Sample file OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE DRAGON KNIGHT BY RICK SWAN Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 2 PROLOGUE 5 CHAPTER I: GRIDMIRE 10 CHAPTER 2: SOUTHERN STEAMWALL 18 CHAPTER 3: PIRIM 41 CHAPTER 4: SARGOHGG 45 CHAPTER 5: AHHAR 48 CHAPTER 6: KOR ISLAND AND BEYOND 52 EPILOGUE 57 APPENDIX 58 ADVENTURE MAPS 31, MODULE COVER PREGENERATED PCS Sample file 61-64 Credits Editing: Mike Breault Cartography: Steve Beck Cover Art: Larry Elmore Dave Sutherland Graphic Design: Stephanie Tabat Interior Art: Valerie Valusek Typography: Angelika Lokotz TSR, Inc. , , TSR Ltd. POB 756 h^ZL_TM 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton Lake Geneva ^SA Cambridge CB1 3LB R Wl 53147 USA p,ooUcTsI?, oU!r,S.o,..T,o- United Kingdom ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, DRAGONLANCE, PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. This adventure is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. 0-88038-843-9 9285XXX2001 ®1990 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. INTRODUCTION Dragon Knight is the second of three modules in an epic Dragon Dawn introduced several new types of characters. DRAGONLANCE® series set in Taladas, the previously un- Two of them return in this module. Tavin Longspear, a non- known continent on the opposite side of the planet Krynn. player character, is based on the dragon knight character kit. The first module, Dragon Dawn, began with an investigation Chyrub, a player character, is based on the legionary of Eras- of the murder of the neutral good dragons of Taladas. This led tas character kit. For reference, record sheet templates for to the revelation of an organized plot to prevent a major these two character kits can be found in the center section of gathering of the dragons. This module continues the investi- this module. gation, climaxing with the discovery of the mysterious master The dragon knight and legionary of Erastas kit listings differ of the dragon-killers. slightly from those in the Time of the Dragon set. The kits in All of the modules in the series are self-contained and can this module tell whether a given skill is a weapon proficiency be played independently. However, if you plan to play the (indicated by a W; a specialized weapon skill is indicated by entire series, the modules should be played in order. SpW). The kits also show how many slots each skill requires. The DM should have access to the AD&D® 2nd Edition Additionally, every character knows his native language au- game rules to run this module. The Time of the Dragon tomatically; because it doesn't fill one of the language slots, boxed set describes the world of Taladas in some detail, it's tagged Native L/0. while the DRAGONLANCE Adventures book describes char- acters and rule modifications specific to the world of Krynn. Though both are helpful resources, neither is necessary to ABOUT TALADAS play this adventure. The following information is for the eyes of the DM only. For the benefit of those without access to the Time of the The DM should familiarize himself with the entire module Dragon set, the key points relevant to this adventure are sum- before beginning play. marized below. The DM should make this information avail- able to players unfamiliar with Taladas. PLAYER CHARACTERS CURRENCY Eight pre-generated player characters are provided in the As elsewhere on Krynn, the basic metal of currency is steel. Appendix of this book. If the players have completed One steel piece (stl) has the equivalent purchasing power of Dragon Dawn, they can continue with the same characters, one gold piece in a conventional AD&D game world. A gold retaining any equipment and experience acquired in the piece here is equivalent to a silver piece. first adventure. If a PC was killed in the previous module, the player can DRAGONS choose an unused character or change the name and back- ground of the character and use the same statistics and The dragons of Taladas, also known as Othlorx ("the Unin- equipment. volved"), are physically similar to standard dragons, but their With the approval of the DM, players can use their own attitudes are markedly different. When Takhisis (called "Eres- characters. A good mix of character classesSample is suggested, but filetem" in Taladas) released the evil dragons into Krynn, she ex- none should be of evil alignment. pected all of them to fight with her in the War of the Lance. More than a few saw no gain for themselves, so they refused to join the Dark Queen. Infuriated, Erestem cursed them to become the first of the Othlorx. Though most good dragons RETURNING NPCS joined the War of the Lance following the discovery of the Some of the NPCs encountered in Dragon Dawn return in draconian hatcheries, some chose to remain in Taladas. this adventure. If the PCs participated in the previous adven- While the dragons of Ansalon have been deeply involved in ture, it's possible that one or more of these NPCs met with the War of the Lance, the good Othlorx of Taladas have re- untimely deaths. There are two ways the DM can handle mained intentionally neutral in the struggle against Erestem their return in Dragon Knight. and her minions. 