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Regardless of whether the party decides to go to Abira or not, the Rain King will successfully find the party on April 2 using his Scrying spell (see the timeline in the Appendix). As luck would have it, though, Dhersion will spot the sensor of the spell and be aware that they're being watched. (See the Secret Message at the end)
If the party decides to return towards Abira, they will go past a great waterfall known as Ata'halne' falls. The river here drops over 500 feet to the valley floor into a great, misty pool that is over 200 feet across. From there, the river winds down the valley for about five miles before coming to the fortress at Abira.
About 20-50 feet below the top of the falls, a dark, swirling cloud blocks the view of the valley floor. The cloud fills the valley as far as the eye can see and seems to be in a constant state of motion. Occasionally, a small piece of the cloud will break free and fly independently for a short time before returning to the mass.
The cloud is made mostly of vapor from normal clouds, but is controlled and guided by a large number of Shadow Elementals. The core group of elementals were brought here by the Rain King's staff back in late February (see Voyager #04 - The Shortcut). Since then, though, more have come from the elemental world - drawn by the combined power of the original elementals.
If Dhersion (or anyone) tries to use the Rain King's staff to disrupt the cloud, the mist will vanish with relative ease (within a few rounds), but the shadow will remain (initially). The elementals will sense what is happening and some will try to attack the party. (See the next page)
Once the elementals on the next page have been taken care of, the staff will have reached its point of criticality and no more elemental will be able to threaten the party. The entire cloud may then be dispersed - which will take around ten minutes total. At the end, though, the wielder will have to make some kind of a roll to determine how well he controlled the dispersal. It's quite possible that he could inadvertently disperse the waterfall as well as the cloud!
Beyond the waterfall are the Pachu'a steps - carved precariously in the cliff wall. These lead down to the fortress - and if the party decides they want to investigate, they will find the undead (see Voyager #09 - Storm clouds) have all been destroyed when the cloud was dissipated. (Naturally, if the cloud still exists, the undead will have to be dealt with!)
The typical Shadow Elemental's statistics are derived by averaging those of Air and Water Elementals. Note, however, that due to the fact that Shadow Elementals are proficient in all elements, but masters of none, they do not get any of the Special Attacks that the normal elementals have.
Small Medium Large Huge
HD ………. 2d8+1 (10) 4d8+10 (28) 8d8+28 (64) 16d8+72 (144) Init …….. +5 +7 +8 +10 AC ………. 16 (+1/+1/+4) 18 (+0/+3/+5) 19 (-1/+4/+6) 20 (-2/+6/+6) Attacks ….. Slam +4 Slam +7 Slam +11/+8 Slam +18/+13/+8 Damage …… 1d6+1 1d6+3 2d6+6 2d8+9 Face/Reach .. 5×5/5 5×5/5 5×5/10 10×5/15 Damage Red .. – – 10/+1 10/+2 Saves ……. +2/+3/+0 +2/+3/+0 +2/+3/+0 +2/+3/+0 (Fort/Ref/Will) Abil: Str .. 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 17 (+3) 21 (+5)
Dex .. 13 (+1) 16 (+3) 19 (+4) 23 (+6)
Con .. 11 (+0) 15 (+2) 17 (+3) 19 (+4)
Int .. 4 (-3) 4 (-3) 6 (-2) 6 (-2)
Wis .. 11 (+0) 11 (+0) 11 (+0) 11 (+0)
Cha .. 11 (+0) 11 (+0) 11 (+0) 11 (+0)
Skills …… +5/+5 +7/+7 +11/+11 +18/+18 (Listen/Spot) Challenge … CR 1 CR 3 CR 5 CR 7
Common to all sizes:
Speed: 30 feet, 40 feet Fly, 40 feet Swim Special Attacks: Shadow mastery
Feats: Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative (+4) Special Qualities: Elemental
Until the staff is activated, the cloud will be essentially harmless. Once activated, though, the elementals will move to attack. Each elemental will take from 1-6 rounds to arrive at the party's location. This assumes full round movements of 80 feet - meaning that the farthest ones away will be almost 500 feet away. They are arranged below in the order they will arrive.
Note: All elementals within 50 feet of the staff take 1d6 damage per round.
01 (Small) -1- hp 8 02 (Small) -1- hp 11 03 (Small) -2- hp 12 04 (Small) -2- hp 14 05 (Medium) -2- hp 24 06 (Medium) -2- hp 25 07 (Medium) -2- hp 32 08 (Small) -3- hp 10 09 (Small) -3- hp 12 10 (Small) -4- hp 3 11 (Small) -4- hp 7 12 (Small) -4- hp 11 13 (Small) -4- hp 12 14 (Medium) -4- hp 18 15 (Medium) -4- hp 35 16 (Medium) -4- hp 36 17 (Small) -5- hp 4 18 (Small) -5- hp 7 19 (Small) -5- hp 8 20 (Medium) -5- hp 26 21 (Small) -6- hp 7 22 (Small) -6- hp 10 23 (Small) -6- hp 10 24 (Small) -6- hp 11 25 (Large) -6- hp 64 (DR: 10/+2) Appendix: The Rain King's timeline 12 Mar - Niichaad defeated by Dhersion and Vincent, led through Koko
(80 miles from Koko back to Ranita - 5 days walk, 2 days ride)
13 Mar - to Lavinie; comandeer riding horse; leaves others behind 14-15 Mar - Two full days to Ranita; debriefed by Rain King
Niichaad is not fully trusted, but he is not imprisoned
16-17 Mar - Rest of expedition makes it to Ranita 18 Mar - Rain King debriefs Kaliska; she is considered more trustworthy
She essentially corroborates Niichaad's story
19 Mar - King prays for guidance - no sign forthcoming 20 Mar - internal troubles distract him for a day 21 Mar - Poloma returns (via Gressa and Pahana); he is allowed to live 22 Mar - first Scry attempt: fails 23 Mar - second Scry attempt: fails 24 Mar - third Scry attempt: fails (nearly succeeds!) 25 Mar - distracted 26 Mar - fourth Scry attempt: fails 27 Mar - fifth Scry attempt: 19! Day of the Slaad!
Due to the chaos of the day, he learns little about the party
28 Mar to 1 Apr - Daily failures (very frustrating) 2 Apr - Success! Dhersion's detect roll = 18 (+3 makes 21)
Dhersion,
As the rest of the group argues over the moral implications of it all, an uneasy feeling settles over you. You think you hear something in the distance. You move around, trying to focus out your squabbling comrades, but have a hard time pinpointing it.
After a couple of minutes, though, you find yourself several feet away from the others and realize that it's not so much that you “hear” something, but that you “sense” it.
Someone is watching you.
Either an invisible beast like the Slaad from several days ago is prowling around, or someone with a Scrying spell has locked on to you.
The feeling lasts several more minutes, before fading out.