WARNING: Scenario under construction and not play-tested.
What the player characters see
The cause of all the trouble is Masald Han, an illusionist who until recently was on the staff of the University at Xenby.
[AD&D-Specific:] Masald Han, human male, Str 11 Dex 17 Con 8 Int 10 Wis 11 Cha 15 align LE hp 34, Height 5'9", Weight 148 lb. Illusionist, level 17.
Han has the animal empathy and climate sense traits, neither of which is of much use to an academic magician. He has one specialist spell, advanced illusion. He is immune to blindness, invisibility and all forms of phantasmal force. He has the illusionist class abilities range boost and research bonus, and can cast spells while wearing any sort of armour, even plate mail.
Han owns surprisingly few magical items: a staff of illusion (as the wand, but casting improved phantasmal force), a wand of illumination, a ring of invisibility and a ring of protection +3.
In his youth, Masald used to be a peasant hero; this has lapsed. He sometimes mutters to himself in the ancient Xenbian tongue which hardly anyone else speaks.
Masald's character can be summarised in one word: resentful. There are a lot of things Masald resents. He resents the fact that the peasants no longer treat him as their hero. He resents the fact that young magicians at the University can cast spells that he cannot when he has put ten times as much work into his studies as they have. He resents the fact that when the Director of the Department of Wild Magic disappeared so unexpectedly there was no discussion amongst his academic colleagues about who should take his place, and it was his repeated arguments on this subject which led him to leave the University.
What Masald particularly resents, though, is the fact that illusion magic is useless against undead. He reasons that since illusions work by manipulating light, illusionary sunlight ought to be just as effective against vampires as real sunlight. But when he mentioned this theory to his academic colleagues, they just laughed at him.
So he decided to prove them all wrong. Taking his spell books with him, he retired to a cave some miles outside Xenby (as a peasant hero, even a lapsed one, he knows all the caves for miles around, and picked the most comfortable) and set about researching an illusion spell for creating sunlight which could affect vampires.
What is more, against all the odds, Masald succeeded. For the record, the spell is 3rd level and has the same effect as the Sunburst power of a Sun Blade.
Masald, a meticulous researcher, knew that he should test his discovery before announcing it to the world. But how? Even if he knew how to conjure up vampires, which he didn't, doing so would entail a risk that he was not prepared to take.
After giving the matter a good deal of thought, Masald concluded that what he had to do was create another new spell, a variant of Shadow Monsters (a spell which he knew), which created quasi-real monsters which were vulnerable to sunlight. He could then create such quasi-real monsters, cast his new Sunburst spell on them, and observe the effect.
The spell Masald intended to develop for this purpose was supposed to be one which could be cast on an existing illusion and make it 80% real. These quasi-real objects are semi-permanent: they do not fade with time, but only if exposed to sunlight. Since it is Sunburst which Masald regarded as his proper work, and this second spell was only a test spell, he has been cutting corners. He was trying to develop it as a 6th-level spell when it is obviously higher than that, and in any case he does not even have the intelligence to cast 6th-level spells correctly. He has also been trying to develop it as an illusion spell when, properly, it should be a transmutation.
As a result, the spell Masald has developed is seriously buggy. If cast as it is (without further development work), there will be a wild surge with every casting.
One day, shortly before dawn, Masald cast his second spell, creating two quasi-real Purple People Eaters (there was a wild surge, but one with no immediate effect, and Masald did not notice it). He zapped the first Purple People Eater with his Sunburst spell, and let the rising sun take care of the second. He was delighted to see that his theories had been proved: Sunburst had exactly the same effect on quasi-real monsters as natural sunlight.
Purple People Eaters are monsters which previously had only existed in Masald Han's imagination. They are similar to tyrannosauri regi except that they are smaller, purple, and more intelligent. They are capable of speaking simple sentences in the Common Tongue, such as "I eat you". Their favourite food is humans.
[AD&D-Specific] Purple People Eater. Movement: 15. Hit dice: 9. THAC0: 11. Number of attacks: 3. Attacks: 1-4,1-4,2-20. No special attacks (not quite big enough to swallow a human whole). Size: H.
Naturally, after such a success, Masald felt like celebrating. And who likes to celebrate alone? So what he did was use his latest spell to create two quasi-real young ladies with whom to celebrate (again, there were wild surges, but they had no visible effects, and neither Masald nor the quasi-real young ladies noticed).
