The Wererat Ward (Town)

Character. Life, the most precious of the multiverse's treasures, can be had in unending supply, but only for the chosen few. How many minds in all the worlds are brave enough, intelligent enough, and respectful enough to merit true life eternal? How ironic, and yet how predictable, that the only creatures truly capable of appreciating such a great gift and the skill that went into finding it are dismissed as skulking vermin by the fools outside. There will be a price to pay for their ignorance and arrogance, all in due time. And what is time for such as we? To master life is to master infinity.

Ruler. The Wererat Ward is a theocracy controlled by a secretive hierarchy of shaman-priests. The high priest is Kiri Walks-with-Life (Pl/female wererat mummy/LE), a female wererat with blonde fur, so fat that she moves like a lumbering, eerily silent hill.

Behind the Throne. The true ruler of the Wererat Ward is an entity known to the ratmen as the Great Old One and the Dweller Beneath, and worshipped by them as a god. In fact, the Dweller was once a spellcaster living on a world on the material plane, possibly Toril. This mage, whose name has been lost along with his original body, was obsessed with the quest for everlasting life. Delving into the traditional necromantic scrolls of his people as none had before, he was still dissatisfied. He searched further, his spells disseminating the very foundations of living things. Inspired, he found spells that allowed him to travel beyond his reality into the inner planes of existence. There he found the positive energy plane, and knew that if he could discover a way to channel its power directly to his body he would truly have life everlasting.

His tool for gaining unending life was, ironically, death. To build his gate, he rounded up hundreds of slaves and had them killed on a ceremonial altar. As their souls left their bodies, their life energy left as well, seeking its origin in the inner planes. The mage's spells followed it, and used the power to open a portal into the positive energy plane. The spellcaster's blood-encrusted hall exploded with light, and he allowed himself to luxuriate a moment in the envigorating force before concentrating on forging a permenent link.

In the midst of casting, the life energy became too much, and the mage's mortal shell exploded. His soul, however, firmly woven with contingency spells and experimental magicks, remained conscious, aware, and strangely enchanted.

The nameless mage found that, in his altered state, he was now able to enter the bodies of other living creatures and dominate them, the flow of life keeping it young and beautiful for as long as his spirit remained within. Not undead, but lich-like in his way, the mage captured the body of a powerful noble (unable yet to penetrate the shields around the nation's ruler). Soaked in the inner planar energy, he founded a city and populated it with mummies of those who gave their lives to him, where he ruled for many years before finally being driven out by wrathful dwarves. With the last of the surviving mummies the lich cursed the dwarves with a magical plague and retreated to the outer planes, searching for a way to gain more power. About the same time the last of the dwarves sucumbed to the plague the lich found the city of Sigil and its myriad doors. Finding this place to his liking, he tunneled underground and there built a replica of his foul city in his undying insanity.

The Dweller Beneath, a positive lich: CR 22; Medium Monstrous Humanoid (6'7" tall); HD 18d8; hp 101; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 15 (natural); Atk +12/7 melee (1d8+5 touch); SA damaging touch, aura of menace, mummy bloom, spells; SQ Damage reduction 15/+1, immunities, spell-like abilities; SR 4; AL LE; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +15; Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 18. Skills: Alchemy +23, Concentration +20, Craft (Sclulpture) +16, Craft (Stonemasonry +20, Knowledge (arcana) +23, Knowledge (religion) +10, Scry +14, Spellcraft +23, Hide +8, Listen +8, Move Silently +18, Sense Motive +18, Search +10, Spot +18 Feats: Combat Casting, Spell Focus: Evocation, Spell Focus: Necromancy, Craft W ondrous Item, Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, Quicken Spell, Silent Spell, Still Spell, Leadership, Spell Mastery x4 (5) SA - Immunities (Ex): Positive liches are immune to light, electricity, death magic, and mind-affecting attacks. They have no need to eat, sleep, or breathe. SA - Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will -- light; 5x/day -- cure light wounds, contagion, change self; as spells cast by 20th-level wizard. SA - Steal Body (Su): If the positive lich's host body dies, the essence of the creature must take a host with Hit Die or levels at least equal to the positive lich's minus 15. In this case, 5. If the victim is unable to resist or gives his or her body willingly, no saving throw is allowed against the transformation. If the victim is able to resist, a Will save at DC 11 is allowed against the takeover. Failure displaces the life force of the victim; it cannot be raised, ressurected, or even restored with a wish spell until the positive lich is exorcised from its new body. If the host body is destroyed, the positive lich has one hour to inhabit another body or its spirit disperses into nothingness. In this form, a dispel evil or holy word can destroy it forever. SA - Aura of Menace: (Su): Those in the company of a ka-mummy feel a powerful force radiating about them in tense situations. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius must succeed at a Will save (DC 14) to resist its effects. Those who fail suffer a -2 morale penalty to attacks, AC, and saves for one day or until they successfully hit the positive lich that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by a positive lich's aura for one day. SA - Mummy Bloom (Su): Supernatural disease--slam, Fortitude save (DC 20), incubation period 1 day; victim is consumed by dimly glowing mold, losing 1 point of constitution per day. At Constitution 0, the corpse of the victim erupts in pale blossoms, dripping with blood. Wizard Spells: Alarm, Animate Rope, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Detect Undead, Endure Elements, Expeditious Retreat, Hold Portal, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Message, Obscuring Mist, Shocking Grasp, Glitterdust, Lightning Bolt, Protection from Elements, Sepia Snake Sigil, Suggestion, Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer, Shout, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire, Teleport, Wall of Force, Wall of Iron, Wall of Stone, Mass Haste, Mass Suggestion, Move Earth, True Seeing, Insanity, Limited Wish, Power Word Stun, Prismatic Spray, Prismatic Wall, Sunburst, Trap the Soul, Foresight, Inprisonment, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Prismatic Sphere, Refuge, Shapechange, Soul Bind, Wish. Equipment: Ring of Blinking, Ring of Wizardry (IV), Ring of Three Wishes (one remaining), Rod of enemy detection, Rod of Lordly Might, Spellbook.

