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Chaosium Digest Volume 29 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 29, Number 11
Date: Friday, December 31, 1999
Number: 5 of 5
THE TRAIL OF YSGAR
A Dreamlands adventure
INTRODUCTION
This adventure assumes that the PCs are waking world
investigators, preferably ones who have at least a passing
acquaintance with the nature of earth's Dreamlands. It is
designed so that it could be inserted into an existing
Dreamlands adventure without much modification- the basic
idea is that the PCs need magical aid from a Dreamlands
wizard, and the difficulties involved in getting it. The
Chaosium Dreamlands supplement is probably necessary,
although a creative Keeper could do without it.
SETUP
The investigators are contacted by a relative of Simon
Brown, a part-time occultist whom they have occasionally
corresponded with. Simon's personality has undergone a
dreadful change, and Simon's brother hopes that the
investigators may be able to shed some light on his
condition.
SIMON BROWN
Simon is a public accountant by day, whose only notable
oddity has been his collection of antiques and occult
materials. He is not a particularly respected figure in the
field of occultism, being more of a dabbler and private
enthusiast than an expert on the subject. PCs who have
talked with him before will remember him as a well-dressed
but somewhat awkward man, highly intelligent, but not
particularly sure of himself.
Outwardly, Simon still appears to be the same, albeit a
little more ragged. Conversation will soon reveal the cause
of his family's concern, however- Simon seems more like a
soulless husk than a full human being. His emotions are
drained, his manner sullen and willful, and he seems almost
lobotomized. He may stare into space past an investigator's
shoulder, or suddenly drop a thread of conversation in
midsentence and refuse to resume it.
A talk with Simon's doctor will reveal little- the patient
is sullen and irritable, and has trouble sleeping. He
regularly loses patience with his therapy, and refuses to
cooperate. In particular, he became violently upset when
questioned about his dreams, maintaining that he never has
any. The doctor is theorizing that Simon may have had some
sort of minor stroke, but has as yet been unable to detect
any signs of it.
The PCs can get access to Simon's collection without much
difficulty- Simon, in particular, dislikes the very subject
of it, and talks about wanting to have all of it thrown out.
This upsets his family even more, because Simon's collection
has been his pride and joy for many years.
THE COLLECTION
Simon's collection of antiques is full of bric-a-brac and
oddities. Ornate lamps, old books, a bizarre little music
box that has little dancing satyrs that move up and down
while it plays. If the Keeper desires, he can insert
additional objects or texts useful to the investigators
here. Simon also kept a journal here, which the
investigators will doubtless peruse. The journal contains
innumerable notes about the antiquity and origins of his
various pieces, but it is the last few entries that are most
useful. Simon wrote enthusiastically about the wondrous
effects of a particular quartz crystal on his dreams at
night, and considered it his favorite piece. The crystal
itself he kept in a small, ornate box with velvet lining.
The crystal is just a large shard of quartz, about the size
of a man's hand. It appears to have been broken off of a
larger piece, but is otherwise unremarkable. Any scientific
tests performed upon it will yield nothing out of the
ordinary- it is just a hunk of quartz.
A successful Library Use roll will piece together the fact
that Simon would simply sit and stare at the crystal for
20-30 minutes before going to bed. He would apparently then
have the most remarkable dreams that night, although his
journal never went into particularly great detail. If no one
succeeds in the roll, they will still know that the crystal
was used to enhance his dreams in some fashion, but will be
unclear exactly how it did so. Simon's journal never quite
spells it out simply because the process is so simple; he
never needed to write it down. Some experimentation may be
necessary for the investigators to figure it out, but it
probably won't take them very long.
Investigators familiar with the Dreamlands may recognize a
few of the names he mentions in his journal as cities of the
Dreamlands, the most recognizable one being Celephais. Many
of the others are unrecognizable, probably being the names
of small towns and specific people.
ENTERING THE DREAMLANDS
If the PCs are at all familiar with the nature of the
Dreamlands, they should be able to piece together that
something has happened to Simon's dream-self. The
dream-Simon hasn't merely died; that wouldn't normally bring
about such drastic changes to his personality. Simon's
dream-self is somehow
trapped, and can't return, even though his waking world form
has regained consciousness.
