Shadow Realms LRP- The Shadow Files(Times a Changin')

Time’s A Changing

During the conflict of the Goblinoid Horde a large area of land was freed of greenskins. This area had previously been unexplored due to the intensity of the Goblinoid presence but when it’s inhabitants left it to join the Horde a group of adventurers investigated the land and found some rather intriguing ruins.
It seems that this area is home to some extremely ancient structures that are of great archaeological importance to the history of the Realm.
A character named the Prospector has been hired to explore the area and has finally gathered enough information to make a concerted venture into the territory. However since the defeat of the Horde the surviving goblinoids have returned home, throwing a large spanner in his works. While the Prospector has enough information to know where he needs to go he hasn’t the muscle or inclination to risk such a dangerous task.
So he has decided to hire an adventuring party to march in and secure a specific area of archaeological interest by placing a homing beacon there. This beacon will act as a reference point for an archaeological team and larger force to properly examine the ruins.
The party must use the Prospector’s notes on the area to find the indicated point and operate the beacon. They must then hold the area until the reinforcements can teleport in on the beacon.
This would be a reasonably easy task if it wasn’t for the other creatures that have been released there.
The last group of adventurers who ventured into the territory experienced strange time fluctuations due to a malfunctioning portal. They inadvertently fixed it and left, stabilising the magic there but also released various creatures back into whatever timeline they were in when the flux was fixed.

Encounter 1: The Prospector, 12 hits, Beard. Magic: All Ranger Spells. (pouch) Beacon & notes.
Prospector’s Men: 12 hits, Swords, cloaks.

The Prospector explains his predicament to the party and offers them 3 marks each to venture into the unknown territory and secure a specific place there with a magical beacon. The point is an old structure that is believed to hold usual magical energy. The party must then wait until reinforcements can teleport in on the beacon which is when they will be paid.
To activate the beacon a magic point must be willingly transferred from a mage into the beacon.
The Prospector will give the party a map to get to the outskirts of the territory where they will be met by one of his Head Scouts who has been given notes and diagrams with information about the area and structure. His name is Leodel and is heading the Prospector’s operation in that area.

Encounter 2: Kagonesti 12 hits. Kag gear, Masks, Bone & Wood weapons. Abs: Obscure x2, PWTx2

The party are travelling through your territory and you aren’t too happy about it. The Kagonesti used to live in this area containing the goblinoids and the evil manitou until the Horde wiped their tribe out. Now they are slowly retaking their land back from the Goblinoids and are trying to guard the unexplored territory. If the party can explain what they are doing you’ll try to warn them off but if they give a good explanation you’ll let them through. However you do not understand common and if they mess you about you will attack them. You persist in harassing the party if they continue to pass through without permission. If they do get permission you warn them that the land is haunted by evil spirits.

Encounter 3: Orcs 12 hits, Axes & Spears. Goblins 6 hits (singles), Ogre Club(triple) 20 hits

The Drow and their Goblinoid forces have invaded your homeland. You’re a guerrilla force trying to take it back. Unfortunately the war effort isn’t going too well and you’ve been pushed further away from the territory. You are hostile to the party due to Horde issues, although will also want to save your energy for the war effort. If the party want to fight then do, else give ‘em a break.

Encounter 4: Leodel, 12 hits, sword (doubles), Ranger gear. Spells: Conceal x2 Entangle x3. Notes.

You’re one of the Prospectors head scouts and are waiting for the party to arrive. You give them the collection of notes on the territory and a brief comment on the area. Talk about the tribes of Goblinoids there and some recent screaming you’ve heard (few hours ago). Over the last few weeks you’ve seen a lot less greenskin presence but there has been plenty of activity. You have lost three teams in there already and the place gave you the creeps when you’ve ventured in. Tell them that they should really get the job done before it gets dark, as that’s when the teams have vanished.

Encounter 5: 3 Really dead Goblinoids. Orc stuff.

You’re all really dead, cut open by something very sharp in a variety of nasty ways. You’ve had organs removed, which are missing and a close inspection will tell someone you were probably alive when it was done. You’re bodies have been laid out forming the Alyrx symbol. Ask Ben.

