The Seer sees a Maze

How to use this scenario.
The characters are between adventures or a character is seeking certain knowledge i.e. seeking an item identified for charges or seeking knowledge of a certain thing or person.  In my campaign, I had a Kahin character searching for someone to tell her how many charges her staff of curing had and how it could be recharged etc. (which she had acquired from the adventure of "The Pharaohs Curse") so I used this scenario to get them off in search of such a person/knowledge.
 
 

The seer has a vision

"Alms? Alms to the glory of the law giver",  "Alms to the poor and misfortunate, so as the gods may bless you", "Alms? Alms to the needy and destitute and may fate be kind to you". Thus are heard the cries of the beggars in the streets.

At their favourite market place (or yours :) or caravanserai, when they pump into an old blind beggar, Blind Mussa, begging for alms. If the characters are from Zahkara, they will willingly give the beggar a few copper coins so as not to risk getting an evil eye placed on them by the beggar, or risk a turn of bad luck by simply dismissing the old beggar.  If the characters feel genuine sympathy and or pity for the old beggar, and either give him a larger sum and or offer some other assistance to him, he will tell them of a vision. Also some xp bonus would be appropriate for Good aligned characters here.

On the other hand if they disregard him, heckle etc. he will (with almost superhuman speed) grab one of the characters and immediately go into a trance and tell them of his vision.  At this point make the characters feel very uneasy and give all those that heckled him a -1 to all their dice rolls for the rest of the day (all those that were mean to him, the others will be safe).
 

The vision
The old blind beggar grabs the characters arm, his head starts to slowly shake from side to side, his grip tightens and his blind eyes stare up at the characters face.  His blind eyes seem to see something far, far away and he speaks.

 
"The desert wilds, hold your answers
Seek the maze of the man who is no longer a man"

"Be on your honour be on your best
The priestess of the serpent will grant your request"

"But her price will be her lovers fate
Their fate will be yours to give or take"

The man slumps back down to the ground, and after a moment, is back to his old self again "who are you? Alms? Alms for a poor old blind man?"

The old man is insane and no manner of interrogation will reveal any more, infant he does not remember mentioning anything to them at all, he only knows that his name is Mussa.
 

Information on the beggar
A well known beggar, usually found at the market place or at the caravanserai.  He is said to be quite mad, some say that he has always been so.  Others say that he is blessed with the vision site, others think this is more of a curse.  He is beyond the aid of any mortal, his fate seems sealed.

The story goes that a nomad found him wondering the desert, alone, naked and badly burned in the desert and brought him to the village.  Thus he has been here ever since.

Blind Mussa says what ever the gods wish him to say (The GM. :).  His oracular pronouncements may be in verse riddles, ambiguous directions, or even clear warnings.  It all depends on the mood of the adventure.  Have fun with this guy :)
 

The journey into the Desert
 

Nomads
A few days into the desert (2 or 3) they are led by omens and faint trails.  They encounter a small group of desert Nomads on the trail of some Gnoll bandits.

The Nomads are cautious at first but depending on what the characters say and do they cautions will dissipate quickly.  They are not looking for a fight so will not start anything with the players, but will not come forward with any help unless the characters are honourable.  There are 6 Nomad warriors.

They are of the Manahil tribe, they are from a tribe of moderate status and ambition.  There herds are well kept but they are given to romanticizing of the values of desert warriors.  They are honourable almost to fault and will fight well and bravely.  If threatened by numbers or strength far superior to them, they will ride away to get reinforcement.

They tell the party that they are on the trail of Gnoll desert raiders.  They were raiding the tribes live stock and honour had decreed that they have had enough of these creatures depravations of their goods and lively hood and have thus set out to track them and seek retribution upon them.  They warn the players to be on the lookout for these creatures as they are vicious and murderous.

If the encounter goes well with the party or if the party offers to help the Nomads, the Nomads invite the party to share their camp, and the bond of Salt will be made (see Salt bond for details).  They offer food and water, as well as any advise on the surrounding country side.

If the party has offered to help the Nomads they find the Gnoll raiding party, a day later, a mere hour before night fall.
If they have travelled without the nomads they find the Gnolls at night around first watch.
 
