel shield), touch 11, flat-footed 18; Atk +11/+6 melee (1d8+1, crit. x3, +1 bane (undead) warhammer); SA Spells; SQ Dwelven traits, turn undead; AL NG; SV Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +13; Str 11, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +4, Concentration +4, Diplomacy +18, Gather Information +6, Heal +7, Innuendo +8, Knowledge (nature) +4, Listen +7, Search +1, Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +4, Spot +7; Alertness, Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Leadership, Weapon Finesse (warhammer).
Possessions: +1 bane (undead) warhammer, brooch of shielding (68 points left), +1 chainmail, +1 dagger, gem encrusted beret (worth 252 gp), +1 small steel shield, potion of aid, potion of haste, scroll of cure serious wounds, scroll of dispel magic, scroll of invisibility purge.
Dwelf Traits (Ex): Immune to sleep effects, low-light vision, +2 saves vs. enchantment, proficient with longsword, shortsword, and warhammer, elven blood.
Cleric Spells Prepared (6/5+1/4+1/4+1/2+1; DC 13 + spell level): 0-detect magic, guidance, mending (2), light; 1—bless (2), detect undead, entangle*, remove fear, magic weapon; 2—barkskin*, consecrate, gentle repose, make whole, shield other; 3—continual flame, daylight, dis-pel magic*, searing light, stone shape; 4—divination, divine power, imbue with spell ability*. * domain spell (has Magic and Plant).
Akben is the current seltar of the council. He has had the mis-fortune of battling Kruldig in his youth and has prepared for the day when the lich comes again, possessing appropriate spells and magical items. After devoting his life to Landrech’s priesthood, Akben de-cided to throw his skills into the political arena. e dwelf ’s grand-father had once been seltar and the man’s stories of enjoying that the post had never left Akben’s memory. He wanted to take up the seltar position that he might bring fresh and positive changes to the colony. His family name, Moonbeard, comes from the silver-streaked hair the family members seem to have from birth. A jeweled beret holds the dwelf ’s wild hair in a respectable ponytail and highlights the streaks when the item catches the sunlight. Akben is 490 years old, stands just shy of 5 feet tall, and enjoys a simple brown vest and leggings.
Ventia Steelroot: Female dwelf Drd14; CR 14; Medium-size hu-manoid; HD 14d8; hp 63; Init +1 (Dex); Spd 30ft.; AC 16 (+1 Dex, +4 leather armor, +1 ring of protection), touch 12, flat-footed 15; Atk +13/+8 melee (1d6+2, +2 holy club), +12/+7 ranged (1d4+1, +1 dart); SA spells; SQ Animal companion, a thousand faces, dwelven traits, nature sense, resist nature’s lure, trackless step, wild shape (5/day), woodland stride, venom immunity; AL NG; SV Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +12; Str 11 (9 without gauntlets of ogre power), Dex 12, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 11.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +9, Craft (weaving) +9, Heal +19, Knowledge (nature) +18, Listen +5, Search +3, Spellcraft
+16, Spot +5, Wilderness Lore +20; Combat Casting, Extend Spell, Lightning Reflexes, Scribe Scroll, Weapon Focus (club).
Dwelf Traits (Ex): Immune to sleep effects, low-light vision, +2 saves vs. enchantment, proficient with longsword, shortsword, and warhammer, elven blood.
Possessions: +1 dart, gauntlets of ogre power, gem encrusted brooch (worth 89 gp), +1 holy club, +1 leather armor, potion of darkvi-sion, ring of protection +1, scroll of cure moderate wounds.
Druid Spells Prepared (6/6/6/5/4/3/3/2; DC 13 + spell level): 0—create water, cure minor wounds (2), detect poison, light, read magic; 1—cure light wounds, endure elements, entangle, goodberry (2), obscuring mist; 2—barkskin, charm animal, flame blade, soften earth and stone (2), tree shape; 3—cure moderate wounds (2), meld into stone (2), speak with plants; 4—cure serious wounds, dispel magic, freedom of movement, sleet storm; 5—animal growth, cure critical wounds, tree stride; 6—fire seeds, stone tell, wall of stone; 7—heal, true seeing.
Ventia is the leader of the 26 dwelven druids in Kel’Ahallish. She and her kind tend to the natural aspects of the cavern. Its es-thetic and structural conditions require constant monitoring. Ventia gathers the druids within the forest during quiet times when services are not held at the Well of Souls. Her weak-looking 560-year-old frame is dressed in flowing auburn robes and topped by a swath of brown hair with green-dyed streaks. She crinkles her broad nose when the outside world is mentioned. For while she is relieved that their elven and dwarven ancestors have survived, she believes that too much intrusion from outsiders will disrupt the delicate balance of the colony.
Kruldig
Medium-size Undead (Lich)Hit Dice: 13d12 (84 hp)Initiative: +1 (Dex)Speed: 20 ft.AC: 19 (+1 Dex, +5 natural, +3 bracers of armor)Attacks: Touch +6/+1 meleeDamage: Touch 1d8+5 and paralysisFace/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.Special Attacks: Damaging touch, fear aura, paralyzing touch, spellsSpecial Qualities: Dwarven traits, undead, +4 turn resistance, dam-
age reduction 15/+1, immunitiesSaves: Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +11 (cloak of resistance +1)Abilities: Str 10, Dex 12, Con –, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 19Skills: Bluff +20, Concentration +16, Hide +9, Knowledge (arcana)
+19, Listen +10, Move Silently +9, Scry +19, Search +11, Sense Motive +10, Spellcraft +19, Spot +10
Feats: Combat Casting, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Em-power Spell, Quicken Spell
Magic Items Carried: +3 bracers of armor, cloak of resistance +1, wand of ice storm (41 charges), wand of magic missile (5th-level caster, 32 charges).
Sorcerer Spells Known (Cast 6/7/7/7/7/6/4; DC 14 + spell level): 0-level—arcane mark, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, ghost sound, mage hand, ray of frost, read magic, resistance. 1st—alarm, grease, magic missile, shield, unseen servant. 2nd—acid arrow, dark-ness, fog cloud, invisibility, shatter. 3rd—dispel magic, flame arrow, fly, reactive strike*. 4th—black tentacles, contagion, dimension door, ice storm. 5th—cone of cold, teleport, wall of force. 6th—acid fog, mass suggestion.
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* denotes a new spell (see below)
Kruldig is so old that his bones are yellowed. He keeps his form wrapped tightly in black or other dark-colored wrappings and looks very much like a strange thin mummy from the neck down. e skull with its fiery pinpricks of light is kept exposed as are the former dwarf ’s skeletal claws. After several thwarted attempts to take over or destroy Kel’Ahallish over the millennia, Kruldig now lies low. He watches and waits for a perfect time to strike against the dwelves, developing new magics and continuing his study of the Well of Souls’ protection field.
New Magic
Reactive StrikeAbjuration [Force]Level: Brd 3, Clr 3, Sor/Wiz 3Components: V, S, M/DFCasting Time: 1 actionRange: Close (25 ft. +5 ft. /2 levels)Target: One creatureDuration: 1d6+1 round/levelSaving row: Will negates (harmless)Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
e warded creature is encased by an invisible field that may prove detrimental to physical melee attacks. When a successful hit is scored on the target, the spell violently reverses the momentum of the striking weapon. ere is a flash of light before the weapon is hurled along the ground diagonally away from the target to stop at a maxi-mum distance of 5 feet per 2 points of damage dealt by that weapon (round down).
Only melee weapons can be affected. e attacker is allowed a Reflex save to determine whether the weapon is torn from his grasp. If the attacker is using a weapon in two hands, he receives a +2 bonus to his save.
Should a weapon flung by reactive strike enter an area occupied by another creature, it is possible that creature may be tripped by the spinning weapon. is works similar to the trip action (see the PHB), using the initial attack roll of the individual whose weapon was thrown. e defender of the trip can only be tripped if he is the same size category or smaller than the weapon’s. e distance the weapon is being thrown counts as the Strength score the defender must overcome (the farther the weapon has to travel, the quicker its velocity). Whether or not the defender is tripped, the weapon stops at his position.
Arcane Material Component: A small piece of rubber consumed in the casting.
New Items
Pot of Boiling
is ceramic bowl is 9-inches high and 7-inches in diameter. When filled over halfway with liquid, the magic of the pot heats it up to the boiling point (taking 3 rounds). After this, it goes into a “sim-mer” mode while the outside of the item remains at room tempera-ture for easy handling. e dwelves use these items to conserve wood and decrease the amount of smoke put into the air.
Caster level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, heat metal; Market Price: 3,000gp.
Well of Souls
is artifact was created by the dwelf god Landrech to protect his people from dangers outside their home. Instead of having the souls of those placed inside ascend to a higher plane, Landrech uses their ambient energy to maintain the field around Kel’Ahallish. No evilly-aligned creature can penetrate its depths, which has stopped the lich Kruldig from animating the bodies inside to create his own army. Clerics of Landrech cast spells as if they were three levels higher when they are within 100 feet of the Well (i.e. a 6th-level cleric casts his spells as if she were a 9th-level cleric). is increase does not affect the number of spells she can cast each day, only the random numeric effects of spells dependant on caster level. Inside, when a section of catacombs is filled with corpses, another corridor immediately grows next to it to accommodate more. is does not affect the earth below the Well because the area at the bottom of the Well’s staircase is actu-ally not on the material plane. e catacombs reside inside an extra-dimensional pocket only accessible through the Well of Souls.
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EASILY DEFEATED!Written by Robert M. AdamsEdited by Wade NudsonSection 15: Easily Defeated Copyright 2003, Robert M. Adams
Have you ever spent all night eagerly jotting down notes and formulating plans that are sure to test the mettle of
your players, just to have them rush right though what you cre-ated and then look up at you with a blank expression on their faces to say, “Ok, what now?” ey all pat you on the back while leaving still finishing their pizza and say “Great game, Rob!” but inside you are dying to cry out “NO! It sucked! You guys just ran though everything like it was nothing, while I sat there looking dumbfounded as you put all my carefully laid plans to rest!” What do you do? Shout? Kick something really hard? Jump up and down and yell at the top of your lungs? While these things may sound good, there is in fact a sound ordinance law in many cities and if you were to say, disturb your neigh-bors, you may be rewarded for your pains with a trip down to the local precinct. So apart from these things, what do you do when your carefully laid plans seem too easy for the players?
What I usually do in this situation is to go over the entire gaming session again and try to figure out what exactly the players did to get through it so easily. While this may seem a daunting task you will find that as a DM you have great powers of memory and should be able to recall the event with little difficulty.
For instance, my group is currently playing in the Forgotten Realms world in which I am running a module, but with my own personal twists. In the module, some local organized orcs are harassing a small farming village near a larger town. e town has in its possession an artifact that allows them to live more easily during the winter months. Since it is January in the game world (not the actual month name but copyright viola-tion prohibits me from actually naming it) the townspeople desperately need the artifact. is is where the orcs come in, steal it, cause much havoc, and then escape. e players are asked by a desperate matron mother to catch the orcs and regain control of the prized artifact. Of course, the PCs accept, with no promise of treasure except for whatever the town can scrape together, and head off after the raiding party.
Now in the module the party is supposed to come across the raiding party unaware and in celebration while heading back to their base camp. is is all well and good and the players automatically get a jump on the orcs except that one of them makes a really horrible Move Silent check. Because of this, I declare his character steps loudly on a fallen tree branch and I allow the lead orc to make a listen check. While the lead orc did not exactly meet the required DC to have heard anything he did come close so I decided that he still had a little
common sense left and ordered the celebration to stop and yelled at the others to stop singing. is obviously made the players, who were sneaking up on the orcs in the woods, a little on the nervous side. ey began to make plans to sneak around the orcs and try and catch them on both sides. Now the road was only five feet wide and covered by lush forest on either side, so they had little trouble in getting around the orcs and set up an excellent ambush. On one hand, this display of forethought and planning made me proud to be their GM, but on the other, one of the players faltered his die roll and scored even worse than before. is time my lead orc did make his Listen DC and sent out two scouts to look for what made the noise. e play-ers decided they had heard enough and launched their attack. I made morale rolls for the orcs and most of them held fast, except the leader who was scared, drunk, and wanted out, so he bolted down the path towards the waiting halfling charac-ter. With the orcs drunk, it was not difficult for the players to defeat them, and after a few combat rounds the players had tied up all the orcs in melee and had even defeated a few in battle. After tidying up the orc loot and gloating about defeating the orc leader, the party headed back to town. I, however, am a mischievous Game Master and like to run as real NPCs as pos-sible, so I decided that since the orc raiding party had not come back yet that the half orc who was running the show had fig-ured out what happened and set up defenses at his ruined keep. at night the party slept soundly in the inn, compliments of the grateful townspeople who now could survive through the cold winter months, while Tevik and his orc minions prepared for battle.
When they awoke the party was rejuvenated and made for the town center to do some bartering on the orc equipment. e thief went elsewhere to inquire about poisons and other nastiness that I will not discuss in this article. e cleric was busy burying the fallen from the night before. After all was said and done we ended the session and everyone left happy. Everyone except me, who toiled over the plans for the keep and thought out an intricate plot, one that the half orc was able to devise with the help of another major NPC villain who had thwarted the players nicely since the beginning of the game. I thought they would be glad to see him.
e next gaming session I was ready, and so was the half orc. I figured that Tevik was smart enough to send out scouts since in the module he sets campfires around the keep if the players attack during the night. e party was then asked by the magistrate of the town to seek out the menace of the orcs and defeat their leader. Of course, when promised more rewards, they accepted. ere was also rumor of a vampire, and the cleric of the god of the dead immediately wanted to smite it, so it was not very hard for me to push them in that direction.
So the party headed into the woods and back towards
‘Wanted: Reliable players who will not foil my mischievous, well-laid plans
nor easily defeat my master villains. Apply within.’
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where they had defeated the orcs the previous night. ey discovered a secret path and under the cover of darkness marched towards the orc keep. ey passed right to the keep with no resistance, and I gleefully set my plan in motion. Just when the thief was fumbling around for they keys he had found on a large orc the night before, I had a lookout make a Spot check. Failure! I got a 5 and really wanted to turn it into a suc-cess using my god-like powers, but I decided to let roll stand. I was confident they would probably get themselves caught in no time anyway, what with what was in the next room and all. Click, the door opened quietly and the player playing the thief asked me if he could make a Spot check. Sure, I told him. He scored something like a 22, which allowed him to see the look-out that had failed to spot him from the bell tower. I told him that there was a silhouette that had his back towards the party up in the bell tower. e thief shot and killed the orc with a critical success. Whew, so much for a lookout!
At least I had laid this trap out as realistically as possible, so I was still having fun and told the players all to make Listen rolls. is was a fake roll but I wanted to keep them on their toes. e green slime in the next room was not making any noise at all. One person told me that he was carefully looking around so I let him make a Spot check and bam he spotted the slime.
One thing led to another and eventually the party made their way to the orcs waiting outside. e adventure ended with them winning but suffering one loss when I had Tevik cast hold person on the paladin and his orc minion attacked the paralyzed hero. e paladin fell but the group was able to overcome all the threats, including killing the rival mage villain who harassed the party since the beginning of the game. I was right, they WERE glad to see him! As a consideration for be-ing so brave and putting himself in the face of mortal danger, thereby saving the lives of his party members, the paladin of the game was given full experience points and allowed to start a new character at the player’s last character level. All in all it was a great game with many heroic victories won and valorous deeds done.
Basically, what I am saying is that when you as the Game Master feel your party is overcoming your obstacles too quickly or that something is just not enough of a challenge, think about how the NPCs would feel. In the case of Tevik, I made him so angry that he devised a new set of plans, then yelled at the par-ty and threatened to make the temple their final resting place. All because he knew they were the ones who killed his chief the previous night and were the ones his ally -- the mage -- had warned of. is goes back to all of my other articles when I said to make NPCs as realistic as possible, because it leads to more exciting game sessions for both you and your players. Remem-ber, when you think are having a bad session, go back over the events and think as if you were the NPCs who suffered the de-feat and how you would respond. en see how well the party does with a thinking enemy. It sure beats cardboard cutouts.
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Sizing Up the TargetMidnight is a new fan-
tasy campaign setting from Fantasy Flight Games. Billed as “Epic Fantasy in an Age of Shadows,” this 254-page harcover carries a retail price of $34.95 and is written by Wil Upchurch and Jeffrey Barber. Original creation and development of Midnight is credited to Greg Benage with additional writing by Jack Holcomb and Rob Vaughn.
First Bloode premise behind Midnight is that a great war between the
gods resulted in the dark god Izrador having his spirit severed from his physical form. His physical form fell to the earth, poisoning and corrupting all it touched. It also resulted in sundering all communica-tion the lords of light had with their followers. Over time, the dark god slumbered and regained his strength. ree times Izrador rose and threatened the nations of Aryth with the third attempt being successful. e dark god corrupted four of Aryth’s greatest heroes turning them into his Night Kings. Now they are on a campaign to eradicate the elder races and take control of aryth. ere are only a few heroes left that stand in Izrador’s way.