Encounter 6: Hobgoblin Shaman, 15 hits. Magic circle. Elemental spells to Lv4. Skull (cursed)

You are contemplating the gradual fulfilling of the Goblinoid prophecy. Your magic kept whatever happened to those at Encounter 5 from happening to you. Let the party question you but never look at them, always be looking at imaginary things around them. If the party ask what happened at Encounter 5 just tell them that Gakrand’s prophecy is coming true. If anyone suggests that the prophecy has already happened laugh at them and tell them that they wish it had. If anyone asks about the prophecy give them the speel about the destruction of human and elven kind. Grumrush One-eye sent his champion the night the fire lit the sky etc. The land born from Chaos will go back to Chaos, Chaos follows no rules it cannot be stopped. Then say it is time for you to fill your part and begin to cast something on the skull. The party will then probably try to take you out and at that point you try to waste them.
The skull is cursed and you want one of the party members to pick it up by making out it’s important.
When the skull is touched by flesh it crumbles to dust and the character’s alignment (if it isn’t already) is changed to Chaotic Neutral. This can be cured with a removed curse spell.

Encounter 7: Guardian , 20 hits (special see below) spirit double. Helm, Large sword, Chain, gloves. (Liche Mask), Mystryl Amulet. Abs: Touch Freeze x4, Phase Shift x2.
Sand, flour (Mystryl symbol) Egg timer*(or Large Gem like object).

This building is ancient and was a temple to Mystryl a dead goddess of Time & Travel. The temple has recently been ransacked and the Guardian is angry. Inside the temple there is a hourglass surrounded by a magical field. Every time the hourglass runs through a time freeze is called, the glass is turned and the Guardian returns to it’s original position totally regenerated. The only way to stop this process is to get the hourglass or pull the Mystryl amulet from the Guardian.
The hourglass is surrounded by a magical field this can only be bypassed when the hourglass is out of sand. The hourglass is tipped over 2 seconds after it has finished.
Anyone who inscribes the symbol of Mystryl on them becomes safe from the Guardian.

Encounter 8: 2 Black Orcs 16 hits Axes (triples), Ogre 25 hits Glaive (Quad). Tabbards.
Orc 3 hits (beaten on).

These orcs are working for the Drow and are trying to beat on the original tribe that lived here.
You have one of the other tribe’s number and are in the process of beating the location of the rest of his tribe out of him. These orcs are from ancient stock (see enc 12) and are bigger and meaner than normal orcs so pad ‘em up. However play them slower to make up for their bulk.
The fact the party has turned up mean that 1)You’re under attack, 2) More slaves 3) Lunch.

Encounter 9: Undead Gith Ghost 12 hits(magic, spirit), Hands (spirit). Cloak, hood. Gith mask.
Powerz!: Neural Domination(touch) x 1, Neural Pen x2, Life drain (1p per 10 secs).
Dead Myth Drannor Elf, cloak, sword (magic +1 vs demons, imbues user with sense magic, can only be picked up by neutral good or lawful alignments.). Scrolls(Sonnair) - Candles

A long time ago the Myth Drannor elf sabotaged the Gith’s plans. This Gith chased him down and was killed in the fight but no before mortally wounding the elf. The territory was then consumed in the time fluxes which have now been resolved. The spirit of the Gith could not escape and is now bound to this location. The Gith will try to masquerade as the corpse’s ghost and get the party to ‘put it to rest’. What it really wants is the chance to possess a host. To do this it needs an unconscious body to perform a ritual on. The best way of achieving this is to Dominate a character to go and knock out another character bring it to you and defend you while you perform a short ritual. ‘Could be nasty!’
However the party can really put the Gith to rest if they place the amulet of Mystryl on the ghost.
A small amount of candles illuminate an old building. Inside there is a corpse of an elf who has scrolls providing information on Sonnair (legendary sword).

Encounter 10: Possessed Scout 10 magical hits, sword (triples)+(demon strength)

You’re one of the prospector’s scouts who has come a cropper in the new territory. At the moment you’re fighting for control of your body with a demon. Ask the party for help, wibble and mention Drow being here guarding something. Tell the party the only way to get by them without being seen is to go through the route to the next encounter, but monsters lurk there. Once you have imparted these spots of wisdom start going nuts, scream for help, have fits etc and then go real quiet. Call a time freeze, put on a demon mask and go back to Africa on their ass!

