(Used with the permission of David Schibeci)

This adventure has been designed for use with the Dragon Warriors world of Legend. Though we typically use AD&D when running campaigns in Legend, there is nothing stopping you using another system - including the original Dragon Warriors system. To this end we have decided not to include statistics, but instead suggestions for encounters and descriptions of characters. Thus it is up to you - the Games Master - to select appropriate statistics for encounters and characters. It is also suggested that you have a copy of Book 6 (or DWR) handy, as we will often refer to places and people from this volume.

Overview

This is the first in a series of adventures designed to introduce the characters to the Ta'ashim lands. As this was designed to be the characters' first experience with Ta'ashim, it is necessary to introduce them to the land and its people. Thus a fairly simple plot has been selected to immerse the characters into this rich environment.
Adventure Hook

A merchant (probably from Ferromaine) who wishes to strike an exclusive contract with some of the merchants in Marazid hires the characters. He could source his wares from the Principalities of the Crusade, but recent activities have made western merchants unpopular with Marazid traders. Marazid is a hostile place, and he needs protection. Though he could hire a cheap bunch of thugs, he wants a group with more diverse talents. He can't pay well to start off with (only living expenses) but he does offer the characters a percent of his profits from his first five years of trading. The characters are going to have to risk hardship for a long-term gain.

In truth the merchant is a spy for the New Selentine Empire who has been sent to investigate rumors of Zhenir making a push into Crusade territory. The Caliph does not allow any westerners into his territory so this spy needs a cover to get close. The characters are there to provide that cover - no one would believe a merchant to go unarmed into hostile territory.

Adventure Synopsis

Someone has tipped off the authorities in Marazid, that a spy is trying to run an intelligence gathering operation in their country. This source knows that the spy will have to move through Kiri Umoor - the only safe Ta'ashim port - and so a group of Marijah Assassins have been hired to stop the spy. The Marijah don't expect to have to deal with the characters, so though one of them is badly wounded (see below) they manage to fend off the attack.

Help comes from an unexpected source. The daughter of the Emir's physician befriends them, but the friendship comes at a cost. The characters have to rescue the lady's father, who is being wrongfully imprisoned in the Emir's palace.

Characters

Exavier Dielph
Exavier Dielph was orphaned at a young age. His parents were minor nobles who were assassinated due to their involvement in one scheme or another. The assassin - in what his peers thought was the most unprofessional act of his career - took pity on the squalling baby, and took him away. He left the baby in the care of his brother but without revealing where he found him. He just said: "He is my penance". Ironically - in a retaliatory move from relatives of Exavier thinking him and his family dead - the assassin himself was dispatched a few days later.

Exavier became the centre of attention of the abbey, and all the priests adored and spoilt him. The boy, however, could not overcome doubts about his identity and set off at the age of sixteen to see the world. It was while visiting various inns that he learnt the knack of listening without looking like he was listening. He soon found the skill to be useful as he discovered that people valued information. It was when he discovered a plot to overthrow the emperor that he came to the palace. As a reward, the emperor hired him as one of his personal spies, trusted with only very sensitive missions (Cynics commented that this was the only way the emperor could feel safe, and in some ways they were right). The rest of his life has been spent wandering the world, gathering information and trying to discover his identity.

Exavier is a short man, with black hair that he normally keeps short. His only striking features are his piercing brown eyes, as he is of average build and weight. He is weary of strangers, but has developed a knack for disguise and acting so that he will appear as whom ever he likes. It is unlikely that the characters will see what Exavier is truly like.

Sulafat Rukbat
Sulafat inherited his position as the Caliph's physician from his father. In fact he spent most of his life in the palace, as his father would only look after the Caliph himself - being at his beck and call. After his father's stroke when he was twenty, Sulafat agreed to be the Caliph's new physician on one condition - he could practice at large. Though this caused the Caliph much distress, it soon became a blessing as the skills Sulafat learnt by practicing on the general public saved the Caliph's life twice. Sulafat is a man of few words, all of them very direct. He has never been one to hold his tongue and will always say what he means. He has attended a number of conferences held by various medical establishments around the world, and was where he met his wife. She, also a physician, died giving birth to Tarazed. Sulafat dedicated himself to his daughter's happens and is what kept him going after his wife's death.