The positive lich is an unholy amalgamation of the human body and energy from the Positive Energy Plane. Upon transformation into a positive lich, the essence of the wizard is converted to positive energy that needs a human body to inhabit. This energy sustains the body indefininitely. Each time a positive lich gains a level or is reduced to zero hit points, however, it must find a new body as the old one is devoured by the flames of its own fevered, unnatural life.

Description. Deep beneath the earth, mineral, wood and bone of Sigil's Clerks' Ward, cut off from the rest of UnderSigil except through portals, is a city within a city, an architectural wonder of stone and clay carved in a style some would call Mulhorandi, and some Egyptian.

The primary inhabitants of this particular undercity are orcs, a particularly servile breed that spends most of their time morosely performing menial tasks: breeding rothe, cultivating fungi in piles of dung and offal, and keeping the streets clean and the buildings maintained for their wererat masters. The wererats fled to this hidden place centuries ago, possibly from the Catacombs of the Mind, a series of tunnels ruled by cranium rats beneath the Hive Ward. In this new, nameless domain they thrived, feeding on the flesh of young orcs until they grew strong and brave.

At the time they first arrived, the ratmen worshipped the demon prince Orcus. Their shaman-priests wore goat's head masks and dark robes, praying to their wicked patron to deliver undead warriors to avenge them against those who had drove them there. From hidden catacombs beneath the city's central temple, the Dweller Beneath woke from his slumber and secretly observed the inhabitants of his home. After a time, he decided to give them a test.

The Dweller appeared before them, his body transformed into a form that he thought of as godlike: tall, with a rigid, stonelike body and the head of a goat. He slaughtered half of the ratmen on the spot, and asked them which was better: life or undeath.

"Undeath," most of them muttered fearfully, "undeath in servitude to you, great prince."

The Dweller killed half of those remaining. He asked them the question again. One stepped forward and abased himself. "Please," he said, "please, god, I want to live."

The Dweller took him away. A year later he returned, and began training his people and the other shaman-priests in the worship of their new god.

Wererat Culture. The wererats are very civilized on their own turf, using great amounts of silverware of the highest quality (no doubt stolen) for their elaborate feasts. They will invite visitors (anyone stupid enough to wander around the city) to join in their feasts (they will not attack on their own turf unless attacked first; they'd rather backstab in a dark alley than foul up their home). Every year on guvnertime new shaman-priests are chosen after a rite of ascension. After a harrowing night in the tunnels of their master, successful initiates emerge with hideous festering sores and recieve a mask of the Dweller.

These "priests" have been touched by the lich and become mummies of a sort, like their master in resembling undead in some respects while still remaining alive.

After carefully mummifying a dead servant, the Dweller resurrects him using a modified raise dead spell to harness positive energy, binding the creature's ka spirit to its quickened flesh. The reborn wererat loses its dried appearance, becoming sleek and healthy-looking again; its heart beats, its blood flows, and its lungs pump in and out as they always have before, but its unnatural presence now swims with disease and contagia, minor parasitic spirits harmful to other forms of life. They gain all the powers of a first rank ancient dead. Their masks glow with an erie blue light (with star like points in the eyes) and enable the shaman-priest to use 1 magic missle each round; they lose their enchantment when taken from whom they are bestowed upon. Possession of a mask without the proper rites will transform the owner after a week of fevers and great sickness, creating a ka-ghoul.