Hopefully the investigators will resolve to try and use the
crystal; attempting to find Simon's dream-self without it
will be very difficult, as they have no obvious leads. If
they do try the hard route, they can start going through the
names mentioned in his journal and travelling to all of
those places; in this manner they can doubtless eventually
find their way to Rinar, but using the crystal would be
much, much, easier. Note that even if the investigators
don't figure out Simon's notes, anyone who spends a good
period of time studying the crystal will probably trigger
its properties by accident.
Basically, anyone who focuses on the crystal shard for any
real length of time will find their dream-selves drawn into
the Dreamlands when next they sleep, always appearing in the
same place in the hills northeast of Rinar.
THE HILLS
The dreamer(s) will always appear in the same spot- next to
a great, man-sized outcropping of pink quartz crystal
jutting out of a rocky hill. Any close examination will spot
a jagged area where a chunk of the crystal has been broken
off- it exactly matches the shape of the crystal chunk which
was Simon's treasured possession.
The only effect that the crystal has on the dreaming rules
is that investigators who use it can enter the Dreamlands
automatically, but that they will always arrive in the same
spot. Investigators who try can force themselves to return
to the waking world by concentrating on the empty spot where
the crystal shard originally joined with the outcropping,
waking up immediately. An Idea roll, as usual, is required
to retain anything more than vague memories of their time in
the Dreamlands. The investigators will arrive wearing
Dreamlands equivalents of their normal gear- guns will be
translated to swords, and most smaller weapons to knives.
Whatever money they would normally carry will take the form
of small
silver and copper coins.
RINAR
Once the nature of the crystal shard is established,
hopefully the investigators will dream themselves to Rinar
en-masse and investigate further. Rinar doesn't receive much
attention in the Dreamlands book: the extent of its
description is "Rinar's walls and buildings are made of
large blocks of yellow moss-agate inlaid with copper. This
is yet another seaport with frequent communication with
Celephais." The 4th edition rulebook adds "Rinar is
particularly notable for its merchant quarter, and for its
temple of the
Great Ones, which looms over the processional boulevarde."
Just about any other small dreamlands community could be
substituted if the Keeper desires.
LOOKING FOR SIMON
Rinar is a bustling place, and the investigators are clearly
foreigners (although few folk will even grasp the idea that
the investigators are from another world). Queries about
Simon are almost certainly doomed to failure, as he did not
use that name here. If an investigator is skilled enough to
draw Simon's face, or if they question people extensively
about the quartz outcropping outside of town, they may find
a few people who vaguely remember a smiling fellow who used
to enter and leave town in that direction, but he hasn't
been seen for many months. If they ask about his name,
different people remember different names, or can't quite
remember ever hearing his name at all.
The priests of the temple of the Great Ones are serene,
kindly men who are relatively well educated. They know of
the Waking World, and will probably recognize the
investigators as such unless they take pains to hide their
nature. The priests know nothing of Simon, nor of anything
in the area that might be able to trap a man's soul, but
they are willing to pray for the investigators' good
fortune. Attempts to get them to make contact with the Gods
of Earth on the investigators' behalf will be treated with
contempt.
If the PCs make a good impression on any of the locals,
perhaps impressing a priest by making a contribution to the
temple, they will suggest that the investigators speak with
the wizard Hawklin, who maintains an isolated home to the
south of the city. He is said to be very powerful, and very
skilled
at divination.
HAWKLIN'S HOME
Hawklin lives alone in an isolated, vine-covered two-story
house surrounded by a high fence of bronze. The gate has a
bell attached to it, and a path leads from the gate up to
the house proper. The fence and the house itself are covered
with a clinging vine of some strange variety- it has white
flowers and small thorns. A successful Spot Hidden roll may
notice tendrils of the vine moving on their own, or the
skeletal remains of several small animals caught in the
vines. The vines quite noticeably do not touch any part of
the gate or the door of the house.