Midnight is a departure from standard fantasy is some ways, yet familiar in others. For starters, the races are slightly different and stronger. Dwarves are under siege by the Shadows and are decimated to only a few remaining clans. ere are several sub-races of elves: snow, wood, sea and jungle. Gnomes appear to serve the dark forces yet secretly work to oppose them. Halflings are more fey-like and nomadic. Humans are a adaptable as ever and quite resilient. Orcs were created by the black will of Izrador and are the scourges they were always meant to be.
Halfbreeds do occur in Midnight, but they are rare. Dwarrow are the result of gnomes and dwarves mating. Dworgs are the bastards of orcs and dwarves. Elflings result from elven and halfling unions.
Core classes also have undergone modification, some quite drastic. Barbarians, fighters and rogues are unchanged, and all others have been replaced. Because magic works differently, some of the spellcasting classes such as bards and rangers have been eliminated. Channelers possess innate spellcasting potential and risk discovery by the Night Kings. Defenders are, in a sense, the paladins of the world. ey defy the forces of evil, protect their people and seek to raise their spirits. Legates are the only class capable of casting divine magic. However, they serve Izrador and his Night Kings. Wildlanders are part ranger and part druid with a devotion to nature, but yet serving as a protector of the people.
Prestige classes have familiar names but with different abili-ties. Druids still have a strong connection with nature but not the wild shape ability commonly associated with the class. Freeriders are reminiscent of the cavalier class. e Insurgent Spy is tailor-made for rogues and has contacts that are minions of the Shadow. e Wizard
takes spellcasting to new levels (and new dangers).One of the new things about Midnight is the concept of heroic
paths. At first level, characters choose a single path, which will grant them abilities at every level. Once a path has been chosen, it cannot be changed. Of the many choices, I like earthbonded and ironborn best.
Critical HitsPlenty. Not only does this setting give a fresh take on the fantasy
stereotype, but it does it with brute force. Besides a serious nod to Tolkein, there are also underpinnings of Babylon 5 and even Edgar Rice Burroughs. Unlike many campaign worlds, this one has a very rich and detailed story. It’s also a story where the characters have a role to play. e game mechanics are very solid and the spell system intriguing. rough it all, the biggest hit in my opinion is the sheer magnitude of the setting itself.
Critical Missesere is literally nothing serious that is worth complaining about
here. Be advised that the dark and foreboding nature isn’t for every-one. In many ways, Midnight represents what Ravenloft could have been by its dark and evil tone. I should note that a small number of books (including my copy) do have binding issues, but to my knowl-edge, Fantasy Flight has made sure each customer was taken care of.
Coup de GraceMidnight is simply one of the best campaign settings available.
e writing and game mechanics are top notch and represent why Fantasy Flight is one of the best d20 publishers in the marketplace. When all is said and done, look for Midnight to win some awards and become of the more popular campaign settings. is is simply a “must buy” for everyone.
e Critic’s Rating (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Game Content: 3.75 (Mostly restricted to
game mechanics.)-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 4.75 (Its dark nature isn’t for everyone.)-Value for the Dollar: 5.0
Overall Score: 4.70Final Grade: A+
Available at FRP Games for $27.95 (a savings of $7.00)!!
MIDNIGHT: A LOOK AT THE LAND OF SHADOWWritten by Steve Creeh
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Lord Chorn akyel, male faust Ftr10 Rog2 Shd6: CR 18; Medium-size Humanoid (4 ft. 8 in. tall); HD 10d10+40 (Ftr), 2d6+8 (Rog), 6d8+24 (Shd); hp 187; Init +9 (+5 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 40 ft.; AC 18 (+7 armor, +5 Dex, +6 natural); Atks +23/+18/+13 melee (1d8+11 and 1d6/crit 19-20 x4, +3 jagged double chained axe1); and +23 melee (1d8+8/crit 19-20 x4, +3 jagged double chained axe); or +21 melee (1d8+6, 2 claws); and +16 melee (2d4+3, bite); or +20/+15/+10 ranged (1d4+7/crit 19-20, +1 dagger); SA shadow illu-sion, sneak attack +1d6, summon shadow; SQ defensive roll, evasion, faust traits, hide in plain sight, prestige races, shadow jump 40 ft., SR 15, uncanny dodge; AL CE; SV Fort +16, Ref +19, Will +9; Str 22, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 15.
Skills: Bluff +9, Hide +36, Intimidate +6, Listen +21, Move Silently +26, Perform +7, Spot +16, Tumble +16. Feats: Am-bidexterity, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Expertise, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (double chained axe), Improved Critical (double chained axe), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Mobility, Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (double chained axe), Weapon Specialization (double chained axe).
Possessions: +5 shadow silent moves shadow doublet*, +3 jagged double chain axe*, 3 +3 daggers, bracers of health +4, gauntlets of ogre power, cloak of resistance +3, potion of haste.
* ese items and magic qualities can be found in Arms & Ar-mor by Bastion Press.
SA – Shadow Illusion (Sp): As a shadowdancer, Chorn can create visual illusions from the surrounding shadows. is spell-like ability is identical to the arcane spell silent image and may be employed once per day.
SQ – Defensive Roll (Ex): As a shadowdancer, Chorn can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it. Once per day, when a shadowdancer would be reduced to 0 hit points or less by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the shadowdancer can attempt to roll with the damage. He makes a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt) and, if successful, takes only half damage from the blow. He must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute his defensive roll. If he where in a situation that would deny him any Dexterity bonus, he cannot attempt the defensive roll.
SQ – Hide In Plain Sight (Su): Shadowdancers can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as they are within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, shadowdancers can hide themselves from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. ey cannot, however, hide in their own shadows.
OATHBOUND: COMPANIONS FOR YOUR CAMPAIGNWritten by James Wilbur ([email protected])Edited by Andrew GarbadeSection 15: Oathbound: Companions for your Campaign Copyright 2003, James Wilbur; Oathbound: Domains of the Forge Copyright 2002, Bastion Press Inc.; Arms & Armor Copyright 2001, Bastion Press, Inc.
SQ – Shadow Jump (Su): At 4th-level, the shadowdancer gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. e limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. e shadowdancer can jump up to a total of 40 feet each day in this way, although this may be a single jump of 40 feet or two jumps of 20 feet each.
Prestige Races: Focus of the Senses (complete) +4 to Listen, Search, and Spot checks, scent, and 360 vision (cannot be flanked). Focus of the Shadow (shaded) +6 on Hide checks, SR 15.
Faust Traits: +6 natural armor; base speed 40 ft.; +5 racial bonus on Listen checks; natural weaponry (1d8 + Str bonus, 2 claws), (2d4 + 1⁄2 Str bonus, bite); darkvision 60 ft.
Background: In the fifth year of his reign, Lord Pandarus of Bea-con decided that it was time to strictly enforce his “full employment” policies. e military was sent to round up the usual suspects, people to be put in Beacon’s infamous Pit as an example to others.
One of those usual suspects was a faust by the name of Golek akyel. Not truly a vagrant, Golek was simply one of those fausts that had a hard time adapting to city life. Instinctually he liked to hang around, wait for victims, and scrounge what he needed. ese traits made it hard for him to keep a job. To top things off, Golek’s wife had died the year before from the complications of alcoholism, leaving him to care for their son Chorn.
When the guards came to round up Golek, Chorn ran and hid, just like his father told him to do. ereafter Chorn grew up on the streets, using his cunning and his knack at remaining unseen to keep alive. Amazing for Beacon, Chorn managed to stay out of prison for ten years. He even started his own street gang and became boss of Beacon’s small organized crime syndicate.
But it was only a matter of time before the brutal regime of Bea-con caught up with him, and eventually Chorn was taken to the Pit, Lord Pandarus’ massive underground prison.
His first years in the Pit where what made him what he is today. e natural selection an underground labyrinth filled with the world’s worst criminals makes for strong survivors, and Chorn swam to the top. Soon, through intimidation, he had carved out a piece of the Pit for himself, and the other inhabitants lived in fear of him.
One day, as a stroke of luck, he was given the silver Mashool Belasha, a more than capable sorcerer, as a gift from one of his subor-dinates. Chorn acted as Mashool’s protector, and soon he had one of the few powerful spellcasters in the entire underground working for him. With Mashool, Chorn moved to take over the Pit entire.
Many times Chorn joked with his friend Mashool that he was Lord of the Pit. A title he found most amusing. Two days after mak-ing just such a claim, an upstart lunar moved to assassinate Chorn in his bed. Caught unawares, Chorn was certain he was about to meet his doom when a lady with four horns and black wings, wielding a bladed harp, suddenly appeared and cut down the assassin, just to disappear as quickly as she came.
Chorn and Mashool pondered this event for days. e only conclusion they could come to was that Chorn was now considered
James Wilbur is one of many gamers who are big enthusiasts of the Oathbound® campaign setting by Bastion Press. On a (mostly) weekly ba-sis, he posts NPCs that he has developed on the official forums for Bastion Press. Here are just a few of those NPCs that he has created exclusively for an adventure that will be run at conventions this year called “Good Heroes Never Fade Away”. –Steve Creech, d20Zine!
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by Israfel to be a true Bloodlord, and that the assassin was killed for breaking her laws.
Since that time, Chorn has plotted a way to use his new title to take revenge on Pandarus. His limited resources in the Pit make it difficult for this to happen, but he is patient.
Lair: Chorn’s chambers contain the best and most luxurious trappings that can be found in the Pit. e furniture is made from scraps, and his throne no more than a huge rock, but he is still better off than most of the dregs who live there.
Playing Chorn: e Lord of the Pit makes all negotiations through veiled threats. He puts forth an aura of faux charm, and at times seems to be almost a cultured gentleman. is is an act, which never falters until just before he is about to strike.
Chorn wants nothing less than to kill Pandarus. As a Bloodlord, he knows he can strike secretly, making the job that much easier. Of course, all of this is dependent on him getting out of the Pit. He plans on leading a general riot that can break free to the surface. e prob-lem with the plan is Chorn and Mashool are exceptions in the Pit; most have almost nothing in terms of weapons and magical equip-ment. Chorn then is desperate to find a supplier of such things.
Another thing that occupies Chorn’s mind is his father. Many times he has heard rumors that his father still lives. From time to time, Chorn wanders through the dark domain searching for his lost parent.
Mashool Belasha, male silver Sor15: CR 15; Medium-size Humanoid (5 ft. 3 in. tall); HD 15d4+30; hp 73; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 improved initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 17 (+5 armor, +2 Dex); Atks +7/2 melee (1d4-1/crit 19-20, masterwork dagger); or +9/+4 ranged; SA spells; SQ DR 1/-, gifts, maimed, silver traits; AL NE; SV Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +15; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 27.
Skills: Alchemy +11, Bluff +12, Concentration +24, Diplo-macy +12, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +17. Feats: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Spell Focus (enchantment, evocation), Spell Penetration.
Possessions: bracers of armor +5, ring of protection +3, circlet of charisma +4, cloak of resistance +4, vibrant purple ioun stone (stores heal).
Spells Known (base save DC 18 + spell level; spells per day 6/8/8/8/8/7/7/5): 0 – ray of frost, daze*, flare, light, mage hand, ar-cane mark, detect magic, prestidigitation, read magic; 1st – shield, second shield†, charm person*, magic missile, expeditious retreat; 2nd – web, hideous laughter*, brilliant spray*†, invisibility, darkvision; 3rd – dispel magic, hold person*, fireball*, fly; 4th – charm monster*, magic missile spray†, wall of ice*, polymorph self; 5th – dominate person*, cone of cold*, shieldbreaker*†, telekinesis; 6th – mass suggestion*, chain lightning*, disintegrate; 7th – prismatic spray*, limited wish.
* Base save DC 20 + spell level. † Denotes spell from Spells & Magic by Bastion Press.
SQ – Gifts: Resilient: DR 1/-; Lesser Somatic Component: Mashool’s spells are altered so that the somatic component only requires one hand.
SQ – Maimed (Ex): Mashool is missing his left hand. He cannot use any weapon, or manipulate any device that requires two hands. He uses only half of his Strength score to determine the weight of objects he wishes to lift or move.
Silver Traits: Electricity resistance 10; derive sustenance
from metal; SQ – Healing Metal (Ex): A silver can regenerate wounds and heal damage if it ingests mithril. A silver is healed 1d10 points of damage by ingesting a handful of mithril. Four coin-sized nuggets of mithril cost 40 gp.; gold intoxication.
Background: In a race known for their arrogance, Mashool is no exception. He constantly chaffed under the rule of his parents, and murdered them by the time he was 96. Some would say the act was somewhat justified; more so than most silvers, Mashool’s parents took every opportunity to scold and humiliate him, keeping Mashool in his place. While the blood was still cooling in their bodies he swore never to be under the rule of another again.
Such determined ambition does not go unnoticed, and Israfel, Queen of Penance, brought the young silver to the Forge. Let it never be said that the Flock lacks a sense of humor, or at least irony, for Israfel left Mashool in the City if Beacon under the rule of the tyrant Lord Pandarus.
It did not take long for Mashool’s unwillingness to cooper-ate to land him in trouble. After a few run-ins with Lord Pandarus’ soldiers, Mashool started his own underground resistance to over-throw the Bloodlord. Of course, he was caught. Lord Pandarus recog-nized the look of pride in the silver’s eye, and decided that death was to good for him. Mashool was thrown into the Pit. As all spellcasters, Mashool’s left hand was severed before his incarceration, to prevent him from casting spells.
His first two years in the Pit nearly broke him. Unable to defend himself, the predatory denizens of the jail used him as they wished, and most had a particular dislike for silvers. In time, he was given as tribute to Chorn akyel, who was already becoming a major power amongst the gangs. Chorn treated the silver with respect, recogniz-ing his intelligence and personal magnetism. ough he was still his servant, Mashool found Chorn to be the closest thing to a friend he had ever known.
His confidence somewhat restored, Mashool looked for a way to regain his abilities as a sorcerer. rough sheer determination (and unbeknownst to him, a little help from the Queen), he developed a way to cast his spells with only one hand.
e weeks after the perfection of his discovery were filled with a murder spree, as Mashool tracked down and destroyed all those who once abused him. His vengeance satiated, he found he had nowhere else to go but back to Chorn. e faust greeted him with open arms, lifted Mashool’s bond of servitude, and offered him an equal partner-ship in his criminal domain. e two have ruled the Pit ever since.
Lair: Mashool has a chamber in the series of caves that Chorn refers to as his “palace”. He also keeps a few secret lairs in the Pit, just in case he wishes to disappear.
Playing Mashool: Mashool is a master manipulator, able to move almost any being into the desired emotional state. He speaks as a gen-eral, in stirring speeches and stern commands. Seldom are his words disobeyed, and they are never ignored. Only with Chorn does he relax this persona, but even with his friend he never shows weakness.
Perhaps two black-hearted villains such as these would have turned on each other long ago, if it was not for their mutual hatred of Pandarus. rough Chorn’s strength and guile, and Mashool’s pres-ence and magic, the duo knows it is just a matter of time before they face their nemesis.
Ohlune Starglow, female elf Ari2 Ftr4 Rog4 Asn3: CR 12;
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Medium-size Humanoid (5 ft. 3 in. tall); HD 9d6 (Ari, Rog, Asn), 4d10 (Ftr); hp 76; Init +5 (+5 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 22 (+7 armor, +5 Dex); Atks +16/+11 melee (1d6+5/crit 12-20, +2 keen scimitar); or +18/+13 ranged (1d8+3/crit x3, +2 mighty composite longbow with masterwork arrows); SA death attack, sneak attack +3d6, poi-son use, spells; SQ +1 save vs. poison, arrival gift, elf traits, evasion, uncanny dodge; AL CE; SV Fort +6, Ref +13, Will +6; Str 17, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14.
Skills: Bluff +7, Diplomacy +4, Disguise +6, Gather Informa-tion +8, Hide +18, Innuendo +6, Jump +15, Listen +5, Move Silently +18, Search +13, Sense Motive +6, Spot +6, Tumble +15. Feats: Dodge, Improved Critical (scimitar), Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus (scimitar), Weapon Specialization (scimitar).
Spells Prepared (base save DC 11 + spell level; 2): 1st – change self, spider climb.
SA – Poison Use (Ex): Ohlune is skilled in the use of poison and never risks accidental poisoning when applying poison to a blade.
SQ – Arrival Gift: Sneaky: You can scamper about in the shad-ows without being noticed. You gain a +2 competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks. You also gain a +2 luck bonus to saving throws to prevent from being detected by magical means.
Possessions: +3 glamered mithril chain shirt, +2 keen scimitar, +2 mighty composite longbow, 20 masterwork arrow, boots of speed.
Spellbook: change self, detect poison, obscuring mist, spider climb.
Background: Ohlune was born on a subdued world, a plane that would be considered culturally “backward” by most residents of Pen-ance. Officially known as Princess Ohlune Starglow, her mother was the queen of a great elven nation, Ohlune grew up surrounded by comfort and security. What she didn’t have, however, was her mother’s affection. rough her childhood, Ohlune grew resentful of her mother’s indifference, and the attention lavished on her older sister.
en a freak accident occurred, her sister was killed on the tilt-ing field, and Ohlune was named heir. Suddenly she had everything she wanted, but it did not take her long to realize that it was a trap, she would be forever stuck in the gilded cage she hated.
