The PCs come across the small, fairly isolated village of Taamak. The village's inhabitants are terrified because of a series of mysterious deaths and the abduction of a girl which was supposed to be delivered to the Villichi next summer. Of course the villagers fear the wrath of the Villichi as well as the return of the deadly "spirit". If the PCs agree to hunt the kidnapper they soon realise that many strange things are going on in the place called Athas…
Background
Telek
Telek is a twisted ancient psionicist who is obsessed with the creation of a race of perfect psionicists. Over the centuries or even millennia he has had several "breeding villages". So far he has not had much luck: a few villages were prematurely discovered by slavers, some he destroyed because the people he brought were beyond his control, some villages perished because the inhabitants killed each other, because they could not control or abused their psionic powers, some raised suspicion of outsiders and were attacked…and some failed because of the interactions of a pyreen - Inaiya - with who he has been having a strange love-hate relationship for almost as long as he can think. Over all this time he has continually been abducting and breeding people with special "promising" psionic abilities. Most of his abductions he could perform without causing much havoc at all, but with age, he becomes more and more careless. He now almost entirely lacks respect for any kind of life. This also has to do with his little "problem": the reason why he is still alive is that he can transfer his mind/spirit to new host bodies - or rather he has to. Under normal circumstances Telek needs a new host body "only" every few months, but under strain he needs a host more often, for example, when exhausting the body with psionics or combat. Telek also uses his ability to kill people.
All of his life, Telek has travelled Athas in search of new breeding material. The majority of his victims have been poor people, especially children. Some agreed to follow him voluntarily, some he forced by threatening to take over their bodies. He is reluctant to take "material" from the higher classes, although this has happened a couple of times, of fear of being discovered and hunted. He particularly fears the Sorcerermonarchs. In this adventure he abducts a young Villichi, the daughter of one of his experiments, who is supposed to join to the convent soon. When passing through the village of Taamak, Jaladra, the Villichi girl, immediately caught Telek's attention. He had always toyed with the idea of making a Villichi his host body - but this Villichi was particularly special. His senses told him that she was fertile - his experiment had succeeded. Would the legend of the child whose mother is Villichi come true?
Telek is the main adversary in this adventure - at least at first. The DM can make him as powerful as he/she wants. He could even be one of the first psionicists. As a consequence he would probably have only limited or strong "wild" psionic abilities, a fact that he, of course, will try to cover up. Luckily, his presence makes his host bodies extremely charismatic, a side-effect which he uses to appear more powerful. Witnesses of his transformations say that his posture, expressions, gestures and "his" eyes betray his presence in the body. Telek always likes to give himself an air of superiority and invincibility, but despite his cool strategy and often cruel behaviour, he is fairly naïve, impulsive and disorganised. On one hand, it makes him an even more dangerous opponent since he is hardly predictable. On the other hand he is so eccentric that he often does things that will possibly lead to his destruction.
Inaiya
Telek first met the Pyreen Inaiya, when he tried to abduct people who stood under her protection. The Pyreen confronted the intruder and immediately knew she was faced by someone or rather something extremely special. Because of their longevity and their extreme charisma the two were fascinated by each other, although their differing alignments made them fight from the start. When Inaiya heard about Telek's ambitions, she was at first appalled. But then she had an idea: if Telek could manage to breed a person, or even several people with extreme talents or special abilities it might allow them to confront the Sorcerermonarchs and their minions. After a few months she could warm up to the idea and even agreed to provide her own body for his experiments. Occasionally she would secretly take people away from Telek while he was on his travels to find new "suitable material". Inaiya felt she sometimes had to protect Telek's chosen from his fanaticism. Also, she used them for her own purposes (the DM can decide whether the Villichi themselves were created that way… No matter, if the Villichi are Inaiya's "children" or not, they will stand under her protection in this adventure).
When Inaiya heard about Telek's ambitions, she was at first appalled. But then she had an idea: Telek could manage to breed a person, or even several people with extreme talents or special abilities that might allow them to confront the Sorcerermonarchs and their minions. After a few months she could warm up to the idea and even agreed to provide her own body for his experiments. Occasionally she would secretly take people away from Telek while he was on his travels to find new "suitable material". Inaiya felt she sometimes had to protect Telek's chosen from his fanaticism. Also, she used them for her own purposes (the DM can decide whether the Villichi themselves were created that way…).
Telek is aware of Inaiya's patronage of the Villichi, but he is willing to "risk it". As a result, Inaiya is extremely furious (a thing that does not very often happen to Pyreen…) when she gets word of it.
Part 1 is set in the Village of Taamak where Telek has kidnapped the Villichi girl Jaladra.
