Rehab - a crommemorative What happened? Now you feel like only a ghost of your former self. Although your personal attributes of ST, DX, IQ & MA remain, you have somehow lost the ability to appreciate their fundamental underlying cosmic traits of Corporation, Orientation, Sensation, and Motivation. You have the antimaterial converse of having the capability without the capacity. Therefore you must now exist on another plane or dimension. Yup; given that the indicated attributes still seem to reflect your recollected values, must be a different plane. As you thus begin to try to focus on your surroundings, you come to realize that you are gathered with others being held in a remote cell, pod or limb; among whom you may recognize some of your bygone acquaintances near at hand since some pairs and groups have been chained together. You further observe by the suppressed atmosphere that those here are in contravention of the presiding powers. Apparently, those with similar past motivations have been sequestered here in order to restrain them - maybe from redeveloping or recovering their Motivation. Hmm, a hopeful sign you think: perhaps all is not lost. This programmed adventure is designed for 1..4 characters of any experience level. Characters from any setting may be used, though the adventure will be conducted utilizing the Legends of the Ancient World fantasy rules. The basic rules are all that's needed, and those are available for free downloading in .pdf format at www.darkcitygames.com. All the characters may be managed by a single player and the module run as a solitaire game if desired, or the characters can be split up among multiple players; but in any case all the characters will compose a single "party" travelling in concert between map encounters. This adventure is quite unusual in that those characters attempting it are expressly ones that the player has lost in the past: characters who ended up incapacitated, killed or abandoned irretrievably having no help at hand in the course of other modules or adventures that have been played, but who may be recalled by the player. It is regrettably not permissible to use characters who were "irreversibly" killed by having suffered twice their ST in damage points. The characters may be of any attribute totals, and in case the player has disremembered the exact qualities of a character which is desired to be run, approximations of the prior values may be settled on. They begin with what skills and spells were possessed in the past, and these may be used without the need for any additional material components: seeing as how the characters can have no items of any kind initially, including curses or wishes, karma points or any other kinds of grants. Unless a character finds a weapon to use in the course of this adventure, the damage dealt by a character's Unarmed attack is D3 Fatigue: with normal Unarmed skill modifiers, an extra D3 (not D6) damage when counterattacking against an entry of the defender's space, and an additional +1 Fatigue if the attacker has a higher basic ST than the target. Loose rocks are scarce in the planes you'll be travelling, but if you happen to acquire some sling ammunition it may be used even without a sling in a Throw action doing D2 Damage points on a hit. Characters from settings more modern than Ancient World may use their weapon skill bonus in Pistol as Sling, and note that this skill may also be used to modify any Throw action if no other skill bonus is applied (in this goofy environment, why not); and that of Rifle may be employed as Bow. If an odd weapon you might find indicates that half of a user's particular weapon skill is applicable, the skill level is to be rounded up. When two skill categories apply to a weapon, a user with both types of skill can add only the higher bonus, not both. This differs from the case of skill modifiers noted for attribute checks and such (generally), in which all pertinent bonuses of an individual character are additive. When someone obtains an item that has unusual properties, you may make a note of the entry number at which it's described along with the item in a character's record sheet for reference. The party needs carry no rations, money nor light sources. The map is divided into 3 component areas numbered 1..3, of which some or all may be employed in a particular encounter; with local details & exceptions specified at the scene. In contrast to ordinary graphic usage, the map represents a videogame- like, sidewise xy- axes rise & run view (instead of the common boardgame- like, flatout xz- axes rank & file layout): thus giving characters the impression of being upwardly mobile in their travels through the planes. MA requirements are by direction to be moved rather than by terrain, and the modifiers are diagrammed in the lower right macrohex of the map. Also note that there's an imposed move limit for all characters of a maximum number of six hexes moved per turn by any means regardless of MA, and an active character may move at least one hex at the start of its turn in a chosen direction even if it hasn't the requisite MA. There's a further "freefall" provision that applies to any loose item on the map or any incapacitated or disabled character without a friendly character adjacent to it; such that these will automatically drift directly downward (MA -0 direction) for 1 hex at the beginning of each and any side's Movement/ turn. Freefalling characters may enter and pass through occupied hexes unless otherwise specified at an entry, and if active are considered grappling when in an opponent's hex upon taking an action. If party characters become incapacitated, the remaining conscious characters in the party may still lug them along from one encounter to another due to the nebulous nature of all involved; but after being placed in starting locations for an encounter, any incapacitated will be subject to freefall conditions if not adjacent to a conscious character. For an incapacitated character to be moved during an encounter requires that a conscious character who began the turn in a hex adjacent to it be moved half its MA or less and give up its action for the turn; after which the incapacitated character(s) at its character turn may be replaced in a hex adjacent to the moved character. Any incapacitated character left behind when a party flees from an encounter will be lost; to be snatched up to eternity in the Primeval plane as will those who are killed or fail to complete the adventure (ie. fail to recover all four traits and return to the Material plane). When any character attacks a target on the map, its position as being higher or lower than the target can confer a bonus or penalty. The DX hit check roll is subject to a modifier for the direction of the attack as also noted in the chart in the lower right macrohex of the map. For ranged attacks, the way the line of sight out of the attacker's hex crosses the surrounding hexes gives the appropriate modifier, using the greater bonus or lesser penalty in case of a toss- up. These modifiers do not otherwise affect a character's ability to engage an opponent; and pertinent to attempts by the party to flee from encounters, it could be helpful to review the opponents' Zone Of Control rule under Reaction. Your party is assumed to be unfamiliar, and certainly unpracticed, with the operable conditions you'll find throughout these settings. A character attempting to cast a spell (eg Read Mind) or use the special capability of a skill (eg Tactician) in contravention of the parameters for ordinary encounter resolution is subject to automatic failure on a check result of 4 times the number of dice rolled or greater; unless specifically permitted by the local instructions. And if no check is normally required (eg Leadership), the attempt fails on a roll of D6= 4..6. An automatic failure prohibits any further like attempt at the current entry. Attempts to heal and other administrative functions performed by the party are allowed only after you've resolved any encounter instructions at an entry and before being given a choice of movement options (thus are not susceptible to such automatic failure). You may begin the adventure at entry {1}. [1] A mannish being is seen to move like an automaton toward the assembly, and turning slowly he speaks in a flat voice declaring that those here have been held up under containment in Limbo for their own protection, since they've been deemed manifestly unfit in their present condition to pass on toward their ultimate destinations upon the Primeval plane. He cautions against any wayward attempts to break quarantine while awaiting cleansing by Customs; warning of what sounds like Lovecraftian horrors lurking outside for unguarded fugitives in the Subliminal plane beyond. At his side you can see he wears an official- looking black- hilted dirk in a sheath placed sword- fashion on his left, and on the hilt is a capital 'T' of white inlay, marking him as a Trusty. Stepping forward in the press of the crowd you find that the ectoplasmic chains linking you and your companions require you to remain in contact. That is, on the map every chained member of your party must be adjacent to another chained party member at the end of your side's turn; although for the sake of the rules, characters still move and act independently as usual, rather than having to be moved in concert. The procedure is: all chained party members have the same MA, equal to the lowest of those chained. After the end of the character turn of the first chained character to be moved, the remaining chained characters must be moved so as to end adjacent to that one, or another in contact with it. If a chained character doesn't end up adjacent to another for some unavoidable reason, then at the conclusion of the side's turn, that character would be moved ex machina to an available empty hex in contact with the first moved, and is immobilized as though it had an unremovable Rope spell cast upon it for the following turn alone - in consideration of which on that turn no other chained party member may be moved to any hex which is not adjacent to a chained party member. If a chained character is incapacitated, the chained character(s) (and thus typically the group) has a MA equal to the number of conscious characters in the group; while such other drogue members will be "moved" to follow the group as above. You may talk to the speaker {2}, attack him {3}, test your chains {4}, or plan for a bust- out with your group {5}.\ [2] If all party members are still chained, you can move just close enough to get his attention; when he'll respond to your group in general by saying that he's dislodged here in Limbo because his comatose body in the physical world won't allow him to pass on and so he's been made a trusty. He discourages agitation and describes longingly the desirability of eternal rest & release. If you want to tell him how wrong he is, roll to resist persuasion by having a character check 3/IQ+ Charisma, Diplomacy or Bard with a cumulative -2 for each try here including the first, and if you pass return to {1}. Otherwise the effect of his words can cause some softheaded bozo in the crowd to start to lose his cool {8}. However, if any party members have been unchained, an unchained character may choose to sidle up & try to swipe the Trusty's dirk from its scabbard on 3/DX+ Stealth, Streetwise or Thief. If you pass, you may choose to attack the Trusty {3} or not, when he'll depart indignantly to report the incident {7}. If you fail, the Trusty sadly reacts to put down the troublemakers {3}. If you let it be, return to {1}.\ [3] The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 3; and area 2 is a seething mass of souls that neither side may enter during combat. The party may call off the fight at any point. The Trusty begins in the hex marked 3, and the party begins in the hex marked 1 or any adjacent hex other than the Trusty's. Human Somnambulist "Artur": ST7 DX10 IQ9; immune to Illusions; Trusty Dirk 2D3. On the first turn he will make to draw the Dirk if he still has it, using a Change Weapons option: otherwise he'll attack Unarmed. He automatically loses initiative if those attackers that the party chooses to use on a turn include no chained characters. He is immune to Illusion- type spells, and fights without any penalties from damage until he's incapacitated or disabled (eg Freeze), rolling 2D6 for opposed checks. The Dirk would become available to party use: Heft 7, full Dagger/ half Sword skills apply. If you decide to call off the fight, the Trusty will simply resume his station, leaving things as they are while you subside back into the mob {7}. If you defeat him, the party gains no XP, but may recover 1 fatigue in the course of a riot which is automatically touched off by the commotion {6}.\ [4] You learn that the chains binding on the characters are generally unyielding against attempts to shift or break them, and though they constrain your movements, they don't appear to encumber you or interfere with your actions in any significant manner. If the Trusty is still standing watch over the group, return to {1}. If not, turn to {7}.\ [5] Escape committee planning sessions here are limited by an abstract ticker value which is initially zero, and if you've just returned into Limbo after having escaped for travels upon the inner plane, is again reset to zero. This ticker now increments by +1 on each visit here, and if it reaches +5 will also be reset to zero as a random party member gets automatically selected at {9}. You may opt to try to cover your escape attempt by inciting a riot at {6}, but note that if you manage it this would again increase the ticker for the time it takes when you return here. Or, you may try to make a break now by rolling an escape check of 2/(lowest party member MA)+ (ticker value) to crash out. If passed you'll manage to escape with all unterminated party members and only party members: so unless there are two or more of you who remain chained, none will be chained {11}. Otherwise, if the Trusty is still standing watch over the group, return to {1}. If not, turn to {9}.\ [6] A riot begins, with the assembly chanting: "I want my.. I want my.. I want my Mtv." Roll 2D6 and on 11..12 the screws put everyone in temporary lockdown at {9}. On 2..10 you may choose to take a +1 opportunity bonus or to roll again, when on 9..12 you'll be similarly pacified at {9} or else get a total +2 opportunity bonus. You use your opportunity bonus resulting from the confusion as a modifier to the escape check in addition to any others noted at {5}.\ [7] If someone in the party has the Trusty Dirk (2D3, Heft 7, full Dagger/ half Sword skills apply) free for use, you may try but once per visit here to pass 3/DX+ (Weapon skill bonus), Locks or Acrobat, with automatic fail on a roll of 14 or more, to sever a chain and thus free a random party member. If used, whether a chain is severed or not, roll the dirk's unmodified damage and on 2 the dirk has gotten stuck up in the ectoplasm of a piece of chain, and though still in the user's posession is no longer usable in any manner. Note that the Trusty Dirk may possibly be used in future outside of Limbo to try to sever chains per these conditions. You may make a further note of this entry number along with the item in a character's record sheet for reference. Then turn to {9}.\ [8] An emotionally convicted nonparty character who is, as fate would have it, chained with you strains forward shouting: "I'm ready! Take us next!" All party members are considered to be adjacent to him, so specific map placements are unnecessary, and no DX adjustments apply. Human Lackey "Wince": ST8 DX11 IQ8; Scholar+1. Unarmed attacks upon him by chained characters automatically miss on hit rolls of 15 or more, but gain an additional +1 fatigue as though Grappling on hit rolls of 10 or less. He'll be defeated/ knocked senseless when reduced to ST3 or less. If the party has been here before, he retains any damage that might have been dealt previously, but 1 fatigue point of any taken will have been recovered. If you choose not to quiet him, or if you don't knock him out or shut him up in 1 turn, his yelling causes a riot to commence in reaction, interrupting any combat at {6}. When you suppress the lackey, the Trusty will make to remove the insensible person to the headroom for treatment, and to do so he uses his dirk to sever the chains binding the lackey to the party. This results in one random party member who had been at the chain's end now being freed. Return to {1}.\ [9] As you loiter in Limbo, the Customs inspectors descend and, having dismissed the Trusty, proceed to audit the crowd for cleansing. Roll 2D6 and on a result of 10..12 a random party member is selected for placement into the uplift. A character who was automatically selected rolls D6= 1..3) 10, 4..5) 11, 6) 12. A character who is selected must pass 3/(the 2D result)+ Diplomacy, Sorceror's Tongue or Survival (with -1 for possession of the Trusty Dirk), to cause his protests to weigh down the cradle, or else he will unavoidably undergo a spiritual revivification through the loss of ego (selfconsciousness/ notoriety) in substitution with superego (conscientiousness/ devotion): by the which this adventure is terminated for that character, who must be removed from the party to ascend to a better place. If a chained character passes on and but one chained party member is left, that one is freed; otherwise the chained condition of remaining party members is unaltered. You may test your chains {7}, plan for a crash- out with your group {5}, or complain of ailments allowing for treatment in the headroom infirmary which they operate {10}.