Session Thirty Six: The Black Waters

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

Vashti was doing her best, holding back the jankz. Most of them milled about the cave entrance, but some rushed past her. They immediately climbed on top of the kank's pack saddles and began tearing at the bags. The bags contained the group's meat.
Seeing this, Vashti grabbed some of the meat to lure the jankz to the outside of the cave. She fumbled with the meat and one of the jankz jumped to to grab the meat and scratched her right arm in the process, enveonomating her with it's spur. Vashti collapsed to the ground and screamed uncontrollably, as her arm began to wither. Kiara said she could help her, but she needed to get her outside, where the herbs to help her would be. Shade scooped up Vashti and took her outside. Once outside, Kiara suggested Shade return to his friends, so he did.
Kiara managed to greatly reduce Vashti's pain and informed her that she had slowed the venom, but not stopped it. Vashti was grateful for the pain relief, even though she and Kiara knew that Vashti's arm would be useless for a day or two.
Shade used his ability to speak with animals and started talking to the jankz. The jankz were unintelligent creatures and Shade had to speak simply to them. The jankz cried about their hunger and lamented that some of their cubs had died of starvation.

The Dune Reaper and the Cilops. A Dark Sun Fable

A dune reaper was sharpening his bladed arms busily against a hard stone, when a cilops happened by. Now the cilops was always looking for a chance to make fun of the other desert creatures. So, he made a great show of looking anxiously about, as if in fear of some hidden enemy. But the dune reaper kept right on with his work.
After a long while, the clips asked with a grin"Why are you doing that? There isn't any danger that I can see."
"That is true," replied the dune reaper, "but when danger does come, I will not have time for this work. My weapons must be ready for danger, whenever it comes, or I will suffer for it."

Character Highlight: Vashti

Vashti of Kuresh

Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral Good
Class: Water Cleric 5/ Clairsentient 5
Sex: Female
Age: 19
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown/Green
Height: 5'7"
Weight 150 lbs.

Strength: 15 (16 Stamina/ 14 Muscle)
Dexterity: 16 (14 Aim/ 18 Balance)
Constitution: 18 (20 Health/ 16 Fitness)
Intelligence: 16 (Reason 14/ Intelligence 18)
Wisdom: 19 (20 Intuition/ 18 Willpower)
Charisma: 14 (Leadership 16/ 12 Appearance)
Thac0: 18
Hit Points: 43
AC: 5 (-4 for dexterity, ringmail left arm & left leg)
Weapon: Bone Club, damage: 1d6/1d3
Race & Class Abilities: Magic Resistance: 10%, Bonus XP 5%, Cosmos Sphere, Bonus Cosmos, Gate Element - Major, Ignore Element - Minor, Sacrifice, All Psionic Defenses, All Psionic Disciplines, Student Followers
Weapon Proficiencies: Club

The Athasian Elemental Planes Part Ten: New Elemental Creatures

Hainu
The hainu is a native of the Elemental Plane of Air. It appears as a brown dog with feathered wings on its back. Hainu have incredible senses of smell and can find prey easily in total darkness.
It flies through the plane, hunting birds and other small flying creatures. It serves the elemental lords and high level air elemental priests.
The hainu's breath weapon is an icy blast of air that is 70 feet long, 15 feet high, and 15 feet wide. Creature's caught in the blast suffer 2d6 +2 points of damage from cold and flying ice crystals. Creatures may save vs breath weapon for half damage. After using their breath weapon, the hainu must wait 1d4 rounds before using it again.

Hainu
Climate/Terrain: Elemental Plane of Air
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: Solitary or Pack
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1-8
Armor Class: 2
Movement: 14, fl16 (B)
Hit Dice: 5+3
Thac0: 16
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attacks: 1-8
Special Attack: Breath Weapon
Special Defense: Immune to Cold
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: M (4' long)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 650

Burrower
The burrower is a native of the Elemental Plane of Earth. It appears as a fanged and horned brown worm, with a purple underside. The burrower has no eyes, but can sense vibrations on/in the ground. As such, it has a difficult time attacking flying creatures.
Burrowers dig through the plane of earth, searching for things to eat and doing the bidding of the elemental lords and high level earth elemental priests.
The burrower's breath weapon is a 5' wide stream of acid that extends 30' in a straight line from the burrower's head. Creature's caught in the line suffer 2d6 +1 points of damage, in addition, any of the creature's equipment caught in the stream must save vs. acid or be destroyed. Creatures may save vs breath weapon for half damage. After using their breath weapon, the burrower must wait 1d4 rounds before using it again.

