Showing posts with label campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label campaign. Show all posts

Monday, October 23, 2023

25 Hexes

 

A The small Monastery of the Sustained Wail lies here, where the monks specialize in candlemaking. The abbot wears a mask to disguised severe scars he sustained when he was a soldier. He is dead, though the remaining monks do not know that. Their library is impressive and contains useful books.

B The remains of a massive elven warship from the First Goblin War is unaccountably wrecked on a hillside here, overgrown with vines and old moss. It has been colonized by a clan of longhorned goats. Deep in the hold, swaddled in leather is an unfertilized dragon's egg, the size of a wild boar.

C Cabin containing 8 teenage girls. Despite their unbothered demeanor and having no weapons save a few rude kitchen implements, they claim to have been- (and indeed have been-) surviving deep in the woods on their own for years. They are werewolves. They will attempt to separate party members via guile before eating them.

D Bearded vultures pick at the carcass of a palfrey and the corpse of its rider in high grass here. It is the body of the masked abbot from the monastery in Hex A. His robes, mask, and emblems of office are unharmed.

E An idiot hill giant named Feldvarr lives in a fist-shaped rock formation halfway up a series of flecked cliffs. He does not know it, but the weapon he wields is the legendary 2-handed sword, Insinuator, which bears an inversion enchantment: the more protected the target, the more easily it is hit.

F Small hamlet of Thin Frocks subject to frequent attacks by strangely aggressive wolves. They're actually the werewolves from Hex C.

G A narrow, wedge-shaped and thickly-wooded hill at the confluence of two rivers, with a small 4-chambered cave system inside accessible only from the top. It would be an excellent defensive position if the surrounding area had any value which, at this time, it does not.

H Small lake with an inn and tax-collector's post on an island in the center reached by a small rowboat. The Inn of the Broken Buckle offers night-battered rum pudding, eggs in frosted lime oil, blackberry stout and threemelon brandy. In the hour after sunset patrons gamble on the number and kind of thrown-foodstuff wounds with which the tax collector will arrive.

J  There are rumors of an apple-throwing hobgoblin in the unusually large trees occupying an orchard here on a gentle slope surrounding an abandoned well, but skeptics suspect that sometimes apples just grow large and fall on people.

K Seerwell Loops, a monk from the monastery in Hex A was out selling candles when he spied the goblins soldiers at Hex L from a high bluff. He has abandoned his cart and now races back to the monastery to warn the abbot.

L Thirty-four goblin soldiers on foot under Harc Commander Slumgullion Rink, a 12th-level goblin fighter, are under orders from the King of All Goblins to stealthily investigate rumors of an unhatched dragon egg in this area, spurred by the recent discovery of a library of First War documents. Rink's current plan is to march up to Hex G and set up a base camp, then send his detachment of veterans (4th level fighters) out to investigate. 

M Here, a bend in the barely-moving river is choked with violet-colored water-lilies. A freshwater mermaid named Celine sits eating them. She is trying to figure out a way to get the trolls occupying the bridge at Hex N out of "her" river.

N A decaying stone aqueduct-bridge has recently been occupied by Omphalos Ubb, a whistling troll and an anti-intellectual. He eats any fish that can't answer his riddle and any man who can. The riddles are easy.

O Near an old field-wall and beneath layers of low-growing gorse lies the forgotten mausoleum of Lord Ordinans Narcysse, a hero of the Second Goblin War, and his family. Anyone eating the flowers fresh (including horses, who love the stuff) will be able to Speak With Dead for an hour--once. The late Clan Narcysse know the local geography and a lot about killing goblins. The are easily offended, however, and a little xenophobic. Anyone showing less than proper respect--especially anyone not from Broceliande--will cause Lord Narcyse to reanimate himself (he is a plate-clad skeleton with 8 HD) and spend the month "expelling invaders" (killing everyone he sees) until collapsing.

P The small hamlet of Conciere has a competent surgeon (can cure d4 hp per day) but labors under a curse lain upon it by Nynniva, the Winedrunk Witch who dwells in Hex T: all the children are really ugly. The parents of Conciere will lavish such gifts as they have on any who can lift the curse.

Q Niptuck the Fondler and Hodhaus van Dorn--4th level thief/rogue/specialist and 2nd level wizard/magic-user respectively--and sole survivors of a luckless adventuring party, seek any way out of this godforsaken wood. Their fellows were hoodwinked and devoured by the young werewolves in Hex C.

