Okay, maybe it'll come through this time...

I sent these articles into the BoShadows, but both

were turned down for various reasons. So, I thought

I'd share them with the list, as they were also both

complimented in the rejection notices. Main reasons

were that the Piper already existed in "Nocturne"

(which, FTR, I've never read), and the Church was a

little extreme. I'm thinking of rewriting them as a

secret society, and toning things down a bit.

+++++++++++++++

The Piper

A Cradle Robber

By: Xanadu

(jkwleisemann@yahoo.com)

"Children are our future."

Anonymous

Throughout the Demiplane of Dread, virtually anything

can be purchased. One of the more products often

purchased in harder lands are known as "futures" to

those who trade in them - and children to those who

don't. While there are many slavers in Ravenloft, not

many are reprehensible enough to steal children from

their parent's homes and sell them in a far off land,

with little or no concern for their well being. Even

fewer are those who specialize in such trade. The

Piper was once one of those who did. However, the

Dark Powers took notice of his acts - and gave him a

special "gift", which he continues to use to this day,

in the same dark trade he has always had.

Background

Michael Karlson was a young boy from Germany, a boy

whose family did not have the good fortune of being

overly wealthy. While Michael did live a (relatively)

pleasant life, the sight of carriages carrying rich,

spoiled children past his home was more than he could

bear. Michael vowed that he would, one day, be a

wealthy man, and make spoiled brats such as those who

rode by fear him.

Michael was an intelligent boy, and he set his mind to

the task. He started out with the belief that an

adventurer's life would be the fastest one to fame and

fortune, and he became a bard of some skill, training

under a foreigner who owed his parents money.

However, Michael's heart was still dark, and when he

returned from his first adventure, he did so with

blood on his hands, and no mentor. He told a story of

his mentor being killed in battle, but the truth was

that he had killed him for his flute of charming.

Michael tried to live a normal life, using his flute

as necessary, but it was not long before his old

hatreds came to the forefront.

The people of his village had a problem with rats.

Michael made a deal with them to get rid of the rats,

in exchange for enough money to set him up nicely for

a time. Once the deed was done, in part due to his

enchanted flute, Michael went for his payment - only

to be told that he should follow the rats into the

water he had driven them into. Michael was furious, a

feeling which only increased when the mayor's son spit

on him from a window. Michael stalked off, promising

himself that he would be paid in full - and then some.

There was a celebration scheduled for the next day,

one where all of the people would celebrate their

liberation from the rats. When Michael heard of this,

he smiled grimly - he had decided how he would be

paid. That night, he used one of the spells his

mentor had taught him, cantrip, to dump some rye into

the batter that was being made for the children's food

the next day. Michael had been very, very careful

when he selected this rye - he made certain that it

was swollen, purple, and had generally gone bad. He

knew that the rye would leave the children who ate it

going mad, and that was what he wanted. The

celebration the next day went off without a hitch, and

all the children ate well.

The next day, the mayor's son, who had eaten the most,

began to rant about "giant rats". The other children

shortly began to follow in turn, each one describing

strange delusions. The people turned to Michael

again, promising to pay him what he had been paid for

the rats, if he would only save their children.

Michael, not knowing that the Mayor had confiscated

the money that Michael had been promised, and said

that he had paid him, assumed that they meant to leave

him with nothing again - as he had expected. He said

that a demon had possessed the children, as revenge

for his rats being killed, knowing full well that the

only "demon" as the ergot he had put in the batter.

He said that he would use his pipe to lead the

children to a nearby monastery, and that the priests

that there would exorcise the children. In reality,

he led the children to a baron who lived in a far off

land, and sold them as slaves. His price - exactly

the one that he had been promised for the rats. He

loved the feeling that he got as he watched the

children, especially the spoiled, wealthy ones, led

off to a life that he knew would be as hard as any he

had ever dreaded leading. Michael vowed that he would

continue this life, for a time, with the intention of

getting the wealth he had always wanted.

Over the next few years, Michael kept that vow.

Sometimes he would give the people the chance to have

him do something a bit more legal, for the same price,

sometimes not. Some of the children he took went to

far off lands, to work in fields and settlements, and

some went to people desperate for heirs. Either way,

Michael made a healthy profit, and left entire

villages childless. One day, as he was counting his

money, he noticed that a thick fog was gathering in

his room. When he could see again, he was somewhere

else - he had been drawn into the Demiplane of Dread

for his crimes.

