OK ... you've called me out. I was surprised initially by the OP, until I saw this was an alias ;-)
Levels would help, but since this is a One-shot I guess it's not that important.
Source - Number - Title - Adv. Total Party Levels - Description
Black Dragon:
Dungeon - 073 - Eye of Myrkul - 56 - Mere of Dead Men Finale: Enter Temple of Myrkul risen from the swamp and recover unholy artifacts to ransom the lives of Sir Justin and knights captured by a (twin) dragon(s). Beware Cult of the Dragon, secret motives, and all other backstabbers.
Dungeon - 126 - Encounter at Blackwall Keep - 20 - Age of Worms: The party seeks information from a sage at Blackwall Keep, but arrive to find it besieged by lizardfolk, themselves pawns of a black dragon cultist of Kyuss. After breaking the siege and destroying a clutch of worm-tainted eggs, the party must tangle with a keep denizen turned into a Spawn of Kyuss.
Module - DL-1 - Dragons of Despair - 38 - Re-enact the Tale of the Lance. Discover the Lost City of the Ancients, and enter the lair of the first Dragon seen in over 1,000 years.
Mind Flayers:
Dungeon – 081 - Divisions of the Mind – 50 - A beholder has stumbled upon a mysterious floating crystal palace. Luring adventurers into its lair, it bargains with them to investigate the lair of a Ulitharid (Greater Illithid) with a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder who hates mind flayers.
Dungeon – 094 - Spiral of Manzessine – 44 - While traveling through the Underdark, a cave-in seals the main passage, and the only way around is through a mind-flayer prison for their most dangerous criminals.
Dungeon - 125 - Seneschals and Majordomos - - Campaign Workbook: Subordinates and assistants for any ruler ... El Viddenvelp, male Illithid - the Paragon
Module - RQ-2 - Thoughts of Darkness - - Invade the fortress domain of an Illithid Metapsionicist (20th Level) and learn of his secret experiments to cross-breed mind flayers and vampires.
Module - SJA-2n - Skull & Crossbows - Outpost, The - - Starfaring Races: An Illithid wishes passage to an “Outpost” to conduct archeological research. Of course, the crew has concerns about becoming the passenger’s food supply ...
Dark Creeper/Staler, Kenku:
Caveat ... I'm not much into the Dark Creeper/Stalker thing, so I didn't tend to note them as much in my database, and instead had to search Kenku ...
Dungeon – 120 - Forsaken Arch – 28 - The Shoalbury community of pearl divers is turning into a ghost-town as bandits have raided their last four shipments. A cult of kenku worshipping the demon-lord Pazuzu is responsible, tipped off by a traitor among the divers. Track the bandits to their lair and wipe them out within the natural stone arch in the surf.
Dungeon – 138 - Weaver, The – 40 - A kenku sought to sell a rare and deadly spider, but was himself slain. Now its eggs threaten to unleash a plague of lethal vermin into the city.
Githyanki:
Dragon - 067 - Fedifensor - -Raid a Githyanki fortress to recover a stolen sword.
Dungeon - 043 - Into the Silver Realm - 60 - A red dragon is plaguing the Northlands. But this turns out to be no simple dragon-slaying when the dragon’s lair is actually a Githyanki garrison which includes a permanent portal to a fortress in the Astral Plane.
Dungeon - 092 - Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai - 52 - A hundred year-old psychic storm has wound down, revealing a Githyanki outpost thought lost. Both Githyanki and Githzerai raiders seek to claim it, but Ruun-Khazai’s former master hasn’t left and is preparing a special reception for them. Avoid becoming caught in the cross-fire and becoming fuel for the next psychic storm the master is brewing to protect his domain.
Dungeon - 095 - Yu’thiol Mansecho - 10 - A Githyanki spy wanders the planes, searching out powerful characters and eliminating potential threats to the Lich Queen.
Dungeon - 100 - Old Embers Never Die - 48 - Two part adventure. In Part 1, a dragon-cult of powerful kobolds has animated the skeleton of a slain red dragon in their lair. In Part 2, that same dragon has been cloned by a githyanki wizard, and must be found and slain in his new lair.
Dungeon - 100 - Lich-Queen’s Beloved, The - 72 - Attack and slay the githyanki lich-queen. She’s a 25th level wizard lich in her own home in a city of 100,000 bloodthirsty githyanki.
