196 Book Three : Chapter 7 AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER It is Thyra, brandishing a long-hafted mattock defensively and clad in a ragged shift, the same garments she wore when the player characters last saw her, in Baruch’s estate back on the coast of Shem. She is emaciated, as if she has barely eaten for some time. Dark circles are under her eyes and she sways unsteadily, but holds the tool with its blade angled at the nearest person, ready to strike, though from her posture the effort will send her tumbling. “Am I aught but dreaming? Is this another damned lotusbred hallucination? How are you here? Reveal your true forms, phantoms, or by the holy name of Mitra I will cleave you for taking on those very forms… and die for it!” If the player characters identify themselves and convince her that it is truly them, she collapses into the arms of the nearest one, fraught with the heady blend of fatigue and relief. Harkouf raises an eyebrow. “You know her?” he asks if he has not been told of her existence. “Strange are the paths of Fate.” ‘Overjoyed’ might be a hyperbolic assessment of Thyra’s feelings, but it is not that far from accurate. She embraces each of the player characters, clasping their arms, pressing them to her as if re-establishing herself and them in the mortal world. She explains that since she last saw them — “How long has it been, in this world?” — she has been in a drugged stupor, consuming more lotus than the most desperate of addicts from some Zamoran den of iniquity. However, Thyra explains, that she was able to find a way out of her predicament and has much to tell them and very little time in which to do so. Serothos has the Eye of Acheron, she says, and his ritual is about to start, timed so that the awakening of the Acheronian sorcerer will be as the sunlight crests the eastern cliffside as it rises, shining down upon the space he has prepared for Xhosāth’s resurrection. She was fleeing, hoping that the intervention she had wrought would thwart the Stygian’s ambition, but now that the player characters are here, they can return and put paid to this scheme if it does not go awry. Thyra offers to explain as they go and relays to the player characters the events that befell her since they last were together in their mortal forms. If the gamemaster has decided to use Serothos’ suggested identity, she can reveal to them that she has suspicions that the sorcerer is not who he seems to be. Then, she asks if they have brought any food with them, as she is astonishingly hungry. Harkouf squints across the Valley of Set, grimaces, and tells the player characters “Be quick. The army approaches and makes haste. Their riders and chariots will be here soon, then their host. I will go to my bandits and get our mounts. We will see each other shortly on the field of battle… or in the next world. Now go!” With that, he vanishes back the way they came. THE MAIDEN… DISTRESSED Though she has been unconscious and ‘offscreen’ for the past few chapters, a captive of Serothos, she has served the sorcerer in one important fashion: to draw the Eye of Acheron to him and with it, his ability to withdraw Xhosāth’s soul and complete his ritual. Despite this relative incapacity, she has now been able to turn the tables on her captor. Since being captured by the hell-harpy and borne to Serothos’ tower, she was imprisoned by the Stygian, who kept her drugged with lotus tincture served in a nutritious broth, rather than have to deal with her. She cannot say much about his appearance, as he wears always a bronze mask fashioned with hawklike features, and has never seen him without it. Thyra says that she was trundled along on the expedition to the Valley of Set like a piece of furniture, awakening periodically when the lotus wore off. Between her dreamlike visits to the afterworld and these moments of clarity, she was barely aware of the passage of time. One day, though, she dreamt that she was on a beach looking out at an endless sea, a jungle behind her. She heard a voice nearby, whispering her name. Sitting on the sand was a tall, wild-haired old man in half-robes with a wily grin upon his wrinkled face. He put a finger to his lips and told her “Wake now, child, but be silent. Watch. Do not drink what they give you. Wake, and be patient. Help will come, but you must do what you can on your own.” When next Thyra woke, she spat out what she could of the broth when she was alone, and slowly she gained her senses. Since then, she took stock of the situation and learned all she could. She continued to feign her drugged and suggestible state, coughing up the lotus extract when fed it. When the Stygian sorcerer was gone to see to the excavation, she pored over his magical notes, his tomes and scrolls, and his arcane workbooks and learned all she could about the history of the Eye of Acheron and Serothos’ plans. If the gamemaster is using Serothos’ suggested true identity, Thyra also mentions that she has also discovered that he may not seem to be who he is named. At night, when Serothos slept in the pavilion and she in an adjacent side chamber within it, she stealthily crept out and explored the excavation site, discovering its secrets. When she saw the array of sorcerous glyphs meant to contain the sorcerer, she sought a means of fouling the binding spell in its making.