Sulafat is of average stature, has long, black hair and green eyes.

Tarazed Rukbat
Tarazed never knew her mother, who died when she was born. As a young girl she relied on her father for strength and support. She spent much of her time travelling with her father when his duties permitted, but spent a great amount of time immersed in court life. As a young girl she learnt the power of seduction, and would often use her charm to get what she wanted. Her father, however, was immune to ger pouting. As a young woman she is confident in her abilities as a physician but is unsure whether she wants to follow in her father's footsteps. She wants to see some of the world first, and learn of its strange and mysterious ways.

Tarazed is a tall, dark skinned woman. She has long black hair and green eyes like her father. She is lithe, with fine hands wells suited to surgery.

Background Information

Below is a time line for major events in the history of the Ta'ashim lands derived from The Lands of Legend. The dates in courier font have been made up and should not be considered as gospel. They have been selected because they match the facts given.

Timeline
515 AS Illuminate Akaabah born in Dhulan
540 AS The Illuminate Akaabah sets down his ideas of life and worship in the Ta'ashim codex.
621 AS Ta'ashim Empire formed.
679 AS Emir proclaims its independence.
711 AS Opalar proclaims independence.
802 AS New Caliphate dynasty installed because of badawin pressures.
803 AS Capital moved from Demkhor to Dhulan.
820 AS Nomad bands, the Qadik, invade Opalar.
821 AS Amsa'im (capital of Opalar) falls. Qadik leader declares himself Sultan.

Introduction

Most of the information about the Ta'ashim land can be learnt from what little is presented on pages 44-48 of The Lands of Legend. What is about to be presented is a summary and extension of that information. This should not be considered a challenge to the copyrighted work of Dave Morris, but merely an expansion to help in the setting of this adventure. Any information that agrees with portions of The Lands of Legend should be considered Dave Morris' work. Anything that does not is my own.

Ta'ashim, as noted in The Lands of Legend, is the same name given to the people, faith and the place they both inhabit. Thus we can talk about the Ta'ashim people, the Ta'ashim faith and where they live - Ta'ashim. Though its history is important I will concentrate on the present as it adds depth to the adventure. The Ta'ashim - the "blueprint for life and worship" - is much like the Koran in Arabic life (the majority of whom are Muslims). It is a code by which they like and was set down by the Illuminate Akaabah.

The People
It is interesting to note the mixture of people that make up the Ta'ashim people - merchants, nomads and agriculturalists.

Badawin
The desert nomads - the badawin - are likely to make up a large proportion of the population. The name badawin was probably derived from the Bedouin3, their real-world, historical counterparts. From the Reader's Digest of Essential Knowledge we known that the Bedouin were:

Arabic-speaking herders who wander across the Middle Eastern deserts. They are organised into polygamous groups headed by sheikhs, and are devout Muslims. By tradition, the elite Bedouin tribes are camel-herders of the Sahara, Syrian and Arabian deserts.

The Bedouin maintain a fiercely independent existence, roaming in the rainy seasons across the inhospitable deserts largely unmolested by the nations whose land they traverse.

Thus the badawin of Legend could be seen in a similar light. They are nomads who roam the Kaikuhuran Desert, unmolested by representatives of the three separate countries of Ta'ashim. They probably follow the Ta'ashim faith more closely than their town dwelling brethren. Since there is no evidence to the contrary, I will assume that there are camels in Legend and that the badawin herd them (as well as yaks as suggested in the section on Harogarn on page 50). It makes sense that an animal like them exists that is well suited to desert life. They live out of tents that can be quickly broken and constructed, thus not tying them down to a single spot. The tents are made out of camel hair and vegetable fibre sewn together and died black.