Scene 1 - Getting the PCs to Taamak
Part 1 is set in the Village of Taamak where Telek has kidnapped the Villichi girl Jaladra. The village is located at the foot of the Black Spine Mountains approximately 35 miles east of Nibenay. It is a small community situated roughly between Fort Inix and Fort Cromlin (see map from Ivory Triangle Boxed Set). Taamak is surrounded by a 15 ft wall made from stone chippings. The buildings are also fashioned in the same way. Gates and doors are made from imported agafari wood. Travellers wishing to stay in Taamak have the option between obtaining a room in the Mountain Well Inn or building their tents on a campsite within the walls.
There are many possibilities of getting the PCs to the village.
1. The PCs are friends of the healer Ninyas, a former adventurer.
2. The PCs are a bunch of adventurers who want to explore some lesser know regions of Athas or are just on the way to somewhere else, but in no hurry and are stopping at Taamak to refresh their supplies and rest for a while.
3. The PCs are escaped slaves and ended up in this area.
4. The PCs are traders and have dealings with Taamak.
5. The PCs ran into a field of wild magic (you might be tired of the Magical Mystery Sandstorm Tour)
6. The PCs are summoned for help by a friend (Kadris the ex-caravan guide for example) who happens to live in the village.
7. The PCs are wanderers who seek to expand their knowledge and are curious about strange phenomena.
8. The PCs are mercenaries looking for a job.
Scene 2 - The Journey to Taamak
The PCs come across a dead person who shows no sign of either dehydration, physical violence or internal damage. It is a traveller from Gulg. His face shows a blissful smile.
On the way to the village the PCs might have some other encounters, but this is at the DMs discretion. Here are some proposals:
1. The PCs encounter a monster. It could behave strangely because it had a previous encounter with Telek.
2. A few days ago, the PCs animals (if they have any) seemed to feel immense fear for a moment. After a while they calm down. The PCs cannot see or detect anything.
Scene 3 - Arriving in Taamak
On arrival the PCs will notice that the guards are acting strangely. They are very nervous and insecure. They have problems dealing with the PCs and act very unprofessionally. They do not really want the PCs in their village, but especially when one or more of the PCs looks a bit mysterious or intimidating they will eventually let them in.
Taamak is a village of mostly human inhabitants. It is fairly self-sufficient, but also trades with other the surrounding forts, tribes and other communities. Some people say, Taamak is so boring they just do it for the sake of entertainment.
1 - Mountain Well Inn
2 - Accomodation for caravan travellers and kank stalls
3 - Tents
4 - Gatekeepers
5 - Gate
6 - Garden of local Earth cleric
7 - Cordlu run
8 - Animal pens
9 - Well
10 - House of village chief
11 - Market
Immediately the PCs will sense the strange depressed atmosphere in the village. They will notice that the people are not terribly willing to talk to them. Some are in badly disguised mourning dress. With a bit of observation skills (or intimidation skills?) the PCs should be able to find out that people are making concealed funeral preparations.
If they approach people some of the following answers are possible, depending on how the PCs the person in question:
Scene 4 - The Saviours?
If the PCs do not approach the village chief himself, he and a delegation of others, will approach them. They flatter the PCs with comments such as: "We see that you are experienced travellers/mercenaries/wise clerics who can handle difficult situations etc." They appear to beat about the bush a little. After a while they are getting more concrete… The adventurers are asked if they would perform a little service for the village. If they seem interested, they are told that the matter requires extreme discretion. "You will see why…"
Then the village chief Marduk gives them the whole story:
"Something happened about a week ago: 6 people died. The first victim was the son of a farmer. He was only 19 years/high suns old. He did not come back from the field so we went looking for him. The next day we found him dead behind some bushes. There was not much left of him. The animals had already fed on him. When we came back to the village we heard that people found that animals were behaving strangely. A day later, the village healer, his wife and their young son were found dead. But they were not the only victims: a village guard and a traveller were found dead as well. Unfortunately this is not all: the daughter of the healer and a friend of the traveller are missing. We need your help!"
The PCs might sense that there is something else that makes the matter so urgent and makes the people behave so secretive: the girl is a prospective Villichi and would soon be collected by the sisterhood. If they find out the girl was abducted or is dead, then the village will feel their wrath. They should have protected her.
The village will offer the PCs almost everything they possess if only they save them from the wrath of the Villichi.
Scene 5 - Investigating the deaths
The PCs, if they are interested in finding more about the victims or think, that the village has something to hide, they could come across the following information:
All victims have a serene smile on their face. No victim showed a sign of physical violence.
The boy who was found was a herdsman. His parents are farmers and he is the oldest of 6 children. Your "ordinary village lad" who likes to stroll a bit further than he is supposed to. His body is mutilated beyond recognition.
The healer was an ex-Urikite psionicist called Ninyas. At least that what he officially told people (he is one of Telek's people who managed to get away - at least for a while). He used to be a travelling healer, but fell in love with the daughter of the" Mountain Well Inn"-keeper and decided to stay in Taamak. At first everybody encountered him with suspicion, however, after he used his psionic ability to help with all sorts of problems in the village, people began to relax around him.