The Wrath of Serothos 197 SEROTHOS REVEALED The players may be thrilled, and their characters dismayed, to learn that their enemy in this adventure is nothing more than a figment, a false identity cast to mislead his enemies. ‘Serothos’ does not truly exist and is but another guise for the Stygian sorcerer ThothAmon, Master of the Black Ring. Depending on when this campaign is set and whether it hews to the chronology of the stories set forth by Robert E. Howard, this can be at a time when Thoth-Amon reigns within Stygia and has yet to run afoul of his rivals who humble him and turn him into an exile. Alternatively, it can be in that period after he has reclaimed the Ring of Set, but his fate is yet to be determined. He finds the guise of Serothos a useful tool to acting without drawing notice and pitting the identity as a rival to himself helps muddle the matter even further. A rival of Thoth-Amon’s should naturally shy from being seen, lest they draw his wrath or incur the displeasure of the entire Black Ring. Howard himself never speculated on Thoth-Amon’s doom, leaving it open for interpretation. Despite much pastiche pitting them as rivals, the sorcerer seemed barely interested in Conan’s existence in “The Phoenix on the Sword”, and likely far more invested in his rivalry with Kalanthes of Hanumar, an enmity described in “The God in the Bowl”. Thoth-Amon, in all his sinister glory, is described on page 357 of the Conan corebook. The Serpent Ring of Set, his most potent artifact, is described there. However, if the gamemaster feels that having the premiere and most dreaded sorcerer of the Hyborian Age as the nemesis for this adventure, then ‘Serothos’ is exactly who he is, an up-and-coming sorcerer of the Black Ring and an enemy to Thoth-Amon, daring even more than his enemy ever did. See below for a description of the ‘true’ Serothos. Serothos, Sorcerer of the Black Ring This Stygian noble is the only son of Nebantos, a oncepowerful Stygian sorcerer destroyed by Thoth-Amon decades ago on his own path to becoming the Lord of the Black Ring. The sorcerer’s son survived, and in him was lit a fire of hate for Thoth-Amon. Serothos embarked on a journey across Stygia and to the East, learning the magic of other lands, until he felt he was ready to unlock the secrets of the ancient sorceries of Acheron, with which he would truly become the greatest sorcerer of the Hyborian world. He returned to Stygia and assembled a web of contacts, seeking to find an edge or ally against ThothAmon. The Lord of the Black Ring was powerful, however, and had few enemies of note remaining. Calling to demonic servitors, Serothos learned a name that few demons would dare to utter aloud, even in Hell itself. That name was ‘Xhosāth of Acheron.’ Even just this name cost him much, a hideous disfigurement of his features that forced him to wear a mask at all times, out of shame and humiliation. Discovering more about the long-vanquished sorcerer, Serothos learned of the Eye of Acheron and its true nature as the prison of Xhosāth’s soul. He set agents to seek it, waiting for years. When Baruch contacted him with knowledge of its whereabouts, he dispatched another of his chosen allies, Semerkhet, to Messantia to recover it. With it in his grasp, he plans on binding Xhosath to his will, and setting the Acheronian and his sorcery against Thoth-Amon, challenging him for supremacy within the Black Ring. Allied with the magical might conferred by this deathless sorcerer, Serothos plans a new age of terror with he as its ultimate master. This version of Serothos is a Nemesis version of the sorcerer described on page 321 of the Conan corebook, adjusted for his Nemesis status, with the Dismember, Enslave, Raise Up the Dead, and Summon a Horror spells, with his Resolve reduced accordingly.