Dungeon - 116 - Death of Lashimire - 48 - A psion cast out of his secret order plots revenge, but has betrayed his githyanki allies while plotting with sahuaghin. Now a githyanki strike team plans to kill him for the theft of a silver sword as the PCs visit his remote, island home, possibly with similar intentions. Throw in necromantic traps and sahuaghin allies for loads of fun ...
Dungeon - 125 - Seekers of the Silver Forge - 60 - Githyanki heretics escaped the lich-queen by shifting their entire city to the bottom of the ocean, but their civilization was ultimately corrupted and destroyed by necromantic forces. Now a silver forge is becoming tainted and affecting all sea life around it as the lone, surviving necromancer builds his power.
Polyhedron - 100 - Knights of the Witch Queen - - Play D&D as a Githyanki Kinght, serving the Lich-Queen.
Marilith:
Dungeon - 060 - Nemesis - 60 - An investigation into the disappearance of a tiefling turns ugly when the trail leads from Sigil into the Abyss and becomes embroiled in the power struggles of the marilith and one demon’s quest for revenge.
Urban Mysteries:
Dragon - 111 - Death of an Arch-Mage - 36 - As members of the local police force, PCs investigate the murder of an arch-mage, who is the former mayor of their city, the morning after he holds a dinner party for the current mayor and two other dignitaries.
Dungeon - 036 - Asflag's Unintentional Emporium - 30 - The wizard Asflag has gone missing and presumed dead (given the strange explosion and death cries from his tower a fortnight before). Now his “pets” have begun to escape their confinement and plague the city. Serve the Duke as “Special Constables” and enter the home of the dead wizard to end the menace.
Dungeon - 039 - Legerdemain - 22 - Opening Night for a new play approaches at the Legerdemain, and the owner is afraid of trouble. The lead actress threatens to quit, the lead actor is going senile, the director is in seedy sections of town making inexplicable changes to the staging. Is it coincidence, or tampering of an outside malcontent?
Dungeon - 044 - Hand of Al-Djamal, The - 50 - An exhibit of Ylari artifacts on display in Glantri is closed due to the deaths of two guards at the museum. Is there a curse on the treasure? A Ylari madman shouted warnings even up to the point of his blooding death after losing his hand for trying to “liberate” the treasures of his homeland.
Dungeon - 046 - Goblin Fever - 20 - Chaos has broken out in the city of Waen Fawr as an epidemic of Goblin Fever plagues the city. As citizens are gripped by desperation, fear and madness, try to find the ingredients to brew a cure before the death toll rises and villainous opportunists run amuck.
Dungeon - 047 - Assassin Within, The - 20 - An assassin is stalking the household of Hakim ibn Rashad, Professor of Natural Philosophy. Protect the professor and his family while uncovering the mystery of who would want him killed.
Dungeon - 053 - Spellbook Masquerade - 04 - An old book-seller has accidentally shipped a Tome of Lich Creation to an evil, but influential local sorceress. Tonight she is hosting a Masquerade Ball, and the merchant needs someone to go in his place and recover the tome.
Dungeon - 055 - Umbra - 36 - An extra-planar tale of fiends, prophesies, and a custody battle between a warrior and a succubus over their alu-fiend daughter. Long and involving many scenarios, this adventure could easily be sectioned in several mini-adventures.
Dungeon - 059 - Wedding Day - 10 - Two merchant families are about to be joined in marriage, and an ex-boyfriend is jealous. He is also rogue and former wizard’s apprentice, so trouble is to be expected. Comic relief adventure.
Dungeon - 061 - Jigsaw - 30 - A Frankenstein tale of an engaged scientist and her jealous creation.
Dungeon - 062 - Rat Trap, The - 50 - Things have turned ugly in the city of Carn Perrin as “Gobbling Jack” breaks the “understanding” between the citizenry, Thieve’s Guild and police. Solve the vicious murders and robberies that leave gnawed victims in their wake and return the city to peace.
Dungeon - 068 - Artist’s Loving Touch, The - 08 - An elderly sculptor is using Gloves of Petrification and were-rat kidnappers to turn innocent victims into new masterpieces.