The first thing that Michael discovered was that he

had been given certain gifts - most notably, the

ability to charm children with his gaze. In addition,

there were thick scales on his body, scales that

served as armor for him. However, it wasn't long

before he discovered the punishments for his crimes -

the scales on his body were easily noticeable to

anybody who saw more of him than his face, and the

pupils of his eyes had become narrow slits. On

occasion, his tongue became that of a snake. Michael

had all the wealth he wanted, and more, but he

couldn't stay in one place for long enough to truly

enjoy it. In the years that have followed, Michael

has continued his old duties, finding many more who

were willing to buy what Michael traded in. And so

his life has gone on, a pattern of stealing children

in one place, and selling them in another, always

using his dark gifts and magical flute to make his job

that much easier...

Current Sketch

The Piper

6th level Human Bard, Neutral Evil

Armor Class: 1

Movement: 12

Level/Hit Dice: 6

Hit Points: 21

THAC0: 18

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attack: by Weapon

Special Attacks: Charm Children, Influence, Spells,

Thieving Abilities

Special Defenses: Guards, Influence, Scales, Spells,

Thieving Abilities
Special Vulnerabilities: Children

Magic Resistance: 05%

Str: 13

Dex: 18

Con: 14

Int: 13 (Cunning - 18)

Wis: 18

Cha: 18

XP: 2000

Spells (3/2): (1st-level) Allure*, Cantrip, Charm

Person, Friends, Hypnotism, (2nd-level) Alter Self,

Hypnotic Pattern, Spectral Hand, Summon Swarm, Tasha's

Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter

* - Allure is a modified form of the Taunt spell.

Rather than unreasonably attack the caster, the

targets will follow the caster, to the exclusion of

all other surroundings, for the duration of the spell.

Any of the conditions that would end a Charm Person

spell will cancel the Allure. There is one other

notable difference - the spell cannot be cast without

a lengthy procedure that leaves the victims

effectively mindless - for example, the Piper's

ergot-laced pastries and foods.

The Piper's spells are all cast through his flute.

While this means that he doesn't need any material

components, it makes concealed casting rather

difficult, and all spells take twice as long to cast.

Thieving Skills: CW - 85 (95), DN - 50, PP - 20 (25),

RL - 40

The numbers in parenthesis are after modifiers for

armor.

Since his arrival in Ravenloft, Michael has forsaken

his real name, instead either using aliases or simply

being known as The Piper. He still seeks out villages

with infestations of some sort, occasionally causing

them if he has to, and takes the children from those

villages if they will not pay him to deal with their

problem.

The Piper has failed several Powers Checks. The first

gave him thick scales that protect him as if they were

chain mail. However, those same scales are all over

his body, with the exception of his face, and so he

must wear gloves, a hooded cloak, and various other

pieces of concealing clothes to protect his secret.

The second gave him the ability to charm children with

his gaze, at will. This ability functions the same as

a vampire's charming gaze, except that it only works

on children. However, this gift, and the deceit

involved in it, have cursed The Piper to have very

narrow pupils, similar to a cat's or a snake's, and to

have his tongue become forked every so often (whenever

it would serve the story). The third, and final,

failed check granted him his magic resistance, and the

ability to regenerate hit points at a rate of 1/turn.

However, he must now overcome his 5% magic resistance

in order to use any spells or magic items at all, and

he suffers a -1 on all actions for every 5 points of

damage he takes, until the damage is healed.

Combat

The Piper avoids combat as much as he can, knowing

that he is no great warrior. Thus, he will generally

use his spells and flute against his opponents at

every opportunity. However, he isn't a fool - he

knows that a man in his profession will occasionally

get in a fight or two. The Piper is skilled with a

dagger, and a whip. He will generally use his whip on

opponents, trying to keep them from closing, and then

switch to his dagger when he has no other choice. His

scales grant him a much greater protection than he

appears to have, as well.

However, the Piper has an infinitely more powerful

ability at his hands - the children. Whenever it

looks like a fight is going to start, the Piper

commands his charmed "guards" to surround him. All

the children are 0-level humans with 1-3 hit points,

armor class 10, and no weapons, and the Piper will

usually have 1d100 of them at all times. This human

"shield" has stopped more than one adventurer from

killing him. If anyone should simply hack through the

children in an attempt to reach the Piper, then they

will lose 15 experience points from their final bonus

for each child they kill. In addition, the GM should

feel perfectly within his rights to force a Murder,

Brutal, Powers Check for each child killed, possibly

adding up to an Act of Ultimate Darkness, should

enough (say, more than 5) be killed.