 

Gnolls

The Gnoll raiding party is larger than expected.  It seems that they have joined up with another raiding party and now number some 17 gnolls and 6 Hyenas. All the Gnolls have swords of various descriptions and 8 of them have a short bow.  They have no mounts and are carrying all of their booty on them.
 

The camp: is made on a patch of rough ground, a small fire is smouldering against a small patch of rocks (too small to hide behind).  Only 3 of their number are on guard but almost all of the hyenas are alert and could easily pick up anyone's scent if they got too close.

It is an hour before night that the party (with the nomads) find the small camp where the two Gnoll groups have met, The Nomads are eager to attack but quickly see the wisdom against such a plan, if the party points out the folly of such a move, perhaps they were only waiting for the part to say something along those lines so as not to appear cowardly :)
 

The Nomads: will follow any lead here that the party wishes to take, including retreat, although they will not like this option at all.  They will point out that the Gnolls are cowards and when faced with a superior foe will flee! but will argue no more on the subject.

If the party chooses to fight, they will willingly follow the parties lead and fight bravely from the back of their mounts using their light lances first then dropping them and use their scimitars.  Their favoured tactic is to charge up with lance then follow on with mount and scimitar (thus using the strength of the mount d any attacks it would get, and the height advantage from being mounted).
 

The Gnolls: will fight until one third of their number is captured or killed and then flee with what ever they have on them in two separate groups, both moving generally out of the desert (perhaps towards the coast or a range of mountains etc.)

The prisoners if any tell of a strange dwelling, maze like, that they had stumbled across further into the desert.  By their descriptions, it is but a day or so's journey from here.  They will not willingly go, they fear the place, saying that it is haunted and cursed.

Further interrogation (questioning if you like :) they will tell that a couple of their group never came out and that they feared getting lost with the maze.
 

If all the Gnolls are killed or have escaped, the party will find a parchment map (roughly drawn using charcoal).  This maps shows the trail that one of the raiding party took on their raids, and the characters can use it to backtrack on the Gnolls path and find "The Maze", that an by tracking the path deeper into the desert.

Map key:
The dashes are the rout taken by the Gnolls, which came down from the north, form a group of hills.
The X symbols represent camps. The one down at the bottom of the page is where the party found the map.
The curved symbol with the small cross bar, represents a scimitar and the camp as one of there own.
The X further north is where they camped by the Maze.
The large circular objects is the Maze itself, surrounded by low hills or rough terrain.
The large arrow pointing to the tope of the map with a large N like symbols denotes North and also the top of the map.

Hey they are Gnolls after all, the fact they would make maps is not hard to believe, but lets face it, Phoenician sailors they are not :))

Regardless how the encounter goes, it should not be too difficult to at least frighten the Gnolls away and get the information they need to continue, the Nomads bid them farewell and head back home to report on the Gnolls (and also tell of any of the parties heroics).  None of the Nomads can be persuaded to go with them, their duty is clear.  They are to return to their tribe home with any of the booty they have been able to recapture and the count of those Gnolls they have seen and or killed.

Hopefully the party has made new friends they day.
 

Getting to The Maze
After a days travel or so, They arrive at the rough broken ground shown on the Gnolls battered parchment.  The maze can not bee seen from here.  It is not until the party gets to the top of the rough ground that they can see the maze.

Looking down onto the Maze they can see that it is made of earth and stone, the walls appear high and smooth.  In the middle of the maze they can see a couple of palm trees and other such plants (Dates etc.) obviously there is water there.

The whole maze is built in a depression in the earth. Any one can see that this was either dug out or as a result of some long ago natural phenomena, such as ann earth quake or meteor fallen to earth.  In actual fact it was a meteor that had fallen a million years ago, the evidence has been largely eroded away or swallowed up by the sands.  The characters are actually standing on the rim of the creator.
 
 

Entering the Maze
The walls are at least 8 to 10 feet high, smoothly finished and have no purchases for climbing.  Circling the maze they find that the wall goes right around the whole structure.  Circular holes, about 3 feet in diameter, periodically appear around the outside wall.  None seem to head directly to anywhere else.

Littered around the entrances to these holes (the only obvious entrance to the maze) they see littered all around, whitening bones of long dead animals and other creatures, most are very old but some are more recent.  A month or so.
 

