The Possessed Library or Some Forgotten Knowledge

A Sj. Scenario for some 3-6 chars of levels 4-6 (Total levels 24-
28). The party should be composed of varying classes (though the
special abilities of any particular class aren't strictly needed)
and be predominantly of good alignment. Their equipment doesn't
matter much (a ship - owned, borrowed or stolen is a necessity),
since the scenario is mainly a mystery instead of a combatzone.
Extremes should be avoided of course, the party should have at least
one magic weapon of low power, but not enough wands to outgun the
USS Missouri. The Spelljammer boxed set is needed to run the
adventure "as is", but the scenario is easily translatable to a
"landlubber" one too. Some proficiencies from the Thief / Spacefarer
manuals are referred to, but these two supplements are by no means
necessary. The scenario contains some quite gross elements - fans of
'clean' fantasy might be in for a nasty disappointment.

If you happen to be a player in a Spelljammer campaign, you ought to
quit reading now to preserve your satisfaction or learn enough
facial selfcontrol that the DM and other players will not notice
your lack of surprise.


                 Episode I: The Seeking

        The Call
        -----------

The PCs are resting and recuperating on the Rock of Bral after the
hardships of latest space erranting, when a courier arrives. Someone
known to the PCs from previous adventures (a merchant, mage, priest,
someone literate) sends the PCs a message via courier that they are
to pick up a book at the local Seeker library [handout 1] and then
deliver the book to him, he is far too busy to waste a week
travelling. Enclosed in the package with the note is a pouch full of
gold dust, that will pay another few weeks of easy living, even on a
place as expensive as Bral after counting out the costs for the trip
to his home. 

Or, if you find another "hired guns" beginning to an adventure a
tiresome clich, you can use the PCs own curiosity to lead them on
the trail. Perhaps they need a book to check on some weird symbols
(sadly non-magical) found on a fleece in a ogre lair, maybe some PC
has an axe with some weird markings or a fellow adventurer
recommends the author to a fellow literate. (Of course you can make
up any kind of story, but be prepared to create your own handouts or
wing the research somewhat). 

The Seeker library is easily found, perhaps one of the PCs is
already a patron. However, only those paying the due (and able to
show that they are literate) are allowed inside. 

        The Failure
        ----------------

<<<<
The library is a hulking twotowered affair, absolutely jampacked
with tomes and readers. A few seekers walk around the halls,
prepared to aid customers. The place where the "Booke of the Ogri-
Kynde" was supposed to be is easily found once you get the hang of
the archiving system. The trouble is that between Booke of the
Narwhal (my reminiscences among the Jijit folk) and Booke of the
Ravagora is nothing, not even an empty space where "your Booke"
ought to be. Checking and double-checking you finally give up. The
librarians readily tell you after minimal prompting that the book
"went missing" some five years ago. They do, however, give you a
copy of the book's information from the files to be shown to your
employer. 
When you're about to leave the building you overhear pieces of a
conversation, another unsatisfied customer like you is vainly
searching for a "lost" book
<<<<

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

[The index-card for the book is handout 2]

As the PCs are standing in front of the library, poring over the
index-card, an elf carrying a leather bookcase comes out (this is
the one whom the libraryvisiting PC heard inquiring about another
missing book). 

        A fellow bibliophile
        --------------------------

Sooner or later the PCs should talk to the elf in question, he is
easily followed to his inn, an elven facility called "Solar Breeze".
He is wiry, a bit skinny even for an elf, normally dressed, and
doesn't seem to carry any weapons. 

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Once the PCs strike a conversation with the elf they find him a
likable, if a bit nerdish fellow. His uncle (or some other close
relative, an elf tends to have scores of them) had asked him to
travel to Bral and pick up a certain book. But, alas, like the PCs,
he's let down - this unique copy was destroyed in a rain-caused
flooding merely six months ago. 

He compares "his uncles note" and the index-card copy with each
other, the information is alike. He complains about being in a hurry
to get back to Alanja and tells the PCs to keep an eye out for the
book, a big reward could be theirs if "my uncle could get this
beauty". He leaves the index card on the table so the PCs know which
book they're searching for [handout-3].

Jain Oaksli: AC 5; T6; 19 hp; # At 1; D. 4-7 (dagger +3); T0 16; Al
N; D 17, I 15, Cha 15; Dagger +3, Ring of Protection +2, Bag of
Holding; Disguise, looting, appraising (books)

Jain is a travelling book thief who has worked on several dozen
worlds in about twenty spheres. He alters his looks between jobs,
and is careful to do heists only with several months interval and
several million miles distance in between. He sells all the stolen
books forward as soon as feasible, more than once he has managed to
sell the book back to its original owner with the promise that "he
calls if he sees that gentleman whom he bought the book from". He
plans his robberies carefully, never resorting to violence - murder
carries the heaviest sentence on almost every world. For self-
defense he carries a magic dagger he picked up on a very successful
heist in Souragne two years ago. Usually he works as a freelancer,
advertising his catch after the looting , but this time he's working
on a commission for an Amnish mage (Jain is originally from Realms)
trying to locate an obscure treatise on Junae geometric magic.

Jain indeed leaves Bral this evening just after the evening bells,
after changing his appearance to that of an elderly man (he thinks
the seekers are on his trail and therefore denied him the book). If
he spots the PCs still sitting in the lobby of his inn (clearly some
investigators) he escapes by climbing out of the window and
straggling down the vines, he's a cat burglar so this kind of thing
comes naturally. He does not play a part in this adventure, but
could be a nice recurring non-combatant NPC.

        Piecing Together the Story
        --------------------------------------

Now the PCs perhaps rightly feel a bit stumped, the only gains for
today's adventuring are the two index cards, whose only common
attribute is that the books were transferred from a place called
Pladic. The story behind Pladic is easily told (and recalled if
someone succeeds in Recent History check - otherwise the interested
PCs will have to spend d20 gp in drinks and bribes to discover
someone who recalls the tale.

<<<<
Pladic was a big library, founded over three hundred years ago, back
when Bral was just a lawless pirate haven. It did well, getting
customers from all over the nearest spheres. Then the sphere began
to move in the phlogiston, travelling farther from the population
centres every year. About thirty years ago the seekers decided to
combine three libraries contents into one just being renovated on
Bral - it's easy to understand why they wanted to rid themselves of
the Ironpiece outfit - having a colony of gnomes as the only
neighbors creates insomnia and precludes intelligent conversation. 
<<<<

However, truth is a lot stranger than this tale spread by the
seekers. The Pladic library was by no means emptied, it was
abandoned - after nothing was heard from its inhabitants in months
and five shiploads of "troubleshooters" of differing ability (the
last group contained several veterans from Calotia and a member of
the Fireball Alliance) failed to return, the seekers wrote the
entire place off. They wanted to avoid losing face and that's why
they spinned this outrageous yarn (the astronomical facts do hold,
but the move of the sphere was by no means so drastic that would
have warranted action of this kind - a successful Navigation check
will tell the characters this, all the drifting has done is to add
at most a week to the travelling time). All books from Pladic were
supposedly brought to Bral, however, only a few (of which duplicates
exist) are found there. So far, no-one has been insistent enough to
dig through to the bottom of this lie, most information seekers were
satisfied when the librarians gave them "alternative, but just as
good in information" librams due to the wanted book's being "lost,
stolen, temporarily at another branch, being repaired/rebound, on
loan or something".

If the PCs seem reluctant to pursue "just a silly old book", remind
them of the gold dust, and their duty to return the pouch. If they
still show no inclination to peruse the mysteries of the library,
hit them with a pirate ship/space medusae/irate relatives and use
the possessed library some other time.

Vellum Jacko's
---------------------

Should they, however, continue their little investigation, a sure
place to pick up clues (in addition to their regular contacts) would
be Vellum Jacko's, a small bookstore located in the outskirts of
Midcity. The bookstore is a messier version of the seekers'
building, books are everywhere - but instead of being carefully
shelved these are stacked randomly into piles. Jacko looks just like
the PCs might expect him to, a middle-aged, bespectacled fragile-
looking whitehaired fellow.

He has, at times, wondered why some of the books he has gone to
admire at the Seekers library (they won't lead him into temptation
by giving him lending rights) are never present, but, being a trusty
soul, never pursued the matter any further. He has obtained a
catalogue containing the Pladic bibliography (the only known copy on
Bral), dated 35 years ago. He won't, however, sell his catalogue
cheaply. Bargaining begins at 400 gp, he won't accept a smaller
price than 100 gp. 

The catalogue is a small book filled with industrious, clearly
legible handwriting. Should the PCs check the Bralian library for
books listed in the catalogue, they get a surprising result, only
perhaps one book in thirty is available here. The results of the
search have been summarized in handout 4. Vellum Jacko has no idea
where the Pladican books have disappeared but he warns the PCs of
the dangers of too overt investigation - the seekers are a vengeful
organization that rarely delays its quest for information.