198 Book Three : Chapter 7 Finding the cavern in which the remains of Xhosath and his eight wives were discovered, she located the remains of his wives, little more than fragments of bone. She collected all of their remains, mere fragments, and hid them in the sands of Serothos’ ritual space, within the circumference described by his binding circle. Thyra is no sorcerer, but she hopes that it is such that when the Stygian raises the Acheronian from the dead, he will in fact also unite the sorcerer with the spirits of his wives, who are not constrained by the spell. Their names and identities are long forgotten, save to her, and cannot be commanded by any sorcerer. The Stygian, knowing no human compassion or companionship, would never consider that Xhosāth’s wives would be of importance to him, and disregarded them entirely. Thus, when Serothos draws the soul of the sorcerer from the black gem and unites it in life, he may unwittingly bring back into the world eight spirits who are both tied eternally to the sorcerer, but are free to act of their own volition. This, she concludes, is what she has done while the player characters have made their way to her. But now, she looks up at the sky as it brightens with light above them… there is no time. SCENE VII: DAWN OF ETERNITY As the player characters and Thyra approach the ritual site, they are approached by a group of six of Serothos’ hired mercenaries, who do not recognize them but are on the lookout for the escaped Argossean woman from their master’s tent. To the east of the camp is the ritual site, and the Stygians are interposed between the heroes and their destination. The mercenaries, hands on weapons and wary looks on their faces, swagger forward and beckon for the intruders to stop. My ruthless hands still clutch at life — Still like a shoreless sea My soul beats on in rage and strife You may not shackle me. — “A Word from the Outer Dark”, Robert E. Howard
The Wrath of Serothos 199 “Halt!” their apparent leader commands in Stygian. “Put down your weapons and surrender her to us.” These are Minion Stygian warriors (see page 186) led by one Toughened example. If any are allowed to flee or raise an alarm, the rest of the mercenaries, another handful, come running from the ritual space, arriving in two rounds, and attack without hesitation or any offer for surrender. As blades are bared and the specter of death hangs waiting in the air, ready to feast, two horns blare loudly from the ritual space. The spell has begun. THE RITUAL COMMENCES A shout goes out from the ritual space in Stygian, first a chant of supplication that is a part of any worship service to Set, then another voice speaks, deep and full of power, these words uttered in Old Stygian. If any player characters know this tongue or succeed in a Dire (D4) Linguistics test, this is what they hear spoken: “I name myself Thoth-Amon, and as the Master of the Black Ring and a high priest of the Great Serpent Set it is my will that this gem be a prison no more. The gate between life and death be opened to me. What spirit that inhabited this ancient flesh be allowed to return to this world from the next and be restored fully to it.” Thyra can translate it for them if they do not understand. The player characters should arrive on the scene after having dealt with the mercenary guard, they see a tall, broad-shouldered man with a bronze mask, sculpted with hawklike features, clad in green and gold robes. In one hand held aloft is the Eye of Acheron, and it gleams in the sunlight, brighter than is natural. His other hand holds a long blade with a serpentine blade, painted red with blood. The sorcerer, Serothos (or Thoth-Amon if this is now known), stands at the head of a black stone bier, upon which lies the body of an alabaster-skinned man, wounds aplenty upon the parts of his skin that are exposed. He is dressed in Stygian finery, and his eyes are open, if insensate. Kneeling around the ritual space in a wide circle spaced at its edges are eight Stygian women, slaves clad only in loincloths and ceremonial jewelry, hands resting within bronze basins filled with blood. Their heads are down and from the utter stillness and slack of their bodies, each is undoubtedly dead. The rest of the area is as described on page 193. The Eye of Acheron pulses one more time brightly, and shatters, causing the sorcerer to drop it, wincing and pulling his hand back in pain. His dagger clatters to the gravel below his feet, and the artifact lands upon the bier, smoking as if blasted by lighting. A