R A small fishing boat is tied to a post fifteen feet out into the river from the western bank. The water around the boat is only 5 feet deep but four poisonous watersnakes swim around it, concealed beneath the shoreweed and bladderwort.

S Sturgis the Cobbled (or kobold), a small goblin wearing an unconvincing human-skin disguise, carries a message to Omphalos Ubb at Hex N from the King of Southern Trolls, written in High Trollish. It instructs Ubb to offer all due aid and assistance to Harc Commander Rink (see Hex L) in his expedition but does not say what the object of that expedition is.

T In a perfectly-round cottage at the center of two concentric rings of perfectly round 5-foot moat separated by a perfectly round ring of garden lives Nynniva, The Winedrunk Witch. Leaping over the first moat causes a strong desire to head elsewhere in the forest and find wine, leaping over the second causes a strong desire to give it to the first woman you see. Stepping in the first moat (2 feet deep) causes Sleep and the second is infinitely deep and causes anyone touching the water to sink at 6 feet per round. Each effect only works once per victim every 24 hours.

U Three dwarfs busk outside the Inn of the Cat's Tail. They tumble and sing songs about ladies. The inn serves wheels of white cheddar, snowpeas on black rye, bad sherry and rhubarb wine. 

V Pildo the Incentivized grows powerful psychoactive mushrooms in his garden, a variety he calls Lesser Killdevil. The effect is identical to Harmony Gold plus a Confusion spell. He'll have d4 doses ready at any given time and will trade for useful goods or services.

W A pond, about 100' across, full of ornamental carp in carnival colors. One of them is a transformed wizard, Ontiir, who stocked the pond and once occupied the cottage nearby. He transformed himself to hide from bandits decades ago and cannot remember how to turn back.

X The large castle here seems, at first, as abandoned as the small town gathered at the base of its walls, but in truth it is still occupied by the mad Count Opulence, fifteen knights, and a shifting handful of concubines and party guests. He owns a giant black scorpion named Maldoror which he employs for impure purposes.

Y Nonna Meatspeech, a messenger from the Half-King of Broceliande astride a buttermilk rouncy rides to the home of Count Opulence in Hex X, to inform the decadent Count that goblins have been sighted in the area. He is the only lord in the area with enough troops to oppose them.

Z In the village of Milieux the burghers have placed a long-fingered marsh frog on trial for causing a recent flood which took the lives of four children and the only local goat. The frog is guilty.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Tarot Rooms 2

More Tarot Rooms for your dungeon which if you don't know what I'm talking about it's here.

ON LEVEL THREE

Three of Wands Room--The golem stands, palm out, between three upright quarterstaffs. If any object is placed in the palm, the golem will take it and offer a quarterstaff in trade. Furthermore, at this point, the Three of Wands Golem will then immediately begin to build a business based around the item it was handed. It will seek to buy, sell, import, export or trade that and only that kind of item, using whatever resources it can locate in the dungeon. It has stats as a 3rd level wizard and its intelligence is 3d6+3. If the PCs visit again, they will likely notice the golem has developed a thriving business, staffed by whateve creatures are at hand in the dungeon.

If any 3rd level wizards are present when the room is opened, the golem will offer the wizard(s), in writing, a chance for a 1/3 share in the partnership in exchange for undertaking various tasks related to the new business. These will be dangerous, but the golem is honest.
Three of Cups Room--These golems in this room are carved to represent 3 hot drunk chicks. They will motion for any visitors to join them and offer them as much wine as they like. Once the door is open, it will never close and any creature wandering nearby will be offered drink by what essentially is an endless magic fountain in the shape of 3 convivial girls.

If any 3rd level clerics are present when the room is opened, then the tall, skinny blonde one will flirt with them (regardless of gender). She will eventually become hopelessy infatuated with the cleric(s) bringing them fried chicken on their birthday and writing them long letters about how they used to wish they could be a cleric but they eventually realized it was a meaningless title and was happy just being a wooden nun but is still really impressed with the cleric(s). She'll be really possessive, want the cleric to move in as soon as possible, and constantly write about how she wants to have her face re-carved when she gets older.

Three of Coins Room--The mannequins in this painstakingly crafted tableau will not move while observed. However, if left alone with any object, they will go to work improving it. Any nonliving thing left in their presence will be heartily pimped when the owner returns.