[handout 4 - the catalogue and the marks the PCs make in it]

Vellum Jacko: AC 10; nm; 1 hp; Won't fight; Al LG; I 15, W 15;
Appraising (books+4), Craft (bookbinding), Area knowledge;

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Should the characters be stupid enough to rob or seriously threaten
this harmless book-fancier, he might give his friends a tip (his
friends being a particularly ill-considerate bunch of Giff
mercenaries who like Jacko's reading of ancient warstories a lot).
They will gang up on the PCs some evening, giving them a hard
beating and "confiscating" a few select items, not resorting to
weapons unless someone hurts them seriously. Anyway, the PCs gain a
lot of negative karma in everybody's eyes - all prices are doubled
for them, their dinners 'spiced' up with some exotic germs, pests
introduced to their clothing and beds etc etc. Make their life
really miserable for a week or two.

The Chat with the boss
---------------------------------

Now the characters have some definite proof that there's something
fishy going on at the Bralian Seekers branch. They can either head
straight for the library on Pladic or try to negotiate a
'recoinnaissance contract' with the Seekers. Very devious players
might even come up with an idea to blackmail the Bralian Seekers for
their failure by threatening to 'leak' the information forward and
thus discredit the organization.

If the PCs seek an audience with the head librarian, they are
granted one almost immediately. He receives the characters in his
office, at the top floor of the highest tower. At first he is very
reluctant to admit that not everything is in order in the files. If
the PCs manage to goad the information, it comes very slowly and in
small pieces (force them to roleplay through this conversation). 

Should the characters make nuisances of themselves he promptly shows
them the door, otherwise he'll tell them what he thinks that
happened (a radiant dragon has settled into the library). He won't
hire them to investigate ("far too dangerous") but neither will he
discourage the party by telling them about the unsuccessful
colleagues. In case the PCs are determined to go - he'll ask them to
bring any books found to the seekers, since they are the lawful
owners. Arnam has visited Pladic but doesn't remember much of the
place (he has been to over twenty different branches). 

The decision to abandon the Pladic branch library was made on
Compendium - the legendary Seeker HQ, so it is impossible to
blackmail Arnam. If the PCs make public their knowledge of the
Seekers' failure the libarians will hire some competent assassins to
take care of the party (even if the PCs have already returned from
Pladic with a full load of books).

Arnam isn't actually a sage, just an elderly sorcerer who has found
a pleasant retirement spot. He loves books passionately, but isn't
willing to send another group to their doom (or to reveal them where
Pladic exactly is nowadays). His hair went white two decades ago,
and his body has grown increasingly decrepit. Arnam is quickly
angered (though never to the point of violence) and it is very hard
to placate him. 

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Arnam Shandra: AC10; M6; 11 hp; Won't fight; Al NG; I 16, Con 5;
Wand of magic missiles (6 charges), potion of invisibility;
Appraising (books +2), Mathematics, Planetology; Doesn't bother to
learn spells any more;

Setting off:
---------------

So - the PCs have prepared their ship for the journey. The
encounters (if any) in the Rock's sphere you have to prepare
yourself or resort to Skull & Crossbows, Space Lairs or somesuch.
The trip through the vast gas seas of phlogiston will mostly be an
uneventful one. Roll few times on the following list of short
encounters or pick the ones you like (or all of them if the players
have ticked you off considerably).

How long the journey to the Slubiana sphere takes is dependent on
the navigator's skill roll (this is a house rule, as I find the "10-
100 days to any sphere" rule silly) and the tiny sphere's distance
from the PCs starting point.


d8      Result
1       A wreck is seen in the distance, a small intact-looking
ship spinning slowly. A closer look reveals it to be a Mosquito. The
jammer is still sitting on his chair, a grinning skeleton in robes.
Careful searching reveals his ring, a bloated gold monstrosity
hanging loose in his forefinger. He carries a dagger, nonmagical
like his staff lying on the floor. Spellbooks won't be found, the
fellow was a priest of Thamlin - an obscure druidic god on Ssherma. 
        The ring is magical, and doesn't show any alignment. It is
an Orbus Ring (see details at the end of the adventure), but its 
effects probably will be discovered later.


2       A discolored and stiffened giff drifting in the ocean of
gas bumps against the ship. Tolompo, a brevetted sergeant fell off
his ship merely two weeks ago when Emerald Dream fought against the
Neogi. A successful INT-check means that the character remembers
that ED is a free-lance Manowar fighting against mindflayer raiders
in Theiaspace. 
        Tolompo is very grateful for his rescue "tho' this be the
third time - last time me was rescued in just two DAYS" and will
work for free until the ship "lands in a port where a honest
hippohead can find worthier employers". Most of his quite large
weapon collection was left in ED (he left his armor behind too), but
he still carries his shortsword (a bastard sword for normal folks)
and a starwheel pistol with enough powder for ten shots. Tolompo is
aware of the effects of phlogiston and won't fire his pistol in any
subsequent battles there.
<<<<
KUVA
<<<<
        Tolompo: AC 6; HD 4+4; hp 27; #AT 1 weapon; d8+7 or d4; LN

3       A ship is sighted in the mists. It approaches boldly - a
Shou dragonship bearing war colors. It is a special envoy from home
country, carrying dire news - a cousin of the emperor has been
kidnapped by persons/things unknown. The only clues left by the
assailants were a sizable depression on a nearby beach - making
suspicions of skyborne nappers more than a little credible. 
        The easterners signal their desire to check out the ship -
which, if given half a chance, they do with great enthusiasm. They
examine the ship carefully, but say nothing of what they're looking
for - a successful INT-roll gives an idea that they're searching for
something large. Should the PCs be less than courteous their ship
will either get attacked or "marked for a later date". If they won't
let the Shou aboard at all (perhaps they DO carry something
contraband) the captain will try to ambush the PCs' ship during the
"night" watch. They avoid a full-scale boarding combat, preferring
to establish themselves on the PCs ship and then begin negotiations.
Their demands are simple - the right to search the ship.

        Shou marines: AC 5; F4; hp 32; #AT 3/2 weapon; D. 3-12
(katana); LG
        Shou captain: AC -1; F12; hp 89; #AT 7/2 weapon; D 8-17
(katana +3 + STR); LG
<<<<
KUVA
<<<<
        Shou Sohei: AC 8; C6; hp 28; #AT 1 weapon; D. 3-8 (club +
STR); LG; Clw (x3), Bless, Hold Person (x3), Neutralize Poison (x2);

4       Again a ship is seen - it quickly alters its course to meet
the PCs. A tyrant-scout, smaller than the regular beholder craft -
but this one seems to be unusually fast. It indeed does pack an
overload of orbi - giving it a SR of 6. The ship is filled to the
brim with beholders, the PCs have entire Wilthan clan against them.
The clan lost their two full tyrants in battle against a celestial
dragon a week ago and they're looking for a bigger craft (even if it
isn't beholderish in shape). 
        The clan members left from the attacks on the dragon are
far from the fiercest and if the PCs get one or two good hits they
will fly off. Should the battle lead to close combat the PCs are at
a considerable advantage due to the curious placement of the
beholders' eyes - the three most dangerous (death, disintegrate,
XXXXXXXX) point downwards and are of use only against fallen
characters.

        Beholder: AC xxxx

   5    The PCs have a misfortune of flying through a Lumineaux as
they float on the gassy seas.

        Lumineaux: AC xxxx

6       Three flowfiends emerge from the gases - swimming directly
at the PCs ship. The PCs can get off one shot from any large weapons
before the hulking humanoids land on the deck. Or they can avoid
them with a slight alteration in course (no delay to traveltime).
The group comprises of two large monsters and one quite small -
easily recognizable as a mutated halfling.
<<<
Battle tactics
<<<
        Flowfiends:

        The explanation of the fiends' "trial by fire" in MC is
just plain silly, how on earth could these beings light a fire
without endangering themselves. Also, the artist has "forgotten" to
include the 3rd and fourth arm for the beasties. All in all a very
shoddy monster description.

7       The lookout in the crow's nest (or equivalent) warns the
crew of something "whitish and round" ahead. An approach or a look
with a telescope reveals the object to be a large cylindrical egg,
having a diameter of 3' along the longer axis. The egg has a porous
texture comparable to a common hen's egg, and  is completely smooth
and no sounds can be heard from within. 
        Which creature laid this egg is left for the GM to decide -
a space drake, or one of its' bigger cousins, a phlog-stork, puffer,
there's a multitude of possibilities. Perhaps it isn't an egg after
all but a magical mine or some sort of storage container. Even more
weird would be if it was a spaceship for some kind of miniature
folk.
        