black radiance emerges from it, floating about the supine body. A moment later, it enters through the man’s chest, passing through flesh as if it were a sieve. The white-skinned man’s eyes suddenly gleam with light and his chest shudders, a great wracking breath being pulled in. At this point, the Stygian army reaches the excavation camp, and Harkouf’s own brigands ride out to meet them, sweeping through the valley like the very desert wind, the simoom, that assailed them so recently. They race to intercept the Stygian cavalry and chariots, who swerve to meet them. Weapons raised and angry yells sound as they collide in battle. If the player characters intervene at any point during this ritual, the gamemaster is encouraged to try to delay them with the arrival of more Stygian mercenaries or perhaps even a response from Serothos himself, using any of his normal array of sorcerous gifts. See page 197 for more on Serothos’ identity and his sorcerous powers. He likely uses spells like Dismember or Enslave as his immediate means of attacking. As another precaution, Serothos has also summoned his hell-harpy, who waits nearby, perched in the shadows cast by one of the stone colossi seated nearby, looming high within the Valley of Set. See page 95 for a description of that monstrous creature. It gives a fearsome screech and dives into the fray if its master is threatened. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, eight swirling motes emerge from the ground amidst the eight sacrificial slave women and enter their bodies as well. Their chests rise and swell in unison, and their heads slowly begin to rise. The masked sorcerer’s attention, however, is fully upon his injured hand and the figure on the bier. Xhosāth sits upright, the wounds raw and gaping across his body slowly closing, then fading as if they were never there. He gets to his feet, and looks around the circle, his gaze settling on each of the sacrificial slaves where they kneel. He nods and turns to face Serothos, his intended master. At this, Serothos speaks again, this time in low, modern Stygian. His voice is hurried, without the certainty as before. “I name myself Thoth-Amon, and as the Master of the Black Ring and a high priest of the Great Serpent Set it is my will that this man, now united in flesh and spirit, be bound into my service. He stands within a ring I have scribed with promises to you, o Serpent King and to your dark and terrible brethren. Encircled as such, he is to become my slave, enslaved to my will and bent to serve my commands alone. As is marked the circle surrounding him, so shall his confinement be in his eternal servitude.”
200 Book Three : Chapter 7 A cruel smile crosses Xhosāth’s lips then, and though his features are pale and his eyes lambent, it is as if a terrible darkness crosses his features. The eight women surrounding the two sorcerers stand, their hands reddened with their own blood, and the bronze bowls of their own lifeblood are now empty, having washed away the binding circle where they stood. He reaches down and picks up the serpent-bladed dagger, stained with blood, testing its point with a fingertip. “No,” he says in Stygian. “I think not.” XHOSĀTH, SORCERER OF ACHERON (NEMESIS, HORROR) Reincarnate, Xhosāth is broad-shouldered and powerful of frame, his face lambent and eyes glowing. Though he was clad in red robes and accoutrements suitable for his status as an Acheronian sorcerer of note, his new patron Serothos has provided him with Stygian garments befitting royalty, to show the newly risen sorcerer his respect. Gone are his trappings, but the power that the sorcerer emanates is obvious. He is unaware that Serothos plans to bind and contain him, to make him but a combination of sorcerous patron and servant, extracting from him the knowledge of ancient Acheronian demon wizardry and necromancy. Once this becomes apparent, the Acheronian will inevitably react in fury. ATTRIBUTES Awareness Intelligence Personality Willpower 12 11 13 13(2) Agility Brawn Coordination 10 11 10 FIELDS OF EXPERTISE Combat — Movement — Fortitude 3 Senses 3 Knowledge 4 Social 3 STRESS & SOAK ■ Stress: Vigor 14, Resolve 18 ■ Soak: Armor 5 (Sorcerous Preservation), Courage 3 ATTACKS ■ Sacrificial Blade (M): Reach 1, 5§, 1H, Unforgiving 1 ■ Incandescent Blast of Sorcery (R): Range M, 8§, 1H, Blinding, Fearsome 2, ■ Doom of Ages (T): Range C, 7§ mental, Area, Stun SPECIAL ABILITIES ■ Beloved: His resurrected wives attempt to shield him from harm. Any attacks against him must go through one or more of