Discord
Changelog
Prologue
Szass Tam’s plans for supreme rulership of Thay have grown and evolved over centuries. Tam has manipulated his political allies and friends for years, maneuvering them into positions of power as commanders and officers of major legions and creating tharchions - he has even placed a few into the role of zulkir. Today, almost all of the eleven tharchions support him, while only three of the eight zulkirs actively oppose him: the Zulkirs Lauzoril, Nevron, and Aznar Thrul.
Recently (with the unwitting help of a party of Thayan adventurers), Tam allowed his rivals to invade Rashemen, but saw to it that plans for the invasion fell into Rashemaar hands. The Rashemaar dealt the Thayans a crushing defeat, Zulkir Nevron was badly wounded, and he, Lauzoril, and Thrul were thoroughly discredited. The Zulkir Mythrell’aa who had up until that time maintained neutrality, declared support for Szass Tam and began to muster their armies to crush the necromancer’s few remaining foes.
With undisputed control of Thay within his grasp, Szass Tam is now continuing with his other major scheme, the details of which are unknown by all but his most trusted lieutenants. A magical dampening field falls over central Thay and reduces the effectiveness of Greater Divination spells and eliminates them entirely in the immediate vicinity of Thaymount. This effectively prevents the Simbul from observing Thay, and his Thayan enemies from his activities.
As what seems to be a pivotal component of his master scheme, after being foiled by the magical defenses of more powerful wizards, Tam finally managed to catch the famous Harper ally Azargatha Nimune of Deepingdale with the mage-tunnel spell. She had been a thorn in his side for years, and he finally seized her at an unguarded moment and transported her to his prison beneath Thaymount, despite the efforts of the same band of Thayan adventurers to intervene and save her from Tam’s Estate in Eltabbar at the behest of the Simbul herself.
It seems Tam is waiting for the right time before sacrificing Nimune to complete the final component of his great scheme. If successful, it is guaranteed that whatever power he gains by doing so will ensure Thay falls completely under his thumb, and Tam will be unstoppable. The legions of Thay will march against their neighbors, unhindered by the bickering and political infighting that crushed the dreams of all previous regimes. Unless Szass Tam’s schemes can be thwarted, Thay will emerge from the turmoil as the most deadly threat to freedom in the Realms since the Tuigan Horde.
About this Adventure in the Thay PW
For anyone familiar with the AD&D boxed set ‘Spellbound’, the Runes of Chaos adventure is an official adventure found within. After months of work bringing it to life in NWN, I am proud to announce that it is now a feature of the Thay PW, designed to almost identically match the official adventure. It comprises over 500 hours of design work and QA testing, over 3500 new lines of code, 18 new monsters (several unique to the adventure), 10 new areas, a half dozen new NPCs and new conversations, and scores of new tricks, traps, and situations that may require brains over brawn. In other words - it is a classic PnP adventure found here in the Thay PW!
The Runes of Chaos involves a hazardous mission into the very heart of the Red Wizards’ realm in order to stop or delay the diabolical plans of the lich-Zulkir Szass Tam, who wishes to become Emperor of Thay. This adventure is intended for a party of five or more adventurers of levels 10-12. However, the Runes of Chaos features combat with tanar’ri, golems, and other high-level opponents that are magic-resistant and require enchanted weapons to turn, so the players should consider bringing additional characters of higher levels or obtaining enchanted weapons.
Think of this adventure as a single player module already downloaded and running within the Thay PW. DM assistance is required for the PCs to begin the journey, and typically a DM will facilitate once it is started. But the players can complete the entire adventure on their own. This frees up the DM to provide flavor, little surprises, and maybe a tip here or there to make each play through unique. While the players can rest assured that no matter the situation they are facing, there is some way to get through it without DM assistance or intervention.
Adventure Considerations, Tips, and Recommendations
1. Make sure you stock up on adventuring gear and everything you’ll need before starting the adventure. There will be no opportunities to purchase goods during it; although you may find some of these necessary items along the way. At a minimum have camping gear, ammunition, potions, scrolls, plenty of food and water, and lots of bandages.