8       A humming noise is heard, slowly becoming louder and louder
as the PCs travel on the ether-river. Soon the source is revealed, a
large metal star, missing one spindle.   A beacon, somewhat detailed
in Lost Ships.
        As the PCs ship comes near the beacon, the pitch of the
noise begins to vary - quickly it grows to a nightmarish cacophony,
forcing the PCs to stopper their ears or resort to silence-spells.
Their ship begins to jolt as the crewmembers try to cover their
ears. Unless they are given some protection the crew is unable to
steer the ship toward the star (a cruel captain could use his
authority to force the crew to work (a sufficient morale check will
make them toil, but subsequently their morale is lowered by 2)).
        The star is quite large, a spindle is some twenty feet in
length and the gaping hole has a diameter of four feet. Upon closing
on the star it is revealed to have a hollow center, with smaller
tunnels leading to the other arms. 
        The PCs cannot cut piecs of the beacon-metal, and in
actuality, do anything with the star-shape but look at it
inquisitively. However, if they tell anyone about the star, it's
grounds for a reward plus perhaps a further mission to look for the
thing that managed to harm an invincible beacon.

                 Epidode 2: The finding

        The Arrival
        ---------------

Slubiana, the sphere containing the library is very small, so small
in fact than even outside a curvature in the crystal wall is easily
noticed. The sphere has spontaneous portals, but most likely the PCs
are in a hurry and they will create a portal of their own.

Inside, the sphere seems pretty much a standard one. There's a
triple fireworld in the center, composed of three varyingly orange-
red tiny spheres. Like most of the other spheres, this too has
pseudo-stars on the inside of the sphere itself. In this sphere they
are like the ones in Realmspace - gates to the plane of radiance.
The sphere is thought to be barren when it comes to space-creatures,
and there are no colonies here.

The only planet in the system, Slubia, is reached with only some
three days of travel. All spelljammers' mapbooks note Slubia as a
"world particularly unfit even for a casual visit". Most think it is
an earthworld, even though the wetness is probably unequalled
everywhere. It is a gigantic swamp, where searching for firm land is
best described as futile. There are no known sentient inhabitants,
the most easily discovered animals are gnats and mosquitos. The
planet is a dead end, after scores of insect bites the PCs will
probably come to the same conclusion. There is a deserted human
colony on the planet, but the PCs won't be able to discover it until
they get its' coordinates from the library.

Pladic is a moon orbiting Slubia on a tight orbit (a revolution
takes just 12 days). It's a smooth ballworld, lacking any mountains,
rivers or vegetation - there is a decent atmosphere, however. No
known inhabitants either, probably this is one of the places where
life is possible but it never got a headstart. Very hard ground, not
marred by any craters. In some places the ground is smooth to the
point of being glasslike in composition. The only visible feature on
the planet is a large depression, on the edge of which the library
is built.

[handout 5 - Map of the sphere]

        The Library
        ---------------

Half of the library is built over the edge, creating an amazing view
for the northbound windows. The window is built from sandstone - a
light enough material to be carried from the Slubia - there's no
real fear of erosion here since the planet is perfectly dry and the
wind carries no loose particles. 
Near the library-building lies another big structure, an open-topped
dock-building built from the same materials.
No lights can be seen in the library windows, the doors seem closed
but a ship is visible in the dock.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Once the PCs land their ship in the dock (a huge one easily able to
accommodate ten ships at a time that, surprisingly has two huge
pools for ships that able to land in water only) they discover it to
be completely deserted. The other ship is a white-painted nautiloid,
but of the crew's whereabouts there's no sign.

On a careful search the nautiloid, bearing Falx colors, is indeed
found to be deserted. The ship shows some signs of recent combat: a
torn mainsail, scorch marks on deck, purple and whitish stains. The
twin series helm is at its usual place. The oddest thing about the
ship are the multiple thick black ropes securing it down to the dock
tightly. Every rope goes from wall to wall (or floor to wall) - and
is not easily cut, it tends to absorb most of the blows kinetic
energy instead of breaking. If the rope is inspected by a
knowledgeable character (rope use proficiency) it is found to be
made of thousands of very thin strings (human hair).

All other docking places are empty, the slots are badly in need of
repair - they are full of scuff marks and broken spars. One of the
pools is nearly empty, only the deeper side has some water - the
other is full of inky-black murky liquid. There is no living monster
in the pool but a search turns up a dead mindflayer - disgustingly
bloated due to drowning. The corpse has no treasure - but a greedy
PC could be get some disease from touching the carcass.

When the party has had enough of exploring the dock, there's a faint
shuffling noise and a contingent of monks arrives in the dock
chamber bearing long stretches of rope. They all wear a full length
<<<<< kaapu <<<<<, covering the body from head to toe - a large cowl
makes the face hard to see. The monks proceed toward the characters
in silence and start to attach their ropes to the huge metal <<<<
awks ??? <<<< on the floors and walls. If the PCs try to hinder
them, one of them waves his hands emitting a shushing noise at the
same time - obviously their ship is in considerable danger from an
upcoming storm.

The monks take a long time in their toil to tie down the ship -
working in complete silence and perfect synch all the time. Unless
the PCs do something, their ship is going to be tied up quite
tightly. Outside there's no wind in the air and they might like to
leave their ship parked outside the main library building. On the
other hand, should they attack the tiny monks or even try to have a
look at their faces, they are in for combat. As soon as a PC touches
a monk they all throw down their cowls, revealing their faces, pasty
white bloated caricatures of the human head - no ears or hair
however. Each 'monk' grabs a dagger from its belt and joins the
combat. Everytime a monk-thing is hit with a non-blunt weapon
there's a popping noise and some white viscous liquid partly oozes,
partly flies from the wound. The grubthings silently fight until
they all are destroyed (shouldn't take long). When the corpses are
searched, no treasures or possessions (apart from the common
daggers) are found, but the things themselves are discovered to
consist mostly (if not even wholly) of fresh pus.

On the roof of the dock-building are two rotating turrets with heavy
ballistas, the library has never been attacked but the Seekers
bought these "just in case".


The Entrance
-------------------

The library is built from fresh-hewn granite, all hallways and rooms
have an eerie light to them (unless otherwise notified in the
description). The air is old and musty - but not a lot of dust has
settled on the furniture and bookshelves. There are traces of
earlier explorers; tracks in particularly thick dust (not all made
by human soles), scorch marks in furniture from spells that missed
their targets, fallen furniture etc etc, but all in all the place
seems to be as it was twentyfour years ago.

1. The entrance hall is a large room, having just exits in many
directions and a visitor's log book on a table. The book (entitled
simply 1432-) is thick, almost full of entries made by
the reception. Up till year 1459 the descriptions seem to be in
order (date + ship + transactions made by crew/passengers), but
after the date of 1.7. 1459 all log entries have been written in the
same handwriting and their messages are quite uniform (date + ship +
how many "victims" + what was done with them). The last entry is
dated six months back from now and details the arrival of
Mindreaver, a nautiloid, all of whose 46 crewmembers were
"mutilated". No mention of the PCs ship is on the log... yet.  It
will appear come next morning (if the ship was left in the docks),
with an accurate census on crewmembers (the pus-things do capture
the ship sooner or later).

<<<< Note <<<<
Every stairwell in the building has had a variation of the distance
distortion spell cast upon them (permanent duration). The first time
the PCs clamber up or down the stairs (and in all chase scenes) the
spell's effects might cause trouble. If any PC fails a save vs.
illusion, he falls down (taking d3 - 2d6 damage (main stairs - the
tortuously steep spiral staircase). Any PC following (or in front
of, depending on direction of travel) a fallen one has to make a
DEX-check to avoid fallling too. The Tanar'ri spent considerable
amounts of power when creating this effect and he has got much
enjoyment from watching visitors falling more or less seriously -
sometimes he has even "aided" them with a slight telekinetic push.
<<<<

2. The guards' chamber

A vacated room containing beds and some tables. Some leftover
weapons and pieces of armor on racks and shelves, non-magical,
somewhat rusted and worn. 

3. Servants rooms

These large dormitories have both been victims of a huge
conflagration - walls and ceilings are blackened by smoke and soot.
Within the ashes and charred remains of furniture lie some
skeletons. If the PCs spend too much time here it's entirely
possible that an overhanging beam is disturbed by their efforts and
it falls, bringing half of the ceiling along (save vs. DEX to avoid
pinning/damage/whatever).

4. Servants mess

<<<<<
A down-to-earth meal hall. A foodstained oaken table rules the room,
in which nothing of interest can be seen.
<<<<<

Nothing special.

5. Kitchens

This huge room served as the only kitchen for both the employees and
visitors to the library. Its first attention grabbing feature is a
big oven probably able to roast a whole hog. 

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

<<<<< The flying knives scene shamelessly ripped off from Bane of
the Shadowborn.

Since there's no means to grow anything but herbs and some small
vegetables on Pladic - all food had to be imported by ship. All
foodstuffs were stored in a large compound beneath the kitchen -
unfortunately dust has camouflaged the trapdoor in floor and made it
quite easy for someone to step on it and fall through - save vs. DEX
to grab a rim of the door - otherwise unlucky PC falls onto the
stairs and bounces into the pitchblack cellars (taking 2d6 damage).

