Dungeon Magazine #165.pdf

ISSUE 165 | AprIl 2009

A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ® ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT

Contents

4 allianCe at nefelus

By Chris Tulach

The Scales of War Adventure Path

continues. The characters are dispatched

with their deva ally Amyria to the island

nation of Nefelus, home of sages and

masters of the arcane. The nation is a

vital potential ally in the war against the

githyanki, but none of the emissaries from

the defending nations have returned. As

the PCs soon discover, a new enemy has

blockaded the nation, and the heroes

must end the blockade and help persuade

Nefelus to join their cause. An adventure

for 14th-level PCs.

78 seCr e ts of the White

lotus aCadeMy

By Peter Schaefer

The White Lotus Academy has stood as

a symbol of arcane learning for decades.

Now, a secret inhabitant of the school

grounds has come into conf lict with

the headmaster, and the students and

surroundings are in danger. The PCs must

avoid the hazards of their near-invisible foe

and thwart its plans before they run out of

time. An adventure for 7th-level PCs.

on the Cover

Illustration by Lars Grant-West

3 editorial

90 ruling skill

Challenges

By Mike Mearls

Mike continues to educate on the

nature of skill challenges, with

unique applications and examples.

93 save My gaMe

By Stephen Radney-MacFarland

A DM’s best friend? Stephen

Radney-MacFarland, back with

more advice and letters from the

mailbag.

97 dungeonCraft

By James Wyatt

James discusses the latest changes

to his f ledgling campaign.

52 reMains of the eMpire

By Kolja Raven Liquette

Long ago, when the Dragonborn Empire

of Arkhosia thrived, the f lying citadel

Ustraternes was undone by tief ling

magic. Now, a dragonborn zealot with

dreams of renewing the lost glory of

his ancestors explores the ruins—and

unleashes a plague of rampaging drakes

on the terrified locals. An adventure for

4th-level PCs.

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This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use

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No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. For more Dungeons & Dragons

articles, adventures, and information, visit www.wizards.com/dnd

EDiToRiAL

165

THE JOKE’S ON YOU

Dungeon

April 2009

Editor-in-Chief

Chris Youngs

Senior Art Director

Jon Schindehette

Web Specialist

Chris Sims

You just don’t know where or when the funny will

jump out and bite you.

You see, we were looking for a gnome. He had some

information we needed, and thanks to some savvy

Streetwise checks, we knew where and when to find

him. The thing is, when we got to his office, rather than

wait in the queue to see our would-be informant, we …

well, we kicked down the door.

The gnome panicked. Who wouldn’t? if a bunch of

folks armed like a medieval SWAT team kicked in the

door to your office, you’d likely freak, right? Well, that’s

what the gnome did. He hit a snappy button on his desk

and dropped through a trapdoor escape hatch, setting

off a skill challenge chase through the city streets. Did i

mention the gnome had a slave ogre? And that he rode

the ogre like Master Blaster through the crowded city?

it sounds absurd, goofy, and yes, funny when i relate

the story now. But in Chris Perkins’s campaign, this is

par for the course. Naturally, we were agog at a gnome

riding an enslaved ogre like some bestial warhorse.

What followed, however…

You see, succeeding (and we did succeed) at the

chase skill challenge was only part one of the equa-

tion. once we’d captured the gnome and rendered him

unconscious, we had to slip away into the bustling city

and evade the militia bearing down on us. That skill

challenge—that one we failed.

My character is a filthy liar. He lies even when it

doesn’t suit him, even when doing so might be disad-

vantageous. As curious onlookers saw us “escorting”

our new friend away, now swaddled in a heavy cloak, i

thought that dousing him in some ale and claiming he

was my drunken companion—passed out after a night’s

hard partying—would be smart. only, i rolled a natural

1 on my Bluff check.

