The Dark of the Whole Sordid Mess

Mm**. :<"* .:;- •*- ITU x Hey, berk! If you're a player, put this book down Only the Dungeon Master should know the dark v£ of the B\ood War. Go read /'he Chant of the War instead — it's safer. Sample file •*>• K&'i GUIDE • CREDI+S Designers: Colin McComb and Monte Cook Editor and Developer: Ray Vallese Cover Artist: Alan Pollack Interior Artist: Adam Rex Conceptual Artist: Dana Knutson Cartographer: Diesel Project Manager: Andria Hayday and K.S. Boomgarden Art Director: Bob Galica Electronic Prepress Coordinator: Dave Conant Typography: Angelika Lokotz Border Art: Robert Repp Graphic Design: Greg Kerkman and Dawn Murin Proofreader: Michele Carter Sample file TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd. 201 Sheridan Springs Road 120 Church End Lake Geneva Cherry Hinton WI53147 Cambridge CB1 3LB U.S.A. United Kingdom 2621xxxl502 ADVANCED DUNGEONS ft DRAGONS, ADftD, MONSTROUS COMPENDSUM, DRAGON, DUNGEON MASTER, and the Lady of Pain logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. PLANESCAPE, MONSTROUS MANUAL, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. ® 1996 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U.S.A. Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English-language products of TSR, Inc. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. iNIROIllir I ION 1 h'i i"»"' MACK: AA The Blood War 5 Magical Weapons 44 Using This Book 6 The Dagger of Ra-than 44 Using the Other Books 7 The Glaive of the Barbazu 45 The Scythe of Plane-Opening 45 A HISTORY or VIOI rncr . Magical Items 46 The Founding Myth Amulet of Superiority 46 The Time Line .... .10 Ladder of Infinite Climbing 46 Mark of Invisible Alignment 46 MAJOR PLAYERS 16 Mimir 47 TheBaatezu 16 Spirit-Catcher 47 Divisions of Power 17 Fiend Wizards 48 The Dark Eight 18 The Four Types 48 The Lords of the Nine 20 Baatezu Wizards 48 The Three Commands 20 Tanar'ri Sorcerers 49 TheTanar'ri 21 Yugoloth Magicians 49 Rising Through the Ranks 22 Fiend Priests 50 Divisions of Power 22 Baatezu Clerics 50 Tanar'ri NPCs 24 Tanar'ri Priests 51 Abyssal Lords 24 The Godless Yugoloths 51 The Yugoloths 26 Spells 51 Divisions of Power 26 Wizard Spells 52 The Baernaloths 27 Priest Spells 53 Mercenary Companies 27 Yugoloth NPCs 28 SITES AND SKIRMISHES 56 Other Players 29 The Field of Nettles 56 The Celestials 29 Moldrus's Gap 57 The Slaadi 31 The Stones of Draetilus 57 The Gehreleths 32 The Bridge at Khalas 58 The Modrons 33 The Scarlet Jungle 60 The Stinging Sands of Minethys 60 TACTICS AND STRATFGIFS Sample34 fileThe Burning Glacier of Mungoth 61 Embarkation Points 35 Skirmishes of the Blood War 61 The River Styx 36 Hell-Bent 62 Planar Doorways 37 Death's Gorge 64 The Portals of Sigil 37 The Walls of Carroristo 66 Lower-Planar Gates 37 Summoning Allies 37 THE POWERS THAT BE 68 Teleportation 38 Law and Chaos 68 Magical Immunities 38 Good and Evil 71 Scary Monsters 39 Neutrality 73 The Tactics of Enchantment 39 The Use of Mortals 39 BIT PARTS 74 Combatants 40 Couriers 74 Agents of Stealth 40 Arms Dealers 74 Servants and Breeders 40 Mercenaries 75 Battle Plans 40 Recruiters and Rescuers 75 Strike Forces 41 Double Agents 76 Reports From the Front 41 Spies 76 The Fighting 41 Pawns 76 Aftermath 42 Prisoners of War 42 APPENDIX: FIEND ATTACKS, VULNERABILITIES, Winning the War 43 AND SOURCES 77 When, in the course of events both divine and material, a chancre develops on the face of reality, all beings must arise and take notice. The Blood War is such a chancre, its pustules rising across the Lower Planes. This tome is a call to arms for those who would oppose evil, for those who would see evil crushed and routed beneath the heels of righteousness and goodness. There is no other way. — from the introduction to The Blood War: An Essay, by Willion the Pious Some folks believe that you can contribute one way or another to the Blood War. It ain't true, least not as far as most contributions go. The war's just too big, and most times, a small push one way or another ain 't going to do a thing. 