A Rakshasa's Tail

An adventure for parties of all levels. The difficulty level can be easily set by matching the human foes to the parties level, and should more combat be required there is ample opportunity for wilderness encounters.

Ideally the group should have a permanent home or base of operations in a town or city, and already have gained a some renown for their many acts of heroism.

Scene 1:

It's first light on a Fantasy-Monday when the party will be disturbed by a loud knock at the door. Upon answering they will be greeted by a immaculately groomed, swarthy looking man, well built and standing just over 6 feet tall. Without any attempt at introduction he will bow deeply and pass a sealed letter to whoever opened the door. Should the players have any ques-tions about this official looking letter, stamped with the seal of a minor noble, he will simply state “My master bid me to deliver this. I do as he commands.” and with that he will turn and be on his way. The letter is exactly as it appears and closer examination reveals nothing sinister about the let-ter or the wax seal it bears of a roaring tiger. A high success on a knowledge roll will allow a player to recognize this as the sigil of house of Keepling, a minor, yet well known house, famed for their many novels and well publicised travels. The letter reads as follows: “I Lord Yard of the house of Kipling, having heard much of your great and noble deeds in recent months have found myself gripped with a desire to immortalize your names, now and for all time. I find the adventurers life truly makes for the most exciting of read-ing material for anyone of any age, and find myself convinced that your tale would in-spire all who read it! As such I currently find myself in the process of composing a work upon your illustrious adventuring careers and desire to meet so that I might interview you and we might dis-cuss the terms of your payment of royalties arising from the sale of said book. I am currently staying at the Bear And Panther Inn*, and you would do me a great hon-our were you to join me for lunch this evening. There we may discuss the matter in length and you may read the first chapters of your party's tale” *This name can be changed to anything, to suit your campaign. As the party well know this Inn is renowned for being the most expensive in the area, and it is said that the food and wine they provide is the finest in all the land! The rest of the morning is uneventful allowing ample time for the party to make ready before meeting with the lord.

Scene 2: When the party arrive they will be treated as nobility and escorted upstairs. It should soon be-come apparent that the lord has hired out the entire top floor and had it bedecked in extravagant finery. As the party is shown to the suites dinning room impress upon them that it is amongst the most elaborate sights they have ever seen, and the lord is dressed to match! Attired in the latest trends and wearing what could only be considered a kings ransom in jewellery. With expansive and expressive motion, oozing with charm and charisma, he stands to greet the party. They will see a muscular and trim man in his mid forties, standing around 6 foot and in great shape for his age. He looks as though he has had his fair share of adventures too!

His manner is kind and considerate, happily trading stories with the party as they enjoy their meals and strong drink (even an Orcs pallet would appreciate the finery of this food). All in all he will be a most gracious host, until his man servant arrives with an urgent letter...

A look of pure shock will cross lord Draydurs face and he will barely contain a feral growl of anger. Slamming the letter onto the table he will exclaim “Bandits have taken my wife hos-tage! She was set to meet me here a day hence, for she had business to attend at our pub-lishing company... This outrage cannot be forgiven! This -” he snarls, brandishing the letter “is a ransom demand, insisting I ride forth on the road out of town at day break, some-where upon that road I shall be met by the kidnappers... What should I do?”. Looking truly devastated he will look to the party and say in a voice close to a whisper, “I need your aid to rescue my wife, for I fear should I comply they would simply kidnap me too... such a vile act must be punished, save her and I promise you a reward like none other!”

The party should be given time to discuss there plans at this point. Lord Draydur will explain that the letter demands he come to the meeting place personally, but suggests an alternative: “If I were to cast a small spell so that one of you were to resemble me, that may allow you to get close enough to save my wife! Tell me, who amongst you is brave enough to attempt this daring stunt?”

The party may or may not wish to go with his plan, it will make little difference to the upcom-ing encounter however... allow the party time to prepare for the oncoming offensive. Lord Yard will extend his hospitality to the party suggesting they remain at the inn until sunrise and use his personal coach to attend the meeting. Large enough to hold a fully armoured party and with ample storage space, it will be the perfect transport to the meeting area.

The next morning the party will (hopefully) gather before sun up and head out to save the Lady Kipling. Draydur will say “Would that I still had my youth, so that might fight beside you! But I fear I would be more a hindrance than a help.” should the party be willing to go for his elabo-rate ruse he will personally cast the disguise spell upon the willing party member. With this he will wish the party luck and send them on there way.