\ [10] You are shunted into the headroom momentarily where a hospitaller looks all of you over. Party members will be exorcised of any & all Voices, Rashes, Nixies, Quirks and similar perturbances; and one character chosen by the party may regain 1 lost damage or fatigue point as well. Then if you pass 3/IQ+ Animal Handler, Farmer or Driver (with -2 if no one received aid for anything other than ST) to earn his sympathy turn to {5}, else {9}.\ [11] Before leaving Limbo for travel through the other zones of the Subliminal plane, note that the condition of chained party members remains unchanged until some way is found to remove their chains. Any itinerent voyagers through this zone are often so oblivious to their surroundings that the party may be able to slip past them. Roll for an encounter on D6= 1..3) none, 4..5) Dervish, 6) Mummy. To avoid an encounter one party member must pass 3/DX+ Climbing, Tactician or Streetwise (-2 if chained) to get over. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 2; and the edge of area 3 is fixed, but the party may flee into area 1. The party begins in the lowermost hex of the rightmost column or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 2 or adjacent to the hex marked 1. D2 Dwarf Whirling Dervishes: ST10 DX9 IQ10 MA3; Fire-1, Assist, Heal Wounds; Sickle D6+1. If the party wishes, the first time a party member moves adjacent to a Dervish before any attacks have been made or spells cast, your character may try to interrupt the other's preoccupation for a reaction check; so that on passing 3/IQ+ Dwarvish, Farmer or Diplomacy (+2 for each Dwarf in the party), they won't attack and each Dervish will use up to ST-(D3+1) in casting Heal Wounds on party members of your choice before they spin out (this would not be counted as a deafeat). In attack, a Dervish must stop whirling to cast a spell, so they'll wait until after the first attack (or opponent's spell cast) has been made to do so. A Dervish brandishes a Sickle, like a light, inward- curving scimitar, which in its hands as it turns about imparts a reaping effect to its Strike attack: so that a Dervish gains a DX+D2 bonus to hit if he or she was not adjacent to the target at the start of the turn. Sickles would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Axe/ half Sword skills apply. Mummified Beast: ST9(D3-1) DX10 IQ5; snag (D3 & on 1..2 check vs auto 1); dessicated (D3-1)/0. This perhaps was once a royal mascot, such as a large cat, ape, wolfhound, etc, whose body was mummified in an enduring alternative to taxidermy. Its attacks are accompanied by an other- worldly growling as the misshapen figure wrenches convulsively, giving it only an alternate turns Strike capability (it may not attack on the turn following its attack). It snags a target if its D3 damage roll= 1..2, when an opponent who'd not suffer damage on that hit due to armor or other protection must pass 3/IQ+ Animal Handler, Orcish or Survival (with an automatic fail on a roll of 13 or more) to keep from recoiling in fright at being linked to the repugnant corpse carrier and so suffering an automatic 1 damage in tearing away. If you flee you must retreat back to further subjection in Limbo {9}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Mummified Beast, you find that in preparation for interment its jaws had been detached from the skull, and a party character may remove its fanged jaws to wear as a Roarer Armlet slipped around one's upper arm and strapped behind through the hinge joints of the mandible; so that when the wearer takes damage from a Strike attack, roll D6 & on 6 the armlet is hit & destroyed, but on 1..3 its jaws flex & emit a praeternatural roar which causes all adjacent opponents to make two opposed IQ checks against the wearer versus the effects of an immediate Drop Weapon and an Avert-1 for just the next turn. Choose to amble toward Dreamland {12} or withdraw into the state of the Blues {15}.\ [12] In crossing the Verge of Slumber, you see beside you a teeming flight of miniscule and fairy- like, but parasitic specimens of a type of pixy, buzzing around a niche. The encounter takes place in map area 1; and the edges of areas 2 & 3 are fixed. Party members may flee by exiting from the rightmost column. The party begins in any hex of the leftmost column, and the opponents begin divided between the hex marked 1 and the hex adjacent to both that and the hex marked 3. If this is your first time at this entry, the first party member to occupy the hex marked 1 gains a Potion of Slowing with D2 doses: each dose causing the usual Slow spell effect, plus depressing the drinker's metabolism such that points of damage thereafter caused to that character are converted to fatigue, of which half the total received are removed at the end of an encounter when the potion wears off. 3D2 Nixies (Eenies): ST2 DX10 IQ7 MA6; immune to projectiles; prick D2-1 (min 0 damage), tgt DX- if damaged in hex; 4/DX to be hit. Up to 3 Nixies can occupy a hex, and an opponent's attack damages/ affects all in a target hex (separate damage rolls or resistance checks). They're immune to projectiles, and require 4/DX to be hit (incl counterattacking them vs hex entry), but if an attacker's lowest 3D total would be a hit, then you stave off those attacked for the remainder of the turn (those Nixies are prevented from entry of an opponent's hex - backed off on a hex entry counterattack, and can't Counterattack or Strike that attacker). They're not considered as Grappling when within a target's hex, so the target can Strike or move away normally on its turn to act, as can they. If a Nixie rolls better than 0 for damage when in the target's hex, it has attached itself to either free shoulder (no other Nixie attached there) of the target & is immune to further harm, while the target takes no damage but is stuck with a frustrating twitch causing DX-1 for each Eenie attached (so max DX penalty -2) until somehow rid of them. Note that though they're tiny (teeny- weeny even), Eenies swarm energetically and each has a Zone Of Control as a 1- hex size figure as long as 3 or more of them remain active. To flee is to have to rebound into Limbo {9}. If you defeat them the party gains no XP, but if it's your first victory at this entry, recovers 1 fatigue. Then you'll pass out to Dreamland {13}.\ [13] You find yourselves in the Subliminal plane's realm of Dreamland, where you can see there's a motley collection of sideshow oddballs gathered over by the midway around Nightmare Bend, who're gazing hopefully your way. Betimes you may come upon D6= 1..2) none 3..4) Dragon, 5) Sandman, 6) Sandman. To avoid an encounter a party member must win an opposed check on ST+ Leadership, Elvish or Bard, to persuade the opponent that the party is not to be trifled with; and if the opponent is a Sandman, it will produce and give to the party member to pass along a small bottle of Nepenthe holding D2+1 doses - each dose healing 2 fatigue points or 1 damage point. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 2 & 3. Party members may flee by occupying any hex adjacent to area 1 at the start of a turn. The party begins in any hexes of the righthand (MA/DX mods) diagram, and the opponents begin in a random labelled hex(es) of the lefthand (Planes) diagram. Monochrome Dragon: ST(2D6+8)(1) DX11 IQ10 MA6; ramping (D3 per adj hex); flexture 1/0. This creature appears somewhat as a 3- hex long, sinuous kite. It rolls 3D (or 4D on ST if >14) for opposed checks. If a part of it moves without following a movement of its head hex, it must pay the MA cost for the partial move. If any attack against its head hex results in a hit roll total of 6 or less, it loses its guidance sense and floats off, as it's considered to have been defeated. It is capable of making one Counterattack as well as one Strike attack in a turn if the targets are not the same. It chooses one target in either attack, and the amount of damage it does if its hit check succeeds is a D3 times the number of its hexes which are adjacent to that target, up to 3D3, applied in a lump. Sandman: ST11 DX13 IQ12; Slingstick D6-1 (min 0 damage), 3D6 Sandstones ammo. A Sandman rolls 3D for opposed checks. Its Shoot attack using a Slingstick, which is akin to a Jai Alai cesta, includes the spell- like effect of a sand bolus which casts Sleep-1 without cost on a hit target if the attack damage before armor reductions is >2 and the target fails an opposed IQ check (may be voluntarily failed): when the damage is reduced by -3 and treated as fatigue. The Slingstick may be used as a Club (min 0 damage) with no skill bonus, but would be broken on a missed hit check, and would become available to party use, with any Sandstone ammo treated as normal Sling stones, yet with min 0 damage: Heft 7, full Sling/ half Bow skills apply. If you flee, the party goes through the Blues {14}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If you wish, you may opt to try translating via daydream from here directly into the Ethereal plane by negotiating the Labyrinthine Illusion {44}. Choose Subliminal travel deeper into the oneiric toward outer Limbo {9}, or take the lowdown pass to the Blues {14}, or enter the expanse of the 'Nations {17}.\ [14] Coming down from Heartbreak Ridge you are beset by a discombobulation of little hummingbird- like welterkins with mocking human form and faces. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 2. Party characters may flee by occupying a hex of area 1 with no Meenies adjacent. The party begins in any hex of the Planes diagram, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 2 or any adjacent area 2 hex. 3D2 Nixies (Meenies): ST2 DX10 IQ7 MA6; immune to projectiles; prick D2-1 (min 0 damage), tgt ST- if damaged in hex; 4/DX to be hit. Meenie Golem: ST2x#(D2) DX11 IQ7 MA4; whomp D6-2 (min 1 damage); dimass D2/0. Up to 3 Nixies can occupy a hex, and an opponent's attack damages/ affects all in a target hex (separate damage rolls or resistance checks). They're immune to projectiles, and require 4/DX to be hit (incl counterattacking them vs hex entry), but if an attacker's lowest 3D total would be a hit, then you stave off those attacked for the remainder of the turn (those Nixies are prevented from entry of an opponent's hex - backed off on a hex entry counterattack, and can't Counterattack or Strike that attacker). They're not considered as Grappling when within a target's hex, so the target can Strike or move away normally on its turn to act, as can they. If a Nixie rolls better than 0 for damage when in the target's hex, it has attached itself to either free shoulder (no other Nixie attached there) of the target & is immune to further harm, while the target takes no damage but is stuck with an afflicting stitch causing ST-1 for each Meenie attached (so max ST penalty -2) until somehow rid of them. Additionally, if more than 4 Meenies are encountered, at the start of combat they'll all be merged by geometric conglomeration to become a 1- hex size Meenie Golem; which appears as a grotesque humanoid figure which can be hit on 3/DX by any type of attack and strikes with malformed limbs. If reduced to ST5 or less, it dissolves & is redisposed into an appropriate number of disparate Meenies based on its remaining ST. Meenies in themselves don't exert a Zone Of Control outside the hex they occupy. If you defeat them the party gains no XP, but if it's your first victory at this entry, recovers 1 fatigue. You may flee or pass on into either the dumps of the Blues {15} or the coils of Dreamland {13}.\ [15] Adrift in the Blues zone of the Subliminal plane, you tremble on the Brink of Despair as you hear a distant voice shrilling for "Heathcliffe" away upon the Moody Moors. Here you can expect to run into any kind of obnoxious noodnik: in this instance on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Desperado, 4) Desperado, 5..6) Martinet. To avoid an encounter pass 2/(lowest party MA)+ (all Tactician bonuses) to cut out. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 1. Party characters may flee by occupying any hex adjacent to area 2 at the start of a turn. The party begins in any hex of the rightmost two columns, and the opponents begin in the lowermost hex of the central column filling upward. D2+1 Goblin Desperadoes: ST6 DX9 IQ8; Bodkin (G+2) 2D2+(tgt's worn A/2). A Desperado gains a bonus +2 to hit if it's flanking the same target as that of a prior attacking Goblin in a turn (with both attackers adjacent to the character). A Bodkin's damage indicates that it's increased by half (rounding down) the value of the target figure's worn Armor (not counting shields and spells). Bodkins aren't rated for throwing (they'd require too precise control), but have the same additional 2 damage points when grappling (that's their forte, like misericordes) as do Daggers, and would become available to party use: Heft na, full Dagger/ half Polearm skills apply. Human Martinet "Philo": ST8 DX13 IQ12; Crop (G min D2 damage) D6-1 (min 0 damage); Xi Powder. This guy personifies an arrant psychosis, exhibiting a classic manic- depressive demeanor. His metal- capped hunting Crop (he names it "Bumper", as it's of stouter construction than a riding crop or whangee) would become available to party use: Heft 7, full Unarmed/ half Axe skills apply. He wears a small, partially- open, drawstring pouch of Shao-lin Xi Powder on a thong hung over his neck. On any attack in which he (or any 1- hex size wearer) takes damage, roll D6 and on a result of 6 this item is no longer useful; or else if the result is greater than or equal to the number of fatigue points the wearer has taken, he'll recover 1 damage point immediately after the attack if not incapacitated. Its use doesn't pertain to recovery of fatigue injuries and reductions. If the party flees, roll D6 and on 1..2 you'll have peregrinated through to the Planar Pylon {18}, otherwise you can pick from any of the following. You may opt to try versus Spasmodic Precipitation to cross over into the Material plane by snapping out of the Blues {39}. Choose to work your way into the Subliminal toward Limbo {9}, Dreamland {14}, or the 'Nations {16}.\ [16] Skirting the Eighth Wonder, you are intercepted by a cluster of miniature possessive sprites wheeling and arcing about each other in a confusion of flight. The encounter takes place in map area 3. Party characters may flee by occupying any hex adjacent to area 1 at the start of a player's turn. The party begins in the lowermost hex adjacent to area 2 filling upward in that column, and the opponents begin in the rightside diagram hexes determined individually (within the limit of 3 per hex) by a D3 roll in accordance with the marks "MA -" 1..3. 3D2 Nixies (Mynies): ST2 DX10 IQ7 MA6; immune to projectiles; prick D2-1 (min 0 damage), tgt IQ- if damaged in hex; 4/DX to be hit. Up to 3 Nixies can occupy a hex, and an opponent's attack damages/ affects all in a target hex (separate damage rolls or resistance checks). They're immune to projectiles, and require 4/DX to be hit (incl counterattacking them vs hex entry), but if an attacker's lowest 3D total would be a hit, then you stave off those attacked for the remainder of the turn (those Nixies are prevented from entry of an opponent's hex - backed off on a hex entry counterattack, and can't Counterattack or Strike that attacker). They're not considered as Grappling when within a target's hex, so the target can Strike or move away normally on its turn to act, as can they. If a Nixie rolls better than 0 for damage when in the target's hex, it has attached itself to either free shoulder (no other Nixie attached there) of the target & is immune to further harm, while the target takes no damage but is stuck with a distracting itch causing IQ-1 for each Mynie attached (so max IQ penalty -2) until somehow rid of them. Mynies tend to key in on their targets' brainwaves, so that if Dodge is used in reaction to their Entering The Defender's Space, or Strike actions, roll D2 for every Dodged Mynie and on each 1 a random Mynie will automatically pursue the target to remain stacked with it if the Mynie was in its hex or else to be replaced in the hex vacated by the target with its attack, if any, still effective. To make any such pursuit a Mynie must be able to pay the appropriate MA cost. Mynies are too erratic to exert a Zone Of Control outside the hex they occupy. If you flee, you'll fall back into the Blues {15}. If you defeat them the party gains no XP, but if it's your first victory at this entry, recovers 1 fatigue. Make your way up to the 'Nations {17}.\ [17] You have arrived in the 'Nations: the "en- trance" zone to the Subliminal plane. Out of the corner of an eye you glimpse a number of archaically- dressed little men erecting a billboard reading: "Ride Flashback Flume at Fantastic Falls". Apparitions seemingly abound in this spacey place, and it's difficult to impose a calmness to prevent such stimulation from enlivening weird antagonists who spring up out of the melange. Before you appears on D6= 1) none, 2) Vertigorn, 3) Vertigorn, 4..5) Figment, 6) Figment. To avoid an encounter all party members check 3/IQ+ (any mundane Crafts), and all checks must be passed. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 3; and if a character strays into area 2 (representing a Field of Poppies with an emerald edifice in the distance) its MA is sapped for the duration of the adventure so as to be determined by dividing DX by 3 rounded up. Party characters may flee off the map by occupying any of the lowermost hexes of area 3 when no opponent is adjacent. The party begins in the uppermost hex of the center map column or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hexes of area 3 adjacent to the rightmost column of area 2. Giant Vertigorn: ST18 DX9 IQ8; Magic Fist-1; Unarmed 2D2. Though a 3- hex (triangular marker) character like most giants, Vertigorns are tall and angular, rather than big and bulky. One of these destructors can catch a character (as Grappling= no hit roll required vs a target in its hexes) and then on the same turn toss the opponent for 2D2 hexes in a randomly- rolled direction: when the 2D2 damage to the flung figure isn't stopped by armor (although Acrobat skill and protection spells apply). Some observers have received the impression of Stone Giants tossing boulders in lightning flashes. Or it can cast an atypical sort of 2ST Magic Fist a number of times as long as it maintains modified ST>11. The Fist spell is cast automatically with a selected target, and 2 fatigue points are deducted; then a marker for the spell is placed on the giant's head hex and a D6 is rolled: on 5..6 the giant must pass 3/IQ or the spell damage gets reduced by -1 die, else the marker is moved a number of hexes toward the target equal to the roll - continuing to roll until both damage dice are dissipated or the spell strikes the target. 2 Elf Fey Figments: ST9 DX12 IQ11; Lancet (T3) D6+1. A psyched- out gomer with a really split personality; or maybe on a bad trip.. no telling what those elves can get into. The Elf's figure is replicated & one of them is mutated (snaky appendages, wolfish maw, bugeyes, etc.), leaving the two at odds with your party and in a raving hysteria of disbelief and abhorence. When the mutation hits with its typical Unarmed Strike attack, the target must pass 3/IQ or be repulsed into retreating D2 hexes in a randomly- rolled direction, reducing its MA for the turn appropriately. The normal Elf is armed with a Lancet: a short- handled, thin- bladed spearhead like a Zulu chieftan's ceremonial side arm, which has a maximum Throw range of 3 hexes, and would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Polearm/ half Dagger skills apply. If the party flees it still has a choice to shuffle to the misty Blues {15}, or be lulled into Dreamland {13}, or allow itself to be drawn into the interjoining nexus of the Planar Pylon {18}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. Any characters who have no Nixies noted as attached to them (and it might be that the party has fortunately missed any encounters with Nixies) may surmount their fears up to the Dizzying Heights and visit the Seat of Outlook: thereby successfully restoring their individual Motivation traits. Then the party may make a choice to pass on as in fleeing above.\ [18] You approach the Planar Pylon, an imposing archiceptual construct that serves as the communicating vault of the inner planes. Around this focal portal there may be diverse species of sentries or monitors in attendance. Watch out for a local presence on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Sphinx, 4) Ogre, 5..6) Party. To try to avoid an encounter you must roll greater than the opponents' IQ on 3D6+ Traps, Stealth or Mason, so to hide and wait them out. If the Sphinx or Ogre encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future, but the Party encounter is a permanent probability. The encounter takes place in map area 3, and due to the Pylon's predominating influence there's no other way out. If a character is Prodded out, or otherwise transgresses the area 3 boundary, he'll lose an item at random from those he might be carrying before automatically being reentered into the area at the closest available hex. The party may flee through the entrance to the Pylon at the gangway alley's end upon any party member occupying the hex marked 3 or a hex adjacent to the one directly above it; as your group will then be associatively wafted along in toto. The party begins in the lowermost ("MA-0/ DX+2") hex of the diagram or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hex of the rightmost column filling in to the next hexes adjacent to area 1. Sphinx "Habaqus": ST14 DX12 IQ13; Stone Flesh; slash 2D6-1 (D12 if Stone Flesh in use). It will issue puzzling challenges to your characters in order to satisfy itself of the party's worth. Each party member in turn according to the player's choice of order can try to pass 3/IQ+ Literacy, Bard or Scholar to gain a reward of a +1 bonus to its basic ST for the duration of the adventure: this will temporarily affect one's usable Heft for weapons as well as personal damage capacity and fatigue expenditure allowance, just as would a ST increase by XP use. But should any character in the process fail its check, the party will be immediately relocated onto a sphinxs' roost situated in the Astral plane at a point where it overlooks the Elemental plane {41}. Or before making further attempts, the party may choose to attack. Ogre "Morold": ST12 DX12(10) IQ8; Mallet (2) 3D6-4; outsize nasty Leathers 2/2. This Ogre is a bridgeheader: one of the sort who like to embed themselves in chokepoints where they can deny passage to those they dislike. If it takes damage while it's positioned in a hex of the gangway (the 3 oblique hexrows running for a length of 3 hexes each from the Pylon's mouth) it suffers only half (rounding up) of the damage points that penetrate its armor from any attack. Its Leather armor can't be used by your characters, but the Mallet would become available to party use: Heft 12, full Axe/ half Polearm skills apply. Search Party: ST8 DX11 IQ11; Shock Shield; Prod D2F (no armor)+ force retreat. Bounty Hunter: ST10 DX12 IQ11; Magic Fist-3, Rope; Staff (6 charges) D6-1 (min 0 damage). You are called out by a group of mystic penal operatives who have either been waiting here in ambush or trailing the fugitives. To compose the group, roll D6 and on a result of 6 stop (if the first roll is a 6 there's no encounter after all), but otherwise add one figure to the opponent group as follows: 1..4) Searcher, 5) Hunter; then if the result was greater than or equal to a previous roll's result stop, else roll again. A Searcher must first attempt to cast Shock Shield on himself in order to use his Prod, which channels a portion of the spell effect to cause D2 fatigue points not stopped by armor or spell on a hit, and a struck target must pass 5/(ST+DX) or be moved to a random hex not adjacent to the user. The players can't gain any weaponry from the opponents, as those items are too flimsy and specific for others' employment. Any player characters who are killed or abandoned in fleeing the scene are lost, to pass on to their final destinations as mentioned in the notes under incapacitation from the Intro. However, against these agents, if you all choose to surrender to be captured at any time or all go down fighting, any who may be incapacitated are restored to a minimum effective ST1 with all fatigue points healed, while each character may keep but one item of his choice which he might have acquired; and all are remanded again to holding in Limbo {9}. If the party flees it must take what comes through the Pylon, and its destination plane will be governed by a D6 roll in reference to the Planes diagram on the map starting with 1 at the Elemental plane going clockwise; turning to the passage entry named below. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. Choose passage onto any plane: by the ancestral path to the Primeval {35}, by the generational path to the Material {19}, by the formative path to the Elemental {23}, by the celestial path to the Astral {27}, by the visionary path to the Ethereal {31} or by the cognitive path to the Subliminal {17}.\ [19] Moving down the path through the portal, you are suddenly made to duck & jink as you undergo a barrage from the Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune. All party members must pass 4/DX+ Bow, Sling or Climbing, or be struck for D3 damage; subject to the usual armor or spell protection unless the check result was more than the character's modified DX+2. If you then wish to collect the Sling stones and/ or the arrows useable in any Bow or Crossbow left intact around you, roll D6 as you pick either type, and add the number rolled while on a 1 you find no more of that type, else roll again and add while on 1..2 you find no more of that type, else roll again and add while on 1..3 etc. A character who takes some of this ammo must record it separately: since when used in a Shoot action the target is hit under the usual conditions, and also if the attacker's hit roll dice include any fours, regardless of the totalled roll (how bizarre). Continue on towards the Material plane {20}, or double back to the hub of the Pylon {18}.\ [20] The party begins to adapt itself to the once- accustomed conditions of the Material plane. For the most part, and at least initially, your group has to make observations as insubstantial forms unable to physically interact with what are to you the seemingly intangible objects of the environment, and can only perceive events occurring around you which you are unable to personally influence. However, some hazards as well as opportunities for contact may occur even here: on D6= 1) Sarsenid, 2) Sarsenid, 3..4) Grognard, 5..6) none. To avoid an encounter pass 3/(basic ST)+ Survival, Medic or (any one Craft) (minus the encounter die roll) to engender a favorable reaction from the guardian as being one who belongs here. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 2; and all borders are fixed except for area 1. Party members may flee by entering any hex of area 1. The party begins in any hex of the Planes diagram, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 2. In the event of no encounter or the avoidance of one, roll D6 again and on 5..6 (or 3..6 if the party wants to try to make contact) you'll have an encounter with a Witness which isn't avoided after all. Sarsenid: ST11 DX11 IQ10; Flash, Summon Warrior; whisk 2D2 (both same: +2D2). The name being a contraction of Sarsen Naiad, this is a seemingly feminine, often menhir- tied sentry posted versus intrusions coming through the swirling currents of time: either from otherworldly entities, ancient or arcane (as "Saracen") evils, or over, so to speak, a "well of souls". She Strikes with what looks like a short twist of tightly corded and braided hair of various hues, and if the whisk damage roll's two dice show both 1s or 2s then reroll and add, and if the second roll is a double as well, the target also loses one unused XP should it have acquired any. Gargoyle Grognard "Vanic": ST12(2) DX10 IQ9; rend 2D6-D3; hardening 2/0. A decrepit, old- guard watchman; worn down, yet no less intent and attuned to interposing itself against those phantasmal equivocations of creatures seeking to exploit a passage into the world along recurring dimensional rifts, or magnitudinal shifts verging upon alternate realities. Its rending Strike attack would incidentally sever the chains from a chained character that it targets (unchaining only the target character) if the D3 reduction portion of its damage roll is less than 3; but thereafter that portion of its damage will be automatically 3 (gucky as ectoplasm is). various Witness: ST6 DX10 IQ8; Unarmed. Your ghostly manifestations shock a meditating, contemplating or concentrating isolated being unexpectedly frightenend by the weirdness of the event. You can't physically harm the opponent, but could pass 3/IQ+ Charisma, Diplomacy or Merchant to effectively communicate with and calm the subject to the extent that word of your predicament will be conveyed to some kind of helpful, spiritually- enlightened personage or institution which could possibly succor the party sometime hereabouts. If the check is passed, you'll be considered to have defeated the opponent. Otherwise, you have no chance to flee but may choose how to proceed, since it's the opponent who'll flee. If the party flees, you'll be forced into the Pylon accessway at {19}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Sarsenid and no one suffered any XP loss, you'll find that the weapon she was using was made around a bar- like core of stone (havin' a stone soul picnic here), and would become available to party use, though without any XP erasing capablility, as a Truncheon (G): Heft 8, half Unarmed/ half Axe skills apply. If the party has had an earlier (prior to this visit) unavoided encounter at this entry, turn to {21}, or else {22}. [21] It might be that an individual has positioned either himself or some form of spiritual appeasement here, due to prior reports of local visitation by beings from beyond. If the most recent encounter appearing on the Material plane you've had was with a Witness unto whom you managed to relate favorably, then you'll find an offering of dedicated foodstuffs, ceremonial fortune tokens and/ or restorative incense that enables each party character, even if incapacitated, to roll D3 separately in sequence and recover the number of damage and/ or fatigue points shown on the die, stopping when a 3 is rolled for that character. In this earthly place, the party may also choose to descend into the stuff of Dust & Ashes: whereby any character who desires to acquire a Mineral Stamp kingdom tag may do so, although this would cause the avoidance check for a possible upcoming encounter here to have to be made on 4/DX with the same automatic failure of 14. Then, in any case, check for an encounter on D6= 1..2) none, 3..4) Doctor, 5..6) Magus. To avoid an encounter pass 3/DX+ Stealth, Streetwise or Thief (with automatic fail on 14 or more) to keep off its turf. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 3, and all borders are fixed except for area 1. Party members may flee by entering any hex of area 1. The party begins in any hex of the MA/DX diagram, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 3. One of the possible opponents is a man who looks like an orc, and the other's an orc who looks like a man. Each has been expecting spirits, and his hastily mounted preparations to incapacitate and/ or subdue one of you allow him initial Surprise; but it's he who'll be surprised after his first free action and 2nd turn initiative, to discover that you're not entirely incorporeal now and can by this juncture attack and be attacked in the usual fashion, even through your ghostly guise. Human Witch Doctor "Ruzbod": ST12-2 DX11 IQ10; Shadow, Avert-1, Reveal Magic; Grossbow (2 R) 2D6, 4 accessory arrows (2x best). An astonished aborigine with bone through nose, droning a vision song (ie. using Reveal Magic), who scrabbles among his accumulated trappings for something to combat the "spirit walkers" and comes up with a makeshift missile weapon, which is so amenable to him that he can reload it while casting a spell. He could use a bone arrow to stab in a Strike attack for D6-2 damage, but the arrow then breaks after a damage die roll of 1..3. "Bonerror" is an improvised crossbow assembled of deformed bones with its curvatures producing erratic flight (automatic miss on hit rolls that include any doubles), which may be used with any arrows obtained by the party, but the opponent has 4 bone arrows with fossilized points that cause damage of twice the higher of the two damage dice rolled when used with it. All would become available to party use, Grossbow: Heft 12, limited range= 12 (causes any arrows affected by Reverse Missiles to just drop on the way back), usable vs any undead (including Skeletons), full Bow/ half highest technical Craft skills apply. Orc Magus "Tagos": ST9 DX12 IQ12; Summon Poltergeist (4F), Slippery Floor-3, Freeze; Crozier (2) D6 (<3: +D6) (7 charges). A richly- robed exorcist and summoner, this ghost catcher has positioned himself inside a limned barrier that he hopes will be protective against daemonic entities. He will unleash his familar spirit using Summon Poltergeist, and send it out to try to Grapple with a party member. Summon Poltergeist is an IQ 12 spell treated just as a Summon Warrior with Invisibility, but its only attack is Unarmed. When the Poltergeist is Grappling/ in a target's hex, its summoner may cast direct spells on that target, even one it could not ordinarily affect, with only a caster's spell check required - no resistance opposed check is allowed to the target. The Crozier staff's damage means that a D6 is rolled and then if the result is 1..2 another D6 is rolled and added. If its wielder casts any Summoning type spell, the spell's fatigue cost is reduced by -1 if the caster's IQ check roll total is less than IQ- (lowest die rolled). It would become available to party use at zero charge capacity: Heft 8, full Axe/ half Polearm skills apply. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. After you bypass, avoid, flee or defeat an opponent here turn to {22}.\ [22] Any party members who have recovered all four personal traits of Corporation, Orientation, Sensation, and Motivation may choose to now be fully restored/ resuscitated, so that for them the adventure is completed, and each could opt to retain one item or set of items (eg. bow & arrows) obtained during this adventure; whereas all other items will dematerialize upon the reentry of reality. If a qualified character elects instead to remain with the party to accompany it further rather than being restored, the party's dual nature forces it to head back from the Material into the Planar Pylon {18}, else if any party member lacks either the trait of Corporation or Orientation the party will gravitate from the Material irresistibly to the more substantial proclivities of the Elemental plane's Gravitan zone {24}, otherwise you'll be necessarily reintroduced to the soul- searching Blues zone of the Subliminal plane {15}.