'Course, if a body can manage to make a small push in the right place and at the right time, she can change the entire face of the multiverse. But no one's yet found that time or that place. That's why it's important to study the history of the Blood War — to find the right time to apply that slightest amount of pressure. After all, what's been is too often a harbinger of what will be. Right now, the fighting's contained (mostly) on the Lower Planes. But only a leatherhead could fail to real- ize what'd happen if the fiends turned against the forces of the Upper. In the meantime, while we're studying how to stop them, the fiends'll go on slaughtering each other like they've been doing since time immemorial. That's not going to change in the near future. - from The History of the Blood War, Vol. II, by Suzameade Haralin the Greater Sample file THE WAR • The Blood War's been raging for an awfully long time. Some say it's weathered the birth of the planes and the advent of the first mortal, and that it'll survive the fore- seen death of the last. It spans time for all of recorded history - which, in the planes, goes back a long way - and there's no time in anyone's memory that it hasn't raged across the Lower Planes. That goes for the powers, too, for as far back as their memories extend. And it's said they've been around for as long as creation. So it's a bit of a task to try to fit the story of the war into just a few books. That don't mean bloods haven't tried. Mortals and immortals alike have labored to catalogue the war's ex- cesses, triumphs, and losses, their observations and insights filling libraries that could span nations on any prime-material world. Some bloods, such as Suzameade Haralin the Greater, have delivered telling insights, while others, like Willion the Pious, are more known for their flights of fancy and ignorant re- marks regarding the ebb and flow of the war. But the vast majority of tomes don't come close to paint- ing the true portrait of the Blood War, and precious few have pierced the dark of the whole sordid mess. Fact is, it should come as no surprise that very few sods know anything of value about the war. Millions of pages have been scrawled about it, and most of that material's contradictory and confusing, sometimes even within the same work. Sample file / :?\ H&? '•'&&' //A &n y/{ fe This book, though, hits the mark. It's a torchlight, a USING THIS guide through the darkest depths of the war, the secrets sup- pressed for years, the players in the great farce and their Naturally, Dungeon Masters (DMs) who plan to involve their part in keeping it going. It's what the other tomes couldn't player characters (PCs) in the Blood War will find this book in- begin to approach (though some of those authors may have valuable. Whether the DM just wants to let the heroes get their guessed at the magnitude of the revelations they missed). toes wet, or whether he wants to throw them into the deep end This book is also a reference for anyone who's won- head-first, The Dark of the War holds all the answers. dered about the Blood War and how to use it for personal 'Course, those answers should stay under lock and key gain. These pages uncover: - this chant is for the DM's • a history of the war, presenting some of its eyes only. And don't let the blackest moments in plain sight. Learn of PCs mug one fiend and the treacheries and double- learn all the secrets of crosses of the baatezu and the war! Rumors, the tanar'ri, the veiled lies, and half- agendas of the yugo- SURE, I'LL S PI LL truths can and loths, and the med- + HE DARK ef+HE WAR, FRIEND should reach dling of the powers their ears quite I + 'LL ©NLY C0S+ — and celestials. easily. But the real truth • breakdowns of the H0W [TIUCH DID!A SAY of the war - any part of YA HAD, AGAIN? baatezu and tanar'ri the truth — should take its forces, along with more — SUCK SAZ, own sweet time. After all, detailed descriptions of most folks A WI+H those who command their + © CLUELESS never tumble loyalties. Ever wonder about JINK +HAN BRAINS to the dark of Baator's Dark Eight? The lords of the conflict. the Abyss? The generals of the They just play their little roles, never even aware of their fiendish armies? Find them here. connection (if any) to the whole. The PCs should be required 4 a close look at the roles of the yugoloths, the celes- to prove their mettle in dangerous quests before getting a tials, the scavenging slaadi, the yugoloth-hating glimpse of the Blood War's secrets, and even then they gehreleths, and the modron Army of the Blood War.

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