The Scholar-Mages of Qoril
Some
see the minions of this wide-reaching organisation as thieves, grave
robbers and looters; others value them as the foremost scholars of
many ancient civilisations and forgotten languages. Those engaged in
the profession of exploring long abandoned ruins will have invariably
come across members of “The Seekers” (as they are commonly known
to the public) through party members, signs, clues or sigils, or
devilish traps disarmed or reset. Wizards in lonely towers may have
bargained with their representatives, trading a scrap of irrelevant
lore or undecipherable writings for items or information to be
retrieved from known or unknown resting places. To the general
public that have an interest in real stories of adventure and treasures
gained and lost, they are viewed as somewhat Indiana Jones-like, at
least, as much as one can in a quasi-medieval fantasy world...
Spell
Senses - level
variable 1+
Subtly
enhances one of the basic senses
(sight; hearing; touch; smell; taste; intuition) for every level that
the spell is cast at, up to a maximum of 6. The duration is 60
minutes, divided by the number of senses enhanced. All senses end at
the same time.
The
basic effect is to give +1 (on a d20 scale) to all actions that rely
on that sense. Combinations give cumulative bonuses (i.e. searching
for secret doors – sight and touch gives +2; testing potions for
effect – smell and taste +2).
In
Southern Kheldaria, a few miles north of the City of Brythyn, along
the main road that skirts the edge of the plain where it drops to the
green river valley, sits a half-ruined fortified manor house, on the
plain side of the road. Although pillars have fallen, and rubble and
thorns choke most of the grounds, there is a well worn track
threading past several mounds of fallen masonry, to a low dark
opening in the wall. Most must duck under the stone lintel.
Within
lies a labyrinthine-like network of passages, corridors and rooms,
all carved out of the earth and lined with cut stone blocks. Here is
the nerve centre of the Scholar-Mages, and where their vaults,
libraries and leadership are all safely tucked away. There is a
Great Assembly Hall, various separated libraries, each housing
volumes and notes relating to a different civilisation or major site.
Spell
Subvert Trap - level
3
This
allows the mage to temporarily disarm (or render inoperable, etc) an
already identified trap. At the end of whatever simple conditions are set,
it returns to full operation and impact.
It can
be used for the mage to skirt past a trap, knowing that his pursuer
will fall victim, or he may set it to allow the first three people
through, knowing that the fourth member of the party bears him ill
will. It may also be able to be disarmed for a finite amount of time
– no more that one hour per level of the mage, and only accurate to
half an hour. If no conditions are set, it will stay harmless for 24
hours, minus an amount for the quality of the trap, and a random
adjustment (d6 hours?)
There
are around a dozen Grandmasters, each with a wealth of knowledge of a
particular little known but lucrative ancient civilisation. These
worthies are supported and encouraged, and spend their days
investigating legends and tomes to discern locations of ruins,
decipher runes and sigils, and avoid or mitigate traps, locks and
guardians.
These
each have a group of lesser scholars to follow certain theories,
experiment, transcribe or translate writings and do the grunt
academic work.
Overseeing
this hive of scholarship are the Chapters, who glean information of
practical use from the Grandmasters, and set in motion activities to
make use of it. Part of this is co-ordination of the resources and
field staff of the Scholar-Mages to excavate, explore, steal or
acquire. It also involves setting rumours through a network of
carefully placed contacts in governments, guilds and especially the
establishments where one-armed men give cryptic clues. It is these
stories of wealth and adventure that usually create a flood of
sellswords, itinerant mages and rogues flocking to a particular
dungeon, ruin or border town, with the Seekers field staff
accompanying, or venturing in once all the ways have been opened,
guardians slain and gold looted. It is then that the secret and
hidden treasures, the writings and engravings, the statues and
fountains, can all be dissembled and removed to a safehouse, with
items of incredible academic, magical or financial worth eventually
making their may to the Chapters and Grandmasters.
Perhaps
there is an ultimate aim for the Order rather than just the
accumulation of lore, but if so, none outside the leadership of the
Chapters knows it.
The
real strength of the Scholar-Mages of Qoril are the field operatives.
All recruits, except the outstandingly academic ones, start here,
where they are part thieves, part mages, part contract managers,
public relations experts and networkers. A few are undercover, such
as spies in academic institutions or in positions of responsibility
in governments or royal courts, but the majority make no secret of
their loyalties, referring to it as though it were a guild, or a
reasonable employer, but nothing more.
Their role
is to sniff out items, places or lore of interest to their
higher-ups. Whether researching tomes in distant keeps or libraries,
travelling as a bard amongst isolated settlements or actively
participating in exploration of dangerous places and the extraction
of items, they are a low level but constant presence to those in this
line of work.
Spell
To
Track a Ghost level 2+
This
is similar to Senses, but involves obscuring traces and tracks of the
Seeker. Cast at second level, it will obscure traces from one chosen
sense (i.e. sight would remove all visible signs of passing such as
footprints in dust, but not physical damage to plants, masonry, etc).
Every additional level it is cast at will remove one more sense’s
traces. Smell and taste are important when tracking beasts are
involved, and intuition adds a penalty to detection by magic. Must
be cast separately for each additional creature to be rendered
traceless. Also, it does not remove the traces, but obscures them
for the duration – same as for Senses.
The
field operatives are spread thinly, so their method is to direct
other, stronger or more capable groups to clear dangerous or blocked
paths, and reward them for extracting items, or, more usually,
accompanying them and assuring that the
group is happy with items that are not those that interest the
Seekers. This is not usually hard, as most groups of dungeon delvers
value gold and silver over engraved tablets, indecipherable notes and
illuminating statues.
Dragon
Warriors Profession
Stats –
min 9 Reflexes and Intelligence.
Attack,
Defence, MA and MD & Health Points – same as mystic, only no bonus MA/MD bonus at certain levels.
Skills –
thief skills as assassin, only slightly less chance (maybe 5 - 10% less).
Magic-
2 spells/level, and 2 MP level. All relate to finding, inquiry and
detection, misdetection and Jedi mind tricks.
