Illus. by W. England
CHAPTER 7
THE WEARERS OF FLESH
focus to be used or the expensive component to be consumed normally, without you having to handle or manipulate it. If you do not cast a second spell while whispercast is in effect, you gain no benefit from casting whispercast. Casting this spell is a swift action. It does not require a move action or standard action, but you can take only one swift, immediate, or quickened action per turn. Tsochari spellcasters use this spell to permit spellcasting while they inhabit other creatures. It is also useful for grappled spellcasters.
TSOCHAR ITEMS Tsochari use magic items differently than humanoids do. A tsochar can wear: • Three amulets, brooches, medallions, necklaces, periapts, or scarabs secured around the small central body. • Three pairs of bracers or bracelets on the thicker motive limbs near the central body. • Up to four rings on the slender ends of four additional tentacles (one ring per tentacle). Tsochari cannot wear headbands, hats, helmets, phylacteries, lenses, goggles, vests, vestments, shirts, robes, suits of armor, belts, cloaks, capes, mantles, gloves, gauntlets, boots, or shoes. Tsochar arcanists design items that use the bracer or ring slots. Tsochari that grow too large to easily inhabit humanoids sometimes make use of a ring of reduction, described below. Of course, a tsochar that inhabits or replaces another creature benefits from magic items that creature wears.
modifiers to attack rolls and Armor Class appropriate to its new size. The wearer remains small until he removes the ring or commands it to restore him to his proper size. Moderate transmutation; CL 9th; Forge Ring, reduce person, permanency; Price 20,000 gp.
THE HOUSE OF DEROS FRIST The isolated tower of the wizard Deros Frist is an example of a typical tsochari incursion into the human world. This short adventure site describes the lair of a tsochar noble that has successfully replaced Frist, a local wizard of some renown. The tsochar Yikk Tasst now pores through the wizard’s libraries and spellbooks, eagerly absorbing all the arcane lore it can. This scenario works best when the player characters have no reason to expect danger in Deros Frist’s home. Frist might be a NPC ally of the party, a renowned sage whose advice the party is seeking, or a friend of a trusted NPC mentor or patron who asks the party to carry a minor magic item to his house as a favor. A typical tsochar adventure should focus on the dawning realization that things are not as they seem.
THE HOUSE The wizard’s tower stands on a windswept hilltop above a sinister and tangled forest on the lower slopes. A rutted road breaks out of the oppressive woods and winds across the sere hillside to the wizard’s door. Glimmers of dim lanternlight spill out of the narrow, slitlike windows.
There are two entrances to the tower—the front door and the kitchen door. The front door is open, but the kitchen door is locked (DC 25 Open Lock check). The tower sits atop a sturdy plinth of stone about 7 feet high, so the ground-floor windowslits are actually about 10 feet above ground level, and short flights of stone stairs lead up to the doors.
Ring of Reduction On command, this ring reduces the wearer’s size as described in the spell reduce person, except that any intelligent creature can be affected, not just humanoids. This reduces the wearer to the next smaller size category. A reduced creature gains a +2 size bonus to Dexterity, a –2 size penalty to Strength, and the size
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Deros Frist’s tower