Scene 3

After travelling some ways down the road they are met by a way rider, who will signal for them to leave the coach and head towards a clearing in a wooded outcrop. Have the party make a spot check prior to entering the clearing, a decent roll will reveal the Lady Kipling trussed up to the east of the clearing as well as the rough number of bandits lying in wait - an exceptional roll will reveal strange magic runes encircling the clearing... The party find themselves matched against human warriors (a few levels below their own, chal-lenging, but no real threat) standing in a semi circle around the clearing and armed with bows trained upon the players. In addition there should be at least one wizard or sorcerer. Should a party member be disguised as Lord Yard a righteous and powerful looking warrior will step forward and declare “Now that you are here, we will prove once and for all what manner of beast you truly are fiend!” before raising a lens in front of his eyes his eyes. Seconds later he will scream: “What mockery is this? This is not Yard! Its a trick - ATTACK MY BROTHERS!”. (If the players elected to go without disguise he will simply yell “What mockery is this!!! This is not Yard! Its a trick my brothers – ATTACK!”.)

Throughout the combat the leader of the bandits will spout endless nonsense about the party being worse than their beast of a master, that they don't understand the evil they're aiding and other such heroic nonsense. Ensure that at some point before the end of combat the mage is heard to mumble “It would ap-pear our cause falls upon death ears, and yet with magic may their eyes see!” before casting a spell on an unsuspecting party member, one that appears to have no discernible effect. If the party don't notice this act even better! The spell is actually a modified version of True Sight, extended through eldritch methods to last 24 hours. Should the party prove successful Lady Keeplin will be found unharmed and appear to have been well treated. She will inform the party the leader of the bandits made numerous references to the cult of “Hope and Perseverance” and its secret meetings, where he claimed to have met her hus-band many times. “Something appears happened between them to make him grow suspicious, mad with rage, to the point of believing that he is some kind of monster!” She will look shocked by this, saying “I have been married to him close to twenty years, I know my husband and he is a good man, no matter what these lunatics believed”. The party should by now be happily looting the corpses, but will discover the coins are few and the armour and equipment is merely of average quality. The only two items of worth will be a magical lens of unknown power and three magical arrows of unknown origin... The party will hopefully go straight back to return Lady Kipling to her husband where depending on what type of players you have it can end one of two ways:

Scene 4

Happy Ending. The party will bring the Lady back to the suite, where she will rush past them to jump straight into her loving husbands waiting - CLAWS! Lord Yard now stands as a powerfully built, tiger headed man with clawed hands and feet. Even more disturbing are that his palms are on the out-side of his hands... Everything about him is alien, for he isn't of this dimension - he is Rakshasa! This shocking site will only be visible to the character with true sight cast upon them, unless an-other player gazes through the mysterious lens. Let the party react, but should they attempt to attack him Lady Kipling will stand in front of her husband to protect him. Screaming at them to stop “I know what he is! I have always known what he is. But just because he looks different, does not change that he is the man I love! You would kill him just because he is different from you, but I ask you, what crime has he committed?”. Lord Yard will explain “Had I come with you they would have tried to banish me or worse, and would you have truly believed me had I told you the truth?” he will gently move his wife behind him to protect her from danger at this point, ready to defend her with his life if need be. This moral dilemma is perfect for a spot of roleplay! Should they let him live he will reward them generously and promises to finish the book he mentioned at the start, making them more famous then they could ever imagine...

Confusing Ending

The end encounter should run roughly the same, yet should combat erupt then Lady Keepling will be shoved out of the way. Close combat isn't the Rakshasa way, but it is a dangerous foe for all that! Should the party find themselves out matched all is not lost for the mysterious magical arrows will kill a Rakshasa outright should they strike true, being specially designed for that purpose. But will the party realise in time?

Whether It lives or dies however, the party will soon receive a telepathic message: “I hope you have had fun with my man servant. But you have made a grave mistake making me your enemy. I will stop at nothing until I see you names steeped in infamy and have destroyed your reputations, as you have mine. And when you have nothing left to lose... I will take your very souls!” The telepathic screech will echo throughout the parties minds, followed by si-lence... The suite is full of books and items of great worth that could be taken, but technically belong to the unconscious Lady Kipling. Even the briefest of glances at the books will reveal many tell the tale of adventuring groups, their names emblazoned on the side, some written by Lord Yard, others far older written by authors long passed. But one thing remains the same in every in-stance, the parties in the books have all ended in the same way... Dying alone with there names in ruin...