Anyone who foolishly attempts to climb the fence or scale
the side of the house will trigger the vines to attack- they
constrict with a Strength of 12, and inflict 1d3 damage per
round. Dodging this attack normally means leaping away from
the vines; it would be nearly impossible to avoid being
entangled by them while climbing the fence or house (a DEX
x1 check is necessary, otherwise the investigator is
constricted). The vines obey Hawklin's verbal commands.
Currently, they are set as a guard against intruders, and
will kill anyone they catch unless Hawklin orders them to
release their captive.
HAWKLIN
Hawklin is a powerful mage with dark hair and beard and gray
eyes. He claims to hail from the ancient kingdom of Lomar,
although he dislikes discussing his past or why he now lives
in a land so distant from his original home. He appears to
be about fifty years old.
Hawklin of Lomar, Ancient Wizard
STR 11, CON 12, SIZ 12, INT 16, DEX 14, APP 11, EDU 15
POW 24, MP 40, SAN 45, HP 12
Important Skills:
Cthulhu Mythos 45%
Dodge 35%
R/W Serpent Tongue 35%
Alchemy 45%
Dreamlore 75%
Occult 85%
Spells Known (spells with asterisks are described later):
Deflection, Emerald Darts of Ptath, Summon/Bind Shade,
Summon/Bind Byakhee, Lavender Spheres of Ptath,
Crystomancy*, Woeful Itch, Soul Stealer, Malign Growth*,
Spiritual Well*, Opaque Wall, Seraph's Glory, Gate, Dread
Curse of Azathoth, Devolution*, Lesser Ward*, Lassitude of
Phein, and Voorish Sign.
When the investigators first speak with Hawklin, he will be
brusque and unhelpful- he is busy, he is in the middle of an
experiment, he cannot waste time with their request. He
maintains that his magic can EASILY locate this missing
'friend', but that he is simply too busy at the moment and
advises
them to return in a few months.
Hawklin will produce various excuses why he cannot help
them, and unless one of the investigators reveals themselves
as either a wizard themselves or a traveler from the Waking
World, Hawklin will refuse to aid them. Hopefully the
investigators will be able to get across to Hawklin that
they are not locals, and that they are skilled at ferreting
out information. If Hawklin has any reason to believe that
they can be of any aid to him, he will ask them inside for a
private discussion.
After extracting a few promises not to reveal this
information to the locals, Hawklin will explain that he uses
Crystomancy for his divinations, a method he considers
superior to all other forms of divination in every way, save
one: it requires a specially enchanted crystal to scry with,
and Hawklin's has been stolen. Without it, he cannot find
Simon or anything else for that matter. While his magic is
quite powerful, his divinatory abilities are the primary
source of his income. Hawklin is in quite a stew- his pride
forbids him to admit to the theft for fear of damaging his
reputation. He doesn't know how the crystal was stolen; the
thief somehow not only passed through his magical vines
unharmed, he somehow bypassed the ward on the door to the
room where Hawklin kept the crystal. If the investigators
can find the perpetrator and return the crystal to him, he
will gladly turn all of his powers to locating their missing
friend. He is clearly furious and frustrated at the theft
and his inability to resolve it himself.
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
Wise investigators will doubtless want to examine the
evidence for themselves. Hawklin will be glad to show them
around. There are small marks on a window sill where someone
climbed in, and the vines on that part of the house are
oddly damaged- their roots have been pulled free of the
house in places, as though someone climbed them without
triggering an attack.
The door to Hawklin's scrying room can only be opened by
him; anyone else trying will trigger a nasty ward that
shocks them for 1d3 damage and magically holds the door shut
with a STR of 24. There are no signs of forced entry, and in
any case Hawklin maintains that successfully forcing the
warded door open would dispel the ward and it is still
intact. Hawklin describes the crystal as a translucent
yellow-orange ovoid crystal about the size of a man's head.
It is clearly unrelated to the shard of quartz the
investigators found in Simon's collection, although some
investigators may jump to a different conclusion.
Along with the crystal, the thief took several minor arcane
symbols cast in gold and a bowl filled with silver and gold
coins, some of which were quite ancient. If asked for a
description, Hawklin will state that most of the currency
was local, but that several of the gold coins were from the
far West, and had an ornate dragon design on both sides of
the coin.