What they eat is also important, and from the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia we discover that "they subsist primarily on meat, milk, and dairy products provided by their herds". Thus it would seem that most of their diet would come from the dairy products: cheese, salted buttermilk and other fermented milk products. Meat would be used scarcely, and would have to be salted to be preserved. They would get salt mainly from trade with city dwellers, unless they could find rock salt in the desert.

As mentioned earlier, badawin would sneer at city dwellers, considering them to be soft and weak. Again from the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia we would say the badawin are "under medium height, with aquiline features and swarthy complexions". The men have shaved heads, but wear beards. The women would wear veils at all times in public. Their clothing would be manufactured from yak's hide or wool that they gather from other cattle that they herd (goats).

The tribes are simply an extended patriarchal family unit led by a sheikh (in fact a sheikh leads each family unit as well). The leadership each unit passes from father to eldest son. Authority of each sheikh is derived from his wealth and force of personality, rather than the size of the family he leads.

City Dwellers
The other two classes of people mentioned - merchants and agriculturalists - would be city dwellers. In fact it would be same to assume that most cities grow around oases, as they provide about the only arable land to be had in the desert. Most of the food grown would be some kind of grain, though more exotic food such as dates would also be cultivated. They would also keep some cattle to provide meat, such as goats and sheep (though different to western varieties as they have to survive harsher climates). A lot of trade that merchants would do would be for agricultural products.

Life would be easier in the city, and is probably why the people of Marazid don't wish to follow a strict Ta'ashim way of life. Their clothing would be finer than their desert cousins, mainly light coloured, and flowing robes. They are of the same build as the badawin, but would have a fairer complexion (lighter olive). Their houses are rectangular, and made out of sandstone. They would be open, with only partitions to enforce any sort of privacy.

The Lay of the Land
As alluded to before, Ta'ashim is divided up into three countries: the Caliphate of Zhenir, the Emirate of Marazid and the Sultanate of Opalar. It is unclear why these divisions existed in the first place, but they were originally provinces controlled by the Caliph of Zhenir (spiritual and political leader of all of Ta'ashim). For various reasons, both Marazid and Opalar declared independence, though both path homage to the Caliph. It was from Zhenir that the Ta'ashim faith spread, and until 803 AS Demkhor was its capital. When a new Caliphate dynasty was installed, the capital moved to Dhulan, though Demkhor is still considered to be a holy city (much like Jerusalem). It is interesting to note that these changes occurred due to badawin pressures, which must have some influence on the Caliph (probably because they can control any trade that occurs within an between countries).

Marazid
Marazid is the most independent of the ex-provinces being ruled by the Emir (who it seems has some secular authority if I read Morris correctly) - currently Emir Sadalmelik (The King's Talisman). It is the most progressive of the three Ta'ashim lands where the merchants and administrators enjoy a rich and comfortable life. They are less interested in obeying the Ta'ashim codex to the letter, but still obviously pay at least lip service to its concepts. It is the best chance characters would have trading with the Ta'ashim people - though it is possible that they could strike up agreements with badawin tribes. Major cities include Hakbad (capital), Rida and Kiri Umoor (port).

Opalar
Opalar is also considered to be progressive - though after their invasion by Qadik nomads who were latter labelled the 'fist of Ta'ashim' it is difficult to understand why. Opalar is the most remote of the three countries (located in the bottom right in the map of Legend). The capital is Amsa'im (the middle of first three dots along the River Isis --- making the other two unnamed) and the other two major cities are Aqa'ala (Aquila?) and Ta'aqan. There must be some sort of port on the Isis delta, otherwise trade would be limited to what goes through Aqa'ala. The port is named Bari (please change it if you have gotten around to naming it) and is the centre of trade in Opalar. Trade with Zhenir is land based through Aqa'ala but sea-based with Marazid, through Bari.