Dungeon - 068 - Trouble with In-Laws, The - 08 - A locket found in an old monster layer leads adventurers onto the trail of a kidnapping gone awry.
Dungeon - 072 - No Stone Unturned - 20 - Investigation the sudden appearance of zombies on city streets. A blackmailed undertaker, and underground excavation by zombie miners, a tribe of frightened mongrelmen terrorized by a family of trolls, and agents of an evil society questing for magic all figure in to a plot with interesting twists.
Dungeon - 081 - Race Against Time, A - 10 - Seven “Fire Crystals” are hidden in the city of Red Fern and will explode in three hours unless the riddle/clues can be solved. Good city map for a campaign, but not exactly a “rural duchy”.
Dungeon - 088 - Thirds of Purloined Vellum - 4 - A merchant has arrived with a precious cargo and priceless contracts, but his assistant and contracts have gone missing, and someone is trying to have him murdered. Find the missing contracts and solve the mysterious crimes.
Dungeon - 088 - Seventh Arm, The - 28 - A trader in antiquities has arrived in town to acquire an amulet once belonging to the evil sorcerer who enslaved the town 70 years before. Follow a lost band of adventurers to the wizard’s old tower, investigate its ruins, overcome its current inhabitants and solve the mystery of the amulet.
Dungeon - 095 - Porphyry House Horror - 40 - In the pirate city Scuttlecove, a secret cult of yuan-ti worshiping Demogorgon established a fancy brothel using polymorphed monsters to create perfect partners, destroying all of the competition. With their monopolistic control, they plan an orgy for “special clients” that is really a planned sacrifice and opportunity to introduce a drug which will turn the residents of the city into half-fiends. A wizard drug dealer and a half-fiend Thrall of Graz’zt provide potential “allies” to investigate the cult.
Dungeon - 096 - Pandemonium in the Veins - 20 - The gladiators of “The Veins” are mysteriously dying off. Go undercover to learn the dark secret of a mad alchemist bent on revenge, an illicit drug scandal and the deluded ravings and imaginings of a dead gladiator whose spirit has not yet passed on.
Dungeon - 113 - Practical Magic - 36 - A magic-item crafter has gone missing in Marsember, and the clues point to her boyfriend, an aquatic elf. Lately, he’s the thrall of a merfolk vampire, but might point you to the real kidnapper, a mysterious necromancer who is animating a workforce of “expert zombies” to do mundane labor. He needs the help of the crafter, but this is not really a rescue, as she wants his secrets for herself.
Dungeon - 114 - Mad God’s Key - 4 - Burglars ransacking a locksmith shop were tipped off by a friend who stole a magic key. Track the robber to the docks and give chase, to learn that he is the hired-hand of a gang of thieves lately afflicted by disease. A priest wanted the key as payment for healing them, but he’s really a worshiper of Nerull, and cursed them in the first place. Masquerading as a priest of Boccob he’s stolen an unlockable book from the library and plans to use the key to discover its dark secrets.
Dungeon - 115 - Steel Shadows - 28 - Warforged are being murdered and their bodies carved apart (with pieces removed). Local Warforged suspect humans, while humans speak of ghosts. Investigate the mystery and reveal the twisted sanity of a seemingly mild-mannered warforged trying to construct a perfect and pure member of its race (not crafted by human hands) and the powerful nobleman seemingly behind the experiment.
Dungeon - 117 - Touch of the Abyss - 44 - Campaign Arc - Istivin, City of Shadows: As the city above goes mad, infiltrate the “Deeper Dungeons” beneath Krelont Keep and discover that the Marchioness has imprisoned her mad husband, lest the city learn of his condition and crumble. But the Marquis has been chosen by the dark Malgoth to serve as its Voice, and will not let him go.
Dungeon - 121 - Styes, The - 36-Investigating the serial killings of the Lantern Man leads to a mad cult in the derelict district known as the Styes. Herein a rogue aboleth manipulates the cultists and dominates a man to perform the murders, keeping the local population in fear and feeding the emotions to a kraken it is nurturing.
Dungeon - 129 - Murder in Oakbridge - 20 - A distraught woman who lost her husband and child years before when an animal act went out of control at the circus has spent years hunting and murdering members of the disbanded troupe. Now she has only one neighborhood left in which to finish her task.
