Tikul's Expedition - Fated to Fail?

UK6 opens with a short piece of fiction, "Tikul's Saga", detailing roughly the progress of a previous unsuccessful expedition through the Wind Walker's Passages led by a spellcaster named Tikul responsible for the dagger originally left at area I2 that triggers the magic mouth with the clue inscribed on the tree at area I3. Although the players of the original playthrough likely never discover the full narrative, the story acts as a backdrop to the module for the DM and links to the map that acts as the MacGuffin for their own expedition set about a year and a half later...

Tikul's Saga, Part 1 (excerpt from UK6)

From the Saga and notes scattered throughout the module, in 1E / BX terms the expedition consisted of:

• Tikul, a magic-user/mage of at least 3rd level (perishes upriver of Kett's Rapids)
• A female human thief (body at area W6 in the Wind Walker's Passages)
• A cleric (buried in a grave at area T4 of the village)
• A longsword-wielding human fighter 
• A longsword-wielding elf (or half-elf if OSRIC) fighter-based multi-classed character (possessions stored with the human fighter's at area I6 The Barrier Shrine)

Tikul's faithless apprentice is mentioned as "long since fled with his master's wealth and spellbooks" and did not accompany the expedition - perhaps this apprentice becomes an important NPC for the current day or was even one of the later "murderhobo" party members such as the pre-generated mage character Illic the Grey. It's unclear whether there were any hirelings, pack animals, or a native Mellata guide from the details given (perhaps one of the sword carriers was a jungle ranger instead?), but if there were part of the group they seem to have perished without leaving a trace.

Regardless of the details, only Tikul makes the return journey eastwards after the ill-fated attack on the Temple by the Hek'Ilj. His sole surviving companion from the westwards journey, the cleric, is slain by the skeleton warrior and he flees, only to die of thirst less than one day's journey from civilization clutching his map in his hand - presumably, this is the small outpost of Kett's Falls...

Not exactly a successful expedition.

And this is despite the lack of opponents, suggesting perhaps the expedition was poorly suited and underpowered to attempt such a journey, either due to Tikul's hubris, or lack of wisdom, or both.

Tikul's Saga, Part 2 (excerpt from UK6)

Let's have a look through the clues scattered throughout:

1. The main fight in the Indicara is with the Atem at their shrine
• The two "longsword-carrier" party members lost in the battle 
2. The expedition desperately flees through the bog - there is no mention of the hydra so presumably, it moves in after the expedition passes through?
3. They peacefully bypass Vanck, the delusional fire giant without any issue
4. There is *no* mention of any devils in the passages at this time, so the bearded devil must arrive somehow later if Tikul didn't summon it - an interesting possibility...
5. The greedy thief separates from Tikul and the cleric, dying at the hands of the invisible stalker as she tries to dig silver out of the lesser circle with her dagger.
6. He leads a disastrous attack on the temple and its skeleton warrior with the Hek'Ilj and during this battle, his remaining companion, the cleric, is killed and he flees
7. Tikul returns eastwards uneventfully, avoiding the Atem only to perish from the water but there is no mention of Vanck or how he avoids the Atem Shrine area
• It's unclear whether he casts the magic mouth only on his return eastwards

This isn't very encouraging.

One wonders if he indeed had a *low* Wisdom score based on the implied choices!

Running off in search of fabled treasure isn't actually that uncharacteristic of adventurers to be fair, but let's have a look at three main decision points where Tikul seems to have failed to pass the simple test of prudence and elected to "live to fight another day":

Firstly, despite losing almost half of his entire party (and from their equipment, likely the only 2 dedicated warriors) to Abu and the tribe of Atem at their village shrine, Tikul nevertheless presses on into the tunnels after fleeing through an unexplored bog in a box canyon with no other obvious exit.

Secondly, during the passage westward, he loses his third party member, the greedy thief, when she activates the guardian invisible stalker by trying to dig up the silver from the summoning circle. Now at less than half strength, he stubbornly continues on and enters the bizarre and deathly Ash Mire accompanied only by his sole remaining companion, a plate mail clad cleric.

Finally, out of sheer avarice for the presumed Kepta treasure or arrogance about his magical skills, he convinces the tribe of 1 HD Hek through persuasion alone (perhaps he had high Charisma and Wisdom was his dump stat instead?) to attack the fortified temple without any intelligence on what threats it contains, encountering Kegen's trump card, the 9 HD skeleton warrior (OSRIC, page 297). The Hek are slain or scattered from its fear effect, the cleric is slain mistakenly attempting to turn the unturnable creature, and Tikul's spells can't penetrate its MR 90% defense, forcing him to flee back into the Ash Mire...

Seemingly bypassing Vanck on his flight home (no mention of how is given), his only luck seems to be avoiding the Atem on the way back (perhaps using an invisibility or (Leomund's) tiny hut spell) and any random encounters in the Indicara. 

He then leaves his dagger at area I2 inexplicably and ultimately dies from drinking contaminated water...

So I'm thinking this was never meant to be a success - maybe from a meta-game perspective as decided by the author for sure, as having elements of a prior expedition certainly adds more to the module, but also just from the fact that it's actually quite a dangerous journey and difficult to prepare for. 

There's been a fair bit of material published or put forth on the Amedio but only a few successful expeditions (Rhialle's 4 ventures and the famous Matreyus expedition).

So it's not unexpected.

Tikul's expedition was fated to fail.

Optional: Conversion Notes 

I'd intentionally originally decided to go with a "mechanics-lite" OSR style approach for the UK6 revisit project, but every now and again there are some thematic elements from other modern rulesets that are worth commenting on or considering...

In PFRPG, Tikul probably would have been better as an Archaeologist archetype bard, although the rogue skills and talents instead of bardic performance certainly didn't help him survive! Elements from the Pathfinder Society Field Agent prestige class may well be applicable - although technically the wrong setting, a Greyhawk correlate of the society is feasible. If switching settings entirely even a Faerunian version such as the Harpers might work, but Tikul seems a lot more self-interested than most. Interestingly magic mouth is a 1st level bard spell (as opposed to 2nd level sorcerer/wizard spell) so it's possible in Pathfinder terms that both he and the unfortunate remaining party members could have been even lower level.

For LotFP, I'd perhaps see Tikul more as a scroll or wand using specialist using the Arcana Skill for Specialists variant rule (substituting for Architecture) proposed by James Young. The magic mouth spell then becomes a scroll the explorer kept for marking important landmarks. The "thief" then becomes a more traditional "burglar" style Specialist and the other 3 party members are likely a Cleric, a Fighter, and perhaps an OD&D-style warrior-mage Elf. 

If converted to a LotFP adventure, UK6 would be particularly lethal given some of its encounters' relative power level, but potentially lethal encounters and avoidance of combat are well placed in that game system. Perhaps the bearded devil or shadow demon encountered by the later murderhobo party is the result of Tikul's desperate attempt to use the infamous LotFP summon spell to enlist aid on his return through the Wind Walker's passages?

Addit Sept 2020: I'm more familiar with 5E now, and I'd still envision Tikul as some sort of "archaeologist-mage" or variant bard as per the Pathfinder note above. I think the Archaeologist character background from Tomb of Annihilation, page 192, or detailed here would fit well, combined with the College of Eloquence UA (Unearthed Arcana) playtest variant subclass to explain his remarkable persuasive abilities. 

Alternatively, Tikul could be a UA sidekick class Expert with the Ritual Caster feat (Bard or Wizard, Intelligence spellcasting ability) gained from being a variant human or instead of the 4th level ASI - this feat and his spellbook would allow him to cover off on most of the spells used in the original module.