Ohlune escaped, stowing away on a human ship and offering her services as a fighter to a pirate crew. Mere days after the ship left shore, the captain turned on her and Ohlune became a slave, used by the captain, and sometimes the crew.
To this day Ohlune considers Israfel an angel, for the Queen of Penance rescued her from what would surely have been an ignoble death. Recognizing the girl’s skill, Israfel brought her to the Forge.
Ohlune’s arrival put her immediately to the test, for the Queen had dropped her in the Golden Ghetto. She had to constantly elude the predators there, but at least she had a fighting chance. Ohlune came to be known as her own criminal empire. She hired out her services to the highest bidder, working as an assassin, an escort, a spy, or a thug, always serving loyally until her contract was up. It didn’t take long for her skills to be noticed by the biggest boss in the Golden Shore, Lord Narcis.
Ohlune had reservations about being one of the Bloodlord’s guard, until she learned that he expected nothing from them but loyal service, and showed his loyalty in return. Ohlune considers Narcis to be the greatest Bloodlord of all Penance, and happily does anything she can to serve him.
Lately, Ohlune has spent less time as a litter bearer/guard and more time as an information gatherer. One of her many tasks is to find new seeds that arrive in the Golden Shore, assess their power,
and how useful they can be to her lord.
Lair: Ohlune has her own lavish apartment in Palace Hafia, just like all of Narcis’ guards. She also keeps a room at three inns, all of varying quality, including one in the Golden Ghetto, in case she needs a discreet location to meet with those she is keeping track of.
Playing Ohlune: When not playing a role, Ohlune tends to be self-important and narcissistic. She knows that she has skill and power, and uses it to get what she wants. She realizes life is too short to worry about what others think of you, so she can be crude and abrasive to those she considers her lesser, which is nearly everybody. She has absolutely no qualms about using people to get what she wants.
Of course, this only applies when she is not deliberately trying to coerce information, or infiltrate a group. She can be charming and witty, and can quickly assess what a person wants to hear, and then give it to them. Perhaps the one thing she has a difficult time being is demure. Not having a forceful personality is an alien concept to her.
Glaive Rineddin, male haze Ftr5 Hn5: CR 10; Medium-size Humanoid (7 ft. tall); HD 10d10+20; hp 99; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (average); AC 24 (+10 armor, +2 Dex, +2 natural); Atks +22/+17 melee (1d10+15/crit 18-20 x3, +2 keen glaive); 10 ft. reach; SA fell blow, precision strike, skilled stunt; SQ arrival gift, fire resistance 5, haze traits, improved defense, prestige race; AL LG; SV Fort +10, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 22, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 15.
Skills: Climb +9, Jump +9, Spot +6, Tumble +11. Feats: Exper-tise, Improved Critical (glaive), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (glaive), Weapon Special-ization (glaive).
SA – Fell Blow (Ex): As a hone, Glaive receives a +2 competence bonus to damage rolls with his glaive.
SA – Precision Strike (Ex): As a hone, Glaive receives a +3 competence bonus to attack rolls when using his glaive. He receives a –3 competence penalty on attack rolls when using any other weapon besides his glaive or his natural attacks.
SA – Skilled Stunt (Ex): As a hone, Glaive receives a +3 compe-tence bonus on opposed rolls when using his glaive to perform stunts such as tripping, disarming an opponent, or striking a weapon.
SQ – Arrival Gift: Brave – Glaive receives a +4 morale bonus to all saving throws versus fear effects.
SQ – Improved Defense (Ex): As a hone, Glaive gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC while using his glaive and fighting against an opponent using a slashing weapon.
Prestige Race: Focus of the Wyrm (scaled creature, flying creature) +2 natural armor bonus, fire resistance 5, fly speed 70 ft. (average).
Haze Traits: natural weaponry (1d4 + Str bonus, 2 claws), (1d6 + 1⁄2 Str bonus, beak); mindsight 100 ft., immune to gaze attacks and darkness; +2 insight bonus on saves versus illusions; telepathy 100 ft.; +2 racial bonus on Listen checks; cannot eat solid food.
Possessions: +2 full plate, +2 keen glaive, potion of haste.
Background: A natural warrior, Glaive spent his early years searching for the perfect combat weapon. After many battles, quests around the world, and visits with renowned weapon makers, he settled upon a weapon with reach, speed, balance, and slashing power. He dedicated himself to perfection of this weapon’s use, and took its
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name as his own – Glaive.Such single-minded dedication drew the attention of the flock,
and he was brought to the Forge by Barbello, mistress of Arena. He fought for many of the armies there, and was quite successful. e last mercenary band he served decided to spend their money in the great city of Penance. As often happens, the mercenaries became so involved in city life their company disbanded, and Glaive was left to find a new employer.
At this time, the Bloodlord Rineddin was seeking a new Razor to train his army. Glaive went before the honorable lord, and explained how he would train the men in the use of the perfect fighting weapon, and thus make them superior to all others in Penance. Impressed with the haze’s dedication, Rineddin hired him. Now Glaive has become Glaive Rineddin, and trains the armies of his master, leading them into battle.
One of the few friends Glaive has in Lord Rineddin’s household is Wicek Fabron, the self-proclaimed, one-and-only wizard/bard on the Forge. Wicek knows quite a bit about the history of the Forge and the Flock, and has a pretty good idea how new seeds are chosen. Glaive, despite his reserved demeanor, is enchanted by Wicek’s stories, and is now thoroughly convinced that he must find the most powerful seeds and attempt to sway them to the service of Lord Rineddin. It is Glaive’s belief that one day a seed will come that has power beyond all others, and that his lord must be allied with this “messiah” for his own survival.
Lair: Glaive stays in the barracks with his men, or occasionally in Lord Rineddin’s palace.
Playing Glaive: Stalwart and true, Glaive is an honorable haze; he sees everything colored by how it may affect his lord. Glaive is in no way a social creature. His time is spent in training his men, or perfect-ing his own skills. Listing to Wicek’s stories is his only vice.
Glaive sees any new seeds as potential allies, and a possible addition to Lord Rineddin’s household. He does everything he can to learn about the disposition and skill of new arrivals, and presents those he deems worthy to Lord Rineddin.
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HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, A PBEM TALEWritten by Rob [BarTndr] WojczykEdited by Andrew GarbadeSection 15: Humble Beginnings, a PbeM Tale Copyright 2003, Rob Wojczyk
This month’s article will be the first in a series regard-ing a PBeM game that I am currently running. e
game ( just like this article) I have titled Humble Begin-nings, because it is my first foray into the PBeM DM’ing role, and the title should set the tone as I did not want to ‘oversell’ the game itself.
Running a PBeM game has some aspects that are not unlike a face-to-face game. You need to define the starting parameters, house rules, setting, etc. But in addition to all this, you will need to determine how some aspects of the game will be handled. For example, the Attack of Oppor-tunity is extremely easy to do on a tabletop with figures, but based on written correspondence and without a map it becomes very difficult to implement.
e first thing you need to do is pick a setting; I chose the Forgotten Realms setting from Wizards of the Coast. After that, picking a ‘starting date’ and location become your next goals. But do not rush these steps – especially if you have not decided how you want the game to ‘feel’ to your players. You should also establish what sources you will allow to be used by your characters. Picking books you own is a good starting point. I would advise for any Dragon Magazine items and feats, as well as web-based content, that you are clear with your players that they can be requested for use, but you will be the one to decide. ere are some good game supplements out there, but then there is some material that is simply too unbalanced for use without additional house rules.
Before I really began recruiting players, I tried to recall all the things from other PBeM’s I have par-ticipated in that I thought were either never addressed right, or could have been done better. is was the step where I tried to write out character generation rules (and it is good to give people a couple options, like using the Irony.com die roller or using a point buy system). I game my players the option of allocating 75 ability points how-ever they desired, or take up to 3 shots on Irony using the 4d6 drop lowest (re-rolling 1’s on Irony is not an option, so you can either have players roll stats in groups like 5d6 taking the first 4 non-1’s and dropping the lowest, or you can re-roll their 1’s for them). Make sure they understand this is an ‘OR’ option. Once they do the first roll on a die roller, they will be taking a result generated by the die roller. As I said, even with the option of taking 3 shots, I still had 1⁄2 my players choose the 75 point option out of
fear of ‘bad die roller luck.’To handle Attacks of Opportunities I instituted what
I considered a ‘common sense’ rule. Since tactical move-ment was not something that could be easily observed, I stated that the only AoO’s would be ones generated by actions such as running, casting in melee, or using ranged weapons in melee.
Normally in combat a player who wants to switch his action is able to do so but in my PBeM I decided to state that once a combat situation was known that the players had to send me their actions. Sure, I will accept some ‘if this then that’ type descriptions, but combat is chaotic and simultaneous – and I hope that comes across with how I decided to handle it.
How do you get players? I was a little worried I would have a tiny party of three to five people I knew. en I asked another PBeM DM who had recently looked for new candidates if I could have his ‘throw aways.’ He sug-gested I post the game on PBEM.com. Within two days I had about 15 candidates. All told, I think I got twenty quality applicants from that posting. I had cut my limit at 18 – there is an unwritten logic to PBeM’s that you will lose 1/3 of your players in the first 2 months – a number I hope will be manageable in the long run.
Now using PBEM.com is very easy. ey have got all kinds of suggestions they force you to read through before you get to the form where you enter your game informa-tion. My posting just asked for a writing sample, stated the campaign and starting levels (and of course my rule set), and had a description of the game. One advantage here is you will end up with players who are outside your usual circle of co-players, infusing some new energy and ideas into the game.
But before I had signed up my first player, I set up the game infrastructure. I created two groups on Yahoo Groups (one for the game, and one for OOC discussions). As candidates were accepted, I invited them to the OOC group – which was where they got the character sheet and house rules documents.
I cannot suggest having a clean base character sheet enough. If you let the players use whatever they want to track pertinent information, you may end up having as many different formats as you have players. ese are sheets you will be referencing often, and if everyone is unable to use something like eTools or PCGen, then a
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common format of a Word document is the next best thing. Sure, some players will want to use a form they are comfortable with, and that is OK, but every effort should be made to make the various campaign documents consis-tent.
Now as to the players, since I had mentioned my set-ting in my announcement, I did not end up having to re-peat it or get the ‘where are we going to be’ question. I also had specifically asked for a writing sample, and I got some descriptions and sample backgrounds that were written for other settings. At this point in the process (picking the players) it was good enough, and I was able to see whether or not the candidates could write descriptive English.
As I got players, I let them pick the classes they wanted (at least initially). After the first two days, I had 4 mages, a cleric, a pair of monks, some rogues, and a ranger. At that point, I started to ‘guide’ new candidates towards the fighter classes. As I said earlier, after the 18th person, I began to respond with a polite “Hey thanks for being interested, we’re not accepting new players currently, but if you want I can hold onto your email address” message. It never hurts to be nice and at some point you might need one or two players; if your current players are unable to refer anyone, then these alternates might prove fruitful.
After that, as I generated some adventures - like the starting point and a couple ‘setting’ based adventures – I also assisted the players with their characters’ game me-chanics and backgrounds. One stipulation I had made was that I required a background of at least one page (more for players playing races with ECL modifiers), and this history needed to include some insight into the character’s youth, at least one relative’s name, and a patron. Luckily, from these backgrounds, I was able to begin to plan about four more adventures to throw at the party – you would be surprised how much material you can get from your players if you pause to pay attention to them.
As things are now, I am waiting for a few more char-acter sheets and I have to get all my ‘cheat sheets’ in a row. Not surprisingly, before the game has officially started I have already had one person drop. At the same time, the others are so geared up that the planned start date may be moved forward a little bit.e preparation is pretty much done. Next issue “Getting it started off right.”
[Humble Beginnings is a PBeM I am running that was originally announced around December 20th, 2002, and I had planned to kick it off January 15, 2003. is series of articles will be about the progression, challenges, and idea’s generated by the running of a PBeM campaign. Any tips, tricks, or anecdotes that other PBeM players and DM’s have can be emailed to me ([email protected]), and they very well could find their way into a future article.]
Sizing Up the TargetFrom Stone to Steel
is a “d20 system guide to arms and armor from the stone age to the Renais-sance.” Written by Aaron Stinson, From Stone to Steel is the first sourcebook to be produced by Monkey-God Enterprises and it is a whopper! Not only is the book hardcover, but it’s 352 pages in length and carries a retail price of $39.95.
First BloodFrom Stone to Steel bills itself as a book that is about more
than just weapons and armor, it’s about culture and history. Chapters are broken down into the various time periods: “Sticks and Stones”, “Chariots of Bronze”, “Iron and Empire”, “Rome”, “e Far East”, “A Dark Age, A Golden Age”, “Pagentry, Platemail, and Pistols”, and “Myth and Magic”.
“Sticks and Stones” examines prehistoric and primitive cultures. Typical weapons are crude ad constructed of stone, bone or wood. Rules regarding war, infection, first aid and am-putations are presented. Native American and Meso American armor is discussed as well as the Eagle Knight prestige class. is class captures the Aztec warrior feel very well. e Jaguar Knight, likewise, has an Aztec feel. Both are high-powered classes.
“Chariots of Bronze” moves from the Neolithic Stone Age to the Bronze Age. is is the age where the phalanx came into prominence. Chariots and chariot combat are covered fairly extensively. e Charioteer prestige class is introduced, as are six new feats. Discussion of Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, Incan, Minoan, Mycenaen, and Celtic cultures are covered in this chapter.
“Iron and Empire” moves into the Iron Age. Assyria, Scythia, Greece, Persia, Macedonia, and sub-Sahara Africa are all regions discussed in the chapter. e section on the Greek culture is fairly extensive and covers the Greek-Persian wars. Although there is not much new rules material in this chapter, but there are plenty of new weapons, armors and shields.
“Rome” gets a chapter all to itself. Whole books have been written on Rome so you can imagine how hard it might be to cover it in just one chapter. e book does a good job with this task. It starts off with the Roman monarchy and Rome’s beginnings. e development of chain mail by the Gauls, the
FROM STONE TO STEEL: A REVIEW
Written by Steve Creech
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legendary general Hannibal, Spartacus, Julius Caesar, the Ro-man Legionnaire and German Combined Cavalryman prestige classes, Rome as an empire, gladiators and the fall of Rome represent a mere fraction of the information presented in this chapter. Quite thorough if you ask me.
“e Far East” tackles the mystical Orient. Ancient China and the Zhou rulership are up first and give us the combat maneuver of sword breaking. India and Buddhism follow with concepts such as elephant barding. e exotic martial weapons you would expect in eastern culture are here and then some. You also read about the Wudan and Tang periods. is is a very comprehensive chapter filled with considerable amounts of information coupled with game mechanics that are solid and original.
“A Dark Age, A Golden Age” delves into some historic hot potatoes. e fall of Rome at the hands of barbarians, the rise of Christianity and Islam, the British Isles, Arthur, Feudal Eu-rope, the Vikings, and the Crusades are all topics that are cov-ered. Much of the weaponry that traditional fantasy gamers are accustomed to are derived from this chapter and time period.
“Pagentry, Platemail and Pistols” looks at the start of the 15th century and the whole Angles, Saxons and Normans turmoil in England. But England wasn’t the only country embroiled in war at the time. France, Germany, Byzantium, and other countries all had their share of civil disorder and conflicts. Several key developments in armor and weapons occurred in this time period, including compound bows and crossbows. Primitive firearms also made their appearance at this time. is chapter does an excellent job covering the vari-ous weapons and armors of the period. GMs will likely get the most use from this chapter out of all of them.
“Myth and Magic” is all game mechanics and consists of new magical armor and weapon abilities/qualities. ere are divine properties (directly imbued with the power of a god) such as death, plague, pestilence, famine, inner reflection, mis-siles without limit, unerring, and weightless properties include aura, banishing, blurred, corrosion, darkness-bearing, finding, heart seeking, impervious, light-bearing, and several others. ere are also specific magic items that come from a specified region, such as the Meso American Atlaua’s Atlatl. ese will enrich any campaign because of the legendary status and pow-ers. Lastly, you find a brief section on historical racial items and one on new spells.
e final chapter in this book is devoted to “Materials”. e optional rule of durability in a weapon or armor is covered as is the variant rule of using a strike table to more realistically reflect melee combat. Likewise, the material composition of a weapon will have its own unique properties that affect its du-rability and longevity. For example, metal retains heat, is highly corrosive and dents, cracks, warps or splits when damaged.
Critical Hitsis is, without a doubt, the ingle most comprehensive
work on weapons and armor for the d20 system, period. Not
only is it based in actual historical foundation, but the game mechanics are reasonably right for the objects included. e open content is considerable, essentially the entire text of the book. is makes it an essential resource for game designers.
Critical MissesHonestly, there is very little that I can be critical about.