Dungeon - 133 - Chimes at Midnight - 20 - A master detective in Sharn believes he has been overlooked for credit, and engineers the escape of several dangerous criminals in a plot for revenge. Too bad they leave so many clues and a trail right to him.
Dungeon - 141 - Swords of Dragonslake - 48 - Seeking to avenge the death of her family in an arson fire that destroyed their theater home over a decade earlier, a young woman returns to her home city with the unreleased masterpieces of a murdered playwright and manipulates the literati while raising up an obscure plagiarist as her puppet and taking key roles in his latest play that allow her a chance for revenge on opening night against the nobleman who originally ordered the burning of her family’s theater.
Module - FROA1 - Ninja Wars - - Many political intrigues and mysteries presented as plot hooks and mini-adventures in this module.
PDF Download - - Tinderbox - 4 - Bonus Adventure on CD (Dn #87): A dangerous arson has escaped from prison in the wood-framed garrison town of Powderkeg, and the Burgomaster’s advisor fears he has revenge on his mind. Foil the villains plots and save the town from being reduced to ash.
When I think of githyanki adventures, I think of "Fedifensor" from Dragon #67.
Bingo.
Gushing about Fed's map:
Off the top of my head, it's the only "realistic" 3-D astral/ethereal map I've seen, rather than a typical "gravity-driven" 2D map. Other Astral adventures just tend to do the "gravity-plane" thing where they have an "up-side" and "down-side", but this map was designed with extensions in all directions.
Actually, it was basically a ball with defensive towers coming out in a tetrahedronal arrangement.
Too bad no other map-makers ever realized this simple and obvious trait about the Astral Plane, that there is no "up" or "down". IMO, Ruun-Khazai and most other Githyanki adventures (plus no small number of submarine ones) tended to lose a few points for poor maps in this regard.
I don't use this alias often -- only when I'm discussing secret DM stuff and I don't want my Players to find it. It's not foolproof and it certainly depends on Player honesty, but it's worked for the last couple years, at least.
. . . . .
Dragon 67:
That's awesome news, not so much for this adventure, but for me. I've got most of the Dragon Mags with adventures but I do not yet have this one -- I'll ebay it soon enough. Thanks.
Usually, when I think of Githyanki I think of the spectacular "Interlopers of Ruun Khazai" by Dave Noonan and the banal, much disappointing "Lich Queen's Beloved" by the best adventure writer ever, Chris Perkins. Lashimir and Seeekers also come to mind. Now I can add, when I buy it, "Fedifensor" to the list.
. . . .
I can't give any specific praise for what's helped -- the OP has my real question surrounded by red herrings to throw off my two Players who enjoy the Boards.
But thanks Rez (and others).
This has been a great help!
Except, ;) Shame on y'all for not mentioning
L2 "Assassin's Knot" by Len Lakofka (TSR 1983) -1st mystery adventure ever
"Life's Bazaar" by Chris Perkins (Dungeon 97) -Urban mystery WITH Dark Creepers
There's also a marilith in an adventure in, I think, Dungeon 84 or thereabouts. It's the BEST illustration of a Marilith I've got and I use it as a handout pretty much every time I throw Mari at my PCs.
Fed is a classic. I barely remember it, and like all classics it's probably a little "thin" by today's standards, but was novel and exceptional for its day. As mentioned above, the concept of the map still beats everything since.
Hiding DM wrote:
the spectacular "Interlopers of Ruun Khazai" by Dave Noonan
Again, liked the adventure but found the maps wanting. Just too much traditional, terrestrial construction moved to the Astral Plane, and not believable for what a native race would produce.
Hiding DM wrote:
the banal, much disappointing "Lich Queen's Beloved" by the best adventure writer ever, Chris Perkins.
Agree on both counts. The entire Incursion cross-over thing was very poorly handled. A group of four 18th level PCs shouldn't be able to take out a 25th level wizard, much less a centuries-old paranoid one in her own palace within a city of 100,000 blood-thirsty fanatical worshippers of her. Utter lunacy.
Hiding DM wrote:
But thanks Rez (and others).
This has been a great help!
Any time. Of course, if you're ever in the SoCal area I think by now you owe me a beer ... or maybe a meal ... or banquet?
