================================================================================
Steelwolf (Hero),   by ujchoi@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Jason Choi)
20th Level Male Human Fighter, CG (with nuetral tendencies)
STR 18/00 INT 13 WIS 12 DEX 17 CON 18 CHR 19

Steelwolf appears as a 6'3 ft tall warrior with long black hair and
dark gray eyes.  His body is lean and well muscled, though slender and
agile in physique as well.  His face appears youthful and handsome,
but his eyes exude a experience which belies his youthful guise.  He
is typically clad in a skin tight black outfit which seems
insubstantial, as if it were tailored out of shadow stuff, which
indeed it is.

Steelwolf is a heroic wanderer, and exactly which realm he hails from
has yet to be discerned, though some bards and sage like folk in
whatever land he choses to stay for a time speculate he is from a
different plane of existence alltogether.  But to this man the past is
something not to be dwelt upon, for he lives for the now, and the
future, to hell with whatever is behind him.

He is both blessed and cursed, in his own eyes, with a limited
immortality, until he can discover and fulfil his secret destiny, for
he cannot physically age and he is resistant to most attacks made upon
him.  Normal weapons inflict only half normal damage against Steelwolf
and he regenerates these wounds at 3 Hp per round.  When enchanted
weapons strike his skin his body becomes rigid and turns metallic, his
AC becomes -3.  There is a adverse affect to this, since he is chosen
to live for a special purpose he is discouraged to become intimate
with a mortal, and if he does so (I.  E risk his life for a friend, or
rescue a woman he has come to love) he loses his immortality and can
thus perish by normal means.

Steelwolf, as a act of love and devotion to his God, Wrath, gouged out
his own eyes, for he felt in his heart that he lusted after the things
ordinary men covetted.  He has been restored with 'demon sight', which
allows him to see partially into the future, only a few second
glimpse.  This ability allows him to dodge any 1 attack made against
him per round, if he makes a successful saving throw versus spells, no
matter what the form of attack is (spell, breath weapon) if he makes
his save he completley avoids the full effects of the attack.  He may
use this defense and attack in the melee round.

Steelwolf is often brooding, moody, and contemplative, he loves humans
and enjoys their company, but feels withdrawn from them.  Due to his
many fierce and powerful advesaries, the humans he comes close to
often suffer or become victims inbetween struggles he endures.

In battle he wields a two swords, Demonslicer and Chaos Seeker,
specially forged weapons, which properties have yet to be recognized
by any curious sorceror or witch, who have failed to do so in the
past.  Demonslicer is a runesword, of +3 enchantment, and was rumored
to be forged by the drow, who take credit for making the weapon.
However, Steelwolf went back in time and comfirmed the blade was
actually made by a collaboration of the Dwarven and Elven race.  The
wielder can activley 'parry' magical attacks made against him by all
Demonkind (successful "to hit" against thac0 must be made), the spell
will backfire upon the sender.  Secondly, the weapon inflicts double
damage against demons, and they cannot regenerate the wounds which are
sustained by demonslicer.  The blade vibrates in the presence of any
creature of the lower outer planes who come within 200 distance.

Chaos Seeker's magick remainds dormant, until Steelwolf accomplishes
the quest which will activate its dweomer, to plunge it into the heart
of a Shadowdragon.

================================================================================
Drecos,
by reaux@csgrad.cs.vt.edu (Ray A. Reaux)

Eventually the PCs will go to a weapon smith to get something made or
worked on.  I designed Drecos to give some spice to a weapon smith
NPC.  He has been successful as a hook to a couple of short adventures
and to a series of games when the PCs fought with slavers, especially
the Fagians and the Child Traders, slavers who semi-legally traffic in
children.  In my city of Thurdis, slavery is illegal, but Fagians can
"bond" children, that is pay a bond for their release if they are
caught stealing or as a street urchin.  The Fagians will then use them
as thieves (i.e., Oliver Twist) or sell them to Child Traders who take
them to the Southern Kingdoms for sale.  The authorities generally
look the other way.