Encounter 11: Conglomerate: 5 Doomguard 40 hits, any weapons, masks. 1/3 speed. Regenerate once destroyed at 1 hit per 10 seconds.
Host: As above +Life drain as many times as want. (1pt per 10seconds)

The Doomguard have been since the fall of Myth Drannor and are old and screwed up. This was a graveyard until the same type of demon from the previous encounter possessed all the Doomguards.
The Doomguard are all controlled by one spiritual entity. One of you must choose to be the host for the demon. If you die, all the Doomguard die. The rest of the Doomguard protect the host and attack the party. You must stick close together and act like a unit. Take the lead from the host who should be in the middle of you all. If the host is attacked all the Doomguard will pile in. The host can drain the life from it’s victims, anyone reduced to zero life in this case will join the Conglomerate until it is killed.
The ‘Glom should not do much fighting but be in the centre of the group who move around like a swarm.

Encounter 12: Drow 12hits swords(doubles) Abs: Faerie Fire x3, BOD x2, Darkbolt x3. Cloaks, masks etc.

Drow Captain: 15hits(triples) Elfblade (0/ +1 vs Elves & cannot use elven abs for 2 enc).
Abs: Faerie Fire x3, BOD x2, Darkbolt x3.
Scout: 1hit, injured.

Stuck in the time distortion for centuries you have been active in the area for only a short time. Having chased down all the creatures fleeing Myth Drannor you have begun to secure the area yourself slaving the goblinoids. However you still believe it to be the time of Myth Drannor.
The portal you came from is broken and you guess it’s been sabotaged. As a professional force you have holed up to defend this strategic point until your forces find a way to support you. It’s been around a year now but that is little time to elves.
Your commander at the time was a dragon called Venom. Your house is VeJaunrey and any one who knows drow stuff will know it to be a famous although long disbanded house. You have captured one of the scouts and are torturing information out of him. Unfortuately the scout knows nothing about Myth Drannor and has been tortured into madness. When you see the party your guess will be that they are part of a counter attack. The drow captain must remember who they whacked with the sword so the ref can determine which elves get messed up.

Encounter 13: Night Goblins 15 hits Swords, (double) daggers(thru) Abs: haste x1 shadowshift x2

Go hunting! Use the led lights on your masks and scare the poo out of the players. Hunt them down but don’t fight prolonged battles. Keep it mysterious and nasty.

Encounter 14: Gateway guarded by Wargs 10 magic hits claws(doubles)
Demon of Bhallisandrem: 60 magical hits, claws (doubles). Sparkly cloak.
T. Freeze (at will) Neural Synaptic Jump (at will), Summon Monster. Fade
(Gith Mask) Broken Mythal Gateway. Magic Circle & symbol of Mystryl.

Inside the area of the gateway is a symbol of the dead goddess Mystryl who enabled the gateway to function.. There are six gems placed inside the lower half of the hourglass representing Msytryl’s death and six in the top. If the party place remove any of the gems the portal becomes unstable and releases the demon trapped here. For each gem removed it’s opposite becomes immaterial.
As soon as the gem’s are removed chaos time effects also start to happen. If the gems are replaced everything turns back to normal.
The party must place the beacon down and initialise it. It takes a little time to warm up and while it does the next encounter happens.
The gateway is a passage to Myth Drannor. However it is broken and doesn’t function. It is magical but ID magic will only tell the caster that the gate is a passage to somewhere; no less. As for Myth Lore this thing is the equivalent of Atlantian technology so a big fat no there too.

Encounter 15: Drow as previous, goblinoids as previous.
The Prospector (as before).

While the party wait for reinforcements, the drow believing it to be a counter attack try to repulse the party with a full on assault. When you die put on some Scout like gear and wait to be teleported in by the beacon. Eventually you should all overwhelm the drow and the Prospector pays the party. He then uses the beacon to transport them back to the carpark.
The ref will decide when the beacon activates.

Ref’s Guide

Hello. This adventure’s a little strange as I haven’t told the monsters the whole story but I’ll give you a brief run down.
The portal the players are trying to get to is a ruined gateway to Myth Drannor. A long time ago when it was destroyed the folk fled through it followed by the orcs and goblins. However the gateway was sabotaged and it leaked Mythal messing up time in this area trapping the evils that came through in different time pockets. Overtime the portal fell into ruin and the leak got dangerous and that’s when an
Adventuring posse came in and fixed the leak, but releasing the creatures.
However they were not the only people interested in the territory and the sneaky antiquarian behind this operation has found out the true nature of the territory and is looking to restore the Mythal gate so he can plunder the riches of Myth Drannor. It’s a sucker punch for the party but hey it all leads up to vital Holdfast plot so it’s tough.
Meanwhile the nasties trapped in this time pocket have had about a year to get their act together and the place is pretty nasty. Most of them are still in the Myth Drannor timeline and are busy chasing the refugees and securing the portal.
What should be made apparent in this adventure is the age of all the old structures and the ancient weapons, clothing etc that the ‘ancient’ monsters are wearing. As this area has been messed up by time ancient trees might be right next to old ones etc making the area very unnatural. Good characters will have a very bad feeling about the place, especially elves and rangers. Elves might also recognise a lot of the buildings as elven craftwork and Dwarves will recognised the structures as Dwarven built suggesting they made it in harmony (how sweet!).

