Arabian Adventures for DF
 

The PCs have been invited by the sahir Malik Abdullah al Haz. They have crossed the Mediterranean on a barge and have landed in a small port city at night. The PCs follow the directions that the sahir gave to them. Any PC that possesses Magery can see a mystical symbol above a door. The symbol glows a metallic blue in the moonlight. Those without Magery can see nothing. If the symbol is read aloud then the door magically opens and a servant then greets them and takes them to some rooms to sleep.

The rooms are decorated with ornate fineries and the beds have sheets of silk. There the PCs sleep until morning when they are greeted by the voice of the muezzin singing the morning adhen, the call to prayer. Any Wizards, Summoners, Druids, Necromancers, and other magic users can feel the adhen through their body as the power of Allah reduces all mana levels and natural and unholy sanctity to nothing during the call to prayer. This reaffirms the faith of the umma that Allah is the greatest and no other power can compete.

After the adhen, mana and sanctity levels return to normal and the sahir comes out to greet the PCs. He is pleased to see the PCS and tells them of an errand that he would like them to do for him and that he will pay them handsomely if the mission goes as planned. He pulls out an old sheet of papyrus on which appears to be a map. He hands it to the PCs and then tells them to meet at the banks of the Nile to go upriver and then go on to expedition to explore the tomb of Pharraoh Makrut.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

Why do the servants of a God that apparently frowns upon Magery make Magery vital to finding their informative markings? Why is sleep mandated? Any PC in one of my DF campaigns would distrust that scenario and post watches on general principle. Also, this whole thing sounds like a set-up. Why don't we just kill this Sahir guy and take his stuff? Suspension of Disbelief Not Happening Yet.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

@Gold

Your criteria for SoD seem to be a bit ridiculous. Does your PC take the old drunk who knows some rumours and torture him for information? Do you go through the introduction to every module and scan it for inconsistencies?

I don't see any "frown upon magery". I see "that's the way it works around these parts."

The story is told to provide a backdrop for the campaign, and to cue potential players in to a very interesting magical dynamic that occurs. It succeeded.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

It is not a very good adventure, just something I made. As for your questions: the sahir is a wizard who lives in town and in that town Allah holds Dominion and during the call to prayer His power dominates all other forces of the world like mana and other sanctities. The sahir has lived in town and has adjusted his life to this call to prayer. Even though his magic is interrupted 5 times per day he finds it safer than outside of the town where the call to prayer can't be heard.

Sleep is not mandated but just suggested because the PCs will need to be rested to get organized for their trip to go up the Nile. Also, the sahir asked them to come at night so that his sigil could be seen by the Wizard PCs. The sahir is part of a Hermetic Cabal so it would be a really, really bad idea to harm him as other members would hunt the party down in revenge. The sahir has some information about a tomb of a Pharoah that has some magic items he desires and he has hired them to explore the tomb and try to retrieve them.

Anyway , this is a dumb adventure.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

The local deity is Allah. That's about as "Magery is bad!" as a god can get...

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

Okay... but that's still the way it works.

And it doesn't seem like Allah is as all encompassing in this campaign compared to say 14th century Saudi Arabia.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

The sahir refers the PCs to a souq that they can purchase supplies from. Camels are recommended as is water. For the desert has great powers of thirst. Magical water will not satiate thirst in the desert. All must bring water to tide their thirst in the desert. Use dehydration rules to simulate insufficient water. Clerical or magical water will exist for a short time and disappear leaving those who drink to remain thirsty. Outside of the desert in towns and cities and oases, magical water can be created but once brought into the dessert it likewise will disappear after some time. Magical items that produce water will likewise fail to produce lasting water. Only cosmic items will be able to produce lasting water and these are rare and made by the ancient deities or possibly a gift from Allah.

To get to the Nile will take 2 weeks on camel. Use DF Wilderness Adventures to help with travel.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

Got me hooked. I want to see/hear the rest of the adventure.

Two questions:
1) How would the PC wizard know to "read the symbol aloud"?
2) How does one "read a symbol aloud"? (Not trying to be snarky, just trying to figure it out mentally.)

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

Not especially. Allah dominates all other powers, and weird foreign wizards may also be demon-worshippers or blasphemers, but there's no particular laws against magic that I can recall. Djinn - creatures of supernatural power - can be good Muslims, after all.

For that matter, Islam probably has less of a record of witch-hunting than Christianity. A wizard who presents as a scholar, doesn't claim that his powers make him theologically special, and shows up at the mosque on Fridays, might well be seen as basically okay.

Re: Arabian Adventures for DF
 

This is how the sahir knows if the Wizard PCs are really part of the Hermetic Cabal and also what their status is. If they can only see the symbol then the sahir knows that the PC Wizards are not part of the cabal or they are lower level. If they can read the symbol then the sahir will know they are part of the cabal and will help them more. If the PCs are part of the cabal they will know how to read the symbol. It is an ancient magical language of symbol.

If the PCs can't read the symbol then they will knock at the door and the servant will take them to lesser quarters.