Dragon Storm Card Based RPG

Presented by Art by Susan Van Camp

The Black Pearl
by Mark Rosenberger

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“The Black Pearl” by Mark Rosenberger

Storm Warden's Briefing

This scenario is for 3-6 players of 150-200 total card points. You can beef up the encounters for players of higher card points.

This scenario is designed to be able to be used with any campaign based in a pristine area. Storm Wardens should feel free to modify anything in here to make things fit into their particular campaign or group.

The mission is to retrieve a large black pearl from an extremely warped area. Players should be advised to have a scout of some type in the party, or they may be in trouble. This is a subtle hint that the mission master will not send a group out there without a scout, as he knows that they are going into some nasty areas.


Day 1: The Mission and the Boat Ride
Cards in Play: Evergreen Highlands, Boatman Scarvian, Awpaw Everglades
Storm Warden Note: Any Pristine terrain can be substituted for the Evergreen Highlands, depending on where you normally start your players.
The players start at their home base. They are called to a meeting with the local Valarian mission master. He has a very difficult, but not necessarily dangerous job for them.

Read to players: "You have all been chosen for this mission because of your varied talents. I will make this brief. You are to retrieve a giant black pearl from the Blackwater Mountains. This is a place of great amounts of warp. In fact, there are legends of the Blackwater Mountains being warped even before the Deathsday Massacre. The pearl can be damaged from long exposure to the warp, so all haste must be made. I have summoned a Scarvian Boatman to carry you as far as he can, otherwise it would be an extremely long journey. I cannot tell you where he will put you or what you will have to go through when you get there, so be prepared. You will leave in about one hour. The boatman will be here then. You may each draw one Potion of Healing or one Vale of Refreshment from stores."

Players normally have questions at this point. The mission master will not be able to answer much. If asked to describe the pearl, and players should ask, he will describe it as a sphere of about a foot in diameter with a pearl like sheen, but very dark. If asked why they want the pearl, players will be told only: "that information could be tortured out of you if captured, so it is best that you do not know."

The boatman arrives on time. He materializes out of thin air. His boat can only hold 6 people besides himself. He talks in a very strange accent. He first speaks to the mission master in private, and then to the players after they get on the ship, "we will be traveling the aether, of lands that can be neither seen nor felt. Stay inside the boat, and do not stray, no matter what you may think you see." With that, the land around them begins to fade, as they enter another world. "I am one of the last of the navigators. With the coming of the warp, many of us perished when the aether was disturbed. There will be no more new navigators, at least for a long time." The players need neither drink nor food while in the aether, and time seems to be relative. After a while, the boatman commands them to "hang on" and land begins to materialize around them. It is a very thick swamp, and the boat is floating in a murky pond of water. The noise of the frogs and crickets is almost overwhelming after the silence of the aether. The boatman gets his bearings after a minute and addresses the players again, "we have arrived. This is the closest that I could get to your destination. I will wait here for as long as I can. I have seen the area that you seek through the aether. You must travel East from here until you find the ruined temple. From there, you must follow the trail leading North until you get to the warped mountains."

Players must pay food and water for the Everglades. They travel about half a day and must camp. While the swamp here is thick and populated, it is not warped, and rather friendly. There are no encounters that night. 

Day 2: The Blocking Hills
Cards in Play: Wooded Highlands
About midday the next day of travel, the players will hit some steep wooded hills that overlook the Everglades. There is plenty of game here and players should be encouraged to hunt. There are no encounters that night.



Day 3: Ruins and Spirits
Cards in Play: Hills, Elethay Temple Ruins, Burial Site, Ancestor Spirit, Drakkel (2)
About midday the thick forest clears to reveal lightly wooded hills. If scouting is successful, they will see the ruins from a long distance off and should make it there in a couple of hours. If not, have the Ancestor Spirit go get them!

When they arrive at the temple, they will notice that there is little left of the temple except a pile of broken rocks. Someone or something did a good job at destroying this place.

The Ancestor Spirit will appear to players either if they fail to find the temple, or after they have camped. He is very upset that there is a couple of Drakkel that are digging up graves. If players investigate further, they can find that this is a mated pair of Drakkel and that they are making a nest to raise young. (Skills include Scholar, Hunter, Barbarian, or lore.)

There are several ways of dealing with the Drakkel. Killing them is an option, but a mated pair is most violent. Tricking them, or making them a lair is another way. Let players be creative on this. If they manage to get the Drakkel out of the graveyard without killing them, then feel free to give double points for the Drakkel. [20 Bonus Points.]

There are no encounters that night. There appears to be enough of a residue here to ward off most nasties. 

Day 4: The River!
Cards in Play: Stormland Forest, River, Warpspawn Marauders, Refugees. Human Merchant, Elven Farmer (2), Elven Artisan, Vermite Fighter, Foxwing Renegade. Mad Spawn, Evil Genius, Tentacles, Regenerates; Warped Squirrel, Spiked Tail; Warped Squirrel, Fire Breather; Warped Squirrel, Flower Garden, Boils; Blighted Beast, Acid Spitter; Blighted Beast, Tongue Twister.