He and his wife Ridala had two children: the boy Raheel and a girl called Jaladra who was born with the signs of the Villichi: she is very tall and strong for her age, extremely sensitive to sunlight and showed signs of psionic abilities at an early age.
The family was believed to be very happy. Occasionally, adventuring friends or people with strange conditions (people from Telek's breeding stock) would visit Ninyas.
The four of them lived in a small house. There are signs of a fight in the main room (Jaladra trying to stop Telek from killing her family with the help of her parents' weapons and psionics). Not only is furniture and crockery broken, but there are also signs of attacks of psionic nature (e.g. ballistic).
The guard went away from his fellow guardsman after hearing some kind of noise.
Last but not least there is the fellow traveller of the man who was abducted with the girl. He went straight after the kidnapper. The villagers do not know what has become of him. He took all his possessions with him.
The village was not threatened by anybody, nor was the girl stalked by anybody. Most inhabitants of the village, especially the village chief, are very superstitious and believe in an evil spirit that is so powerful, it does not have to fear the Villichi. Others believe, it is an evil spirit….
1- who acts on behalf of a man who was in love with Ridala. He swore to take revenge, when she decided to marry Ninyas. (What the villagers don't know: the man already died trying to steal a magical artefact from a tomb.)
2- who wanted to punish Ninyas and the whole village for catching and killing an evil defiler who once threatened the village.
3- who wants to punish the village for the benefits they have enjoyed through Ninya's psionics.
4- who regularly visits the village after long periods of absence since something evil happened in the village's past.
And the superstitious village chief himself thinks, it is a punishment …
1- for opening a spell-book that he found and played around with (he could be an amateur mage)
2- for cheating on some inhabitants (money wise)
3- for, in one case, judging in favour of a merchant who sexually assaulted a village woman, just because he was afraid that the man would cease trade with Taamak and the village would lose profit.
4- for something that happened in the past of the village. Maybe they built on sacred ground or an old battlefield…
5- from Hamanu, because the village took Ninyas in. He always suspected that he was wanted in Nibenay!
6- for thinking negatively of the Villichi.
7- for all above mentioned reasons.
You may want to elaborate on this and lead your players on the wrong track. You could make them believe that the event is somehow linked with things that happened in the village… but don't frustrate them too much… they might blame the poor little author of this adventure…; )
Scene 6 - Taking up the trail
The villagers will be provide the PCs with food, water and reasonable equipment… and maybe a little money.
The direction, in which the "spirit", the traveller and the girl have left, is towards the mountains. The kidnapper seems to have been very careless. There are enough signs pointing into the direction the girl and the traveller have left. For PCs with tracking ability, psionics or spells, it should not be difficult to follow them…even in the rocky terrain.
Again, the PCs might have some ominous encounters on the way that could function as further "markings" of the way that the three or four (there are only tracks of three people since Telek has taken over the body of the traveller) have taken (see below). At this point the PCs might even suspect that the traveller has kidnapped the villichi.
Again, the PCs might have some ominous encounters on the way that could function as further "markings" of the way that the four (there are only tracks of three people since Telek has taken over the body of the traveller) have taken (see below).
In this part the PCs are following Telek and Jaladra to one of Telek's breeding villages: Iamh. Eventually Telek notices that he is followed and is sending some of his men to get rid of the PCs.
Scene1 - Into the mountains
It seems as if the kidnapper has not even bothered to try to fool possible followers. He/it is heading for exactly the direction that he has taken from the village. The PCs will notice drops of blood (the girl bit or cut herself on the stones while climbing to draw blood and leave a track), occasional places where a fight has taken place (between the girl and the possessed traveller. The players might not know that the traveller is actually possessed. Maybe this gives them a hint.)
The terrain gets more difficult to climb over time and the PCs will have to make regular climbing checks.
Use the mountain/rocky terrain encounter table form the Monstrous Compendium to throw in some "occupation".
I used the night time for the following encounter:
If the PCs are taking a rest during the night have them attacked by some "natural enemy". E.g. have some kes'trekel flying over them who decide not to do anything and then, at the end of the same shift, have the sky darkened by a massive Roc.
An important thing in this scene is to make the PCs get a little paranoid. Sensitive PCs will have the feeling that they are being watched by somebody or something. Occasionally, there is a bird flying over them. The PCs might find this suspicious. But it is only a few kes'trekels… Also, the PCs might have the feeling they are being watched from the mountains. They might actually be watched by some inhabitants of Telek's village. Make them feel it, so they get really uncomfortable…
(stats)
Kes'trekel
Roc, Athasian
Gargantuan Beast
If the PCs are too hard on the Roc it will either fly away after about a fourth of its hitpoints have gone or if its hitpoints go too quickly, Inaiya will save the Roc in some way that gives as little away of her presence as possible.