TRACKING DOWN THE THIEF
The investigator's best bet is to check out the merchants in
Rinar. Eventually, they should reach Hiram the Moneylender,
who will recognize the description of the dragon coins. So
long as no impropriety on his part is insinuated, Hiram (a
rotund, friendly fellow) will be quite helpful. He does know
of a young widow who recently bought her family out of debt
with some old coins, some of which had dragons on them. He
can direct the investigators to Janeta's house.
JANETA AND YSLIN
Janeta and her teenage son, Yslin, live alone in a somewhat
ramshackle home on the outskirts of Rinar. Janeta is a
blonde woman in her late thirties, who until recently earned
a living as a maid for an upper-class merchant family. She
is polite, happy, and more than a little vapid. If pressed
about
her newfound wealth, she will stammer some explanations
about inheriting it from a recently deceased uncle, and will
be reluctant to discuss it any further, taking any
opportunity to change the subject.
If asked about Simon, she will remember him as Ysgar, a
charming traveler who roomed with them for a time and was
practically a surrogate father to her son Yslin. Her
description of Ysgar will physically match Simon perfectly,
but her description of his manner will be totally different;
where Simon was a staid family man, Ysgar was a
swashbuckling rogue, given to wanderlust and fanciful
stories.
Janeta's son, Yslin, is a sullen and suspicious type who
will be uncommunicative if the investigators take the wrong
tack with him. He can be drawn out, though, by discussing
distant lands and fantastic adventures. He remembers Ysgar
quite fondly, and says that the man taught him a number of
things, like how to climb trees and how to read and write.
Ysgar was always in and out of town in a hurry, never
staying for more than a couple of months, but Yslin still
treasures the memories of their time together. He has not
seen Ysgar for more than a year, though, and has given up
hope that Ysgar will ever return.
Daring investigators who manage to snoop through Yslin's
room may discover a hidden box containing Hawklin's crystal
and one of the golden icons he lost, but neither Janeta nor
Yslin would ever voluntarily let the investigators search
the house.
YSLIN, young thief-mage
STR 10, CON 13, SIZ 9, INT 15, DEX 17, APP 13, EDU 6
POW 10, MP 10, SAN 65, HP 11
Important Skills:
Dodge 55%
Climb 85%
Sneak 85%
Spot Hidden 75%
Pick Locks 40%
Jump 60%
Read/Write 45%
Spells Known:
Ysgar's Suppression*, Eyes of the Cat*
RESOLVING THE PUZZLE
Obviously the investigators must return Hawklin's crystal to
him in order to progress any further. There are several ways
in which this can be accomplished: they could steal it back
from Yslin, blackmail Janeta into turning it over, or simply
tell Hawklin who took it and let Hawklin handle it himself.
If the investigators return with the crystal, the first
thing that Hawklin will want to do is to scry the
whereabouts of the thief, so that he can properly mete out
his vengeance. As soon as he knows that Yslin is
responsible, he will rush out of his house, heading straight
to Janeta's home. Unless the investigators interfere, he
will render Janeta unconscious with Lassitude of Phein, then
cast Soul Stealer on Yslin, trapping his consciousness in a
tiny sphere.
He will ask the investigators to bring Yslin's body back to
Hawklin's house for safe keeping. He will speak to the
sphere containing Yslin's mind, taunting him and furiously
demanding to know how the thief bypassed his defenses. If
the investigators ask, Hawklin will let them speak with the
boy's soul as well, which only requires the investigator to
hold the sphere and concentrate.
YSLIN'S STORY
Yslin's mind is terrified, tearful, and apologetic, but
Hawklin just is more interested in ranting at him than
actually questioning him. If the investigators speak with
him, he will gladly confess everything. Ysgar was more than
just a wanderer; he was a skilled and daring thief, who used
potent magic to aid his thefts. He not only taught Yslin to
climb and sneak about, he also taught him a few spells he
had found useful. Yslin used Ysgar's Suppression* to bypass
Hawklin's defenses, but he claims he only did it to get his
mother out of debt. He doesn't know where Ysgar is now, but
knows that Ysgar had grown bored with the Dreamlands and had
left seeking a new realm to explore.