Some Encounters

Enc. 2.

For the really good scout they might get traces of elven prints. Apart from that fairly fresh goblinoid prints (all sorts) and old very light human footprints heading towards the territory.

Enc 5.

This is really just to freak the party out and it ties into Rob J’s stuff. The party are very lucky that they will not meet the creature who did this. The wounds appear claw or knife like but no can quite tell. There are the prints of the orcs here and it looks as if they never saw it coming. There are no tracks of what did this.

Enc. 6.

The shaman is in a standard minor magic circle doing a point of damage to the chest of whoever touches the circle. If the Shaman gets blasted or shot the circle goes down. In addition to just having their alignment change the character that gets cursed now also has the mark of chaos which needs to be recorded on their sheet. This will have implications later.

Enc 7.

The Temple revisited. There are no orc prints around here as they are scared of the guardian. One major point is that although the building appears to be an ancient structure in style it has not seemingly aged by erosion etc. This is a Temple to Mystryl a dead goddess of Time and Travel, to know this a character will need either rec religion or be extremely old and scholarly. Else it will just appear to be an unknown religion. To know that she was worshipped in Myth Drannor and other details will require legend lore.

Enc. 8

Here it must be pointed out how different and much larger the other goblinoids are. It needs to be seen as weird that these orcs are some different from the ones they’re used to.

Enc. 9

The Sonnair stuff- Picky details:- While the corpse is about a year old the clothing and weapons are ancient. This should be enough to weird people out. The ghost of the Gith can be turned by a cleric with a holy symbol and that cleric will not be effected by anything the Gith can throw at them.

Enc. 10

The Scout is possessed, clerics and those will sense magic will get a buzz. The scout also will rec. evil.

Enc.11

The Doomguard (and they are definitely Doomguard) will appear old and rusted. It will be strange to see Doomguard without a Gith to command them. Sense magic will definitely come into play here.

Enc. 12

Lots of Drow and Goblinoids prints around here. The Drow’s gear will be ancient and area well fortified.

Enc.14

This area reeks of magic.

The demon was trapped here by the previous party and Nirwanda is stupidly powerful and therefore it is pretty essentially they suss the gem thing out.

The gem thing goes like this. Hourglass symbol with 6 gems (pink) in the lower half of the glass. They need to be counteracted by blue gems with the Hourglass symbol inscribed on them. The blue gems are placed in the tophalf of the Hourglass. The gems work on a one for one basis. When gem is taken from the top half, a lower half gem will become insubstantial and vice versa. Imagine the top half gems as a positive current charging up the hourglass while the lower half gems represent a negative current depowering the hourglass. A balance must be created to get the hourglass to work at peak effectivity. It is pretty obvious that this construction is a gateway, but how it works is an entirely different matter.
It is also in ruin and how it would work is beyond the posse. There is no way for them to get through the portal.

Enc 15.

Okay this is simple……..Keep it tense as the beacon powers up, let the party holdout for a bit and when it starts to look bad teleport a mercenary in for support. Wait a little longer then drop some more support in. It’s up to you to gauge the situation and call the time freezes for when you think it’s appropriate.

The Prospector will then teleport the party to the courtyard of large building just on the outskirts of Dellgate, where there are a group of mages and guards waiting on the otherside.

The Elfblade: Forge purposely for the invasion of Myth Drannor this magical blade is magical +1 only when striking elves. If an elf is struck by this blade they loose the use of their abs or negates them for two encounters/ ten minutes. It is possible for an elf to wield the blade but they will not be able to use their abilities while using it and for 10 minutes afterwards. These elf blades are infamous and do show up as evil to elves. It the item is recognised by an elven character (up to the ref) they would like to see it destroyed.

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