“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where
you stop the story.”
―
Or has it?
An old ally resurfaces with information about the
sinister Stalman Klim that predicts the return of the slavers. The only way to
be certain that the threat is truly over is to sail south to the Monastery of
the Toiling Lady and put all doubts to rest for once and for all. [Dungeon #215 - 31 The
Last Slave Lord]
If you’ve
run the Slavers campaign back I the day, you’ll know the story in its entirety.
Or so
you might think.
Those
who’ve been following these missives will know otherwise. They were added to,
expounded upon, and thus made a fuller campaign than they once were; unless you
yourself expanded the scope of the tournaments at the time. If you did, good on
you! If you did not, there’s no shame in have run them as intended. I imagine
most ran them as written, much to the chagrin of those players like me who were
always a little miffed to be informed that we were always to begin at the
doorstop of the module, informed of all the wonderful adventures we’d just
completed, yet never saw. That complaint aside, those who only ran them in the
‘80s probably haven’t run A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry, as that wasn’t
published until 2013; nor were they likely to have run Lowdown in Highport,
or this installment, either for that matter, as these too were published in
Dungeon magazine during its 4e days, long after most of our subscriptions had
lapsed.
If you
have not read my thoughts on these other adventures, I invite you to do so.
If you
have, be informed that this was the final instalment of the Slavers odyssey. It
was then. It is now.
And what
a journey it’s been, first conceived when Harold Johnson first stripped his
players’ characters bare and dumped them in a trembling mountain to escape
certain death with only their wits to guide and save them. It was a truly
groundbreaking concept in its time.
And for
better or for worse, they were compiled into 1986’s super-module A1-4 Scourge
of the Slave Lords, later considered the 20th greatest D&D
adventure of all time. I have to ask the question: Was it the compilation or
the original works that were held up to such esteem? Personally, I think it was
the initial publications.
No
matter.
Time
passed.
Then in
2000 TSR released a much wished for follow-up to its beloved adventure: Slavers.
Is it the best of the series? It might be. More on that later. We’re not hear
to speak on that finale, but another, published later, but chronologically
earlier.
Thirty
years after the A series first saw publication, WotC dusted off the venerable
old adventure path for a new compilation. They decided to remain true to the
original modules and dispense with the “new” introduction given it in 1986, and
add a new adventure of their own design to kick it off.
But who
would they get to write it? Skip Williams. Who better than an Old Guard to
tackle such an enterprise?
WotC had
given a lot of thought to the anniversary release. Not only did they publish
Skip Williams’ A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry in March of 2013 within the
covers of A0-4 Against the Slave Lords, they also published this, The
Last Slave Lord, in Dungeon 215, a mere three months after the release of Against
the Slave Lords. That cannot be a coincidence. Nor the release of Lowdown
in Highport in #221, in December of that same year. How could they be when
issues are finalized months before their release?
As I
said, they put a lot of thought into its 30th anniversary.
You know
the story, of course.
Most,
anyway.
Not all.
Markessa
had escaped. I’ll deal with the fate of Markessa later, thanks to the efforts
of Sean Reynolds and Carlos Lising. Or should I say Maquessa? More on her
later.
This
short adventure, published in the pages of Dungeon magazine #215, deals with
the final fate of Klim. Let’s dive in, shall we?
The lords of the Wild Coast sent numerous adventuring
parties and spies to deal with the slavers preying on their lands. The
casualties proved high, and few operatives returned in the weeks following the
collapse of the Slave Lords. One agent escaped with critical information about
a possible surviving slaver. This agent is Selzen Murtano, a skilled spy who
played an important part in helping the adventurers destroy the organization’s
leadership. Having clawed and lied his way to the rank of lieutenant, he overheard
a private conversation between Mordrammo and Brother Milerjoi, a high-ranking
member of the Scarlet Brotherhood, in which the two discussed preparations for
a magical event that would take place at a secret base on the southern shores
of the Jeklea Bay. Although Murtano wasn’t certain what the two were plotting,
he was concerned enough to bring the matter to his superiors.
