Lone Wolf 1e AD&D Conversion - Post 2

I'm a bit behind on my conversion work of the Lone Wolf setting and adventures. I have my copy of the original Magnamund Companion at hand, which is a little treasure of source material. and it will be of immense help filling in the backstory for the characters as they undertake the adventure.

When I picked up the Adventures of Lone Wolf Book 1 'Flight in the Dark' I had no idea where it would lead, or how many books there would be in the series. I plan on working on the conversion in the same way I first played the series; understanding the rules, creating the character, reading the backstory and setting off on the adventure numbered paragraph by numbered paragraph. 

The rules in the book are straightforward but necessarily limited. Conversion to 1e AD&D is also straightforward and with only a few limiting factors at the beginning. Any of the character classes presented in the 1e PHB are available for player characters but the only playable character race is human. Since the Lone Wolf series features Monks who already have a very AD&D feel to them I plan on adding the powers presented in the Lone Wolf books to add or replace the powers granted in the PHB. If this makes the Monk a more desirable class to play then so be it. The setting encourages a Monk-centric style of play and I whole-heartedly approve.

As I work on converting the first adventure book I intend to design it around a party of 4-6 player characters of 1st level. The Kai Monastery will train not only Monks but all character classes. The children of the Warrior Lords of Sommerlund (and beyond) are taught according to their abilities, some as Monks, other as Magic-Users, or Clerics of Isher, High Priestess of the Moon and Kai, Lord of the Sun. Only the wisdom of the Druids is not taught and characters wishing to be Druids will be renegade Cenerese, a race of people defeated in a protracted war with the more trusted Herbalish a holy order of Healers (an NPC class I am developing). 

Some of the creatures found in the Monster Manual I & II and the Fiend Folio will be suitable for the Lone Wolf setting and some of the creatures, such as the ubiquitous Giak, an Orc by any other name, will have unique qualities but many similarities to their AD&D brethren. 

And now to begin. The Story So Far...

In the northern land of Sommerlund, it has been the custom for many centuries to send the children of the Warrior Lords to the monastery of Kai for their training in the varied skilled arts of the land. There they are taught the ways of Warrior, Magic-User, Thief, Assassin, Monk, or the worship of Isher and Kai as Clerics of their faith.

The Kai Monks, Guildmasters, Temple Priests and Priestesses are master of their arts, and the children in their charge love and respect them in spite of the hardships of their training. One day when the children of the nobility have finally passed their apprenticeships they will return home equipped in mind and body to defend themselves against the constant threat of war from the Darklords of the west.

In the olden times, during the Age of the Black Moon, the Darklords waged war on Sommerlund. The conflict was a long and bitter trial of strength that ended in victory for the Sommerlending at the great battle of Maakengorge. King Ulnar and the allies of Durenor broke the Darklord armies at the pass of Moytura and forced them back into the bottomless abyss of Maakengorge. Vashna, mightiest of the Darklords, was slain upon the sword of Ulnar, called 'Sommerswerd', the sword of the sun. Since that age, the Darklords have vowed vengeance upon Summerlund and the House of Ulnar.

Now it is in the morning after the feast of Fehmarn when all the apprentices are judged and those who have proven themselves worthy begin their journey from the Kai Monastery back into the world to gain experience and use the skills they have spent so much hardship to attain. 

As you and your companions bid a sad but joyous farewell to the monastery and your childhood and begin your journey you feel the earth shake beneath your feet and a darkness sweeps across the sky in a wave. A blackness descends upon the monastery, a swirling sphere of nothingness. One of you reaches out with a branch and is thrown back, the branch a shriveled husk that turns to ash where it touched the blackness. 

The sky clears but the black sphere that had swallowed the monastery remains. In a sudden flash of realization you know what you must do. You must set off on a perilous journey to the capital city to warn the King of the the terrible threat that now faces your people; For you are now the last apprentices of the Kai until and if this sphere of blackness can be removed and the fate of those within revealed.