The Next-Best Thing to Being There
by Alan Clark
While going through some musty dungeon, PCs recover a magical ring. Whoever puts it on will, after a few seconds, hear a frantic voice speaking directly into his or her mind: "Hello? Who's there? You can hear me! Where are you? Help me, please, by all the gods, help!"
The PC has found a Ring of Telepathy, one of a matched pair. These items allow the two wearers to communicate telepathically at great distances. The NPC wearing the other ring had no idea until just now that it was anything other than a nice piece of jewelry. This NPC's identity and location, and the nature of the crisis he or she is facing, are up to the GM. I came up with a hapless bard sealed in a catacomb by an evil baron, with no food or water, cackling ghouls around every corner, and time running out....
See what you can do.
(Originally appeared in Re:Quests!, issue #35, October 1994, p. 38; Mary H Kelly, editor.)
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