Role-Playing

The Piper considers himself a simple businessman,

though he does get a thrill out of his work. He is

arrogant and cunning to the core - a fact that is

reflected in his statistics. While he isn't well

educated, he has been around for more than 30 years,

and he knows how to stay alive. Lately, the Piper has

been looking for a dark apprentice - one of the

children in a village to befriend him and learn his

trade. The Piper knows his ability to regenerate, and

its price, and he is fully willing to sacrifice a

"shipment" in order to escape being killed with fire

or acid, even if it means something like a plunge into

a raging river, or off of a balcony or cliff.

Adventure Ideas

The characters are walking through a town early one

morning, when a piercing scream echoes through the

air. The characters will probably run to see what

happened, when another scream starts. This is a

common enough scene - in villages that the Piper has

visited. Before long, the characters discover that

the children of the town were stolen, and that only

one person is missing who might have done it - the

Piper! The players have to catch up with him and

rescue the children before they can be sold to a boyar

in Barovia, who intends to use them to supplement his

Gundarakite workforce. Try to arrange it so that the

characters catch up with him on a mountain, preferably

while a thunder storm is going on. The characters

will probably be ready to kill him on sight - when he

pipes a tune and the children gather around him. Can

our heroes rescue the children from their perilous

situation, or is it time to pay the Piper? Perhaps,

with a suitable bribe, the Piper will release the

children - and his price will be the fee that the

boyar was willing to pay (1 silver/child).

And, if they take that route, imagine the player's

surprise when they find that the next village the

Piper would have passed through, on a direct route to

Vallaki, has lost its children as well...because the

Piper had given up his other "merchandise", and he had

to "resupply".

++++++++++++++

The Church of the Terrier

A Rodent's Worst Foes

By: Xanadu

(jkwleisemann@yahoo.com)

In Mortigny, where the wererats are virtually as

common as the people, it would seem that the humans'

days are numbered. Indeed, Jacqueline Renier, a

wererat herself, rules all of Richemulot. In that

case, it is only logical that a force would arise that

was dedicated to stopping this plague, and saving the

humans of the domain from the depredations of the

wererats. Unfortunately, it is also reasonable to

assume that some demented people would seek to become

wererats themselves, to join the ruling class. The

Cult of the Terrier is an example of the former - and

the Renegades are an example of the latter.

The Cult of the Terrier

The Terriers are a group of people who, in their

devotion to the destruction of rats of all kinds, have

found themselves banding together to improve their

odds of survival against the most dangerous rats of

all - the wererats of Richemulot.

Some years ago, a young man witnessed the death of a

strange man who called himself "The Piper of Hamelyn",

at the hands of the creatures of Richemulot. Ten

years after that, the rats that appeared on the border

of the domain slaughtered his entire family as they

tried to escape. This man, one Philippe Gascard, was

changed drastically by both events. He became

determined that nobody else should be forced to suffer

as he had and, as soon as he could escape, he left

Richemulot to be trained by somebody versed in the

ways of the rats.

Years later, Philippe returned to his homeland, with

a group of followers. They began to wander throughout

Richemulot, preaching the word of their god, who

revealed himself simply as the Terrier. Their message

was one of incredibly militant retribution to rats of

all sorts - that they all must die to pay for those

who have been lost to them. While they received few

converts, they received a great deal of attention from

a most unwelcome source - the Renier family. The

Reniers sent a wererat agent to kill Philippe, certain

that his death would end the threat that the cult

posed to them. The agent's body was returned, it's

neck and back snapped as if it had been shaken with

incredible force, the next day. The Reniers vengeance

was terrible. All but Philippe and one young priest

were killed, and they only barely escaped. This

priest, one Jacques Defarge, left Philippe to seek his

own path - and became the first Renegade (see below).

Philippe moved on to Nosos, where he took up preaching

again.

