Cross-posted to my blog:



One of the most powerful wizards in the Thonian Rand, the part of Thonia bordering to Blackmoor, is Mistress Ibis Shatn. Ibis is the Warren (Baron) of New Bril, and one of the vassals of Duke Markovic. A force of 200 Imperial Constables defent her stronghold. These forces supported the Iron Duke in his military repression of the Peshwah. She is noted for her cruelty as well as her hunger for magical power. Unfortunately, one of her less than competent hirelings accidentally caused one of her most powerful magical items to magically disappear. She is now completely dedicated to finding the item again as it contains a part of her life essence. Should she be able to reclaim it, she will once again become a powerful asset for Duke Markovic in his quest to reclaim Blackmoor in the name of the Thonian Empire.

-Havard

About the article above: A funny thing about Ibis Shatn is that while she is described in DA1, there is no entry for her in the NPC section. Instead, she is described under the entry of Barnabas the Wanderer, who is the hireling I mentioned in her description. I guess the focus was on Barnabas since he would more likely be encountered by the PCs rather than Ibis. AFAIK, neither is based on original Blackmoor players, but you can never be quite certain about these things can you?

The connection to New Bril is my invention. I needed a ruler for the place, and Ibis is said to have officers under her command.

Now to the magical items: Two magical items are described in DA1 in connection to Ibis. One is a magical amulet which puts a geas on Barnabas to thwart his mistress. The second is an item of unknown nature, but said to contain part of her life essence. First question: Could the two items be the same? If not, what kind of item would fit to hold her life essence? What could be some ideas for the nature of both items? My initial idea was to make her a Lich with the life essence item being her phylactery, but I think I prefer having her of real flesh and blood. Perhaps the item keeps her eternally young or something like that?

-Havard

Running with the "eternal youth" idea, Havard, perhaps it hold a fragment of her life force to "bait" the effects of Entropy away from the rest of her. Sort of like a "reverse lich" -- PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER, no need for moisturizer ;) Now, should anything happen to that magic item... perhaps she would turn into a lich?