Players head North the next morning and are immediately in a normal forest. As they approach midday, they find a river and a mortal kingdom bridge over it. The bridge is in reasonable shape considering its age. As they get closer, they can see a group of ragged people attempting to cross from the other side. 
A large twisted creature, obviously a Mad Spawn, comes from below the bridge and demands a fee for crossing. When the refugees tell him that they have no gold or anything of value, he demands that they pay the toll with one of themselves. He will eat that one, and the rest can pass. That should get players going. 
This Mad Spawn is called the General and is no dummy. He has a virtual army of twisted creatures at his command. He will direct them like a general, and will not get involved in combat unless someone attacks him first, or Tanglebunny grabs someone. His troops are:

Spiketail Alligator (Warp Squirrel, Spike tail) aka Spike: lower bank of the river, on player's side. He will throw spikes at range unless something gets close. He will then grab them and try to drown them, while biting hard with his massive strength.

Firedog (Warp Squirrel, Fire breather): looks like a normal dog, he is in the middle of the bridge. He is the General's favorite.
Assassin Snake (Warped Squirrel, Flower Garden, Boils): this multi-headed snake appears to be a bush on the players side of the river. Players should not notice him until he makes his surprise attack.

Spitting Cobra (Blighted Beast, Acid Spitter) aka Spitter: This looks like a normal snake until it spits acid. It is hidden near the middle of the bridge. 
Tanglebunny (Blighted Beast, Tongue Twister): Tanglebunny starts on the far side of the river with the General. His job is to tie up opponents so the master or Spike can finish them. Tanglebunny's favorite trick is to grab people in his tongue and then drop them over the side of the bridge. He looks like a normal bunny until he unleashes his dangerous attack.

The General will usually direct his troops to attack one character at a time until they have retreated or are out of action. His missile force is very good, Spike and Spitter know to attack whatever Firedog attacks. Players should have a good chain of command, or things can get real nasty in this encounter. Remember all of his force is concealed until he orders them to attack.

The players will get no help from the other side of the river. The people there are the remains of a much larger group that was feasted on by a couple of Mad Spawn, and they are just plain terrified of the General, and even more so, when the animals of the forest show amazing talents. They will be also scared of the players if they shape change!

The players, working together, should defeat the General and his creatures. The refugees, if they see the players change shape, will be just as afraid of the players as they were the General. Players will have to do some smooth talking to get the refugees to give them any information at all. They will be happy, however, to just be allowed to flee Southward. If the players succeed in getting them to talk, they will tell the players about the Dragon Storms that come down from the Northern mountains. Their village is further North, but they are fleeing the disease, Dragon Storms and the brutality of the local Necromancers henchmen, the Dwarves.

Players searching under the bridge will find the General stash. There is 30 gp here, and a couple of items at the Storm Warden's option. This is, however, a nice place to camp.



Day 5: Dark Plains
Cards in Play: Stormland Plains, Nighttime Encounter, Dragon Storm, Warpspawn Marauders; Greater Mad Spawn, Bat Wings, Fire Breather, Four Arms; Mad Spawn, Bat Wings, Rams Horns, Spiked Tail.

Players travel North and enter a large flat plain. In the distance they can see hills and mountains. Magic users can see, even at this distance, that "there is warp in them-there hills!"

There is little cover in this open plain, so finding a safe campsite is at -3, but players will not know that.

After dark, a Warp Storm rumbles down from the Blasted Hills to the North. Swirling winds, lightning bolts, and poison rain are only the start of things. Two Mad Spawn are also riding this storm and will attack the players. On a roll of a 9+ each round, the Greater Mad Spawn can direct a green lightning bolt of warp at a player for 3D6 warp damage. (Remember warp defense!) The storm itself only does 2 warp damage, but against wounded players, the rain can seep in and do 4 warp.

These Mad Spawn will run away if they feel that they are overmatched. This is not true if they see a Dragon in true form. If that happens, these two will dive down and attack with full force. Note, that players using a Storm Shield spell will be invisible to these two.

The Dragon Storm is fast moving and will blow through in a short amount of time. The Mad Spawn will follow it, if they can. 

Day 6: "An Awful place to Visit, and I Wouldn't want to Live there."
Cards in Play: Blasted Hills, Warp Village, Jikadell Temple; Dwarven Fighter, Bat Wings, Spiked Tail; Dwarven Fighter, Rams Horns; Dwarven Warden, Muscular, Fire Breather, Well Supplied.

Note to Storm Wardens: This scene could call for a lot of role playing, be sure to read the whole section before trying to play it. 
Players can follow the trail into the blasted hills. As they come over the second hill, they are looking down into the Warp Village at short range. 
This village was pretty much destroyed by the Dragon Storm that just went through. The land is warped, twisted, and frozen. A group of Dwarves (3), with warp features are about to burn an Elven Female at the stake. If players listen in, they are blaming her for bringing down the Dragon Storm, and calling her a witch. Besides that, there are only about a dozen other people down there. All look to be dying of warp taint, if anyone looks closely.

Players have a lot of choices here. They can easily avoid the situation if they choose to complete their mission, they can rescue the Elf, or they can rescue the Elf and explore the village further.

