Ilkmar
Location: Dust / Consumption
Three hundred years before the old city was created, the wizard Ennelong had cursed the gluttonous merchant Kohsmann for his evil acts. The latter had made profit at the expense of the poor, and, more seriously, had stolen a magical item that was very dear to Ennelong.
Ennelong’s curse stated, that, lest he atoned, Kohsmann and the ground he stood on would become the very image of death. This would happen when he would be enjoying his greatest moment of glory.
The wish that Ennelong had used was not without costs: being the old mage he was, it became the end of him. Kohsmann, however, successfully became a Prolonger and sucked the peasants dry for three more centuries.
Then he came upon the city of Ilkmar, a harbour city which was about to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the granting of its city rights. Kohsmann decided to run for mayor and hoped to turn public favour towards him by setting up a great banquet to celebrate the event. This was made possible by that stolen magical device, that created banquets fit for the gods. Kohsmann’s popularity rose considerably that day (for the people of the city did not yet know of his ways). Thus his greatest moment of glory had come to pass, and finally this triggered the fulfilment of the curse. Kohsmann, the city, and all its inhabitants turned into beings of pure dust, and were cast into to the Plane of Dust by the malicious wish.
Right now Kohsmann still lives his life there, as the mayor of a city of dust, inhabited by dust beings, who all loathe him, but can do nothing about it. The sea itself turned to salt, encapsulating the city in a desolate, eerie landscape that glimmers in what little ambient light remins.
A berk can just walk into the burg and interact with any creature in there. However, they cannot touch ’em. Touching an inhabitant will turn them into a pile of dust. Visitors should also avoid making too much noise, for too loud a sound may cause buildings collapse—though they seem to rebuild themselves eventually.
Sages speculate that there must be a way to break the curse and set the inhabitants free. Those who know the dark story of Kohsmann know that he’ll need to severely atone for his misdeeds as a Prolonger. Assuming he survives being turned to dust himself, of course.
Adventure Hooks:
- The Curse of Kohsmann: The players are hired by a group of sages to find a way to break Kohsmann’s curse. This quest will involve deep historical research, negotiations with dust beings, and possibly confronting Kohsmann himself to persuade him to atone for his misdeeds—or defeating him some other way.
- Dust to Dust: A group of planar travellers is trapped in Ilkmar, encompassed by the curse and slowly turning to dust. The players must race against time to find a way to reverse the transformation and save the travellers.
Source: Alex de Beer, Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
![](https://mimir.net/wp-content/uploads/ilkmar_dust.webp)
I like that picture immensely. But I wonder in what kind of game there is space for concepts like atoning for misdeeds. Not in any of mine. Either Planescape is wrong for me, or I am wrong for Planescape, or mine is a different Planescape.
I’ve tweaked the description slightly to account for other outcomes. A lot of the historical Planescape adventures had ways to negotiate or think your way out of a problem too, as going in guns blazing with many planar situations is likely to make things worse! I like to get ideas from Doctor Who—their solution is rarely combat, and there are usually clever ways to resolve even hopeless-looking situations. I’d be lying though if the majority of games I DM doesn’t end in a big fight though![😉](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/svg/1f609.svg)