Most of the population lives along the bank of the River Isis (Nile?) as this is where the only fertile land is located. The country is boxed in by the Swamps of Jinn to the north, the Harogarn mountains to the west and the Alaflak mountains to the east. The south of the country ends in coastline. It is rumoured that the Marijah Assassins have their fortress located in the Alaflak Mountains but no one has ever returned to confirm (adventure idea).

Zhenir
Zhenir sticks to the letter of Ta'ashim law and forbids trade with infidels. There would probably a black market of western goods that are trafficked through their neighbours. Ruled by the Caliph - Al Nair (The Brilliant) - the country is poor in resources (except for silver from Harogarn) and must depend on Marazid and Opalar for grain, paper and salt. Zhenir has the advantage of being the centre of Ta'ashim religion and does a tidy amount of business with pilgrims who travel to the Holy Land. The Caliph rule in Demkhor, but it is Dhulan that is the capital and administrative centre of the country.

1. Getting Started

To kick-start the adventures the characters are going to have to be hired by Exavier Dielph, a spy in the employ of the New Selentine Empire. The New Selentine Empire 'liberated' Ibrahim (Jerusalem?), as it was the birthplace of their saviour. Previously under Ta'ashim rule, the powers that be are concerned that the Caliph of Zhenir is planning to retake the Principalities of the Crusades. The Caliph can't have been happy with his kingdom being eaten away a little bit at a time, and rumours have surfaced that Zhenir and Marazid will unite to push back the infidels. Thus the empire requires some hard information, rather than having to trust their decisions on rumour and superstition.

Exavier Dielph needs a cover and will pose as a merchants looking to expand his business interests. He will tell the characters he wants to strike an exclusive trading agreement with a house in Zhenir, but require their services as protection from bandits and badawin (who really dislike outsiders). The characters can be hired from any major city, but it makes more sense that they would be hired in either the New Selentine Empire or Ferromaine. The following travel section describes the characters journey from Ferromaine to Marazid, so some modifications will be required if the characters are hired somewhere else (the easiest thing is to have the merchant take the characters to Ferromaine as the only nice way to get to Marazid is by sea). Though he can't pay well to start off with (only living expenses) he does offer the characters a percent of his profits from his first five years of trading. The characters are going to have to risk hardship for a long-term gain.

2. From Ferromaine to Kiri Umoor

Exavier will book passage on a vessel (Large Cog, The Lands of Legend p.170) making a run from Ferromaine to Kiri Umoor. The vessel will ply the standard trading route, going from Ferromaine to Charoa, Charoa to Olac, Olac to Crescentium, and finally Crescentium to Kiri Umoor. All up the journey is 1300 miles, and as a Cog can travel a maximum of sixty miles a day with a breeze, the trip will take roughly twenty-two days. Considering the vessel will stop in each of the aforementioned ports, add an extra day for each and three days of overhead, giving us the nice round figure of four weeks. Not a long journey but will give you plenty of time to make the character's journey a memorable one.

As Dave Morris says in Book 6, don't gloss over the character's travels. Try and make them as exciting as possible. Each major port the character arrives in should be described, and you might want to extend their trip by allowing the crew shore leave - something that the characters shouldn't pass up either. On the open sea you have a number of alternatives:

• Storm - This would be my first suggestion for an encounter on the sea, as it not only provides a bit of excitement but you can also through the characters into an unpredictable situation. If you have the characters shipwrecked a little north from Kiri Umoor (a few days walk) you can also provide them with land based encounters as well.
• Pirates - The open sea is not safe, as can be highlighted by a good pirate attack. You can either run the encounter passively with the characters' ship outrunning the pirate's, or actively by having the pirates board the characters' ship.
• Monster - There is also the classical attack by some kind of sea monster. The Gulf of Marazid would be the perfect place to stage your own battle between boat and beast. If you think that a huge serpentine creature attacking the boat is too much of a cliché then try smaller, humanoid creatures such as mermen.
• Calm - The opposite of a storm is dead calm. I am not talking about boring the characters to death here; rather that there are going to be times where there is no wind at all. If the characters are travelling on a longship (unlikely) then the boat will still be moving at a fair rate, but if they are travelling on a cog then travel will grind to a halt. You can even make the characters row!

