The Jhakar and The Erdlu. A Dark Sun Fable.

A jhakar one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. An erdlu, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the jhakar, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the jhakar indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraged him to descend. The erdlu, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the jhakar informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. "If," said he, "you will stand as tall as possible, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards." The erdlu readily assented and the jhakar leaped upon his back. Steadying himself upon the erdlu's back, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could. When the erdlu upbraided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out, "You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have scales on your hide, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape."

Tilarak

The Tilarak is a lizard with insect like characteristics. Tilaraks are a foot long and travel in pairs or packs, usually with a single male and multiple females. They are active during all parts of the day, but most often in the morning or evening.
Tilaraks have spines along its back that inject a mild poison into predators that bite or grab it. It has powerful jaws, for its size, and are able to bite off a medium-sized creature's toe or finger quite easily. Tilaraks usually feed on creatures up to size small, but may attack a larger creature if food is scarce and the pack is large.

Stats after the jump.

James Albert Smith Jr (1968-2019)

James Albert Smith Jr was the mind behind the Dreams of Mythic Fantasy blog, which I read monthly. Unfortunately, he passed away on April 10, 2019. I didn't know him personally, but I enjoyed reading his OSR (Old School Roleplay) blog. Fifty short years is not long enough for this world.
James' obituary.
His family and the gaming community are asking for help to pay his funeral expenses, if you can, please skip your morning cup of joe, or afternoon soda, and toss a couple bucks their way.

Session Eighteen: Pain and Fear

Id Fiends are awesome.

Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

They gourp woke up outside of Fort Skonz. The sky was clear and a cool morning breeze was quickly turning warm. Thankfuly, the road had been cleared somewhat by the wind. Kalino cooked a meal of rice and sand crocodile that was quite tasty.
The group set out to look for water and take stock of their inventory. Unfortunately they had to feed their kanks and erdlu from their stores, because there was no food to forage.
Julius asked one of the Fort Skonz guards how far until they reached Tyr. The guard told him it was two days away, so they better stock up before heading out. The group decided they had enough and set out toward Tyr.
A few hours after high sun, Julius and Alaxander found themselves on the mindscape, each facing a giant sand colored lizard. Even though Alaxander and Julius tried to hide their mental personas, the lizards found them and clawed at their mental forms. Julius cried out that he was being attacked mentally and Alaxander informed them that he was as well. Julius created a giant wall of mental sand stone between himself and the lizard. Alaxander created a mental fortress made of spinning blades and stood atop it.

Yuan-ti of Athas Part Eight: Yuan-ti PCs

Players may want to play an outcast yuan-ti. This is possible, but only as a assuddha (pureblood). An assuddha can pass for human 80% of the time. They only have slight differences from true humans, such as slit eyes, a forked tongue, or maybe even small fangs.

Yuan-ti assuddha are made just like any other character using the following modifications.
Racial Ability Requirements: Strength 5/20, Dexterity 5/20, Constitution 5/20, Intelligence 10/20, Wisdom 5/20, Charisma 7/20.
Racial Ability Adjustments: +1 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom
Assuddha have fast reflexes, which grants then a  natural armor class of 9 in non-surprise situations.
Assuddha are medium sized creatures.
Class Restrictions and Level Limits: Fighter 16, Gladiator N/A, Ranger N/A, Defiler 12, Preserver 10, Air Cleric 8, Earth Cleric 14, Fire Cleric 12, Water Cleric 8, Druid 10, Bard N/A, Thief 12, Trader 12, Psionicist Unlimited.
All yuan-ti start with their own language and one other of their choice.
If a yuan-ti rolls animal affinity for their wild talent, they automatically get snake, giant as the affine animal.
Height and weight should be rolled on the human chart.
Starting age has a base of 50 with a variable of 2d10.
Maximum age has a base of 400 with a variable of 5d20.
Middle Age for a yuan-ti assuddha is 200. Old Age is 300 and venerable is 400.