Ka-Mummies: CR 3; Medium Monstrous Humanoid (3'-6'); HD6d8+12; hp 34; Init +1 (Dex); Spd 30 ft; AC 19 (+1 Dex, +8 natural); Atk +6 melee (slam 1d6+4); Face 5 ft. x 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SA Aura of Menace, mummy bloom; SQ Damage reduction 5/+1, Immunities; SR 2; AL LE; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +7; Str 17, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 16 Skills: Hide +10, Listen +9, Move Silently +10, Spot +9 Feats: Alertness, Toughness SA - Aura of Menace: (Su): Those in the company of a ka-mummy feel a powerful force radiating about them in tense situations. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius must succeed at a Will save (DC 14) to resist its effects. Those who fail suffer a -2 morale penalty to attacks, AC, and saves for one day or until they successfully hit the ka-mummy that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by a ka-mummy's aura for one day. SA - Immunities (Ex): Ka-mummies are immune to mind-affecting attacks. They have no need to eat, sleep, or breathe. SA - Mummy Bloom (Su): Supernatural disease--slam, Fortitude save (DC 20), incubation period 1 day; victim is consumed by dimly glowing mold, losing 1 point of constitution per day. At Constitution 0, the corpse of the victim erupts in pale blossoms, dripping with blood.

Ka-Ghouls: CR 1; Medium Monstrous Humanoid; HD1d8+3; 4 hp; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30 ft; AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural )); Atk +0/+0 melee (1d6+1 bite) or (1d4 [x2] claws); l Face 5 ft. x 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SA Mummy Bloom; SQ Immunities; AL CE; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +5; Str 13, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16 Skills: Hide +6, Listen +5, Move Silently +6, Spot +5 Feats: Alertness, Toughness SA - Immunities (Ex): Ka-ghouls are immune to mind-affecting attacks. They have no need to eat, sleep, or breathe. SA - Mummy Bloom (Su): Supernatural disease--slam, Fortitude save (DC 20), incubation period 1 day; victim is consumed by dimly glowing mold, losing 1 point of constitution per day. At Constitution 0, the corpse of the victim erupts in pale blossoms, dripping with blood.

Militia. Red-robed wererats patrol the few portals to their ward at all times, accompanied by at least one ka-mummy priest at all times. The head of the militia is the priest Girk (Pl/Male Wererat Ka-Mummy/CE), a sensitive soul with a fondness for creatures with tentacles.

Services. The Wererat Ward produces little, except for food, although quite a lot goes missing from surrounding communities in Sigil. Orc meat is generally prepared as bits of stingy meat tossed in beans and rice and cooked in orcish blood. The favorite drink is fermented orc milk abtained from the nursing mothers. Orc meat tastes like smokey shark steak.

Local News. Comparatively recently a shadow fiend named Tattershade captured one of the goat masks the rat-priests wear. Tattershade, being a fiend, reacted strangely to it, transforming into what it is today - the self-proclaimed King of the Rats. The magic that makes the priests the undisputed leaders of the local wererats does the same for Tattershade, and it now rules many wererat gangs of its own. Often it is only the horned, skull-like mask that people see, floating in clusters of darkness. Still it looks over its insubstantial shoulder, afraid the ka-lich will notice one of its toys are gone.

The triumphant return of the Five-Bands Company from the pits of Baator was made much of last year, but the tale they told of their journey back is spoken of much more rarely, as if Cagers fear that telling the story will make it true, or attract the attention of those it concerns. The Five-Bands tell of a gate none had discovered before, leading deep within Sigil's bowels to a city dominated by wererats who seem to worship plague itself. They whisper of the strange courtesy their hosts extended to them even as they slaughtered their orcish slaves with weapons of life. Further, they claim that Lharic, the lost mother of the mad former Bleaker factol Lhar, is alive and laboring for the wererats beneath the city. His father, her husband Paul, has apparently been infected with rat-lycanthropy.

The Five-Bands finish their story by telling of their effort to find a gatekey to return to Sigil's surface, and their final battle against the red-robed guards. The Bleakers have no comment on the story. "What does it matter?" asked a spokesmen. "The rats stole my virtue!" said Lhar, clearly gibbering.

--> Rip Van Wormer