Rodney Thompson, who wasn’t paying attention to

my feeble story, then turned to tell a different passer-

by that “the child” had fainted at the sight of so much

drama in the streets. Turns out his dice had visited

the same pile of suck mine had, and our back-to-back

failed checks were sufficient to seal the deal on that

skill challenge.

of course, the best part was that we weren’t paying

attention to one another and mixed up our stories,

Chris penalized us appropriately (invoking a penalty

on Rodney’s Bluff check), and we ended up cracking up

the entire table with our combined story about buying

booze for minors.

in the spirit of April Fool’s, humor’s been on my brain

a fair amount, and one of the regular questions we get at

shows is why we don’t do more “funny adventures.” i’m

sometimes tempted, but this episode really enabled me

to put my finger on why i feel like doing so isn’t a great

idea. The best humor doesn’t come from the printed

product. in fact, humor integrated into an adventure

always feels forced to me. The funniest moments at the

game come from the people at the table.

When you’re sitting around anywhere with your

close friends, jokes are inevitable. D&D is no exception.

We know that humor at the gaming table will be there

whether or not we try to inject it. Plus, sense of humor

is about as subjective as you can get. A joke that sends

one person into spasms is likely to get a blank stare

from another. No, we think the jokes are best left to you

and your table. And to April Fool’s Day, of course.

What about your group? Do you have a story about

events at the table contributing to a humor-based melt-

down? or do you disagree about the effectiveness of

humor in published products? Send us your stories and

opinions to dndinsider@wizards.com .

Web Production

Bart Carroll, Steve Winter

Contributing Authors

Kolja raven liquette,

Mike Mearls, Stephen radney-

MacFarland, peter Schaefer,

Chris Tulach, James Wyatt

Developers

Stephen radney-MacFarland,

peter Schaefer, Stephen

Schubert, Chris Sims,

rodney Thompson

Editor

Miranda Horner, Steve Winter

Cover Artist

lars Grant-West

Contributing Artists

rob Alexander, Wayne England,

Jason A. Engle, ralph Horsley,

Cr MacTernan, raven Mimura,

William O’Connor, Steve prescott,

Wayne reynolds, Christopher West,

Eva Widermann, Ben Wootten

Cartographers

Sean Macdonald, Mike Schley,

Publishing Production Specialists Angelika lokotz, Erin Dorries,

Christopher Tardiff

Web Development

Mark A. Jindra

D&D Creative Manager

Christopher perkins

Executive Producer,

D&D Insider

Ken Troop

Director of RPG R&D

Bill Slavicsek

Special Thanks

richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, logan Bonner, Michele Carter,

Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce r. Cordell, Jeremy

Crawford, rob Heinsoo, peter lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal

Moore, Stephen radney-MacFarland, peter Schaefer, Stephen

Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims, rodney Thompson,

rob Watkins, James Wyatt

ALLIANCE

NEFELUS

By Chris Tulach

An adventure for 14th-level characters

illustrations by Jason A. Engle, Ralph Horsley, William

O’Connor, Steve Prescott, Wayne Reynolds, Lars Grant

West and Eva Widermann

cartography by Mike Schley

“Long have we strove to remain

detached from the afairs of the

mainland. But this threat taxes

us to the limits of our power, and

so we reach out to those who have

proven themselves time and time

again. Perhaps, if you aid us, we

will consider assisting your cause

as a means of gratitude.”

—Bejam, member of

the Thraxinium of Nefelus

April 2009 | Dungeon 165

ALLIANCE AT NEFELUS

“Alliance at Nefelus” is an adventure for 14th-level

characters. At the end of the adventure, the PCs

should be midway through 15th level. Although this

adventure is part of the Scales of War adventure path,

it takes the plot in a different direction as new friends

and foes are discovered. it also makes a good stand-

alone adventure or is inserted easily into your own

ongoing campaign.

in this adventure, the PCs are again joined by their

friend Amyria, the deva last seen in “Haven of the

Bitter Glass,” the previous adventure. She musters the

PCs to respond to a call for aid from the island nation

of Nefelus, an isolationist magocracy that is under an

environmental threat. if the PCs can help put an end

to Nefelus’s troubles, Nefelus might be willing to lend

their extensive arcane knowledge and naval might to

the Coalition.

that an unknown force apparently transformed and

bolstered them. only one vessel made it to the ice

f loe, and no reports came back from its crew.

