Soul Searching
The Plot
Amarista used to be a respected member of the Meetings town
community, respected as an expert gardener and with a studious and gentle mind.
Several decades ago, he fell in love with a beautiful human woman, BrightEye. In
an effort to grant her immortality, he applied a hybridizing process he had
developed for plants to merge her with the body of a recently killed young
elf-woman, hoping to fuse her soul with the immortal elf body. Unfortunately it
did not work and the resulting hybrid, admittedly powerful, was not a real
thinking person, but a mindless zombie with a soul trapped in tree in the
garden, growing as a sparkling leaf. Amarista was desperate and began stealing
bodies and eventually kidnapping people to use in his research. Gradually he
became reclusive and sensitive souls shunned him as possessing an aura of evil.
About five years ago, a group of Morodhel made a deal with
him; they would provide him with a variety of corpses and living beings to
experiment on, if he would let them use his process. The Morodhel kept their
end of the bargain until they had learned enough themselves to further their
goal of breeding a strong race of undersea creatures to challenge the merfolk
and eventually free their trapped leader. When they had learned enough, they
tricked Amarista and hybridized him with a giant spider corpse. Now none of the
zombies he created, BrightEye included, recognize him as their master. They
patrol the house, waiting for his return and repelling intruders. Amarista
wanders the forest in a state of despair and the Morodhel have started creating
sharkmen in the sea (crossing merfolk and sharks) and using massacred villages
to make very strong zombie servants.
Story
Intro Events
ðð One of the heroes runs into a
massacred village. Blood and flies everywhere and signs of battle, but no
corpses. There is a charred area in the center of the village that seems to
have been used for magic (high air scores might reveal it to be transportation
magic). With great luck and skill a rumor might be heard of another town
(Meetings) with a cursed graveyard in which a similar mark is to be found.
ð Stories of half-shark, half-mer creatures are
becoming common in the deeps. Some mer villages are missing. The center of the
disturbances appears to be near a certain coastline with a human/elf town
nearby
Hook
One or two of the heroes are ambushed by a horde of strong
undead (collectively Fire:4, Earth:6, Air:1, Water:2) lead by a group of three
Morodhel (vision card 25). They are out to kill the heroes who are overpowered
and should flee or wait for help. Fortunately the others are nearby and will
arrive 7-earth rounds of combat later. The undead are strange Ò very strong and
possessing a sort of unfocussed, patchwork bodies with mismatching eyes, hair,
colors, etc., yet with a smooth and integrated form. The Morodhel are as
follows:
ðð Armored: Air 4,
Water 4, Fire 4, Earth 2. Without helmet, or facing non-metal weapon, fire is 2
ð Robed: Air 2, Water 5, Fire 2, Earth 2.
Water magic 5. His illusions distract and can drop two attackers fire stats by
one
ð Cat: Air 4, Water 3, Fire 6, Earth 3.
An undead hybrid of numerous giant cats, if the woman controlling her is
incapacitated, her air drops to 1 and her fire to 4. Her controller is 2 in all
stats
When defeated, they can be tracked to a portal that has
recently been closed. With some resourcefulness, heroes who have some magic or
sensitivity will be able to detect the rough area it originated from
(Meetings). Alternatively, carefully searching the bodies will show recent
traces of sea-salt and an herb that will pinpoint the same area. If neither are
attempted/successful, a local inhabitant can be found hiding in terror who
reveals that they mentioned Ïgetting back to MeetingsÓ shortly before the
attack.
Meetings
Near the town, they will find a result of an earlier failed
experiment in crossing a merman and a giant sea-slug (vision card 15). Meetings
itself is an impressive city that still manages to have an air of gloom hanging
over it (vision card V17). Everyone knows about the mark in the graveyard and
no-one goes there after dark. People have gone missing, but not in the last few
years, unless they go into the graveyard, which is now permanently shunned and
off limits. The people know something bad is haunting their town, but are
reluctant to discuss it. They know
ð The vine on (15) grows only
at the Amarista residence
ð Sometimes the graveyard glows at night. The
pattern is irregular, but it might do so over the next few weeks sometime.
ð A powerful undead wandered into a farm (near
the Amarista residence) and killed a family a decade ago. They only just
managed to destroy it at the cost of several dead. The farm is deserted, but
reading the tracks brings you to the Amarista residence.
ð A local hunter, StrongBow, will pooh-pooh talk
of the Amarista residence, saying itÌs just a sad old manÌs last home. He says
he has seen glimpses of strange giant-like things talking o the dwarves in the
higher mountains and once came across a large pile of non-dwarven bones with strange
dwarven runes carved on them.
If waited in at night, the graveyard is portalled to (vision
card 65) and the creatures can be followed. The portal will not accept live
creatures through it, but a house can clearly be seen behind it, which, when
described, will prove to be the Amarista residence.
Amarista Residence
Guarded by numerous zombies that vary in strength. They all
have air 1, water 1, but fire ranges from 1-4 and earth from 1-5 (if numbers
combine). As the heroes state what they do, draw cards to see if any zombies disturb
them. While looking around the house and gardens, they should find:
ð Library (vision card V15). In the same
room is a guitar with the words ÎFACE the CAGEÌ written on it. Playing those
notes will open a secret library where the details of the hybridization process
is clearly noted. One volume of notes ÎDestroying hybrid processÌ is missing.