Calling me out by name :-P
Hiding DM wrote:
Except, ;) Shame on y'all for not mentioning
L2 "Assassin's Knot" by Len Lakofka (TSR 1983) -1st mystery adventure ever
Don't own it, so it's not in my database.
Hiding DM wrote:
"Life's Bazaar" by Chris Perkins (Dungeon 97) -Urban mystery WITH Dark Creepers
I know I missed at least a couple Creeper adventures. I left Bazaar (and some others, including most AP stuff) off the list intentionally, since it was the open to SCAP and you wanted a 1-shot. Plus, you obviously already know about it :-)
Hiding DM wrote:
There's also a marilith in an adventure in, I think, Dungeon 84 or thereabouts
Could be The Harrowing #84 which I saw but left off the list since it didn't specify a Mari in my notes. I had to cover a lot of ground for you, and so had to make quick judgements. Rana Mor #86 would be well suited to having a Mari, but according to my notes doesn't. That's all the hits I get in the 82-86 range without actually pulling mags.
Also, there's Into the Maw #147 which has a Mari in the cast.
It's fun to ask my Players, speaking with the voice one uses to talk to two-year-olds and puppies, if they know where Mary is or tell them that Mary wants to play with them,
.... Then break out the picture of a Marilith.
(I make copies of illustrations I like and keep them in a DM folder for later use -- so I know exactly what the pic is, just not which mag.)
It very well could be "Rana Mor" -- "The Harrowing," while taking place in the Abyss, doesn't spark my memory for a marilith. But it could be in one of the other adventures in #84.
See, you have an advantage -- you made a spread sheet or something that you can just use your search and copy/paste what you have on the Boards, here.
I do everything for memory.
If I get to the West Coast we'll go to a restaurant and I'll take the check -- IF I get a hold of your spread sheet on a USB or something.
There's also a marilith in an adventure in, I think, Dungeon 84 or thereabouts
Could be The Harrowing #84 which I saw but left off the list since it didn't specify a Mari in my notes.
Her name is Vil and she's on p.46 of The Harrowing.
She's going into the database now. After 3rd Ed. came out and they started printing stats in Dungeon for monsters with Class Levels (the first one I recall impressing me was several varieties of gnoll rangers) I added a "Cool NPCs" field to the database, but am probably missing some of the earlier ones.
I can't give any specific praise for what's helped -- the OP has my real question surrounded by red herrings to throw off my two Players who enjoy the Boards
The APL-13 PCs started in the Free City of Greyhawk where Balabar Smenk hired them to find his brother-in-law, missing in the Gnarley Forest by the Kron Hills. (Smenk's sister begged him to help her but still had to put her home up as collateral for Smenk's help.)
PCs go to Verbobonc (last known place of bro-n-law) and stumble on some info leading to a cult of "Darkness" or "Night" or "something" that leads them to Cauldron. Bro-n-law is dead.
This they discover after defeating an Annis leader of ogre clan (border, Kron Hills / Gnarley) and then a Derro named Gobbling Jack, recently terrorizing Verbobonc.... Gobbling Jack used to be a gnome --hey, I LOVE what Paizo did with spontaneous-transformation of elves to drow except I HATE that it's the origin of Drow -- so I use it for the origin of Derro -- spontaneously transformed Gnomes! It's a far superior redesign than Paizo's. It makes beautiful sense for Derro, a great monster from the original Fiend Folio that has always had "origin" problems.
Anway, PCs in Cauldron: they deal with a Thieves' Guild run by a Kenku named Old Grum and his Lt., the RavenWitch. They're in cahoots with a Dark Stalker named the Grey Philosopher (Cleric-Rogue) who is the head of this "Darkness" Cult. Of course, he's got dark creeper mooks, duh.
It used to be just the Grey Philosopher's cult until, oops, a Black Dragon found out about a Dark Stalker calling himself "The Lord of Black" -- the Black Dragon decided to start calling himself The Lord of Black and made the Grey Philosopher his bi+ch.
PCs have a big fight with the Black Dragon, The Grey Philosopher, Old Grum and the RavenWitch (who turn on the Cultists as it doesn't help their Guild) and a bunch of dark creeper munchkins.
Balabar Smenk is from Dungeon 124, Mona's "Whispering Cairn" intro to AoW.
Gobbling Jack is from Dungeon 62, "The Rat Trap" -- he's a wererat in that, blech.