If any third level thieves enter the room, they golems draw for them a map of a nearby raggedy object in the care of a hostile sentient being. If stolen, left in the care of the golems, and improved, the object will then be worth twice the original value. They will otherwise behave as normal.
Three of Swords Room--A vast and very real heart of genuine levitating flesh pulses redly in the air, pierced three ways by swords, as blood drips and then pools beneath. If any sword is removed, blood will jet out, filling the level (and only that level) at a rate of 3 inches per turn per sword removed. When the blood reaches 9 inches, it will spawn three red demons of sorrow in the rooms of the other 3 suit cards on the level. These demons will seek the swords wherever they are, then use them to grievously wound all they can, inflicting terrible, mutilations that can never heal.

Other than the demons, only third-level fighters possess the mix of skill, caution, and humility to be able to wield the swords, and in their hands they will inflict wounds that can never heal once every three days. Anyone else who attempts to fight with them will fumble and hurt themselves.
The Empress Room--The secret door to this room can only be found by women (though anyone may enter). The Empress sits unmoving, crudely carved in an intricate but primitive style, on a stepped pedestal under a gazebo-like roof, with a drawer in her stomach. Opening the drawer will reveal a newborn child of a random humanoid species found in the dungeon, bathing in amniotic fluid. Closing it and opening it again will reveal a child of another random species. The children are-, and will behave as-, infants of the indicated species.

In addition, any immature living thing--animal, vegetable or monstrous--within the room will begin to grow at the the rate of 1 year per minute until it becomes an adult--at which point it will age normally.

If any mother is present, the empress will stand and hand any child so generated to the mother, along with an ivory box containing a deed to a parcel of 3 acres of land within 100 miles, a map to that place, and everything necessary to keep the child fed, tended and clean for one week. So long as the child is tended, the deed will be honored by any intelligent being of lawful alignment. If the mother takes the deed, after one year, the Empress will send a wooden emissary with a scroll asking the mother and/or child to join her army as she retakes her lost empire.


ON LEVEL FOUR

Four of Wands Room--This tableau's major feature is a sacred or celebratory space marked out by four standing staves int he corners. Any creature entering will be compelled (no save) to coexist peacefully and indeed festively with any other creature inside. In addition--no-one standing behind the painted wooden castle in the background can be harmed in any way.

If any fourth-level wizards stand in the space, any beneficial spell they cast will be increased fourfold.

Four of Cups Room--This room contains four cups and an aura of general shabbiness. Anyone spending more than a round in the room will be compelled to ask themselves four questions:
1. What am I even doing here?
2. Why?
3. Why?
4. Why?

(For example:
GM: "You ask yourself: What am I even doing here?"
PC: "Looking for the silver monkey of Pi Fin Pong"
"Why?"
"It's valuable."
"Why?"
"It's made of silver"
Why?
"Some asshole decided it would be?")

If after any of these questions, the PC responds with "I don't know" or takes more than 4 seconds to answer, they will be compelled to drink from one of the cups. This will result in a nightmarish hangover (-1 to everything) and they will have to go four more "Why"s down the rabbit hole. Again: if they do it wrong they'll have to drink from another cup, get another -1 etc. If they drink all 4 cups they will sleep for an hour. The cups refill immediately.

If any fourth level clerics enter the room they will immediately be compelled to drink all 4 cups and answer the corresponding questions. If they answer each one unhesitatingly and with perfect orthodoxy within their faith's dogma, they will immediately gain enough experience to reach the next level. No one else will have to drink.
Four of Coins Room--A simple golem closely resembling Ben Horn from Twin Peaks without his glasses sits clutching four massive coins worth 4000 gp each (he wears a crown but it's fake gold). If any are taken the contraption's mouth will open and it will issue a gut-curdling shriek which will trigger one random encounter check per round per coin taken.

Only a fourth level thief can disarm, detect or destroy the mechanism. There is no other way to hurt it and no way to stop the sound (even Silence will not work).
Four of Swords Room--This place is a tomb. Funeral plinths rise from the marble floor and 4 swords are hung on the walls. No harm can come to those who sleep here while they rest--the dead will rise from their sarcophagi, take up the swords and protect them unfailingly for eight hours.

If any fourth-level fighters die in the dungeon, their soulless bodies will arise and crawl here, to join the ranks of the invincible dead.

