The Dwarf's Chest by Frank Merenda Hook: While drinking in a tavern, eating in a restaurant, or shopping for vegetables, the party is approached by a dwarf (or gnome who looks exactly like Shad) mob boss and his two ogre body guards. Line: The dwarf wants the party to pull a small job for him. He explains that a local church or temple stole an ornate golden chest from him and he wants them to retrieve it. The chest has magical healing powers and he needs it very soon to heal his sick old aunt. He's embarrassed to say that his boys have tried to get it back but failed, because of their limited magical resources. The party, on the other hand, should have to no trouble getting the magic chest. The pay he offers is mediocre and he's vague about details. Sinker: If the party turns him down, the dwarf will have his boys kidnap one of their number (or an NPC member if you don't want to deal with splitting the players). They are informed that the character will be killed if the chest isn't recovered within two days. If the players go after the chest, they'll find it on the altar of the main chapel, looking like easy pickin's. It's trapped with an alarm and all sorts of magic. With a minimum of detective work, the party will learn that the church did indeed steal the chest from the dwarf, claiming that their god told them to. If the players try to rescue their friend and ask about the dwarfs hideout, they should find out the information only after a long and frustrating search. If a player character is the kidnapping victim, have fun with this. The two ogres that will watch him or her are pushovers. They can be tricked into giving the character a chance to escape. When the attempt is made, they will try to apprehend the character, but will go out of their way not to hurt him or her. Grumpy Old Staff by Frank Merenda Hook: During the booty phase of an adventure, the party finds an old, weather-beaten, wooden staff along with the rest of the treasure. Line: As soon as one of the characters makes physical contact with the staff, a senile old man will begin talking in his/her head. His voice grates on the nerves, he's grumpy, he talks too much and most of what he says is nonsense. In a roundabout sort of way, the old man explains that he was once a wizard who was trapped in the staff by an evil necromancer. He's been like this for hundreds ... or dozens ... or maybe just a few years; he's not quite sure. Sinker: He insists that the character avenge him by killing the evil necromancer and finding a way of releasing him from the staff. By now, the character realizes that a bond has been formed between him/her and it. He/she must stay in contact with the staff, or experience severe pain and possible damage. The old wizard will constantly harass the character until he/she agrees to make things right, then he'll just talk constantly and complain about nothing. He has a couple of old spells that he likes to use, but when cast, they usually fail or go terribly wrong. Curse removals and similar spells will have no effect on the staff. Mirror Mirror by Tonia Walden Hook: The PCs find a dirt-encrusted object during their adventures , it has a faint magical aura if detected for. The character who claims it and cleans it off will find it is an exceptionally well-crafted bronze mirror - quite a work of art. Line: A few days later, the character's relections starts to behave in odd ways: sometimes they will see movement in a reflective surface. Occasionally they will look into a shiny surface and for a few seconds their reflection will not be there. This continues for a couple of days at random. Then their reflection totally misbehaves by starting to back chat them: a word or two at first, and then complete sentences, correcting their behavior and questioning their decisions, becoming a back-seat driver, so to speak. Sinker: By this time the character has probably linked the problems to the mirror (or if they have sold it to anyone, this person will probably be after them). The mirror animates reflections, giving them a life of their own, but they can still only exist in shiny surfaces. It can only do this to one reflection at a time, and if the surface of the mirror is once again made dirty the magic slowly wanes and the PCs reflection goes back to normal. However, breaking the mirror is not advisable, as two pieces of can both animate a reflection (think of Mickey and the broomsticks ... ). As long as the mirror maintains a reflective surface, no matter how small, it can animate the reflection. However, it is not malevolent, the reflection could choose to be helpful as well as annoying (warning the character of possible attacks, for example.) Back to Shadis #20 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1995 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com