Showing posts with label Dark Sun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dark Sun. Show all posts

Saturday, February 26, 2022

New Dark Sun content

After 20 or so years, Secrets of the Deadlands has finally been released. https://athas.org/products/sotdl

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Tareks vs. Antloids

The party stumbles across a seemingly abandoned Antloid mound with traveling the wastes.  Should they investigate  (as Antloid warrens usually contain a water source in their deepest tunnels), they find that some the tunnels beginning to collapse (about 1/3 of the tunnels will experience a cave-in if subjected to climbing, area-effect spells, etc).

A group of wandering Tareks are also exploring the Antloid warren, led by an Earth Cleric (he believes Antloids to be sacred creatures, as they live within the Earth).  The Tareks might be willing to converse or even trade, as they do not plan to claim the tunnels as their own (they are also looking for the water source and some shade to wait out the heat of the day).

The same cannot be said of small group of displaced Antloids (a Dynamis, a young Queen, two Soldiers and 8 Workers), who intend to recolonize the abandoned warren.  They arrive soon after the PC's.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Ssurrans vs. Zhackals

Local traders and passing caravans indicate that a large pack of Zhackals have moved into the area, preying on small groups or those foolish enough to travel alone. 

Even more troubling is the news that a small tribe of Ssurrans are now following the Zhackals, consuming the remains of those the Zhackals have feed upon.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Sand Vortex vs. Dhaot

The party is traveling along a silt sink or silt estuary when they encounter a young boy, wandering about the scene of a destroyed caravan.  He tells them his name is Dras (only his mother calls him Andrais), and that he wants to go home, but can't find his way.  He's quick to tell the party to avoid walking near the silt here, as there's a "tentacles and teeth" monster in the silt (it's a Sand Vortex).  

The child is of course a Dhaot, but fortunately his bones lie in the road (he hid under the wagon when the "monster" attacked, but the Inix spooked, and he got crushed under the wagon wheels).

Dras knows his home is a farm outside Nibenay.  Once there, his mother (a farm slave) insists that they all go demand that Dras be interred in the noble family's mausoleum.  She tells the party that Dras' father is the noble in charge of the farming village and that he had Dras sold off when the boy's paternity started to become undeniable.   

The nobleman vehemently denies being the boys' father, but relents when Dras' mother promises to the nobleman's wife (his wife is a shrill and proud woman - she may not love him, but she'll make his life hell if she discovers he had a bastard with a slave woman).  The family mausoleum might be haunted, at the DM's option.

Before fading away to the Grey, Dras tells the party that his caravan's pay chest got dragged into the silt along with some of the guards.  They'll just have to kill the "tentacles and teeth" monster if they want it...

Friday, February 22, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Renegade Halfling vs. Kaisharga

Once, long ago, Dokala was a young Halfling girl living in a village in the Ringing Mountains.  When she came of age, she decided to set out and see more of the world.  No more than a few days travel from the tree line, she was captured by slavers and was eventually sold to a noble in Ur Draxa.  There, it was discovered that she was very gifted in the Will (psionics) and received training.  In time, she was a respected (though still owned) adviser to the nobleman (now a Templar of Borys - The Dragon).  He owner decided that she was indispensable and that the only to assure retention of her services was to have her raised as a Kaisharga.

After several centuries, Ur Draxa was destroyed and her creator/owner was killed, freeing Dokala at last.  She returned to the Forest Ridge to see how her tribe had fared, but found that they had been deemed Renegades and driven out of the Forest Ridge and were now barely surviving in the foothills of the Ringing Mountains.

Dokala has setup in a nearby ruin and uses her psionics and ability to create/control undead to keep the stronger predators away from her people without tipping them off to her presence.  

For their part, the Halfling tribe knows that there is a ruin nearby and that it is haunted by undead, but they have been lucky in that the undead seem to keep the fierce predators away from the tribe but never hassle them.  They would be horrified to know that an undead former member of their tribe had been protecting them for so long.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Cilops vs. B'rohg

A Cilops tracks a B'rohg through a region of Rocky Badlands. 

Perhaps the Cilops is simply hungry, but perhaps slavers travel alongside it, intent on capturing the B'rohg for the arenas of the City States.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Cha’thrang vs. Athasian Wraith

A shambling Elven corpse drives/leads a trine of especially large Cha’thrangs through the hunting grounds of tribes of Aarakocra.  The Cha’thrangs have now begun to associate the corpse with finding good prey.

The Elven corpse is animated by an Athasian Wraith, Chikelu Saro-Wiwa.  Chikelu served in the armies of Lalali-Puy (then known as Inenek, Aarakocra Scourge) durring the Cleansing Wars.  He is sickened by her disregard for the infestation of Aarakocra in the Tablelands and has continued to purge them on his own.  This scheme of using Cha’thrangs to do his dirty work is simply the latest in a long list of plots to slaughter Aarakocras.


