“You who choose to lead, must follow… but if you fall, you fall alone.”
The regents of Tifá are a firestorm dragon and a mist dragon, two powerful lesser dragons. The people of the city try very hard to believe that the twins have returned in Tawake-awahim and Here-atahura. They live in the tower of the twins opposite the Aureum.
“Stranger, look with your heart, not with your eyes,” they’ll say, “and your eyes will see. They are indistinguishable.”
“The real truth lies not in what your eyes see but what your mind believes.”
“Don’t allow mundane experience to override the conviction of thousands of people.”
However, they must be twins for their rulership to be legitimate. The people will say they are twins; they will look askance and shun anyone who questions it, even asking “fraternal?” If pressed, they might admit some excuse, such as that one is slightly injured (they won’t commit to which one) or some other excuse.
Enki and Tawhiri are one. Tifá is chaos and dissension. Ebeorie is her servant. She is the dragon sent by Enki when Ishtar stole the tablets of civilization from the primordial world and brought them to the world of mortals. Ishtar escaped and the tablets founded the city, but now the dragons have returned to the city to take the tablets back from mankind.
And the player characters are bringing the tablets to the city.
Tawake-awahim and Here-atahura are servants of Tawhiri/Enki, and the regents of the Greater Dragon Tifá. They are scheming little bastards; loyal to their patron and their god but no one else. As regents of the City, they are not restricted by the Pax Urbana and may attack or be attacked without reaction rolls.
The Regents of Tifa also have spells and spirits, so set those up as well! Tawake-awahim, the Firestorm Dragon, is a 6th level prophet of Enki/Tawhiri. Here-atahura, the Mist Dragon, is a 6th level sorceror specializing in Charm spells.
Tawake-awahim, the Firestorm Dragon (8th level dragon, 6th level prophet)
| Class: | Dragon |
| Moral Code: | Ordered Evil |
| Activity Cycle: | Afternoon/Evening |
| Diet: | Omnivorous |
| Level: | Dragon 8, Prophet 6 |
| Intelligence: | 12 |
| Wisdom: | 17 |
| Charisma: | 18 |
| Dragon Movement: | 12 walking/24 flying |
| Special Movement: | 18 man/24 slithering |
| Attacks: | Claws, Bite |
| Survival: | 67 |
| Damage: | 2d6/2d4 |
| Defense: | +7 |
| Breath: | Dessication (5d6 damage), three times per day, eight yard diameter cloud up to sixty yards away; an evasion roll is allowed for half damage |
| Eyes: | Irresistibility, once per day, lasts one hour. Victims are allowed a Perception roll to avoid the effects; everyone who meets them must make a Willpower roll or drop all current actions to fawn on the irresistible character. |
| Special Attack: | Snake poison, strength 4, d2 injuries |
| Forms: | Short black man with frizzy hair or a hundred poisonous snakes |
| Size: | Huge (5-7 yards) tall |
The Ordered Evil offspring of Storm (Ordered Good) and Fire (Chaotic Evil), Tawake Awahim is lightning and fire, desire and charm. The firestorm dragon hearkens back to the boiling soup of creation. Awahim takes the form of a short black man with frizzy hair, or of a hundred poisonous snakes. It breathes desiccation and its gaze causes irresistibility. A victim caught in its gaze will be irresistibly attractive to everyone around them. Those who succumb to its breath dry into mummies, fragile things, easily blown on the wind. On a called attack by the dragon with its breath, it can turn any liquid to powder, and any wood or plant to an ancient fragile thing.
The firestorm dragon is very fast; as a man it can act twice per round. As snakes, it gains +5 to attack and has 5 attacks per round. It always uses called shots, as the snakes do no damage on their own but only as poison.
Awahim commands Joe Lakono’s loyalty as incarnation of Tawhiri. It’s specialties are Exemplar of Ordered Evil, Spirit Attachment, and Spirit Drain.
Exemplar of Ordered Evil: Awahim can make a Willpower roll to detect Chaos and/or Good up to twenty yards away. It is surrounded by a protection from good for one foot, which blocks contact by enchanted, conjured, or summoned creatures of any (or no) moral code. Good opponents are at a penalty of two to attacks, and its reactions against Good attacks are at a bonus of 2.
Spirit Attachment means that it can leave spirit manifestations around to trigger on certain actions.
Spirit Drain means it needs only one spirit of each type and can drain them as necessary for lower-level uses.
