The Ghostly Lair

to convert others to their causes through shows of extreme ability, and for those who would gain immortality through fame and glory to pit themselves against the best of the best. Called the Pantheistic Tournament in honor of the pantheon to which it is dedicated, the event is a series of competitions and contests designed to test every skill imaginable. Featured events include team sports, gladiatorial sparring, obstacle courses, unarmed fights against predators (or monsters), feats of strength, footraces, scavenger hunts, magical duels, and predesigned catacombs in which "professional" delvers can seek specific goals while defeating the various mechanical, monstrous, and puzzling obstacles within. Clerics are on hand to deliver healing at all times, and none of the contests deliberately ends in death, but injuries and fatalities are common. Indeed, those who triumph in their chosen arenas are truly champions in the eyes of the world.

The upcoming Pantheistic Tournament has caught the attention of the Church of Kord. That anyone other than a follower of the Brawler might prove the greatest athlete in all the world is simply unacceptable. Thus, Kord has sent omens and dreams to his priests with an unmistakable message: Find champions among the faithful to participate in the games, and make sure to find those who can win!

Domains

The requirements of this mission are simple enough for Kord's chosen followers—they must enter and win those events for which they are best suited. Doing so requires that they succeed not only in the main events, but also in the many tryouts, tests, and eliminations beforehand.

Chaos: Physical competition, even when bound by rules, is a disordered state of affairs. Kord's champions must think on their feet, avoid becoming so mentally bound to one strategy that they cannot adapt, and take advantage of any weakness their rivals display.

Good: Flexibility of thought does not equate to flexibility of morality. Taking advantage of a rival's weakness is acceptable, but cheating is utterly anathema to the Brawler. His chosen champions must seek victory by every legitimate means.

Luck: All games, no matter how difficult or how specific, contain an element of chance. While those who rely on luck at the expense of skill have little chance of victory, luck is often enough to push one skilled competitor to victory over another. Kord's followers see no shame in taking advantage of a lucky break, and a victory won through chance is no less satisfying, as long as the competitor truly tried his hardest and did not rely entirely on luck.

Strength: Arguably Kord's primary domain, Strength is a must for any of his followers in the Pantheistic Tournament. Strategy and tactics are all well and good, but at the end of the day, Kord wants champions who have proven their physical superiority over the opposition.

Suggested Rewards

Should the champions of Kord prove victorious, each gains the same benefit as if he had successfully activated a coliseum of Kord (page 153). This benefit lasts for 1 month, and the champions also receive dreams hinting at where they might find a true coliseum capable of granting the benefit for a longer time. The Church of Pelor is in an uproar. Months ago, a caravan of holy pilgrims bound for the Temple of the First Dawn (page 157) disappeared from a major highway. Tracks reveal that the caravan simply departed from the road for no apparent reason and wandered into the wilderness. No bodies or remains have been located.

To make matters worse, the church from which the pilgrimage departed has recently been robbed. Witnesses report a ghostly procession of gray-robed travelers approaching and departing from the church, yet no signs of forced entry were found. Several holy icons and relics have vanished from the church, including a book of exalted deeds and a solid gold sun disk of Pelor (page 134) that is worth four times the standard value. As with the pilgrims, no trace of the missing relics has been found. The high priests of Pelor have sent word throughout the faithful, seeking champions to retrieve the relics and to locate and rescue the missing pilgrims.

In fact, however, it is too late for those poor worshipers. They had the misfortune to travel a length of road that has been quietly haunted for generations. Perhaps a century ago, a much smaller band of travelers, also dedicated to Pelor, was set upon and consumed by ravening ghouls. The ghosts of several of those pilgrims remained near that spot, bound to the material world by pain and rage.

When these ghosts spotted Pelor's pilgrims passing through their domain, they decided to take revenge. Using their spells and other abilities, they lured the pilgrims off the road and slew them, then reanimated them as mindless undead. The ghosts then led the pilgrims back to the church. Using the dead travelers to distract witnesses, the spirits entered the church, manifested, and telekinetically stole the items.