Knowing that the Slave Lords would return unless
destroyed completely, they charged Selzen Murtano with
following up on this lead. They gave him 2,000 gp to hire a ship and
adventurers to assist him. First he prowled the ports and secured a caravel,
and then he tracked down the player characters.
Murtano makes his case to the characters, telling them
the mission should be simple—all they have to do is scout a location to be sure
that no agents of the Slave Lords are hiding there. He explains the information
he discovered and offers the group 1,000 gp plus any treasures they find along
the way.
Characters who participated in A3 (Assault on the
Aerie of the Slave Lords™) and A4 (In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords™) should
know Selzen Murtano. He was the one they first met disguised as a beggar, the
one who helped them when they were dropped into the labyrinth, and the one who
found them and steered them toward the slavers’ ship, the Water Dragon. [Dungeon #215 - 32]
Surely the Slavers were all dead. Suderham was their base
of operations. And with them all dead, what difference did it matter what plans
they might have made?
“Are they all dead?” Selzen asked. “There may
be more; and even if there aren’t, it would be best to be sure that there is no
evil being hatched in the wake of their passing.”
 |
| Feetla Klim |
I’d suggested in an earlier piece that Feetla and Stalman
could be brothers, exiles from some Sea Princes holding. Why? Because Jeklea
Bay is within the Princes’ sphere of influence; it’s also within the Scarlet
Brotherhood’s (the Brotherhood claims that they’re lurking in the shadows
throughout the whole of the Flanaess, but that’s unlikely, just propaganda).
Klim and Feetla had been conspiring with the Brotherhood, and they’d paid a
price for it.
So, yes, it would be prudent to discover what those two
might have been up to in their secluded base.
If Klim survived the final conflict in Suderham, this
sort of subterfuge need not happen to get the PCs involved. If Klim survived,
the mission will be as simple as tracking him down and putting an end to him.
 |
| Stalman Klim |
Stalman Klim was one of the most powerful and
influential members of the Slave Lords. Although he was second to Feetla, he
had the ear of everyone counted as a member of the Nine. His voice rang with
true authority, for he was a priest of the dreaded Earth Dragon, a mysterious
Flan spirit god rarely worshiped by humans. Furthermore, Klim had brokered alliances
with the Scarlet Brotherhood and, with their aid, amassed incredible power both
mundane and magical. [Dungeon #215 - 32]
Far be it for me to tell you how to run your game, but
I’ve expressed a dissatisfaction concerning the use of the Earth Dragon. I’ve
suggested it be replaced with the Elder Eye, tying Klim’s worship in with the
temple discovered in A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry. Why am I so adverse
to Klim worshipping the Earth Dragon? Because Klim’s base is in Jeklea Bay, and
the Princes are noted in the Gold box to be of “SOf” descent, mainly Suel and
Oerdian with minor Flan ancestry. It seems less likely that Klim would worship a
Flan god than a Suel one. The LLG goes so far as to list the gods worshiped in
these lands: Osprem, Xerbo, Procan, Norebo, Kelanen (native Holders); Syrul,
Bralm, Tharizdun? (SB); Olman pantheon, esp. Chitza-Atlan (Olman). There is
no mention of the all-powerful Scaly One.
Klim’s ethnicity is never raised, but the Monestary of
the Toiling Lady (devoted to Bralm, a Suloise deity) was built by the Suels
three centuries ago, and Klim is in possession of it, ergo….
This is not to say that the Elder Eye is Suel, because he
most certainly is not; but he is mentioned in the above list, and the
Brotherhood has always pretended that they worship Tharizdun. Those rumours may
have brought Klim and the Brotherhood together.
Regardless the reason, Klim’s association with the
Brotherhood certainly helped his cause.