\ [23] You pick your way carefully into the Torrentan zone of the Elemental plane, an effusion of wet works and (up-) standing water with crazy tributaries, surging tides and unplumbed depths. Over the slope of a slippery cascade below an occasionally- slackening waterfall, you glimpse an indistinct, furtive figure on the other side of a small collecting pool. Special movement conditions here are that party characters outside the pool (with the pool described by the lefthand (Planes) diagram) who either try to move a hex in a direction other than directly upward, or whose last movement step was a freefall, must pass 3/DX+ Climbing, Swimming or Sailor (minus distance above the pool) with automatic fail on 15 or more, or freefall 1 hex instead. A character who exits the lower edge of the map loses one item at random from among those it possesses and is immediately replaced in the lowermost available hex of the rightmost column. A character in a pool hex ends its movement for the turn, and receives no protection from armor if attacked by an opponent who's also in a pool hex (though spell protection applies), while on the next turn it must exit by the way it entered. These conditions don't affect any opponent: instead, an opponent character in a pool hex can try to Dodge against any number of attacks of any kind and still perform an action in its turn. A better view across the pool reveals on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Shoreman, 4) Shoreman, 5..6) Lifeform. To avoid an encounter pass 3/IQ+ Charisma, Diplomacy or Bard to be able to cross the language barrier and beg off. If the avoided encounter was a Lifeform, you may opt to receive Healing: in which up to 5 physical damage points will be restored to party members as selected, but if the opponent then passes 3/DX+1 it will steal & swim away with a random item from a random party member. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 2; and the diagram, as noted, is the pool. Party members may flee by exiting the lefthand side of the map. The party begins in the two lowermost hexes of the rightmost two columns, and the opponents begin in the lowermost hex above the diagram in the leftmost column. Lizardman: ST10(1) DX11 IQ8; clutches 3D3-(#matches), Discus D3+D2-1; scaliness 1/0. Merman: ST9 DX12 IQ9; Confusion; Gaff (lowest two hit dice). Only now can the opponent's race be recognized as D6= 1..3) Lizardman, 4..6) Merman. The Lizardman's unarmed clutching damage from claws & teeth is figured by totalling 3D3 and, unless a 1- 2- 3 is rolled, subtracting the number of matches: -1 if two dice show the same value, or -2 if three dice show the same value. The Discus is somewhat lighter and more aerodynamic than most thrown weapons, but is less strightforward to use, giving it extended range but imposing a DX-1 penalty for every 4 hexes (or fraction thereof) of distance to the target, with the D2 portion of its oblate damage not stopped by armor or spell if the hit roll is -2 or more below the requirement, and would become available to party use: Heft 10, full Sling/ half Bow or Mason skills apply. The Merman's Gaff, which is something like a pronged, unthrowable javelin, and whose damage for an attack is the sum of the two lowest dice in the user's hit roll, would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Polearm/ half Fisherman skills apply. A character hit by a Strike with a Gaff is held off, and can't make any attempt to enter the space of the attacker on that turn. Halfling Lifeform (depraved) "Caxell": ST8 DX13 IQ10; Heal Wounds, Slippery Floor-1, Thief+1; grosp D6-1 amassed (min 0 damage) An ex- magic using bandit accomplice, now crouched beside the pool in morbid reflection upon past misdeeds. If it's in the pool, it can automatically enter a character's space to Grapple if the target is in or adjacent to the pool. If damage from its throttling unarmed grosp Strike is more than 0 but doesn't penetrate the target's armor or spell protection, the amount of damage is carried over and added to consecutive Strikes upon the same target until some damage gets through. A character affected by a Slippery Floor hex here is in up to his knees, and if moving to exit the hex must pass a 4- dice check as above, or be affected by Trip in addition to the freefall. If you flee, on D6= 1..3 you'll ride the wild surf to within sight of the coasts of the Material {39}, otherwise you'll just flow back with the flotsam to be cast up with the jetsam at the base of the Planar Pylon {18}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. Any character who wishes to try to acquire an Animal Stamp kingdom tag can make a plunge into the crest of a Wave from the Deeps, and by passing 3/ST+ Alchemist, Herbalist or Medic then succeeds in rising above its backward pull to attain an Animal Stamp; but a failed check causes the character to suffer a reduction of -1 skill point from one skill possessed at random for the duration of the adventure and precludes any further try here. Leaving this meeting of the waters, you may choose travel toward the Pylon {18}, the Gravitan zone {24}, or Elevatan zone {25}.\ [24] You descend upon the Gravitan zone of the Elemental plane, where you're impressed with the immensity of the formations and the upthrust earthworks that support you and tower around you. The Gravitan zone assigns each party member a kingdom Stamp upon the party's first visit here. A character whose basic attributes all have the same value is assigned a Mankind Stamp. Other characters who have no basic attribute higher than their ST are assigned a Mineral Stamp, those with none higher than their DX a Vegetable Stamp, and the rest an Animal Stamp. Alert for lurking dangers, you espy on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Mephite, 4) Mephite, 5..6) Alchemist. To avoid an encounter pass 3/IQ+ Survival, Streetwise or Traps to watch it away. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 1, and the boundary into area 3 is crossable. Party members may flee by voluntarily freefalling into any hex of area 3 from a hex directly above it; however on D6= 4..6 the character instead gets replaced in the top map hex of its column in area 1 to continue moving, or Trip if the hex is occupied (also note that every hex entered is a move step, and there is a limit of 6 hexes/ steps moved in a turn). The party begins in the lowermost hex of the leftmost column or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the hex directly below the top map hex of the central column. Mephite: ST12(D6) DX11 IQ10; one- two 2D6-(high hit die) (min 0 damage, opt 2nd roll); aura (D6)/0. Issuing out of an abyssal crevasse appears a powerfully- built subordinate of a genie or efreet, whose lower body is a large, snake- like tail of blue- gray clayey matter that seems to be extruded around a glowing juncture at the base of its torso. If the target of its long- armed Strike attack suffers no damage, the Mephite vents its ire by immediately rolling a second 2D6 for damage with the other arm, this time subtracting the second- highest die from the same hit roll and adding on any damage from the previous roll. It can do so whether the target took no damge from its first attack because the damage result was 0, the target's protection stopped all damage, or the target Dodged out to connect with its followup haymaker. It is protected by an aura/ radiation effect, so that any damage against it from an adjacent or grappling attacker (including a Blast spell, etc) is reduced by a D6 roll, and if the roll is more than the damage then the attacker must pass 3/(ST-aura roll) with automatic fail on 13 or more, or suffer the overprotection as damage points not stopped by armor or spell. Dwarf Alchemist "Klete": ST11(1) DX11 IQ11; Alchemist+3, Fire-1; Hammer (T) 2D3+1; slag 1/0. Immersion in alchemical studies has affected the mind of this practitioner. He is in the process of absorbing the elemental influences here in an attempt to transmute and alloy a part of his own body. He has poured on a potion of Iron Flesh, and is holding a bottle of the typical alchemist's Assist potion which will bind the epoxy when he casts Fire over himself. He will be enraged to find your party eavesdropping upon his experiment, but befuddled in his choice of what to do next. For his first turn on D6= 1..3) he readies his Hammer, 4) he casts Fire at the party, 5) he casts Fire on himself, 6) he drinks the potion raising his ST to 14. If the benighted sot mistakenly casts Fire on himself at this critical stage, his body will explode as a Blast enhanced by the Fire and Assist effects to extend as a starburst along each of the 6 surrounding hexrows for a D6 number of hexes each, and doing 3D3-range (min 1 damage). This Hammer's damage changes to D6+1 if used by other than a Dwarf character, and it would become available to party use: Heft 10, full Axe/ half Smith skills apply. If you flee, on D6= 1..2 you'll fall out onto the Elevatan zone {25}, otherwise you'll be forced back into the Phlogistan zone {26}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was an Alchemist and his Assist potion wasn't consumed or blown up, you acquire it: one dose, which raises the user's ST+3 for an encounter. Note that this ST Assist potion operates much like a Morphing spell effect, such that when the potion wears off 3 damage or fatigue points are healed (accounting for possible use of the excess ST to absorb hits and/ or power spells), so it doubles as a 3- point healing potion. Any character who possesses a Mankind kingdom Stamp is pulled into the Gang Condenser and regains its trait of Corporation here. Others may also here recover their Corporation should they have elsewhere acquired a Vegetable Stamp to counterbalance an assigned Mineral Stamp, an Animal Stamp to counterbalance an assigned Vegetable Stamp, or a Mineral Stamp to counterbalance an assigned Animal Stamp. The party may opt to try to force a passage by Trapezoid out of here and into the Material plane {40}. Or you may choose to make for the Torrentan {23}, Elevatan {25}, or Phlogistan {26} zone.\ [25] You alight upon the Elevatan zone of the Elemental plane: a place of verdant aeries and scented breezes, where the Harem of the Winds sustains the flourishing of the planescape. As for others also crossing this plot, you observe on D6= 1) none, 2) Zymorg, 3) Zymorg, 4..6) Swami. To avoid an encounter pass 3/DX+ Stealth, Farmer or Herbalist to utilize any available local camouflage. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 3. The party may flee by exerting pressure against the Barometric Wall when all active party members occupy hexes in the leftmost column of area 1. The party begins behind a dark cloud in the two uppermost hexes of the rightmost two columns of area 3; but any party members who wish to, may incline instead to the light of the Seed Bed and position themselves in a hex of the MA/DX diagram: when prior to the first turn 6D6 are rolled and if any die shows a number of an occupied hex there (counting clockwise from 1 in the diagram's top righthand hex) that character is awarded a Vegetable Stamp kingdom tag. The opponents begin in the hex directly below the top map hex of the central column in area 1. Zymorg: ST13(1) DX11 IQ4; spell resistance IQ10; burp D6, lash 2D6, slap 3D6: (all= best max); unfeeling 1/0. The Zymorg is like an enormous airborne jellyfish shown on the map with a 3- hex size, triangular- shaped marker, and differs from most multihex figures in that its marker has specific component sections; so that regardless of how it is made to move along a hex path, it always ends with its sections in a position oriented as with the hexes marked 1, 2 and 3 on the map, although the #3 section may be switched to the lefthand side of the two same- column sections, if that would be more appropriate to how it winds up its move. It floats through the rarified upper 'spheres buoyed by strange vapors enclosed under its pulsating covering Cap in the #1 hex, propelled by mighty strokes of its glutinous Fin in the #3 hex, and trailing an array of icky tentacles from its Hip in the #2 hex. Upon its turn, each of its three sections may make Strike attacks against separate targets, or two sections may attack the same target adjacent to both: when the damages would get combined. The Cap sprays a gust of revolting putrescence for D6 damage, the Hip entangles in creepers that tansfer an effervescing secretion for 2D6 damage, and the Fin smacks to embed gobs of fermenting goo for 3D6 damage. However, the damage actually suffered by the target in one of its mostly- nasty attacks is limited to no more than the value of the highest die result from the total damage roll. Halfling Swami "Entrigue": ST10(1) DX15(14) IQ11; Rope-1, Reverse Missiles, Shock Shield, Image-1, Avert-3; staff D6 (7 charges); undersize Breastplate 1(+3 vs Counterattack)/1. You see a small person in billowy clothing climbing up a flowery vine that seems to hang in midair, to disappear into nothingness at the top. The Swami has made a series of rope trick accesses across the map, and upon its turn will reappear in a random hex: determined by D6 for map column starting with 1 at the leftmost column, and D6 for hex starting at the top of the column and counting down, using the lowermost hex for rolls greater than available hexes. It can occupy another character's hex in this way and use Shock Shield without being subject to the effects of entering another's space or grappling; can attack and be attacked normally, and can choose to vanish again as its action by passing 3/DX. Should it cast a dupe Image of itself, the image reappears and vanishes independently in the same way, and characters affected by its Avert must avoid the image as well until disbelieved. Its staff is composed of intertwined vines which unravel upon its defeat. Its breastplate, made of mineral- impregnated leather with an embossed medusa's head and sized to fit a Dwarf, Halfling or Goblin, is treated as a shield (regarding the types of attacks/ damage against which it's effective) requiring no hands, but can't be used with other worn armor, and would become available to party use. The breastplate stops 1 damage point as would a shield, and additionally when the wearer hits with a Strike attack (though not necessarily causes damage) an opponent nonplayer character if capable of Counterattacking would not on D6= 1..4, and should the wearer having hit its target be counterattacked in any case, the breastplate stops 4 total damage points. If in fleeing on D6= 1..2 you'd push through the Frontal Thermocline to come out into the Planar Pylon {18}, otherwise your flight leads you to percolate down to the sources of the Torrentan {23}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. You can opt to try by Flight of Fancy for an airborne migration away into the Astral plane {41}. Further, through the arching vastness, you may choose travel across the Elemental zones toward the Torrentan {23}, Gravitan {24}, or Phlogistan {26}.\ [26] You struggle ahead to penetrate through ionic waves into the heat- charged Phlogistan zone of the Elemental plane. Amid the wildfires & spontaneous combustion here, any and all ectoplasmic chains which may still be binding party members are totally and finally cooked off. Even as inhospitable as this remote territory may be, for an encounter you find on D6= 1) none, 2..3) Robber, 4) Robber, 5..6) Fumarole. To avoid an encounter all party members must pass 3/DX+ Tactician, Thief or Driver one by one in an order of your choice, to fan out & resist bunching together into a tempting target; and as an attendant effect on your first encounter here, all characters who pass the check to brave the heat in the face of danger before one fails are awarded a Mineral Stamp kingdom tag. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 2. The party may flee when an opponent occupies any hex of the Static Field denoted by the Planes diagram in the lower lefthand corner of the map (an opponent moving from a hex adjacent to the diagram will enter the Field on D6= 1..3), as all opponents would then run off in shock. The party begins where it's sheltering in the flue at any hex adjacent to the hex marked 3, and the opponents begin in the top leftmost map hex or any adjacent hex. D3 Human Tomb Robbers: ST9 DX11 IQ8; 1- pt Curse; indiv wpn on D6= 1..3) Pick, 4) Grappling Hook, 5..6) Torch. Accursed & consigned to this fiery purgatory in consequence of their trespass into a ghostly- warded precinct, each of these raiders may be armed differently, and all are scrapping for a way out. Pick (2) D6+(tgt's worn A/2) would become available to party use: damage indicates that it's increased by half (rounding down) the value of the target figure's worn Armor (not counting shields and spells), Heft 9, half Farmer, Mason or Miner skills apply. Grappling Hook (2 T R2) 3D2-2 would become available to party use: range up to 6, Hooked opponent (after rolling any hit damage, hooking requires winning an opposed DX check) and user are both treated as Grappled for available actions and may only move toward each other, but opponent may attack targets outside its hex (see Drag Grappled Opponent). Readying again after a Throw requires 2 turns, Heft 7, full Sling/ half Thief skills apply. Torch D3-1 (min 0 damage) would become available to party use: when lit, damage is stopped by Shields unless hit roll <10 but not stopped by worn armor, Heft 6, half Miner skill applies. Fumarole: ST13 DX10 IQ6; spell resistance IQ12, immune to Fire; breathe ash jet (2F), gore 2D6 (least max), trample D3-1 (min 0 damage, no armor). As though one of the Ghost Riders' redeye devil herd, this is a large but gaunt, 2- hex size, steer- like behemoth, whose hooves strike sparks, and when it enters another character's space it's not required to halt: doing D3-1 damage not stopped by armor (although protective spells apply) unless the defender dodges away, before any reactive attack which would be made at the defender's DX-D6 with Trip to the defender on attack check failure. In addition to any other action, it can snort/ spurt a hot, smouldering ash jet dust cloud (cost 2F) as a combined Fire and Shadow effect at a target over a range of an intervening hex, with both hexes being affected, as well as another random hex adjacent to the target. When a character other than the Fumarole attempts to move out of such an ash cloud hex, it must pass 3/ST+ Swimming, Smith or Alchemist, with automatic fail on 13 or more, or else it will be moved in a random direction instead. The force of the Fumarole's bulk contributes more to the danger of its Strike attack than the threat of its rather short horns, so that although 2D6 are rolled for damage, should any penetrate the target's protection the maximum that can be inflicted on the target per attack is that of the lower damage die. If the party flees, on D6= 1..3 you'll have to check for another encounter here, with the number range for a Fumarole as a constant probability in this instance; otherwise you may proceed as below. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1 and on D6=1..2 per arrow, any regular arrows (with no special features) that party members have in their possession are converted into Fire Arrows which activate when shot, doing an extra 2 damage not stopped by armor if they hit. With bleary eyes, you may choose to straggle away toward the Gravitan zone {24}, or the Elevatan {25}.\ [27] Passing into the overarching Firmament zone of the Astral plane, you stand transfixed as you are imbued with a geometrician's perspective upon the workings of the inward worlds and their relativistic union with the outward reaches. Around you tracks the Zodiac Belt, making its determined way across the Star Chasm, wherein wormholes stretch out to circumvent ominously pulsing singularities. Arising within your field of vision appears on D6= 1..2) none, 3..4) Megaglyph, 5..6) Totem. To avoid an encounter you must pass 3/IQ+ Leadership, Tactician or Sailor, to locate a fold of space beyond its purview. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 2. The party may flee when any party member exits the top edge of the map, as the opponent will go chasing off to see what else might be out there. The party begins in the uppermost hex of the rightmost column of area 2 or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hex of the leftmost column of area 1. If a character enters the central Placer hex of the Planes diagram, it is instantly transported to a hex of area 1 adjacent to area 3 determined by rolling D6 and starting at the hex marked 1 for die result 1 and proceeding along the boundary with area 3, as hexes for results 2..6. Transported characters may reappear stacked in a hex occupied by other figures. Centaur Megaglyph: ST12(2) DX12 IQ12; buck D6-1 (min D3 damage), Longagobow (2) D6+D2, 12 Lightshaft arrows; vacuosity 2/0. Looking like a realized, but diminished- to- nearer- lifesize representation or personification of a Nazca plain figure, or the White Horse, the Piasa Bird, cave paintings or even constellations set in motion, this is a 2- hex size marker of a melded man/ horse being. However, the likeness is somewhat 2- dimensional and of mythic proportions, so that blows aimed at it can tend to pass through its outline with lessened damage, as noted by its armor stat. For its hoofed Strike damage, it rolls a D6-1 and a D3 and takes the higher of the two results. The Longagobow can be used with any arrows, although the Megaglyph starts with 12 Lightshafts which when used with this bow or by a magic user will also affect any target struck as an individual Flash spell; and both bow and any remaining arrows would become available to party use: Heft 10, full Bow/ half Sling (or half Sorcerer's Tongue for Lightshaft use) skills apply. Grizzly Totem: ST14(1) DX11 IQ9 MA6; loup 2D6-D2; (heap) tough 1/0. You are chased down by a large, oddly- colored weretype running wild which seems to be only partly transformed, or maybe wearing a hide cover, and whose animix is difficult to distinguish between what might be a powerful wolf, bear, catamount, bison or similar feral brute. It circles about its targets with uncanny surefootedness at its MA# hexes per turn regardless of direction, for a woundup sidelong Strike attack in passing (it may continue moving away after its attack, but is still allowed only one attack a turn), ignoring opponent zones of control and taking only half damage from counterattacks. If it attacks a target to which it began its turn adjacent, it's thrown off stride and rolls only 2D3-D2 for damage. If the party flees, and any party member had made use of the Placer transport mechanism through the diagram, on D6= 1..4 you'll be rejoined where the absconding character had gotten caught in the Torrentan zone {23}. But otherwise, or if no one used the transporter, you recover everyone in place here and may choose a direction below. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Grizzly Totem, you gain a Mantlet which one character may wear as Leather armor 2/2, but though its Restriction lowers DX, it doesn't lessen nor pertain to the wearer's MA calculations. Choose to travel on toward the recess of the Planar Pylon {18}, or deeper into the Astral plane's Temporal {28}, or Vortex {29} zones.\ [28] You reconvene within the fastnesses of the Temporal zone upon the Astral plane. In its given time frame you walk along the winding loops of the radical relay, over corrugations of inconsequentialities up to the stoppages at the declivity of the unknown: whence may be seen afar off the transpires of the eternal. What crops up at you is on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Dynomantis, 4) Dynomantis, 5..6) Harbinger. To avoid an encounter requires passing 3/DX+ Leadership, Stealth or Streetwise to desynchronize from its unwanted attentions. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 3. The party flees when any character on either side exits the bottom of the map - when the tempos fugue recollects. The party begins in any of the 4 uppermost hexes of the rightmost column, and the opponents begin in the hex just below the bend against the border with area 2. In this time zone, the side that wins initiative imposes "waits" onto the other side. After the side with initiative finishes its turn, roll 2D6 and subtract the positive difference between the two dice (difference range of 0..5) from the MA of every character on the other side; then each of those characters must pass 3/ST (minus the difference) to bear the wait, or freefall D3 hexes (giving no further reduction of MA, but subtracting from the maximum of 6 hexes moved per turn) prior to beginning its movement. Any character who enters a hex of the Turnback Dial, represented by the MA/DX diagram, must pass 3/IQ+ Literacy, Bard or Scholar, or be afflicted with temporary amnesia equivalent to succumbing to a Mind Control spell cast by the other side. If the opponent becomes so afflicted, it is considered defeated. A party member so afflicted rolls D6 when it prepares to move in a hex outside the dial and on 1..2) snaps out of it and returns to attacking the opponent, 3..4) is confused and won't attack this turn, 5..6) moves to attack the party. If all party members are afflicted at once, the party is considered to have fled as the opponent cringes away in distaste from your whacked- out offer of camaraderie. Dynomantis: ST6+3*=1 DX8+=1 IQ3+=1; spell resistance IQ*2 & reflection; glom =1D3-=0; carapace =1/0. Size =1 hex. One of these monster- sized predatory insects has somehow gotten lodged in an accelerated slipstream of the maturation- mutation evolutionary timeline. Roll D6 at the beginning of each turn and the semblance of a Praying Mantis will: 1) regress, 2..3) maintain or 4..6) progress in its rapidly changing growth cycle & developmental levels. Those digits preceded by an '=' sign in its stats are decremented -1 (to a minimum of 0) when it regresses, or incremented +1 (to a maximum of 4) when it progresses. From its 1- hex initial size, it could progress to a 2-hex marker, or regress to a half- hex at a size of 0 (doing damage of half rounding down D3). Damages taken by the Dynomantis are reduced/ healed by 3 points each time it regresses; along the same lines as with Morphing spells. It is made violently aggressive by its revolutions, and when it hits with a Strike roll that includes any 1s against a target that has armor protection, for each 1 rolled the Armor value of shield first and then worn armor is permanently decreased by -1, and the Dynomantis itself suffers -1 damage point. The development of its IQ in reference to mental and perceptive capacity ("mantis"= prophet, seer; base as "(non compos) mentis") is especially surprising for a creature of the insect class. It resists all spells targeted at its space, including Creation & Kinetic types as well as direct spells, at twice its current IQ, and if it resists a spell of an IQ level that is less than or equal to its resistance, the spell is reflected against the caster, who must still pay the cost. Human Harbinger "Jaerecho": ST9(1) DX12 IQ10; pruning Hooksaw 2D3-1 or (2) D6+D2; fetish 1/0. What at first looks to be a two- headed man turns out to be one of the prophetesses of the reclusive Wild Ones of the Woods, who has a net bag slung across her shoulders secured to a wide leathern baldric in which bobs the severed head of some other humanoid being. Wild- living natives like this are often taken to be omen creatures such as banshees, when they are intuitively prompted to suddenly appear and wail about a place. This one is wild- eyed as well, and is given prescience in dice rolls: always rolling one more dice than are called for and discarding one chosen die. The Hooksaw would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Polearm/ half Axe skills apply. When fleeing, on D6= 1..3 you'd be transposed across the outer limits into {31}, or else you're relegated to the timelessness of the Void {30}. If you defeat the opponent, the party recovers 1 fatigue, and for those who stood adjacent to the opponent at some point, your proximity to its time- warping envelope causes those individual party members to regenerate D2 damage points healed now as well. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. You can opt to try departing the Astral plane by Flight of Fancy, looking for a landing on the Elemental plane {41}. Or, pursue your way about the Astral zones toward the Firmament {27}, Vortex {29}, or Void {30}.\ [29] You hold on into the Vortex zone of the Astral plane, where a permeating vibe like the Music of the Spheres tends to produce an unbalancing & defocusing effect - which can lull one into overlooking the attendant trend in these wavering cycles toward their accretion into raging centripetal whorls. Out of the tumult there comes on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Sundancer, 4) Sundancer, 5..6) Lunatic. To avoid an encounter, one party member must make an inverse ST check: rolling greater than its modified ST on 3D6+ Charisma, Bard or Merchant to refrain from any forms of provocation. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 2. Party members may flee by exiting area 2 from the uppermost hex of the leftmost column. The party begins in the lowermost hex of the rightmost column or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 2. Any character who enters or begins its move in a hex of the Roundabout represented by the Planes diagram will be automatically whisked clockwise around the central hex for D6 hex steps, but upon having moved 3 or more steps within the diagram in a turn and having steps remaining, reaches escape velocity and may choose to break out of the loop and take its remaing steps in a chosen path, discounting MA requirements. Attacks or spells directed at a target character or hex in the Roundabout suffer a DX or IQ penalty of -4. various Sundancer: ST8+D6 DX10+D2 IQ7+D3; Rake (2-handed, 2-hex rng) D6+D3-2 (min 0 damage). An initiate who may be of most any race: now in a transcendent state carried away by exotic visions in a "souler" rite. Indeed, its external personna is suppressed and disguised to the point where its race is indistinguishable here, and its attributes are assigned per the die rolls noted in its stats. It can continue to fight for one turn even after its ST is reduced to an incapacitating degree. The Sundancer, holding its standard high, will intone a presentiment before it attacks: roll D6 & on 1..3 the number rolled will be treated as a 6, else as a 1 throughout the combat for all dice rolls on both sides. The Rake is a long pole weapon, armed also in this instance with the ceremonial claws of a bear, lion, eagle, etc; that can be used to attack targets over an intervening hex (range of 2). Dodging is not effective against it unless the target moves away to a range of 3 from the attacker. This particular decorative example will be broken on a Strike hit roll of 16 or more, and if broken by any means including a Break Weapon spell (even intentional) or an effect other than intentional manual destruction by the user, it automatically casts a Summon (Sun) Bear; accompanied by a Flash and with an effective Spell Shield extending to all hexes adjacent to the bear, which would then attack the wielder's enemies independently of control. The Rake, still possessed of its Summoning feature, would become available to party use: Heft 8, full Polearm/ or for this item only, half Tracker skills apply. Human Lunatic "Lilah": ST11-2(1) DX13 IQ10 MA12; Speed, immune to Kinetics & Illusions; Deal Wound Scroll; evasiveness 1/0. This patently deranged damosel, swathed in a winding sheet trailing out behind her, is Speeded to distraction: which within the context of the vortex counts as an armor of evasiveness, and her hair- on- fire lunacy makes her immune to all Kinetic & Illusion effects. Each time she has an action, roll D6 and on 6 she'll try to cast the scroll at a random character and then flee from the area; discarding the scroll if the casting failed. Her scroll of Deal Wounds, rolled up batonwise, can be used as a striking weapon which would be destroyed on a hit roll of 15 or more, but a hit requires the target to disbelieve the unlikely yet obvious attack (Disbelief constituting the target's reaction if it is yet unacted in the turn) by passing 3/(spell resistance)IQ with automatic failure on 11 or more; and upon failure damage is determined by rolling a number of dice equal to the offset of the target's required score to its check roll, with each die that shows 3..6 causing 1 damage point not stopped by armor. Or, the scroll may be cast as a direct spell, at an IQ of 10 if the caster's is lower; when damage is determined by rolling a D6 in series and on 1..4) the target suffers -1 damage point not stopped by armor and rolling continues, 5) the scroll's caster must lose -1 fatigue or end rolling, 6) if both caster and target have suffered ST loss due to the casting then rolling ends else rolling continues. The scroll vanishes only after a casting attempt succeeds, and would become available to party use. Those who flee as a group will on D6= 1..2 achieve sufficient impetus to carry them through to {17}, or on 3..4 merely to {18}, or else will just ease back under the Firmament {27}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. Party members may one at a time attempt to recover their individual traits of Orientation here by running the gauntlet of the vortex- spanning, phantasmagoric Spectral Continuum without being led astray by the buffeting interference of the Wight Light. To do so, a character (who must not be chained to another) rolls a D6 in series and accumulates the values until its basic DX is exceeded, although for each party member whose Orientation has at some time previously been reacquired, the current subject gets an additional DX+1. In this process, if the subject has already recovered one trait other than Orientation, every die showing an initial value of 5 is rerolled once; and if the subject has already recovered more than one trait, every die showing an initial value of 5 or 6 is rerolled once. Then roll 2D3 for fluctuations in the swirling draughts, and subtract the result from the number of dice that totalled less than or equal to DX. The offset is added as a modifier to the character's DX, or on a negative offset, the character may opt to take all or part as fatigue points instead. Repeat the entire process once more, and if the final number of DX dice are less than or equal to the 2D3 roll, the subject succeeds. If the subject fails there is no penalty to apply, but he'll slip into the maelstrom which will suck in the rest of the party as well, and you'll all be passed through to a new location in line with the offset: -1) {32}, -2) {26}, or else {9}. The party may opt to try by Recluse Abandon to transit from here into the neighboring Primeval plane {42}. You may prolong your travels to the far reaches of the Astral plane's Firmament {27}, Temporal {28}, or Void {30} zones.