Climate/Terrain: Elemental Plane of Earth
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 2
Movement: 12, bw12
Hit Dice: 5+3
Thac0: 16
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attacks: 2-12
Special Attack: Breath Weapon
Special Defense: Immune to Acid
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: M (7' long)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 650

Session Thirty Five: Bitter Reality

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

Vashti immediately stated her desire to stay and help the suffering people. She hoped that she could, somehow, heal the damage the black waters caused on the wretched human travelers.  Shade and Alaxander immediately agreed. Julius disagreed and thought they should keep moving. Kalino saw wisdom in both arguments and agreed to go with the consensus, which was to stay and help.
The poor wretches begged for food and water, but were unable to keep any of it down. They were dying and they knew it. Some of them had simply accepted their fate and stared blankly at nothing.
Vashti hoped that the way could help them. She took one of the children, a young boy, and touched him. She used the way, hoping that their malady was a simple disease. It did not change his appearance, but the boy said he felt a little better. He was offered a small cup of water, which he drank eagerly. He kept it down, but Vashti knew this was a temporary reprieve from the diseases effects.
Vashti used all of the mental energy she had, offering the wretches what aid she could. They were thankful for the abatement of their symptoms, even if it was temporary. Vashti was hoping that magic could help, but she had used all of the spell energy that her patron element had granted her for the day.
They moved a short distance from the road and made a camp for the diseased and another for themselves. Vashti lamented that she was unsure if she could cure the wretches and the rest of the group had few words of encouragement for her.
After a few minutes of brooding, she felt that she was being watched and asked Shade to scout the area. Shade agreed and departed.

Non-Dark Sun Creatures in Dark Sun - Centaur, Desert

There are many creatures from the various monstrous manuals that have been officially added to Dark Sun. I added some unofficially for my game and I'm sure a lot of other DMs do the same.
There is no inherent problem with this, although the flavor text often doesn't fit with the Dark Sun setting. My goal is to list the various monsters that "don't fit" and rewrite their flavor text to make them fit.
I often add a new Athasian variant as well.

Athasian Centaur (Centaur, Desert)
These are the only centaurs present on Athas, so there would be no need to differentiate them from other centaurs. I added Athasian, so there's no confusion with dungeon masters and players, but on Athas, they would simply be called centaurs.
Also, they would not be descibed as "half-horse," because horses don't exist on Athas. They would be "half-sygra."

Jesse Heinig created rules to play a desert centaur in your dark sun 2nd edition AD&D game. Here ya go.

	Centaur	Centaur, Priestess
Climate/Terrain	Hinterlands	Hinterlands
Frequency	Very Rare	Very Rare
Organization	Tribal	Tribal
Activity Cycle	Night	Night
Diet	Omnivore	Omnivore
Intelligence	Low to Average (5-10)	Very to High (11-14)
Treasure	Q, U	1d4 gems
Alignment	Neutral or Chaotic Good	Neutral
No. Appearing	1-8 (70%) or 4-32 (30%)	1
Armor Class	6	6
Movement	21	21
Hit Dice	3, Leader 4	3
Thac0	17, Leader 16	20
No. of Attacks	3	3
Damage/ Attack	1-4, 1-4, and weapon	1-4, 1-4, and weapon
Special Attack	Missile weapons	Spells/ Missile Weapons
Special Defense	Nil	Nil
Magic Resistance	Nil	Nil
Size	M (6' tall)	M (6' tall)
Morale	Elite (13-14)	Elite (13-14)
XP Value	120, Leader 175	175

Athasian centaurs are the ultimate fusion of mount and nomadic tribesman – tough, slim, fast and stealthy nighttime raiders who slip into enemies’ camps and then depart like shadows before the dawn. They are as reclusive, but very defensive of the lands they claim as their own.