The Emperor Room--The door to this room is secret, but just barely. Passive perception checks will reveal its outline behind a desultory attempt to paint it the color of the wall. The room itself is lavish and pompous beyond all necessity, surrounding a wooden emperor, enthroned. As soon as the door is opened, a scroll will drop from a slot in the emperor's belly containing a demand (in the reader's language) to perform a task in the dungeon, one that will extend the emperor's dominions--often by compromising or killing another powerful male figure in the dungeon (especially Kings of the various suits). If the creatures present do not perform the task immediately, the room will flood with a toxic red gas, requiring causing 4d4 points of damage (save at -4). After any task is finished, the emperor will give the creature 4 gold pieces (from the same slot in its belly) and another task will be issued. The emperor cannot be moved or harmed by any means. In all likelihood, there will already be at least one faction in the dungeon carrying out the emperor's demands when the PCs find it.

If any fathers are present when the room is opened, the emperor will cast a Quest spell on them and demand (via scroll) that they bring to him one of his enemies in the dungeon, alive. When the task is done he will give them 4000gp.
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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Tarot Rooms


-A tarot reading always implies the immediate proximity of rooms corresponding to the cards in the reading.

-The advice represented by the cards will offer the key to finding those rooms.

-With one exception (The Fool Room), these tarot rooms always appear inside a structure—-a castle, a tower, a tomb, a labyrinth, catacomb, etc. --in other words, in a dungeon. It will be a dungeon with other kinds of rooms and occupants in it, often an otherwise quite vanilla dungeon. They can exist parasitically within any dungeon of sufficient size and complexity.

-If one room appears inside the structure, all other tarot rooms will be in the same structure—and in a specific relation to that room.

-“Major Arcana” rooms (i.e. rooms matching cards without suits) will always be behind secret doors or otherwise hidden.

-Each room has many correspondences and sympathies, not all are known. What is known is that each kind of room corresponds to a kind of individual, and if one of these sympathetic entities is present, the effect of visiting a tarot room is altered.

-Rooms of the various suits are sympathetic to individuals of a level and class corresponding to the room's suit and number:

All rooms of the suit of Swords are sympathetic to fighters (or rangers, paladins, barbarians, etc) of the matching level.
Cups are sympathetic to clerics (or druids, etc) of the matching level.
Coins/Pentacles are sympathetic to thieves (or rogues, specialists, acrobats, etc) of the matching level.
Wands are sympathetic to wizards (or witches, warlocks, illusionists, etc) of the matching level.

-Relative to the center of the structure:
Coin rooms are always south,
Cup rooms always east,
Wand rooms always west,
and Sword rooms always north.

-Each room generally contains life-sized, jointed, painted, wooden mannequins, set out in a tableau with painted backdrops and stages matching the design of the card matching the room. In some circumstances, the figures will animate and act--they are called Tarot Golems. They usually cannot speak but can understand any humanoid language. Their stats are scalable to however hard the adventure is supposed to be unless otherwise noted.


-The order of the rooms corresponds to dungeon "levels" or fortress "levels" depending on the structure, so, for example, if the rooms were in a maze below ground, the 4 of cups would be 4 levels beneath the earth, but if the rooms were in a tower, the 4 of cups would be 4 levels above--that is, on the 4th floor of the structure.

The first few rooms are as follows:

OUTSIDE THE STRUCTURE
The Fool Room -- These secret rooms can normally only be found on a fumble roll (any fumbled task in the right area might uncover it, not just a fumbled search roll), though an idiot (Int 4 or less or Wis 4 or less) can find one on a proper search in the right area.

Entering the room creates a new soul which then appears in the Fool Golem. As soon as the threshold is crossed, the jester or idiot mannequin in the tableau will animate, completely naive about the world. It will be fascinated by everything, and immediately seek to learn (wordlessly) about the world, experimenting with every object it sees. Its Intelligence and Wisdom are 3, its other stats are generated as a standard peasant. It will in all likelihood leave the room as soon as it has learned all it can and start to explore outside.

Note that a new soul and golem is still generated when the door is opened even if one has already left the room, so repeated visits (including by the Fool Golem itself) can result in any number of moronic, inquisitive golems wandering the countryside (they may be dressed differently, just as various tarot decks are done in different styles). Once outside, the golem will trade almost any service for more information (much of which it will promptly forget), and intimations of this fact will appear in the heads of any ambitious person it encounters. 