Once Hawklin has a bit of time to think, he will announce
his solution for the problem- he will use the Devolution
spell to turn Yslin into a bestial, mindless guardian under
his control and set the boy to defend his house against any
future thieves. If the investigators do nothing to
interfere, he will do just that.
HAWKLIN'S AID
Once the issue of Yslin is settled, Hawklin will gladly use
his crystal to scry for Ysgar. He will determine that Ysgar
has left these lands of Dream and entered a deeper realm
where the goblin spirits live. In return for their aid (or
all of their money if their aid was lacking), Hawklin can
open a 1 POW gate between this realm and that one, letting
the investigators continue their search for Ysgar.
SANITY AWARDS
If nothing is done to prevent Yslin from becoming Hawklin's
guard dog, investigators will lose 1d6 Sanity apiece for
seeing what becomes of the boy, not to mention the tearful
protests of his mother. The local courts will frown on
Hawklin's actions if they learn of them, but they will not
be willing to do much to dissuade him- theft is a serious
crime, and thieves have been hung here before. The boy was
clearly guilty and Hawklin has a fearsome reputation
(moreso once word of the boy's fate gets out), so persuading
the locals to do more would be quite difficult.
A much nicer solution is to suggest to Hawklin that he make
the boy into his apprentice and have him work off his debt.
Yslin already knows some spells, and Hawklin could even
learn those spells from him. He has already shown himself to
be skillful and clever, for how else could he have managed
to steal from the mighty Hawklin? With skillful flattery and
appeals to his greed for new spells, Hawklin can be
persuaded to spare Yslin. If Yslin is spared, investigators
will receive 1d6 Sanity apiece for resolving the issue
without additional suffering. Other solutions may merit
different Sanity awards- the Keeper should determine those
himself, using these as guidelines.
USING THE ADVENTURE
This adventure was originally used in my Dreamlands campaign
as a prequel to a quest into the Goblin Realms to rescue
Ysgar. It has been modified to use Waking World
investigators. While the adventure assumes that the
investigators are trying to find Ysgar, the only real
requirement is that they end up needing Hawklin's aid.
Instead of needing his divinatory skills, they might need
Hawklin to teach them a spell, or give them some magical
artifact they need. If they are already travelling in the
Dreamlands for reasons of their own, Hawklin might even hire
them to help him, fearing that if he employed any locals to
do so,
his reputation would suffer.
There isn't much danger for the investigators in this
adventure, but there are lots of opportunities for them to
use social and detective skills, and a nice little moral
quandary for them to resolve once Hawklin finds out who
stole his crystal.
It's also an excellent opportunity for the Keeper to
introduce new spells to the investigators, as well as giving
them a magical ally to consult when necessary. While most of
Hawklin's spells will not work in the Waking World, some of
them (such as Dread Curse of Azathoth) will work almost
anywhere.
NEW AND UPDATED DREAMLANDS SPELLS
What follows are some new spells important in this
adventure. Few if any of them are likely to work in the
Waking World, unless the Keeper wants to increase the
magical abilities of the investigators.
Crystomancy (8 mp, 1 san, 10 minutes)
This spell requires an enchanted crystal with at least 1 POW
sacrificed in its creation. A separate spell (Enchant
Crystomancy Crystal) is required to create it.
Whenever this spell is used, a hazy image will appear in the
depths of the crystal, visible only to the caster. A POW
roll is required to determine how clear and understandable
the image is. The base chance of success is POWx1. Every
additional POW invested in the crystal after the first will
add +5%.
Results above POWx1 are increasingly vague and blurry, and
above POWx3 they are completely useless.
Crystomancy may show a dim or blurry image, but never lies
unless other magic is involved. Crystomancy is the best at
showing things in the present, and can scry the past and the
future only poorly.