Yuan-ti of Athas Part Seven: Phohora

Phohora (Histachii)

Climate/Terrain: Any
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: Unit
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivorous
Intelligence: Low (5-7)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Chaotic evil
No. Appearing: 2 - 24
Armor Class: 8
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 2 + 2
Thac0: 19
No. of Attacks: 3 or 2
Damage/Attacks: 1-2, 1-2, 1-3 or As Weapon
Special Attack: See Below
Special Defense: See Below
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: M (5'-6' Tall)

Morale: Fearless (19-20)
XP Value: 120

Phohora are bred by the yuan-ti to be completely loyal and fearless soldiers for the yuan-ti nation. They are found guarding yuan-ti brood chambers and patrolling yuan-ti settlements. Histachii are hairless creatures. Their gray or yellow-green skin is tough and scaly, and smells faintly of rotting meat. They have beady, bloodshot eyes, and their forked tongues continually dart in and out of their mouths. Their dull yellow teeth are like tiny hooks, razor-sharp. Their fingernails are black and twisted, resembling the claws of a lizard.
Phohora speak yuan-ti and they can speak to snakes.

Combat
Phohora attack any nonreptilian creature or humanoid on sight, unless their yuan-ti masters
give them orders to the contrary. Unsophisticated fighters, most phohora charge directly at their
opponents, attacking with their claws and teeth. Phohora will fight to the death.
Some phohora wield simple weapons, such as clubs or spears. If they wield a weapon, phohora only get one attack per round in addition to their bite attack. Once per day, they can become berserk. In this state, they are so enraged that they gain a +2 bonus to their attack rolls. The berserk condition persists for 2-12 (2d6) rounds.
Phohora are immune to all types of hold and charm spells.

Habitat/Society
Phohora are evil. They are completely loyal to their masters and follow their orders to the letter. Phohora speak the yuan-ti language. They can also speak with any snake or snakelike creature. Phohora do not collect treasure.

Ecology
Phohora are carnivorous, eating any warm-blooded creature they can catch. Phohora can live for up to fifty hundred years.

Yuan-ti of Athas Part Six: Assuddha

Assuddha (Pureblood) Climate/Terrain: Any Frequency: Rare Organization: Nation or Tribe Activity Cycle: Any Diet: Carnivorous Intelligence: Average to Very (8-12) Treasure: J, K Alignment: Any evil No. Appearing: 1 - 6 Armor Class: 6 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 6 or As Class Thac0: 15 or As Class No. of Attacks: 1 Damage/Attacks: See Below Special Attack: As Class Special Defense: As Class Magic Resistance: Nil Size: M Morale: Elite (14) XP Value: 270 or based on class.

Psionic Summary
All Assuddha's are wild talents.

A Dark Sun Adventure: The Great Erdlu Caper

Plot Summary: Near Nibenay (or any city state with scrub planes nearby) lived a poor erldu herder named Roget. Roget lost most of his herd to sickness and has a single erdlu left. Roget named this erdlu Tongo. Roget loved to sing and play the flute with Tongo nearby and Tongo always seemed soothed by the music.
Tongo spied a female erdlu with her owner in another field one day and dragged Roget over to them. Roget met Enita and her erdlu, Kirdeta. Roget and Enita fell madly in love, mainly because there are few choices for erdlu herders. Enita had almost all of her teeth and Roget didn't smell that bad, so they soon built a hut and herded erdlu together.
It wasn't long before Kirdeta started laying eggs. Now, Enita's old friend came to visit her. She's a merchant named Humilda Diablo. She wanted to know when the erdlu were hatched. Roget doesn't like Humilda, but Enita assures him that she's harmless.
Eventually, the eggs hatched and the herders now had fifteen healthly erdlu chicks. Humilda returned and offered to buy them all for half of what they were worth. Roget refused. He wanted to rebuild his herd and could not do it with such a paltry sum. Humilda left their hut in a furious state.
A few weeks later, when the erdlu chicks were old enough to survive without their mother, Roget and Enita took Tongo and Kirdeta out to forage. While they were gone the pen was broken into by two thugs, Jast and Horak, who stole the erdlu chicks. Roget suspects Humilda, but does not have the resources to go after her.
This is where the player characters enter the adventure.