Awahim uses the spirit types Prophet, Death, Fire, Order, War, Water, and Weather and has 24 calling points. It usually has the following spirits, with some common manifestations for each:
| Water 6 | Cyclone Sigil (6), Watery Rebuke (5), Fog (4), Stillness (3), Warp (3), Sink (2), Foul Air (2), Dry Water (2), Obscuring Mist (2) |
| War 6 | Summit (6), Branch of Truce (5), Despondency (5), Detect Enemies (4), Elemental Weapon (4), Divine Esteem (3), Divine Prowess (3), Fear (1), Divine Disfavor (1) |
| Order 6 | Divine Contract (6), Branch of Truce (5), Invisibility to Chaos or Good (4), Command (2), Protection From Morality (1) |
| Death 6 | Spiritual Torpor (6), Deathmask (5), Deadly Injury (5), Spiritual Hold (4), Stillness (3), Foul Air (2), Infestation (2), Darkness (1), Death and dust (1), Foxfire (1), Putrefy Food (1), Nauseate (1), Vermin Call (1) |
Here-atahura, the Mist Dragon (8th level dragon, 6th level charm sorceror)
| Class: | Dragon |
| Moral Code: | Chaotic Evil |
| Activity Cycle: | Dawn, Twilight |
| Diet: | Omnivorous |
| Level: | Dragon 8, Sorceror 6 |
| Intelligence: | 17 |
| Wisdom: | 12 |
| Charisma: | 15 |
| Dragon Movement: | 12 walking/24 flying |
| Special Movement: | 12 walking/20 mist |
| Attacks: | Claws, Bite |
| Survival: | 62 |
| Damage: | 2d6/2d4 |
| Defense: | +7 |
| Breath: | Icy wind (4d6 damage), three times per day, in a beam thirty yards long, one yard at its base and eight yards at its end. It also causes a penalty of 4 to all actions next round due to the cold. An evasion roll is allowed to avoid the penalty and half the damage. |
| Eyes: | Haughtiness, once per day, lasts for one hour. A willpower roll avoids the effects. |
| Forms: | Young wastrel or a fast-flowing mist |
| Size: | Huge (5-7 yards) tall |
The Chaotic Evil offspring of Water (Ordered Evil) and Forest (Chaotic Good), the mist dragon hearkens back to the amorality of the primordial. Atahura takes the form of a young wastrel of either gender, or of a fast-flowing mist. It breathes an icy wind and its gaze causes haughtiness and insensitivity. Those caught by the gaze of the dragon will ignore friends and enemies both as beneath them.
Atahura lives in a lily-covered pool atop the temple of the dragon, surrounding the Hall of Mirrors.
Atahura has the specialties Seat of Power, Staff of Power, and Sidespell. Its Seat of Power overlooks the lily-covered pool and the city. Its Staff of Power raises the level of all spells cast through it by one level, so that they are cast at the seventh level of effect.
Sidespell allows Atahura to store spells in its staff of power. Normally, Atahura will have one mage bolt and one silence stored in it. They will be cast at the seventh level of effect when used, and will have a casting time of one.
Atahura has the following spells available in its spellbook. The ones it normally memorizes are in bold. Atahura has 24 spell slots.
| First Level: | Aura of Confidence/Desperation, Charisma, Farseeing, Indestructible Object, Inscription, Light/Darkness, Mage Bolt x 2, Sense Magical Aura, Suggestion, Understand/Confuse Languages |
| Second Level: | Crawl, Dead Night, Delay Passage, Fan of Frost, Illusory Self, Minor Phantasm, Sensory Assurance, Shadows, Sleep |
| Third Level: | Aura of Innocence/Guilt, Dark Bubble, Hide Item, Immovable Object, Intelligence/Stupidity, Mutual Understanding/Confusion, Secret Conference, Silence, Unravel Bonds |
| Fourth Level: | Agility/Clumsiness, Find Item, Invisibility, Personal Alteration, Wave Action, Web |
| Fifth Level: | Aura of Nobility/Depravity, Dispel Magic, Endurance/Sickly |
| Sixth Level: | Cold Flame, Find Magic |
A speech for the Twins
The dragons cannot remove the tablets. If they touch the tablets, their true form will be revealed. But they can ask the people of the city to remove them.
My friends, we are not smooth-tongued, we are not deviants of the type who go from town to town seeking only to enrich themselves. We have no time for that. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that the helpers toil through the night and the early watch of the sun. Think about this for a moment. Do you know what would happen if we failed in our duty, if the helpers slept? War would come back! Yes, War would surely come back. War and thievery and corruption. None of us wish to see this.
If War comes back, if thievery returns, if corruption fills your city’s halls, everyone’s share will be diminished, and there will be hard work for all. I cannot speak for these outsiders, but nobody among us wants that, least of all us who care for you.
Be certain of this: the tablets are hidden in the tower, where they must remain hidden for the City to remain strong. These things brought by these corrupt outsiders are pale imitations of your true tablets. Take them and toss them into the trash; take them and send them to the depths of the ocean. Do what you wish with them, but do not sully your city by keeping them.
The decision is yours.
