by Dale Donovan Contents Introduction ...................................................................... 2 Power Keys ........................................................... 27 Background .................................................................. 3 Magical Items............................................................. 28 Plot Synopsis .......................................................... 5 The Demons .............................................................. 28 DMs Notes .................................................................. 5 Tales from the Infinite Staircase ........................ 5 Into the Abyss ................................................................ 29 Welcoming Committee ............................................. 29 Call of the Lost Goddess ................................................. 6 The Home of Evil ...................................................... 31 Getting the PCs Involved ........................................... 7 Grazzts Master Plan ............................................ 33 Option #1: Holy Summons .................................... 7 Samora ....................................................................... 34 Option #2: In the Neighborhood.. ....................... .7 A Tour of Samora ................................................ 35 Option #3: Planewalking.. .................................... .8 Opportunities ....................................................... 39 The City of Coin ......................................................... 9 Zrintor, the Viper Forest ............................................ 40 Silverale Hall ....................................................... 10 The Wanderer ...................................................... 42 Goldspires............................................................. 10 Opportunities ....................................................... 43 Opportunities ....................................................... 14 Zelatar ........................................................................ 43 A Tour of Zelatar ................................................. 44 The Infinite Staircase .................................................... 15 Opportunities ....................................................... 48 The House of the Moon ............................................ 15 Rules of the Staircase ................................................ 17 Finale ............................................................................... 50 The Lillendi ......................................................... 17 Option #1: The Caravan ........................................... 51 Staircase Specifics ................................................ 18 Option #2: Samora .................................................... 53 Traveling the Staircase ........................................ 18 The Rescue........................................................... 53 Encounters on the Stair ....................................... 19 Victory?. ................................................................ 55 Landings and Doors ............................................. 19 Consequences ............................................................ 56 On the Stair............................................................... 20 The Outlands and Home ..................................... 56 Along the Road ................................................... 20 Thraxxia and her Revenge .................................. 58 Opportunities ....................................................... 22 If the PCs Failed ........................................................ 58 Surviving the Abyss ....................................................... 23 Monster Pages ................................................................ 59 Rules of the Abyss ..................................................... 23 Grazzt ........................................................................ 59 Wizard Magic in the Abyss ...................................... .24 Lillend ........................................................................ 61 Spell Keys ............................................................. 26 Viper Tree .................................................................. 63 Priest Magic ............................................................... 26 Credits Design: Dale Donovan Editing and Development: Michele Carter; Brand Management: David Wise, Cover Design: Heather Lamay, Matt Adelsperger and Tanya Matson Cover Art: Matt Adelsperger and Tanya Matson; Interior Art: William OConnor; Graphics Coordination: Paul Hanchette Typography: Eric Haddock; Cartography: Sam Wood; Proofreading: David Wise and Julia Martin Special Thanks to: the Prepress group of Wizards of the Coast, Julia Martin and Eric Boyd for all their wonderful work on the gods; Wolfgang Baur, for his inspired work on the Abyss; Thomas Reid, a fearless leader who ascended (like unto a god) to the AD&D® Core group; and Monte Cook and Skip Williams, for sharing ideas and for letting me borrow a few. Dedicated to Jim, Tim, Leon, and Lester: dear friends all, regardless of distance. U.S., CANADA, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS ASIA, PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.B. 34 P.O. Box 707 2300 Turnhout Renton, WA 98057-0707 Belgium +1-206-624-0933 +32-14-44-30-44 Visit our website at www.tsr.com ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS, MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM, PLANESCAPE, RAVENLOFT, and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. MONSTROUS MANUAL is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. ©1998 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Made in the U.S.A. TSR Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, 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 hobby, toy, and comic trade by in the United States and Canada by regional distributors. Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and regional distributors. This material is protect- ed 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 permission of TSR, Inc. Introduction Waukeen. .dead? No, comrade. Though even gods may die, if the Merchants Friend had passed onto the Astral, I would know of it. The Golden Lady is but on a Great Caravan, and her coin shall turn up again soon enow. Meanwhile, the Regent keeps watch on the Counting House and grunts us hope that the Golden Lady shall render to us profit for our faith in her and in her chosen Regent. Holycoin Voice of the Lady Tharundar Olehm, Goldspires, Athkatla elcome to For Duty & Deity, an adventure that will take high- level FORGOTTEN REALMS® characters far beyond their familiar home of Toril to the infinite layers of the Abyss. There they must rescue the imprisoned Faerûnian goddess of trade, Waukeen, from the clutches of the demon lord Grazzt. Then, of course, they must escape from the Abyss, likely with various demonsor tanarri, as they are known on the planesin hot pursuit. If they succeed, they will have the gratitude of a goddess; if they fail, their bodies and minds will become the playthings of Grazzt. A quick death in battle may be the least unpleasant outcome the charac- ters can hope for in the latter circumstances. This adventure differs in several ways from standard Realms adventures and therefore requires more explanation than such adventures. With the exception of the opening scene, the events of this scenario do not occur on the planet Abeir- Toril, or even on the Prime Material Plane. Characters will be introduced to the concept of the plane-spanning Infinite Staircase and use it to reach the Abyss. The Infinite Staircase appears not only in this adventure but also in the PLANESCAPE® adventure anthology Tales from the Infinite Staircase (TSR 2632), by Monte Cook. Unlike the linked FORGOTTEN REALMS scenario Castle Spulzeer (TSR 9544) and the RAVENLOFT® adventure The Forgotten Terror (TSR 9537), the Tales anthology of adventures and this product are not literal crossover products. The two products do not directly affect or interact with each other. They are complimentary, however. While enough information is presented here on the Infinite Staircase to allow the Realms characters to use it to reach the Abyss (and, hopefully, to return therefrom), the full wonders of the Staircase can be found only in the Tales product. Those groups intrigued by the Staircase concept are encouraged to seek out and use the sce- narios and plots in that book and adapt them for use. Even though the Tales anthol- ogy suggests characters of levels notably lower than those required for this adven- ture, bear in mind that the average Realms character may not possess the same degree of knowledge that an experienced planewalker character might. Thus, the extra spells, hit points, and so on of the higher-level Realms characters used here could come in handy. Furthermore, while this adventure takes place on the player characters attempt to rescue her. The full story of Outer Planesin the Abyss, to be exact For Duty & how Waukeen came to be in her current predicament Deity is not a PLANESCAPE adventure. Though it uses goes back over a dozen years, to the time commonly many of the rules that the PLANESCAPE