IM1 "The Immortal Storm" (1986) by Frank Mentzer is a D&D adventure for 4-5 Novice Temporals from each of the Spheres of Power.
IM1 "The Immortal Storm" by Frank Mentzer. Illustration by Larry Elmore. Note the Entropic Immortal, in the background.
An immense eye has appeared at the centre of the Dimensional Vortex. The PCs must gather the essences of the five senses to stop the growing vortex from engulfing the multiverse.
Creative Team:
This was Frank Mentzer's only adventure for the BECMI line, and his final project for TSR before resigning to join Gary Gygax at New Infinities.
Editing was by Anne Gray McCready, who also edited the BECMI rulebooks. Typography was credited to Betty Elmore and Kim Lindau.
Cover art was by Larry Elmore, with interior black-and-white illustrations by Valerie Valusek and Larry Elmore. Cartography was by Dave Sutherland and Dennis Kauth.
The Adventure:
The five hierarchs, Noumena (Thought), Khoronus (Time), Solarios (Energy), Djaea (Matter), and Nyx (Entropy) confront a menacing transformation in the Dimensional Vortex.
Nyx, Hierarch of Entropy, ponders the Storm of the Eye. Illustration by Valerie Valusek
The PCs are presented with a starting puzzle,* a message from beyond the Dimensional Vortex, which explains what must be done to save the multiverse.
*Mentzer's puzzle is extremely clever - it absolutely stumped ChatGPT, which couldn't even solve it when provided with clues
The center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
The essence of sight is obtained by capturing five cubic inches of freshly made starfire from the exact center of the galaxy of the PCs' homeworld, where new stars are formed.
Before they can do this, the characters must gain permission from the Elemaster of Fire, who resides on “Starworld" in the Elemental Plane of Fire.
The Sound of Music
The essence of sound must be sought in the Home Plane of the race of tonals, living bubbles of light who communicate by changing color.
As with the Elemental Plane of Fire, the bias of the Outer Plane of the tonals is friendly towards Immortals of the Sphere of Energy.
An Odd Notion
The essence of taste can be found in the Home Plane of the race of notions, creatures of pure thought.
The notion of taste is not that of a physical sensation, normally associated with foods and other substances; it is instead an appreciation of quality and harmony in concepts (ie. "good taste").
Master of the Earth
The essence of touch must be obtained from the Earthlord, the Elemaster of Earth.
The PCs must travel to the Earthlord's planet, Cueball, in the Elemental Plane of Earth, and rescue the elemaster from a rebellious Eternal of the Sphere of Matter.
The Smell of Victory
The essence of smell is located in an Outer Plane where the most advanced known technological society exists, a parallel version of our own planet.
The Outer Plane is a trispace (three-dimensional plane of existence) instead of the usual pentaspace. Hence, magic use is impossible.
Creative Fragrances Labs, Oakton Place, Skokie, Illinois (based on TSR headquarters at 201 Sheridan Springs Rd., Lake Geneva, now the corporate headquarters for Custom Service Plastics, Inc.)
The settings described are those of two major cities in the United States, New York and Chicago, in the latter part of the 20th century.
Rules covering damage from vehicles* and firearms are included.
*see also "Modern Monsters: The perils of 20th century adventuring" by Ed Greenwood, published in Dragon #57 (January, 1982)
"The City Beyond the Gate" by Robert Schroeck, published in Dragon #100 (August, 1985), was a similar adventure for high-level AD&D characters to recover the Mace of St. Cuthbert from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, with a map of London, England.
Appendix:
Astral and Ethereal Travel tables are included, with encounter types.
Commentary:
IM1 "The Immortal Storm" is an interesting adventure, with new information concerning planar travel and creatures, serving as a supplement to the Immortal rules.
Each of the five main sections are quite imaginative, with details that can be mined for adventures with lower level characters.
There are no pre-rolled characters included, but players can "roll up" new Immortal characters in much the same way as creating new 1st level characters.
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