Old Grum is the name of an NPC a fellow DM used a few years ago. Mine is a Kenku guild-leader, hers was a human guild leader. (My old Grum is conflicted between his reverence for Lamashtu and Pazuzu -- see Dragon: Monster Ecologies; I thought it'd be cool to have a Kenku torn between the two Demon-Lords.
The RavenWitch was inspired by Monte Cook's FR novel, The Glass Prison.
The Grey Philosopher is from Dungeon 15, a Carl Sergent adventure where PCs chase down a renegade, Paladin-under-a-geas into the Grey Philosopher's lair.
The black dragon who hears about a squishy using nomenclature that ought to be his and thus intervenes is all mine but I've used the concept many times over the last 20 or so years.
I used setting fluff and traps and such from "Jigsaw," "Thirds of a Purloined Vellum," "Mad God's Key," "The Styes," and "Chimes at Midnight."
I LOVE what Paizo did with spontaneous-transformation of elves to drow except I HATE that it's the origin of Drow
Haven't paid much attention. Actually looked up on Wikipedia to see what this was all about. Elves leaving the world and returning but some left behind ... it's a clear Tolkien rip.
Rezdave's Drow Origins:
Elves have low-light vision (formerly "ultra-vision" in AD&D) and usually worship a moon goddess and such, so I decided that they clearly originated as a nocturnal race.
Considering that real-world homo sapiens evolved as an entirely dark-skinned race in Africa before migrating across the world and having some ethnic groups develop lighter skin, it's not really much of a stretch to imaging the nocturnal elven progenitor-race (whether evolved or created by some "elf-god") having dark skin as well.
As some groups of elves transitioned to being diurnal societies and migrated across the globe, their skin lightened but they retained their low-light vision, tendency to remain active at night (i.e. sleeping very little) and cultural association with the moon goddess.
Eventually, the "night elves" were determined by the "day elves" to be "Evil" and a race-war was fought. The dark-skinned elves lost and were driven from the surface, hiding in cavern complexes and forced to bend their society to moral extremes to survive.
Yep, that's right ... in my world drow were the original elves, and were driven to their subterranean lifestyle and evil ways due to the persecution of "good elves". Of course, almost no one knows, much less admits, this.
How's that for an origin story?
Thanks for the update. Had been curious, so I decided to give you a month to run it :-)
Not what I was referring to -- not Elf origin, Drow origin.
SECOND DARKNESS Adventure Path Spoilers:
Golarion Drow origin:
Spoiler:
In Golarion there was just elves. Then, some of the evil elves woke up and they had been transformed into a new, evil race of elf: drow.
Occassionally an evil elf, after a particular evil act or other unknown catalyst, will spontaneously change into a drow.
BIGGER SPOILER:.... The BBEG of SD is a drow chick who was an elf noble who hunts drow -- then, oops, she slowly became evil while hunting drow and in a War Council with other Elf generals, transformed into a drow. So, yeah, she fled the other elves and, of course, the other elves try desperately to cover up the fact that drow elves are really elves who became evil....
Sure, not all evil elves metamorphose into drow -- and drow can make drow babies with elves or drow -- but the origin of drow is an arcane transformation.
When I first read this I thought of the Tobey Maguire / Reese Witherspoon movie, Pleasantville with Joan Allen and Bill Macy, where the people of Pleasantville would transform from black-and-white TV characters to color characters after they experience "real life" emotions.
Rez, your drow & elf origin is pretty cool. Like the SD campaign, it'd be cool to have a campaign where the PCs find out the truth of drow -- especially since the NPC elves try to cover it up.
Mine is a wee bit different.
All the humanoids and fey were surface folk.
Then a bajillion years ago there was a humongous cataclysm and vast majorities of the people fled to the safety of underground. Years later many returned to the surface and celebrated the sun.
Many others stayed in the underdark. Few natural resourses (like water and food), Pragmatism, absolute power and proximity to sunken Evil (Tharizdun and Cthulhu like entities trapped deep under the earth), led many of them to evil.
Humans became Grimlocks
Elves became Drow
Dwarves became Duergar
Gnomes became Svirfnebli
Locathah became Kuo Toa
Goblins became Kobolds (never really liked this one, one day I'll come up with a better idea and fix it)
etc., etc.
