Free Roleplaying Module: "Delig"

This quest is intended for mid to high-level adventurers. I would recommend no less than 3 characters of around level 10 or more if they are types that are more discrete. More will be needed if the party is the type to run headlong into a fight or you may have to adjust the strength of the monsters they face or supply a powerful NPC ally to go with the party.

This is a follow-on adventure to a previous one which is not yet documented. You can certainly run this campaign as a stand-alone adventure, however. In the previous adventure, the party found out that Delig and Bandor, notoriously evil characters, were planning to build airships from their base, a floating chunk of rock with a small town atop it.

It must be noted that this adventure was run early enough on the Jeran timeline that both flying ships and floating cities were not known of yet. Scinton the Wondrous was the first to learn to use a grove of Mithil Birch trees and powerful spells to render rock and earth weightless. It might work well as an introduction to the world of Jera from a more traditional fantasy world. Delig has learned the secrets of flying the cloud city Mirril and has built an underground base from which to attack with flying ships. A large opening in the side of the rock beneath Mirril allows ships to depart and attack the small cities around Ebon on almost nightly raids. The opening is concealed by the mists that constantly swirl around the cloud city and by an illusion of rock over the opening, so that it is indistinguishable from the rest of the rock below Mirril.

Delig has taken over the cloud city after trapping Scinton in a crystal ball on Mirril and has plans to attack Grunburg from the air, mostly with huge boulders dropped on the city from high above.

Background

If the previous adventure was not run (which I will document at a future date), an alternate beginning to the adventure is as follows:

• A panicked adventurer runs into the party or a single member of the party if the party has not met yet. Feel free to describe the man in whatever manner that you want. The important things to detail are that he is panicked, wounded, and his clothing is charred and have numerous slashes and tears on them. He will give the party a message, which will contain a map of the cloud city Mirril and tell them to give the message to the mayor of Grunburg.

• The man will run a distance away when he is struck from above by a hail of magic missles fired from a flying ship. As a gamemaster, you can decide whether to have the party seen or not by the airship. If you decide to have them seen, you can have Delig's men tracking down the party from time to time to add suspense and cause the party to constantly look over their shoulders.

• The message indicates that it is to be delivered to the mayor of Grunburg immediately.

• The party takes the message to the mayor of Grunburg (assuming the adventurers wish to accept the task)

Chapter 1: Meeting the Society for Freedom

Upon delivering the message of Delig and Bandor's designs to build air ships and conquer the surrounding lands, the party will be instructed to deliver a smallish chest to the Society for Freedom. It contains potions of mutation, ten in number. If the party is sucessful in delivering them, one will be given a desireable mutation as payment.

Chapter 2: Journey to Brin

The party will be given a message to be delivered to the Elven king in the city of Brin, to the NNW of Ebon. Upon completion, they will be paid a sum of 2000 gp. for their efforts.

In Brin, hot air baloons are beginning to be used for travel as well as for sport. These are to be used in future battles against Delig's forces. They can move independantly of the direction of the wind, with a Gust of Wind spell being cast on four steel orbs, one on each side of the balloon, activated command words spoken from below. The envelope of the balloons are made of the finest silk, which the elves are known for weav- ing into the finest tapestries and curtains. They are fire resistant treated, so as not to burn so readily.

The party will be invited to fly north to the dwarven capitol, to help guard the crafts in case of attack while en route. To be offered as reward will be an additional mutation potion for all involved. En route, the party will be headed off by one of Delig's ships, undead crewmen and all.

The party is given some means of flight by the Society for Freedom if they don't already have some form of flying so they will be invaluable in the safeguarding of the messenger balloon. Each member of the party is given a potion and are instructed to drink it now. It will give each party member the ability to fly as per the magic-user spell for up to one month, at which time it will wear off.

If the balloons catch fire on the way to Brin, the party will be given the message to deliver, along with a map of the Dwarven kingdom to the north, and sent on their way, as the balloons descend.

The dwarves are in the process of developing the steam locomotive. The larger cities are connected by railroad track, and from the air, prisoner troll crews can be seen laying new track. The capital city of the dwarves, Trollhammer, can be reached quickly from the air. The region is one of dense evergreen forest and high mountains. Trolls are very common here. The dwarven cities are walled, with the majority of the population living underground.

If the party completes their quest, they will be rewarded with a +1 weapon of choice. If the party returns to Sendell or to the Society for Freedom, each will be rewarded with a potion of good mutation.

Upon returning to Grunburg, they will be instructed to go to Brin, where a council of war will be held. The party will be invited to the council. To avoid delay or risk of attack, the mayor of Grunburg will take the party into his private chamber where he has a teleport portal to send the party directly to Brin. Before doing so, the mayor will give the party leader a message describing who the adventurers are and what his wishes are. The message is sealed with a wax seal and is contained in a protective tube.

The message contains instructions that the party is to sneak into Bandor's headquarters on the cloud city Mirril and demolish the airshipyards beneath Mirril's surface. By this time, Mirril has been overrun with undead and looted. The only folk left alive are those of influence, which are to be used to bargain for ransom.

The contents of the magic shop are in the hands of Delig, although digging through its ruins may turn up a magical item or two that got missed. Delig's undead are armored now with the armorer's shops' goods. The bank was looted, and few got away. The cliffs of Mirril are guarded well, and catapults line them.