 


Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Sun Paraelemental vs. Dust Glider

A small ecosystem has developed on a tiny rocky crag in the Sea of Silt.  A slain Beasthead Giant lies slumped over the rocks, slowly decomposing.  Dust Gliders swoop and snatch at the Dust Gulls picking over the Giant corpse.  Overhead, a Sun Paraelemental blazes away, happy that the Giant it killed has become a trap for more of these disgusting “fleshy beings”.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Air Elemental Beast vs. Crystal Spider

An Air Elemental Beast has been using the crystalline webs of a Crystal spider to strain out some of its offending bits of dirt and sand (like a bear rubbing up against a tree to scratch itself).  This has enraged the Crystal Spider(s), as the Air Elemental Beast kicks up windstorms.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Wood Golem vs. Tul’k

A newly-arrived band of Tul’ks have been sighted near Tyr in the foothills of the Ringing Mountains.  They are suspected of being responsible for a rash of attacks near-by, as the victims have all been bludgeoned/crushed to death by something large, solid and heavy.  A rampaging Wood Golem that has wandered over the mountains from the Forest Ridge is in fact to blame.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Sun Drake vs. Tohr-Kreen

You come across a Mantis Noble picking around the foothills of the Ringing Mountains.  When approached, he claims to have located the lair of a Sun Drake and is looking for a reasonable approach up the mountain.  The Tohr-Kreen is willing to split any treasure recovered, as it only really wants any art objects.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Cistern Fiend vs. Dune Trader

A Merchant of House has been contracted to transport a newly spawned Cistern Fiend to a remote location to guard & purify the local water source.  The party is hired on to provide extra protection for the caravan.

a)     The newly-spawned Cistern Fiend is transported in a giant water barrel on a wagon (hard to disguise).  Slaves are brought along to sacrifice (gutted and bled) into the water barrel as necessary to feed the creature.  It grows increasingly hard to protect the cargo as raiding bands seek to take the water in the barrel.
i)      Maybe the caravan's water supply grows dangerously low and the party is paid extra to keep the other guards from stealing water from the barrel.

Dark Sun - Quick Plot Hooks: Claws & Carrikals

I've decided to start posting quick plot hooks for Dark Sun to keep myself amused.  Enjoy (or not, whatever).

A Belogi and a Mul stand over a kill, both occasionally feinting an attack at the other, each waiting for their rival to give up the life-saving meal they stand over.


Monday, April 11, 2016

Under a Dark Sun: "Session 21"

"Session 21": (play-by-post, 10/20/15 - 10/21/15)

Adventure name: Relic Hunt

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)
Thrassos Haruk - Human Driud (NPC)

Due to RL complications, we've moved this game from "in person" to emails.  It's going much smoother now.

We rejoin our "heroes" out int he wilds, on the way to a ruin from the Green Age.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Under a Dark Sun: Session 20

Session 20: (play-by-post, 10/12/15 - 10/19/15)

Adventure name: Veiled Threats / Relic Hunt

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)
Thrassos Haruk - Human Driud (NPC)

Due to RL complications, we've moved this game from "in person" to emails.  It's going much smoother now.

When we last check in with our "heroes", they had successfully bartered for new gear in the Urik's Elven Market, and had an invitation to meet a mysterious contact at The Angry Giant tavern.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Under a Dark Sun: Session 19

Session 19: (11/11/14)

Adventure name: Veiled Threats / Relic Hunt

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Lain - Half-Elf Bard (NPC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)
Thrassos Haruk - Human Driud (NPC)

Filled with dread from their encounter with templars, the group decides to go and sell their arcane contraband in Urik's Elven Market.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Under a Dark Sun: Session 18

Session 18: (10/27/14)

Adventure name: The Year of Priest's Defiance / When in Urik

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Lain - Half-Elf Bard (NPC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)
Thrassos Haruk - Human Driud (NPC)

Mildly refreshed from a obscenity-filled lull in combat, the party once again faces off against the bandit forces of the "bearded man".

Friday, September 26, 2014

Under a Dark Sun: Session 17

Session 17: (7/3/14)

Adventure name: The Year of Priest's Defiance

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Lain - Half-Elf Bard (NPC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)

We find our protagonists warily investigating the wild-looking man that has just wandered into the ruin from the desert. 

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Under a Dark Sun: Session 16

Session 16:

Adventure name: The Year of Priest's Defiance

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Lain - Half-Elf Bard (NPC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)

The session open with our heroes lost, standing at the edge of a dune. A few days earlier, they had set out from Outpost Three with their shipment of obsidian, headed for Urik.  A sudden sandstorm in the night separated the group from the caravan.  Now, as they watch the sun break over the horizon, they glimpse something wondrous.  Last night's winds have uncovered an ancient structure, still intact.  As they look on, fresh green grass sprouts up from in front of the building to spread across the small dell between dunes.  Bereft of options, the group decides they must investigate.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Under a Dark Sun: Session 15

Session 15: (1/28/14)

Adventure name: Last Stand at Outpost Three - Follow-Up

Current PCs / NPCs
Grom Dunestalker - Half-Giant Psionic Warrior (PC)
Lain - Half-Elf Bard (NPC)
Sadiria - Half-Elf Wilder (NPC)
Russk - Mul (stated as a Half-Orc) Fighter (NPC)

We find the party waiting for Lain to return from his headlong flight from the Red Tower.  Upon his return, Lain says nothing, but manages to look regretful about his cowardice.