This time, his message was more popular. He gained

several converts and, with their devotional energy,

was able to enchant the first Collar of the Terrier

(q.v. - New Magical Items). However, Philippe's aging

heart could not withstand the strain, and he died

shortly after creating this relic. However, by now,

the faith could survive without him. And it did

survive - survive and flourish. Eventually, the Cult

returned to Richemulot, where it has established a

powerful base in the midst of the very sewers that

Renier and her kind lord over. Today, the Cult of the

Terrier has four bases - one in Barovia, one in Nosos,

one in Paridon, and one in Mortigny. While none of

the bases contain more than 10 Terriers, each is as

heavily protected as a small castle, and few are

insane enough to try destroying one.

The Church

Clergy: Specialty Priests (Terriers), Avengers

Clergy's Alignment: Any non-evil, non-chaotic

Turn Undead: No

Command Undead: No

Terriers have only one major celebration - the Day of

the Plague is held on the night of the vernal equinox,

and are marked by one of the few examples of

charitable events that the Cult has. All members are

expected to memorize as many cure disease and cure

wounds spells as possible. The Terriers then go

throughout the city that they are in, healing

everybody that they can. Once their cure spells are

exhausted, they enter the sewers, killing every rat or

wererat that they find. Terriers only gain 1/2 the

normal experience for their battles on this day, as

they are too lost in bloodlust to learn nearly as

much.

Terriers have only one identifying feature - they

always have a normal, mundane terrier with them. This

animal, while not a familiar, is always trained for

its primary occupation - killing rats. The animal is

given to the priest when he becomes a full Terrier.

As noted above, some Avengers are considered to be

clergy of the Cult. These Avengers are nothing more

than they seem, although all of them have as their

chosen foe some form of rat or wererat.

Specialty Priests (Terriers)

Requirements: Wisdom 9+, Strength 12+, Constitution

15+

Prime Req.: Wisdom, Constitution

Alignment: Any non-evil, non-chaotic

Weapons: Any weapon that can be wielded in one hand

Armor: Any (also any shield)

Major Spheres: All, Combat, Healing, Wards

Minor Spheres: Guardian, Necromancy, Protection

Magical Items: Same as Priests

Req. Prof's: Blind-Fighting

Bonus Prof's: Animal Lore (Rats), Close-Quarters

Fighting (Complete Book of Humanoids)

* At 1st level, Terriers can enter a berserk rage when

fighting rats or wererats(+2 to hit/damage, -2 Armor

Class)

* At 2nd level, any beneficial spells cast on a

Terrier also affect his dog (and vice-versa). Thus, a

ring of protection +1 grants the benefits to both

Terrier and dog.

* At 5th level, the Terrier gains his Alignment power

(see below).

* At 8th level, Terriers can strike any monster

related to a rat, or wererat, as if he held a weapon

capable of harming it.

* At 15th level, the Terrier can enchant one special

item from the list of New Magical Items without

engaging in research, or finding special materials.

The only things required are the item to be enchanted,

and all the members of the cult. This is a

once-in-a-career event, unless the Terrier goes about

the creation in the normal means. In addition, on

completing the item, the Terrier must make a System

Shock roll at -10%, or perish from the sheer power

flowing through him.

The Alignment of the Terrier determine which branch

of the Cult he comes from:

Alignment City

LG Paridon

LN Barovia

NG Nosos

NN St. Ronges

Terriers, at 5th level, gain an additional power

based on where he comes from. Lawful Good Terriers

gain the ability to apply their bonuses while fighting

the Marikiths of Timor. The Lawful Neutral Terriers

gain their bonuses against bats and monsters related

to them (including vampires in bat or rat form only).

Neutral Good Terriers gain a special form of

invisibility - no wererat can see, hear, or smell the

Terrier unless it makes a successful Save-vs.-Spells.

Note, however, that this power is useless against any

of the Reniers - as they were the first to find the

Cult, they are always capable of doing so. True

Neutral Terriers gain the ability to use a bite attack

against rats and wererats that does 1d8 points of

damage (the attack does not qualify as magical). If

the attack is successful, and the target isn't killed

immediately, then the Terrier can shake the target for

1d10 points of damage/round. The attack is at the

cost of all others, and can affect wererats and other

creatures that can only be harmed by magical weapons -

in addition, only a successful attack by another

creature, or a Save-vs.-Paralyzation, can allow the

creature to escape the Terrier's hold. Due to their

powerful attack against wererats, the True Neutral

Terriers consider themselves to be closest to their

god - it doesn't hurt that Philippe Gascard himself

was of this branch, having used this power to kill the

first agent that the Reniers sent after him. Many

members of this branch have good tendencies, rather

than being strictly neutral.