If any idiots (anyone of Int 4 or less or Wis 4 or less) are present when the Fool Room is opened, the fool mannequin will not animate. Instead, the mannequin of the Fool's cat will animate and wave to the stupid character(s) and take their hand(s) in its paw. It will silently offer to trade any pieces of adventuring gear the idiot(s) has/have for any brand new item extant in the setting of equal value. The items will be of high quality, fit for the coming adventure and will be brought out by the cat from behind the wooden curtains of the tableau. Only the cat can bring things from behind the curtain and only if the space behind the curtain is unobserved. Looking behind it reveals nothing. 


ON LEVEL ONE



Ace of Wands Room--The Tarot Golem in this room is a crawling hand of ordinary size like Thing in the Addams family or one of those wooden articulated artist's model hands and it is infused with energy and creativity. It can cast any 1st level spell that the GM invents on the spot once per round, and will do so in order to protect its spellbook, which contains 20 unheard-of first level spells.


If any first level wizards (or witches, or warlocks, etc) are present, they will immediately receive a wordless instruction that they must invent a 1st level spell on the spot. They have 14 seconds to do so. If the GM does not approve the spell, they may try twice more. If they successfully invent a spell, the golem will give the PC (s) its spellbook.
Ace of Cups Room--A vast iron cup fills the room, seething with the energies of generosity. It will fill with 1-10 doses of healing nectar (d4 hp per dose) precisely proportional to the amount of love that enters the room when the door opens (0 being the door opening on a combat of all against all, 10 being an ecstatic polyamorous orgy).


The first time any first-level clerics (druids, etc) are present when the door is opened, the cup will be of perfectly ordinary size and empty, but will immediately seem special to the cleric. It cannot be moved unless holy liquid is poured into it by the cleric or clerics. If it is, the cup will then be movable by the clergyindividual(s) in question and will possess magic properties: neither it nor whatever is poured into it can ever be taken from the cleric(s) or from any member of their faith it is gifted to.


Ace of Coins Room-- The handlike Tarot Golem here sits inside a large pentagram of gold-dust that nearly fills the room. Upon being discovered it will immediately crawl toward the nearest source of wealth and drag it back inside the pentagram. "Wealth" is here defined as any hoard of coins larger than the one currently inside the pentagram (which begins with nothing inside). If they do not stand in the pentagram, it's possible the nearest "hoard" will be the PCs' purses. The golem has one hit die and if the PCs do not handle the situation carefully they may not realize the vast potential of the treasure-finding device they've stumbled upon--though the golem will regenerate inside the pentagram if the room is empty and it is unobserved.

If any first-level thieves (or rogues or specialists, etc) are present when the door is opened then the hand will crawl over to them and open, palm up. If a coin is placed in the palm by such a thief, the hand will then draw for the thief a map indicating the largest source of other coins of that metal within one mile. It will do nothing else.


Ace of Swords Room -- The Tarot Golem in this room, consisting of a sword held in a slithering and snakelike armature, will immediately attack making use of radical insight. It knows each of its enemies' greatest weaknesses due to unfailing revelation. Any successful hit will be a critical.

The first time any first level fighters (or rangers, or barbarians, etc) are present when the room is opened, the golem will only attack them and will have hit points equal to the combined hp of all 1st level fighters present (at the start of the fight). If the golem is defeated by the first level fighter(s) without aid from anyone else, it will offer them its sword. The sword will (only under these conditions) allow the bearer to sense a single enemy within line-of-sight's greatest weakness once per week.
The Magician's Room-- The invisible door to this secret room can only be detected using magic. The Tarot Golem inside has stats as a wizard of a level equal to the combined hd of the creatures in the room+1, though it will only use spells of the transmutation type. When the door is opened, it will nod politely and then begin to follow the party. It is delighted by transformations--if the party should transform anything in its presence, the excited golem will use magic or guile to transform something else, more or less at random.  It will otherwise be quite neutral.

Transformations for this purpose generally exclude mere destruction--the alteration must be something which changes a thing to a way it never was before while not appreciably decreasing its level of complexity and organization. Living to dead doesn't count as a transformation, but cleric-to-lich or enemy-to-ally would.

If any wizards (etc) are present when the room is opened, the Magician will go to work demonstrating its abilities, lifting the objects off its mountebank table (cups, coins, knives, wands) and changing them one into the next. It will then enthusiastically gesture to the wizard. If the wizard then transforms something, the golem will bow and hold out its hand. If the wizard places any object into the golem's hand, the golem will change it into an object which will come in handy to the wizard in the future, though the wizard will not realize it at the time. It will not follow the party as described above.