As mentioned earlier, the new divine weapon qualities are overpowered and really are more along the lines of being major artifacts. Diehard historical enthusiasts may disagree with the d20 statistics, especially the damage component and range as-sessments. But to be honest, that is akin to splitting hairs. It’s pretty much irrelevant.
Coup de GraceFrom Stone to Steel is an outstanding piece of work, plain
and simple. GMs who want a more historic feel or are looking for a particular cultural weapon or armor with really benefit from this book. I cannot recommend this book enough! It truly belongs on every gamer’s shelf because of its depth and quality of work. Hopefully all of MonkeyGod’s supplements will be this good…
e Critic’s Rating (Maximum 5 pts. per category):-Amount of Open Content: 4.5-d20 Compliance: 5.0-Originality: 5.0-Playability: 5.0-Value for the Dollar: 5.0
Overall Rating: 4.90Final Grade: A+
Available from FRP Games for $31.95 (a savings of $8.00)!!
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GRIMOIRE ARCANA: TEMPLE MONKWritten by Timothy CrumrineEdited by Andrew GarbadeSection 15: Grimoire Arcana: Temple Monk Copyright 2003, Timothy Crumrine
Tarra jumped aside as a rider on horseback splashed cold mud on her cloak. e morning’s chill frosted her breath as she and her
companion, Akane, made their way into the city. e two-day trip had been uneventful for which Tarra was secretly glad. On the dawn of the third day, the two women had reached the gates of the near-est city, Lashan. Tarra looked in wonder at the buildings and people, so many more than her small home, and at the cobbled street she now walked on. A yell from behind her with the sudden pull of her arm brought her to the wall of a building as a horse and cart wildly careened past.
“Tarra!” Akane hissed in a low tone. “You’ve got to pay attention in a city!” e warrior’s face was mostly concealed under her hood, but Tarra still saw the green flash of her eyes as they darted from side to side. “Keep to the walls and don’t draw attention to us,” she advised. “Stay near me for the time being.” With that she started forward down the street, moving with a determined purpose.
In the past few days, Akane had been a source of dry humor and wit around the campfire and a pleasant companion, but Tarra still had no knowledge of what they were doing here save that they were to meet someone. She had hoped that wherever they were going it would be warmer.
“Damn!” Akane’s form slowed a bit until Tarra caught up with her. “Don’t look around,” she whispered without turning her head. “e guards at the gate are watching us now because of your scene.” e two continued down the way, winding through the streets to a large marketplace in the center of the city. ere Akane unslung a bundle from under her cloak and set down a collection of firewood. “Here, set yours down too,” she said and Tarra gratefully complied.
A muffled sound of metal striking wood sounded as the bundles hit the ground; hidden inside were the womens’ swords, a precaution Akane had insisted upon. Frosted breath puffed from under Akane’s hood as she untied the bundles. Tarra lost sight of what she was doing for a moment as she stooped over them, and then Akane was upright and calling out. “Wood! Hard wood for your fires!” Her voice mingled with the others of the market in the morning. “You too, Tarra,” she whispered as she continued her pitch. e two of them called out for several minutes, as the market grew more crowded. Finally Akane stopped and sat down. “Okay they’re gone,” she muttered as she sat down. She looked up at the younger woman, “at’s how you get rid of attention, Tarra; act like your purpose is the same as anyone else. Now we sell our wood and wait.” As the morning went on and the sun began to warm the city the market began to grow even more crowded. Eventually Akane had sold their collection of wood to a servant for a few silver coins and stood up.
“Akane?” Tarra asked as they began winding their way through the crowds, “Where are our swords?” e shorter woman gave a snort. “ey’re safe, Tarra,” she said drawing aside her cloak just long enough for Tarra to see a sturdy pouch at her belt. “It’s enchanted to hold a lot more than it appears. Don’t worry; I can get to them if we need… Hey!”
e small woman’s hand shot out and grabbed the arm of a passing boy. Tight in his grasp was the small purse of coins they had recently received for the wood they had sold. A quick yank to the side disoriented him enough to retrieve the pouch from his hand and
bring him into a side alley. “Fast fingers, kid,” Akane chuckled grimly, his arm still held fast in her grip. e boy looked at her nervously, obviously afraid at being caught. Akane tucked the pouch back into her belt and used the newly freed hand to gently pull back one eyelid. “Not cloudy,” she commented softly to no one in particular. “It wasn’t for drugs or drink was it?” she said sharply. e boy shook his head quickly. Akane looked up and down at his skinny form for a moment, as a loud rumbling sounded out from his stomach. “Food then,” she said with a laugh, “You’re hungry.” He nodded and mumbled some-thing softly. “Your sister too?” Akane paused for a moment, her eyes seeming to stare into the boy’s form. en she withdrew the pouch from her belt and placed it into his hand again. She removed her hand from his wrist while gently curling his fingers around the pouch. “For food!” she emphasized as she locked his eyes in a stare, “and a blanket for you both, but nothing else, right?” e boy nodded, wary of the woman’s quick hands, and darted into the traffic again. Akane gave a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Hope it helps, kid.” She turned away and set off down the street, her eyes hard as the gems they resembled. Tarra hurried to catch up to her and heard her muttering under her breath. She couldn’t make out much but it seemed to include refer-ences to children and how adults never saw to their needs.
“Akane!” Tarra gasped, “Stop for a moment, please!” e woman slowed and allowed her to catch up to her. “Please, where are we go-ing?” Akane sighed softly and looked at Tarra.
“I’m sorry, Sister,” she said, “I have been pulling you here and there today, haven’t I?” She gave a little smile as she apologized. “I’m not used to having a partner when I try to find him so I normally end up covering the streets as quickly as possible.” e petite woman drew Tarra against the wall of the building, away from the passing traffic. “We are here to find and warn a friend of mine. A former student of his searches for him constantly and when I hear that she is getting close, I try to visit and give him a warning.” She reached under her cloak and withdrew a small travel frame of tarnished silver.
Within was the painted image of a dark-eyed man with a short ponytail of graying hair. “is is him, his name is Hyslan.” She re-turned the picture to her pouch as she continued. “He normally keeps a low profile to avoid notice, so finding him can be a pain sometimes. One thing’s for sure though, he likes to help.” She pointed at the temple spire in the near distance of the city. “You go to the temple and see if he’s around there. I’ll check with the street dwellers and see if anyone knows about him and meet you in the temple.”
With that she wound her way into the crowd and left Tarra alone. Tarra moved into the traffic and came in time to a building of white stone, slightly grayer now from the tests of time. At the top was the spire that had been her beacon on this search. She paused a moment to take a steadying breath and went inside. e noise of the city was almost nonexistent within these stone walls, echoing instead hushed voices in prayer. A man in simple white robes smiled at her entrance and excused himself from the couple he was with.
“Health to you, my child,” he said warmly as he approached, giving a slight bow of his head. “Is there anything that this humble servant may assist with?” Tarra hesitated before replying, unsure of how to phrase her mission.
“I’m looking for someone,” she finally stated drawing a happy
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nod from the priest.“We are all looking for someone, my child,” he said matter-of-
factly, “I’m glad your search brought you here. I’m sure you will find an end to searching with us.” She shook her head quickly.
“No, no,” she stammered hastily, “I’m not looking for guidance from your God, I’m really looking for someone.” She hoped that she hadn’t offended him, and was surprised at his refrained, but still genuine laugh.
“I am sorry, my child,” he apologized, “I meant just what I said.” Seeing her puzzled look he explained. “You are from a village or town-ship aren’t you, child?” With her confirming nod he continued. “Many in the cities end up at our temples’ doors when they have nowhere else to turn. erefore I can only hope your search will end here. But please,” he extended a hand to a nearby bench. “Sit down and tell me of your friend.” Tarra removed her cloak and sat down laying it across her lap. “Strange attire for finding a friend.” e priest commented his voice suddenly devoid of the warmth it had earlier. Tarra looked down at her armor and dagger and flushed.
“He’s not really a friend, more of a friend of a friend really.” She said, self-consciously bringing one arm across the other.
“I see,” he replied again in a formal cold manner. Tarra felt then that whatever window of opportunity she had possessed was now lost but tried one final time.
“His name is Hyslan,” she said, “He’s got gray hair and a really memorable face?” e priest looked at her for a moment and then stood.
“I’m afraid that I have no recollection of such a man ever coming here, my child. Now I must ask you to leave, we are not in the habit of entertaining bounty hunters in our sanctuaries.” Tarra looked startled at that and stood up in shock, knocking her cloak to the floor.
“I’m not a…” she began to protest but was cut off by the priest’s gaze.
“Please leave now or I will have the city guard escort you out, miss.” He said stiffly. Tarra sighed in futility and bent to gather her cloak. She wondered briefly if Akane had had any better luck. As she retrieved her cloak from the ground the pendant Iljrene had given her slipped out from under her armor to hang loose for a moment until she absently tucked it back in place. Turning to go, she was halted by the strong hand of the priest on her shoulder.
“Wait, my child.” He said earnestly. “Might I see that symbol you are wearing?” Confused by yet another abrupt shift in the priest’s manner she fished out the pendant once more. He gently lifted it to the light and looked intently at it. He looked at Tarra with a smile once more on his face. “I’m afraid I must beg your forgiveness, my child, I did not know.” He released the pendant and beckoned her. “Please come this way.” Confused again, Tarra followed the priest through a door into the back rooms of the temple. He led her through the rooms and out into the grounds behind the temple. “Come,” he said as he wound his way through immaculately tended plants and shrubbery.
Under the boughs of a large weeping willow tree Tarra could see a kneeling form. “Gardener!” the priest called out, causing the figure to look over one shoulder. He scrabbled out into the light and stood up. e priest then spoke in a much lower voice. “Hyslan, a Sister has come.” He bowed to Tarra and to Hyslan then withdrew quietly leaving them alone. e man before her stood only a few inches taller than she, and wore a mud-encrusted smock. Still his manner and face were controlled and disciplined.
“Greetings, Sister,” Hyslan said his voice soft but firm in strength. “I think I already know why you came to find me.” He sighed heavily
and looked at her, “Serpent has found me again, correct?” “I’m afraid I don’t know, sir,” Tarra said to the man. “I came here
with a woman named Akane to find you. I actually have only been in the Sisterhood for a day now.” Hyslan’s eyes widened at the mention of Akane’s name.
“Akane here?!” he said turning away and heading for a small hut against the wall. “en we have no time to spare!” Pushing open the door of the small building, he began a quick but efficient gathering of items into a travel pack. Removing the brown smock he had been wearing to reveal a sleeveless black leather bodysuit, Hyslan stretched up and retrieved a long bundle wrapped in burlap sacking. Finally, from a chest at the foot of the cot, he withdrew a silk robe dyed a vivid crimson red and placed it also within the pack, slinging it onto his back. With a quick look at the walls of the hut he gave a nod and a resigned sigh. “Come,” was all he uttered as he passed her.
Returning back through the rooms of the temple the duo arrived at the main chapel. e priest Tarra had spoken to earlier saw them and hurried over. “I see your time with us is past, Hyslan,” he said regretfully, taking in the traveling gear the man wore. “Blessings upon your paths then.” He bowed solemnly to the pair. Hyslan opened his mouth to reply when a commotion across the way distracted him. Running full speed down the aisle came Akane, cloak flapping in the wind to reveal her armor underneath.
“Tarra! Hyslan!” she called. “She’s here in the city! She’s coming!” Hyslan swore under his breath and turned again to the priest.
“I’m sorry for this after all you have done for me here...” he began in sincere tones, but the priest interrupted and waved away his apol-ogy.
“You and those of your spirit are welcome always, Hyslan, be they woman, man, soldier, or monk. We all are striving forward against the host of evil.” e priest gave a grim smile so unlike the one he had given to Tarra only minutes before. “Let them come.” He turned toward the other priests who had gathered at the commotion. “Brethren,” he said in a commanding voice, “we must make haste to bring safety to our followers. Escort them out through the side doors and return.” e priests responded quickly, helping those who were praying within to their feet and with quiet dignity led them out. Akane removed her cloak and withdrew both sheathed swords from the pouch at her side. Tossing Ar’Quisst to Tarra she drew her own, an exotic single edged blade tinted rose pink, and kissed the blade.
“Take no life, Tarra,” Akane urged, looking at the girl. “Defend yourself, the priests and us, but do not kill unless they cause it. We are not murderers.” Her gaze flickered briefly to the doors of the temple. “We are not her,” she added with venom.
“Enough, Akane,” Hyslan said. “Pride was her weakness, not a desire to spill blood.” He was busy unwinding the burlap from round the bundle he was carrying as he spoke. When the last of the cloth fell from his hands he held a weapon of deadly appearance, a battle staff mounted with a razor sharp blade on each end. Stepping away from them he began to perform a limbering exercise with the weapon, slowly at first, but increasing in tempo until he was a blur of mo-tion. Tarra had never seen such control in a battle dance before; even Crow had never been this precise. When Hyslan stopped, staff in a defensive set in one arm, he was balancing on one foot with the other curled upward as if prepared for a swift kick. e first two fingers of his free hand were held upright in front of his face, and his eyes were shut in meditation. Tarra drew Ar’Quisst and heard a soft hum from the blade as if it knew battle was near. e sounds of a low chant came to her ears as well, and she turned to see the priests had begun a solemn hymn of praise to their god and were deep in meditation as
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well. Hyslan relaxed into a more normal position and looked at them both, echoing the words of the priest, “Let them come.”
e doors opened almost as if from the invitation and in strode six figures. Four of them bore the heavy muscles and appearance normally gained from manual labor bearing axes and clubs. “Gutter muscle,” Tarra heard Akane spit in disgust as they came in. e fifth man of the group wore a well-tailored tunic and trousers with expen-sive looking boots and bracers. In his hand was a magnificently craft-ed longsword. e last was still cloaked until she fully entered the temple. Drawing back her hood, she revealed a pale white complexion and mostly shaved head. Only a single thick lock of raven black hair grew from the back of her head bound in golden wire mesh. Her face was angular and harshly cruel, well-suited to disdain for her fellows.
“Teacher,” she purred in a hypnotically dark voice, “I’ve found you again, I’m so pleased.” She removed her cloak fully now to reveal a toned body of equally white skin clad in a scandalously tight halter and bottom of black leather. Spiraling around her left leg was the only vibrant color Tarra could see on her form. A wingless dragon of blue and red with an impossibly long body and a skull head was tattooed into her flesh.
e woman’s eyes fell on Akane. “I see you still have your little pet. You should keep better track of the mongrel’s whereabouts or someday you’ll lose her,” she said coldly before looking at Tarra. “And who is this, Teacher, another dalliance?” she laughed mockingly. “Or perhaps it’s another of those street urchins you clean up so you don’t feel so bad about all those deaths on your hands. Is that it?” she smiled sweetly at Hyslan.
Tarra heard a low growl from beside her and looked at Akane in surprise. e woman’s features had become much more feral like a hunting dog or fox, and Tarra could see her teeth now more resem-bled fangs. “Down, cur!” Serpent said sharply, “or I will put you down like the animal you are!” Akane’s sword danced figure eights in front of her as her eyes shined.
“I’d like to see you try and fail,” Akane said grimly eager in her speech.
“Enough!” Serpent shouted, angrily tossing her cloak behind her. Before it hit the ground she rushed forward to attack, the others of her group following a heartbeat later. e well-clothed man brought his sword down in a simple overhead chop at Tarra’s head. Trained to counter the quick blows of Crow’s flashing blades, she easily par-ried with Ar’Quisst. Honey colored eyes grew cunning as he began to throw various attacks at her. Tarra countered each in turn, as they became more complex. Suddenly he spun around and delivered a quick unexpected backhand swipe at her exposed head. She reversed her grip with her left hand and let go of the hilt with her right. Up came her sword’s pommel toward his surprised face as his blow slid up and was locked in the crossguard. e man staggered back spitting fragments of teeth. With a furious look he disengaged his blade as he gestured with his other hand. A stream of smoke issued from his fingers to coil around her form like a striking snake. Tarra felt the first signs of discomfort as it began to constrict around her and a blood smeared grin appeared on her opponent’s face. e grin vanished as she felt her armor warm briefly and the coils burned away like the smoke they were. Tarra felt a small lump of fear in her throat as he again engaged her in swordplay. is was no practice; his face showed that he wanted her life.
To most people, the swordsman would have been a threat, perhaps even a great one, but after training with Crow for the past three years, he seemed to Tarra as far too predictable. Occasionally she would feel her armor ward of another magical attack as his face
became more and more a mask of frustration. As Ar’Quisst caught his sword’s strike yet again she twisted her blade and used his own momentum to drive it toward the ground. Once more defenseless, he was unprepared for her steel wrapped arm as she backhanded his face knocking him to the ground.
“Our contract is void!” he yelled at Serpent through a swollen jaw. “You never said they would have defenses such as this!” Serpent broke away from her fight with Hyslan, cobras of dark energy crack-ling around her hands, and spat at him.