\ [30] Failing to adequately brake against a strange momentum exerted in a downfield flareout, you dive into the end zone of the Astral plane: the Void. Here, in contrast to the activity of your approach, you find yourselves aground in a chaos of conflicting disinclinations and indispositions. Looming out of the blackness appears on D6= 1..2) none, 3..4) Wyrm, 5..6) Flummox. To avoid an encounter you can pass 3/IQ+ Diplomacy, Survival or Merchant to downplay the emerging crisis. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 3. The party may flee when all party members occupy hexes along the top of the map in area 1 and the opponent isn't adjacent to any party character at the start of a game turn. The party begins in the uppermost hex of the MA/DX diagram or any adjacent diagram hex, and the opponents begin in the hexes marked 1 & 3 . At the end of every game turn, all party and opponent characters are affected by Drag in this zone, and must freefall D6- (# of hex steps moved) unless the difference is less than one, or the character passes 3/DX+ Acrobat, Climbing or Thief, with automatic failure on 14 or more. A party character who's positioned at the end of a game turn in a hex which includes an area boundary hexside that isn't the outer edge of the map page, is influenced by the insidious zombiefication of the Void to produce a skill suppression. One of the character's skills at random is reduced by -1 (cumulatively) for the duration of the encounter. Out & Out Wyrm: ST13 DX12 IQ5; spell resistance IQ11, thrash (5- low hit die)D3; reactive D2-1 (no armor). A 2- hex size, spiny creature like a monstrous caterpillar or grub, it may perhaps be a variety of obscure immature dragonkind, and is possessed of a single- minded voracity. It acts by thrashing blindly when any characters are adjacent, by which it makes a single 3/DX attack (not affected by any opponent protective conditions such as Blur) with separate damage rolls versus all adjacent characters on a number of D3 equal to five minus the Wyrm's lowest die in the hit roll. Its reactive defenses apply to Strikes against it in which the attacker rolls greater than 12 to hit (whether the attack is a hit or a miss), thus erecting its spines and emitting a malodorous enzyme causing the attacker to pass 4/DX+ (the Weapon skill bonus), Thief or Medic, or take D2-1 damage not stopped by armor or spell and drop the weapon being used, which will remain stuck into the Wyrm's exterior. Each party turn roll D6 until a 1 is rolled, when the party sees something projecting from the Wyrm's bulk, and an adjacent character may try to pass 3/DX+ Acrobat, Climbing or Thief (but subject to the same reactive defenses as an attack) to extract a Bill weapon embedded in its blubbery hide (as per Moby Dick). The Bill (2) (half rounded down 3D6) would become available to party use unless not seen prior to the Wyrm's demise: Heft 10, full Polearm/ half Axe skills apply. If the 3 damage dice rolled are all odd or all even, a target holding a shield or who's mounted must pass 3/ST (-2 for each 5 or 6 in the damage roll) or have itself divested of its shield or dismounted, in that order. Flummox: ST10 DX11 IQ10; immune to Drop/ Break Weapon; stroke (D3+tgt's A/2)F+D2, damage spell fx; glimmer (opp DX/IQ-2). Derived from the root word "mox", not ox, this is a ghostly being which appears to wield a paddle- like club or bat exhibiting a "vampiric" damage potential, but the Flummox is immune to Drop/ Break Weapon or other item effects. Its spectral glimmer acts as a near Blur: so that attacks or spells upon it are checked at DX-2 or IQ-2. The D3 portion of stroke damage rolls has added to it half the target's total Armor value (from all sources) rounded down, and is treated as fatigue; being applied as injury prior to the D2 portion, and if the target is incapacitated by fatigue then the D2 portion isn't applied. If the D2 portion of stroke damage injures the target, the attacker may pass a direct IQ check (the Flummox rolling 3D) versus an actively resisting target in order to perform on D6= 1..3) Channel Energy (removing up to that number of damage points from the user), 4..6) Confusion (in addition to damage); on the target at the damage value without cost. In the case of a party that flees, on D6= 1..2 you'll be boosted over the intervening zones to {27}, or else you'll just subside back to check for an encounter in the Void again at this entry. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Flummox, someone in the party may use Reveal Magic to materialize its weapon into a carven tribal Clanclub (like that wielded by Chingatchgook in The Last of the Mohicans), else it vanishes & isn't available to party use. In your hands, the Clanclub still exhibits the noted "stroke" armor and spell- like special damage capabilities, and is usable by a magic- user as a staff starting at zero capacity: Heft 9, full Sorcerer's Tongue/ half Axe skills apply to hit roll modifiers only. You may choose to flog an exit toward the Temporal {28}, or Vortex {29} zones.\ [31] You devolve upon the Veil zone of the Ethereal plane: a place where mystification, concealment and pretense give rise to pervasive suspicions and grave misdoubts that act to drive out reason. Such weirdly- formed and scatterbrained creatures as the Cheshire Cat, the Foo Dog and the Feathered Serpent frequent its cloying, setpiece environs, where a vague half- light illuminates the Tower of the Elephant. You will be confronted by on D6= 1..2) none, 3..4) Turncoat, 5..6) Dissembler. To avoid an encounter, pass 3/ST+ Leadership, Streetwise or (highest Weapon skill) to dissuade it from pursuing you. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 2. Party members may flee by exiting across the boundary into area 1. The party begins in the lowermost hex of the rightmost column or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hex of the leftmost column or any adjacent hex. The area is blanketed to a variable depth by a roiling fog, causing movement to be treacherous. When a character makes a movement step after its first into a hex with no other friendly character adjacent, roll D6-4 (min 0) and the character freefalls down that number of hexes out of the hex moved to. The fog emanates from a Moon Ring or fairy ring represented by the Planes diagram. If a party member enters a hex of the Ring, the affected character morphs to an atypical werecreature: unable to use items or cast spells, doing Unarmed damage of D6-1 (min 1 damage), and with its existing attributes of ST, DX, IQ & MA adjusted by D6-3 (range -2..+3) for the duration of the encounter. Upon recovery, an affected character would regain D6-3 (min 0) lost damage or fatigue points. 3 Orc Turncoats: ST9 DX11 IQ8; Pennon (2 T) 2D6-3. The orcs are mock jousting with their pennons (light spear- like battle flags): the one with the white pennon versus the black, refereed by the gray. The White Orc will move to side with the party against the Gray & Black Orcs. The Gray Orc will attack the party, but neither other orc. If an orc does damage incapacitating another, he will automatically trade pennons (and motives) with the fallen orc. Pennons would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Polearm/ half Sword skills apply. Dissembler ST13 DX10 IQ3; spell resistance IQ14, Fan (1F); gash D6-1 (min 1 damage). This is a shifting, aggregate figure of a small 1- hex draconic creature composed entirely of cast- off dragon scales in assorted colors which are animated and seem to stick together as if magnetized: and when but a few scales make one up, it often appears as though it were a two- dimensional, stained glass image. This one has assumed the rough shape of a Man- Drake: having the upper body of a woman with the scaled- down hind parts & tail of a dragon. At a cost to itself of 1F upon its action, it can energize a spinning array of scales that fans out like a buzzsaw, acting both as a Strike attack upon one opponent for an extra damage die at 3/(its current DX+3) to hit regardless of any restricting conditions, and as a shield of 2/0 for the duration of the turn. If you flee, on D6= 1..3 you encroach on the Ethereal side of the Labyrinthine Illusion {44}, or else you are tumbled into the Planar Pylon {18}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Dissembler, you recover one scale that is big enough to use as a Scale Shield 1/0, and which serves against any breath attacks to halve individual damage dice showing a value greater than or equal to half of a die's max roll. Choose to revert to travel by the Pylon {18}, or make your way toward the Shadow {32}, or Mirage {33} zones.\ [32] You pass into the Shadow zone of the Ethereal plane: a murky place of blackouts & double negatives, where you may inadvertenty find yourselves on the dark side of the terminator. Groping through the semi- twilight and flitting forms of the nether regions, you turn toward a lightening horizon under a receding overcast. When something fades in off to one side, it turns out to be on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Spider, 4) Spider, 5..6) Dodger. To avoid an encounter pass 3/ST+ Survival, Tactician or Traps to keep the opponent at bay & intimidate it into reigning in its aggressions. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 3. Party members may flee by exiting the bottom of the map from the lowermost hexes of the rightmost four columns. The party begins in the uppermost hex of the rightmost column but one, or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the lowermost hex of the rightmost column. The area is bisected by a Penumbral Concourse, composed of lines of Shadow hexes filling two oblique hexrows: with one starting in the hex marked 3 extending to the map edge at the hex above the top rightmost diagram hex, and the other in parallel, two hexes above it; so that there's an open interstice hexrow in between them. Any character, including the opponent, who makes to move out of one of these Concourse Shadow hexes into a clear hex, either to the outside or to one of the interstice hexes, must pass 3/IQ+ Sorcerer's Tongue, Thief or Alchemist, or be moved instead into a random unoccupied hex of: D6= 1..2) the upper concourse, 3..4) the clear interstice hexes, 5..6) the lower concourse. Croft Spider: ST11 DX12 IQ5; nab 2@D3, bewebbing DX-D3; legscreen 4/DX to hit. An overgrown (full 1- hex size), recluse- type ("croft" usage as vault, crypt or cavern) poisonous arachnid. When the spider attacks by lunging at its target, its first hit roll is for its forelegs. If it hits, it immediately rolls to hit again and if the second roll totals less than the first roll, it also hits with its poison bite. Then should the bite have hit, it immediately rolls to hit again and if the third roll totals less than the second roll, it has also hit with its webbing and the target is not allowed an option to Dodge. Damage is a D3 for each of the leg and bite hits, with the bite not stopped by armor or spell and causing Sleep unless the target passes 3/ST+ Tracker, Herbalist or Medic, with automatic failure on 16 or more. Webbing strikes reduce the target's DX-D3 cumulatively for the duration of the encounter. Unless an attacker is adjacent to the spider and another character friendly to the attacker occupies the hex diametrically opposite the spider, the attacker's check roll to hit is 4/DX, due to the interference of the spider's outstanding legs, with automatic miss on 14 or more. In that case, if the attack misses but the highest 3 dice of the roll would have hit, then the spider is affected by Clumsiness of a number of points equal to the lowest die of the roll for the remainder of that turn. Human Dodger "Pilar": ST10(1) DX13(12) IQ9 MA7; Running, Tracker, immune to Avert; Bow (2) D6, 10 Arrows, Backlash D6+D3; Cloth 1/1. This Dodger (as "dogger"= tracker) has a superstitious aversion in regard to her own movements (step on crack/ cross path/ under overhang): so she never zigzags, and never changes direction without retracing her path for at least one hex. In consequence she can't be Averted, and can try to Dodge any number of missile Shots as well as Grappling entry attempts and weapon Strikes by backtracking in reaction if she hasn't yet acted herself, and then move and act normally when her turn comes. A Backlash is a light flail composed of 3 short chains attached to a haft, with a small spiked ball at the end of each chain; and typical of a lash, is carried draped over a shoulder so it may be used to strike in the same action as it is readied with Change Weapon, using a 6/(DX+IQ) hit roll. In addition to her Cloth armor, Bow and any remaining Arrows, the Backlash would become available to party use: Heft 10, full Axe/ half Sling skills apply. If the party flees, on D6= 1..3 you come across a glowworm's trace and are abruptly detailed out to {26}, or else you'll pass through the Veil to be halted at the foot of the Planar Pylon {18}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Croft Spider, and a party member passes 5/(DX+IQ)+ Survival, Locks or Animal Handler, you may apply a treatment to one weapon using the spider's extracted poison sac to effect a "de- res" toxin that will be used up after the treated weapon causes any damage, and can be used versus any regulation character type (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Goblin, Orc or various; but not Lizardman, Gargoyle, Giant, etc.) to eliminate it if the target fails a 4/ST check upon taking damage. You have the option to try a process through the Defile of Doubt and so displace by pantomime into the Primeval plane {43}. You may choose to branch out through the ether to the zones of the Veil {31}, Mirage {33}, or Reflexion {34}.\ [33] Wandering into the Mirage zone of the Ethereal plane, your attention is divided among a landscape of incongruous terrain features that seem to undulate and to disresolve upon nearer inspection. As you try to sift the conflicting impressions, your heads begin to swim and you blink against the pockets of shimmering haze that lie over the region like swamp gas. In the midst of these distractions, you are exposed to on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Xenopest, 4) Xenopest, 5..6) Guru. To avoid an encounter pass 3/DX+ Tactician, Tracker or Sailor to shift to a clearer vantage point. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map area 1. The party may flee when any character occupies a hex of the rightmost column, as the delusive vicinity is reinstantiated to the normative upon contact with its outer edge. The party begins in the hex numbered 1 or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hex of the leftmost column. At the beginning of each turn prior to rolling initiative, the opponent will try to Stare Down a party member. The opponent fastens its derisive gaze onto the lowermost party member & engages in an opposed IQ check with the character - in mutual disbelief. If one or the other rolls less than or equal to its IQ, the loser then freefalls a number of hexes equal to the lesser of a D6 or (the IQ rolls' difference). If a character on either side would be moved to cross the boundary line into area 3, it does not do so; instead, Augmen are invoked. When a character would drop out, the other side gains a Warrior as per the Summon spell but which may be an Image or Illusion, unless that side already has such a Warrior on the map, and which appears in an empty hex of the rightmost column. Whenever the possibility of one of these reimagined Warriors being Image or Illusion arises (as when successfully Disbelieved against its spell level IQ11 3- dice roll, or when struck, or when it makes a successful Strike), just roll a D2 for a yes/ no determination at that point. Xenopest: ST16 DX10 IQ5; spell resistance IQ10; leaching (least>0 of: D6-2F or D6-highest A item) (no armor); compartmented x4. This enormous slime is depicted using a 3- hex (triangular) marker. In order to Strike or Counterattack, it extends a 4th hex into a hex adjacent to two of its 3 hexes, and can then make separate attacks on all targets in or adjacent to that hex, after which the extra hex is subject to attacks but is withdrawn again at the end of a game turn. It also makes Grappling attacks versus characters who enter any of its 3..4 hexes, though it uses no preemptive reaction; and contrary to the ordinary restrictions against attacking on the turn its hex is entered and as to attacking only grappled targets, it attacks all reachable targets using separate hit rolls. Both its Strike and Grappling damage, via a virulent irritant elemental to its makeup, are the same and figured by rolling D6-2 fatigue points as well as D6 minus the target's highest single (item or spell) Armor value physical points, and applying only the lower result that's 1 or more if either is; not stopped by any further protection. It's compartmented into 4 equal sections regarding damage limits per hex attacked. That is, an attacker must declare which particular hex of the abominable ooze is being attacked, and each hex can be dealt no more tha 4 total damage points from any sources. You'll have to get it to "stick out its tongue" at some time, and can only declare attacks against the extendable hex while it's in evidence on the map. It does not Dodge, but can Disbelieve at its spell resistance IQ. Human Guru "Ianjan": ST11 DX12 IQ15; Stalker+2, Teleport; Garrote (2 G) D6, Incredibow (2 R) D6. A wandering thugee cultist or assassin, looking to run up his score. He may be projecting himself into this region of unreality by using some extrasensory form of heightened transcendental meditation, and thus has the ability to use Teleport within the area: just as in the spell casting action, including fatigue cost, but he may even do so while holding a weapon or from grappling. His Garrote is usable only by a character having the Stalker skill, and can be used without needing a turn to ready, but only in a 2- handed Grappling attack versus any regulation character type (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Goblin, Orc or various; but not Lizardman, Gargoyle, Giant, etc.). The Guru may use it against the party if his first Teleport places him adjacent to a target he grapples the following turn. The user adds his Stalker bonus to his base ST (versus the target's modified ST) for the first grappling opposed ST check, and if he passes and the target fails its part of the roll it's put to Sleep; otherwise if the user wins, the target takes D6 damage with no added skill bonus, not stopped by armor (with min 1 damage injury per attack against spell protection). The Garrote would become available to party use: Heft na, Stalker skill required. The Incredibow may be used as an ordinary bow, but it's also capable of loading itself. If a user, who need not be a magic user, holds it ready and passes an IQ check on a number of dice he chooses, an illusory arrow materializes without cost and is then treated as normal unless an opponent character chooses to Disbelieve it and wins against the user's already- rolled score. If the user rolls a 4 or less on his IQ check the bow itself vanishes for good; otherwise creating the arrow requires a turn and then the user may Shoot as usual next turn. The Incredibow would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Bow/ half Sling skills apply (as hit roll modifiers only for an illusory arrow - whose normal damage is dependent only on the target's belief). Should you flee, on D6= 1..3 you'll erroneously enter a Starfield Curtain that pinwheels to make it appear you're travelling at warp speed, to then touch down at {27}, or else you're deposited outside the Pylon {18}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. Coming upon a Welcoming Oasis whose lush greenery is most unlikely but seems so real that it practically exudes life, you are tempted to rest awhile. Any characters who so wish may acquire a Vegetable Stamp kingdom tag here. If you want, you may opt to try through the Labyrinthine Illusion to be translated by deliriousness out of the Ethereal into the Subliminal plane {44}. Otherwise, choose to travel toward the Veil {31}, Shadow {32}, or Reflexion {34} zones.