ON LEVEL TWO


The Two of Wands Room--As soon as the door to this room is opened, the golem will push forward through the door, intent on moving directly toward the most powerful magic-using creature in the entire structure and striking up a mutually beneficial relationship with them. It has abilities as a second-level wizard and will use them to banish any impediments in the most direct way possible.

If any wizards of 2nd level are present when the door is opened the golem will take them by the hand and, using signs, describe the location of some nearby, as yet undiscovered, place of interest (a treasure hoard, a magic library, etc) and gesture that they go seek it. It will attempt to bar any non-2nd-level-wizards from following. If the wizard(s) go alone and return successful (and the golem is still alive), the golem will allow the wizard to copy the golem's spellbook. The spellbook will contain at least one useful spell the wizard would not otherwise be able to access.



Two of Cups Room--The two figures will briefly acknowledge anyone entering and then go back to drinking. As soon as they are, the GM should add another entry to the random encounter table: an NPC party precisely like the PC party aside from two things:

-They will be associated with the opposite god
-They will be erotic counterparts of the PCs and find them immediately attractive

If second level clerics are present when the room is found then one of the golems will offer the cleric a drink. If they take the cup and drink from it without suspicion, one of the golems will be revealed to be a 2nd level cleric of the same god and will, in its golem way, go about attempting to found a church of that god within the structure in an attempt to curry favor with the cleric. The NPC party will still be added to the random encounter table.
Two of Coins Room--This juggling golem juggles under any circumstances. It begins by juggling two coins. The coins are clearly worth 200gp each (go ahead and add zeroes to that figure if 200gp isn't enough to entice your party). If either of the coins are taken (it's easy) it will immediately begin looking for other things to juggle, seizing on the first cup/container, bladed weapon or wand/staff/rod/stick it can find to replace the lost coin and begin juggling again. It cannot be damaged in any way but otherwise has stats as a 2nd level thief.

When the coin or coins are replaced, the rest of the dungeon/structure will change: for each coin missing, half the coins in the place will be replaced with their weight in cups, (useless) wands or swords, as appropriate. So if, for example, one of the coins is replaced with a blade, half the coins in the entire dungeon (including any on the party) will be replaced with their weight in swords, if the other coin is replaced with a stick, the other half of the coins in the dungeon will be replaced with wands. If both coins are replaced with swords, all the coins in the dungeon turn to swords. In any event, putting a coin back returns that half of the dungeon's collective hoard to normal.

If a second-level thief steals one of the coins then the golem can replace the coin with the nearest convenient noncoin object, and the coins in the dungeon will be replaced with an equivalent weight's worth of second-level thieves of various races. These thieves will immediately scatter throughout the dungeon.

Two of Swords Room--There will always be another room on the far side of this one, accessible only this way--and that room will always clearly contain something of value. The Two of Swords Golem will defend that room with her life, but if no-one attempts to pass she will simply meditate quietly. She will also defend anyone who peacefully occupies her room.

Her stats are as a second-level fighter with two exceptions: her starting hit points equal the combined hit points of whoever she faces (at the moment the fight begins) and she has two actions per round--the first unfailing parries the first attack against her (even magic) and the second unfailingly strikes a target.

If a second-level fighter joins her in meditation for eight hours (while, for example, the rest of the party sleeps) they will learn the secrets of either blind-fighting or dual-wielding. Mechanics depend on the system, but generally both are still done at some kind of penalty, just not at the usual, big, one.
The High Priestess Room--This room cannot be found by looking for it--the entrance to this secret room can only be found via passive perception checks. The priestess herself is exquisitely carved and articulated, a perfect golem cleric of the structure's original architect culture and faith with stats equivalent to a cleric two levels higher than the combined hit dice of everyone in the room.

The Priestess Golem will answer questions with oblique gestures. If a PC can manage to do absolutely nothing in her presence for 2 minutes, she will hand them a small box carved from a mysterious blue stone. In the box will be a tool which will allow the creature to overcome their greatest weakness one time. A spindly wizard might receive a potion of strength, an illiterate barbarian might be given an earring which whispers a text, etc The boon only works on the character in question.

Once the door is opened for the first time, it will remain open, the High Priestess will begin collecting recruits for her faith, drawing recruits from whoever wanders in. She will give them each a boon, slowly turning wandering monsters into more dangerous and zealous wandering monsters--each time the GM rolls a random encounter, mark a tick next to the next creature down on the table--that creature (or one of them) has been converted and now has a boon.