them. ■ Denizen of a Demon-haunted Age: Trained in an age of much more powerful sorcery than this, Xhosath may re-roll any failed Knowledge test made for sorcery but must accept the result of the second roll. ■ Dread Creature 5 ■ Fear 1 ■ Inhuman Willpower 2 ■ Inured to Cold, Disease, Fear, Heat, Pain, Poison ■ Patron DOOM SPENDS ■ Acheronian Sorcerer: Xhosāth knows any spell the gamemaster feels he should have. Additionally, he can spend Doom to power spells on a 1 for 2 basis. ■ Counter Magic: Xhosath knows almost any spell that any mortal sorcerer is going to throw his way and has likely deconstructed the spell down to its first principles. When able to use counter magic in a Struggle, for 1 Doom can re-roll any d20 that fails, but must accept the result of the second roll. ■ White Demon Fire: Xhosāth can spend 2 Doom to add Incendiary 2 and Spread 2 to his Incandescent Blast of Sorcery. A DUEL OF SORCERY If the scene has transpired as described above, the player characters are caught up amid a sorcerous battle between the greatest sorcerer of Stygia and the greatest sorcerer of demon haunted Acheron, whose evil and magical might far outstripped anything seen in the Hyborian Age since. What will happen? The player characters are not without their own magical assets, in the form of weapons emblazoned with holy Mitra’s sign of the Phoenix and with the ancient, cat-headed staff of M’wangele, an item of considerable potency against the undead. Serothos bears a potent magical artifact (see page 197) at his disposal. His hell-harpy, mentioned prior, may also be utilized as a last-ditch escape method, swooping in to snatch him up and bear him way should he be severely outmatched or about to be defeated. If he is killed, however, the creature can also be utilized as a means of bearing away his corpse, potentially allowing him a miraculous means of returning as if from the dead in a later adventure.
The Wrath of Serothos 201 Xhosāth, described prior, is an accomplished sorcerer and can use any spell from the Conan corebook as well as any the gamemaster may wish to introduce from The Book of Skelos or any other appropriate Conan sourcebook. He remembers the player characters from the afterworld and will scornfully destroy them as casually as he would an insect that stands on the path before him. The true target of his anger is Serothos, for his effrontery and disrespect. Defeated, all the enchantments that preserved his body for eternity end and he shrivels instantly until becoming little more than wizened skeleton. The reincarnated spirits of Xhosāth’s eight wives are Toughened ghosts (Conan corebook, page 337), but bear malice only to Serothos. They will die — again — defending their lord and love, Xhosāth, and only attack the player characters if they threaten him. They do not attack or threaten Thyra. The battle between the Stygian army and Harkouf’s bandits can be resolved as the gamemaster sees fit. A downbeat ending might have the desert warriors beaten by the army, captured, or otherwise driven away, forcing the player characters to flee once the fight with the sorcerers is concluded. A more satisfactory resolution would be to have them survive, or even at the last moment be able to arrive within the ritual space, perhaps Harkouf adding his own sword to the battle royale, or helping the player characters escape certain death if things go poorly for them. CONCLUSION AND CONTINUATION Standing in the ruins of Xhosāth’s tomb, perhaps littered with the corpses of Serothos, his guards, and the desiccated remains of the Acheronian sorcerer himself, the player characters should in all likelihood feel that they need to get out of Stygia in a hurry. Fortunately, in the Black Vulture they have an ally and his brigands may be a valuable resource to help this happen without difficulty. If the gamemaster wishes to continue from here, this could involve a running battle with the player characters pursued by a vengeful Stygian army, or even a last-ditch strike from Serothos, if he escaped. If Serothos was indeed Thoth-Amon, then the Black Ring is now going to undergo a significant crisis without their leader, and the player characters may even witness a rival claimant arriving on the scene, ready to claim the Ring of Set for themselves. Thyra, daughter of Antaeus, is stranded in the middle of Stygia and likely needs some sort of assistance getting somewhere safe. Though she has demonstrated her capabilities, a trek across a strange desert alone is more than can be reasonably expected. The player