The Kandris Seal. Sample file. Author: Lisa Hartjes. Editing: Patrick Bradley, Chris Hartjes, Bill Keyes, Matthew Korth. Illustrations: Gillian Pearce

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1 The Kandris Seal Author: Lisa Hartjes Editing: Patrick Bradley, Chris Hartjes, Bill Keyes, Matthew Korth Illustrations: Gillian Pearce Maps: Lisa Hartjes Layout and Design: Lisa Hartjes, Bill Keyes For more information and free downloads, please visit The Kandris Seal 2002, 2004, 2007 by Lisa Hartjes. All Rights Reserved. Requires the use of the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. d20 Modern, and Wizards of the Coast are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission. D20 System and the D20 System logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the D20 System License version 3.0. A copy of this License can be found at com/d20.

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3 Contents Introduction...1 How To Use This Book...1 What s In This Book...1 Sharing The Glory...2 Disclaimer And Copyright Notices...2 Chapter One: The Thaumaturgia...3 The World of the Kandris Seal...3 What is Chaos?...3 The Mechanics of Chaos...4 Detecting Chaos...4 Who are the Thaumaturgia?...4 History...4 The Sandover Siege...5 Present Day...5 Rankin Manor...6 Organization...7 Joining the Thaumaturgia...8 Benefits of Joining the Thaumaturgia...10 Sects...10 Allies & Enemies...13 Allies...13 Enemies...13 The Kandris Seal...13 How Does The Seal Work?...14 Character Creation...14 Feats...15 New Spells...22 New Magic Items...25 Farspeaker Ring...25 Ritual Brazier...25 Ritual Chalice...25 Ritual Dagger...25 Characters...25 Dr. Angelina Anthony...25 Zacharias Dukovich...28 Eldritch...29 Amanda Ghost Elk...32 Paracelsus...33 Lady Josephine Rankin...34 Vladislav Staretnikov...35 Vithya Singh...36 Neil Walters...37 Arthur Sinquist...38 John Smith...39 Jeff Thomas...41 The Watcher...42 Wytch...43 Bast & Sheba...45 Blacke House...45 Chapter Two: The Keepers of the Broken Circle...47 History...47 Present Day...47 Organization...47 Elsewhere in the Galaxy...48 Important Figures...48 Keepers of the Broken Circle...48 Keeper Controlled Organizations...48 Followers of the Keepers...48 Chaos Creatures...48 Allies...48 Enemies...48 Other Chaos-based Characters...48 Character Creation...48 Broken Circle Tainted Template...48 Creating A Broken Circle Tainted...49 Chaos-Tainted Special Abilities...50 Magic Items & Spells...61 Spells...61 Spell Descriptions...61 Magic Items...64 Characters...64 Aburintalos...64 Bantothet...65 Dislial...67 Drameniaos...68 Emlerantos...69 Kusorthuse...70 Loloroeth...71 Miranthaea...72 Norentar...73 Quizetracale...74 Sertathros...75 Winkretaset...76 Zerkantos...78 Followers of the Keepers...79 Nicholas Dain...79 Dark Mage...80 Darkwitch...82 Chaos Creatures...84 Impling...84 Chaos Imp...84 Other Groups...85 Order of the Serpent...85 Origin & Goals...85 The Plan...85 How To Use The Order...86 Using Chaos to Create Non-Magical Characters..88 Claw...88 The Misfits...89 Uncle Sam s Lab...89 Using the Misfits...90 Combat Tactics...90 Vector...91 Gargoyle...92

4 Slideways & Reno...93 Chapter Three: The Rest of the World...95 Running Adventures...95 Cyberpunk...95 Comedy...95 Dark & Gritty...95 Fantasy...96 Four Color...96 Golden Age...96 Horror...96 Martial Arts...96 Pulp...96 Science Fiction & Space Opera...96 Super Agents...96 Western...97 Steampunk...97 Using the Kandris Seal In an Existing Campaign As a Basis for a Campaign...97 The Maylor...98 History...98 Typical Maylor...99 Spaceborn...99 Spaceborn Ship Sample Maylor Weapons Particle Pistol Neural Overload Net Stun Grenade Sample Maylor Technology Combat Armor Bedwyr Magic Sensor Bedwyr Magic Tracker Protective Dome Generator The Bedwyr Typical Bedwyr Mage Using the Maylor and the Bedwyr Dimensional Travel Mystical Places Beckwith Castle Other People Shroud Haven Ryske & Gaine Ryske Gaine Scenarios Speeding Towards Disaster Plot Summary Vector s Arrival What Else Could go Wrong? What Happens Now? There s Something In the Sewers Plot Summary Background Getting the Players Involved What the Police Have What the Street Knows Finding the Creature Epilogue Bonded Imp Bloodsport Plot Overview The Briefing The Fight Getting the Information Finding Black Investigating the Caves What s Going On Finders, Keepers Plot Overview The Plot Thickens Solving the problem Complications Epilogue Adventure Seeds Index...123