\ [34] Feeling turned around, you enter the outer foreground of the Reflexion zone on the back side of the Ethereal plane. It strikes you as a captivating place where a medium is presented for immersion into the several aspects of an entity's or an identity's verisimilitude; reconciling a host of reflexive, instinctive or primal reactions and fears, with those quickening promptings and inner voices of reflective selfdetermination. In the mixup rollicking around you is on D6= 1..2) none, 3) Morphon, 4) Morphon, 5..6) Renegade. To avoid an encounter pass 3/IQ+ Literacy, Bard or Scholar to repress your innate curiousity and back off. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 2 & 3; and any character who enters a hex of the Reflect Pane in the righthand MA/DX diagram is instantly replaced in the corresponding hex of the Reflex Pane in the lefthand Planes diagram (the destination hex need not be vacant: any number can play a Twister game there). The party may flee when all party members occupy hexes in the rightmost column of area 3, to be passed through the Tunnel Mirror. The party begins in the lowermost hex of the leftmost column of area 2, and the opponents begin in the hex marked 3 or any adjacent hex. D2 Morphons (Satyr): ST9 DX12 IQ8; Blur; butt/ kick D6-1 (min D2 damage). Of the type seen in depictions on old- style maps showing supposed settlements of fantastic primitives, these are grotesque anatomical oddities, whose deformities are taken to mark them as subhuman throwbacks or deviants from the preconceived cultural norm. Some are truly far out, having no heads and with faces in their midsections, or on a single leg with an overgrown foot, or combining male & female characteristics, and so forth. These in particular appear to have a satyrish look, dressed only in fur leggings and wooden clogs, their exposed skin having a bluish cast, and with short horns sprouting from their hairy heads. As pummeling Strike damage, one rolls a D6-1 and a D2 and takes the higher of the two results. For one of them who uses Blur, a number of damage points equal to its D2 portion of the damage roll won't be stopped by armor or spell when its hit roll result is 10 or less, and in that case if the D2 result was a 2 the target staggers back into a hex chosen by the attacker, where it's considered Grappling if that hex is occupied by another character. Giant Renegade "Zandor": ST17 DX9 IQ11; Wall-1; pound D6+D3+D2; sanction Break Weapon on >3 dmg. A "reneger"= oathbreaker/ retractor "tramp(-ler)"= wanderer: one of that ancient race who've been given credit for colossal building projects constructed out of gargantuan materials. Appears bent, haggard and careworn, and can be seen to bear an exotic skin marking (perhaps a unique birthmark, or something like the Mark of Cain) giving it a mystical protective feature, such that whenever it suffers 4 or more damage points from a single attack it automatically & without additional cost casts Break Weapon on the source of the attack (rolling 3 dice on its part for the opposed check) which will affect any weapon, even magical types. In these surroundings, it can cast a Wall into a figure's hex as a direct spell by winning an opposed check (rolling 3 dice), and if it does drop a Wall on a target, that figure is automatically Dodged into a random clear hex (which counts as a reaction action for the turn if unacted), taking D3*D3 (roll 2D3 and multiply the two) fallout damage (Acrobat skill applies, but no Shield- type armor will protect). Any Wall it casts, direct or normal, will freefall D6 hexes directly downward at the beginning of each and every side's Movement/ turn, affecting any character in a hex it enters in the same way. For a party which fled, on D6= 1..4 you fall afoul of the looking glass panel portal and discover yourselves at {28}, or else there's no way out but back to the start of this entry to roll for another encounter. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. The party may enter the Hall of Mirrors here, where any character who can recognize and appropriate an image of itself with the fittingest properties by winning an IQ check versus a reflected roll, will thereby recover its trait of Sensation. The check is performed by the character rolling a chosen number of dice, and then that number plus one for the opponent image; and while the image's roll exceeds the character's basic IQ it may discard a die from its roll corresponding to one of the character's of an equal value, if any. The character then automatically adds modifiers to its roll up to the number of XP it has acquired in the course of this adventure: one XP either reducing the character's total rolled by -1 or increasing it by +1 to approach closest to its basic IQ score. If the character wins or ties against its basic IQ, the character succeeds. Otherwise the party must gain at least one XP before the character is allowed to return for a retry, or upon the next visit the character may voluntarily sacrifice one XP - guaranteeing success. The party may continue inward to envision the Shadow {32}, or Mirage {33} zones.\ [35] Obstructing your progress is a testing apparatus where it seems you are to be weighed in the balance: requiring you to face your faults and mayhap to discard some of your encumbrances. The encounter takes place in map area 2. Set up all party members randomly in the scale's primary Balance Pan represented by the Planes diagram, by rolling a D6 for each character and placing it in the corresponding hex number; with number 1 starting at the Elemental plane and counting clockwise. If the hex of the number rolled has been occupied, use the next higher- numbered unoccupied hex, continuing up to number 7 at the center hex of the diagram and cycling back around to 1 again from there if necessary. Then an evil twin Illusion doppelganger is supernaturally created for each party member and positioned in the opposite secondary Balance Pan, represented by the adjoining macrohex conforming to the bend in the area boundary line: with the Illusions occupying the same relative hexes as their counterparts over in the Planes diagram. Each appears equipped as its original. As this occurs, and you experience the pangs of guilt brought on by the sight of those whom it is all too easy to recognize glowering accusatory looks back at you, if you quail at the thought of passing through such a trial by ordeal, you may opt to desist and return to the Pylon {18}. If you persist, the contest lasts for 3 turns. A character is removed from the balance if it moves to a hex outside either Pan, or it's incapacitated, or if it's an Illusion that's disbelieved - in which the Illusion uses the subject's IQ and rolls (IQ/4 rounding down) dice. Illusions can't Cast spells, or Shoot, Throw, or use any effects other than damage- causing capabilities; but their originators can use all of those options against any of them. Freaky as it may seem, the specially- imposed MA requirements are still used. Additionally, all party characters are also given the ability to Teleport themselves only, by using an action & paying the 1F cost, but may only do so into the unoccupied hex of the Pan opposite to that currently occupied, corresponding to the hex departed. At the end of the contest, if the party outnumbers any remaining Illusion counterparts, the party recovers 1 fatigue. If there are no remaining Illusion counterparts, and it's your first such result at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If all active party members are in hexes of the Planes diagram, and no Illusions occupy hexes of the Planes diagram, and the party outnumbers those in the opposite Balance Pan, the opponent is considered defeated. All party members are restored to a minimum of a modified ST2. If the opponent was defeated, the party may go forward into the Primeval plane {36}; otherwise, the party is rebuffed to be returned to the Pylon: however in this case, no matter what occurs there, when the party prepares to exit from the Pylon it is treated as fleeing and so will be redirected to a random destination from {18}.\ [36] You bend your steps toward the Primeval plane's gateway, which you see as a processional of varied characters streaming in, who join into a ragged column that makes a wide sweep until their occasional persecutors branch off, thence to continue on alongside a meandering riverbed heading farther out. You fall in with the loose assemblage where you are witness to such allegorical sights as a martyr & a suicide jostling each other, a teacher debating with a professor, and a grown man lapsing into childishness. You may have a brush with any of the various bodies roaming the scene: on D6= 1..2) none, 3..4) Blitherd, 5..6) Zealot. To avoid an encounter a random party member must pass 3/(half rounding down IQ+DX)+ Riding, Driver or Sailor to keep from staring unduly. If the avoided opponent was a Zealot, every party member may acquire up to 2 Stoning Rocks of one use each, which may be used as sling ammo with no special properties, but when used to Throw cause any rolled damage which doesn't produce ST loss to produce Confusion instead. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 1 & 3. Party members may flee by occupying any of the lowermost hexes of area 3. The party begins in the uppermost hex of column 2 in area 1 or any adjacent hex, and the opponents begin in the uppermost hex of the map's central column in area 3. Goblin Blitherd "Obladi": ST10 DX11 IQ9; Baton Mace 2D6-D3. The well- matured Goblin is encompassed by a motile congregation of silvery floating Blits occupying all map hexes adjacent to it. These motes produce the effect of a Blur on the Goblin for an attacker standing in one of their hexes, and a missile/ throw hit mod of DX-1 per 2 hexes of range (or fraction thereof). In addition to any other actions in a turn, the Goblin can command a blitz, in which they'll condense upon one target at a range of up to 2 hexes from him like a miniature avalanche which also generates a static shock, with the effect that if the target fails 3/ST or rolls less than 9, it takes a 1- die (or 2- dice if the Goblin didn't move this turn) Magic Fist combined with a Trip effect; but at that point no Blur is in operation for the remainder of the turn. The Baton Mace is such as used by drum majors, with a bulbous striker counterbalanced by a long, tapering handle. It allows for 1 or 2- handed use, and when used with 2 hands can be flourished: rolling 4/DX in flourishing or Striking and then holding & transferring 1 or 2 rolled die results to replace dice in the next turn's 4/DX roll. The Baton Mace would become available to party use: Heft 10, full Axe/ half Polearm skills apply. Human Zealot "Grate": ST8 DX12 IQ10; Drop Weapon; Twinblade knife (T) D6 (min D6 damage). A grim- vizaged, tattooed and scarred man stands showing as well as challenging for signs, as he publicly lobbies passersby for a new crusade; all the while handing out stones from among some piled at his feet. He starts with both the Twinblade and a Thrown Stoning Rock ready, and may use either hand with no extra penalty. A Twinblade's damage is determined by rolling 2D6 and taking only the higher die of the two. The Twinblade isn't rated for grappling (it can present a hazard to its user in close quarters), but can be thrown with its given damage, and would become available to party use: Heft 7, full Dagger/ half Sword skills apply. If the party flees, on D6= 1..3 you'll light on the track of some of the persecutors heading out, pressed to wind up at {32}, or else you simply recheck for encounters again at the start of this entry. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. If it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. However, to keep from having to answer inconvenient questions regarding the fallen opponents who are now being tended to, you'd better be moving along. Choose to follow the river/ procession {37}, or travel off toward the Planar Pylon {18}.\ [37] The river widens into a gulf forming a great divide broadening into the distance. Dispersed out away from both banks as far as the eye can see are erected many tents, pavilions and tabernacles of what seems to be a tremendous encampment or megalopolis on either hand. There is universal talk of great works put in motion by the umvirate, but the stability of all inhabitants at this point seems little disturbed. By having progressed thus far into the realms of blessed memory, you are absolved of all Nixies which might have latterly been attached to party members: as those imps will in no wise linger under the scrutiny of reputed bounty. Your presence might serve to incite on D6= 1) none, 2) Pawn, 3..4) Publican, 5..6) Councillor. To avoid an encounter you must pass 3/IQ+ Charisma, Diplomacy or Scholar to evince in manner the incumbent patronage. If an encounter isn't avoided its number range is marked through and will be treated as none if rolled in future. The encounter takes place in map areas 2 & 3. The party begins in the lowermost hex of the rightmost column of area 2 or any adjacent hex, and the opponents, if Pawns, begin in the hexes marked 2 & 3, else in the hex directly above the topmost hex of the righthand (MA/DX) diagram. Even in a non- Pawn encounter, the opponent will be additionally supported by 0..2 Pawns from the riverside who begin in the hexes marked 2 & 3. On a Pawn- only encounter, if a zero quantity occurs then there's no encounter after all. Party members may flee by wading out into hexes in area 1 thus claiming sanctuary on the neutral ground of the riverbank, but a party character who sets foot in a hex of either Pavilion represented by the diagrams in the map corners is immediately rectified and ejected to the nearest empty hex of/ to the party start hexes and halted for the turn, while on D6= 4..6) one who hasn't been rectified before permanently exchanges 2 of its basic attribute scores (ST, DX or IQ) at random and loses any Kingdom Stamps it might have acquired up to now. D3-1 various Pawns: ST6 DX10 IQ8; Gourd (T) D6-D2 (min 0 damage). Gourds would become available to party use: Heft na, half Dagger/ half Unarmed skills apply. Dwarf Publican "Drim": ST13(D2) DX11 IQ10; Gauntlets (G) (D3+ Unarmed); Gauntlets D2/0 vs one opponent. He turns to address you upon emerging from a tent marked with a white rook, and requires you to show worthiness in regard to his cause. Pass 3/IQ+ Dwarvish, Bard or Axe for the character making the check to receive a boon (as the reverse of a Curse: bettering rolls by 1) for the duration of the adventure or until the party meets another Dwarf (described in an entry's event text, or rolled as an encounter avoided or not). If the check fails you must fight versus expulsion. Receiving a boon is not counted as a defeat of the opponent, and should you attack him the boon is lost. The Gauntlets appear as combo bracers/ knuckles which may be used with Cloth armor or none; although if either hand is occupied by a weapon or shield, Protecton becomes D2-1. Their protection applies against an attack by only one figure in a turn. If no other weapon is held when making a Strike with them, they cause D3 physical damage added on to the usual Unarmed fatigue appropriate to the user vis- a- vis the target. The Gauntlets would become available to party use: Heft 9, full Unarmed/ half Dagger skills apply. Elf Councillor "Everd": ST12(1) DX12 IQ11; Rope, Illusion-1 (as Wolf), Summon Wolf; Fascistaff (2) D6+1 (8 charges); Fascistaff 1/0. Standing before an inquisitorial bench in front of a tent marked with a black bishop, he challenges you to be justified in a trial by interrogation. Pass 3/IQ+ Elvish, Sorceror's Tongue or Literacy, or else if any magic- user party member knows a skill, or a nonmagical character knows a spell, one such talent or spell at random will be disbarred (permanently removed) and the party will be attacked. If the check passes and you just go on your way it's not counted as a defeat of the opponent, but you may alternatively choose to attack. The Fascistaff, which incorporates a reinforcing array of (typically wooden) rods aligned around a moderately long haft topped by an ornamental axehead, would become available to party use at zero charge capacity: Heft 9, acts as a Small Shield independently of other uses, full Axe/ half Sword skills apply. If you flee, those of you who got away will slosh out along the banks to arrive back where you'll be required to check for encounters at the Primeval plane's inception {36}. If you defeat the opponent the party recovers 1 fatigue. Excepting Pawn- only encounters, if it's your first victory at this entry the party also gains XP+1. If the opponent was a Councillor, then due to the Fascistaff's imputed nature, if it is acquired by an Elven or Elvish- speaking magic- user the owner may immediately upon acquisition spend 2 XP per charge to permanently increase its operable capacity (which starts at 0) up to a limit of the user's IQ fully charged; though after this single aberration it will be subject to the ordinary rules. After the turmoil of any combat the party is presumed to represent worldliness, and is therefore ushered out and through to a Material destination {22}. Choose to backtrack toward the Pylon {38}, or be conducted into the Pavilion of the Publican if he was your (avoided or unfought) encounter to be gated to the Elevatan zone {25}, or into that of the Councillor if he was your (avoided or unfought) encounter to wind up in the Dreamland zone {13}.