“Coward!” she hissed. “You are beaten by children and animals, Battlemage. If you want out of this contract then here is your pay-ment!” With rage filled eyes she spun and lashed out with a kick from her tattooed leg. “Dragon Talon!” she screamed as an arc of force blazed out from her leg toward the mage. His eyes grew frantic as he fumbled for a ring at his finger, disappearing a moment before the wave hit the marble bench behind him shattering it into rubble. Ser-pent paid for that momentary act as a hard kick to her ribs sent her flying. Hyslan, sweating and bruised but still ready to battle looked at Tarra and grinned humorlessly.
“is is my fight, Sister,” he said watching Serpent arise again. “Help Akane.” Tarra looked behind her at the four men who were fighting Akane. She thought it was her at least. e woman Tarra had traveled with the last few days had changed drastically. Her face now looked like a fox complete with muzzle and ears and out of her back were not one but five magnificent fox tails. Her blade flashed back and forth against the weapons of the thugs, easily disarming one of them. She gave a little ground and the others closed in on her only to see her grin and then there was four of her going in separate directions.
In the confusion two of the thugs tripped over each other chasing who they believed was the real one and the last was kicked onto the pile by the real Akane from behind. e final thug had recovered his club by this time and was approaching the fox woman from behind. Tarra saw her ears twitch in his direction and then she spun at him. Up came her blade with both hands in a rapid six-blow attack. e blade trailed light behind as it struck leaving the stylized image of a pink flower in the air for a brief moment before the thug’s weapon literally fell to pieces in his hands. He yelped and dropped the remaining part of his weapon, running for the nearest door and safety. In his haste he only succeeded in tripping over himself, falling to the floor and knocking himself unconscious. Behind Akane one of the other thugs groaned and stirred. She placed her foot on his back and shoved him down again drawing pained gasps from the others beneath him.
“I advise you to stay down,” she said, sliding the flat of her blade along his throat. Akane turned her vixen face to Tarra and winked. With a nod of her head she drew Tarra’s attention to the fight behind her. e terrain was broken, shattered by the forces unleashed in their struggle. Hyslan faced Serpent weapon in hand. His body was bruised and his breath labored, however Serpent’s body bore numer-ous cuts that bled vividly on her pale skin and she favored her right side. Both would not break eye contact as they stood waiting for some small signal to press the attack. Around her forearms and hands Serpent had tattoos matching the black cobras Tarra had seen earlier. e snakes looked as battered and tired as their owner and it was clear that Serpent could not continue for much longer.
“Give up, Jarlana,” Hyslan said as he watched Serpent, “You can-not win this fight and your friends are beaten. ere is no victory here for you today.” Bitter anger wrote itself across her face as he spoke.
“I am not the foolish girl you drove out, Teacher!” She spat, wheezing hard as she spoke. “Jarlana is dead and buried!” She drew
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herself up with rigid control and assumed a battle stance. “I am Ser-pent now, and nothing can block my path to destiny, not even you!”
“So be it, Serpent.” Hyslan sadly acknowledged, regret clearly visible in his proud face. He raised his staff in salute and for just a moment there was a flicker of a real smile on Serpent’s lips. A shad-owy reminder of whomever this Jarlana once was. Yellow energy, like lightning, gathered down Hyslan’s arm as a tattoo of a yellow dragon coiled around a storm cloud blazed into view on his shoulder. His voice rang out in the temple as he drew back his fist. “Raging Storm!” he yelled and Serpent’s face froze in fear as she attempted to counter. It was clear that this would be her finish as a blast of lightning came arcing out of his strike. en a new voice rang out in the temple.
“Death Dragon Typhoon!” It called as a hammering wind blew all four of them to the floor and dissipated Hyslan’s attack. Like a shadow, a figure appeared next to Serpent’s side. “Now is not the time for your victory, Serpent,” it said in a soft hiss, “but your time will come.” Serpent’s eyes registered recognition and she bowed her head, though whether in respect or fear it was hard to tell.
“I am sorry, Master, I have failed,” she whispered hoarsely. A black silk wrapped hand drew her up to stand beside it.
“When the student is beaten by a master it is not failure, it is a lesson.” e figure said. “Now go! Take your leave while I deal with our friends.” A vortex of shadow appeared next to the pair and Serpent hobbled through. e shadowed figure looked at the others as they regained their footing. “e girl is still a weak fool!” it hissed looking at Hyslan. “And you nurtured that weakness! Your kind’s teaching of harmony and patience almost destroyed my chance for a successor, and the greatest of our order. With the power she possesses she can make her own order to this world! Were it not for her need to destroy you I would snuff your lives now! But instead I leave you with this!” e figure swiftly knelt down and thrust a fist at the ground, splitting a fissure in the stone and then vanished into the fading por-tal. From the ground thrust massive skeletal arms, which attempted to pull the body from the earth. A flash of arcane force shattered the form and closed the rift before it could succeed however. e priests, forgotten by Tarra until now finally ended their chanting.
As the last note echoed into silence, armed guards poured through the opened doors of the temple. Out of obvious respect for the sanctity of the temple their weapons were sheathed, but every hand remained alertly on its hilt as they spread out. e leader of the group approached the trio and the priests. Looking at the carnage of the chapel and the pile of men Akane still had her foot on, he spoke to the head priest. “Health to you, your Reverence,” he began. “We had reports of a disturbance here.” He gestured at Tarra and the others “Are these the cause of this desecration?” Tarra saw Akane, now look-ing human again, stiffen and open her mouth to reply but the priest spoke first.
“No, my child,” he said, “ose who lay at your feet are to blame, these brave souls came to the fight against them as an escaped member summoned darkness within our halls.” e priest laid a hand on Hyslan’s shoulder. “We are thankful for your help, strangers, and would tend to your wounds in gratitude.” e leader of the guards looked at Hyslan in suspicion.
“ese two I know,” he said gesturing at Tarra and Akane. “ey entered the city this morning and tried to remain undetected.” He then turned to the monk. “But you I’ve never heard a word about.” He looked pointedly into Hyslan’s eyes. “And I make it my business to know when adventurers enter my town.” e priest waved off the captain soothingly.
“He is a friend of the temple, my child.” He said to him. “Now
please, could you not let these fine people rest?” e captain looked torn for a moment, and then nodded in deference.
“Your Reverence.” He said, bowing to the priest. He gestured to his men as they finished shackling the quartet of thugs from the floor and together they left. Hyslan nodded his thanks to the priest and sat down on a shattered half of one of the benches.
“We should leave here, Hyslan.” Akane said as she sheathed her blade and slung it across her back. He nodded, too weary for words at the moment, and after taking a breath stood up again. Leaving the city was easier than their entrance. Without the need for secrecy the trio walked through the main gates under the eyes of the guards and onto the road beyond. By the time the sun had started to set in the sky they were far from Lashan and setting camp near within the woods near the road. Tarra returned from a nearby stream with a cauldron of water, which she sat next to Akane. e young woman was squatting, stick in hand, staring into the fire she had prepared. Since making camp, Akane had not spoken a word to her except to ask for the water. After a moment’s pause Tarra started to turn from her to walk away.
“You did extremely well today for your first real battle,” Akane said suddenly, causing Tarra to stop and look at her again. Akane hadn’t moved or even looked at her; the woman’s eyes were still in the flames. “And you also reacted better then most when they see my true appearance.” She looked up at Tarra then, her green eyes shining bright in the firelight. “ank you.”
Tarra sat down next to her; hesitant to say anything but Akane seemed to sense her desire and gave a slight smile. “You want to know what I am but don’t want to offend me.” Tarra nodded and seemed a little ashamed. “It’s okay, Tarra, I’m used to it. I’m not offended at all.” She idly poked the stick into the fire, stirring up the coals. “I’m not evil; I’m a Kitsune, a spirit of nature that happens to resemble a fox. I’m not a werefox, a demon, an escaped magical play toy for some mage, or any of the other things people have come up with over the years.” She grinned in the darkness. “And you would not believe some of the things I’ve heard. Before you ask, I don’t shapeshift so I don’t know what it feels like. I’m always what you saw me like earlier. My kind are skilled illusionists, some say the best there are, and it takes little of our concentration to maintain the appearance of human. Unfortunately, when I’m in a fight, I focus on staying alive, and the illusion is dispelled. e number of tails we possess ranks the power of our illusions, one tail for each sense that we can affect. I have five so I can create an illusion that can fool all five of the natural senses. My mother had seven; the most we can possess, and could affect arcane and divine sense as well. My sister only has two and can only affect taste and smell. She’s a fantastic cook, but can’t hide her appearance.” She looked at Tarra again and lifted an eyebrow. “Anything else you want to know?”
“Why do you hate Serpent so much?” Tarra said quietly. Akane stiffened at the question then sighed. “I have reasons,” she said lifting the cauldron to hang over the fire.
“First, I’m a Gaki hunter, an order similar to a holy knight that maintains the balance in the world. She is about as discordant to my purpose as one can get. Second, she hates me and hate breeds hate in return. Try as we might to stop it, it still happens. Lastly… well it’s not something I talk about much, maybe someday I’ll tell you but for now, let’s just say she earned every shred of it.”
Akane tossed the stick into the fire and stood. “How is Hyslan doing?” She said abruptly changing the topic as she began to slice vegetables for the stew. Tarra looked at the still form of the monk on the other side of the campsite.
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“He’s still asleep,” she said taking Akane’s cue. “He seemed ex-tremely tired after the fight. Why is that?” Akane stopped her actions, potato in one hand, dagger in the other.
“Because he fights with his life-force, Tarra.” She said as she resumed her preparations. “Every one of those attacks you saw that looked like magic to you drained a little more of his chi energy. Not permanently,” she clarified after looking at Tarra’s face. “It can be recovered by food and sleep, but the battle with Serpent drained them both. You can bet Serpent is just as exhausted, if not more so, right now.” She looked at Tarra again and smiled. “Sit down, the stew will take awhile to cook and in the meantime, I’ll tell you all I know about the Haudragon fighting style monks like Hyslan practice.” She gave a brief chuckle. “at I will talk about.”
Temple Monk (TM) Prestige Class
The Shaolin Monks, Street Fighter and Mortal Combat video games, the Kung Fu television series -- all around our culture
we can find examples of a martial artist warrior who trains his or her mind and body on a path to spiritual harmony and balance. is concept, has entered into the imaginations of more than a few writers and screenplays. In the 3rd Edition rules there is a Monk class that allows the player to touch upon the scenes we see in the popular mov-ies and games; but this class is only a beginning onto this path. e Monk is designed for an adventurer, a person who has no home but the road and who has little choice in this life than to learn the ways of other classes to survive in this harsh world. A dedication to survival yes, but not one for the harder paths. ose who embrace the path of self-discipline and give themselves fully to the study of a chosen path learn so many more secrets of their bodies and their chi. e Temple Monk prestige class is difficult to qualify for to help make it scarce and to also show the dedication it would require. ere are as many variants of fighting styles within martial arts, as there are stars in the sky and so I have constructed a fighting style that I will use for a template. is style I have chosen to call the Haudragon style. e requirements listed for the prestige class are the same for any other styles you may make in the future, but the abilities listed are unique for this particular style.
It should also be noted that the appearance of a Temple Monk would vary greatly for different styles. Some may wear long robes similar to Chinese martial art movies; others may only wear a pair of loose fitting pants and go barechested. Some monks will shave their heads as a sign of humility and a symbol of leaving their former lives while others do so because in a humid climate it’s the best way to pre-vent lice. Some scorn weapons and only use their natural weaponry; others feel the union of a warrior and his weapon is the ultimate goal. In a magical world, you can even go further to say that some styles prefer visible tattoos while others have tattoos that only appear briefly when called upon or forbid them entirely as a desecration of the body. As in all things, there is a vast variety in appearance between students of different styles, but students of the same style are just as unique. A discipline of balance never rules out the individual of the practitioner.
e various styles are normally associated with a specific temple or school. e instructors are revered to by a title of respect such as Sensei, Teacher, Master, or by a particular grand title such as Lord of the Dragon Winds. How they refer to their pupils is a case-by-case basis. Some do refer to them as ‘My child, son, or daughter.’ Others make them earn their own name by deed; calling them student or belittling names like ‘Grasshopper’ or ‘Sparrow.’ Most simply call them by their given name however, leaving the name-calling to happen in
the dormitories. Most students refer to their style under the temple’s name. For example, the ‘Haudragon temple style’ or just the ‘Haudrag-on style.’ A few styles, mostly ones with few practitioners, use the word clan instead of style, like ‘Golden Panther Clan.’
To learn a style, the character must begin as a student at the first level of the prestige class. Advancement is then done in a normal fash-ion as any other prestige class. If the character for some reason stops his advancement in the style and begins to learn another style then they must begin again at the first level as the new style is like a com-pletely different prestige class. In the unlikely event that the character ever wishes to continue down the path of a previous style then they must begin again at first level and progress as normal. is reflects the time taken to relearn the old style and the spiritual purification they have performed to begin to walk down this particular path. As the path of a Temple Monk is a path of self-enlightenment, the abilities of previous styles are still usable, though some arts are not well received by other instructors when used during lessons.
A typical student begins study within the school of choice around the age of 10. e student’s life is under a strict schedule at all times. A common schedule could be as follows.
Morning6:00 for morning meditation. 7:30 small meal taken with the rest of the students in a dining hall. 8:00 classes begin consisting of art in many forms, philosophy, and
general knowledge. 12:00 a second small meal is taken in the dining hall
Afternoon12:30 a brief time is granted to the student to use as they see fit 1:00 temple chores begin based on age of students; older students
perform the more labor-intensive tasks 4:00 an hour is granted to bathe, rest, and meditate5:00 students assemble at the training hall for instruction in the
martial style of the temple by their teachers
Evening8:00 final meal is taken in the dining hall. 8:30 another chance to bathe and rest9:00 students may use this time as they wish 10:00 retire for the evening to sleep
For the most part, a student remains at the temple until they themselves decide to leave and return to their families or wherever they choose to go, though there are a few cases where the student is expelled from the temple for some major infraction of the rules. A student who leaves the temple and wanders the world in a similar manner to the 3rd Edition class still stands out with their abilities and dress being slightly more flamboyant than their counterparts.
Among the friendlier temples, there are sometimes competitions between top students. ese are almost always part of a celebration during some festival being held and are non-lethal, though injuries do sometimes occur. ough the path of most styles is one of non-vio-lence, the priests and teachers of the temples still follow a ritualized form of hierarchy by combat. Any student or lower instructor may choose to challenge an instructor for their position. e two individu-als then go to the outdoor arena of the temple in full view of the rest of the temple’s inhabitants and begin the duel. In these days it is more a show to the younger students than anything else. Both the duel-ists know who is the more qualified before they even begin, and after
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mild displays of ability on both sides the battle is over and the loser concedes to the victor. is practice hearkens back to a time when the forces of the Imperial police sieged the temples and it was necessary to have the strongest instructors in positions to protect the temples. An offshoot of this practice that is still in effect but practiced no longer is the option of taking the life of the loser. is practice was only used by the most brutal of styles during those times, but still perseveres as an option, however unused, to this day.
Hit Dice: d8
REQUIREMENTSTo qualify to become a Temple Monk a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Class Level: 1 level in Monk classSkills: Balance: 7 Ranks, Concentration: 6 Ranks, Jump: 5
Ranks, and Tumble: 6 Ranks.Feats: Alertness, Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, and Toughness.Base Attack Bonus: +5
CLASS SKILLSe Temple Monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill)
are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge, Arcana (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level are 4 + Intelligence modifier.
CLASS FEATURESe following are class features of the Temple Monk prestige
class.Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Temple Monk gains
proficiency in any Exotic Weapons that are practiced by their style. A Temple Monk is still restricted in Armor as per the Monk Class.
Monk Abilities: e levels of a Temple Monk are added to the character’s Monk levels to determine the character’s unarmed combat damage, AC adjustments and Speed.
Style Maneuvers: Depending on the style, there are special maneuvers that a character may learn to perform over time. Some of them will have prerequisites of their own and only one maneuver may be mastered per Temple Monk level. Maneuvers take chi energy to perform. A character’s chi energy total is determined by multiplying the character’s Con statistic by their prestige class level. is number tells how much energy they possess a day. Each maneuver costs a specified number of these points and the character may only replen-ish these points with sleep and food. Activating a maneuver is a free action.
Haudragon Style
e fighting style of the Haudragon contains several maneuvers that are unique. Below is a listing of a few of the most common. is is not a complete list to allow GMs to create their own maneuvers so that the old Masters may surprise the youngsters from time to time.
Raging Storm
is is one of the first maneuvers normally taught to students. e character may project a burst of electrical energy from their hand which has a range of 20 feet long and is 5 feet wide. It does 2d6 points of damage and costs 1 unit of chi energy.
Claws of the Seven Winds
is maneuver imbues the character’s hands with chi energy allowing them to strike and grab an opponent with iron hard fingers. ey do an additional d4 points of damage and may grab hold of the oppo-nent’s weapon without damaging themselves and attempt to disarm them. is effect lasts for only one combat round and costs 2 units of chi energy.