New Magical Items:

The Terriers have designed a series of new magical

items for their battle against the rats. Almost all

of these items are designed for the use of their dogs,

which are trained to attack rats on command.

Collar of the Terrier

This collar is designed as powerful armor for natural

terriers, the holy animals of the cult. The collar

has the special ability to cast stoneskin, at the

level of ability of its creator (usually 15th level),

5 times/day. This power is automatically invoked when

the wearer (typically a priest's holy terrier) is

surrounded by rats, wererats, or anything of the kind.

This ability only affects the Priest if he is in a

similar situation. When a terrier wears this collar,

its owner will typically send it into the sewers

daily, knowing it will return when called.

Teeth of the Terrier

These silver teeth are magical items that come in

groups of 10. They are placed over the teeth of a

priest's terrier, to allow it to attack wererats

effectively. The teeth have different levels of

bonus, depending on the level of creator.

Level Bonus

15th or lower +1

16th +2

17th +3

18th +4

19th or higher +5

The teeth act as weapons of 1 plus higher if they are

used against a creature that is normally harmed by

silver. This is another case of beneficial magic that

does not benefit the priest, although there is the

obvious secondary bonus of leaving the priest free to

deal with other opponents. Note that, when combined

with the collar of the terrier, the wearer of the two

items becomes a virtually unstoppable killing machine

when fighting groups of rats. Unfortunately, at this

point, there are only two or three of each item in

existence, if that many.

Weapon of the Slayer

The Terriers quickly recognized the need for a weapon

capable of taking out large numbers of creatures at

once, and the weapon of the slayer was developed to

deal with this need. The weapon is named generically

because it is, universally, the primary non-magical

weapon of the creator. It's only ability, besides a

+1 bonus, is to cause damage equivalent to a 6d6

fireball when it is struck on solid ground, 1/day.

This ability is not exclusively limited to harming

rats and wererats - the Terrier must be careful as

well, as must his allies. This is the only Cult item

designed for humanoid hands, incidentally.

The Renegades

The Renegades are a group of "priests" that was

started by Jacques Defarge. Defarge did not escape

the slaughter of the priests through luck or skill, as

Philippe had - he escaped because he was the one who

had betrayed the Cult to the Reniers. Defarge had

decided that the rats were destined to win, and

decided to "save" them from his fellows. His reward

was to be infected with lycanthropy by the Reniers.

Defarge started a group of fanatics who believed, as

he did, that the rats were going to destroy humanity,

and that the only way to survive was to become one of

them. Each member of the group is a skilled thief

with the Invisible kit, from Champions of the Mists,

(minimum 5th level) when he or she is inducted into

the "inner circle". When that happens, Jacqueline

Renier or her sister (depending on who happens to be

free at the time) infects him with lycanthropy. Note

that the Renegades are the only beings that the

sisters use that will not be used against the other -

they realize that to attempt to do so would be to

bring the wrath of the members who were infected by

the other down on them.

The Terriers hunt all members of the Renegades with

"extreme prejudice", since they were started by one of

them. Defarge was attacked by one of the Terriers in

748 - since this attack, he hasn't been seen, and is

presumed dead. Every member of the organization

carries a small vial of silver mercurium (see Dungeon

#64) in case it is captured - before it is

interrogated, it is expected to drink the entire vial,

the size of the dose forcing a saving throw at -10 to

avoid death. Each member is fanatical enough to do

this willingly, but they cannot automatically fail the

saving throw due to their natural system trying to

fight off the drug. The Renegades enjoy a sort of

"legal immunity" within the boundaries of Richemulot,

being rather like Kargatane of Necropolis. They all

worship the Renier sisters as if they were goddesses,

although they receive no benefits from doing so.

Adventure Ideas:

The most interesting idea that arises from the Cult

and Renegades is the possibility that Defarge is not

truly dead. Should this be the case, the GM should

design him as a powerful wererat, possibly the lord of

his own pocket domain, and certainly a lunatic who is

still fanatically devoted to Jacqueline Renier

(possibly even a paramour).

++++++++++++
I hope that you find these interesting, if not useful.

I welcome comments, for (preferably) or against.

=====

Jason KW Leisemann

"Optimism - the belief that everything will work out for the best. Irrational,
bordering on insane."

K-9, "The Armageddon Factor"