Several days passed, and the Thraxinium debated

their next course of action as they did research to

combat the threat of the climate change. While they

were preparing their next moves, the magical cold

emanating from the ice f loe intensified and over the

course of one night, it formed an icy ring that cut off

any ships bound in or out of the ports. The nation of

Nefelus was under siege, and the weather was get-

ting worse. The ice threatens to continue to spread,

and possibly engulf the entire island.

A few days ago, several members of the Thraxinium

reported that they were enacting a ritual that would

stave off any further climatic change as long as the

forces behind the unnatural cold did not greatly inten-

sify. Although that bought a little time, it still meant

that many members of the Thraxinium had to spend

considerable resources maintaining the ritual just to

keep the island from being overwhelmed, and the icy

ring still separated Nefelus from any help by sea.

Despite being isolationist, several Thraxi (mem-

bers of the Thraxinium) still maintained contact

with the outside world. Bejam, a deva on the Thrax-

inium, formed a friendship with a deva named

Amyria. She had been working to convince the

Thraxinium to join an allied Coalition of the mortal

realm intent on defeating a githyanki invasion. But

Nefelus had seen nothing of the githyanki save for

a single, strange burglary attempt years before, and

they’d heard even less. Reluctant to get involved, the

Thraxi, through Bejam, politely refused all Amyria’s

requests. When the Thraxinium ran out of options

to deal with the threat of the ice blockade, however,

Bejam turned to Amyria for aid.

WHAT IS

AN ADVENTURE PATH?

Scales of War is the fourth Adventure path to appear

in the pages of Dungeon ® Magazine . But what, you

ask, is an Adventure path? Quite simply, it is a series

of related adventures intended to form a complete

D&D campaign that takes your players from 1st

level all the way to, in the case of Scales of War, 30th

level.

previous Adventure paths, presented with the 3rd

Edition D&D ® rules, took characters from 1st to 20th

level. But with all three tiers in the new edition ripe

and ready to explore, we’re pushing the limit with

Scales of War. Each tier takes roughly six adventures

to traverse, which means we’ll finish off this Adven-

ture path in about eighteen issues. Each adventure

advances characters from between one and a half

to two levels of experience. We recognize that not

everyone will meet every encounter or complete

every quest, however, so periodically, we’ll point

you to a supplemental Side Trek or short adventure

to keep your pCs on pace. plus, roughly every few

months, Dragon ® will feature new support content

for Scales of War.

Finally, this Adventure path is intended to func-

tion as a complete D&D campaign. That means we’ll

be making assumptions about the history of the

world as we move along, just as you would in any

campaign you run. We’ll be borrowing heavily from

the D&D mythology of 4th Edition, as well as all the

great ideas that have cropped up in other products

over the years—including the pages of past issues of

Dungeon !

Enjoy your stay in Scales of War, and keep an eye

out for next month’s installment.

BACKGROUND

The island nation of Nefelus, a lush tropical realm

that has long kept itself isolated from the dealings of

the rest of the world, has recently found its tranquil

peace disturbed by a threat that even its deva-led mage

council (known as the Thraxinium) cannot squelch.

Several weeks ago, a mysterious ice f loe appeared a

few miles off the coast of the island, and within a few

days, the warm and pleasant climate of Nefelus began

to grow colder, threatening the natural order.

Nefelus took action as soon as it was apparent that

the conditions were getting more severe. Endowed

with a formidable navy to protect themselves from

pirates and foreign interlopers, the Thraxinium dis-

patched vessels to the ice f loe to investigate, and if

necessary, fight any present threat. However, unusual

arctic sahuagin attacked the ships—some speculate

April 2009 | Dungeon 165

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