[Basically, this is a fortune teller's crystal ball, and
only works in the Dreamlands. The user asks the crystal to
show them something, and it tries to comply. A botched POW
roll (96+) can cost the caster an additional 1d6 San, or,
worse, may attract the attention of some potent entity, so
the spell should not be used too casually. Trying to scry
the actions of an Outer God, for example, would likely be
suicidal and can be assumed to botch automatically.]
[Hawklin's crystal has a total of 5 POW invested in it,
granting +20% to scrying checks, so Hawklin receives a clear
image on a roll of 44 or less, and a vague image with a roll
of up to 92. This makes it an extremely valuable artifact,
albeit only in the Dreamlands.]
Devolution (24 mp, 1d10 san, 2 rounds)
If the target of this spell fails a POW vs. POW contest,
they begin to devolve into a brutish, animal-like thing.
This process takes 1d6 rounds before complete. Once
transformed completely, the target becomes almost mindless,
and very violent, attacking anything within reach. This CAN
be dispelled with appropriate magics, causing the subject to
slowly return to normal. The longer they have been
transformed, the longer the change takes to reverse itself
(ranges from 1d6 rounds to 1d6 weeks for someone who has
been transformed for years).
A victim of this spell will be afraid of only one thing: the
caster. Anything else, even old friends or lovers, will be
attacked with murderous intent.
[The target's STR is doubled, while their INT and EDU become
1, their APP zero, and their DEX 1/2 normal. The spell is
permanent until dispelled. Seeing the bestial form costs
0/1d3 San, or 0/1d6 San if the investigator knew the
victim.]
[This spell is a modified version of one given in the
Dreamlands adventure Pickman's Student, found in some
editions of the Dreamlands guide.]
Eyes of the Cat (2 MP, 0 San, 3 rounds)
This spell enables the caster to see in darkness as well as
a cat. For the duration of the spell, his eyes will reflect
light like those of a cat. The spell lasts 1 hour.
Lesser Ward (8 MP per Ward, 1d3 San, 1 hour)
This spell lets the caster trace an invisible rune over an
inanimate object such as a door or chest. Anyone besides the
caster trying to handle it will receive a nasty electrical
shock inflicting 1d3 damage. It will also hold the object in
place with a strength equal to the caster's POW. If the ward
is successfully forced, it will be dispelled.
Malign Growth (12 MP and 1 San per day for 7 days)
This spell requires the caster to plant the seeds of the
rare Lomarian snow vine over an area. Over the course of the
week, the vines will grow into a living guardian of the
area, and will obey the caster's commands. They cannot
unroot themselves, but will capture and/or strangle
intruders according to their master's orders. It can take up
to a year for the vines to reach full size.
Spiritual Well (1+ POW, 1d2 san, 1 hour)
This spell enables the caster to store additional MP in
another dimension. Every POW invested in a Spiritual Well
allows the caster to store an additional 1d3 MP in their
Spiritual Well. These magic points can be used at will;
basically the spell grants the caster additional MP above
and beyond
their natural POW rating. It is commonly used by mages to
increase their spell-casting powers.
[It is dangerous to use this spell too much- if the MP limit
of a person's Well should ever exceed their natural POW,
they run the risk that their soul will rupture, costing them
1d3 POW, 2d6 points from the Spiritual Well, and as much San
as the two losses added together. The base chance of a
rupture
is equal to 5% per point that their Well exceeds their POW.
If a single rupture does not eliminate the problem, their
soul may rupture again...]
[It is up to the Keeper to decide whether or not these
additional MP are available to the investigator in the
Waking World, or only in the Dreamlands.]
Ysgar's Suppression (1 POW, 1d6 san, 1 minute)
This spell temporarily suppresses ongoing magic in the area
around the caster without dispelling it. Spells around the
caster will slowly weaken and cease to function, returning
to full strength when the spell expires. Ysgar's Suppression
lasts for as many minutes as the caster's POW. Its effects
are not rapid- it can take a full minute or more before a
spell near the caster is completely suppressed.
Spells created by extremely powerful beings (such as Outer
Gods) will likely be completely unaffected by this spell.
Cast upon a bound creature, this spell can temporarily free
them from the binding, giving them a few minutes to do as
they will.
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