At the entrance to the maze (one of many but for effect the one they decide to use to get into the maze :) is the remains of a Gnoll, it is only a few days old, and seems to have been left here.  It has all of its measly possessions (Sword, dagger, shield cloths) the weapons seem to have been dropped near the body, as if discarded.

Closer investigation reveals that it dies in some sort of fight, cuts and bruises can be clearly seen along with scratch marks across parts of its body as if done by something with strong claws.  There is also much evidence that the creatures of the desert have been snacking on the remains.
 

The walls
Remember that you want the party to travel in and through the maze, the whole feel and purpose of the maze would benefited if people could just fly over or pass through the walls.  In a low magic party this will not be a problem, but just in case here are some ideas.
 

1/    The walls are hard to climb, they have been made by a master craftsmen.  Any Dwarf would be proud to call these walls dwarven made but they are not.  The smooth wall makes it very difficult (-20%) there are no purchases and the finish on the walls is so hard and strong that not even a blade makes much of a mark on them (Why waste a good blade anyway) Smashing through is equally difficult.

2/    Tell the characters, attempting to use magic to get around the walls of the Maze, that they get an uneasy feeling about doing that, hair standing up on the back of their neck, cold chill like someone had walked over their grave, a sense of approaching menace if they continue etc.

3/ If they persist anyway, you could roll to see if the spell or magic item failed to work at all, as if a dispel magic had been in effect against them (20th level power).  The item has failed and seems lifeless for a moment, you cast your spell and you felt its power dissipate into the air around you.

4/    You could use strange and exotic natural events to desired them from such activities, they feel the earth move under their feet, a sudden desert storm rises to stop them from flying.  The character starts to fly over, when a strong, almost divine, wind catches him and flings him back out into the desert sand around the wall, depositing him, unceremoniously near an entrance.  Boy I hope they get the idea by now :)

5/ If they are real die hard's ( a little manual work never hurt anyone, these guys must be your Yuppie adventures here, never do anything if they cant use magic :) you could have the whole area be under the effect of an anit-magic shield, of sorts, that restricts going through, under or over the walls, but allows their magic items to work in every other way.

6/    Total anti magic or dead magic area within the creator.  This is a last resort, but if your characters are really powerful and you want to show them that they should learn to rely on them selves more and less on magic, go right ahead.  You the GM should know what will work best with your group.
 
 

Finally they have entered

The walls are hard and strong, smooth and seemingly impossible to climb.  To weapon or tool seems to mark the wall adversely.  Truly the work of a master craftsman.   The space between the walls is approx. 6 to 8 feet across a tight fit for two characters but possible if they use small weapons etc.

Periodically the walls have 3 foot diameter holes (just like the ones the party used to get into the maze originally) and they lead into more of the maze.  The maze is a circular one, so use any map you like, but the idea is the feel for the maze not the actual maze it self, so elaborate descriptions should be more than enough.

The maze was build to keep things out.  To confuse them and make them feel discouraged and leave.  Those too stupid to find their way out would die from lack of water or starvation. BE as elaborate as you like.

In the main, the occasional remains of animals and other things can be found.  Mammals, reptiles, birds and rarely a humanoid.  here is a small table.  Roll a die 6, a 1 or 2 means remains have been found, a 6 means that a living creature has been found.
 
 

Whitening bones of previous visitors Table.

Note: That all animals skeleton remains found here, are at least months old, on occasion there may be a more recent one but this is rare, most animals shun the place.

Amongst the bones found, one or two may be of a monster type i.e. Lizard large = Basilisk, Flightless Bird = Cockatrice, etc.  This is also rare 1 in 6 (But feel free to add then in now and again, but not too many mind you:)

Any humanoid remains will be, except for the exception of the one at the entrance be at least a year old, or more.  They will all be alone, and some will show signs of combat.

All bones will show signs that they were visited by scavengers after death.
 
 

Random encounter within the Maze

Note: All creatures found will prefer to run away, they have either followed prey in or are prey that has tried to escape and thus were forced to enter the maze.  Most animals will find their way out given enough time, but the more wounded or close to death one may not, hence the remains. None have more than half HP.