Spirit Dragon Flames
is maneuver is a more defensive than offensive one. e character summons a whirlwind of flame around themselves, damaging anyone within melee range for 4d4 points of damage and stunning them for one round. is maneuver requires that the character knows the Rag-ing Storm maneuver before learning this one and costs 5 units of chi energy.
Earth Dragon Sundering
is maneuver causes a kinetic extension of the force of a character’s blow to strike an opponent’s core and shatter their bones. e blow does an additional d6 points of damage to the opponent and also causes them to have a –2 penalty to hit for the duration of combat or until magical healing is received. is maneuver costs 3 units of chi energy.
Shroud of the Cloud Dragon
is maneuver creates a distortion around the character similar to a blur spell. is adds an additional +4 to the character’s AC lasting for the duration of the round. is maneuver costs 2 units of chi energy.
Ghost Dragon Slash
is maneuver cannot be performed without a bladed weapon of some form and only learned by a character that knows Shroud of the Cloud Dragon. e character appears to be attacking from one direction but their chi warps the motion and the cut actually occurs in another location. is attack gains a +3 bonus to hit and costs 2 units of chi energy.
It is a common practice to have unique weapons or items for
various temples. ere are two items unique to the Haudragon style. ese are listed below.
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ITEMS
Bladed Staff - Exotic Melee WeaponCost: 40 gpDamage: 1d8 +Str. Bonus.Critical: 19-20/ x2Range Increment: N/AWeight: 5lb. Type: Slashing/Bludgeoning
Description: Among the practitioners of the Haudragon style there is one weapon trained in that is unique to them. is weapon is the bladed staff, a four-foot fighting staff of some form of hard wood with a single edged metal blade mounted on each end. e weapon conforms to the rules for double-sided weapons and if enchanted, follows those requirements.
Leather Bodyvest - Light ArmorCost: 25 gpArmor Bonus: +2Max Dex. Bonus: +8Armor Check Penalty: 0Arcane Spell Failure: 5%Speed: 30ft. 20ft.Weight: 5 lb.
Description: is armor is a full sleeveless vest that has small metal plates sewn within the layers. e vest only covers the torso from waist to neck but fits so comfortably that there is no loss to dexterity. It is easily concealed under robes or clothing and does not hinder the wearer’s movement. A character that has the Monk’s ability Fast Movement is not affected by this armor.
Akane leaned back against a boulder and sighed in contentment. Beside her lay her bowl scraped clean of her third helping of stew. “I think that next time out; I’m letting Tarra season all the meals.” Tarra blushed around her spoon at this remark. Hyslan dipped another chunk of hardtack biscuit into his bowl and blew on it to cool it before taking a large bite. His color and health had returned to their normal appearance after his rest and he was eating with voracious appetite. “Seriously, Tarra,” Akane said, “where did you learn so much about herbs?” Tarra put down her bowl and licked her lips before replying.
“About three years ago my friend Arasaun came back from an adventure covered in wounds, some of which were poisoned. He col-lects books and told me there was one with information about herbs that could help. Later, after he had recovered, I looked at some of the other herb books he had and one of them happened to have a section about cooking in it.”
“is Arasaun,” Akane asked as she shifted into a more comfort-able position, “he’s the one that knows Iljrene right? e one you are going to be traveling with?” Tarra nodded. e kitsune considered this for a moment. “I’ve heard a lot about him from the trio. I’ve always wanted to meet him.”
“e trio?” Tarra said puzzled. Akane gave a bark of laughter.“Iljrene, Anna, and Onyx,” she clarified. “We in the Sisterhood
call them that behind their backs. Why hello, little one!” is sudden change in conversation was directed to Akane’s left. Beside her, just coming into the ring of firelight, was a small chipmunk with bright
eyes. Reaching for one of the biscuits, she broke off a portion and tossed it to him, “Here you go.” Tarra laughed at the sight of the chip-munk stuffing its cheeks with the food and scampering off as Akane dusted her hands. “Little beggars,” she said good-naturedly.
“Akane?” Tarra asked. e warrior looked up at her. “What is Iljrene like?” she stammered. “I mean she’s Drow right? So why is she…?”
“Why is she the leader of a group of people who fight against evil?” Akane finished in a knowing tone. “at’s what you want to know right?” Tarra nodded and blushed causing Akane to sigh. “You don’t need to get so embarrassed about it, Tarra. It’s a valid question.” Akane sat up and devoted herself to the answer. “I was never much for the recruitment speech but here goes,” she grinned. “Iljrene doesn’t talk about her past too much except that she used to live in a Drow city underground. She says that she just wasn’t like everyone else, she always had a good heart and that got her in trouble one day. So she ran to the surface here and learned to live under the sun. I hear that it wasn’t pleasant. After a while she acquired her sword Darkmoon, but she’s always rather vague on those details. I know more about when the three of them met and what happened after. Onyx is an Elven princess you know.” Akane looked at Tarra’s face and shrugged. “Okay, so now you know, anyway she is descended from the line of Ari’Telmithus.”
“Gamiela Ari’Telmithus the Necrite Wars heroine?” Tarra inter-rupted. Akane nodded.
“So Onyx wasn’t nearly as powerful as she is now, but was a fair Battlemage at the time. She heard of a sighting of Shodukari. I’m sure you know what that would do to an elf if you know anything about the Necrite Wars.” She looked at Tarra intently. “So she tracked down this lead and ran into Iljrene. Not exactly the friendliest of meetings if you get my drift. e two of them were blade to blade when Anna showed up. Anna managed to convince Onyx that she was a paladin and could find no evil in Iljrene’s soul so Onyx reluctantly stopped the fight. at was the first time that the trio ran into a Necromancer. Luckily he wasn’t all that powerful or they would have a much differ-ent lifetime, shorter for one,” Akane chuckled humorlessly.
“Iljrene saved Onyx’s life during that adventure, selflessly, willingly. She took on a horde of ghasts single-handed when they at-tacked Onyx. e Necromancer put up a fight as well, but Shodukari wasn’t there, it was just some sword the Necromancer had made out of obsidian. at was the battle when Anna lost her arm as well.” She looked at Tarra’s eyes and gave a gesture as if handing her something. “Okay you didn’t know that either. After they got back Onyx had the Elven Artisans of the city make her a new one out of mithril. Anna keeps it covered all the time so you don’t see it. Onyx also had a dag-ger crafted for Iljrene, you should have her show it to you next time you meet, and it’s got ‘Forged in Friendship’ inscribed on the blade and is a beautiful piece of work. However, that kind of got Onyx in trouble with her family for befriending a Drow. So the three of them decided that since they really didn’t have a family of their own they would be like sisters to each other. ey organized the Sisterhood and started recruiting members. It didn’t matter who you were or more importantly what you were to them, as long as whom you were inside was good then they welcomed you.”
Akane looked distantly into the fire for a moment. “ey gave me a family when I didn’t think I had one anymore, and then helped me find my sister and break her chains.” She shook her head briefly as if to clear it and looked up at Tarra again, eyes flashing emerald in the night. “So if you want to know what Iljrene, or any other Sister, is like then I guess I’d say strong, determined, compassionate, open-minded,
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and loyal. What I know about Iljrene’s personality is that she is the most responsible and charismatic leader I’ve ever seen. She gets things done and works just as hard if not more so than everyone else. But she likes to collect stuffed toys and loves flowers. Everything is a won-der to her in nature because she lived in darkness for so long when she came to the surface she said it was so full of color and life. She gets sentimental sometimes. She has a love letter that someone gave her years ago with a poem in it. e paper is practically in tatters now it’s so old, but she carries it in her belt pouch everywhere she goes. She’s also a pack rat; she had a belt with a series of enchanted pouches made to carry a wagonload of stuff with her. You need something obscure? She probably has it in on of those pouches. Iljrene is also the most deadly swordswoman I have ever seen. I know she’s crossed blades with the Dragon Queen at least once and she lived to tell about it.”
Tarra’s eyes widen at that. Even her tiny village had heard of the almost legendary leader of the Crimson Dragons mercenary army. “So in all, what is Iljrene like?” Akane paused and smiled, “she’s my Sister, Tarra, and yours, and all the rest of us.”
Hyslan had remained quiet throughout the conversation, but chose now to speak. “e Sisters are truly important in these times, Tarra. Many owe their lives and survival to them for their actions, though they do not know it.” He set aside his bowl and looked at her over the fire. “I’m glad that you were offered a chance to join. I see great potential within you.” He stood and stretched, “But it is late and as you both cooked while I slept, it is only fair that I should clean the pots and have first watch.”
“Fine by me,” Akane said as drew her blade. She lay down and wrapped herself in a blanket, folding another over the blade to keep off the dew. Tarra likewise lay down to sleep.
“Tarra?” Akane’s voice called out after a few minutes of silence. “Uhm?” she replied.“I know its kind of late to say it, but Merry Birthday.” ere was
the sound of Akane rolling over. “Goodnight.” Tarra reflected on that for a while, watching the
stars overhead. at’s right; it was her birthday. In all the excitement she had forgotten that fact. It certainly had been a memorable one though. As her eyes slide shut she gave a sleepy chuckle when she thought how surprised Arasaun would be to her telling him a story for a change.
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MINITATURES CORNER Written by Steve Creech
Excelsior Entertainment has their own line of miniatures that, while designed for wargaming, easily double for use in tabletop role-playing games. e first of these miniatures is a two pack for their WarZone miniatures game, Mishima Doomtroopers.
“Feared throughout the universe, Doomtroopers are the coporations most prestigious warriors. Paired into two man teams, one specializes in close combat while their partner specializes in ranged combat. e Mishima Doomtroopers are the pinnacle of this Paradigm. Izumi the whirlwind, the close combat specialist is a terrifying combatant. Her multiple swords can make short work of most opponents and blur into a seeming tornado of death. Kanada the dragon, as he is known, wields a powerful auto cannon with under barrel flamethrower and carries a No Dashi in case he is engaged in close. Together they are referred to as under and Lightning.”
e detail on each miniature is quite good (unfortunately, I do not have a picture of them). Neither comes with a plastic base (at least mine didn’t), so you will have to provide them yourself. e mold lies are easily cleaned and there is very little flash to remove (which is something that rates highly in my book since I hate flash). e ranged doomtrooper comes in three pieces: the main body, a large katana and an ammo clip that attaches to the bottom of the BFG-9000 he is holding (that’s Big Freakin’ Gun for you non-Doom fans). He is wear-ing a futuristic samurai-style armor that lends itself to painting quite easily.
e other figure comes in five distinct pieces: the main body, two swords, scabbard and a smaller gun. is one will require substantial effort to correctly place and glue the parts, probably needing to be pinned or filled. is one is not for amateurs and painting it is a bit more challenging. e swords definitely give the mini a formidable feel, however.
e overall look of the minis makes them suitable for any futuristic game and possibly a modern game if you consider the guns to be top-secret prototypes. As a pair, they carry a retail price of $9.99 (product number EXE-30434) and seem a reasonable value given the attention to detail and lack of casting
problems.
e next miniature by Excelsior is the Stygian Desert Crawler. As you can see, it is a hefty piece of metal. Eleven different pieces come in the package, but in reality there are much more. Each leg must be detached and then pinned in place. e size and mass of
the mini makes it relatively easy to paint and work with.
“Desert Crawlers have long sinewy bodies with powerful, earth-moving claws and large gaping jaws. ey travel just beneath the surface of the desert only to rise up and drag down anything unfortunate enough to be caught in their grasp. e Stygians employ these monsters for deep insertion behind an enemy’s line. As they travel quickly underground, a Desert Crawler is quite capable of striking at an enemy from behind their ranks. ey have been known to cause chaos when they do this, sending warbands scattering to the four winds in an attempt to escape its gaping maw. Particularly large Desert Crawlers have even been known to come up underneath troops and swallow them whole. is unit costs 74 points in your Stygian army.”
is is a monster that can easily fit into your RPG game. It can double for any number of burrowing worm-like creatures, such as polar worms or a rhemoraz. You could even design your monster stats based upon the figure. It does have a very hefty retail price of $29.99 (product number EXE-50720) so it’s not something you are going to pick up on a whim. However, given its impressive scale and possible utility, it would make a good addition to a person’s monster collection even if you don’t play Chronopia.
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SORCEROUS BLOOD: PRESTIGE CLASSESWritten by Duane NutleyEdited by Neil RachynskiSection 15: Sorcerous Blood: Prestige Classes Copyright 2003, Duane Nutley
The last article introduced the concept of sorcerous bloodlines and showed a number of feats that sorcerers of a certain blood-
line could take. is article follows on from that and looks at some prestige classes that sorcerers can take, depending on their bloodline. ese prestige classes focus on the bloodline and gaining as much as possible from their heredity while still improving arcane might. Usu-ally it is trying to combine their bloodline with arcane prowess. After this is a section on roleplaying tips to consider based on the blood-lines. ese tips will include physical changes that may occur (GMs and player choice) and generalizations about sorcerers from a certain bloodline. For example sorcerers from the Fey tradition are usually chaotic and full of wanderlust. ey like to use illusion or enchant-ment magics.
One adjustment to the previous article: When dropping spells to deal damage with some of the bloodline feats, calculate the amount of damage dealt as follows. 1d6 per spell level dropped + half the caster level. Eg. Dmirtrun, a 10th level Drasorn with Dragon Breath feat, drops a 4th level spell to power up the feat. Damage will be 9d6 – 4d6 (spell level) + 5d6 (half spellcaster level). Also round down spellcaster level.
Sorcerers of the different bloodlines have over time called them-selves by a distinct name, to separate themselves from the different type of sorcerers. ese names are not common knowledge, but any-one with a few ranks in Knowledge Arcane will know of the names, as will those who associate with sorcerers of a certain bloodline. Celestial sorcerers are known as Celestians, Draconic as Drasorns, El-ementals as Elemens, Fey as Feyans, Fiend as Fiendiels, Lycanthrope as Lycantherans and Outsider as Outsidians. ese names are not to be confused with the names of the prestige classes. e prestige class for each bloodline is known by a different name.
Prestige Classes
ere are seven prestige classes detailed below, one for each bloodline. Each is a five level class that a sorcerer can take to explore more of their bloodline abilities. As magic is part of their bloodline, they are able to improve their spellcasting as well as their other abili-ties. Usually during this time of heredity contemplation they undergo more distinct physical changes until finally they attain their highest status: becoming one with their forefathers. Sorcerers of draconic bloodlines become half-dragons for example, elemental sorcerers take the elemental template, etc.
It is only natural that a person wants to know about their past and where they came from. When the past affects a person’s present, like it does for all sorcerers, then the need is even more press-ing. What does it mean to have the blood of a dragon, a fairy or even an angel inside of you? Some sorcerers do not care and take what they have either as a curse or blessing. Others however wish to learn more about their past and the blood that courses through their veins. ey follow a path of their own mak-ing, but one that leads all who take it along
the same track. A track on which they learn more about their magic, the abilities their blood empowers and the way to virtually complete their heritage.
ese prestige classes are ones that one sorcerers of the appro-priate bloodline can take. At 3rd level all sorcerers who take a prestige class must also roll once on the appearance table for their bloodline. is is to show the influence the awakening of the power in their blood has while taking the path of self-discovery.
Celestial sorcerer PrC – Angelic Arcanist
HD: d4.
RequirementsFeats: Celestial Magics, Holy Wings.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Special: Celestial Bloodline.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Diplomacy: 5 ranks.Knowledge (Planes): 8 ranks.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Angelic Arcanists gain no
new weapon or armor proficiencies.Divine Skills: Angelic Arcanists gain a +2 heritage bonus to
Diplomacy and Heal.Smite Evil: Once per day, Angelic Arcanists can use the smite
evil ability of a paladin.Celestial Healing: Angelic Arcanists gain this bloodline feat for
free.Holy Amor: e Angelic Arcanist gains a deflection bonus to
their AC equal to their Charisma modifier (if positive). is reflects that they are becoming more celestial than humanoid.
Merging with the Divine (Su): At 5th level a Angelic Arcanist reaches the peak of their power. e sorcerer gains the half-celestial template and all that goes with it.
Angelic ArcanistClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Divine skills +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Smite Evil +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Celestial Healing +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Holy Armor +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Merging with the Divine +1 spellcasting level
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Draconic sorcerer PrC – Sorcerous Draconi
HD: d4
Requirements.Feats: Dragon Breath, Dragon Wings.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Dragons): 8 ranks.Special: Draconic Bloodline.Special: Must have worked for a dragon for a full 12 month
period.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Sorcerous Draconi gain no
new weapon or armor proficiencies.Dragon Senses: e first power gained is heightened senses,
both physical and intellectual. Sorcerous Draconi are able to see and listen twice as far as others of their race. ey also gain a +2 heritage bonus to Knowledge Arcana and Spellcraft.
Eyes of the Dragon: Sorcerous Draconi gain this bloodline feat for free.
Dragon Presence: Once per level per day a Sorcerous Draconi can cast fear as a standard action as the spell. All variables for the spell use the Sorcerous Draconi’s spellcaster level.
