City of Jalpa

Extremely old city founded by St. Jalpa, originally an elfish city. Has 5 tall towers 5-7 stories high with parapets across. Central building is a church-castle of human build. Jalpa was a city to Ramman (darkness), and underground sects of Ramman worshippers still meet at night to worship him. Gilgamesh has conquered Jalpa; his standards of the man wrestling the bull are here. So are shield knight, criminals, Southlanders, Gilgamesh soldiers, orc/half-orc and human slaves (majority going back to Nyrond). There is a slave district. Jalpa is under decree of martial law. A curfew was on last week, but the city just calmed down. Many Gibbets are about, and the punishment for attempting to free someone is death. Jalpa has remnants of a very old Elfish Grove in which you can still see moon carvings. Careful study under moonlight will reveal a waygate that opens under a full moon, supposedly leading to Elmiadreallia (destroyed a long time ago). Jalpa also has a very old, very LARGE graveyard. The city walls bear murals of St. Jalpa driving back the demons (really elves) by creating a league-long, invisible wall using three rods (of Dominion). Jalpa was the city in which the elves taught humans to be rangers and to craft bows and arrows (c. 1000 years ago), the gray elves made one of their major capitol cities, and in which humans won in their battle against the elves (c. 900 years ago). The city is strewn with heads of Southlanders, orcs, half-orcs, and hill giants). Graffiti on the walls, however, proclaims that "humans suck," "drive off your human oppressors and their elfish masters," and "the elves are using the humans as muscle against us to keep us down," suggesting that not all the orcs are yet slaves. Jalpa exports many of these slaves, as well as foodstuffs and textiles, but must import wood and metals. The current ruler, hand-selected by Gilgamesh, is Lord Leela, Gilgamesh’s niece and a 15^th level fighter. Her advisors are Bishop Lugal Anarandia, 14^th level cleric of Ishmangallah and a sorcerer (either Korum-Likuth or Relmordian). The city also has many dissenting sects: underground worshippers of Ramman, secret elfish passages in the elfish portions of the city (The doors to these are concealed very well, but most are known to some people. All the ones known to previous owners have been cemented or bricked up, suggesting something interesting behind.) Under the elfish city are orcish burrows, used by renegade orcs.

Ziggurate:

In Jalpa, you may encounter a small ziggurat with ranger and elfish symbols, carved with the symbols for giants (all kinds), trolls, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, etc. These are intermixed with elfish symbols that look very similar. Details in the floor denote the creation of rangeric totems (pick a special totem; sometimes you must find your bond with the animal type to help with totems—equivalent of a find familiar spell). They tell of burning higum leaves outside, at night, under a half moon once the ranger attains a certain level. The ranger must also chant the word, Area’arcadi’arcadiums, "correctly."

Jalpa

problem: a large contingent of drow are arriving as reinforcements for the war.
perhaps even enough to move outside the borders of the southlands!
the doorway must be closed!
the houses of the drow that are included in this is:

mission: to send an elite force covertly into jalpa to close the doorway.
will send:
Idarianeth (has key),
Lorna Sumerdan (magical support, worked with idari)
Father Sirat Dari - expert on Nergal, Nerrul, and the southlands plot
Themistcles of Nibenay
Sparhawk Perigon (Shield Knight representative)
Lorocus the 23rd (at request of Sparhawk)

most likely Vox Draconis will follow and aid.

travel to Jalpa - flight travel on gryphons
dropped outside jalpa, magic whistle summons gryphons magically.

will have to breach walls, enter city, find doorway (now has been rebuilt around it)
sneak in and close it.

may encounter:
clerics of nergal:
---fear + darkness
---bring back old enemies (Ratchefus, kua-toan king,
---shield of negation (any weapon that hits is neutralized for 3 rnds)
---

clerics of nerrul
-assasin powers (xdamage from behind, stealth)
-spiritual scythe
-
-
clerics of irra
- disease

drow
- magically enhanced manifestation
-

illithids -
- one reason why the

devils
- another reason why urnstian psionicists dont want to go there.

ambassadors from the Scarlet Brotherhood.

faery may help party - message from the Faery Queen...

writeup on jalpa

the Night Council

the Regent
- mist creation, heavy water connection, ilithid servants with water rings!

the Houses
house baenre attepting to bring back lolth, raise the avatar

house barison d' armagio wants to serve Cheng kai shek or have drow ruler

house kilsek prefers chaos

the human slave class (dominated)

the human slaves to the clerics (thaumaturges as well)

the human cleric class

the caged (human children, undominated, captive)

Manifested Statue of Sheng kai shek (Sarek)
-creates awe, humans under 4 hd gaze and unable to move
-otheres save to look away
-elves immune

double agent drow - (a greyholden)

Dark One:
David is working for Ben, he will haunt the party.
Sirat will be abel to spot him as a dark friend. (and vice versa)
Ben needs to learn more about the mission to foil it.
--will appear to Lorocus the 23rd.
will say he needs to find a way to make amends. 'let me help with the mission, what is it? where will you go? with who?'

david will use ben's powers to haunt sparhawk in his dreams - dreaming about leaving morgana.
about him not coming back and her writting letters asking the knighthood and his father where you are and where you went and if you died who killed you. She contemplates suicide, it feels like in the dream he can get messages accross to her. he opens one of her letters in her mailbox to read it and she sees that its been opened. she asks around to find out who was in her mailbox and she is assured that no one was.

if this works he will later give dreams about her having dreams of Sirrat. who is he?

when david confronts the party he will use spells to control the hands of target characters.
a character might start to choke another character or drop a weapon. may try to pull out a dagger and cut himself or punch himself.

david will posses a priest of Marduke and consult with Sirrat.
later the priest will be found dead, choked as if by his own hands.

sparhawk will be told of a drow contact within jalpa that may be able to help them. he is not to reveal that information to anyone until they meet. meet as a group just in case the drow betrays but have him wear a mask and no symbols of his house. (this is where the knighthood got the information about the upcomming army).