Ceil's Black & White Tap Module

Title: Black and White

• Game: Tapestry
• Date: June 2006
• Author: Ceil (with editing help from Cayzle)

Here is a link to this Tapestry Game as it was DMed by our beloved Woldian grandma, Ceil, in the Silk Tapestry in 2006. We remember and miss you, Ceil!

BACKGROUND ==========

Far to the northwest, beyond elven lands and forests, are a range of very tall mountains. Some of these mountains have a hollow top. Six of these mountaintops have been colonized by a race of flying people. The mountaintop cities are called Ashira (the Capitol where the seat of government are meetings), Eliana, Maia, Urania, Klani and Vesira. Urania is at the lowest elevation of the six, which makes it ideal for growing vegetables and raising bees and milk cows.

Urania, being the lowest, is also the city nearest to enemies. The city maintains a big combat ring in which to practice the fighting arts, including combat in the air.

But a White Dragon wants to conquer Urania and use the mountaintop as a home for the eggs she is about to lay. She is heavy with eggs and will not say no for an answer. Unwilling to risk entering combat herself, the dragon will send four sets of minions to fight for her. The heroes of this game must defeat these minions.

Two champions of Urania, Morning Star and Cosmost, will recruit the heroes.

FIRST POST ==========

On the wall of the Giggling Ghost, the Silk Tapestry emits more sparks and flaps as if in a high mountain wind. And then, with a flash of light, it opens!

The scene is billowing white clouds moving at a high rate of speed, and then a few mountain peaks are seen in the background. One mountain rapidly becomes larger than the other, and the scene flies to where the mountain is the only thing shown in the Tapestry.

But not for long.

Coming from the top of the Tapestry is a pair of slim sandaled feet. They gracefully enter the Giggling Ghost along with the owner; a beautiful human female with a pair of white-feathered wings sprouting from her back. Entering next is a handsome male also with wings and caprisoned as a warrior with weapons and armor. As they fold thier wings, it looks like as if they were wearing white feather-cloaks.

"Greetings, Heroes!", announces the girl, "My companion is Cosmost, and I am Morning Star of the Urania. We have prayed to find help to repel an evil invasion to our mountain home."

"A greedy White Dragon covets the Hollow Mountains for her nest and she is heavy with eggs. The winged folk of the Hollow Mountains are not strong enough to resist her or her minions, and we will be driven from our homes unless there are some who can protect us."

The beautiful girl holds up a silver pin in the shape of outstretched wings. "I have eight magical pins for eight heroes that they may fly within our realm and defeat the evil ones. Please help, we beg of you!"

OOC: This adventure is for eight heroes at 10th level. Heroes volunteer for the mission on a first come, first serve basis.

SCENE ONE: A CALL TO WINGS ==========

(This scene should take 3-4 days)

Morning Star brings the party to see the Queen of Urania. She will greet them, thank them, and give them a big banquet. She gives each Tapestry hero a silver pin shaped like a pair of wings. When they are pinned on, the heroes grow beautiful white wings that let them fly while they are in Urania. Then the party will sleep for the night.

The next day, Morning Star and Cosmost will bring the heroes to the combat ring, where they will learn to use their new wings.

Morning Star says, "This is the place where you, my Adventurers, will learn how to fight with wings. You will learn how to charge effectively, and for the magic users and archers will have to learn how to back lash with your wings, so that you can stand still in mid air and aim your spells and archers use their bows for a good shot. When ready you'll fight along with us.

Morning Star will teach how to hover, which is useful for spell casting and archery. Cosmost will teach how to swoop, dive, and hit, useful for melee.

See Below For Rules On Flight In Combat

The party has a few posts of mock-combat in which they practice. Cosmost and Morning Star will pretend to be enemies, and the party has to fight them (nonlethal damage only, please).

Morning Star also tells the party what to expect:

• The White Dragon will not fight -- she is too careful of the eggs she is carrying.

• She will send her minions to fight.

• Fortunately, her minions hate each other, so she has to send out one batch at a time.

• The waves of minions will all come in the same day, so conserve your spells and resources.