6. Cellars

The rats living in the cellars have propagated greatly after the
tanar'ri took over the library - only now, after 30 years, the food
storage has begun to run out. The rats don't present a big danger to
a well armed party (they shirk away from torchlight - they've been
living in darkness for decades) but an unfortunate falling through
the trapdoor is in for rough treatment. First he takes 2d6 damage
from the fall and is almost immediately overwhelmed by rats (biting
for <<<<<< Summon Swarm <<<<<<) per round, standing up requires a
STR-check, finding the stairs is difficult unless someone lights the
room from above (otherwise 1-2 on d6), climbing the stairs while
carrying a full load of biting rats needs a successful DEX-check.
Fighting the rats is useless - there's simply too many of them to
replace any fallen ones. Of course a cloudkill, sleep or somesuch
could take care of them all easily.
The cellars consist of some six rooms - all doors have been chewed
through and any packages destroyed. Thankfully only some dry
material remains - the meat storage was first to be raided.

7. Loading dock + Well

This small dock located some 20 meters below the surface of Pladic
is able to accommodate a tradesman-sized ship (25 tonner). The ships
were unable to actually land here - they were fastened with thick
ropes to the firm bollards while hanging over a 100 meter drop. All
cargo was quickly removed by carrying it - for moving the weighty
sacks within the cellars there are two wheeled carriages present. 
The main well for the building is a big hole drilled to one corner
of the dock, it hasn't dried out, but the waterlevel seems to have
receded badly - no bucket lowered from the kitchen can reach the
surface, a dropped stone gives a 'plop' noise only after some six
seconds.
The PCs' ship cannot land here - the original ropes have been
removed by the grubkin and it isn't likely that their own ship is
carrying that tough ropes.

[handout-7: the dock- with and without a docked ship]

8. Dinner Hall

This large room has a very nice glass window overlooking the Fault
and an immense redwood table encircled by scores of chairs. The
golden dinnerware is worth 600 gp, but selling it on open market is
very difficult due to the Seekers symbol embossed on every piece of
cutlery.

9. The Membership files

In this room's shelves are neatly arranged the patron books from
three and a half centuries - every year a new book was begun. The
last is from 1458. The books are bound into varying colors of
leather and are each of similar size. The book collection is very
hefty (takes up five tons of cargo space and a score of manhours of
diligent work), and not worth a lot to anyone else than the seekers
themselves, and they certainly expect to have the collection gratis.


10. Storage

A simple storage/broom closet. Unless the PCs require cleaning
materials this is going to be pretty useless.

11. First Librarium

A very large library hall, dozens of ten feet high oaken shelves
full of books. This room contains books from A to L. No maps nor
books exclusively related to magic are found here, a successful INT-
check reveals that.

Booke of the Ogri Kynde can be found in its rightful place. Trying
to carry it or any of the other book off has the usual consequences.

12. Second Librarium

A sister hall to the previous room, this one is even more spacious,
having books from M to Z. In meticulous condition, except for one
shelf that has suffered massive water damage years ago, and badly
rotted since. Bloodstained floor near the moldy shelf. One of the
investigative groups met their doom here, but the party's mage
managed to blow up a water elemental sent to hinder them. No matter
how hard the PCs look, the Treatise the elf sought cannot be found
here (it is in the Tower of the Art). 
On a successful secret door-finding check (or some other method that
you use as an analogue for CoC's "Spot Hidden") a character finds a
tiny, but wellcrafted metallic chest under a shelf. It is, of
course, magical (chest of containment) and contains the spellbook of
a long gone wizard - it's not a traditional spellbook, but a very
long and narrow strip of some paperlike material that can fit into
the chest when it's rolled tight. The spellscroll contains the
following spells:
        I - Read magic, detect magic, magic missile, mending, seek
unlife +3
        II -  Detect invisible, shadow, levitate, +2 
        III - Fireball, dispel magic, fly

13. Librarian's Hall

<<<<<
You push open the double doors and a horrible stench slaps against
your noses. This is a gigantic room, without any furniture but large
piles of rubble. The ceiling has fallen in in some places and all
<<<<< vlisein <<<<< have been ground down. The occupants of the
room are the ghastly white childsized creatures you fought earlier -
this time they are not wearing their stolas and you can all too well
see the liquid pus flowing under their flabby skins. The nearest
pusheads chitter in anticipation while shuffling toward you -
there's an uncountable number of these things in the room - most in
a humanlike form but some shambling in some primordial guise.
<<<<<<

This is going to be a long battle for the PCs - but if they are
successful here they won't have to suffer any more attacks by the
'monks'. There's indeed scores of the pudgy pus-creatures in the
room and the fight is made much more dangerous by the fact that
their number is large enough to warrant some special effects.

The first ten rounds go very well for the PCs - they are able to
slaughter the gruboids left and right - after that the floor begins
to get slippery from all the secretion (if a PC misses a melee
attack he has to make a DEX check to remain standing, if he slips,
he has +2 to his THAC0 and AC during the next round). 
After ten more rounds (and a score of slaughtered pus-things) the
sludge on the floor is some two inches thick - now the creatures are
able to regenerate 3 points of damage per round - play out the
horrible feel when the PCs see the gunk flow upwards into a gaping
wound on a grubling.
After ten more rounds the battle reaches its' climax - now there's
at least four inches of pus flowing freely on the floor - some of it
streaming over the doorstep and noisily dripping down the stairs.
Slowly the PCs see the liquid stir and bubble - suddenly the
encrusted surface breaks up and an immense version of a grub thing
erupts from the sludge. It seems to integrate the life force of its'
smaller brethren into itself - they dissolve into the floorwide pool
of pus and are sucked into the larger entity. If the PCs are able to
defeat this grubmonster on steroids (it DOES resemble the
marshmallow man from Ghostbusters a bit) they won't have to endure
any of the 'monks' shuffling attacks. No material rewards are found
- the disgusting things are just unintelligent servants.

14. Illumination Room

<<<<< 
The large windows in this smallish corner-room have a magnificent
view over the glassy plains of Pladic. The furniture consists of
small pulpits with sloping <<<< tasot <<<<. However, no books to be
illuminated can be found, and all the paint pots and tubes have been
emptied against the north wall, making up a really chaotic figure
that seems to turn your stomach. 
<<<<<

The psychedelic colour collage on the wall is indeed awful to look
at and it has a weird effect on the PCs' nervous system. If they get
into a fight (or engage in some other physical activity) in the
following hour, each character must save vs. spells or suffer the
effects of ___confusion___ spell.

15. Bookbinder's Room

<<<<<
This small room having a big window overlooking the docks houses the
bookbinding facilities of the library - a score of workbenches with
repair equipment on them are arranged in straight lines. In one
corner is a large pile of books all in quite horricfic state of
disrepair - their pages ripped to shreds and the covers badly bent. 
<<<<<

On closer inspection the ravaged books are all found to be of the
same subject - interpretations of the Celestian (or some other
religion that you've used in space) mythos. The books are beyond
repair and no useful information can be gathered from them. All the
strings in every bookbinding bench have been carefully tied up to
resemble an unholy symbol (pick one appropriate to your campaign).

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

16. Main Hall II

Another big library hall, this containing fictional books from all
over the Known Spheres. How the Seekers have divined which of their
collection were fictional, and which ought to be classified as fact
is a sheer mystery, certainly they haven't investigated the
background behind all of them.

17. Atlas Hall

<<<<<
You're standing outside Atlas Hall - which, if you are to believe a
map-symbol on the door should contain folios full of maps from all
seven corners of the Known Spheres. You push open the door and enter
a large room, dimly lit by light streaming in from windows. There
are stairs leading up in the center of the room, at their foot
stands a large stone statue - the Olympian god Atlas of course,
bearing a worldsphere on his shoulders.
<<<<<

If the characters merely glance at the room, without pausing to
browse through the countless map-books, they are not going to
discover anything special. On the other hand, if they approach the
statue or linger in the room, they are in for a nasty surprise. The
Tanar'ri animates the hulking stone statue, causing it to throw the
globe at the PCs. A successful DEX-check means that a PC has nimbly
moved aside - a failed one causes 4d6 damage. The statue becomes
rigid again, but trouble is caused by a duo of air elementals who
react to the destruction as the ball crushes a few shelves,
destroying books and splintering wood.
If a PC succeeds in Planetology check, he recalls the stoneglobe to
depict Moeth, an advanced world in an Inner Sphere.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

As mentioned in the Head Librarian's notes, the Seekers' treasure is
hidden inside the globe (which, despite being hollow) doesn't
shatter when it impacts with a wall. The ball is quite impossible to
open unless the PCs are familiar with the locking mechanism - a
knock spell won't work as they cannot see the lock to be opened.
<<<<
Oma tulkinta, pteek - lue pariin otteeseen ynn kysy nyyssiss
<<<<
Should the PCs press firmly down the button hidden beneath the city
where the HL was born, the sphere creaks open and an ancient
mechanism within majestetically slowly splits the globe in half.
Within is discovered a king's ransom - coins from a score of worlds
made of at least seven valuable metals, gems and jewelry in several
different styles - this all totaling 23'000 in gold pieces. 
The Tanar'ri has possessed the statue many times, but this is the
first occasion when he uses the globe as a weapon - previously he
fought with the statue's fists.