Apart from minor details, such as the fact that one has pale blue hair and the other has pale green hair, the fact that neither has a name, and the fact that both are only quasi-real, these two young ladies are pretty much like any other attractive young lady. They have inherited a good deal from their creator. They have inherited his magical talents, such as they are, and his alignment. They have also inherited Masald's most important personal characteristic: resentment. They resent being conjured into existence just to satisfy Masald's lust.
[AD&D-Specific] Blue-haired Enchantress, level 13, Str 12 Dex 17 Con 11 Int 11 Wis 13 Cha 18 align LE hp (30)24.
[AD&D-Specific] Green-haired Transmuter, level 13, Str 13 Dex 18 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 17 align LE hp (30)24.
The two young ladies did what anyone else would do in the circumstances. When Masald Han fell asleep, they bound and gagged him.
So where did they go from there? By this stage, they both knew themselves to be quasi-real. Being only quasi-real, they had a 20% chance of being able to do things that real people cannot, such as walk through walls or hang from the ceiling. However, there was a serious down side to being quasi-real. If they went outside during daylight, they would fade away. They concluded that this major disadvantage of being quasi-real outweighed the advantages, and that they wanted to become properly real. They further concluded that the only way they could become properly real was for someone to use a Wish.
The resources at their disposal were limited. Although both had the ability to cast spells at 13th level, neither had any spells memorised. They could not access Masald Han's spellbooks, which were warded against unauthorised access (and even if they did, the spells therein were unimpressive, given Masald's limit of seven spells per level and his chance of only 25% of learning any given non-illusion spell). All that left were the notes for Masald's new spells, the Sunburst spell and the spell for creating quasi-real Purple People Eaters.
As Sunburst is the very last spell they want to cast, the plan, such as it is, has to revolve around Purple People Eaters. They will create quasi-real Purple People Eaters and send them to the nearest town. This is bound to attract attention. When someone turns up to investigate, they will offer him a deal. If he arranges a Wish for them, to make them both properly real, they will hand over Masald Han, his spellbooks and his research notes in return. (They do not mention Masald's staff, wand or two rings, which they intend keeping for themselves.)
If whoever it is that turns up rejects the deal, they will attempt to bind and gag him too. His safe return will then become part of the deal they offer to the next person who turns up. And so on.
They do not intend that the Purple People Eaters actually eat anyone. But if edible people don't have the sense to keep out of the way, that isn't their problem, is it?
Remember that the quasi-real Purple People Eaters only have 80% hit points and do 80% damage.
The two quasi-real women do not know about wild surges. Every time they create Purple People Eaters they create wild surges, but until something drastic happens to one of them they will not know this. If someone turns up complaining about wild surges, they will think he is bluffing.
If whoever turns up tries to fight, the two quasi-real women will run away. They know Masald Han's cave system better than anyone except Masald Han himself, so it will not be easy for anyone to find them.
The sixth time the two quasi-real women create Purple People Eaters (if there is a sixth time and no-one has made contact with them by this time), there is a disastrous wild surge which kills them and wipes away all trace of them from the cave.
There is a serious flaw in the young women's plan. Very few people can cast Wish. There is no-one in Xenby who can do it. There are very few people on the world of Delta who can do it. Probably the best choice, if the player characters can (a) get to Atlantis and (b) persuade her, would be Xanzvaltria Paretizoya at the Institute of Necromancy.
What The Player Characters See
(Day 0)
One of the player characters is woken in the middle of the night. His diplomatic skills are needed urgently.
According to the dwarves, while they were working on the city's east wall this afternoon, purple dinosaurs appeared from nowhere and tried to eat them. The purple dinosaurs even announced their purpose, saying "I eat you". At least one dwarf was swallowed whole, others were killed and eaten, and many were wounded in the fight which ensued. The Temple of Osiris is looking after the wounded, but what is to be done about the ones who died?
It must have been a wild surge, the dwarves say. It must be that Selmarina Zencina again, the dwarves say. She has gone too far this time, the dwarves say. It is time someone put a stop to her, the dwarves say. At this very moment, there is a dwarf lynch party heading for the university.
Selmarina Zencina says it wasn't her and she didn't do it and she wasn't even there at the time and she was somewhere else and it must have been someone else and besides which dinosaurs aren't purple and besides which dinosaurs don't speak Common and the dwarves must have been drunk and the dwarves must have been fighting one another and what are things coming to when dwarves who are paid to repair the city wall spend their time drinking and fighting one another and if any dwarves come anywhere near the University they'll be on the receiving end of a fireball and serve them right. She is not a people person. At this very moment, she, and several other wizards who support her, are getting ready to fireball the dwarves when they arrive at the university.
The player character has a reputation for diplomacy. Can he please do some diplomacising to make sure that no-one gets strung up or fireballed?
