Session Sixty-Five: Gray Plumed Mountain Part 5

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

The group tied themselves together with rope and gathered the shallow bowls. They jumped into the flowing stream of silt, while sitting on their bowls. They were whisked through the hole in the wall and through a tube.
The stream carried them into a room, where a group of men were waiting with nets and clubs. The men caught Shade in a net and pulled him out of the stream and onto the floor. The other men near him started beating him with their clubs.
No one else was caught by the nets, but the group was having trouble dismounting from their bowls without being scoured by the silt stream. The best fighter among the group was wielding a bone carrikal and the men engaged the group fiercely. Shade, with the help of Vashti, was able to break free of the net.
The fighting was rather brutal, as the men had taken advantage of their foes awkward positions. However, once the group was able to gather themselves, they defeated the men. The battle did take a toll on the group. They were wounded and low on magical and mental resources. They decided to rest. They made sure to keep watch.

Day 5, Week 1, Macro, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

Upon waking, the group searched the dead men. The fighter who had wielding the carrikal had a brass key on his belt. Alaxander took it.

Missing Monsters - Var

The Var is a creature briefly and loosely described in the Black Spine adventure module. They are described as nocturnal winged creatures that feed on the blood of the living. 
In addition, there are some brief stats. However, there is no information on their ecology or habits and they are not given a full description. So, instead of a missing monster, this is more of a neglected monster. Enjoy.

Var
Climate/Terrain: Rocky Badlands and Underground
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Swarm
Activity Cycle: Night
Diet: Living Blood
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1-100
Armor Class: 6
Movement: 3, Fl 24 (B)
Hit Dice: 1 + 1
Thac0: 13
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attacks: 1
Special Attack: Blood Drain
Special Defense: None
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: T (1' long)
Morale: Unreliable (3)
XP Value: 75

The Aprig and the Ruby - A Dark Sun Fable

An aprig was busily rooting around the scrub plains, looking for something to eat for himself and his family. The aprig happened to uncover a large ruby worth thousands of ceramic pieces.
"Aha!" said the aprig. "No doubt the previous owner of this gemstone searched for hours to find it. But I don't care at all, I would choose a single grain of rice, or a drop of water, before all the gems in the world."

Session Sixty-Four: Gray Plumed Mountain Part 4

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

The twelve foot long braxat beetle turned toward the group, as they slowly approached from the tunnel, and began spitting acid at them. The group dodged the best they could, but many of them got sprayed. Alaxander teleported to the other side of the braxat beetle, to the wood chest.
Kalino and Kiara rushed the monstrous beetle, Kalino attacked with his iron tipped spear and Kiara with her copper wrist razor. Julius did not have any mental energy to use the way, so he ran to the side of the beetle and attacked it with his finely crafted bone longsword. Vashti did not have any spells available, so she held back and waited to tend the injured. Shade used his short bow to fire arrows at the giant insect, but the arrows didn't penetrate the beetle's carapace.
The beetle fought back, grabbing Kiara in its mandibles and shaking her to and fro. The beetle then slammed her unconscious body to the ground. Vashti ran to Kiara and pulled her away from the beetle.
Alaxander was about to open the chest, but thought it might be trapped. Instead, he turned around and started battering the beetle with physical strikes of mental force. Julius jumped on the beetle's back and tried to find a gap in the beetle's armor. Kalino kept stabbing at the beetle's head, while Vashti used her healing skills to patch up Kiara.

Non-Dark Sun Creatures in Dark Sun - Elemental, Composite

 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.

Elemental, Composite

	Tempest	Skriaxit	Cherufe
Climate/Terrain	Any, non Underground	Any Desert and Silt Sea	In or near Volcanoes
Frequency	Very Rare	Very Rare	Very Rare
Organization	Solitary	Pack	Solitary
Activity Cycle	Any	Any	Any
Diet	Moisture	Emotions	Ashes
Intelligence	Low to Average (5-10)	Exceptional (15-16)	Average (8-10)
Treasure	M x 3	Nil	N x 2, Q
Alignment	Chaotic Neutral	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil
No. Appearing	1	3-18	1-3
Armor Class	2	-5	-3
Movement	Fl 24	12, 18, or 24	16
Hit Dice	9-12	16+16 or 24+24	12-14
THAC0	9-10 HD: 11 11-12 HD: 9	5	12 HD: 9 13 HD: 8 14 HD: 7
No. of Attacks	1	2	1
Damage/Attack	2-16	2-20/2-20	2-24
Special Attacks	Whirlwind, Lightning	Sandstorm, Dispel Magic	Fire Rain, Spells
Special Defenses	+2 or better weapon to hit; see below	+2 or better weapon to hit; see below	+2 or better weapon to hit; see below
Magic Resistance	Nil	50%	25%
Size	G (50' diameter)	L (10' tall)	H (15' tall)
Morale	Champion (15-16)	Fanatic (17-18)	Fanatic (17-18)
XP Value	9 HD: 6,000 10 HD: 7,000 11 HD: 8,000 12 HD: 9,000	16+16 HD: 16,000 24+24 HD: 24,000	12 HD: 12,000 13 HD: 13,000 14 HD: 14,000

Dark Sun turns 30!

 

Happy Anniversary to Dark Sun! October 2021 marks 30 years that Dark Sun has been around! Thanks Troy Denning, Timothy Brian Brown, Bill Slavicsek, Monte Cook, Bruce R Cordell, Robert J Schwalb, Richard Baker, Rodney Thompson, Chris Sims and everyone who’s had a hand in contributing to this amazing setting. And of course Dark Sun wouldn’t be Dark Sun without the artists Gerald Brom, Tom Baxa, Diesel, Rob Lazaretti, John Dollar, Wayne Reynolds, Jason Engle, William O’Connor, and many more!

Session Sixty-Three: Gray Plumed Mountain Part 3

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

The group yelled out, as Kalino was dragged into the silt. More tentacles rose out of the silt and began whipping the other members of the group. They did their best to fight off the tentacles, but were worried about Kalino drowning in the silt.
Alaxander used the way to phase and float slowly into the silt. He moved beneath the creatures brown bulbous body and used the way to mentally strike the creature. The mental strikes were able to partially lift the create out of the silt, for just a moment. The rest of the party readied their long range weapons, for when the creature would appear. As soon as Julius was able to see the creature, he used the way to start heating it up.