2. Powerful magic surrounds the Citadel that not even your mysterious allies or Stones of Recall can penetrate. This means you cannot escape via a Recall Stone. Likewise, should you fall and your companions are unable to raise you, your mysterious allies cannot save you from death and the magic prevents your soul from ever getting out of the Fugue Plain. In other words - retreat is not an option and death is final. The only way to survive is to complete your journey.
3. Always stay in party. This adventure has many points where one person in the party completes a puzzle, says a command word, or so forth which then allows their party to proceed. If you are not in one party together it is very likely that whatever consequences may have occurred had you failed will still occur to those not within the party.
4. You will be expected to speak command words and phrases on many occasions. This must be done in normal chat. Capitalization is not important, but remember those periods and exclamation points. Also, when in a situation where the next words spoken will be taken as the answer, you can still use asterisk emotes. For example, if you need to direct your party to regroup and discuss the answer at a safe distance this would not count as actually trying to speak the command phrase: *motions everyone to back away from the door*
5. Whenever presented with a puzzle, challenge, or obstacle, realize that those loyal to Szass Tam take the same path you do without coming to harm. Therefore, there is a ‘safe’ way through almost everything until the final stages of the adventure where the guardians cannot be fooled and/or have been specifically commanded to attack any but Tam and the allies he has cleared. This tip is offered to help you conserve your energy for those times it is really needed - especially for spellcaster classes that require resting locations which may not be easily found.
6. When certain tests are failed, or fights occur, the battles are not necessarily proportional to the point you are at in the adventure. You may be faced with hordes of enemies or tough fights at the beginning of the adventure which could require expending a great deal of resources - only to later battle a pair of low-level undead when you are almost at the end. So while it is important to understand there is a need to conserve your energy, you will also need to use your judgment in situations as they arise.
7. Failing certain tests or situations may have fatal consequences and will result in a PC being utterly destroyed with their souls ending up in Oblivion. So make sure you spend time thinking about and discussing the choices you face and do not rush into things.
8. Plan for 5-6 hours to complete the adventure. Breaks can and will be provided as needed.
9. Grab a beverage of your choice, get your Print Screen button warmed up, sit back, relax, and have fun (that goes for the DM too)!
Application Information
If you are interested in experiencing this adventure:
1. Gather together 5-8 players.
2. Discuss among those players the different PCs you want to play and form a well-balanced party of new PCs, existing PCs, or a combination of both.
-It is requested the PCs be of a non-evil alignment.
-Each PC needs a background, and at least one person in this party must have background that includes a passing acquaintance or encounter with the Simbul.
-PCs created solely for this adventure will be leveled up to somewhere between 10-12 and provided starting equipment appropriate for that level. These PCs will be retired (removed from the player's vault) at the end of the adevnture. However, if the PC survives the adventure, it will be retired in a way that his/her player can create a new PC for general play in the Thay PW that starts with half the levels of their Runes of Chaos adventure PC.
-PCs already created and in use in the Thay PW must be between levels 10-12 and will get to keep what treasure they find along the way - but keep in mind the threat of irreversible death that will hang over them throughout the entire adventure.
-Treasure is plentiful, some of it is unique, and some of it is very powerful - so it *must* still be split among both new PCs and existing PCs in the party as if every member expects to survive and continue their adventuring days afterward. If you want to keep all treasure though, form a full party of existing PCs to undertake the adventure.
3. Provide several dates that all players in the party can be available for 5-6 hours to complete the adventure.
4. If PCs being created solely for this adventure will be in the party, an additional one hour (at most!) must be included to get them leveled up and equipped in an OOC manner.
5. Designate a party leader and point of contact. Have that person send all the PC’s backgrounds, party background, and available dates via PM to Thayan. Thayan will do his best to accommodate one of the available dates, find another DM who can, or at least perform the necessary DM requirement so the players can start it and then go through it on their own.
6. If you cannot get a group of players together but would like to do this adventure, watch this thread as Thayan will post links to play-throughs of it that he plans to schedule.