VISIONS
The nearer the PCs come to the village, the more frequently they will receive visions (from Kesi'i in Telek's village, see part 3). Kesi'i will first try to gently contact the PCs. It is like a little girl knocking a door to their mind. If the PCs don't allow the contact Kesi'i will later force some visions upon them. The visions can be the following:
1. The PC/s see scene of village life in Iamh.
2. The PCs see Telek.
3. The PCs see Telek and the girl
4. The PCs see a little girl's hands playing with a strangely shaped cuddly toy made from hide. Her hands and arms are covered in blood.
5. The PCs remember an interesting or amusing scene or person from their past
6. The PCs hear the laughter of a child.
etc.
Scene - Finding the Traveller
The PCs come across the (half-eaten?) body of a man. It is the traveller that was abducted with the girl.
He was a psionicist (Telek prefers to take over the bodies of psionicists) and still has 1d4 minor psionic items on him (one might even be life-shaped).
Telek has abandoned the body of the traveller for the body of the traveller's friend who weakened the host body in a fight with Telek. The PCs will see that a fight has taken place. There might even be a bloody stone or two (the Villichi girl will have seized the opportunity to fight Telek).
Scene 4 - Strange Encounters
This is, where the fun starts: One night, the group is attacked by weird "humans" with strange psionic powers. They were send by Telek to kill the PCs for the protection of the village.
Telek prefers to send out men, because women are harder to come by for his breeding experiments. He does not want to loose any of them in combat.
The DM can decide, how many of them, how powerful and what abilities/looks they possess. All they have to have in common is that they are all clad in black. Here are some sample freaks:
| Talako | |
| Appearance: | Tall, pale skin, long white hair (tied back as a pony-tail) and almost white, pale blue eyes. Creepy, chilly aura. He is clad in black cloth trousers, a long black tunic and beetle skin armour. |
| Abilities: | Freezes everything he touches and tries to psionically shatter them afterwards. |
| Weapons: | Talako also carries a silver dagger and a metal sword (!). Can be changed at the DMs discretion. If the DM does not want the PCs to have a metal sword, he/she can make it a personalised sword that freezes unauthorised wearers… For additional bizarreness he might also fight with icicles… |
| Alignment: | lawful neutral |
| Role-playing: | Imagine him like Sub-zero from Mortal combat: very icy… Talako is fiercely loyal to Telek. |
| Namid | |
| Appearance: | short black hair, tanned skin, dark eyes and a well-groomed beard. Sinister aura. |
| Abilities: | disappears and re-appears to confuse his opponent. |
| Weapons: | two curved short swords or daggers |
| Alignment: | neutral evil |
| Role-playing: | arrogant, determined. Namid's loyalties do not lie with Telek. This is only on the surface. Namid secretly supports Telek's arch enemy Kharon. |
| Reeak | |
| Appearance: | short brown hair, dark skin and vivid green eyes. |
| Abilities: | fast regeneration. Once he is wounded he heals in seconds unless his brain is somehow damaged so that he is killed. |
| Weapons: | Scimitar |
| Alignment: | lawful evil |
| Role-playing: | arrogant, mocking. Reeak kills and tortures for pleasure. |
| Osahr | |
| Appearance: | shaven head, grey eyes and dark skin. Rather small, athletic figure. |
| Abilities: | can quickly extend and re-shape body parts |
| Weapons: | Knife or poison knife. |
| Alignment: | chaotic neutral |
| Role-playing: | cool, mean. |
| Kesayah | |
| Appearance: | long black hair, greyish skin, short statue. |
| Abilities: | extremely powerful psionic attacks. |
| Weapons: | knife, but only fights with psionics. |
| Alignment: | lawful neutral |
| Role-playing: | Kesayah does not like fighting. He just seeks to protect the village. He likes killing even less. |
| Yaril | |
| Appearance: | ash grey hair, greyish skin and grey eyes. Huge statue. |
| Abilities: | drains life and PSP |
| Weapons: | none. Yaril needs hand or eye contact to drain life or PSP. |
| Alignment: | chaotic evil |
| Role-playing: | cold and cruel, but not very intelligent. |
| Tuarik | |
| Appearance: | short brown hair, grey eyes, wild look. |
| Abilities: | can shape-shift into a kirre. You can also make him a "Kirren", a race created by Angantyr (raptor2@brookings.net). For more information go to The Dragon's Sanctum http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/9653/Sanctum.html The Kirren are under "Miscellaneous". |
| Weapons: | claws |
| Alignment: | chaotic neutral |
| Role-playing: | quite wild and uncontrolled, predatory |
If the PCs aim to kill the men:
If there are dead bodies, the PCs will probably search them: Apart from their weapons they have not many valuables on them. The only thing each of them might possess is body decoration such as stone/obsidian/wooden/leather jewellery, tattoos or a few coins.