Any creature found here will be wounded, either seeking to heal its wounds and thus using the maze to hide, or hiding from a predator that has chased them in.  i.e. a wounded lion after fighting Hyenas.  A near starving jackal forced to hide from other predators etc.

You may use a fantastical creature here, like a cockatrice or basilisk, but they should be very week, and also prone to running away, and such an occurrence should be very rare indeed (1 in 6)

Any humanoid found here will be close to death, and be of little help to the party. They will try to flee and if cornered will fight till they are dead or subdued.  The lack of water and food, and the relentless sun of the day (combined with the torment of the Maze and its other visitors) has driven them a little mad.

They will always be found alone, and with the minimal equipment and goods. Long ago they have run out of provisions.

If captured they will try and flee the first chance they get, and be found dead a short time later. Either in the maze or just out side it.  So close to final escape, they have either been a victim of one of the visitors to the maze or lack of water and food has finally done them in.  Such was their Fate one might say :)

Do not be too nasty, if characters go out of their way to help and heal some creature they find, so be it, but the creature will be distrustful at best or down right nasty at worst.  With time and care that might one day change :)
 
 

Pitfalls
If no one has been checking, or the characters are running away from something etc.  Have one, or all, fall into a pit.  Because of the shadows cast by the walls and the setting sun, the characters may not notice a large hole in the floor.  This hole is the same dimensions as the ones in the walls, it must be another kind of access point, under the Maze.

Remains will also be found under the maze but there is half the chance of any as compared to above.  A light source will be required under the Maze as there is no natural light, except maybe when they get to another opening to the surface.

Without help from above there is no way out of the pit and the underground maze. Again magic will be effected as when trying to avoid the maze walls above.

If the characters do not fall (this should be automatic if they are running or if they were just not looking, suffering 1 die 6 damage) they could be coerced in by the faint sound of slithering, and an even fainter sound of a women's voice.  Either the slither or the voice should be enough, but if need be shiny bauble or two should drive them on.  The bauble could be some dropped treasure of a previous visitor.

This is a great find for the party, regardless how they cam upon it, for it is the only way to the centre of the Maze.  When they are down here, they will hear the slithering sound just ahead of them, very faint and far away.  Occasionally the soft sound of a women's voice.

The characters can try and follow these sounds, either tracking or a keen eared character (Ranger or Rogue etc.) should have no trouble at all. Other characters should be able to follow it, although make it sound a little less certain, just for effect you know :))
 
 

Dark Passages
These passages are the same sizes and dimensions as above, except that the ceiling is a low 5 foot high, making side by side movement through here very awkward indeed (being tall is not always a good thing it seems :).

The slithering sound sounds big and heavy, always just out of reach.  The passages are dark and cool.  Ahead they can see a faint light, man made perhaps?. ;)

After a while they hear clearly now the women's voice saying "No ..... Not Again".

They quickly come upon a larger opening, maybe 5 foot diameter.  It opens up to a large chamber with lit up with torches ensconced it the walls and natural light from the outside.  Mosaic tiled floor and the room is also furnished with well made and crafted items.

Standing in the room is a beautiful women, clothed in free flowing silk clothing.  Standing opposite her is a large scaly, snake like, monster.  His hands are resting on the women's shoulder.  The Snake like creature looks like a Yuan-ti, evil race of snake men.

Its whole body is covered in scales, with fangs and a forked tongue and yet it has a human like torso.  No legs to walk on, but a snakes body to slither along the floor with.

Its hands are like that of a man, with four fingers and an opposable thumb, except that they end in long claw like fingers.  The party recalls the body ot the Gnoll they had found upon entering the Maze. (+2 to hit +4 to damage)

The women is saying to the creature, "No, NO" her voice is strained and she is close to tears.
 
 

First contact, a lovers quarrel.
At this point stop the game and ask what the party is going to do, what is their first reaction and actions, if any that they will take.  They have to think fast and can not get any more information at this point than what you have already read out to them from above. Role playing is such fun :)

What ever the characters intentions, the Snake creature shoves the women behind him, where she falls amongst some large pillows.  He stand ready to defend her (to the players it may look like he is ready to strike.  His arms held wide and claws extended, his fangs dripping with what looks like venom (Saliva but what do they know, do they have animal law ??) at his waist sits a large curved blade in a scabbard, it glitters with the sparkle of fine metals and craftsmanship. (+2 to hit +4 to damage).