3. Kiri Umoor

Eventually the characters will reach their destination of Kiri Umoor - hopefully with their ward, Exavier, in tow. However as soon as they arrive they are set upon by what the characters believe to be a bunch of thugs. They are actually assassins from the Marijah cult who were hired by members of the Zhenir's court to make sure Exavier doesn't uncover their plans (more on that later). It is important that Exavier is injured so that the characters are forced to seek medical attention (it's a plot point) though one of the other characters will suffice (though they'd probably prefer Exavier).

Encounter: Marijah Assassins - use appropriate class for your system (Assassin class for Dragon Warriors, or Assassin kit from The Complete Fighter's Handbook for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons).

The medical attention they will receive from Doctor Sulafat Rukbat or his daughter, Tarazed Rukbat depending on how you want to run the adventure. Basically one of them has been arrested as a Zhenir sympathiser, and the other offers their assistance in exchanging for rescuing their imprisoned prisoner. I think it runs better if the Doctor is the one imprisoned, as you can make him the Emir's physician (though there is nothing stopping you making Sulafat retired, and Tarazed having taken over his practice1). The rest of the adventure is written under this assumption, make alterations where necessary.

You can run the characters' meeting with the Tarazed in two ways: either stumble on the Tarazed's house or the Tarazed stumbles on the characters. It doesn't matter which option you choose. The important thing is that they meet Tarazed. She will heal Exavier or the injured character, and then offer her ultimatum. The characters can either help her free her wrongly imprisoned father, or she will inform the Emir's guards that infidels are trying to overthrow the Emir (or some other such trumped up charge - considering that the characters don't know who attacked them, any threat should work).

4. Planning the Rescue

Once the characters have agreed to rescue Sulafat, they are going to have to come up with some sort of plan. Tarazed will be as forthcoming as she can. She will tell the characters that her father has been the Emir's personal physician for the last forty years (staring at the young age of twenty). He has served the Emir faithfully for all forty years. Last week a group of palace guards burst into their house, and spirited her father away to the palace. Only recently (last night) has she learnt that her father is accused of being an Unitist2 sympathiser. Tarazed states that her father has been a proud citizen of Marazid, and does not have political views one way or the other. She believes that her father is being held in the east wing of the palace.

Before the characters go rushing in to the rescue, they are going to have to do a little surveillance work. There are a number of ways for the characters to go fishing for information:

1. Ask around at inns and taverns for general information.
2. Try and find a palace employee who might have a few details.
3. Run some surveillance on the palace to get an idea of shifts and the number of guards.
4. Try and find some black market plans for the palace.
5. Anything else that the characters come up with and sounds plausible.

It is up to you to judge what the characters can and can't find out, but the necessary details are given in The Emir's Palace below. It doesn't detail the entire palace, but has enough for you to run the adventure.

5. The Emir's PalaceThe basic layout of the palace is shown in Figure 1 below. It is made up of three sections: the Palace proper, the west wing and the east wing. The Palace proper - or Central Palace as it will be known herein - is where the Emir holds court. It also contains his private chambers and those of his closest advisers. The treasury is located in a volt below the Central Palace. The west wing contains the administrative offices and is where all the work in the country is performed. The east wing is usually reserved for visiting dignitaries - such as the Caliph - and ambassadors from western countries.

Overview
The East Wing can be seen in more detail in Figure 2. Note that neither Figure 1 nor Figure 2 are drawn to scale, they are there to give an impression of the layout of the Palace.

The East Wing
The three main sections of the wing are detailed below - the wall, the towers and the east wing. The East Wing is only two levels high, whereas the Central Palace is four levels high. The towers, however, stand an extra level above the Central Palace.

