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mike@mikeshea.net 01-13-04, 05:09 PM

I am reading Stephen King's Wizard and Glass recently and had the idea of bringing in three Zhent Skymages as supervillians in my campaign. These three skymages, the Violet Talons, are Zhent mercenaries that lead a band of about two hundred zhent soldiers and officers in an attempt to create havoc and chaos in the shaky ground of Cormyr after the orc battles of Arabel and the death of King Azun the Fourth. These bosses are based loosely on the Big Coffin Hunters in Wizard and Glass. The leader of the Violet Talons, a level 10 Skymage named Johanus, is an ex red wizard of Thay who was broken by his master and sent west. As a rogue red wizard he let his hair grow out but bits of his scalp tattoos still stick out. He rides a large wyvern as his mount. Stats are as the 10th level Zhent mage from the Lords of Darkness expansion or alternativly from the DMG NPC charts. Johanus is around forty or fifty years old but his stark white hair and wavery voice make him sound older. He walks with a pronounced limp and complains of it often to put his opponents off their guard. Both the hair and limp are results of his defeat and banishment from Thay. Patches of red can be seen at the line of his scalp below the line of his white hair, remains of his Thay wizard tattoos. Johanus wears leather pants and high riding boots with hooded cloak and large flowing black shirt. The second Violet Talon is Royard Depalindar. He is a 9th level Skymage as per Lords of Darkness or DMG NPCs charts. Royard grew up in the western lands with the thieves of the gutter as his family. An evil and brutal wizard took him in mainly for prestige at being the boy's master. Royard did pick up enough skill from the cruel tutor to become a powerful spellcaster. Royard eventually had his master assassinated and fled east where he became a wizard for hire of the Zhentarim and fell into Johanus's Purple Talons. Royard also rides a large wyvern mount. Having been with Johanus the longest, Royard knows to let the leader lead and generally keeps his mouth shut. Royard survived by staying close behind a powerful master and Johanus meets these requirements well. Without Johanus, Royard doesn't have much to ride on. Royard has long black hair and pale skin. His eyes are pale blue. Though he says little, he sometimes explodes into violence and loves to throw his weight around as long as Johanus is around to protect him. He has killed over twelve men in bar room scuffles with a variety of magic usually based on sleeping or holding his opponents and then cutting their throat with his own hands. Royard wears a half-robe cut for riding and tucked into the tops of high riding boots. The third and newest Violet Talon is Clarea Renolo, a 8th level Skymage and master of spies. She is the eyes and ears of the group and serves as both information mistress and bed mistress of Johanus. She is more outgoing with Johanus than Royard is but Royard has seen Johanus kill previous lovers and expects the same with Clarea. Johanus needs Clarea for the time being and puts up with her questions and outspokenness. Clarea is tall and thin and at one time may have been beautiful. Using a varety of mind control and charming magics, she is able to pull a great deal of information from the lowest rungs of the army of Cormyr. Like her companions, Clarea rides a wyvern mount. Clarea changes her appearance often and travels as both prim nobility or dusty farm-lady. Her battle and traveling garb includes a tight pair of leather breeches, high leather riding boots, and a dark purple blouse. Her hair is dark brown and her skin deeply tanned by her time traveling. The Zhentarim skirmishing army that the three Violet Talons have put together includes about one hundred humans and one hundreds orcs. The humans are a rag tag group of ex farmers and bandits the force has pulled up. The orcs are re-armed and retrained veterans of the war of Arabel. Some taskmasters and priests from Zhentil Keep have been smuggled into the area to serve as the daily leaders of the small army but the real power is held by the three Vilot Talons. The army composition is based on statistics in the Lords of Darkness or DMG and includes the following: 100 level 1 orc warriors 80 level 1 human warriors 12 level 4 human taskmasters 7 level 5 priests of Bane 1 level 7 human task leader The army breaks up often into teams of twenty to travel swiftly down common trade passages and hassle local travelers for taxes of up to 100 gold per person or 100 gold worth of their possessions. It is not uncommon for resistance to be met with brutality, rape, and murder. The Cormyr armed forces have been tracking various groups but they come in and out so quickly, often appearing to be a single group until two or three areas are hit at a time. Communication between groups is accomplished through the clerics that travel with each group. Common raiding groups include the following: 10 orc warriors 10 human warriors 1 priest of bane 1 human taskmaster One, two or even three of the violet talons will often accompany the terror groups in order to create more fear and to dip their hand into the loot. When any of the Zhent groups meets with an armed force, the force is quickly destroyed by one of the skymages. As supervillians, the three violet talons will appear often to the NPCs. Clarea has spies everywhere and enjoys traveling the various inns of the area. Renolo also enjoys the drink and enjoys a bar fight. He often picks on the weak and a PC hook would be to have him beating up a bar wench or a young kid who works at the bar. Renolo loves to be challenged and usually kills his opponents but a local magistrate could break up a PC encounter with him and create tention. Johanus would be happy to jump in to help his companion. The party, on way to and from missions may get hassled by Zhent terror groups. Sometimes the force may be small enough that the party can defeat it. Other times, especially when the skymages are near, the party may have to give up its money to pass. They may kill an NPC member of the party as punishment for previous encounters. Early on the party will be sent to find small bands of orcs and humans who are harassing various areas. These may be just local trouble makers or they may be the Zhents. As player adventures turn away towards undead problems or other local adventures, you might bring the zhent problems back in various bar tales and rumors. The final encounter will be an action explosion of combat as the three skymages and what remains of their army is attacked on the move by the party. The party should be able to get the upper hand at first with over eighty members of the army remaining. They should be able to kill twenty or thirty before the group even realizes they are under attack. The sky mages roar in on their wyvern mounts but Johanus will realize too late that he severely underestimated the party and dies knowing he was too stupid to take care of the matter early. So thats my supervillian Zhent campaign of about level 2 to level 10. A 10th level party should be able to defeat all three of the skymages in the final battle but I haven't run the EL checks yet to find out. Any thoughs or suggestions? I am a new DM so any help would be great.