Davin's Plague
A formidable disease is on the rise in Rakore, and it could prove a major hindrance to the party. The first incidence of the disease was noted at Spider Werks, on the islands just south of Teras. A ship washed up on the shoals north of the main isle where Spider Werks is -- and it was full of bodies. Spider Werks fell to the fungal disease within several days, and from there it spread to Teras. Symptoms include dry, red, itchy eyes, weakness, and an aversion to food and drink. Word is still reaching some parts of Rakore -- and the disease has likely broken out elsewhere, prompting massive public health concerns. Quarantines are popping up everywhere, and anyone with red eyes that won't eat or drink is turned away -- sometimes at sword point. The plague's vector is humanoid contact -- by inhalation.

The plague has an incubation period of two days before onset of symptoms, with a Fortitude save (DC 15) to defeat the disease without showing symptoms or coming down with the worse form of it. After two days of incubation, the disease does 1d6 points of temporary Constitution damage -- and two days later, another 2d6 points of temporary Constitution damage. The disease follows the 1d6/2d6 pattern indeffinately, until either the host is killed, or the host makes two successful Fortitude saves in a row. See page 74 of the Dungeon Master's Guide for disease details.

Even with the priests of the Rakanus Clan, the clerics of Rakore will be hard-put to keep the disease at bay for perhaps over a month -- running from the 13th of Trical to the middle of Sad. Some aid will arrive from Kur Maeth -- in the way of potions, scrolls, and wands -- though it will be treated with caution until the priests can assure the warrior that it is not sabotage from the Inquisition. The dwarves, of course, will withstand the disease better than the rest of the populace, but the humans and the elves will be hard-hit. The tomanths are unaffected by the plague.

Ograns are immune to the new disease -- dubbed Davin's Plague after its first Rakoran victim -- and this could sew great discord between the Ograns and their neighbors. The Ograns, for their part, will actually attempt to find out how the plague occurred. If it was Mazripos' doing, then the Rot Goddess will be cheered by half the Ogre Nations -- and appalled by the other half. The accusation that it was started by the Ograns will strain the leaders of the ogremai to keep the Hordes from invading Rakore. (Both sides know that the dwarves could probably hold the passes for the week it takes to recover from the diseases, but it might be nothing against the numbers of the orcs.)

The actual origins of the plague will only be known to an epic diviner, for it is natural in origin. Probably, a stagnant pool of magic speedily metamorphosed an older plague into this new, more virulent form.

Ressurection: Terrace
Alliya, the vampire-medusa, is not the only undead minion seeking the party. Some of the dread knight Xemitar's lesser underlings would undo the vampire-medusa, if only they could destroy the party, first. Shikar, a rhakshasan wraith, has been keeping a closer eye on Rakore itself -- thinking that the party will go through there to reach the fourth and final shard. Shikar was right. Working through the shadows, he saw the death of Beral. Since the party did not consecrate or bless the body, and Beral's insanity prevented him from choosing a deity... Beral is back, and more dangerous than ever. Though the spell that had bound Verdrun to Beral is beyond even Shikar, there are plenty of elven corpses to use in the burnt-out husk of Terrace. It's only a matter of time, then, before the party returns -- especially when rumors of dark happenings in the Rakoran Forest reach the party's ears -- and a dark spirit calls out for her son by name: Lucian.

The forest of Terrace has changed considerably. Theara, Beral's familiar, has also returned from the dead -- and with untiring effort, turned the forest into a spider's web of traps, webbed tunnels, and more. The webbing is non-flammable, but fire does burn it away at the point of the flames -- like melting wax. Because of the considerable webbing, the traps Theara has crafted are a dozen times more deadly. Worse -- Theara has help, in the way of other, undead and monsterous spiders.

Poisoned Dart Traps: CR 2; touch sensitive, proximity trigger; no reset; Atk +10 ranged (dart, 1d4+poi, crit20x3, RI60ft); Search (DC 20); Disable Device (DC 20). Poison: DC 11, Initial and Secondary Damage 1d3 Str.

Fusillade of Poisoned Darts: CR 4; touch sensitive, proximity trigger; no reset; Atk +15 ranged (dart, 1d4+4+poi, crit20x3, RI60ft); multiple targets (1 dart per target in a 10x10ft area); Search (DC 14); Disable Device (DC 20). Poison: DC 11, Initial and Secondary Damage 1d3 Str.

Web Trap: CR 2; touch sensitive, proximity trigger; no reset; Reflex Save (DC 19) or be caught; Search (DC 20); Disable Device (DC 21); webbing requires Escape (DC 25) or Break (DC 24, hp4).