The PCs may want to follow their tracks to the village or follow the teleport. Only the shapeshifter will have come "on foot" - all others will have teleported or been teleported.
If the PCs aim to defeat the men without killing them or have one or two survivors anyway they may want to question the men. Unfortunately, they won't give them much information, even if the PCs torture them. The most they will get out of them will be:
If the PCs are good "inquisitors" the information they extract will be at the DM's discretion.
If the PCs are defeated, their opponents want to kill them. In this case there are a few options for the benevolent DM how to avoid the killing (and the sudden end of the adventure?).
- The PCs have interesting characteristicss and Telek turns up and rescues them, because he wants them as breeding stock. Telek will disable their psionic abilities with a special necklace and has them taken to the village.
- The PCs are taken to the village as host bodies for Telek or as "canon fodder" (see Part 3, Scene 6).
- Kesi'i helps the PCs by breaking the concentration of the attackers.
In this part the PCs will witness the transition of Kesi'i, one of Telek's experiments. Kesi'i is a six-year old girl whose enormous powers are prematurely unfolding and getting out of control.
Telek's village is situated on a little mountain plateau surrounded by fields. To reach it, the PCs will most possibly have to climb up, if they were not taken prisoners in the last scene. Currently there is nobody in the fields.
The village is guarded by several mechanisms:
The plateau is surrounded by a tough psionic shield which only has one 5 ft x 5 ft entry at about 3 ft above the ground. In front of this shield is an illusion which makes people believe that they are facing another mountain wall leading up to a peak. Earth clerics will be able to feel that the stone wall is fake.
Once through the illusion, the PCs will see fields with up to waist high crops are growing. In the distance they will see another smaller plateau on top of which they can spot a wall and some watch towers: Telek's village.
The walls of the plateau on which the village sits are modified: the natural ridges have been deepened and made sharper and smoother so that it would resemble trying to climb up the edges of large obsidian swords.
The village itself, built on the ruins of an old fortress, is surrounded by a 15 ft. high stone wall with 5 watch towers. Another invisible bubble shaped psionic shield starts from the foot of the stone wall.
It should not be in the capabilities of the PCs to overcome all these obstacles. Rather, they will get help in a very unexpected form…
The village consists of 21 stone buildings (see map). The population is mostly made up of humans, but a few half-elves can be found as well (see plan). The majority of the people look fairly normal and have no obvious mutations or special gifts. There is an almost equal number of men and women with a slight surplus of men. What the PC might notice is the fact that in the village there are no old people. Telek regularly kills people if they are too old to breed or do not make good foster-parents anymore. On a normal day, the village is fairly busy: most of the people are practising their crafts, tend to the fields nearby, build additional houses or shelters and see to the animals. Everybody seems fairly happy, although the atmosphere is a bit strange and sometimes a bit tense if things have happened. This strangeness is not obvious at first sight. At night the village seems at first very quiet, but after a moment of close listening suppressed moans and screams can be heard (people having vivid nightmares).
Kesi'i
Kesi'i will help the PCs. She can see and feel them and is curious about them. She wants them in the village without the people doing them harm. She feels the power that the transition is giving her and will create fluctuations in the field that will allow the PCs to come through.
Scene 1 - Getting to the Village
Options:
1- The PCs are taken prisoners and are teleported to the village
2- The PCs set the fields on fire and wait for people to come out of the village. Indeed, some higher level fighters/psionicists than the previous ones will come out and deal with the PCs and the fire…
3- The PCs climb up to the village. Telek and his off-spring are watching them. By day, they will be spotted easily, unless they somehow manage to hide or cast an illusion around them. Illusions created with the help of magic will less likely be spotted than psionic illusions. By night the PCs might have a chance of escaping the villagers' view.
4- If the Pyreen has the PCs under her direct protection, she will prevent them from being spotted. If the PCs have not encountered the Pyreen yet she might help them anyway if they are too clumsy.
5- Kesi'i is entering the first fit of her transition. She kills and mutilates lots of people in the village just by not being able to control her telepathic powers and therefore transmitting the physical and mental pain she feels to other villagers. The PCs will, for example see that a guard is falling dead (or paralysed by pain) over the wall. At the same time the field will have its first fluctuation.
Scene 2 - Entering the Village
The village is surrounded by a smooth 15 feet high stone wall made from flat bits of rock. Currently, two guards are posted on each post at the five corners of the wall to observe the gates. Four others are patrolling the village on the inside. Telek and his guards are very confident that they are superior, so the patrols are a little careless.
1 - Watchtower (all corner buildings are watchtowers)
2 - Kesayah (male human psychic warrior), Tibor (female half-elf psychic warrior)
and their three small children.
3 - Well
4 - Garl (weaponsmith with super-human strength and some psychic abilities related
to his work), Ariil (female half-elven beast-master) and their son Rwen. Ariil mainly works
with large birds who occasionally land on top of the house.