Dragon Shape: As a full round action, a Sorcerous Draconi can assume the shape of a dragon of his own size once per day. A halfling Sorcerous Draconi will be no bigger than he is tall. is shapechange last for one minute/Con modifier (minimum one minute). e Sor-cerous Draconi must choose the color upon initiating the change. He gains all the extraordinary abilities of a young dragon: natural armor bonus, all attack modes of a dragon of that size, frightful presence, immunities, blindsight and keen senses. He retains his own saves, spellcasting ability and Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, while taking on the Strength, Dexterity and Con-stitution of the young dragon.
Draconic Restoration: By this level a Sorcerous Draconi has learnt all they can along this path. He gains the half-dragon template and all the benefits that go with it.
Elemental sorcerer PrC – Magus of the Invoked
Element
HD: d4
Requirements.Feats: Elemental Power, Elemental Summoning.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Planes): 8 ranks.Special: Elemental Bloodline.Special: Must have made peaceful contact with a Large Elemen-
tal that was not summoned by the player.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Magus
of the Invoked Element gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Elemental Knowledge: One of the first things a Magus learns is how to make spells from a certain element more powerful than normal. When this ability is gained, a Magus of the Invoked Element must choose one element – air, earth, fire or water. All spells cast with the corresponding descriptor: air – electricity, earth – acid, fire – fire, water – cold, gains a +1 caster level for all variables.
Elemental Resistance: A Magus of the Invoked Element gains resistance 5 against one element of their choice at 2nd level. is resis-tance increases to 10 for that element at 4th level.
Elemental Familiar: A Magus of the Invoked Element gains this bloodline feat for free.
Elemental Attainment: A Magus of the Invoked Element gains the effects of the elemental template (supplied at the end of this article).
Fey Sorcerer PrC - Prankster Arcane
HD: d4
Requirements.Feats: Fey Invisibility, Fey Willed.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Nature): 8 ranks.Special: Fey Bloodline.
Sorcerous DraconiClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Dragon senses +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Eyes of the Dragon +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Dragon Presence +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Dragon shape +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Draconic Restoration +1 spellcasting level
Magus of the Invoked ElementClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Elemental Knowledge +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Elemental resistance 5 +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Elemental Familiar +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Elemental resistance 10 +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Elemental attainment +1 spellcasting level
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Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Hell-ish Arcanists gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Hades’ Way: Fiends can be either sly and cunning or brutal and vicious and this has im-parted itself to some of their children. A Hellish Arcanist gains a +2 heritage bonus to Bluff and Intimidate.
Devil’s Breath: A Hellish Arcanist gains this bloodline feat for free.
Underworld Friend: By this level a Hellish Arcanist knows somewhat the power plays and goings on in the neth-er realms. Due to their increased knowledge they gain the services of a minor fiend (usually a imp or quasit, but any demon or devil of no more than CR 6). ey can call this friend 1/day/level for a maxi-mum of one hour no matter how many times they are summoned. For example a 4th level hellish Arcanist could summon his imp in the morning for 10 minutes, then one hour later for 5 minutes, etc. e friend will willingly do anything the Hellish Arcanist asks.
Fiend Power: By sacrificing some of their strength, a Hellish Arcanist is able to boost the efficiency of their spells. As a move-equivalent action the Hellish Arcanist can sacrifice either Strength or Constitution. For each three points drained temporarily, he gains +1 spellcaster level for the next spell cast. He cannot lose 2 points of Strength and 1 point of Constitution to gain a +1 spellcaster level on the next spell, but must choose either 3 points of Strength or 3 points of Constitution.
Hellborn: A Hellish Arcanist gains the effects of the half-fiend template at this level.
Lycanthrope sorcerer PrC – Skinwalker Mage
HD: d4
Requirements.Feats: Animal Claws, ick Hide.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Lycanthropes): 8 ranks.Special: Lycanthrope Bloodline.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Animal Empathy (Cha), Concentra-tion (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Profes-sion (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Special: Must have helped fey to defend a woodland area against invaders.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Animal Empathy (Cha), Concen-tration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Prankster Arcane gain no new
weapon or armor proficiencies.Nature’s Lore: e latent powers of the Fey bloodline start to
exert themselves at 1st level. e Prankster Arcane learns to appreciate wilderness more than before and learn more of its secrets. ey gain a +2 heritage bonus to all Animal Empathy and Wilderness Lore checks.
Sprite Wings: A Prankster Arcane gains this bloodline feat for free.
Fey Charm Immunity: Either due to more exposure of fey or as a legacy of their blood, Prankster Arcane at this level gain immunity to all charm spells cast by fey.
Summon Nature’s Ally: A Prankster Arcane can once per day cast summon nature’s ally at the highest spell level that the sorcerer can normally cast.
Pixieness: By fully delving into their powers, a Prankster Arcane gains the effects of the fey template (supplied at the end of this article).
Fiend sorcerer PrC – Hellish Arcanist
HD: d4
Requirements.Feats: Demon’s Presence, Bat Wings.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Planes): 8 ranks.Special: Fiend Bloodline.Special: Must have willingly done one service for a fiend.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class Abilities
Prankster ArcaneClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Nature’s Lore +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Sprite Wings +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Fey Charm Immunity +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Summon Nature’s Ally +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Pixieness +1 spellcasting level
Hellish ArcanistClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Hades’ Way +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Devil’s Breath +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Underworld Friend +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Fiend Power +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Hellborn +1 spellcasting level
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Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Skinwalker Mage gain no
new weapon or armor proficiencies.Nature’s Way: e animal part that is part of the link of magic
Lycantherans have starts to exert itself when this class is taken. A Skinwalker Mage gains a +2 heritage bonus to all Animal Empathy and Wilderness Lore checks.
Trackless Step: e Skinwalker Mage gains the ability to leave no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked.
Magic Fang: e Skinwalker Mage gains this bloodline feat for free.
Quicksilver Speed: e Skinwalker Mage gains this bloodline feat for free.
Skin of the Shapechanger: At 5th level a Skinwalker Mage can learn no more but how to shift from one form to their humanoid form. ey gain the lycanthrope template and must choose one of the lycanthrope types available. ey are considered to be a natural lycanthrope.
Outsider sorcerer PrC – Planar Spontanaetor
HD: d4
RequirementsFeats: Outsider Magics, Skin of the Unknown.Spellcasting: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.Spellcraft: 10 ranks.Knowledge (Planes): 8 ranks.Special: Outsider Bloodline.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points per level: 2 + Int mod.
Class AbilitiesWeapon and Armor Proficiencies: Planar
Spontanaetor gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.
Favored Enemy: e blood of the Outsidian calls out in hatred against one race. e Planar Spontanaetor gains the favored enemy ability of a ranger.
Outsider Presence: A Planar Spontanaetor gains this bloodline feat for free.
Alternate Forms: Once per level per day the Outsidian can change form like the spell polymorph self. e ability acts in all ways like the spell. With time a Planar Spontanaetor may acquire a fondness for some forms over others.
Planar Protection: If the Planar Spon-tanaetor visits a plane that deals damage to those who are not native or do not have the appropriate protection, they gain immunity
to any effects.Merging with Infinity: At 5th level the Planar Spontanaetor
knows enough about themselves to transform into an outsider. He is treated as an outsider instead of a humanoid. us charm person has no effect, however they can now be affected by magic circle. Addition-ally the Planar Spontanaetor gains damage reduction 20/+1.
Appearanceey say a person’s past always catches up with them at some
point in their life. But what if an ancestor’s past caught up with you in your life? is is just one of the things a sorcerer has to deal with during their lifetime. A sorcerer’s ability to cast magic is an inherited ability from a certain bloodline and sometimes the bloodline catches up with the sorcerer. Some sorcerers are never affected by their bloodline appearance or temperament, but occasionally a certain few reap the effects of what their forebearers had sown. e effects that a bloodline can have on a sorcerer can be either temperament, appear-ance or both. Appearance is looked at first.
Each of the bloodlines is based on a certain type of creature. ese creatures do not look like humanoids, for the most part, and as such when they mix with humanoids their offspring are a mix of each parent. Occasionally a sorcerer will be the offspring of such a couple, but usually a sorcerer is a number of generations from such a mix and will for the most part look like his parents (unless of course one of them is an exotic humanoid or non-humanoid creature). e creature that the sorcerer gained their magic from may from time to time im-part some of its features to its descendants. is may be something as simple as dry skin, long unkempt hair and excessive body hair to ac-tual scales on the body, fangs, green hair or even wings! is does not mean that the features gained are useful. A draconic sorcerer might be unlucky enough to have a scaly face and small wings sprout from their back, but the wings are not strong enough to allow him flight.
When a sorcerer character is chosen, the player and GM must decide if the character will have any features from the bloodline chosen. Alternatively the GM or player can roll and see what type of feature, if any, the character will have. Check the table under each bloodline listing for a list of possible physical features. e GM and player must take into account any type of difference in the character with the greater world and how the greater world will perceive the
Skinwalker MageClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Nature’s Way +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Trackless Step +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Magic Fang +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Quicksilver Speed +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Skin of the Shapechanger +1 spellcasting level
Planar SpontanaetorClass Level
BAB Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special Spellcasting
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Favored Enemy +1 spellcasting level
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Outsider Presence +1 spellcasting level
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Alternate Forms +1 spellcasting level
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Planar Protection +1 spellcasting level
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Merging with Infinity +1 spellcasting level
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individual.
Celestial
1 Wings
2-5 Silver Hair
6-9 None
10 Beautific Countenance
11-14 Golden Eyes
15-16 No Body Hair or Blemishes
17-18 None
19 Feathery Down
20 Roll Twice
Wings: Having wings is both a boon and a curse to those that have them. First all clothing for the chest, as in shirts or dresses, need to be modified to accommodate the wings. Having wings can make other people see someone in a bad light and there will be no deal-ings with that person or their associates. However wings give double normal movement in flight with an average manovuerability. Wings are feathery in appearance, instead of scales or bat-like.
Silver Hair: is is not a tinge, but a whole hair color. How-ever as elves are known to have silver hair as well, this is not seen as peculiar.
Beautific countenance: Celestians with this modified appearance actually look like their skin and face are glowing. ey look almost otherworldly. All social transactions are made at a +2 heritage bonus to Charisma.
Golden Eyes: Sight is unaffected, but if people get a good look at their eyes, they may be disturbed, shocked or outright violent towards the person. GMs should roleplay all NPCs as they choose.
No Body Hair or Blemishes: Celestians with this feature are ‘blessed’ with having no facial hair or any birthmarks. ey still have hair on their head, but have no hair from the eyebrows down.
Feathery down: Instead of wings, Celestians have a coat of feathery down from the bottom of the neck down. is covers their arms, legs, hands and feet instead of normal body hair. If they are not covered up anyone making a Spot check DC 15 is able to notice this characteristic and may act differently to the person.
Draconic
1 Red Eyes
2 Dry Skin
3-4 Heavily Browed Face
5-6 None
7 Wing Stubs
8-10 Scales
11-13 Tail Stub
14-16 Hieght Increase
17-18 Wings
19 Tail
20 Roll Twice
Red Eyes: Like the Golden Eyes of Celestians, Drasorns with red eyes do not have their eyesight affected, this is more of a roleplaying aspect.
Dry skin: eir skin flakes in large pieces. is may cause ad-verse reactions in people they are associating with at the time if large bits of skin start falling off their arms while expressing themselves. While casting spells with somatic components, it may look like they are shedding their skin if lots of skin are peeling off at the same time.
Heavily browed face: Drasorns with this appearance appear slightly Neanderthal in the face with a broad jutting forehead. While not affecting them intellectually, in social settings others may think them slow or stupid. Some players may take advantage of this by playing up to this aspect and then surprising opponents with their intellect and cunning. Others may be irritated or angry with those who think them slow or stupid.
Wing Stubs: Draconic sorcerers who have wing stubs are pitied by other draconic sorcerers for not reaching their full potential. ose with wing stubs have the worst of it all as all clothing for the torso must be altered to accommodate for the stubs. Some Drasorns with this feature will prefer to look hunchbacked than explain their ap-pearance.
Scales: Instead of body hair, draconic sorcerers with this feature have actual repitilian scales on their body. is may affect them so severely that they also have no hair on their heads as scales as there as well. Because of the hardening of the skin into scales, all Drasorns with this appearance have a +1 bonus to their natural armor. Unfor-tunately unless they cover up, they also incur a –2 Charisma penalty for all social interactions (Bluff and Diplomacy are also affected). GMs may also decide that all commoners are scared or confused about the person due to their repitilian features.
Tail Stub: A tail stub is not as effectual as a full tail and incurs its own drawbacks to those with this appearance. All clothing for pants or leggings must be modified to accommodate the tail stub. Also Dra-sorns may wish to hide or conceal this deformity in some way.
Height Increase: Due to their heritage some draconic sorcerers are larger than other members of their race. us when determin-ing height for the Drasorn add an additional 1d6+8 inches to their height. Additional add a further 2d10 lbs to their weight. If the height increase carries them into the next height category, the sorcerer losses all benefits of the smaller class and incurs all the modifiers for the higher height.
Wings: Draconic sorcerers with this appearance have full scaly wings like their forefathers. e wings are proportional to their body size. ese wings are capable of carrying their body weight into full flight. Movement is at double normal movement with average maneu-verability. However having wings affects their social interactions with those who are not as openminded as some people.
Tail: A long scaly tail furls out from the bottom of the torso at all times. e immediate effect of this is that all pants/leggings need to be modified to accommodate the tail. As with all abnormal humanoid features, the tail affects the sorcerer’s social interactions. With practice the sorcerer can, as a standard action, use the tail as a tail sweep and sweep opponents off their feet. e sorcerer acts as if they had the Improved Trip feat.
Elemental
1-4 Tinged Skin
5-8 None
9-11 Body Markings
12-14 Tinged Hair
15-16 Elemental Skin
17-19 None
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20 Roll TwiceTinged Skin: Elemental sorcerers with this appearance have a
slight tinge to the color of their skin. is can be either blue, green, red, brown or even rarely a combination of these colors. e depth of the tinge is up to the player and/or GM to determine. is may only have gameplay affects if someone makes a Spot check DC 15 and notices the color tinge on any exposed skin.
Body Markings: Instead of their skin being colored, the skin is tattooed in places with symbols representing the elements. No one single element dominates. ese tattooes are usually on the torso, arms and legs extending to hands and feet. While not influencing re-actions in others, as others have tattooes, some Elemens feel tingling in this tattooes when they cast certain spells. ese tattooes cannot come off without the aid or a wish or miracle.
Tinged Hair: Tinged Hair causes the end of the hair of an Ele-men to be tinged either red, blue or green. is has no real effect if people they are interacting with have had some contact with elves as different subraces of elves have this coloring as well.
Elemental Skin: Elemental Skin is more extreme than tinged skin in that all the skin is of a different color than is normal for that race. Colors include, but are not limited to, red, blue, brown, yellow or green. is obviously has effects on social interactions depending on how the Elemen acts.
Fey
1-2 Green Hair
3-4 Blue Hair
5-6 None
7 No Body Hair
8-9 Tinged Skin
10-12 Invisible Wings
13-14 No Pupils
15-17 Hieght Reduction
18-19 Visible Wings
20 Roll Twice
Green or Blue Hair: e entirity of the hair is the one color, not ust tinging that Elemens may experience. is may have no adverse effects as it is believed by some people that elves have really weird hair color. However this may cause problems if the sorcerer is not an elf and does not want to be assumed as one.
No body hair: e only hair a Feyan has is what is on top of their head. Otherwise they have no eyebrows or hair anywhere else on their body.
Tinged Skin: e normal colors that may tinge a skin are green or brown. However some Feyans have had red, yellow, black tinged skin. Effects are otherwise similar to Elemens.
Invisible wings: A Feyan with this appearance appears totally normal, unless one makes a Spot check DC 15 to notice that there are holes in any torso clothing, that is if they were clothing on the chest. A see invisible will see the wings as well. A Fey sorcerer is capable of flight and can move at twice their normal movement with good maneuverability.
No pupils: Sorcerers with this feature have no black pupils in their eyes at all. is is quite hard to notice from a distance, Spot check DC 25 DC 20 when within 5 feet, but may cause adverse reac-tions in people that do notice this unusual feature.
Height reduction: As normal fey are quite small, sometimes this leaves a legacy on their descendants. When determining the height of the Feyan minus 1d6+8 inches from their height. If this causes them to go into height category, the character has all the height features of that category. Also the weight of the sorcerer is decreased by 2d10.
Visible Wings: Like other bloodline sorcerers with wings, Fey sorcerers must alter all torso clothing to accommodate their wings. Wings are gossamer and quite light compared to the scaly wings of Drasorns. Feyans with visible wings are capable of flight at twice their normal movement with good maneuverability.
Fiend
1-2 Dark Skin
3-5 Excessive Body Hair
6-8 None
9 Red Eyes
10-11 No Pupils
12-14 No Body Hair
15 Wing Stubs
16 Scales
17-18 Barbs
19 Bat Wings
20 Rolls Twice
Dark skin: Sorcerers with this feature appear more dark in skin color than others of their race. is can be either brown or black in color.