\ [38] Each party member without a Mankind kingdom Stamp can try to pass 5/(ST+DX)+ (highest Craft) (minus #IQ points> 8), in order to be privileged to momentarily catch a beatific vision of the much quested- for orfane, and long- sought saintly relic known as the Chased Chalice. A character to whom the vision is granted will in the event have been bestowed with a Mankind Stamp. The party will now be redirected to a new location based on its manifest predispositions: if anyone in the party has a Mineral Stamp and no Vegetable nor Mankind Stamp {31}, else if anyone in the party has a Vegetable Stamp and no Animal nor Mankind Stamp {12}, else if anyone in the party has an Animal Stamp and no Mineral nor Mankind Stamp {19}, else if anyone in the party has a Mankind Stamp {42}, else if none have any Stamp {28}. [39] Spasmodic Precipitation: Map area 2 is used. The party starts in any hex of the area's rightmost column. The object is for all party members to exit off the left side of the map. Ordinary turns & MA are used, with the party's options following the appearance and movement of exit sites & Jinx Clouds each turn. On every turn there'll be only one usable exit site hex opening in the leftmost column, that varies by die roll (counting from the top down), and one random leftmost column hex per turn will emit a 1- hex Jinx Cloud. On every turn, once a new Cloud appears, roll a die to check for movement of each existing Cloud using the Planes diagram as a reference: with 1 in the Elemental plane rotating clockwise. If the movement rolled for a Cloud would take it out of the area it doesn't move, but it can move onto another Cloud (merging into a single Cloud which would not be moved further that turn) or a character. If a character enters or begins its move in the hex of a Cloud, it will be replaced into a random adjacent empty hex (including possible exits) at the appropriate MA cost. Jinx Clouds are capable of lightning spark flareups, so if a Cloud has any party characters adjacent to it (though it ignores any within itself) at the end of its move, its action will be to Strike a random target with a spark for damage of D2 (no armor: it's jinxed) at 3/DX9. If any party character would become incapacitated, that character will instead be revived to ST1; though you're then buffeted back and must check for a possible encounter in the Blues {15}. Otherwise the party gains XP+1 if this is your first success here, and you break out onto the Material plane {20}.\ [40] Trapezoid: Map area 3 is used. The party starts in the topmost two hexes of either of the rightmost two columns. The object is for all party members to move past the attraction of the scintillating aurora flare at the polar focus located in the hex of area 1 directly above the hex marked 3, and go on to occupy the lowermost hex of any of the rightmost four columns. A character may make a normal move step as long as the direction of the intended step is toward the Pole: that is, if the distance in hexes from the Pole Hex to the intended hex is less than the distance from the Pole Hex to the character's hex. As soon as an intended step would would place the character at an equal or greater distance from the Pole, the character must pass 3/ST+ Acrobat, Survival or Streetwise (+1 for each adjacent party member at that point), and then finish its move for that turn by making a number of steps equal to the difference between the check roll and its ST: either the full number toward the Pole ignoring MA if the check failed, or else up to the number in any desired direction then subject to remaining MA, with no additional check required until its next turn. If any character is induced to veer into the Pole Hex itself, the whole party is grounded and you cannot attempt a passage by this means again until the party has visited any other plane in the interim, as you rearrive in {24}; but if you all steer clear the party gains XP+1 if this is your first success here, and at any rate you'll find you've emerged into the somewhat familiar surroundings of the Material plane {20}.\ [41] Flight of Fancy: Map areas 1 & 2 are used. The party starts in any hexes adjacent to area 3 in the rightmost four columns of area 1. The object is for all party members to be borne upwards by opportune winds to exit the map along the top edge of area 1. Special movement conditions here are that characters may be moved only one hex on each turn, and any character in a hex which does not have a hex of area 3 directly below it must be moved in an available downward direction: one of the three directions with a modifier of either MA-1 or MA-0. Only one character may occupy a hex: if a moving character enters another's hex, it is immedately replaced in the next lower available hex. Roll for initiative. On the opponents' turn, an Updraft Marker appears in one of the lowermost hexes of area 2 determined by a D6 roll & counting from the left side of the map, though if a 6 is rolled no Marker appears that turn; then all Updrafts already on the map are moved. When the Updrafts move, each will float upward one hex in a random direction determined by a D3 roll in reference to the Planes diagram with 1 at the Subliminal plane rotating clockwise. If a random move would take an updraft out of areas 1 & 2, move it instead in the available upward direction closest to that rolled. Characters must be caught by an Updraft, they can't catch one by moving into its hex; rather one must appear in or move into the character's hex. A character caught by an Updraft will ride upward with it, while any chained characters are dangled along suspended in the hexes directly below it. If an Updraft with a rider moves in direction 1 (out away from the ledge), the rider must pass 3/DX+ Riding or Driver (+the number of direction 2 moves ridden) with automatic failure if two of the dice are sixes, to stay aboard or it will move out from under him. You'll be left stranded when the winds die down after 12 turns, or if any party member exits from the bottom edge of map area 2; as the stranded party is forced to hop back down & regroup in the plane you now occupy, where you must check again for a local encounter and you cannot make another icarian attempt until the party has visited any other plane in the interim. If all are ferried out, the party gains XP+1 only if this is your first success here. Move to either the Elemental {25} or Astral {28} plane as directed.\ [42] Recluse Abandon: Map area 3 is used. The party starts in any of the lowermost hexes of area 3. The object is for all party members to wend their respective ways up a Chutes & Ladders- style progress path following the perimeter line of the area. Ordinary turns & full character MA is used here, though no initiative rolls are needed. All party members may crowd in to stack in a single hex if necessary. The path they'll be pursuing consists of all hexes alongside the area demarcation line, including the lowermost hex having one boundary- marked hexside to start. Any character ending its move for a turn in the hex marked 3 as well as beginning its move from that hex on the next turn is awarded an Animal Stamp kingdom tag. One Crazer Marker starts in the hex marked 3. Each turn after party movement, the Crazer oscillates by turn, alternately moving along the path D6 hexes in a relatively downward direction and then reversing to move upward on the following turn. The Crazer won't enter a hex of the diagram, and is stopped at either edge- of- map hex to await its next reverse move. Moving characters can't enter a hex occupied by the Crazer. If the moving Crazer would enter a hex occupied by any characters, they must separately pass 4/DX+ Acrobat, Swimming (hold your breath) or Survival to let it go past, or they'll either be pushed back to stay a hex ahead of the Crazer if the lowest 3 dice of one's check roll would have passed, or else be sent back to the start (or one of the other starting hexes if need be). Check score modifiers also include positional adjustments (per the diagram), with auto pass on a total of 10 or less, & auto fail on a lowest 3 dice of 14 or more; but even if there are multiple characters in a hex, each character must roll individually, unlike typical collective check designations. If the Crazer comes to rest on the hex of any character(s) who passed the 4D check, the character gets pushed back instead. The second occurence of any party member getting sent back to the start (not including simply being shoved into the start hex) denotes failure: disallowing you from attempting to finagle a breach again until the party has visited any other plane in the interim, as you're returned to face a possible encounter at the Vortex zone {29}. But if you all exit at the top ("Be seeing you, Number 6"), the party gains XP+1 if this is your first success here, and you'll move into the Primeval plane {36}.\ [43] Defile of Doubt: Map area 1 is used. The party starts in any hex of the leftmost column of area 1. The object is for every party member to cross the map, which represents a background traverse rising along a steep slope like the side of a valley wall, and exit from a hex of the rightmost column of area 1, without being weighted down by guilt into a hex of areas 2 or 3. Ordinary turns & normal movement conditions with full character MA are used here. Party members must remain in separate hexes. The map move limit for an individual is 6 (initially) as usual, regardless of one's MA. In movement you can happen upon random quagmires of confusiveness and vicissitudes, such as portrayed by John Bunyan in his Pilgrim's Progress as a Slough of Despond (with the word "slough" taking the Eliza Doolitttle pronunciation of "-ow"). When a character moves from one column to another and there's no Mire in the hex he moves to, roll 2D6, or just 1D6 if the hex was traversed by another party member during this turn, and if one or the other die shows the number of the hex moved to in that column (counting from the top down), place a Mire in the hex (none is placed otherwise, even if die results fall elsewhere in the column). A character who enters a Mire hex reduces its move limit -1 (note that as per the Intro an active character can always move at least one hex, thus has a minimum move limit of 1, even if its MA= 0). A character's struggles against impugned or imparted guiltiness requires that at the end of one's move a character who has been mired at any time and has no attendant character positioned directly below it must pass 1/(move limit) (+1 if adjacent to any other party members), or freefall in remorse a number of hexes equal to the difference until stopped by a character or crossing the area's lower boundary. Prior to leaving this location, the move limit for all characters is restored to the usual six total hexes. If anyone falls through to another area, no attempt to use this way again can be tried until the party has visited any other plane in the interim, and you slump back to check once more for a possible encounter in the zone of Shadow {32}. If you make it across, the party gains XP+1 if this is your first success here, before you arrive upon the Primeval plane {36}.\ [44] Labyrinthine Illusion: All map areas 1, 2 & 3 are used. The party is treated as a single entity, the marker for which starts in the topmost hex of the center column of area 1. The object is to make your way through to any of the lowermost hexes of either that map column or the adjacent columns in areas 2 & 3, without entering a hex of the 2 macrohexes containing diagrams on either side at the bottom of the map. Begin by rolling a D6 four times and moving the Party Marker down after each roll in accordance with the die results in sequence: 1..3) to the hex directly below, 4..5) to the hex toward the right side of the map, 6) to the hex toward the left side; and if a sidewise move would take the Marker off the map, move it directly downward instead. However in each series, after any one and only one of the four dice is rolled and before making its move, one party member may choose to attempt to disbelieve the diversion by passing 3/IQ+ Leadership, Driver or Sailor (minus the number of restarts made), when the Marker won't be moved for that step. Following a series, choose whether to roll another 4 times in sequence, or to return the Marker back to the start hex to begin anew. If your Marker enters the left (Planes layout) diagram, all party members who have fatigue points suffer IQ-1 due to shock: to recover IQ+1 upon regaining any fatigue at a later time. And then if the Marker entered either diagram, the party is gated out to a new location at {30}. If the Marker is started at the top hex for a fifth time, you are stymied by the maze and relegated to the plane you were trying to leave, where you'll automatically encounter a random creature from those inhabiting the zone regardless of their prior status - otherwise the party succeeds and you cross over, while the party would gain XP+1 upon your first success here. Move to either the Ethereal {33}, or Subliminal {13} plane as directed.\ Numbered entry gazetteer: [1] = Limbo zone of Subliminal plane (start: enc with Trusty) [9] = Limbo zone of Subliminal plane (reentries: enc with Customs) [10] = Limbo zone (Headroom: enc with Hospitaller, rmv all Nixies) [11] = Limbo zone (exiting: pivotal encs) [12] = Eenie Nixies (Subliminal Limbo -> Dreamland enc) [13] = Dreamland zone of Subliminal plane (pivotal encs) [14] = Meenie Nixies (Subliminal Dreamland <-> Blues enc) [15] = Blues zone of Subliminal plane (pivotal encs) [16] = Mynie Nixies (Subliminal Blues -> 'Nations enc) [17] = 'Nations zone of Subliminal plane (pivotal encs & Seat of Outlook: acq Motivation trait) [18] = Planar Pylon focus (pivotal encs) [19] = Slings & Arrows: Pylon -> Material plane accessway [20] = Material plane (pivotal encs) [21] = Material plane (revisit encs: acq Mineral Stamp) [22] = Material plane (post encs): end of adventure [23] = Torrentan zone of Elemental plane (pivotal encs: % acq Animal Stamp) [24] = Gravitan zone of Elemental plane (pivotal encs & Kingdom Stamp: acq Corporation trait) [25] = Elevatan zone of Elemental plane (pivotal encs: % acq Vegetable Stamp) [26] = Phlogistan zone of Elemental plane (pivotal encs: rmv all chains, % acq Mineral Stamp) [27] = Firmament zone of Astral plane (pivotal encs) [28] = Temporal zone of Astral plane (pivotal encs) [29] = Vortex zone of Astral plane (pivotal encs & Spectral Continuum: acq Orientation trait) [30] = Void zone of Astral plane (pivotal encs) [31] = Veil zone of Ethereal plane (pivotal encs) [32] = Shadow zone of Ethereal plane (pivotal encs) [33] = Mirage zone of Ethereal plane (pivotal encs: acq Vegetable Stamp) [34] = Reflexion zone of Ethereal plane (pivotal encs & Hall of Mirrors: acq Sensation trait) [35] = Balance Scales: Pylon -> Primeval plane accessway [36] = Primeval plane (pivotal encs) [37] = Primeval plane (camp encs: rmv all Nixies) [38] = Primeval plane (relic vision: % acq Mankind Stamp) [39] = Spasmodic Precipitation: Blues zone -> Material plane interface [40] = Trapezoid: Gravitan zone -> Material plane interface [41] = Flight of Fancy: Elevatan zone <-> Temporal zone interface [42] = Recluse Abandon: Vortex zone -> Primeval plane interface (acq Animal Stamp) [43] = Defile of Doubt: Shadow zone -> Primeval plane interface [44] = Labyrinthine Illusion: Dreamland zone <-> Mirage zone interface