18. Hall of Fellowship

<<<<
This is the room where the researches converged in the evenings -
all trappings of an excellent gentlemen's club are found here - a
fireplace, portwine, stuffed animals,  comfortable chairs and some
decks of cards. 
<<<<

Excellent port stored in a rack (25 bottles, each worth d6-1 x 30
gp), valuable silverware and porcelain stored in shelves (total
value 3900 gp, very heavy and easily broken, play out the difficulty
of transporting a 3' wide cup) . Paintings very imaginatively and
humorously disfigured but they still have value (and gain the PCs
the enmity of the descendants of those depicted - some major
families in multitude of spheres take offense, unless the PCs
recover and subsequently destroy the paintings they are going to get
some uncomfortable company - worth 6500 gp, 4500 gp without the
thick frames; heavy and difficult to move).

19. Hall of Perusal

This room was reserved for the Exclusive Members for research, it is
far more comfortable than the other one. This has no windows (with a
distracting view), it was lit by oil lamps hung from the ceiling. A
big wallclock is hung on the north wall, it is of gnomish
manufacture and is still ticking (though it shows the wrong time). 

19. a) The closet.

Spare tablecloths, pens, an oil lamp and three large barrels full of
oil. 

20. The Visitors' Quarters

Room after small room, all arranged in three parallel corridors. All
doors closed and firmly locked. Each room contains some equipment
taken from the destroyed crews - one room contains only swords,
another has enough cooking equipment to satisfy most gastronomous of
halflings. There is treasure in some rooms - coins and jewelry worth
8'000 gp in total. No magic items remain, the Tanar'ri has increased
its' powers by sucking out the magic contained in them. If you feel
really mean, include wands and staves in the discoveries, but no
magic remains in them - just a lingering aura. If the party needs
any kind of material equipment, they are very likely to find it
here. All equipment is personal, the Tanar'ri has not seen fit to
remove anything from the ships themselves. 

A) Linen closet, full of sheets, towels etc. For a cheap scare the
fiend might wish to animate a sheet for a round or two.
B) Latrine - pretty basic affair, but luxury after all those
shipbound weeks.
C) Visitors' Kitchen for those middle-of-the-night stomach
rumblings. 

1 Swords, arranged in neat rows on beds
2 Axes struck into the wooden walls
3 Silver coins from a multitude of worlds - 2900 in total
4 Belts, Leather armors - every piece carefully torn into small
shreds
5 Cooking equipment
6 Diaries, notebooks, pens
7 Lanterns, candles and lamps
8 Rope - various kinds of, one half mile in total
9 Copper coins from scores of spheres - 1900 in total
10 A chest filled with grayish white powder, some specks of metal,
screws and steelplates in the mixture. The victims bones... 
11 Missile weapons - xbows, bows, slings
12 Men's clothing (bloodstained and rotten, of negligible value)
13 Used to contain food, but that is long since gone
14 Metal armors gathered into a huge pile, if the door opener fails
a DEX-check he's trapped under the falling pile - taking d10 damage.
Most of the armors baly rusted, but the PCs can discover any kind of
suit here (excepting jousting armor).
15 Powder weapons - 2 arquebuses, 5 starwheel pistols, one keg (10
shots) of powder
16 Gold coins tarnished by age, bearing tens of monarchs and
standards - 2200 in total
17 Nothing at all
18 Women's clothing (as in 12)
19 Miscellaneous equipment, pipes, fishing hooks, eyeglasses
20 A fine collection of jewelry + some loose gems, value totals 3300
gp


21. Roof Garden

<<<<
Another pleasant spot for relaxation. The ground is brick-hard clay,
totally cracked and dry after decades of drought. The only surviving
plant is a gnarly, twisted appletree bearing a few sickeningly red
fruits. All others have withered, decayed and blown away as dust in
the wind.
<<<<

The fruits do indeed contain a nasty surprise, but they are not
poisonous. Quite the opposite, their taste is indeed pleasant.
However, when the PC has munched down half of an apple he spots a
human eye within the core - intelligently staring at him. Throwing
the apple off the roof or destroying the tree won't harm the
Tanar'ri at all, just deprive it of some entertainment.


22. Tower of the Art

<<<<
Up the staircase from the Atlas room leads you to an almost empty
tower room, most shelves contain only dust - only a few books and
some thin leaflets remain in their places. Their titles, at a
glance, all seem related to magic in some way.
<<<<

All the actually magical books (and most others that had had some
magic leak into them from the neighboring books) have been used to
power up the Tanar'ri's abilities, all that remains is a collection
of purely theoretical books or treatises that didn't contain any new
spells. The book that the elf sought is found here in addition to 22
others. None of them are easily readable, requiring Spellcraft rolls
to understand them. Invent titles as the PCs go through the books,
frequenting weirdly spelled nouns and old-sounding expressions. None
of the books is immediately usable, requiring at least a week of
thorough studying - the subject material is very obscure, especially
to students of more modern magic. 


23. Chief Librarian's Rooms

Beyond the pus-creature ravaged librarian's hall the PCs locate yet
another room. This smallish room complex belonged to the chief
librarian. It is located in a smallish tower, outside the main walls
and that's why its' walls haven't been broken. The rooms have been
explored by the Tanar'ri back when he still was substantial, but he
did not find anything of use here.

A) Bedroom
Pretty spartan affair. 

B) Gameroom
XXXX was very fond of gambling and here he frequently robbed his
colleagues or some visiting bibliophiles of their cash. In addition
to the beautiful oaken roundtable there's a darts range on the left
side of the room. It has been recently misused, the <<<<taulu<<< and
the surrounding walls are full of small holes - an adventuring
wizard tried out his Dart of the Hornet's Nest here.

C) Bathroom
Luxurious - steel basin that has been sunk into the tile floor. <<<<
XXXX <<<< had one of the staff wizards (an elementalist) create the
water magically, it would be a major chore to transport it here in
buckets. 
Bathing equipment, including a pot of smelly powder and two very
different bath-toys rest on a small stool. One of the toys is a
regular Rubber Duck +2, the other a hideous mummified 4" tall bear
creature (with wings and a pig's snout). It is the body of the fiend
possessing the library, he has partly forgotten about it, partly he
chuckled inside when he "hid" it beside the cute duck - it registers
strongly under a ____detect magic____ or ____detect evil____ spell. 

Own library

Coordinates of hometown (hidden within really grating poetry),
coordinates of the base on Slubia,
the keys to the Tome,

<<<<

24. The Temple of Thoth

A simple shrine, containing just the deity-figure carved of whitest
marble and a crumpled figure on the floor. He is <<<< Mr. X <<<< who
finally succumbed to his wounds here, Tlach and his multitude of
servants have not been able to enter this room. All previous
investigators have chosen other areas to explore, so that the chief
librarian's body and his possessions still remain here.

The body is of the non-animated sort, not smelly at all due to the
dehydration. He's wearing traditional black garb - his material
possessions are easily discovered: 24 gp, ring of keys, ____wand of
magic detection_____ (with 43 charges left), ____Dagger +2 (with
special power: Detect Medusae (120' range))_____.


25. Room of Knowledge

The door to this room has no less than four locks - they can be
picked (two first open normally, the last two impose a -15% to the
open locks roll due to their complexity) or opened with a
_____knock_____ spell. The door cannot be forced under normal
conditions (perhaps with a girdle of giant strength, perhaps not).
The room has no windows, and its' walls have been prepared with
gorgon's blood against an other-planarly assault (no access from
border ethereal or astral planes).