5 - Tuarik and his schizophren wife Elana.
6 - Reeak and Uthos, a human ex-gladiator who can influence storms.
7 - Namid
8 - Phrias the hermit. A druid.
9 - Tools and kanks
10 - Khamraan, the psion. Teaches psionics.
11 - Yaara, Telek's latest acquisition. She is a shy 16-year-old half-elf ex-slave.
12 - Tuarik, Osahr and a human woman called Dherana.
13 - Telek's residence (stands empty during his absence)
14 - Yaril
15 - Hal (male human psion), Reela (human Changed psion) and 6 children.
16 - Laaren (female human psion), Kareel (male human psychic warrior) and 4
children.
17 - Ulara (female human healer) and Sheqwuna (female half-elf Changed psychic
warrior), Ulara's 3 children and Sheqwuna's 2 children.
18 - Building of Kesii's family. Kesii's mother Laara was the village transition medium.
19 - Raaki (female half-elf ranger)
20 - Tuarik and his partner Kaari and 3 children.
21 - Targas (male human psychic warrior) and his son Maok.
22 - Osahr, Maladra (female human Changed) and 2 children.
23 - Talako's hut
The black marks are gates to the fields.
Options:
1- The PCs crash through/jump over the wall causing havoc, hoping to get the girl in the resulting chaos. When they are in, they will face an empty village. Most people have fled to the community hall.
2- The PCs manage to climb into the village. If they are spotted, the guards will first alert the other villagers (if they can) and then fight. If they are not spotted, proceed to Scene 3
3- The PCs manage to climb into the village and knock out the guards. If they are spotted, other fighters will have to get out of bed (or whatever they are doing) first. Proceed to Scene 3
4- The PCs kidnap a field worker and take on his/her disguise. Depending on the quality of the illusion and who they meet with it, they might get in or might not get in.
5- The PCs kidnap somebody to try to force Telek to give back the girl. Telek will not give the girl back for anybody in the village, even if they are former lovers or favourites.
6- …
Scene 3 - Inside the Village
In case the PCs managed to get in unnoticed they might be able to witness the following scenes:
1- Two of the guys who are building a house just levitate the stones on top of each other. It does not seem to be the slightest effort for them and they carry on shifting stones for a long while until they see to something else. Alternatively the PCs might witness the two men getting more stones by simply blasting them off a rock (again, with sheer willpower).
2- A few kids are helping their parents clean the animal shelters. One kid starts throwing dung at another kid. The result is a fight during which the offended kid hacks the other kids finger or hand off (with an axe or with psionics). After a few seconds the missing body part grows back. The brutal kid is simply told off by his father.
3- Animals are sedated with psionics before being slaughtered. (Very strange idea for your average Athasian).
4- Water and cooking stones are heated with psionics for lack of wood.
5- …
If they have come in before Kesi'I started her transition they will find the village unnaturally quiet. Not a soul seems to be in the whole place. If the PCs cast a detect life spell they will notice that most people are in the community building and only a few people in other buildings (Kesi'i and some severely wounded people).
If they approach one of the buildings with people in them they will find themselves surrounded by warriors and after a while Telek himself will speak to them. He did not expect Kesi'i to go into transition so soon and she has just killed the only capable transition medium in the village. Also, Kesi'i is more powerful than he expected. He does not believe that she can survive her early transition, but he wants to give her a chance. However, he cannot help her himself as when she attacks him his instinct will be to take over her body. If the PCs are either psionicists, clerics, monks or druids or have a high constitution and a calm mind he is prepared to spare the PCs' life for the sake of Kesi'i. Telek likes the girl and would go quite far to help her, even if it costs the life of other villagers.
Scene 4 - Turmoil
If the PCs have been taken prisoners or have somehow managed to get in unnoticed they will witness how a woman comes running towards Telek (who wears the body of the friend of the traveller). It will happen whether the PCs arrived in Telek's custody or not. "Telek, it is Kesii! You must help! She has entered transition!" Telek will answer: "That this is not possible. She is too young." But he follows the woman and looks very concerned. If the PCs are with him, he will drag them along with him.
If the PCs or one of the PCs witness this scene, they might either want to follow him or decide to seize this opportunity to look for Jaladra. It they are prisoners they might see a chance of fighting or escaping Telek.
If the PCs are caught at any point in the village, they will be fought and if they lose, be brought to Telek. He will throw them in with the girl Kesii.
If the PCs surrender without fight, Telek will ask their help. He will tell them that there is a very gifted girl who is currently going through her transition phase (where her powers manifest). The transition came unusually soon and she is reacting extremely badly to it. Telek asks their assistance to help him calm Kesii down. If they manage to do this, he will spare them (at least he says that, he usually does not keep his promises, he finds promises a very naïve thing).