5 INTRODUCTION This place is so tainted I can almost smell it. Eldritch could barely keep from wrinkling his nose. Quiet, Wytch whispered. There may be sentries we weren t able to detect. We might be lucky, and they re all concentrating on starting the ritual. Or they might have gotten far enough that we can t stop them ourselves, Eldritch breathed in reply. Come on. The two mages ducked through a hole in the broken fence and crept towards the darkened house. They had been watching the building for days, verifying the information the Council had asked for. When the order came down for them to move in, they were both eager and a bit afraid. Wytch tapped on Eldritch s shoulder and pointed at the windowsill. In the shadows he could barely make out a symbol drawn on the wood in chalk. He looked at his companion and mouthed the word neither of them wanted to say. The Keepers. A bone deep chill suddenly ran through both of them, confirming their fears. Let s go, Wytch said, not waiting for her partner. We can t afford to wait. That surge of magic could mean they re almost finished the spell. They broke into the house, following the strength of the taint to its source in the basement. The chanting was almost at a fever pitch and the air was thick with incense. The cultists were standing in a semicircle in front of an altar on which lay a half-naked young woman, drugged into near senselessness. A cultist wearing a headdress made of antlers and bones stepped forward, arms raised in supplication. Akthireste!, he yelled. Hear our call! Come to us! Eldritch and Wytch felt the Chaos magic hit the room like a tidal wave as a swirling disk opened in the air above the altar. Like a black hole, they could feel it pulling at their magic, trying to devour it. The mages summoned all their powers to cast the spell they had prepared, but just as they were about to complete the incantation, they saw huge clawed hand grab the edge of the portal and a terrifying, demonic figure start to pull its way through... Some of the greatest stories from myths and legends come from conflict. Fact or fiction, the war between good and evil is an intrinsic part of any culture. Why? Because we need heroes to cheer for, villains to hate, and monsters to fear. The Kandris Seal brings the world of demons, evil sorcerers and world-destroying magic to your fingertips. It presents a cadre of demons, known collectively as the Keepers of the Broken Circle, and their servants. But what are demons without their hunters? There is a secret order of mages called the Thaumaturgia, working in the background to foil the Keepers plots and to keep our dimension safe from threats both mystical and mundane. Mages are not the only people fighting against the Keepers or the warping that their power, called Chaos, creates. There are monster hunters, followers of an ancient order of crusaders, and regular people just like you and me. Read on, and step into the realm of The Kandris Seal. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK If you re a GM you re probably going to want to read the entire book through, especially the section on how to use the Thaumaturgia with the PC s. There are sections in Chapters One and Two on character creation, and Chapter Three contains information on using the information presented in The Kandris Seal. As a GM, you will notice that some of the Elemental Controls in this book contain slots with Powers that don t inherently cost END, such as Armor to represent a character s especially tough skin. These were allowed, as per the GM s permission statement in 5 th edition, as the special effect fit tightly into the Elemental Control (i.e. Demonic Body). If as a GM you do not wish to have these powers included in the Elemental Control, move them out of the EC and adjust the character point totals as appropriate. If you re a player, the information in Chapter One will be of most use to you, but talk to your GM about what s being used and what isn t. WHAT S IN THIS BOOK The Kandris Seal is divided into three sections: Chapter One begins with a primer on Chaos in The Kandris Seal and its mechanics in the d20 System. It also presents the Thaumaturgia, its history, important members, as well as specialized spells and magic items. The chapter ends with information of creating Thaumaturgia characters. Chapter Two covers the Keepers of the Broken Circle, their history, allies, enemies, and the spells and magic items they use and create, as well as how to create charac- Introduction 1

6 ters that are involved with Chaos. Chapter Three deals with using the Thaumaturgia, Chaos, and the Keepers in your campaign. There are suggestions for using The Kandris Seal in a variety of genres and campaign types. Mystical locations introduced in the book are described, as are a number of characters that are involved with Chaos (though not with the Thaumaturgia or the Keepers). The chapter ends with a series of detailed scenarios and a number of adventure seeds. SHARING THE GLORY DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT NOTICES The world in which The Kandris Seal is set is very similar to our own. Portions of history, especially regarding certain events and religious institutions, have been altered. Introduction In the years that I ve been playing Champions and the Hero System, there have been lots of people who have contributed in many different ways. I want to take this opportunity to thank a select few of them who helped the creation of this book. First, I want to thank my brother Chris. He and I put together the history of the Quantum Universe in which we run all our games. One of his creations was the Sandover Siege, which you will read about in the history of the Thaumaturgia. Chris also created the Dragon Hunters, and came up with the original concepts for John Smith, Ryske, Gaine, the Misfits, the Order of the Serpent, Shroud and Haven. My parents deserve lots of kudos for their encouragement and the fact that I can t ever remember them saying Why do you play such a silly/weird game? Shouldn t you be doing something more productive? I can t forget to thank my husband, Matt Korth, for being so understanding and supportive. I want to thank all the players from my now shut down Sentinels play by campaign. Special thanks to Duane Morris, who let me use his character Eldritch as a guinea pig for the Thaumaturgia information. I also want to thank Neil, Jeff, Rick, Dwayne, Mike, the other Mike, Marlon, Fred, and anyone else I may have forgotten from my old gaming group in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, for putting up with the times I showed up for sessions more than a little bit distracted. Another set of thanks to my old Ann Arbor gaming group, who played the new Dragon Hunters. They came into the group knowing that they would be play testers for the adventure seeds and scenarios from The Kandris Seal, and have exceeded all my expectations. Congratulations, and thanks! 2