<<<<
KUVA (lukko)
<<<<

<<<<
After dealing with that monstrosity of a lock you finally get the
door open. It moves inward with a teeth-grating noise, revealing a
dark room at the top of the tower. The only pieces of furniture are
a massive oaken table and a throne-like chair near it. On the table
lies open a massive book bound into black slabs of stone and a
inkwell with some weirdlooking feather pens dipped into the long
since dried ink.
<<<<

<<<<
This could be an extra helm for the PCs if you think that I've been
too stingy with treasure.
<<<<

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<
The big book is indeed a rare treasure - the non-seeker people that
have during the last decades laid their eyes upon one can be counted
with one hand's fingers. It's the Tome of Knowledge, the fastest
known method to send information across the Known Spheres. It's a
very massive book, a lot heavier than it seems to be (400 kilos in
fact) - it is very magical, showing up as a white-hot rectangle when
a _____detect magic_____ spell is used. 
The book is locked with several massive clasps - the lock last to be
opened (five locks in all) contains the obligatory trap, a
traditional poison needle that can prick the skin of a careless book
thief, the trap has to be disarmed before the book can be opened
safely - this is done by pressing a stud on the engraved clasp (even
if the characters have the keys to the locks the trap remains
active). The poison is very subtle and a saving throw is rolled only
after fifteen minutes, when the venom has penetrated characters
circulatory system completely - only then its effects begin to show
up. If the roll is successful the character feels a strange numbness
in his tongue and fingers, effectively acting at -3 DEX for the next
hour and having a noticable stutter in his speech - on the other
hand, if the roll is missed the character's life functions slow down
to being unrecognizable in fifteen minutes (unless the PCs use some
sort of magical examination - ____detect life____ or somesuch, the
character appears to be dead).
Once the book is opened the characters discover that it's filled
with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of different handwritings -
most of them tiny and very tightly controlled. 

<<<<
Sample entries.... Handout [8].
<<<<

The pens are indeed crafted of very rare feathers - a knowledgeable
character could recognize cockatrice, hippogriff, ki-rin and
archaeopteryx among them. They might be of some use as material
components in spells or the preparation of scrolls.

The tanar'ri has been unable to enter the room - the keys are in the
sanctum, and he didn't foresee the possibility of the room being
unaccessible from ethereal - he burnt a lot of magic to gain the
power to walk through walls, all for nothing.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<



Encounters within the Halls of Knowledge
-----------------------------------------------------------

Some of these encounters should happen only once - and you should
refrain from using too many illusions to keep the players scared.
The library patrol encounter happens every time the PCs threaten the
books. 

The Dead Librarian
<<<<
As you enter this room filled with bookshelves you notice that
you're not alone. There's an old librarian lifting a fallen volume
from the floor. He hasn't noticed you - but you do notice that the
shelf is visible through him. When he has replaced the book on a
shelf he turns toward you and the first thing you spot is a large,
still bleeding gash on his transparent throat. He leaps into the air
and in a moment has flown into your midst.
<<<<

Spectre: AC: xxxxx
<<<< Statz

Ilusion of a spectre. If the party priest rolls really well on his
turning attempt the spirit does indeed react as it should, but the
Tanar'ri launches the same illusion on the PCs after some minutes
(now they have a -2 to their disbelief attempt since the spirit has
so far behaved exactly as it should).


<<<< 
The source of the almost unhearable noises that have followed your
progress lately is finally revealed, a black panther with a
glittering fur coat has silently stalked you here. As it approaches,
it stretches out two long, boneridged tentacles from its back. The
light here must be playing tricks in your eyes, since it is quite
difficult to make out the creature's exact position.
<<<<
Statz: 

Displacer beast illusion (-4 to disbelieve if the PCs are familiar
with the displacer beast's abilities).


If the PCs try to burn, or otherwise vandalize the collections:
<<<<
Only a fraction of a second before your torch reaches the bristling
dry pages you hear a wet sploshing sound behind a corner - and soon
a humanoid shape of living water appears and skilfully extinguishes
the torch, wetting you totally in the process.
<<<<

A small-sized Water Elemental: AC:
<<<< Statz

This isn't a combat to the death, in a couple of rounds the
elemental simply vanishes into thin air. If the PCs reattempt their
vandalism soon, more powerful elementals are sent in to counter the
threat (and they won't give up that easily). The same happens if the
PCs try to move any books from the room they're stored in.

A medium-sized Air/Ice/Water Elemental 
<<<<Statz


If the going gets boring - spice the game up with some easy kills.
<<<<
More of the disgusting pasty white creatures are in this room -
unfortunately without their clothes. Your stomach turns as you watch
the group shamble to attack in unison.
<<<<

Statz:

Ten to fifteen grublings, shouldn't take too long, nor sap the PCs'
strength but minimally.


Events:

Return to Ship - all bounded up, crew slaughtered.

Discovery of the ship hold - when, why not before.

Midnight - how the clock tolls.



When the PCs have discovered the Tome of Knowledge:

<<<<
You slowly climb down the twisting steps from the darkened room and
notice that you are not alone in the library hall. There are two
intimidatingly big fire elementals here to burn you to a crisp, a
flickering figure of a human fighter (nine feet tall) and behind
these, a ghostly, semi-transparent shape of a winged bear with a
human face.
<<<<

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

This is not the final battle of the adventure, Thlach cannot be
killed with conventional means and the characters have to exorcise
him to rid the library of him. This is a battle for the gigantic
tome from the locked room - the tanar'ri is too eager to absorb its'
considerable magics. Even if the PCs aren't carrying the book, the
fiend attacks them with all power he has got left - two summoned
elementals and a shadow magic creature. 

Statz:

The elementals and the warrior figure engage the PCs immediately,
the demon circles the party seeking to carry the book away with his
telekinetical abilities. As soon as the summoned creatures are
vanquished the fiend emits a horrifying squeal and dives into a wall
- escaping the PCs.

If the PCs escape without the book and leave the door open or
abandon the book here, Thlach sucks in its' powers, becoming yet
more powerful. The power absorption is a lengthy process, so he
can't do it in the middle of combat.

Final Countdown:

When the PCs have escaped with their loot, remind them that the
adventure is not over yet - they have to take care of the demon
before their mission is finally accomplished (that is, if they wish
to have the Story Award XPs).

The fiend must be destroyed in the library - otherwise it is routed
there when an exorcism attempt is successful. Only by destroying
its' real power base can it be banished to the Abyss for 1001 years.

Let them try to fight the demon normally - it simply won't die, the
ethereal "body" reforms in the Library a couple of hours after the
fight. And the demon regains its' power fast - the disgusting pus
creatures and elementals fight alongside Thlach.

The PCs have to resort to the special FX-department, below are
detailed a few means with which to slay the fiend:

I) Fight fire with fire.

The Therioton contains masses of useful information concerning
fiends - in (21-INT) days time the reader has acquired sufficient
knowledge to lead the other PCs through a low power exorcism
attempt. 

<<<<
I have always found the AD&D rules about the nonweapon proficiencies
pretty bogus (they don't even give default values for nonskilled
characters). Does the reader gain a full-fledged Tanar'ri-craft NWP
from the book is up to you.
<<<<

The PCs have to summon the demon to the room they are in, and
quickly draw a chalk-circle on the floor to contain the beast. Only
then the aspiring demonologist can safely proceed with the ceremony.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Tasks:

1) Enthrall the demon so that the circles can be prepared 
        A CHA-check is needed.

2) Draw the symbolic circles
        With a successful DEX-3 check (or using the Artist-
proficiency)
        If the first roll is failed the ethereal fiend attacks the
speaker, moving so wildly that it cannot be contained within a
circle. If the second roll is failed the beast retains its mobility,
attacking the exorcist as he comes closer for the ceremony's end.

3) Force the demon out of the Prime Plane
        A power struggle erupts, on a round by round basis, both
combatants roll d10 every round, counting the totals. Once either
combatant has a margin of 30 points, he is deemed to be the victor. 
        High ability (int, wis, cha) scores give bonuses to
exorcism (15-16 = +1, 17 = +2, 18 = +3), these points are the
starting score for the exorcist - if the PC already has a real
Tanar'ri-craft NWP (do increase the demon's score in this case too)
he has a +5 to his score, the knowledge the PC has gleaned from the
Therioton in a few days isn't much when compared to real training.
        Detachment from the combat is tough, during the round the
character doesn't roll anything and the opponent gains +2 to his own
roll.

        If the PC loses the struggle, he's possessed by the fiend
and proceeds to attack the other PCs as best as he can (even without
any regard to his own safety - like launching a fireball at zero
distance). The possessed character has to be exorcised in a way
similar to the above, but a success merely removes the fiend's
spirit from the body. The character's own spirit is pushed back to
the subconscious during the possession and it takes a few days to
re-adjust to the world.

        On the other hand, should the PC emerge victorious, the
transparent figure begins to ripple and twist in the center of the
ring - and seems to be finally turning inside out, when with a
whistling noise it is sucked away to thin air.

II) Burning down Therioton

The book burns with a flickering greenish flame, only the metallic
covers and the four impossibly thin metallic sigils remain. This has
the effect that the PC has a +1 to his rolls explained in the
previous section as a powerful source of vileness from which the
fiend was able to draw some of his power has been destroyed. 

III) Burning down the Library

This is a viable option, and appeals to any pyromaniacs among the
gamers. If they explain their attempts well enough they may succeed.
Perhaps this can be run as a freeform session without any mechanics
- apart from the Thlach's attacks of course. Perhaps this action
dispells the demon back to the Abyss right away, perhaps it just
grants PCs a bonus in future exorcism attempts.