If the PCs manage to defeat the attackers, which is very unlikely, they have the following options:
1- follow Telek and the woman (proceed to Scene 6)
2- keep on searching the village for the girl (proceed to Scene 7)
3- get spotted by more opponents (proceed to casting healing spells)
4- flee the village and make a new plan (start from Scene 1)
5- …
Scene 6 - Cannon-fodder
The woman leads Telek to one of the larger stone houses. She stops in front of it and refuses to go inside. Telek asks where the foster parents are and the woman replies that they are inside with the girl. Telek enters the house and immediately senses the girl's immense power …and her madness.
Kesii is building a mental link with everybody in the village (that includes the PCs). Everybody has to endure what she is experiencing while sometimes getting glimpses of people's memories. This might cause some of the other children to go into early transition, too, e. g. Kesii's eight-year-old brother who is with the people in the community hall.
If Telek managed to capture the PCs he intends to use them as cannon-fodder. From his experience he knows that there is a chance that if the girl exhausts herself she might calm down a little. Only then it will be safe for anyone, even him, to go to her - and kill her if she cannot be cured of her madness.
Without any warning, the PCs will suddenly be teleported into the room with the girl.
If the PCs are in some random other place in the village, they see how two villagers scream and fall down. They her a horrible cracking noise as if all their bones are broken by some strange force. Blood shoots out of their noses and ears. A few seconds later, they hear other screams.
Kesii is now running amok with her powers. Everyone in the village could be her victim. (Who knows how far her powers extend… who will be able to fight her when she gets older if she survives transition…)
Jaladra will be one of the people affected and then it will be the PCs. The PCs will hear Jaladra scream. If they are in the same place they will feel at the same time how something is reaching out to them.
Kesii will start to inflict pain on the PCs and send them nightmares. The PCs might want to get to the source of pain before it gets them entirely. They can either fight Kesii or try to calm her down… Inaiya might also be there to rescue them.
But what will they do if they find out that the evil psionicist is actually a little girl?
If the PCs try to flee. Kesii will use her power to hinder them, e.g. by breaking one PC's leg(s) or causing them pain in the head. If they cannot do anything, they may get saved by Inaiya.
If the PCs are near the Kesi'i's house: Kesii is "just a little girl" crying for help. The PCs might feel the urge to help her.
If the PCs were looking for the Villichi, they might even find her in a room with an innocent looking girl. Jaladra heard Kesii's call, and tried to calm her down. At first she seemed pretty successful. But then she started to experience difficulties. If her concentration on Kesii is somehow disrupted she will face Kesii's anger, if not, she will manage to calm Kesii down with the help of Inaiya or the PCs (if they unite their psionic powers).
If the PCs were not captured, but followed Telek or just approached the house by pure chance, they suddenly feel a strong presence. It is Kesii contacting them. She can use her extreme powers in a wide radius without having to be face to face with the PCs (or anybody else in the village). She can feel and see them. Their minds are open to her. She know everything they know.
Kesii is an innocent-looking girl of six. She wears a brown dress and has a little cuddly toy in her arms that might resemble a jozhal (or some other Athasian beast). She sits on a bed and looks at the PCs with her big brown eyes. At a first glance, she seems very shy and harmless, however, at a second glance, one might notice that there is something wrong. Kesii's face is very pale. Her body is trembling slightly. She is covered in sweat. Her eyes are open with shock and fear - and madness. On the left from her is a half-open door that leads to another room. A trail of blood leads into it.
The scene in the room is quite gruesome: two mangled bodies hover under the ceiling. Blood is dripping from many slashes. An obsidian dagger is hovering in the air as well and is pointing at the PCs who entered the room. At first it seems frozen in the air, but then it starts to slash at an incredible speed and shoots towards the PCs. They suddenly notice that they cannot move their feet. There is, however, a willpower save against this, although it is quite difficult (-5)
The PCs cannot leave the house unless they are quite powerful. If PCs stay with the girl they should be able to distract the girl (break her concentration for a while) and interfere with her control of the dagger. Of course, the girl will then turn against them. This can be in the following ways:
If the PCs have no means of calming the girl down, Inaiya will rescue them and see to the girl or one of the villagers enters and kills her.
For how the transition works rules-wise please check out the Appendix.
When Kesi'i awakens from her trance she will say things like:
Scene 7 - Resolution
Whether the PCs manage to get out unharmed or not, Inaiya will appear - in human form. She became enraged when she saw what the girl was going through. In her eyes it is all Telek's fault (she isn't exactly wrong there). Depending on the situation, she will do the following:
1- If the PCs are about to die, she will first protect the PCs (if they are not of evil alignment, and especially not defilers!). If she managed to protect them and still has enough power left, she will try to save the girl by trying to heal her mentally. This is extremely dangerous for the Pyreen. If the Pyreen is about to die herself, then Telek or one of the villagers (or the PCs?) will kill the girl. If Inaiya is badly wounded, she will fall into a coma to heal herself. If she is more or less okay, she will have a heated argument with Telek. This is indeed a rare sight: an enraged Pyreen. Inaiya will also interrupt if Telek is trying to take over one of the PCs.