If you use this NPC or any others I have posted, let me know how
useful they were.

**********************************************************************

Drecos is a mountain dwarf and a Child of the Lion.  Among the
dwarves, there is a family of smiths who trace their lineage through
the dwarven sagas back to the First Kingdom, the far gone age when
there were no mountain dwarves, no hill dwarves, adn no duegars; there
were only the stone people.  In every age, in every saga, when the
dwarven lore masters talk of great battles and great craftsmen, they
speak of a Child of the Lion.

According to dwarven legend, when the gods first created the dwarves,
Aureial, the smith god, fell in love with Amellia, the first daughter
of the dwarves.  The god assumed lion form to seduce and mate with
her, and from their love sprang the lineage of the Children of the
Lion.  Whatever the case, the Children of the Lion have played
prominently in dwarven history.  They are all gifted artisans, and
their skills as armorers and smiths are unmatched.  They hold a
special place in dwarven communities since their skills are so valued,
and also because they keep a strict code of neutrality in conflicts
among the dwarves.  The services of a Child of a Lion is much sought
after and brings prestige to a dwarven community.

All Children of the Lion are marked with a birthmark of a red lions's
paw above their right breast.  On reaching puberty, they also gain
Huor's gift, the ability to shapechange into a mountain lion.  Note
that this is not lycanthrope but more akin to the druidic
shape-change.  The Children are not prolific, since only one or two
children are normally born to a Child of the Lion.  And there has been
only one known case of a female Child of the Lion.

Drecos is from Silverquartz, a mountain dwarf mining community.  While
on a trip away from his community, a band of human outlaws, actually a
mercenary band down on its luck and resorting to banditry, raided the
community.  In the process, they killed Drecos's wife and kidnapped
his five year old son.  After burying his wife, Drecos traced the
bandits to the port city of Elmer, where he learned that his son had
been sold to a slaver.  Drecos killed the leader of the mercenary band
and his second lieutenant.  He eventually followed the slaver and
killed him, but not before the slaver had sold his son.

For the last 40 years, Drecos has been following the trail of his son,
and the trail has led him across three continents and far from his
home.  Several times he had lost and rediscovered the trail, and his
search has brought him to Thurdis, where 10 years ago, he again lost
the trail.  He set up a smithy in the Copper Run Street of Thurdis,
and has made a name for himself in the sprawling human city as a
master smith.  He is one of two smiths in the nation who have the
skill to work adamantite.  However he is frequently absent from his
anvil, following leads to his missing son.

Drecos is a quiet, but imposing violet-eyed dwarf.  He stands 4'6" and
is broad of shoulders, even for a dwarf.  Like all Children of the
Lion, he is uncommonly strong, and his years at a forge has given him
exceptional strength.  However, he is dying from a lung disease (a
rare but not so contagious form of tuberculosis) which has lent
urgency to his search for his son.  He estimates that he has only a
few years before the disease will kill him.  But except for his
frequent bouts of coughing and debilitating chills, he can still
travel to search for his son, it is just that he needs companions to
aid him through these rough times.  In a fight, however, he can more
than hold his own.  He wields a dwarven thrower war hammer, and always
carries a dwarven war axe (+3) when he quests for his son.  He also
wears a +3 suit of dwarvish chain mail.  Drecos has picked up some
thieving skills (6th level) since they have in helped him in his
search for his son, but he is first and foremost a warrior (15th
level) with the blunt directness and sense of honor of a dwarven
warrior.  He is always searching for clues to his son or to sightings
or rumors of lion lycanthropes, which might lead to his son.

================================================================================
The Ringmaster,
by mark.green@almac.co.uk (MARK GREEN)

The Ringmaster is a tall, thin, saturnine individual, with piercing
eyes and long black hair tied back by a gold ring into a ponytail.  He
dresses in black, and is found at the head of a troupe of acrobats and
horseriders travelling from town to town.  He is accompanied at all
times by his adopted son, appearing as a stagehand, but also as a
lycanthrope, and the circus strongman, a half- orc barbarian.  His
true name is unknown, as he sacrificed it to become a Necromancer or a
Demonist.  His tent is gaudily painted, and the smell of incense
prominent.