The Wall
The Wall is the section surrounding each of the three major wings of the Palace. The walls are one metre thick (not drawn to scale) with slits on the exterior wall at every half metre. The corridor itself is two metres wide and is being patrolled by a minium of three guards - six during the day. The only way to enter the wall is via:

* Either of the two doors where the East Wing joins the Central Palace;
* The two doors that allow access to the East Wing;
* The stairwells in the corners of the second level of the wall which takes you to the battlements.

The first two sets of doors take you the wall surrounding the Central Palace at the same level. Both levels of the wall are identical except for the stairwells on the second level. The wall is a little thicker around the corners where it is the size of the towers above that it supports.


Towers
Figure 4 gives a good impression of how the towers in the palace are constructed. The stairwells in the Wall section lead up into the 'third' level of the tower. As the East Wing is lower than the Central Palace, there are two levels of the Wall missing. Thus the empty sections above the Wall - the dashed line distinguishes the third and fourth levels. In this part of the tower, there is nothing but another stairwell that leads to the top of the tower.

The top of the tower contains four windows that face towards the obvious four directions - north, east, south and west. At all times there are two guards in the tower, and four during the day (one at each window). The only way into the tower is through the stairwell that leads to this level.

There are two ways into the empty section - via the stairwell of through the doors that lead to the battlements (two on each tower). This door is normally built into the top level of the tower, but as the battlements are lower so is the door. The are always three guards on the battlements - one on each side.

Please note that the design of the wing is a little simplistic. I'm not particularly good at architecture so I suggest you get a good book on Arabic buildings to improve on my designs.

East Wing - Level 1
This level is for the minor dignitaries, being smaller than those on the second level (Rooms 1 - 3). An archway leads through to the Central Palace, which cuts through the wall on that level. The two doors the allow entry and exit into the wall have been indicated, as has the stairwell. Currently all rooms are unoccupied and the level is unguarded.

East Wing - Level 2
This level is for the main guest of the house (Room 1). It is opulent in comparison to the other rooms on this level and is where the good Doctor is being kept. The only way in is through the double doors, where two guards are ever vigilant. There are also rooms similar to those on the first level (Rooms 2 and 3) which are either used to houseguests or the servants of the main guest. The staircase leads down to the previous level and the two doors on the exterior walls lead to the wall section. The other two rooms are unoccupied.
Finale

Once the characters have gotten to Sulafat, they are going to have to get back out of the palace. The easiest thing is to have them go out the way they came. To make things a little more exciting, you can have them found by a group of guards. Thus they are either going to have to fight their way out, or a chase will ensue.

Encounter: Palace Guards - use appropriate class for your system (knight class for Dragon Warriors, or fighter for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons).

They have succeeded when they get back to the Doctor's house and shaken off any signs of pursuit.

6. Oasis: Zhenir

This doesn't have to be the end of the adventure. Now that the characters have two allies (as well as a number of foes) in Marazid, you can run a number of additional adventures in the area. Marazid is the first in a planned trilogy of adventures that will continue with Zhenir and conclude with Opalar. Check the Wanderer's Rest for news on their forthcoming release.

[1] This is very much modelled on The Lions of Al-Rassan, where Tarazed is Jehane. If you want some ideas on how to run Tarazed, try picking up a copy of this excellent book by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[2] A group who believe the three Ta'ashim countries should unite and purge the world of infidels. Until recently it wasn't a crime to be a member of the group, but after the violent demonstration last month the Marazid authorities have begun to crack down on members.

[3] Similarities between Legend and the real world are quite common, and should be obvious after a careful comparison between maps of the two worlds. This is not surprising, as the real world is an excellent template to use for your own world, with a wealth of history available to you. When possible, you should use this fact to your advantage.


Note: This adventure was first published on the Wanderers Rest. Sadly, the second and third installments in the Oasis trilogy were never completed.