1. Substitute a similar NPC, preferably a relative or close friend of the indicated NPC, and use the same statistics and DWARVES equipment. 2. Invoke the "obscure death" rule to explain an apparent The mountain and hill dwarves native to Ansalon are death and subsequent return. The rule states that the circum- found only in small, widely scattered communities in Tala- stances surrounding the death of the character were confused das. More common are the Nylgai Hadirnoe (also known as and the body was not recovered. Later, the character reap- the Scorned Dwarves, a deep-dwelling race who shun the pears with a story of how he or she miraculously survived. bright sunlight) and the Fianawar (dour, unhappy surface- dwellers). The gully dwarves of Ansalon are virtually un- known in Taladas. Players wishing to use dwarves as PCs are CHARACTER KITS advised to consult the Time of the Dragon set. The Rule Book of Taladas, in the Time of the Dragon boxed ELVES set, introduced character kits to help model the different peoples and cultures flourishing in Taladas. Character kits en- Most Taladas elves are from the Elf Clans (wild and danger- able characters who are identical in class but from different ous) and Silvanaes (intelligent and well-bred). A few are cultures to have special abilities, disadvantages, and knowl- Hulderfolk (shy and withdrawn) and Cha'anii (practitioners edge appropriate to their backgrounds. of nature magic). Elves common to Ansalon—Silvanesti, Qualinesti, and Kagonesti—are few and far between. Players MAPS wishing to use elves as PCs are advised to consult the Time of the Dragon set. The enclosed fold-out color map shows the area where the adventure takes place, a treacherous and little-explored area of Taladas known informally as the Southern Steamwall. The KENDER map can be used as a playing aid as the DM sees fit. Kender are very rare on Taladas, but there are small pock- The four-color map on the module cover shows an over- ets of kender whose attitudes are similar to those of their An- view of the regions featured in the adventure. On the inside salon cousins, though the Taladas kender tend to be more center panel is the DM's Map, a smaller version of the fold- suspicious and distrustful. Taladas kender are immune to all out map. This map shows the locations of the encounters in types of fear and have the special ability to taunt opponents the text and is exclusively for the use of the DM. Tactical into reckless attacks by verbally abusing them. Any creature maps for specific encounters are included in the center sec- taunted by a kender must roll a successful saving throw vs. tion of the module and on the inside module cover. spell or attack wildly for 1d10 rounds with a -2 penalty for all attack rolls and a +2 penalty to its Armor Class. MOVEMENT Under normal conditions, an unencumbered human char- WIZARDS acter can walk 24 miles across normal terrain in a ten-hour By the standards of Ansalon, virtually all Taladas wizards day. At this rate, he could travel a distance equal to just under are renegades. Although Taladas is bound by the phases of 2.5 inches (2.4 to be exact) on the color fold-out map if the the three moons, Taladas wizards have not adopted the con- terrain is normal. He can travel 12 miles per day in rugged ventions or restrictions set forth by the Towers of High Sor- terrain, and six miles per day in very rugged terrain. cery in Ansalon. However, each Taladas wizard, regardless of For convenience, terrain types are defined as follows: whether he is a mage or a specialist, must choose one of the moons to guide his path. Each choice is associated with one Normal: Plains, grassland, open rolling ground, trails of the three alignments—good, neutrality, and evil—with cor- through normal and rugged terrain, roads through all terrain responding restrictions and consequences (see the "Moons types of Krynn" section for details).