TSR 2430 Forest Maker.pdf

Forest Maker

A DARK SUN® Campaign Adventure

DMs Book

Table of Contents

Starting the Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Part One: Tall Tales of Tall Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Part Two: Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Part Three: Rafernard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Credits

Design: John J. Terra

Editing: Michele Carter

Project Coordination: Dori Jean Watry

Graphics Coordination: Sarah Feggestad

Art Coordination: Peggy Cooper

Cover and Interior Art: Tom Baxa

Cartography: Diesel

Typesetting Nancy J. Kerkstra

Special Thank To: Bill Slavicsek,

Doug Stewart, Rich Baker,

and Dori Watry

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2430

Forest Maker is designed for four to six player characters

of levels 11 through 13, though as many as eight charac-

ters may play the adventure with little harm to play bal-

ance. Something strange is going on in the Alluvial Sand

Wastes; rumors speak of the existence of a new forest and

someone who has the power to create new life. If the

rumors are true, it could mean salvation for Athas.

Adventure Overview

Part One of the adventure begins with hooks to bring the

player characters to the city of Tyr, and alerts them to

rumors about some odd goings on in the Tyr area as well

as in the Alluvial Wastes.

Once in Tyr proper, the PCs have the chance to rest,

recuperate, and learn more of the current gossip, news,

and rumors. During this time, the PCs come upon an

old man being beaten up by a group of toughs. Rescuing

the man gives the PCs their first solid lead about some-

thing big happening in the Great Alluvial Wastes, as

well as the hint that more information can be gained in

the trade fortress of Altaruk.

Part Two takes the PCs to Altaruk, though the jour-

ney there includes a few encounters to keep them occu-

pied along the way. These encounters include a caravan,

a strange prophet, a wandering bard, and a few monsters.

Once the party arrives at Altaruk proper, they see first-

hand how bands of what seem to be mesmerized pilgrims are

traveling to the south. Here, the party has the chance to min-

gle with the people of Altaruk and get more information.

Finally, in Part Three, the PCs travel to the ultimate site of

the pilgrimage: a magical forest in the middle of the desert,

created by what appears to be an avangion named Rafernard.

This part features the forest/garden of Rafernard as

well as the central plaza, which is a ziggurat on a flat

plane. The avangion is really the sorcerer-queen of Raam,

Abalach-Re, who is trying to metamorphize from a 21st

level to 25th level dragon, courtesy of an ancient spell.

By the conclusion of the adventure, the PCs should

have stopped the sorcerer-queen, prevented the spell

casting, and released the mesmerized pilgrims.

Materials Needed to Play. In addition to this adventure,

you must have copies of the AD&D® 2nd Edition core

rulebooks, the DARK SUN boxed set, and The Com-

plete Psionics Handbook.

The Prism Pentad novel series is also a useful tool in

getting a feel for the world of Athas. Events in this

adventure occur before those in the fifth novel, The

Cerulean Storm.

This adventure is not part of any series of DARK SUN

modules, though it is assumed to be taking place after the

events in Freedom. Forest Maker is a stand-alone adventure

though you may wish to read Freedom and the accessory

City-State of Tyr for background on the city of Tyr.

In addition, you may want to have access to Dragon

Kings and the Dune Trader supplement, as well as the

DARK SUN appendix of the MONSTROUS

COMPENDIUM®. These products provide greater

details of the creatures, features, and characters

encountered in this adventure.

Preparing For Play. Look over the pregenerated charac-

ters in the Players Book and decide if you want your

players to use them or create their own.

If using the pregenerated characters, make sure that each

player understands all the information on the character

sheet, particularly race and class abilities, and psionic powers.

Next. Consult the following sections Adventure

Overview and Adventure Background before begin-

ning with Part One.

Adventure Background

Abalach-Re, the sorcerer-queen of Raam, wishes to make

a leap from the 21st level to the 25th level of her draconic

transformation. In order to achieve this end, she has stud-

ied ancient spells and the story of Kalak, and acquired

an artifact of great power.

In order to make the four level leap, Abalach-Re needs

50,000 gold pieces (which she has), an the life energies

of living beings that add up to at least 5,000 Hit Dice.

Abalach-Res artifact, the skull of Dorag Thel, enables

her not only to cast preserver magic, but she has warped it

to call living beings of Good alignment. Lawful Good

characters are the most prone, and a few Neutral Goods

are likewise compelled. Those of Chaotic Good align-

ment hear the call but cannot be forced to answer it.

The sorcerer-queen has used the artifact to create a

lush forest in the Sand Wastes and to populate it with

birds and small animals. Her ziggurat was built on a flat

plane in the center of the forest, and here Abalach-Res

power is concentrated. The site Abalach-Re chose con-

tains a tree of life.

Once the forest garden was grown and stocked, Abal-

ach-Re began sending out her call, which spread in grow-

ing concentric circles from her ziggurat. As the call

spread farther and farther, people began to drop what

they were doing and replace it with but one thought:

travel to the site.

One person who heard that call was Amalak Pul, a

Chaotic Good preserver wizard who is a member of the

Veiled Alliance in Urik. Due to his alignment, Amalak

heard the call but was under no obligation to obey. Still,

being the curious sort, he voluntarily made the journey,

first notifying the Alliance in Tyr.

Once Pul arrived at the forest, he was able to ascertain

Abalach-Res true nature. A terrible battle of magic

ensued, in which Abalach-Re was certain that she had

eliminated Amalak. In truth Amalak was not killed, but

the battle proved to be such a strain that he was reduced

to wandering through the Wastes, his mind shattered and

his energy drained.

While all this was happening, another wizard became

interested in the site for a different reason. Lerilyn Toar, a

defiler and sometime rival of Amalak, had heard stories

of an as yet uncharted tree of life. Since a tree of life can

become crucial to a defiler, Lerilyn made it her personal

goal to find it.

Lerilyn had been scrying Amalak Pul, and when he noti-

fied members of the Veiled Alliance in Tyr about his

planned journey, she determined to watch his journey, but

lost track of him when he reached Abalach-Res forest.

Lerilyns lackeys informed her when the shattered

Amalak wandered into Tyr. She wasted no time ordering

his capture. It is this capture attempt that the PCs stum-

ble upon when they are wandering around Tyr as the

adventure begins.

Kalak's Story

The sorcerer-king Kalak of Tyr was an ambitious ruler

whose hunger for power knew no bounds. Unwilling to

accept the staged metamorphosis toward full dragon form,

Kalak attempted to jump from 21st to 30th level by a sin-

gle destructive deed of grand magnitude. Through his

study of ancient texts, Kalak believed he could succeed.

The sorcerer-king was slain before he had the chance

to complete the spell. There is some speculation that

Kalak may not have succeeded even if permitted to com-

plete the ritual casting. With Kalak gone, the high tem-

plar Tithian is the new King of Tyr.

Running This Adventure

The Dungeon Master (DM) should remember that the

world of Athas is unlike any other campaign fantasy

world. Magic is distrusted by the common people, psion-

ics abound, metal is scarce, and water is precious. Life is

harsh on the sun-blasted plains of Athas, and people do

not welcome or trust strangers.

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