Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Masters of Sleep - A Swords & Wizardry Planar Encounter

File:MastersOfSleep.jpg
The Masters of Sleep
No. Enc.: 1d4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30' (10')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 or by spell
Save: MU1
Morale: 8

There are those times when adventurers have to travel the whirling vortexes of planar space. These places appear between the dream streams & the waking world of beyond. They are ruled by the so called Masters of Sleep monsters left over from before the fall of the dream worlds & the ascension of humans in the over minds of the gods. 
These beings share more in common with the genie of legend then they do mankind. They rule over astral kingdoms created from the discarded bits of men's nightmares & they loath human kind with a passion. Using their grand telepathic gems of location they spy on the affairs of men unless some lone traveler stumbles into their domains. 
They are always 'noble' families who rule their kingdoms of fairy tale monsters  & fable inhabitants . These beings are archetypes which the masters of sleep enslave. 
Some of these chaotic monsters entice adventurers with tales & dreams of vast wealth. Those who answer their siren call are often put to work as nothing more then resources for expanding their kingdoms of dreams. The Masters of Sleep use a combination of dark black sleep magic & forbidden sciences to create webs of incredible nightmares where one can wander for days. 
All masters are 3rd level magic users & 2nd level scientists( these levels may vary from individual to individual however) who weave deception & chaos wherever they go. Magic items, & any materials  taken from their realms must be invested nightly under a night sky with dreams of obsession, regret, & a nightly story. These provide the item with ties to the 'real' world. 
Masters of Sleep can always cast a sleep spell one level higher then their current level. This power can only be used once a week. Should the monster be near a dreaming person they may twist the dreams of them so they regenerate as a troll. This ability is lost in bright light such as day light or the like. Darkness & gloom are their friends. 
The monsters do on occasion raid the waking world when the moon is gibberous & slumberous. These beings are known to serve both the Night mare Mother & The Crawling Chaos itself.
From time to time the Masters of Sleep have been known to distill the essence of men's nightmares & dreams as potions at certain dimensional markets where the waking & the dreaming overlap. 
Caution should be taken when dealing with these merchants of the malevolent or you may become their next victim.

Planar Encounter - The Welcome Mat 

A strange door appears in  dungeon where your players are wandering. This door leads into a Master of Sleep's domain. The whole scene as they wander through the door is piles of gold, gems, etc.
This is actually a cage conjured by the Masters in order to acquire slaves from the waking world. The players are to be sold at auction to a group of nightmare monsters within 2 cycles. 
The players are accosted by 1d3 Masters of Sleep. The creatures ask probing questions, offer no explanations, & generally treat the PC's as cattle.
The players may fetch a decent price if their dreams prove rich enough for the Master's taste. Should the players escape they will be confronted with a series of nightmarescapes that should prove difficult but not impossible to escape from. This will allow them to get back to the waking world. However it may also simply allow them to blunder into the gulfs of the outer planar realms where far worse waits! 
If they are truly unlucky they may fall into the hands of some Astral Raiders. Should they plead their case they may be led back to the waking world or simply robbed & set adrift with a sea of nightmares. Any misfortune caused by the players to the Masters of Sleep will be remembered for future adventures.
Astral Raider found Here
They also trade with the moon beasts from time to time. Here
Treasure  
The masters always keep 1d4 coins of dreams which allow them to slip from one dream to another & pay  any night mare monsters they meet a bribe.
They also have a sack of the sands of sleep which allow one to slip away from the dreaming eyes of a sleeper. There are 4 applications in  sack. 
These are some of the items that the Masters of Sleep keep on them.
Dream up others! 

2 comments:

  1. Both of these are great. I dig the pulp archeology your doing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks very, very, much Trey. The dream stuff you did with the 'City' was an inspiration man! Looking forward to doing more dream stuff. There's more of this sort of thing coming up!

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