Poisoned Pit Spikes: CR 5; location trigger; no reset; Reflex Save (DC 25) to avoid; 40ft deep (4d6 fall); multiple targets (First target in each of two adjacet 5ft squares); Atk +10 melee (pit spikes, 1d4+4, crit20x2); Search (DC 21); Disable Device (DC 20).

Spider Trap: CR 4; touch sensitive, proximity trigger; no reset; Reflex Save (DC 25) to avoid; 20ft deep into Web Trap (see above); Search (DC 20); Disable Device (DC 21); webbing requires Escape (DC 25) or Break (DC 24, hp4); webbing full of monsterous, undead spiders (see below).

Monsterous Spider, Small, Undead: CR 1; Small Vermin (3ft wide, the size of a man's head); HD 1d8; hp 4 each; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft, climb 20ft (40 ft, climb 20ft); AC 14 (+1 size, +3 Dex); Atk Bite +4 melee (1d4-2 and poison); SA poison, web; SQ vermin, undead; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +0; Str 7, Dex 17, Con 10, Int --, Wis 10, Cha 2. Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Hide +14, Jump +6, Spot +8, Weapon Finesse (bite). Poison (Ex): DC 11, Initial and Secondary Damage 1d3 Str. Web (Ex): Escape DC 18, Break DC 24, hp 4. DC 20 to notice the web; attempts to break free gain a +5 bonus if there is purchase. Vermin (Ex): Immune to mind-influencing effects.

Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.

Beral Mnairro: undead male elf (high) Wiz4: CR 4; Size M (4 ft., 9 in. tall); HD 4d4; hp 11; Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd 60 ft.; AC 16 (+3 Dex, +3 silk armor); Attack +2 melee (quarterstaff, 1d6), or +5 ranged (whistling daggers, 1d4, crit19-20x2); SQ undead; SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +6; AL CE; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 11. Languages Spoken: Common, Elven, Druidic, Sylvan. Skills and feats: Alchemy +7, Concentration +4, Hide +12, Intuit direction +4, Knowledge +7, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Listen +4, Jump +9, Move silently +2, Search +4, Spot +4, Tumble +5; Craft Wonderous Item, [Scribe scroll], Spell Mastery (Web, Magic Missile). Wizard Spells Known (4/4/3): 0th-level (Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Daze, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, Resistance). 1st-level (Alarm, Animate Rope, Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep, Spider Climb, True Strike, Ventriloquism). 2nd-level (Blur, Knock, Invisibility, Melf's Acid Arrow, Mirror Image, Web). Possessions: web armor.

Theara: undead monsterous spider, small; diminutive magical beast; CR 1/2; Small Vermin (3ft wide, the size of a man's head); HD 1d8; hp 5; Init +3 (Dex); Spd 30 ft, climb 20ft (40 ft, climb 20ft); AC 17 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +3 silk armor); Atk Bite +4 melee (1d4-2 and poison); SA poison, web; SQ familiar abilities; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +0; Str 7, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 2. Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Craft (traps) +6, Hide +14, Jump +6, Spot +8, Weapon Finesse (bite), Alertness (when w/in arm's length of Beral), Improved Evasion, Shared Spells, Empathic Link, Touch. Poison (Ex): DC 11, Initial and Secondary Damage 1d3 Str. Web (Ex): Escape DC 18, Break DC 24, hp 4. DC 20 to notice the web; attempts to break free gain a +5 bonus if there is purchase. Theara normally has true strike cast through it as a touch spell. Possessions: spider's web armor.

Viella's Shadow: medium-size undead (incorporeal) elf; CR 3; HD 3d12 (19hp); Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30ft, fly 40ft (good); AC 13 (+2 Dex, +1 deflection); Atk incorporeal touch +3 melee (incorporeal touch 1d6 temporary Strength); F/R 5x5/5; SA Strength damage, create spawn; SQ undead, incorporeal, +2 turn resistance; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4; STR -, Dex 14, Con -, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13. Skills and Feats: hide +8, intuit direction +5, listen +7, spot +7, Dodge. Strength Damage (SU): The touch of a shadow deals 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage to a living foe. A creature reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow dies. Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow becomes a shadow under the control of its killer within 1d4 rounds. Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Incorporeal: Can be harmed only by other incorpreal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, or magic, with a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source. Can pass through solid objects at will, and own attacks pass through armor. Always moves silently. AL CN. Special: Every time hears Lucian's voice, Viella must make a Willpower save (DC 19), or become ghost-like and lucid for 1d4 rounds, before resuming her shadowed status.

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