If they bypass the village, just go to Day 7. If they choose to fight the Dwarves, then carry out combat normally. If they choose to look over the village quickly, they will notice the following: the Jikadell Temple here is not ruined, it is being built! There appears to be the remains of an Elethay Temple scattered about. This is an important clue, but players will not realize it yet. They first must fight the Dwarf Squad.

The only person who can give them any information about anything is the Elf that the Dwarves are preparing to barbecue. She is indeed a Witch, although only a very lowly one. She will only answer questions put to her, and not give out anything not asked. If she is allowed to, she will take the remaining people and flee South. Since none of them have any warp defense, this is a wise choice.

The Elf's information: This village is far older than it appears. There has always been warp coming from the mountains to the North. A temple of Elethay was built here by an unknown Dragon clan, and was there long before the humans and elves settled this region. There is a large temple channel stone where the temple used to be, and now where the Jikadell temple is being built. This stone is far larger than the Dwarves think it is. In fact, it is huge, and extends a good hundred feet below the surface. Its purpose was to cleanse the area of warp coming from the Blackwater Mountains. When a Necromancer took over this area a while back, he destroyed the Elethay temple and started the Jikadell temple on top of it. He had the Dwarves corrupt the Temple Stone. As soon as that happened, there was nothing to stop the storms coming from the North. The stone has only recently been corrupted.

Note to Storm Wardens: Anyone having a Heal Temple Channel Stone can become a major hero right about now. Failing that, the players need to report this as soon as possible. If they do manage to heal the stone, give them major bonus points (and then the locals will stay.) If they report it, give them some bonus. A follow on mission could be to send them back here along with someone who can heal the stone. It could be interesting to have them try to hold a warped village against a necromancer. [120 bonus for healing stone, 40 for reporting it.]

Note that the villagers do have a little extra food. If the players rescue the Elf, she can get them 2 rations each before she abandons the village, or 3 rations each if players have healed the stone so that the villagers can stay. 

Day 7: The Maze of Black Pillars
Cards in Play: Blackwater Mountains (and other Encounters?)

Players leave the village and head North. There are no trails here, but there is also little to impede their progress. They will arrive at the summit about midday.
This place is simply awful. Black wells of warp bubble up and form purple warp clouds. The mountains have been reduced to leached towers of black rock and bubbling pools of toxic water. There is also a sick smelling fog that seems to appear out of nowhere at times.

It is easy to get lost in here and players must make an exploration roll for each hour that they search. Every hour, however, they can also make a perception contest at -6 to find the pearl. Only one player can make each roll. The minus goes down as players search farther, however. For each 4 hours searched, the minus goes down one. (-5 for hours 5-8, -4 for hours 9-12 . . .) Note that if they get lost, they cannot search, and they can only search for 10 hours per day. They will have 5 hours left from the first day that they arrive.

When they find it, the scene they find is ugly: four skeletons lie on the ground, their gear is almost completely rotted, but there is enough left to identify them as Valarians. In front of one of the skeletons is a large black pearl. If anyone is looks hard, this group died months ago.
If players did not kill the two Mad Spawn from Day 5, they will return here for Day 10.

When they get back, they start stirring things up and until new Warp Storm forms. Players will then have to fight the two Mad Spawn and Warp Storm again. If the players killed the two Mad Spawn, then another Warp Storm will not form until Day 15.

The other thing that players will have to watch out for is food and water. There is nothing to eat up here, and they might be running low if they did not stock up. Read up on your starvation rules before role playing that part of it. 

Aftermath:
Cards in Play: Only those that were played before.

There are no new encounters on the return trip. The Boatman is waiting patiently for them no matter how late they are. (He would go Astral (ethreal) and look at the players progress once a day.) He will take them back to where they came from.

What happens back at the base depends on what the players did. If they got the pearl, then the mission master will be very pleased. Depending on what else they did, he could be extremely pleased.

Bonus role playing points are completely up to the Storm Warden's discretion. I award bonus points for players dealing with the refugees, and especially the Jikadell temple.

I do not award role playing points for the Boatman Scarvian, since he is on their side. 

Breakdown of RP points:
Day 1: 4
Day 2: 3
Day 3: 36, with a possible 20 bonus points
Day 4: 135
Day 5: 103
Day 6: 4, with 72 if they fight Dwarves, and a possible 40 or 120 bonus points
Day 7: 6, points for the two spawn are already figured in.

Total: 289 - Not Fighting Dwarves
361 - Fighting Dwarves
20 Bonus for finding a way to get rid of the Drakkel's without killing them.
40 Bonus for Reporting the Warped Temple Stone
120 Bonus for Healing the Warped Temple Stone

Maximum possible for scenario is 501. 

Note that Storm Wardens have free reign to modify any of this to suit their particular need.

This site is copyright to Susan Van Camp 2007. Art on this site is copyright to Susan Van Camp.

Please do not download or use the art from this site in anyway without the express approval of Susan Van Camp.

e-mail questions to Susan at svancamp@mac.com

For Questions about Dragon Storm, or the web page, e-mail Mark at markharmon@mac.com

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