If combat has started the creature fights fiercely, treat as a powerful warrior (7th level, with bonuses listed and two attacks a round) It has AC 0 and 63 hp.

After a couple of rounds or sooner the women can be heard yelling for the party to stop attacking, she will grab a mace and attack a character attacking the serpent creature, from behind.  She will be trying to knock out that player, and she should be able to get one player down this way by surprise before people even realize what she has done.

The serpent creature will try and protect her at all costs, even at the risk of getting hit himself.

When the fighting has stopped, the women will try to explain her self and their dilemma to the party.  She starts by telling them her name, Jurusa, and that the Serpent creature is Salim, her lover.

Well that should be a shock for every one :) She will apologize for any harm she has caused any of the players, and asks if they will listen to her story, so as they may understand and take pity on her self and her lover Salem.  All the time the creature will be looming over the party, ready to strike any one down who dares to attack.

She calls to the Serpent Salim, and says to him "You swore that you would spare the next intruder, you swore that you would give them a chance".  At those words the Serpent creature, Salim, coils besides her and waits staring at the party.

The party at ease now, she will begins her story.
 
 
 

The Lovers curse

The Stunning truth has been revealed to the party, that the serpent creature is the women's lover.  This story must be a fantastic one indeed But such a story needs to be heard out, if for no other reason than to sate ones own curiosity.

She then begins:
"I was a priestess of the Serpent God, in the temple of Hudid" her hand now placed in front of her, hands clasped together, head slightly bowed down looking at the mosaic tiled floor.  She is far away now in thought.

"I would dance the sacred dance of the Serpent, a ritual of the temple" she starts to look up "The high priest would always watch my ritual dance with other eyes than those of the faithful" her face changes into one of barley disguised disgust.

"I was a devout priestess, but I was worried about e high priests advances and chilling stares, those eyes were never far from my body and the thought of those hands touching me ....' she shivers at the thought.

"My heart already belonged to another, me dearest Salim" she glances at him fondly, in her eyes she sees not the serpent but another, the man she loves.

"In time i desired to dance for no one, but one, my Salim" she turns slowly away from him and looks at the party "At the end of my Novitiate, I chose to leave the temple with the man i loved".

Her face hints at a touch of anger mixed with despair "but the high priest would not let this be, the mere sight of us together brought loathing to his evil heart, it consumed him".

"That night, at the time of our union, when the joy of our togetherness would have become manifest. When to joining of our bodies should have been the greatest day of our lives, the high priests curse befell us" you see the start of a tear well up in her eye.

"Salim  became what you see before us now" her face sad she continues.

"I went to the high priest, to plead that he released Salim from such a fate. but his price was too high, and that I could not bear, for it was to be without my love Salim for all time"

A look of determination quickly crosses her face "I killed him, thrusting my dagger deep into the high priests heart, for I had come prepared".

"Knowing that we would be hunted down, not so much for what I had done but for what Salim had become, we fled into the desert wilds". Again she glances down to her beloved.

"We laboured to build this Maze, Salim is a master craftsman and builder.  We built it more to keep people out, than for any other purpose, but it became our prison as well as our sanctuary".

With a pleading look in her face she continues "I pored over the scrolls and documents that I was able to liberate from the temple when we fled, but I could find nothing that would spare us of this curse" her eyes down cast, she braces her self to continue.

"On occasion, animals and, rarer still, monsters, stumble across the Maze, but most are transients and others are foolish enough to enter and become lost in the maze, and thus dies" she says that with a tinge of pity in her voice

"A few have dies at the hands of Salim, those few that would seek to cause us harm, his scales are proof against sword and claw and his strength is great".

"Some travel here seeking wealth or the promise of some other great prise, but find only their own demise".

"You doubtless saw their whitening bones at the entrance to the Maze" she asks the party rhetorically.

"We are content to be left alone, as long as we have each other and are together.  we regret having to kill those that either from ignorance or greed have entered our sanctuary" she looks at all the characters, each in turn.