2- If the PCs somehow managed to kill, help or heal Kesii, they will suddenly hear a heated argument outside. If they have a look they will see a charismatic dark-haired woman in a long brown robe arguing with Telek in an ancient language. In the case the PCs understand they will hear:
"Why did you do this again?" she shouts. "Didn't this happen before? Do you never learn?"
Telek replies surprisingly defensive. "I was so sure this time…"
Inaiya just looks at him…
Then Inaiya and Telek notice the PCs.
Telek looks at Inaiya: "Did you send them?"
Inaiya shakes her head. "The villagers sent them. Remember? You kidnapped a villichi!!!"
"Ah!" Telek does not seem to fully be aware of what he has done.
Inaiya explains and shouts at him again.
Of course, the PCs can interfere. Telek will always be rather arrogant towards them, whereas Inaiya will answer their questions (or most of them) more practically than politely. Telek will not tell anybody that the villichi is fertile. He will only reluctantly tell Inaiya.
Scene 8 - Where is Jaladra?
At some point, the PCs might wonder: Where is Jaladra?
The DM now has the following options:
1- Jaladra is still with the PCs but is suddenly kidnapped by Kharon (see next scene).
2- Jaladra has escaped from the village on her own and has decided that she does not want to go back to Taamak, but roam the desert. Her family is dead and she still has to come to terms with it. When the PCs follow her trail they will find she has been kidnapped by Kharon.
3- Jaladra is held hostage in the village by some freak who has become obsessed with her. He will be knocked out by Kharon who is taking Jaladra away.
4- Kesii was killed, but possessed Jaladra's body without killing Jaladra's mind. The two are now co-existing in the same body and are currently engaged in a mental fight over superiority.
5- Jaladra has made friends with some people in the village in the past few hours. She feels that they are outsiders like her and she feels herself strangely drawn to them. She would like to stay in Iamh and would fight for it with her new friends. Then Kharon kidnaps her and she feels attracted to him as well
6- To end the adventure here: Jaladra's mind was taken over by Kesii, but in the process, Kesii has become sane again. She is terribly sorry for what has happened, but is also angry at Telek for making people breed that do not want to breed. She decides to leave the village and join the Villichi in Jaladra's place.
Scene 9 - Vanished
If the PCs have not seen Jaladra yet:
From what the PCs can gather, Jaladra seems to have escaped.
If the PCs can follow the tracks, they will notice that they suddenly stop. But before they stop, a second pair of feet appears. Somebody must have teleported or "flown away" with her.
If the PCs can't figure out what happened, Inaiya can.
With the help of a psionic technique it might be possible for the PCs or Inaiya to determine who abducted Jaladra. In this case, the face of the kidnapper can be seen. It is Kharon, an ex-member of Telek's village.
If Jaladra is with the PCs Kharon will either make Jaladra go away from the PCs or abduct her on the way back to Taamak.
The background:
Kharon is an extremely powerful psionicist/defiler. He grew up in Telek's village, but turned against it when he was refused the woman of his choice. Once a loyal follower of Telek, he seeks to breed his own "army" of powerful psionicists - or does he? (see background and second part for details)
Telek and Inaiya might have some brief comments on him such as:
Telek: "How can he know???"
Telek: "Is he still with his mul friend this gladiator monk guy or whatever?"
Inaiya: "To my knowledge yes."
Telek: "Does he still have his pathetic refuge group of wild seed?"
Inaiya: "At least he won' t force people!"
Iniaya: "I heard he was in Nibenay."
Telek: "Was he? And you were, too?"
Inaiya: "Sort of."
Telek: "So why don't you go and find out?"
Inaiya: "I would prefer not to go there again."
Telek: "Afraid to get weak again?"
Inaiya: "Maybe…"
(evil look from Telek)
Telek: "Why don't you send the Villichi on the place?"
Inaiya: "Wouldn't be the first time… But at the moment we've got a more convenient option…" (points at the PCs)
Scene 11 - Preparations
Kharon has shielded his village from Telek. He knows all about Telek's powers - what he is able to do and what not. The PCs will come across clues in Nibenay.
Depending on her condition, Inaiya will help the PCs. If her condition is very bad, the PCs will have to go on their own. However, they can claim support from the village (and the Villichi). Telek will grudgingly offer that a few of his people can come along with them if the PCs want to "have them". What he has not noticed, however, is that all the villagers fear Kharon and are extremely unwilling to join the PCs.
Inaiya can conjure air elementals to take the PCs in the area around Nibenay. She will also be able to heal all wounded PCs and the people in the village.