By Angus Anser

Hello psychic-brother. Vanderkin in contact with you from across the wastes.
It is at this time you are wondering if I will make our rendezvous. I sadly must inform you that I will not be joining you today.
As we share thoughts, I ride across the silt to an island in the south-east there to meet with another of our little order.
It seems she has been in need of assistance from one such as I and ours is a duty we must see to when such a need arises.*

I will not let this interrupt our dialogue together, however.
If I recall correctly I was going to tell you about the Drajan. I assure you that this specific Drajan will be known intimately with all your Templar colleagues.
I’ll call him a “sage” for want of a more fitting title.
It seems THIS one felt so strongly about his ability he claimed it was of divine origin.
Tec’tuk he was called by his people and his story is somewhat reminiscent of Belle.
You should recall that we spoke about her last month? He too was unsure of his safety and made several arrangements should death come calling.

One unforgettable day back in Free Year 10, Tec found himself far outmatched in a battle verses one known by many as Raja.
At one point Tec was pressed into speaking the words that would “ignite” a particular contingency.
Words so carefully chosen hundreds of years earlier and their meaning so foul to Tec the divine, that they would be uttered only in the direst of peril.
“I need help!”

With the utterance of these three words, temporal magic sprang up around the combatants.
Unfortunately for Tec, it was Raja that created the “Time Stop” spell in the first place. After only the briefest of pauses Raja’s killing stroke found Tec the mighty.

Never without a backup strategy, Tec’s second escape-route came to life. The killing blow landed and as Tec began to see the eternal blackness. There was smoke, fire and then an eerie quiet.

You see, a small, unadorned and quite unremarkable-looking ring whisked Tec away just before the flow of his life blood stopped.
The ring teleported Tec to a far off underground lair.
Within the secured facility he had available to him all the necessary objects of power to fool even the great Raja.

Without further spell use, Raja would soon realize Tec’s escape.
Drawing upon his remaining reserve of psionic strength Tec teleports a specially created “clone” of himself to his place on the battle field.
With all the additional smoke and thunder, the replacement corpse should fool Raja long enough.

Now safely at rest, highness-Tec’tuk can put himself back into shape at a leisurely pace. Being nobody’s fool Tec was not about to rejoin the fight of against Raja.
Of course for the illusion to work he must remain hidden.
If his allies in the fight found out for a moment that Tec had escaped Raja’s fury and left them on their own, they would exact significant punishment upon him.

As with my previous story, it is this portion I am sure you and yours are most interested in.
Tec now watches over Draj with interest.
The boy his subordinates have placed as figure-head to the organization is laughable.
But this too can be used to Tec’s advantage.
I’ve been told Tec has a way of influencing the Boy’s actions and thus Draj’s political structure bears close watching.

This is all I can say on this one. Think well on the weight of my words. We will speak again.

# Templar Talk Gaming Section

This is what kept Tectuktitlay alive after the battles with Rajaat (Raja) and the carnage that was the Cerulean Storm. Detailed bellow is the spell King Tec used to make his “dead” clone and the magic ring that took him from danger.

## Spell: Polymorph Dead (Alteration, Necromancy)

Level: 5
Range: Touch
Components:V,S,M
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 1 Turn
Area of Effect: One Corpse
Saving Throw: None
Source: Angus Anser

### Spell Description:

This is a variant of a standard polymorph spell. A corpse no more than 4 hours dead is shaped into the exact visage of the caster. The spell is permanent and can’t be detected short of a Legend lore or more powerful divination. True seeing and similar magic intended to reveal lesser polymorphs will not reveal anything.

## Ring of Return

From: Areus

The Ring of Return’s history is shrouded in mystery. The Veiled Alliance of Tyr claims it was created by a former leader of it’s ranks to protect it’s members from certain death, or torture so no secrets would be left behind should one be lost. All the VA groups make similar claims. The Order claims it was a Psionic creation based entirely on the “Teleport Trigger” that was later copied as a magic based item. It is rumored in Draj’s VA circles, that Tectuktitlay was wearing one of these items at the time of his apparent Death in the Silt Sea.

The Ring of Return enables it’s wearer to be immediately teleported to the location of it’s creation, as soon as the user is at the brink of death (at 1 Hp), by anything that would cause someone to die a less than instant death (all damage causing attacks are not considered instant for this item but some spells would be….i.e. Disintegrate, Power Word: Kill). If a physical attack causes the wearer to be reduced to 0 hp or less, the wound only goes deep enough to lower the person to 1 hp. This power is instantaneous in all cases. Each ring however has a single fault in it that varies from ring to ring. Some rings, for example, will not work if surrounded by defiler ash, others if the method of “death” is iron, a fireball, etc. The ring will also not function in it’s place of creation, and must be at least one mile from that source.

This ring is a common creation of high-level T’liz, who being immortal, lose no life from the creation of this item(see below). They scatter these iron rings throughout the Tyr region using Teleport Object (if they possess the psionic ability) or through magical means, to summon easy “half-dead” prey (with little defenses left, and no allies) on which to “feast”.

The ring is extremely difficult to make however, requiring a superb grade of iron. The spells required to create one of these rings are as follows: Permanency, Semipermanecy (DK), Cantrip (This is the spell that gives the ring it’s “flaw” but also is responsibly for it’s trigger ability), Protection from Time, and Teleport Without Error. A further 140gp worth of gems must be available as a focus for the spells.

The psionic version of the Ring is lost to history, and The Order believes it to have been free of the Magical version’s flaws.

Below are the tables for devising the Ring’s flaws:

Roll 1d100

01 The Ring has no flaws, but functions only once then crumble to dust.
02-25 The ring must roll twice on the flaw table below
26-100 The ring has the normal single flaw

Note: many other flaws are common, never use the same one twice.

Roll 2d10 for the flaw

2 Bludgeoning Weapons
3 Piercing Weapons
4 Slashing Weapons
5 Defiler ash within 5’
6 Undead
7 Magic (or specific spell in rare occasions)
8 Psionics
9 Giants
10 Living Item within 25’
11 1’ diameter or larger obsidian sphere
12 Advanced Beings
13 Wood
14 Metal Weapons
15 Dawn(within 1 hour either before or after)
16 Dusk(same as above)
17 Thri-Kreen
18 Poison*
19 Music can be heard
20 Within 1 mile of the Silt Sea or body of water

If a ring bearer is killed by or near any of the above the ring does not function and death will occur normally.

*Poison will not be teleported with the ring-bearer and will hold it’s position mysteriously in the same pattern for 1 round after the ring-bearer is teleported, creating an eerie outline of the veins/digestive system it had passed through already.

In order to pull off this feat of duplicity, there are some scrolls Tec should have in his sanctuary. Teleport dead, Disguise undead (both from F-R Adventures hard cover), Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Dispel Magic and Non-Detection.