Szass Tam’s plans for supreme rulership of Thay have grown and evolved over centuries. Tam has manipulated his political allies and friends for years, maneuvering them into positions of power as commanders and officers of major legions and creating tharchions - he has even placed a few into the role of zulkir. Today, almost all of the eleven tharchions support him, while only three of the eight zulkirs actively oppose him: the Zulkirs Lauzoril, Nevron, and Aznar Thrul.
Recently (with the unwitting help of a party of Thayan adventurers), Tam allowed his rivals to invade Rashemen, but saw to it that plans for the invasion fell into Rashemaar hands. The Rashemaar dealt the Thayans a crushing defeat, Zulkir Nevron was badly wounded, and he, Lauzoril, and Thrul were thoroughly discredited. The Zulkir Mythrell’aa who had up until that time maintained neutrality, declared support for Szass Tam and began to muster their armies to crush the necromancer’s few remaining foes.
With undisputed control of Thay within his grasp, Szass Tam is now continuing with his other major scheme, the details of which are unknown by all but his most trusted lieutenants. A magical dampening field falls over central Thay and reduces the effectiveness of Greater Divination spells and eliminates them entirely in the immediate vicinity of Thaymount. This effectively prevents the Simbul from observing Thay, and his Thayan enemies from his activities.
As what seems to be a pivotal component of his master scheme, after being foiled by the magical defenses of more powerful wizards, Tam finally managed to catch the famous Harper ally Azargatha Nimune of Deepingdale with the mage-tunnel spell. She had been a thorn in his side for years, and he finally seized her at an unguarded moment and transported her to his prison beneath Thaymount, despite the efforts of the same band of Thayan adventurers to intervene and save her from Tam’s Estate in Eltabbar at the behest of the Simbul herself.
It seems Tam is waiting for the right time before sacrificing Nimune to complete the final component of his great scheme. If successful, it is guaranteed that whatever power he gains by doing so will ensure Thay falls completely under his thumb, and Tam will be unstoppable. The legions of Thay will march against their neighbors, unhindered by the bickering and political infighting that crushed the dreams of all previous regimes. Unless Szass Tam’s schemes can be thwarted, Thay will emerge from the turmoil as the most deadly threat to freedom in the Realms since the Tuigan Horde.
About this Adventure in the Thay PW
For anyone familiar with the AD&D boxed set ‘Spellbound’, the Runes of Chaos adventure is an official adventure found within. After months of work bringing it to life in NWN, I am proud to announce that it is now a feature of the Thay PW, designed to almost identically match the official adventure. It comprises over 500 hours of design work and QA testing, over 3500 new lines of code, 18 new monsters (several unique to the adventure), 10 new areas, a half dozen new NPCs and new conversations, and scores of new tricks, traps, and situations that may require brains over brawn. In other words - it is a classic PnP adventure found here in the Thay PW!
The Runes of Chaos involves a hazardous mission into the very heart of the Red Wizards’ realm in order to stop or delay the diabolical plans of the lich-Zulkir Szass Tam, who wishes to become Emperor of Thay. This adventure is intended for a party of five or more adventurers of levels 10-12. However, the Runes of Chaos features combat with tanar’ri, golems, and other high-level opponents that are magic-resistant and require enchanted weapons to turn, so the players should consider bringing additional characters of higher levels or obtaining enchanted weapons.
Think of this adventure as a single player module already downloaded and running within the Thay PW. DM assistance is required for the PCs to begin the journey, and typically a DM will facilitate once it is started. But the players can complete the entire adventure on their own. This frees up the DM to provide flavor, little surprises, and maybe a tip here or there to make each play through unique. While the players can rest assured that no matter the situation they are facing, there is some way to get through it without DM assistance or intervention.
Adventure Considerations, Tips, and Recommendations
1. Make sure you stock up on adventuring gear and everything you’ll need before starting the adventure. There will be no opportunities to purchase goods during it; although you may find some of these necessary items along the way. At a minimum have camping gear, ammunition, potions, scrolls, plenty of food and water, and lots of bandages.