The book hints that a tree in the garden is an important part of the process as
a focus.
ð EyeBright (vision card 20). She will
ask if her lover and husband invited them and will entertain them. If they
attempt to leave or disrupt the house, she will attack.
ð Silver-leaf Tree. Tree with many silver
leaves on it. It appears to be an early hybrid attempt. Plucking the leaves
without the correct ritual will cause a ghostly attack. Air of 4 to realize the
leaves are special. Water of 4 to realize plucking them is somehow dangerous.
The ghostly attack matches Earth+Fire of 7 + (number of leaves pulled) against
puller. Fail (use card to modify) and part of your soul departs with the
released ghost, resulting in a point or two (if failed by 3) of lost earth.
ð Tracks. Giant spider tracks lead into
the forest. Morodhel tracks lead into the hills
Outside
Amarista (vision card 46) can be
tracked down fairly easily. His elements are (Air:5, Fire:3, Water:1, Earth:1)
and he will attempt to meld minds with opponents (matching their air scores).
If successful he will be able to alter the heroes view of reality. If dealt
with sympathetically he will explain and complain about the Morodhel, ask about
EyeBright and can be persuaded into explaining the ritual for soul release if
no other option is possible.
A Morodhel (all elements 2) can be
found making an uber-zombie in the clearing set aside for this purpose (vision
card V27). Those watching can see souls forming in the bodies, then being
wrenched out in a flash of silver and whipping off to the tree (out of sight,
moving very fast). The uber-zombie has Air:2 Water:2 Fire:4 Earth:7 and is
relentless in destruction if not stopped once the Morodhel controlling it is
disposed of. Also in the clearing are numerous bones of many races and
creatures, with several unusual bones that turn out to be from sharks.
ð
Near the sea is a secluded area to
which a man (StrongBow) from Meetings patrols regularly. He can be seen talking
to a giant sea slug (vision card 34) that brings mer and shark bodies to him.
He strips them of anything valuable and then waits to hand them over to Morodhel.
Cards used for the Story
|
ððððððððððððððððððð Card |
Description |
|
25: People with panther |
The Morodhel war leaders; they lead a
strong force of powerful zombies. The armored figure is a clever fighter who
tries to trick people into committing errors; his helmet seems to repel iron
weapons, reducing an opponents fighting ability, as he need not protect
himself there. The robed figure casts illusionary spells that mislead the
opposition and the woman controls the giant cat, which is very strong, but
stupid if not controlled. |
|
15: Semi-formed figure |
This is a dead merman who has been
zombified unsuccessfully and who has crawled out into the forest to escape.
The vine around his neck is a rare and beautiful vine that is only known to
grow at the Amarista residence. The figure cannot communicate easily and can
at best pass on the information that it was swimming when a giant slimy thing
rolled over it and then it was drowning (in the air) suspended face down and
had to get out to the sea. If taken to the sea, it will be much more lucid.
It is, however, still undead. |
|
V17: City on a Hill |
The town of Meetings is unusually
situated on the edge of a forest by the sea, just where a mountain range
starts. Humans and elves inhabit it, although dwarves live up n the real
mountains. The people of Meetings are rather quiet and worried looking, and
an air of wrongness can be felt pervading the town. |
|
65: Graveyard scene |
Several of the recent graves have
obviously been tampered with and the townsfolk all shun it. No one is buried
there anymore and instead all bodies are cremated. A certain times, a portal
opens that is connected to the Amarista residence and some orc/sprite hybrids
come through to look for fresh bodies or new victims. |
|
V15: Scroll library |
In the Amarista residence are rooms and rooms
full of scrolls and writings; after much study the following can be learned
(in increasing difficulty):
|
|
20: Oriental woman |
EyeBright, the once human, now undead
half-elf, beloved of Amarista. Her commands are to make a beautiful house for
Amarista and to be beautiful herself. The amulets in her hair are wound with
powerful spells so that if she is hurt, the whole house will attack her
attacker. Her parasol contains a dart projectile with blood from the worldÌs
wyrm coated on it. Three shots. |
|
V27: Man suspended |
Orc/sprite hybrids carry bodies to this
remote glen where a Morodhel suspends them upside down in sets and blends
their bodies together to make hybrid undead things of greater power.
Currently he is blending an entire village of men to make one very strong
undead. |
|
46: Spider creature |
Amarista is alive, but having been
blended with one of the great spiders, now lives a solitary life deep in the
forest, where he regrets his folly. He knows that the blended souls are
stored in the MoredhelÌs hideout in the forest, but he cannot tell the souls
apart and refuses to help destroy them as it would destroy EyeBright. |
|
34: Man and sea creature |
This man steals from the huge numbers of
merfolk and shark bodies that have been brought to the edge of the sea and
used to create blended sharkmen zombies. He keeps the location secret and
dissuades people from coming here in return for this privilege. He can speak
the language of the giant sea slugs that serve the Morodhel as underwater
agents. |