"But if we did not, they as you, would have done is killed Salim and taken me to a fate as a slave or worse".  She pauses a moment and continues  (at this point the party can come up with denials etc. but she just keeps with the rest of her speech).

"Leave us and tell no one what you have seen here" she rests an hand gently upon her Salim.
 
 

Cure

There is nothing the player characters can do to remove the curse, no spells or potions or magic items will have any effect.  They can cure each other, get fresh water and standard rations and then prepare to leave.  It seems that their fate is sealed.

Once the party starts to leave, Salim calls out in his reptilian voice.  The sounds are difficulty in such a serpents mouth.  It is easy to see how such an abomination would find it impossible to exist in any normal community.

"Yoour Actionss sspeak louder than any wordss, i water and food are indeed all you ssseek" his rasping slithering voice continues.

"I know Jrussssa will be sssafe withhh you" he starts to turn, to head deeper into the room .

"Noo!' jurusa calls out after him, tears welling in her eyes

Salim stops, not turning around " I will not let you sssacrifice your life any longer .... I give you up freely Jurusssaa.... "

It is at that point that Salim drops to the ground, seemingly in agony he writhes and hisses on the floor.  before the characters very eyes his form transforms back into that of a strong, young man.  His voice horse he calls out "Jurusa, what has happened?"

If no one understands why this has happened, the answer is simple.  The high priest in all his evil and greed could never conceive that Salim who loved Jurusa so, and her back to him, would ever freely and willingly let her go.

A few maxims come to mind here, "if you love something let it go ..." Letting go is as much about love as holding on" I am sure you can come up with a few :)

Salim's fear for her life and love for her was such, that he could not bear to see her suffer any more, especially at his account, and thus finding the individuals that he could trust, decided that she would be better off with out him and at least one of them would have a better life.  He chose that it would be her, a self sacrifice indeed.
 

Curse is broken

The couple gathers up all their possessions, and offers the party some of their treasure as thanks for being the delivers of their joy (2,000 GP each in assorted gold, jewellery and gems)

They will gladly accept any help the party gives them and will join them if they are on their way back to civilization.
 

XP :)
If they killed to Serpent Creature (Salim) they will receive 200 xp, they failed. They have a distraught widow who will curse them for the rest of their lives and a bitter enemy.  That is if they did not kill her too.  she is worth a mere 100 xp BTW.

They can find treasure, scattered around their sanctuary, amounting to some  10, 000 GP in assorted, art, gms, jewellery and gold.  Salim had a +2 sword and Jurusa had braces AC 7 and a mace +1 and a +2 dagger and leather armour +1.  Criminal the party is!! :))

If they did not kill any one and the curse is lifted each player who took pity on them (It is your call, did they role play of not) gets 5,000 xp.  You want to reward for role playing so think about how much you give them for not killing something :)

If they turn down the treasure, they should also get another 2,000 xp (the value of the loot in xp). They are so generous the party is, they have given Salim and Jurusa a huge wedding present so that they may start heir new lives in style, to make up for all that lost time :)

If the characters help set Salim and Jurusa up in a town or city (any civilized place will do).  Make them some contacts, introduce them to people as their long lost cousins etc.  The party will have gained some very helpful contacts.

They will help the characters in any way they can, as long as they are together and will not go on adventures.  They will provide, food, and lodgings whenever the party needs them, as well as any normal equipment (Including mounts) at no cost to the party.  They may also, after a year or so, be also able to provide information about the community and country they will be living in. ( great source for you as the GM to give the party information etc.)
 

The Lovers

Jurusa
4th level priest.    Hp: 27    Braces AC:7, +1 mace, +2 dagger, Dex. bonus +1 Total AC 6
Proficiencies: Healing, Dancing, Religion, Herbalist, Animal Law, Plant Lore, read and write, Astronomy

Salim
7th level warrior, HP: 63 AC: 0 (while in serpent form), +2 to hit +6 to damage (when it serpent form) +2 sword, leather armour +1

He has above average strength and constitution when in human form.
Proficiencies: Stone mason, Mining, master builder, engineering, read and write, Architecture.

He is a master builder, and is also and apt artist.

I have not fleshed them out too much in statisticle information, I left that to you, you can fit them into any campaign without too much work.

THE END