In the end they are the winners, and will have a fly by with the guards, The Queen will make a speech, (I hope to give then their awards at this time). They will leave the mountains behind, and got to where the Tapestry entrance is and as the go to enter the G&G Their escorts will bang on their Shields and sing a hero's song of good-byes. The end of this mod.

SCENE TWO: ARROWHAWKS ==========

(This scene should take 4-5 days)

The party starts the scene hovering above Urania at dawn. Thousands of feet below, the army of Urania, led by Morning Star and Cosmost, is fighting the White Dragon's army of snow-gnolls.

The adventurers see that the dragon is hiding in a deep cloudbank 300 feet away. From the cloudbank, two Elder Arrowhawks come flying toward the party.

Here is a picture of the monsters:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG20a.jpg

Arrowhawk

In the first round, the arrowhawks fly up 240 feet, and the party has free round to cast spells or shoot (long range). In the following round, the arrowhawks move and attack. They like to use their electricity ray. for their attack. The ray is a ranged touch attack, so it ignores armor and natural armor.

If anyone flies up to an arrowhawk, swings, and flies away, then the arrowhawk gets to bite them (because of combat reflexes and attacks of opportunity).

Elder Arrowhawk Large Outsider (Air, Extraplanar) Hit Dice: 15d8+45 (112 hp) Speed: Fly 60 ft. (perfect) Armor Class: 22, touch 14, flat-footed 17 Base Attack: +15 Attack: Electricity ray +19 ranged touch (2d8) or bite +21 melee (2d6+9) Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Electricity ray Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to acid, electricity, and poison, resistance to cold 10 and fire 10 Saves: Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +10 Abilities: Str 22, Dex 21, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 13 Skills: Diplomacy +3, Escape Artist +23, Knowledge (the planes) +18, Listen +21, Move Silently +23, Search +18, Sense Motive +19, Spot +21, Survival +19 (+21 following tracks, +21 Plane of Air), Use Rope +5 (+7 involving bindings) Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (bite) Environment: Elemental Plane of Air Challenge Rating: 8 Alignment: Neutral Evil

SCENE THREE: GARGOYLES ==========

(This scene should take 5-6 days)

At noon, hours after the arrowhawks are defeated, the dragon sends a flock of 10 gargoyles to fight the heroes. Below them, the army is harassing the snow-gnolls, shooting from above, darting away.

The adventurers see the 10 gargoyles fly toward them from cloudbank 300 feet away.

Here is a picture of the monsters:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG113.jpg

Gargoyles

In the first round, the gargoyles fly up 240 feet, and the party has free round to cast spells or shoot (long range). In the following round, the gargoyles move and attack. They like to fly up and then attack with one claw. Gargoyles can't hover, so every round they move, then fight with one claw. They can swoop away from a target, then circle around fast (with wingover feat) and swoop back to attack the same person or a different person.

Gargoyles Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Earth) Hit Dice: 4d8+19 (37 hp) Speed: fly 60 ft. (average) Armor Class: 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 Attack: Claw +6 melee (1d4+2) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: — Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft., freeze Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +4 Abilities: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 7 Skills: Hide +7*, Listen +4, Spot +4 Feats: Wingover, Toughness Challenge Rating: 4 Alignment: Chaotic evil

Remember that gargoyles have damage reduction 10/magic.

SCENE FOUR: NIGHTMARE ==========

(This scene should take 7-9 days)

At dusk, a huge black horse with flaming hooves emerges from the Dragon's cloud bank, breathing smoke. It is a Kosh Marre Nightmare! That's the worst kind! The breeze at the top of the mountain whips the smoke away as soon as it leaves the horse's nostrils.