Scenarios :

(a) Carried Off!  The Ringmaster gets his acrobats (thieves-acrobat
class/assassins) to kidnap the child of a wealthy family.  After
threatening the parents, they will not overtly ask the party to rescue
the child, afraid of what the Ringmaster will do.  If the party get
the hint, they will encounter the Ringmaster and his cohorts on the
trail, for example in a woodland glade, a ruined temple, or at a
lakeside.  To spice the encounter up, set it in a graveyard, or in the
middle of a village, at market-day.

(b) The Beast Must Die!  The Ringmaster's son, Nathaniel, attacks
local livestock when the circus is camped outside a village.  If the
party manages to track him, and kill him, they will earn the enmity of
the Ringmaster until death.

(c) The Riders of Doom!  The Horseriders from the circus are
terrorising a small local community, recently formed around a series
of abandoned mines in a mountainside.  The community are trying to
find gold again in the mines, but are close to breaking through to an
ancient tomb, of import to the Ringmaster.  This scenario can have the
classic flavour of the "Seven Samurai," or the "Magnificent Seven," as
the adventurers organise the communities defences.

Notes :  Adjust the number of fair-folk to suit your campaign, and
their classes.  Add extras such as a buffoon, lion-tamer (and lions)
as required.  The Ringmaster should be a powerful adversary, and I had
the gold ring that braided his hair as a teleporting magical item, to
use as a deus ex machina in times of need.  "Oh, he's vanished in
front of your eyes, just when you were so close to getting him this
time..."

As always, the recipe for a good session :  adjust ingredients to
suit, add a pinch of imagination, and stir the party well.

=======================================================================
Sienna Stormfalcon,
by elliot@poly.edu (Elliot Smorodinsky)

Ladies and gentlemen of the Realms list:  meet Sienna Stormfalcon.
She's based on a nice little filk song (by Julia Ecklar, off of the
"Divine Intervention" tape), called:

               "The Temper of Revenge"

We were sworn to protect a timeless land,
Our steel pledged to greater goals,
Meant to serve what our Lords deemed as good,
Part of a greater whole.

We swore Lords a pledge with breath and tongue,
A pledge I now break with my heart.
Those beliefs impede what I'm called now to do,
My allegiance is sundered apart.

My soul was torn from me this day,
Half of me lies interned in his grave.
That shattered life I can never retrieve,
No well-meaning wizard can save!

       So find me a horse as red as the sun,
       Find me a blade that will make their blood run!
       I will ride out at dawn, while the sun's in the sky,
       So the buzzards can see where the bodies will lie!

       Bring me my lance! Bring my shield!
       Strong as my sword is the vengeance I wield.
       "To seek vengeance is wrong," claim my masterful Lords,
       But Vengeance has tempered my sword,
               yes, vengeance has tempered my sword...

My companion was made to be half of me,
We were sealed in both body and soul.
What is life to a human alone?
How can one unpartnered be whole?

He was slaughtered at night -- not a warrior's death...
All Good now seems useless and vile,
For Good let my fragile world be destroyed,
My oaths by such lies were defiled.

Forgive me, my Lords, for what I do.
Know that this sinner is suffering too...
But your virtues pure don't allow what I plan,
And by God, I'll pay killers their due!

       So find me a horse as red as the sun,
       Find me a blade that will make their blood run!
       I will ride out at dawn, while the sun's in the sky,
       So the buzzards can see where the bodies will lie!

       Bring me my lance! Bring my shield!
       Strong as my sword is the vengeance I wield.
       "To seek vengeance is wrong," claim my masterful Lords,
       But Vengeance has tempered my sword,
       yes, vengeance has tempered my sword...