IV) Destroying the body

This will stop the fiend from regenerating fast (now it regenerates
only 1 hp / turn), but this is just a small victory, since it's not
possible to "kill" the demon in normal combat. It gives a +1 bonus
to the exorcist's rolls as explained above, if the body is destroyed
in some imaginative way during the spiritual combat itself, the PC
gains a +2 bonus to one roll.

V) Divine intervention

The real deus ex machina option - how this is handled (if the PCs
are even able to attempt this) is entirely up to you. If the PCs
collect every book on the Celestian religion (or whichever you
consider the main "enemy" for the fiend) and place them around the
circle it might be worth a small bonus.

VI) Exorcism / Dispel Evil / All that Jazz

The spells....

Grande Finale:

PCs, laps filled with the most promising-looking books scramble out
of the collapsing tower, while the entire library spontaneously
begins to burn.


The Rewards:

From seekers
XPs
Material rewards

Further adventures within context:

The Search for Si-Pok : Who grabbed this lad - Waese rivals who hope
to use him for ransom or gnomes who have a penchant for kabuki.
Foreshadowing for the Venetian Schism when these two oriental
nations clash in space ?

Evil never dies : Can the PCs hold on to the evil book. And more
importantly, can they get it back from someone who took it. How is a
sentient book best destroyed ? How close to a sun can they go before
their ship begins to suffer ?

An Auction : The PCs more than likely bring back a holdful of rare
books - are these given back to the seekers or will the PCs sell the
books individually to best bidders. What if someone isn't very
interested in paying for the books ?

The BIG book - what methods will the seekers resort to to gain it
back. What information can they get out of it. Whose detect magic
spell picks out the enormous aura exuded by this tome.

The information on Ogres: Do the PCs dare to seek out the Gray Star
/ Locked Sphere, will they seek an audience at the court of the last
Eternal, are they able to locate the Living Crystals in the
Phlogiston, is there no end to these Capitalized Entities - all of
these plotlines simply scream for coverage.

The colony: degenerated ? insect shamans ? extinct ? bad news !

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

New Monsters:

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Grubkin - low power lower plane denizens - 
Grossness Index 5 (see the PCs' faces when the pus reforms /
massmorphs)
Nastiness Index 2 (white is white is white - looks don't revolt very
much)

Climate/Terrain  All
Frequency                 Very rare (naturally only in lower
planes)
Organization     Groups
Activity cycle   Any
Diet             Nil
Intelligence              Semi/Summoner's
Treasure                  Incidental
Alignment                 N
No. Appearing    1-100
Armor Class      10
Movement                  9
Hit Dice                  2 
THAC0            19
No. of Attacks   1 punch or 1 weapon attack 
Damage/Attack    1-2 or by weapon type 
Special Attacks  Overbearing, suffocation, massmorphing
Special Defenses Reformation, immune to blunt weapons
Magic Resistance 10 %
Size             S (4' high)
Morale           Elite (15) 
XP value                  Per colony


Grubkin are a "species" quite commonly found on some Lower Planes.
In their usual form they are brightly white bulbous humanoids with
large empty eyeholes and even larger toothless mouth. Their hands
have three fullyopposable thick fingers and their feet two large
toes. The creatures are unable to speak but they can emit some kinds
of whistling and chittering noises with their mouths. Grubkin are
composed purely of white pus, which tends to flow disconcertingly
from limb to limb within a tight skin.

Combat: In combat grubkin fare well only by their sheer numbers,
they are lousy fighters. They are easily hit, but only
piercing/slashing weapons are able to damage them, blunt weapons
just distribute their energy into the liquid pus without breaking
the skin. They are physically weak and thus unable to fight any
weapons larger than size S. Solitary grubkin are not dangerous to
any but the most lightly armed - in groups they tend to use their
weight to a distinct advantage by engaging in wrestling. An even
more unsettling combat tactic is their ability to shoot their
internal fluids into the faces of their assailants - this does
damage to themselves so such action is restricted only to close
combat when a direct hit is almost guaranteed. 
The grubkin have got some sort of a regeneration ability - if they
are fighting on remains of previously died grubfolk they are able to
assimilate the pus on the floor (and regain 3 hp / round). 
If there is a truly large amount (say, some four inches) of pus on
the floor - the entire fluid can rise as a gigantic (up to fifteen-
feet tall) grubkin. Such a monster has AC 6 (thicker skin), 8 HD,
and its fist does 1-12 points of damage, T0 11, Morale 20. This
giant form doesn't use fluid jets to attack its enemies - if its
attack roll is a 20 it has grabbed its opponent, pulled him close to
its body and swallowed him. On subsequent rounds the victim takes d6
points of damage and will suffocate normally (rules on PHB p. XX).
And as if the larger variation wasn't a tough enough opponent
already, it does regenerate at the normal rate.

Society: Grubkin are unintelligent creatures and as such have no
concept of society. While controlled by something they are acting
under the controllers orders - ome unknown, very hard gray
stone. Some symbols engraved into it and filled with black, rubbery
gunk. The meaning of some symbols can be guessed (fire, stone) - but
most of them are completely alien. 
The axe is very light, and gives a +2 bonus to both attack and
damage. Against golems it works as a rod of smiting - but even that
pales in comparison to the axe's effects on elves. After two
successful hits on elves (not necessarily the same opponent) the
blade of the axe breaks apart into two moving halves (looks somewhat
like jaws from the side) - attack bonus rises to +4, and on an
attack roll of 19-20 the axe bites down on the opponent,
automatically inflicting damage on following rounds even if it is
wrested from the attacker's hand (a successful bend bars by the
victim roll detaches the axe). However, this effect subsides
instantly when the axe hits a non-elf opponent. Against ogres the
axe will refuse to do combat and stick to the hand of its wielder
making it impossible to fight effectively.
The axe can detect magic - a symbol lights up to differing shades of
blue when pointed at a magical item/aura/whatever. The symbol fails
to work perfectly in non-evil hands, and all cursed items show up as
very powerful - as do all magical constructs.
It can also detect heat, which probably won't be very useful except
on iceworlds.
When the both symbols light up there's an Ogre Mage present, a fact
that can sometimes be very useful - but actually deducing what the
lighting up of these two symbols means is not going to be easy.
The other symbols do not work, perhaps the rubbery gunk within the
carvings has lost its power.
The axe belonged to the legendary ogrish space explorer Rogn Kijarck
who perished in the last battles of the First Unhuman War. How the
PCs find the axe is up to you to decide, but once the ogres hear of
its discovery, nothing can stop them to recover it.
The axe is a semi-artifact, a gift from the ogrish gods, and as such
very hard to destroy / get rid of. If the PCs do not invent a
devious method to destroy it the axe should come back to them in the
hands of some powerful opponent.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Orbus ring

Until a spelljammer puts the ring on its effects won't be
discovered. And even then only at first situation when the ship is
caught in combat the real effect will be discovered, till then the
helmsman will feel just a weird tingling while guiding the ship.
The ring increases the SR of the ship by one if worn when
spelljamming. The negative side-effect is the permanent loss of one
hit point per week (seven uses) of ring-use (non-continuous use
counts too). The effect is discovered after each loss if an INT-test
is made (a save vs. death magic means that the lost hit point will
return after an year of abstinence from ring use).
The orbus rings are crafted by capturing an Orbus' spirit and
binding it to the golden globe. The spirit has to attune to the
wearer, therefore it remains dormant a week before the powers become
evident. A habit that the beholders greatly despise - they can sense
the spirit within the ring, this might give the PCs a severe
disadvantage the next time they communicate with beholders.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Tome of Enlightment

Every major Seeker establishment has one of these extremely magical
books. Though it seems not to be very thick at all - within its
covers is an uncountable number of pages, all filled with different
handwritings (when a new page is required, it just appears in the
book). The covers are thin metal, embossed with the Seeker symbol. 

This book is one of the very few methods of communication across the
uncountable voids between worlds. When some text is entered into a
Tome, it appears in other Tomes across the spheres in a short time
(1-100 minutes, not dependent on distance). The communication
doesn't require any spells or magic pens, all magic is provided by
the Tome itself.

The Tomes are never found on the open markets, and most mages and
clerics believe them to be nothing but a fraud. Once a potential
buyer is convinced of the book's authenticity he will pawn his own
grandmother to get it. Or hire the seventy toughest crooks to
"persuade" the PCs to negotiate price to a more manageable level or
give it away for free. How much they can get for it depends on the
campaign, its relative value is the same as for a fully equipped
hammership with a major helm. 

The information in the book isn't very useful for PCs, most of it is
just endless discussion on varying topics (the Arcane and the Neogi
are favorites). Think of it as a magical equivalent of the Usenet
news we all are familiar with. Add ".signatures" and "flaming" only
if you're certain that your players can stomach them. The book can
be considered to have a "recent history" proficiency of 15 (it takes
the reader d6 days to find out any facts).