Here is a picture of the monster:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG195.jpg

Nightmare

Nightmare, Cauchemar Huge Outsider Hit Dice: 15d8+105 (172 hp) Speed: fly 90 ft. (good) Armor Class: 26, touch 10, flat-footed 24 Attack: Hoof +23 melee (2d6+10 plus 1d4 fire) Full Attack: 2 hooves +23 melee (2d6+10 plus 1d4 fire) and bite +18 melee (2d6+5) Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Flaming hooves Special Qualities: darkvision 60 ft. Saves: Fort +16, Ref +11, Will +10 Abilities: Str 31, Dex 14, Con 24, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 12 Skills: Bluff +19, Concentration +25, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +1 (+3 acting), Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (the planes) +21, Listen +21, Move Silently +20, Search +21, Sense Motive +19, Spot +21, Survival +19 (+21 on other planes and following tracks) Feats: Alertness, Wingover, Hover, Power Attack, Run, Track Challenge Rating: 11 Treasure: None Alignment: Very neutral evil

Flaming Hooves (Su): A blow from a nightmare's hooves sets combustible materials alight.

Remember it can use Power Attack to subtract up to 10 from its attack rolls and add +10 on damage, if it wants to.

Also, it can hover and turn with its Hover and Wingover feats. It can even hover and attack with both hooves and a bite.

This Nightmare cannot use its Smoke power (due to the strong breeze of the mountaintop) and it will not use its powers to travel to other realms.

SCENE FIVE: VAMPIRES ==========

(This scene should take 7-9 days. If the preceeding scenes have taken longer than expected, this scene can be cut.)

The Vampires arrive in dire bat form and stay in that form for the whole fight. At first they avoid fighting, choosing to summon bat swarms and trying to dominate characters. Then they attack with dire bat bite to do damage and inflict negative levels. They will turn to Gaseous Form and flee if reduced to 20% of full hit points.

Here is a picture of the monster:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG251.jpg

Vampire

Create / insert stats on Vampires here.

SCENE SIX: TRIUMPH AND FAREWELL (OR DEFEAT?) ==========

(This scene should take 2-4 days)

After the defeat of all the Dragon's minions, she will fly off very dejected. The Wing People army defeats the snow-gnolls. They will cheer the Heroes with Snow-Flowers and kisses. The Queen will give out the prizes (see below). There will be a fly-by parade, a big sky party, and the biggest escort to the tapestry you have ever seen -- a big send off!

What if the party does not beat the monsters? If they do not defeat one of the Dragon's minions, then the monsters will do great harm in the mountain town of Urania, and the party will either have to go fight them again, or Morning Star and Cosmost will go fight them. If that happens, the Snow-gnolls will also get into the town, and the damage will be great. If the party loses to two minion attacks, then the Dragon wins and will invade and all the Wing People will die or run away! No rewards for that!

EXTRA: RULES FOR FIGHTING IN THE AIR ==========

The Wings that the heros get give them a fly speed of 40 and average maneuverabilty. They also grant the wingover feat, so that you can turn on a dime once a round.

It is very simple: Every round you can do two things -- a standard action and a move action. While flying with wings, every round you must use a move action to FLY or HOVER.

1) Your FLY or HOVER must be the first action you take each round. You can take free actions whenever you want in the round.

FLY: You must move at least 20 feet, and up to 40 feet. If you use missile weapons while FLYING, you take a -3 to hit. If you cast a spell while FLYING, you have 15% spell failure. If you use a melee weapon at the end of a FLY move, you attack normally (a standard attack).

HOVER: You stay in place. You can use missile weapons and spells normally (standard action only). If you attack while HOVERING, you have a -3 to hit.

2) FLYING away from a foe or towards a foe does not provoke attacks of opportunity unless one combatant has a larger reach than the other. The one with the larger reach can make an AoO as the other foe approaches. It can also gain an AoO as it goes away, unless the target flying away uses the withdraw action.

3) If you FLY up, you go at half speed and gain 1 foot in altitude for every foot you move forward.

If you FLY down, you go at double speed and lose 1 foot in altitude for every foot you go forward.

4) You can also CHARGE at the end of a fly move, using the usual charge rules (+2 to hit, -2 AC). If you attack from above, you gain a +1 to hit. If you charge from above, you are DIVING, and in addition to the +2 to hit and -2 AC, you do double damage with a standard attack.

FINISH: REWARDS ==========

The player characters get to keep the silver wing pins that they are given -- but they are nonmagic in the Wold (worth how much? 50 gp?) In addition, they might get seals as well. What seals?

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