characters could return with her to Messantia, or find another port and help set her upon her way home. There is also the matter of Baruch, the Pelishtim translator in Asgalun, and his treachery that led to the death of Antaeus and so many more. Will the player characters help Thyra bring him to justice, and see that she has vengeance? As for material wealth, if they return to the Makonde village, they have the shares of the spoils from Tothmekri’s island, enough Gold to last any normal person for quite a while, though they will no doubt find plenty of opportunities to spend it on carousing or other ventures. Social Standing (Conan corebook, page 19) may also increase marginally, at least temporarily. Mattai’a is looking for brave new sailors to join her Black Corsairs. Do the player characters want to take her up on that offer? Harkouf, if he survived the battle at the Valley of Set, might be looking for more brigands to join his band. Perhaps a stint of normal banditry might be just the ease after a heady adventure such as this! The Eye of Acheron, should it be recovered, is worthless now, save as a keepsake. Blasted by magic and its sorcerous potency gone, it is now warped and burnt, as if intense heat were applied to it, capable of even harming a gem. The casing is similarly wrecked. But if one stares too long into it… is there within its deep darkness a tiny flickering mote of light? A PLACE TO CALL ONE’S OWN… Though none of the player characters are likely to have earned a Holding as a result of these adventures (Conan corebook, page 295), the gamemaster may choose to have Thyra offer them her father’s manse in Messantia (described on pages 22) for their use as a base of operations. She has little interest in remaining there full-time and assuming the player characters are willing to pay the upkeep on it (25 Gold per month will keep the existing staff fed and paid and the tax assessors from seizing it). From here, the player characters have a detailed home base in one of the most thriving and vital cities along the Western Sea coast, a wonderfully central base for adventure. For a gamemaster with access to Conan the King, this counts as a Manor, but without any of the associated land, and does not generate income (see pages 78–79). However, the benefits of Antaeus’ estate as a research facility are considerable, for sorcerous or lore-based characters.
202 Book ook Three hree : Chapter hapter 7 EXPERIENCE Surviving the climactic chapter of The Shadow of the Sorcerer is quite an achievement. The player characters have crossed hundreds of miles of sea and land, battled terrible foes among the living and the dead, seen vistas no living person has beheld, and hopefully thwarted the resurrection of an immensely deadly foe who would have wreaked havoc upon the Hyborian world for untold ages to come. Any player characters who have survived the events of this chapter and destroyed the Acheronian sorcerer Xhosāth should be awarded 500 experience points above and beyond the normal per-session rewards. This is a significant amount of experience, but an epic evil has been overcome and that is a tremendous thing in and of itself. Player characters who were instrumental in the resolution of this final chapter or whose roleplaying contributed greatly to the spirit of the game should be granted another 200 bonus experience points. Additionally, the conclusion of this epic should be cause enough to award the player characters an additional Fortune point above and beyond their current maximum, depending on how much they contributed overall to the campaign’s resolution. Award them each an increase in their Renown (Conan corebook, page 303), with the reward being adjusted based on the current Renown of each individual player character. Those with reasonably high Renown (3+) should gain only a single level at most, and those with low Renown (–2 to 1) might get a boost of one or two levels. From here, the player characters should feel they have accomplished something significant, thwarting the plans of the most powerful sorcerer of the Hyborian Age, and preventing the resurrection of a deathless sorcerer-king from bringing a new age of terror into the world. They should be able to lay for a while, enjoying the material and emotional rewards from that achievement. Man is a fool and a blinded toy — The Fire still flickers and burns, Though the cobra coils in the cup called Joy, And ever the Worm returns. — “Hope Empty of Meaning”, Robert E. Howard
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