They have barrel-like chests and long, thin legs. The males generally grow long beards which they elaborately curl and oil into perfect form. The females wear veils, but take few other cares about their appearance. When traveling they carry their goods in packs or drag them along in litters.

The Two Erdland. A Dark Sun Fable.

Two erdland were strolling happily on the rocky steeps of a mountain valley. They happened to meet with a chasm between them. The chasm was deep and filled with jagged, sharp rocks. The trunk of a dead tree formed a bridge over the chasm, but it was so narrow, not even two critics could have passed each other safely. The narrow path would have made the bravest tremble. But not our two erdland. Their pride would not permit either to stand aside for the other.
One set her foot on the log. The other did likewise. In the middle they met beak to beak. Neither would give way, and so they both fell. Scavengers fed on their corpses below.

Non-Dark Sun Creatures in Dark Sun - Carrion Crawler

There are many creatures from the various monstrous manuals that have been officially added to Dark Sun. I added some unofficially for my game and I'm sure a lot of other DMs do the same.
There is no inherent problem with this, although the flavor text often doesn't fit with the Dark Sun setting. My goal is to list the various monsters that "don't fit" and rewrite their flavor text to make them fit.
I often add a new Athasian variant as well.

Carrion Crawler

	Carrion Crawler	Undead Carrion Crawler
Climate/Terrain	Any Land	Any Land
Frequency	Uncommon	Very Rare
Organization	Solitary	Solitary
Activity Cycle	Any	Any
Diet	Carnivore	None
Intelligence	Non- (0)	Non- (0)
Treasure	B	Nil
Alignment	Neutral	Neutral
No. Appearing	1-6	1
Armor Class	3/7	1/5
Movement	12	9
Hit Dice	3 + 1	4+1
Thac0	17	16
No. of Attacks	8 or 1	8 or 1
Damage/ Attack	Special or 1-2	Special or 1-4
Special Attack	Paralysis	Paralysis/ Disease
Special Defense	Nil	Spell/Psionic Immunity
Magic Resistance	Nil	Nil
Size	L (9' tall)	L (9' tall)
Morale	Special	Special
XP Value	420	1,400

The carrion crawler is a scavenger, feeding primarily upon carrion. When such food becomes scarce, however, it will attack and kill living creatures. The carrion crawler dislikes the intense heat of the day, so stays underground until the sun sets.

The crawler looks like a cross between a giant green cutworm and a cephalopod. The monster’s head, which is covered with a tough hide that gives it Armor Class 3, sprouts eight slender, writhing tentacles. The body of the carrion crawler is not well protected and has an armor class of only 7. The monster is accompanied by a rank, fetid odor which often gives warning of its approach.
Undead carrion crawlers look similar to their living counterparts, but their flesh is rotting and barely clinging to its carapace.

Kvale

It was pointed out to me by Rovewin of Athas.org, that the Kvale is mentioned in the Ivory Triangle boxed set. However, they are not drawn up in any of the books. So, in an effort to rectify the situation, I have created the two mentioned kvales below.

	Kvale, Green	Kvale, Red
Climate/Terrain	Crescent Forest	Crescent Forest
Frequency	Uncommon	Uncommon
Organization	Solitary or Pair	Solitary or Pair
Activity Cycle	Day	Day
Diet	Omnivore	Omnivore
Intelligence	Animal (1)	Semi (2-4)
Treasure	Nil	Q
Alignment	Neutral	Neutral
No. Appearing	1-2	1-2
Armor Class	7	6
Movement	2, 14 fl	2, 14 fl
Hit Dice	2	3
Thac0	17	16
No. of Attacks	2	2
Damage/ Attack	1-2	1-2
Special Attack	Swoop	Swoop, Spells
Special Defense	Nil	Nil
Magic Resistance	Nil	20%
Size	T (1' tall)	T (1' tall)
Morale	Unsteady (5-7)	Steady (11-12)
XP Value	65	175