Much reward can be had by returning captive relatives of wealthy and influential royalty. They are held in the underground prison in the city's old prison.

The chief guards of the city are undead Trolls. They have undead Bulette steeds, and are difficult to defeat. If the quest is taken, Sendell, the leader of the Society for Freedom, will place a shatter spell on each weapon of the party, which will last for one week. Any skeletons hit by the swords will have their bones reduced to dust. This does not apply to walking dead, zombies, etc., which have flesh outside their bones.

Delig and Bandor are to be avoided at all costs. They will prove too much for all but the highest-level adventurers. Mirril is currently in flight towards the east, where Delig has forces ready to board the cloud city for the upcoming attacks on the surrounding cities, beginning with Grunburg. Delig will try to burn the forest surrounding Grunburg, and then attack from above with rocks hurled from the two thousand foot height at which it hovers. Delig has learned the secret of Mirril's floating, and has readied several floating bases as well, though not as large as Mirril, by any means.

Delig, before attacking Grunburg, will move Mirril to the east to show it off to the forces in the distant Magog within the shadows of the Doomspires, a circular range of volcanically active mountains. Magog is the capitol of the forces of evil in the east. The kingdom is made up of trolls, goblins, Drow, Umber Hulks, and evil men, among others. The leaders are undead warriors which ride upon huge insect-like flying mounts. There are five of them, of which one is king. He is a powerful wizard and deathmaster(necromancer).

The atmosphere of the land surrounding Magog is thick with smoke and volcanic ash. The creatures that dwell there tend to live much shorter lives than the average for their respective races, many dying from lung problems. The aims of the kingdom involves killing their enemies, whereupon they are animated to work for the kingdom of Balg.

Very little of the kingdom is visible from above, much of it in extensive underground cities. Little is known of the underworld outside of Balg. Huge underground caverns house cities of Balgons.

The undead labor nonstop to extend the kingdom below ground, digging caverns and tunnels. In many places, these tunnels connect to dimension doors to the elemental plane of earth, where the excavation continues, moving the kingdom into the ore-rich regions there.

In past years, Balg has ignored the west, preferring to extend their kingdom below ground rather than to conquer above. Balg is a relatively small nation that cannot construct underground cities fast enough to keep pace with the increase in its population. The prospect of cloud cities upon which to raise future generations is very appealing.

The caves and underground cities have become a breeding grounds for disease and sickness to the Drow and humans, races ill equipped to live beneath ground for extended periods of time. It suits the Trolls and goblins well, and they would rather stay below ground. Cloud cities could provide valuable bases from which to reach out and conquer more lands, giving an advantage in warfare.

Many Balgons want merely to loot the cities of the west of gold and technology. The dwarves in the north have recently developed dynamite, which is seen as an invaluable tool in excavating new spaces below ground. They will insist on the dwarven lands as their first targets, against Delig's wishes to defeat Grunburg first. Delig wants to destroy, where Balg wishes merely to loot and plunder, having little desire for those lands, where magic grows stronger year by year. Balg wants to get in and steal what technology/magic that would prove useful and get out quickly. Again, Delig's plans are far more ambitious, fueled more by revenge against those that rejected his ideas while in Grunburg than anything else.

He saw death as something that could be exploited, and letting a corpse rot a waste. His design includes enslaving the dead for his own purposes, which in the beginning were good, including building cities and temples, agriculture, and generally freeing mankind from the need for labor. The contemporaries of the time rejected his philosophy, reguarding it as morally wrong, an abomination. It is a classic case of the end justifying the means. The only one to support his ideas was Bandor, whose apprentice that Delig was. Delig is far more powerful than his teacher now, having looted the wisdom of Scinton the Wise for his own use.

Bandor is a deathmaster of high level with the skills of the assasin as well. Bandor also raises Minschons, which are one of Delig's favorite weapon. They are put into breakable cages and used as catapult loads. Upon impact, the cages break, and their contents spring into the fray, attacking the nearest target. They have durable body armor, and thus can easily survive the impact.

If Delig succeeds in his plans, chaos could rule the world in short order. This is well known to the war council. They will suggest that the party chase down Mirril and use the dwarven hammer Quaker to destroy the ship bays of Mirril. Quaker is a powerful magic item which can cause strong earthquakes, and will be given to the party at the war council in Brin by the elven prince Kalufir.

It is desired that the party retrieve the crystal ball that houses the spirit of Scinton. Scinton has told the party that his spirit is in his familiar, Skippy the town drunk, but this is a lie.

Mirril is to be destroyed at all costs. Using Delig's own plan to tip it would be a good start, together with the power that Quaker possesses. All five of Quaker's earthquake charges are to be used to destroy Mirril. If placed all to the north, it will be sufficient to tip it. It is hoped that it can be righted later.

It is agreed not to tell the dwarves of party's posession of Quaker for fear of retribution on the party, as well as the fact that the hammer could prove crucial to the outcome of the plan.

The party will be given potions of invisibility 10' radius, as well as etheralness to help them to fulfill their quest. If the party fulfills this quest, they will each be given a beneficial power permanently, as well as 3000 gp each. This will speed the progression of the party, experience wise. If the party wishes, this can serve as a starting point for countless future adventures.