The influence Klim enjoyed helped him play the other
Slave Lords like puppets. He fed their suspicions and kept them focused on one
another rather than on him. As skilled as he was at manipulating his peers,
Klim never felt secure in his position. He believed, and rightly so, that he
had accumulated no shortage of enemies who would like to see him dead. Aside
from the usual precautions—employing food-tasters, never being without a
personal guard, never using his true name (he was known as Mordrammo to his
underlings, a name meaning “I am Death”), and keeping word of recall in mind—he
also took steps to survive the unthinkable. The Scarlet Brotherhood owed Klim
favors after all the years he spent feeding them information about the Wild
Coast and slaves. Through these allies, he secured a retreat: an abandoned
monastery once occupied by devotees to Bralm. Then he pressed the Brotherhood
to provide him with a clone.
He had cast the spells and prepared the site to hold
the maturing clone when the organization fell. Klim was present when
adventurers attacked, and he defeated them and held them in prison cells until
they could be questioned. [Dungeon #215 - 32]
He erred when he interpreted the tremors shaking the
city as being a sign of his deity’s hunger. Rather than killing the
adventurers, he had them thrown into the caves so his god could devour them.
Klim underestimated their determination. They escaped
their fates and, in doing so, enraged the “Sacred Scaly One,” causing the
volcano to erupt and erase Suderham and all its wickedness from the world.
Stalman Klim and the other Slave Lords found death in the ensuing battle. [Dungeon #215 - 32]
Regardless the Scaly One’s rage, this much is certainly
true:
The clone was still growing when Klim died. Now, in
the weeks after the disaster, his soul waits inside the developing body,
knowing his chance for revenge is at hand. [Dungeon #215 - 32]
The
party accepts, and sets sail across the Azure Sea and into Jeklea Bay.
Your ship passes into the cove, revealing a wall of
low-lying mountains that tumble down to a stony shore. Rocky islands rise
hundreds of feet in the air, their bases eroded by the incessant waves that
crash against them. Foliage and overgrowth clings to any surface it can along
the shores and up the mountainside, bearding the cliffs with vines, lianas, and
gnarled trees. Just beyond one of the rock islands, you spot a weathered
monastery on a shelf stabbing out from the cliff high up the mountainside. A
narrow path clings to the cliff, ascending through a series of switchbacks
until it reaches the structure. [Dungeon #215 - 34]
What follows is a particularly gruelling ordeal. It ought
to be. This is the end game, as it were. The Climax, with a capital C. Do or
die. Once the party makes landfall, they will have little if any rest.
One
thing is for certain; the cost of failure is grim:
If the characters surrender to the grimlocks, the
creatures drag the PCs into the old mines (area 4) and take them to their mind
flayer master—a threat beyond the scope of this adventure. The adventurers
likely become enslaved and warped into hideous monstrosities, condemned to
spend their remaining days in the mind flayer’s service.
If the characters surrender to Mordrammo’s people,
they are disarmed and imprisoned in the penitentiary […], where the sons of
Kyuss attack them. Spellcasters are gagged, their fingers are tied, and they
are woken every three hours to prevent them from regaining spells. The torturer
questions the PCs about their purpose here. After a while, the guards throw the
characters off the cliffs around the monastery. [Dungeon #215 - 34]
One must always give credit where credit is due. This piece is made possible primarily by the Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable.
The Art:
The Last Slave Lord "cover," from Dungeon magazine #215, 2013
Markessa, by Mike Lowe, from Against the Slave Lords, 2013
Stalman Klim detail, by Francis RP Navarro, from Against the Slave Lords, 2013
Earth Dragon Priest, from Slavers, 2000
The Last Slave Lord map, Jason A Engle, from Dungeon magazine #215, 2013
Source:
Dungeon Magazine #215, 2013
9039A
A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry, 2015
9039
A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity, 1980
9040
A2 Secret of the Slaver’s Stockade, 1981
9041
A3 Aerie of the Slave Lords, 1981
9042
A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, 1981
9167
Scourge of the Slave Lords, 1986
11621
Slavers, 2000
A5
Kill Marquessa! casl Entertainment, 2016
A6 Die, Marquessa, Die! casl Entertainment,
2017
A7
Marquessa, Thy Name is Evil, casl Entertainment, 2018
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