Excessive body hair: Fiendiels with this appearance have more body hair than others of their race. Back hair is also common.
Red Eyes: Like the Golden Eyes of Celestians, Fiendiels with red eyes do not have their eyesight affected, this is more of a roleplaying aspect.
No pupils: Sorcerers with this feature have no black pupils in their eyes at all. is is quite hard to notice from a distance, Spot check DC 25 DC 20 when within 5 feet, but may cause adverse reac-tions in people that do notice this unusual feature.
No body hair: e opposite of excessive body hair, the only hair a Fiend sorcerer has is what is on top of their head. Otherwise they have no eyebrows or hair anywhere else on their body.
Wing stubs: ose with wing stubs have the worst of it all as all clothing for the torso must be altered to accommodate for the stubs and they are not capable of flight like those with bat wings. Some sor-cerers with this feature will prefer to look hunchbacked than explain their appearance.
Scales: Instead of body hair, fiend sorcerers with this feature have actual repitilian scales on their body. is may affect them so severely that they also have no hair on their heads as scales as there as well. Because of the hardening of the skin into scales, all Fiendiels with this appearance have a +1 bonus to their natural armor. Unfortunately unless they cover up, they also incur a –2 Charisma penalty for all social interactions (Bluff and Diplomacy are also affected). GMs may also decide that all commoners are scared or confused about the person due to their repitilian features.
Barbs: is could be seen as one of the worst appearance to have as barbs cover the back, arms and legs of the sorcerer. is severely restricts what clothing can be worn. Armor is hard to be worn unless it is extensively modified (twice normal price) otherwise the sorcerer
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is in constant pain from the doubling over of the barbs. Social interac-tions are extremely vexing for Fiend sorcerers with this appearance as no-one wishes to associate or deal with someone who obviously looks like a monster. However the barbs are useful in combat. Any time a Fiendiel grapples or is grappled, their opponent takes 1d4 pierc-ing damage from the sorcerer. Also unarmed combat is more lethal, dealing 1d4 piercing damage instead of the normal subdual damage and does not draw attacks of opportunity. is does not cause the sorcerer to have the virtual feat of Improved Unarmed Strike. is must be taken as normal.
Bat Wings: Some Fiendiels bear the mark of their fiendish legacy in the form of large bat wings. ese wings are in proportion to the sorcerer’s size and are capable of flight. Movement while flying is twice normal movement with average maneuverability. Aside from the normal need for modification of clothing, unless these wings are covered in some way, all social interactions will be severely limited as people assume evil and non-good intent with the sorcerer. Evil people and beings may be more favorable inclined to the sorcerer.
Lycanthrope
1-3 Course Unkempt Hair
4-6 Body Weight
7-9 Height Increase
10-12 Excessive Body Hair
13-14 None
15-17 Yellow Eyes
18-19 Fangs
20 Roll Twice
Course unkempt hair: is actually refers to hair on the one’s head being wild, shaggy and is generally hard to keep control of.
Body Weight: For Lycanthrope sorcerers body weight and height increase are two separate things. is is a legacy of their shapshifter forefathers. Add an additonal 3d10 lbs when determining body weight.
Height increase: is height increase is due to their ancestors. Add an additional 2d6+4 inches to a Lytheran’s height.
Excessive body hair: Lycantherans with this appearance have more body hair than others of their race. Back hair is also common.
Yellow Eyes: Instead of eye color appropriate to their race, sor-cerers with this feature have yellow, not golden, feral eyes. e pupil also is yellow. is is quite hard to notice from a distance, Spot check DC 25 DC 20 when within 5 feet, but may cause adverse reactions in people that do notice this unusual feature.
Fangs: e canines in a Lycanthrope sorcerer are more pro-nounced than in other people. Unless a sorcerer tries to hide these, they will be noticeable by all within 10 feet looking at the Lycanther-an. is may affect interactions with other people, especially at night time. A Spot check DC 20, DC 15 within 10 feet, will notice this feature normally. Increase the DC check by 5 if the sorcerer is trying to hide his fangs.
Outside
1-2 Odd Colored Skin
3-6 Tail
7-9 None
10-11 Mismatched Color Eyes
12 Patched Color Skin
13-14 No Body Hair
15 Tail Stub
16 Body Designs
17 Colored Eyes
18-19 Scales
20 Roll Twice
Odd colored skin: is can range from anything from tinging to full skin color for one’s skin. Any color conceivable is possible and this is to be determined by the player and/or GM. As always this may affect their interaction with others depending on the severity of the mix and if it is noticed.
Tail: A long scaly tail furls out from the bottom of the torso at all times. e immediate effect of this is that all pants/leggings need to be modified to accommodate the tail. As with all abnormal humanoid features, the tail affects the sorcerer’s social interactions. With practice (3d4 months) the sorcerer can, as a standard action, use the tail as a tail sweep and sweep opponents off their feet. e sorcerer acts as if they had the Improved Trip feat.
Mismatched color eyes: e Outsider sorcerer has two different colors for eye color, instead of just one. One eye will be one color, the other a different color. Colors for eyes are those common to the race. is may have no effect in social interaction.
Patched color skin: Instead of just one skin tone, a Outsidian has two or more colors in a mix for skin color. ese may make patterns or just be random assortments on the skin. GMs and players are encouraged to use this to full benefit and have it detailed so that all know what actual effect is. Unless effort is made to cover this up, this appearance may affect any interactions the sorcerer has with others.
No body hair: e only hair a Outsidian has is what is on top of their head. Otherwise they have no eyebrows or hair anywhere else on their body.
Tail stub: A tail stub is not as effectual as a full tail and incurs its own drawbacks to those with this appearance. All clothing for pants or leggings must be modified to accommodate the tail stub. Also Out-sidians may wish to hide or conceal this deformity in some way.
Body Designs: is may be used in two different ways. Either the Outsider sorcerer has one skin color with lines appearing on the skin, or the sorcerer is similar to Patched color skin, but the colors combine in such a way to cause patterns to appear on the skin. is should affect the whole body, head included, but players or GMs can have this affect the torso only if they so choose.
Colored Eyes: Like the Golden Eyes or Red eyes of other sor-cerer bloodlines, a sorcerer with this feature has an eye color that is different and usual to that race and humanoids in general. Any color can be chosen and the Outsidian has pupils that are normally black.
Scales: Instead of body hair, Outsider sorcerers with this feature have actual repitilian scales on their body. is may affect them so severely that they also have no hair on their heads as scales as there as well. Because of the hardening of the skin into scales, all Fiendiels with this appearance have a +1 bonus to their natural armor. Unfor-
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tunately unless they cover up, they also incur a –2 Charisma penalty for all social interactions (Bluff and Diplomacy are also affected). GMs may also decide that all commoners are scared or confused about the person due to their repitilian features.
GMs are encouraged to add more to the lists with their own creations. ese physical changes are meant more for roleplaying purposes than for advantages or disadvantages.
Temperament
e creature type that a particular bloodline is based from can determine how a sorcerer acts and thinks at times. With the appear-ance of magic a sorcerer’s point of view and reasoning can change. It is unsure whether it is the magic itself or some other factor that brings about a change in a sorcerer. A temperament change will never swing a character’s alignment, but it may cause sudden mood swings, etc. For example a normally mild, quiet and helping sorcerer may sudden become angry and perhaps even attack someone if they were from a Fiend bloodline. Normally vicious and bloodthirsty sorcerers may have sudden attacks of conscious and change from their intended course of action. ese are extremes of the scale but they can happen depending on the bloodline and the strength of the temperament. e strength of the temperament has nothing to do with physical ap-pearance and can occur at any time.
is does not mean that a GM can overrule a character’s given course of action by deciding that this is a good time to have an outburst of temperament. e GM and player will have to come to an agreement during character generation as to whether tempera-ment will play a part in the sorcerer’s life and to what extent. A player may decide that his NG sorcerer from Fey bloodline, will try to play pranks on other party members at least once a day. e only way this will change is if the other party members try to convince the sorcerer that the pranks are not appreciated. If the player agrees to tone down, the GM may decide that the player starts again more circumspently after x hours/days to a particular party member or even to unknown strangers. Refer to the pertinent bloodline section for hints as to what to expect from a sorcerer of that bloodline.
NOTE! e following is not true for every single sorcerer of the bloodline in question. ese are just generalisations and it is up to the GM and/or player to determine if they are to be used.
Celestial
Celestial sorcerers are usually kind and generous people not prone to violence. ey will prefer to solve a situation through strat-egy and resolution instead of force of arms. However they will fight with their very life for their friends or innocents if these are in danger. Celestians believe in the goodness of those races that have shown they are of good heart. For those creatures that have embraced evil there is no respite and they should be purged from the world. A Celestian does not necessarily have to beggar themselves or reduce themselves to poverty to feel good about themselves, but some Celestians believe in “tithing” themselves and donating what is tithed to whomever they see as needing it the most.
Draconic
A sorcerer from the Draconic bloodline will normally be haughty, arrogant and full of themselves. As dragons see themselves
as the mightest of all creatures, Drasorns, as the descendants of these majestic creatures, also see themselves of a like mind. If a Drasorn is convinced of a certain point, it will take mighty, factual evidence for them to be persuaded to change their mind on that point. Also never tell a Drasorn: “I told you so!”, or you might feel the might of their arcane power.
Unless a Draconic sorcerer wants to be descended from a certain type of dragon, a specific Drasorn could have any of the characteris-tics of any subspecies of Dragon. is means that a Draconic sorcerer could be as generous as a Gold Dragon or as vicious and chaotic as a Red Dragon. Dragons are normally not social creatures and prefer to be on their own. A Drasorn usually feels this way as well due to the arcane link between them and their forefathers.
Elemental
Each type of elemental is varied compared to the others. is is the same for their descendants, Elemens. e best alignment for El-emental sorcerers is Chaotic Neutral. is is because at one moment they could be talking about what they did the day before, the next the could be talking about how best to decapitate someone, without even finishing describing what they did the day before. Each element has a corresponding characteristic and an Elemen can be just one of these, or all of them in the space of five minutes. Air – flighty, unresponsive, a whim a second. Earth – stoic, plodding, grounded in realism. Fire – easy to anger, volatile, passionate. Water – calm, composed, col-lected.
Normally Elemens will take one approach in life and their view on life and stay like that. However at times their blood does betray them and then they can act anyway they so choose.
Fey
Fey sorcerers are as mischievous and prone to pranks as normal fey creatures. Feyans live for the fun of the moment and want to have a prank appreciated, even by those on the receiving end. A Fey sorcerer is more than likely to have prestidigitation as a cantrip as it is so versatile and has so many uses. Other magics they prefer are illu-sions and enchantment. However if a matter turns serious, associates may be surprised to see the Feyan give good, sound advice and act seriously for the term of a matter. is is because Feyans know there is a time for play (most of the time in fact) and a time for work. It is up to the individual Fey sorcerer though what would turn them to seriousness.
Feyans have a soft spot for animals, and will go to hell and back for a sick or injuried animal. If they see someone mistreating an ani-mal that that person is in charge of, the person could be either subject to a malicious prank or just be outright attacked for their ways.
Fiend
Just because their forefathers were of an evil nature, does not mean that all Fiend sorcerers will be of evil intent. However it does mean that they are more prone to violence than normal, even if this means physical violence over using spells. For this reason it is more likely to see Fiendiels use martial weapons than other arcane spell-casters. Unexpected rages are more common for Fiendiels than the av-erage person. It is unsure whether this is because they do not get their own way or because of their heritage. Fiend sorcerers are definitely
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power-hungry and always looking for ways to advance their position compared to those around them. Fiendiels may have an aversion to good people or buildings or objects that have good significance. ey prefer to be surrounded by sycophants who ‘play up’ the power that the Fiendiel possesses.
Lycanthropes
A Lycanthrope sorcerer is not necessarily a shapeshifter. It is just that their magic is a holdover from when an ancestor of theirs was once a shapeshifter. Like lycanthropy their moods can be affected by the moon. is means that for the three days before and after the full moon, Lycantherans may have a completely opposite point of view from what they normally have or just be generally irritable and snap-pish. At all time Lycathrope sorcerers are prone to rages and physical changes due to the rage. Lycantherans just wish to be left alone and to live their life in peace. However some Lycantherans came about due to one of the evil weres and because of this they like to revel in blood, slaughter, destruction and chaos in general.
Outsiders
As they are so many different outsiders that leave descendants with magical ability, it is not really possible to generalise Outsidians. However one thing of note is that some Outsider sorcerers have a rabid dislike and hatred for a certain particular race or monster. is may give some indication to their possible heritage. Most Outsidians are not prone to violence unless provoked or protecting their homes or loved ones. A number of Outsidians have a preferance to spells that deal with things extraplanar, either spells like dimension door, ethereal jaunt or protection from elements.
Templates
Some of the prestige classes ultimately obtain a template that is not available in the SRD. Use the ones below if an alternate source is not available to be used.
Elemental Template
is template is applied to familiars and also to Elemens if they complete the path of the Invoked Element.
AC: Natural armor improves by +1.Attacks: Gain slam attack dealing 1d4 bludgeoning and 1d4 el-
emental damage. Elemental damage is determined when the template is taken.
Special Attacks:Special Qualities: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis and stun-
ning. Not subject to critical hits. Elemental Resistance improves to 15 for the element chosen. Darkvision 60 ft.
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +0.Saves: As normal.
Feyish Template
is template is applied to Feyans who take all levels in Prank-ster Arcane.
Speed: All Feyish gain gossamer-like wings if they did not have any beforehand. Flight speed is twice normal movement with good maneuverability.
Special Attacks: charm person 3/day.Special Qualities: Feyish gain low-light vision if they did not al-
ready have it. ey are immune to all enchantment spells and effects.Abilities: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4.Saves: As normal.
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Scourge of Worlds is an official DUNGEONS & DRAG-ONS® adventure that is designed to be totally interactive and plays on any DVD player. Rhino Home Video is the creative force behind this 3-D computer animated production. With some 990 possible story combinations, this $24.95 DVD offers hours of enjoyment.
Long ago, in a land ravaged by strife, an ancient race of mages crafted the ultimate weapon to destroy their enemies and end all wars. ey called it the Aryx Orthian, the Scourge of Worlds. Hidden safely for hundreds of years, the Scourge is now sought by a new swarm of darkness threatening to unleash its secrets. A grief-stricken cleric defies his own holy order to search out the Scourge of Worlds in its hiding place deep within the lifeless wastes of the sea of dust – desiring to seize this key to incredible power for himself. To save the world, three fearless heroes – Redgar the human war-rior, Lidda the rogue halfling, and Mialee the elf wizard – must embark on a treacherous quest and choose between honor and evil, between life and death. With a secretive set of druids accosting them at every turn, and confronted by a mysterious divine appari-tion with her own hidden agenda, they will need all of their skills, wit and magic to prevent the release of the Scourge of Worlds.
But the choice is not theirs. It is yours…e basic premise behind this adventure is that the viewer
makes periodic choices (via their remote) that help determine the outcome of the story. ere are four different endings and, as mentioned above, 990 possible combinations resulting in considerable replayabilitiy. e computer animation is about as good as you would expect for the introductions to most computer games. Lidda suffers from the blocky polygon effect the most. ere are times when she moves, her neck seems especially long and her face becomes squarish. However, the graphics for both Redgar and Mialee are exceptional. Special effects such as spells and the beholder are downright stunning.
One of the few complaints I have about this product is the voice characterization. For the most part, they are spot on and carry the drama you would expect from the character; all except for Lidda, that is. Rather than portraying the halfling as an intelligent, quick-witted rogue, she is the party whiner. Her dialogue often consists of moans, groans, whines, and how un-sure of her abilities she is. An example of this comes at the end of one of the sequences where the party must pass through a portal warded against non-good. Lidda whines about her being unable to pass until Regdar reaches through the other side and simply pulls her through. At the very end of one of the endings, Lidda is reduced to nothing more than being able to whine, tremble and cry over the party’s failure (and subsequent death) to keep the Scourge from falling into the wrong hands.
Overall, this is a good product. I would easily compare it against a computer game (especially some of the D&D ones as of late) in that you have a high degree of playability and the basic storyline is, for the most part, well written. ere is a bit
SCOURGE OF WORLDS: THE DVDWritten by Steven Creech
of graphic violence in the movie, so I would recommend not letting small children see it (it’s off limits to my 5 yr. old and 3 yr. old). Is it worth $24.95? I think so. Is it something you are going to watch/play time and time again? Probably not. is is one of those DVDs that you will solve and then stick away on the shelf for six months or so only to bring it out on a rainy day or when there is absolutely nothing else on television. It has potential to be a good alternative to a night of gaming when you are short a player or two. It’s not Oscar material by any means, but gamers will enjoy it and it could even be used as a learning tool to introduce new people into the hobby if approached right.
e Gamer’s Grade: B+
More reviews of this product may be found at: d20 Magazine Rack Film Critic.com Video Premiere Awards.com
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OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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D20Zine!, Volume 5, June 2003 Copyright 2003, d20 Magazine Rack
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Issue 5, June/July 2003
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