Of Tanar'ri-craft there's precious little information in the book,
the Therioton is mentioned twice in passing. <<<< XXXX <<<< himself
seems to have been a very quiet man, he has joined only a few
conversations during his time.

[handout 10 - sample]

If the characters decide to repeatedly write something on the book,
they immediately get several "where did you get this book"-like
replies. The book's location cannot be <<<<resolved<<<< via its
messages, they're identified by the name of the book (which, in this
case happens to be "Pladic") that the PCs cannot alter.

<<<<
KUVA
<<<<

Therioton

An ancient book from the long since forgotten Vehemnean culture.
Vehemneans were very handy with magic, about half of the population
had some magic skills. Their culture developed very quickly, but
once they had conquered their own world and travelled through space
to some colonies within their own sphere (Arcane wouldn't sell them
anything but furnaces for motive power) they grew rapidly bored and
the empire stagnated badly. In their laziness the Vehemneans turned
to Tanar'ri for labor - this, of course led to their destruction in
a short time as more and more mages became corrupted and turned
against each other and the empire itself plunging the world to a
chaotic civil war. Vehemnean planet was finally purged by Hennha, a
female messiah-figure, who unleashed some Lightning Angels from
Concordant Opposition to cleanse the world - the entire planet was
scoured of all life, and its' atmosphere diluted to a point of being
equal with void. 

Where the Venathan culture reigned is entirely up to you. I put
their remains on Kule, the voidworld "moon" orbiting Oerth (some
info found in the boxed set and SJR6 Realmspace, but needs a lot of
work anyway so no worries). The lightning angels eradicated
everything that was not made of metal or stone, the dilution and
eventual disappearance of the atmosphere took just several centuries
after the entire biosphere was eliminated. Air remains in some areas
(big craters, caves), but the ruins have no breathable areas. The
deadliest traps in ruins were the antimagic zones (or pre-cast
dispels) left by the wizards, they are very effective in eradicating
whole parties when their Airsphere spells get negated - spellcasting
without air is impossible unless the spell in question has no verbal
component. The drow elves (the present "rulers" of Kule) have
removed much of the remaining magic materials from the ruins, but a
lot remains to be discovered. Perhaps the party is unfortunate
enough to run into some lightning angels who were trapped inside a
collapsing building...

The Therioton is a huge 2' by 3' sized book bound in human skin.
Every page is hair-thin, and almost translucent, making the book a
pain to read in too well-lit areas. In addition to containing some
very valuable information on Tanar'ri-craft (80 pages), the book
includes four bound fiends from Abyss - their spirits have been
attached to the metal sigils found on the last few pages of the
book. Some spells, unfortunately written in forgotten Vehemnese
round out the book (Illusionary Might, Script of Enthrallment,
Immaterial Suffocation, Boiling Blood). Deciphering them requires a
successful Spellcraft-roll in addition to the need of understanding
the language as the principles behind the spells are rather
outdated.
Reading the book from cover to cover gives the reader the Tanar'ri-
craft NWP, and tells him what the sigils are - Smeag Eran was in a
hurry, and tried to pry a sigil loose without reading what it was. 

Thlacnch was the lowest ranked Tanar'ri in the book - the four
others are much tougher cases:     
        Yklin!da, a slavelieutenant of Yeenoghu's 
        Anmano, the spiral fiend who has the power to twist his
victims' flesh            (cenobites, anyone ?)
        Mrakk, a standard-issue whip-bearing armor-clad
battletrooper from hell with                INT 6
        Rhusz, a twofaced small monkey with a glib voice.
 
Chest of Containment:

bla bla bla...


New Spells:

Illusionary Might -- Mage II (illusion)
        The caster seems to grow in power and stature, if he's a
mage then bluish wisps of magic appear to circle around his head, a
fighter's muscles ripple menacingly under a tightly stretched skin
etc.  Affects morale -2 to enemies, +2 to allies.

Script of Enthrallment -- Mage III (charm)
        The reader (unless he saves successfully vs. spells)
regards the book this spell was cast on as so compulsory reading
that he won't do anything but re-read it again and again, even if
that means forgetting eating, bathing etc.  Basically it needs to be
enhanced with a permanence spell, as it stands now, the duration is
mere 8 hours / level, not enough to endanger anyone.

Immaterial Suffocation --- Mage V (evocation/illusion)
        A noose (or a pair of hands or something - the visual
        effect is illusionary and personal) appears around the
victim's neck, tightening all the time. Damage caused is d10 per
round (cumulative: d10 on the first round, 2d10 on the second, 3d10
on the third and so on). The grip of the spell can only be loosened
with ___dispel magic___ or equivalent. It prevents talking, so the
victim is probably doomed unless his magically endowed friends can
launch a quick counterspell.

Boiling Blood -- Mage III (evocation)
        A very nasty spell, and effective in space as no flame is
loosened.  The victim takes 2d6 points of damage per round for
(caster level / 2, max 10) rounds.  A successful save vs. spells (at
the beginning and then on every other round) cancels the spell. 
There is no visual component to the spell, the victim just feels his
blood begin to bubble before erupting in excruciating pain (he is,
of course, unable to do anything during the spell's duration).  The
spell affects only intelligent creatures, animals are immune.

Shadow -- Mage II (Illusion)

Disband Elemental -- Mage IV (evocation)

Seek Unlife -- Mage I (Divination/necromatic)



Timeline

This timeline is an attempt to distil some information only hinted
at in the text and to give the DM some idea what has happened
before. It also ties down some loose ends and perhaps inspires some
further adventures.

All dates in Seeker years - probably their Year Zero is the date of
founding some important library or the finalization of their own
charter. 


1103    Pladic Library opened

1304    The Therioton discovered in a deserted colony on Kule. 

1431    Quarmi Sehran elected the new chief librarian on Pladic

1446    The Xenos destroy a branch library on Toril, burning half a
city in the progress

1455    Phairl, a radiant dragon visits Pladic and is "very
interested" in the books. 

1457    Bral Library completed

1458    Ironpiece Library closed down, all books transferred to
Bral
        Smeag Eran discovers Therioton in a storage room on Pladic

1459    Tlachncha possesses the Pladic library
        The first two unsuccessful explorations

1460    The third investigators' ship fails to return

1463    The Pladic Library is discreetly removed from all rosters
after a Seeker meeting

1464    The Seeker Atlas' description of Pladic 'fails to mention'
the library ruins, the    notes on Slubia are somewhat nastified,
there is no such thing as a ten feet tall insect with a saw-bladed
proboscis.

1469    Phairl meets its' end in the rams of two Neogi
deathspiders.

1477    The entire four ship Slubia colonization fleet (lizardmen
from Lahspace) destroyed after they land on Pladic for a bit of
rest. The Lahian lizards decide to expand in other directions when
the ships do not return. 

1484    The present


Thlach-nchar -- the adversary

A low-power Tanar'ri that was bound into Therioton by a Vehemnean
mage over two millennia ago. He was the first to be released from
the book as it was inspected by the Seekers.

STR     16       Telekinetical strength
INT     15       Smart for such a low echelon fiend
WIS     9        Impulsive, no premeditation to his actions
CON     15       Ethereal constitution
DEX     14       TK agility
CHA     8        Selfcentred, bad speaker

AC: 0 (Manifestation on prime material plane almost nonexistent)
HD: 6
hp: 33
#AT: 1 touch
D: d8
SA: Chilling touch (-1 to STR/DEX per hit), telekinesis,
SD: Ethereality, regeneration (1 hp/rd.), immortality
MR: 35 % / Nil
XP: A plenty

   Form - Used to be a smallish, matt-black bear with oversized fangs,
gaudy butterfly wings and multifaceted eyes. As he gained power from
the all the magic items (especially helms) in the library he
gradually shrunk in physical form, and became a totally spiritual
entity - now he looks somewhat like a ghost, totally transparent
humanoidal entity still bearing his wings - though the color has
seeped away;

   Powers - Elemental summoning, Illusioncraft, very low level Gate,
absorption of solid magic, noncorporeal, chilling touch, magic
resistance 35 % (against wizardly spells), regeneration;

Weaknesses - Dust, priestly magic, no resistance to demoncraft,
hunger for magic, bound   to the Pladic library;

   Personality - Now, for the first time ever, Thlach is at the top -
even if the place to be top in gets visitors only once a year. From
a bullied Tanar'ri has evolved a sadist of a worst kind - nothing
delights him as much as toying with his victims and finally killing
them. Impatient, four millennia in a sigil has only decreased his
patience.


Of Inspiration / Thanks To / Boing Boing:

Neil Gaiman & Jill xxx for the grubkin (ish#35 of Sandman)
William W. Connors for the Flying Knives scene (Bane of the
Shadowborn in Dungeon #22)
Pushead -        the artist who draws the grittiest pictures around
(famous for his T-shirts for Metallica).
Pyogenesis - An "upcoming" doom/death metal band from Germany.
Michael Moorcock - The evocative death of a world from Stormbringer.