2. Powerful magic surrounds the Citadel that not even your mysterious allies or Stones of Recall can penetrate. This means you cannot escape via a Recall Stone. Likewise, should you fall and your companions are unable to raise you, your mysterious allies cannot save you from death and the magic prevents your soul from ever getting out of the Fugue Plain. In other words - retreat is not an option and death is final. The only way to survive is to complete your journey.
3. Always stay in party. This adventure has many points where one person in the party completes a puzzle, says a command word, or so forth which then allows their party to proceed. If you are not in one party together it is very likely that whatever consequences may have occurred had you failed will still occur to those not within the party.
4. You will be expected to speak command words and phrases on many occasions. This must be done in normal chat. Capitalization is not important, but remember those periods and exclamation points. Also, when in a situation where the next words spoken will be taken as the answer, you can still use asterisk emotes. For example, if you need to direct your party to regroup and discuss the answer at a safe distance this would not count as actually trying to speak the command phrase: *motions everyone to back away from the door*
5. Whenever presented with a puzzle, challenge, or obstacle, realize that those loyal to Szass Tam take the same path you do without coming to harm. Therefore, there is a ‘safe’ way through almost everything until the final stages of the adventure where the guardians cannot be fooled and/or have been specifically commanded to attack any but Tam and the allies he has cleared. This tip is offered to help you conserve your energy for those times it is really needed - especially for spellcaster classes that require resting locations which may not be easily found.
6. When certain tests are failed, or fights occur, the battles are not necessarily proportional to the point you are at in the adventure. You may be faced with hordes of enemies or tough fights at the beginning of the adventure which could require expending a great deal of resources - only to later battle a pair of low-level undead when you are almost at the end. So while it is important to understand there is a need to conserve your energy, you will also need to use your judgment in situations as they arise.
7. Failing certain tests or situations may have fatal consequences and will result in a PC being utterly destroyed with their souls ending up in Oblivion. So make sure you spend time thinking about and discussing the choices you face and do not rush into things.
8. Plan for 5-6 hours to complete the adventure. Breaks can and will be provided as needed.
9. Grab a beverage of your choice, get your Print Screen button warmed up, sit back, relax, and have fun (that goes for the DM too)!
Application Information
If you are interested in experiencing this adventure:
1. Gather together 5-8 players.
2. Discuss among those players the different PCs you want to play and form a well-balanced party of new PCs, existing PCs, or a combination of both.
-It is requested the PCs be of a non-evil alignment.
-Each PC needs a background, and at least one person in this party must have background that includes a passing acquaintance or encounter with the Simbul.
-PCs created solely for this adventure will be leveled up to somewhere between 10-12 and provided starting equipment appropriate for that level. These PCs will be retired (removed from the player's vault) at the end of the adevnture. However, if the PC survives the adventure, it will be retired in a way that his/her player can create a new PC for general play in the Thay PW that starts with half the levels of their Runes of Chaos adventure PC.
-PCs already created and in use in the Thay PW must be between levels 10-12 and will get to keep what treasure they find along the way - but keep in mind the threat of irreversible death that will hang over them throughout the entire adventure.
-Treasure is plentiful, some of it is unique, and some of it is very powerful - so it *must* still be split among both new PCs and existing PCs in the party as if every member expects to survive and continue their adventuring days afterward. If you want to keep all treasure though, form a full party of existing PCs to undertake the adventure.
3. Provide several dates that all players in the party can be available for 5-6 hours to complete the adventure.
4. If PCs being created solely for this adventure will be in the party, an additional one hour (at most!) must be included to get them leveled up and equipped in an OOC manner.
5. Designate a party leader and point of contact. Have that person send all the PC’s backgrounds, party background, and available dates via PM to Thayan. Thayan will do his best to accommodate one of the available dates, find another DM who can, or at least perform the necessary DM requirement so the players can start it and then go through it on their own.
6. If you cannot get a group of players together but would like to do this adventure, watch this thread as Thayan will post links to play-throughs of it that he plans to schedule.