Don't make it too easy for the player character to prevent the conflict. The dwarves don't like wizards and want to riot, and the wizards don't like dwarves and want to fireball them, so neither side will be at all easy to calm down. But give him some incentive to try.
If the player character can prevent a conflict, that is good, and he deserves about half a level's worth of experience points.
But even if he can't, all is not lost. The dwarves will run away from the University after the first fireball, but they won't go home. Instead, they will riot, trying to trash as much of the city as possible.
So there will still be plenty of experience points to be picked up fighting riotous dwarves, won't there?
(Day 1)
The following afternoon, while the player characters are either congratulating themselves on their success as peacemakers or searching the bodies of dead dwarves for treasure, the east wall of the city is attacked by three purple dinosaurs calling "I eat you".
The player characters will presumably rush to the spot to earn more experience points by killing purple dinosaurs.
This time, it is obvious that whatever caused the purple dinosaurs to show up, it wasn't a wild surge. Whoever heard of a wild surge doing the same thing twice running?
(Day 2)
If the player characters try to backtrack the route taken by the purple dinosaurs, the following day, they encounter four purple dinosaurs, so they know they are on the right path.
If they don't try to backtrack the route, the following day, the east wall of the city is attacked by four purple dinosaurs.
(Day 3)
If the player characters tried backtracking on day 2, the following afternoon, they see five purple dinosaurs emerging from a cave. They can either deal with the dinosaurs themselves or let them pass and let the Xenbian authorities deal with them.
If the player characters try to backtrack the route taken by the purple dinosaurs, they encounter five purple dinosaurs, so they know they are on the right path.
If they don't try to backtrack the route, the east wall of the city is attacked by five purple dinosaurs.
(Day 4)
If the player characters tried backtracking on day 3, the following afternoon, they see six purple dinosaurs emerging from a cave. They can either deal with the dinosaurs themselves or let them pass and let the Xenbian authorities deal with them.
If the player characters try to backtrack the route taken by the purple dinosaurs, they encounter six purple dinosaurs, so they know they are on the right path.
If they don't try to backtrack the route, the east wall of the city is attacked by six purple dinosaurs.
(Day 5)
If the player characters tried backtracking on day 4, the following afternoon, they see seven purple dinosaurs emerging from a cave. They can either deal with the dinosaurs themselves or let them pass and let the Xenbian authorities deal with them.
If the player characters try to backtrack the route taken by the purple dinosaurs, they encounter seven purple dinosaurs, so they know they are on the right path.
If they don't try to backtrack the route, the east wall of the city is attacked by seven purple dinosaurs.
(Day 6)
Wherever the player characters are, they wait in vain for purple dinosaurs. Nothing unusual happens.
The player characters need not enter the cave on the same day that they find it - having found their way to it, they can always go back. If the player characters enter the cave on day 3 or day 4, they meet the two quasi-real women, who explain what is going on and offer their deal.
If the player characters agree to the deal, that is the end of the Purple People Eaters.
If the player characters do not agree to the deal, and at least one of them gets away when the two quasi-real women attempt to bind and gag them, that is also the end of the Purple People Eaters. The quasi-real women now know that people know they are there, and sooner or later someone else will show up.
If the player characters do not agree to the deal and all end up bound and gagged, they could be in serious trouble. The two quasi-real young women die of a wild surge on day 5, leaving no-one alive knowing where the player characters are. One of them had better be good at escaping bonds, because if no-one manages it, they are all dead.
The player characters need not enter the cave on the same day that they find it - having found their way to it, they can always go back. If the player characters enter the cave on day 5 or later, they find Masald Han, bound and gagged, alone in the cave. He will reward the player characters for rescuing him, but seems very reluctant to explain what has happened.
If the player characters have not found the cave by day 5, they never do. Masald Han's whereabouts remains unknown until, several months later, someone finds his decaying corpse lying in a cave.
If the player characters somehow manage to arrange a Wish for the two quasi-real women, they will be well rewarded. Masald Han will be relieved to be freed, so he will reward the player characters. The illusionists of Xenby will be pleased (and not a little amazed) to see Masald's Sunburst spell, so they will be generous. Selmarina Zencina will be fascinated by Masald's notes for turning illusions into quasi-real objects, and will be certain that she could do it better, so she too will be generous to the player characters for recovering them.
The Wish will work as expected. The two young women, now fully real, will hang around Xenby for a month or two, but eventually decide that the place they want to be is Atlantis. Since the player characters seem trustworthy, they may invite them to accompany them on the journey.