If female clerics of any faith are present when the door is open, the High Priestess will gesture to the ground before her, offering them the opportunity to kneel at her feet and be converted. If they refuse, she will draw for them a map directly to the nearest exit. If the clerics leave, she will station several of her new recruits at that exit so they can never come back.

To be continued...
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Thursday, May 11, 2017

Foetal God.....(+DIY D&D Gen Con Party)

For any old game, but I wrote it up specifically for Demon City. I gave it D&D stats, too...
The Foetal God. My latest painting for Demon City.

It would require an effort on an industrial scale and layers of orchestrated deception within that effort, great vats, sacrifices that would beggar cemeteries, coordinated acts of rogue archaeology, postmodern mathematics, and multinational teams of experts in the deadest languages. All the more remarkable as it could serve no conceivable purpose.

The young god will stagger, unviable, seething, needlessly empathic, feeling everything, bending quantum fields to the edge of rupture, shrieking in ultrasonics whose sublime recursions and architectonic structures echo out in depthless potency and ignorance.

Thinking nothing, reactionary, capable of anything, exposed and nihilistic--why would anyone bring such a thing about?
Demon City Stats:

Calm: -1 (Always insane)
Agility: 2
Toughness: 10
Perception: 1
Appeal: 0
Cash: 0
Knowledge: 0

Calm check: 10

D&D stats in italics:
HD: 17
AC: 16
Speed: As human

Causes Save vs Fear on sight


Special Abilities
(Wallowing newly and unwilling in the morass of being, the Foetal God telegraphs its every move--these are all initially rolled as Agility-based actions.)

Physical Attack

The God is strong enough that anything outright grappled, thrown or crushed in its hands or jaws takes Overwhelming Damage (roll dice equal to the attacker's stat--in this case 2--and take the highest). (D&D: Str as Hill Giant)


Touch

The God can reform matter with a touch, but does so as an infant with no talent or focused intention. Each hand merely begins to transmute touched things into the last thing touched with that hand, so if it was a sidewalk, part of the target becomes smeared with a line of jagged concrete, if it was a dog, part of the target becomes a chaotic web of fur, organ, and fang. Aside from any common-sense effects treat this as normal weapon damage. (D&D: d10+10)

Scream

When wounded or frightened, the protogod screams, causing a storm of ontological static to ripple across an area extending from Foetal God in a 50' radius. An unsuccessful Scream action still indicates a scream has happened, just that a number of random nonvital objects in the area are affected (Host: describe something disturbing), a successful one indicates an important object or character is included along with this background damage--decide randomly. The Scream's effects on any given object or character are (roll d10)

1 Target is horrifically scarred or deformed. Damage is gruesome but cosmetic. Characters lose 2 points of Appeal (D&D: 4 pts of Cha), to a minimum of 0.

2 Target becomes its own shadow.

3 Target briefly nonexistent and devoid of relativistic movement, sinks 2 inches into ground or whatever is supporting it. Will have to be cut out.

4 Target begins to melt into a plasm of primordial constituents. Damage calculated as if hit with an ordinary weapon. (D&D: D10+10)

5 Target begins to dwindle out of existence. It does not exist next turn, then returns for one turn, then ceases to exist for two turns, then returns for one, then three turns, then returns for one, etc. until the Foetal God is destroyed or the effect is negated by some exotic means. During nonexistence no-one remembers it ever existed.

6 Target appears to be destroyed but reappears out of sight 100 feet-1 mile elsewhere. Host's choice.

7 Target is perfectly cloned. Clones of characters will become disturbed NPCs.

8 Target continues to exist but is ignored by all sentient life. This continues until the Foetal God is destroyed or the effect is negated by some exotic means.

9 Living targets (only) briefly share the mind of the Foetal God. They lose a point of Calm (D&D: Save and effects as if vs Confusion) if they fail a test against a 10, but on a successful test they can control the God's action for one turn. Getting this result twice and succeeding at least the second time allows the target to imprint their will on the protodeity long enough to reverse the effect of a single previous action by the God.

10 Target reverts in time to a noticeably earlier state--for, say, a car, this might turn it into molten metal and unprocessed rubber, for a character this usually means dialing back to a time before the acquisition of some current skillset or acquired knowledge, etc. When in doubt how bad to make it, make a Random Severity Roll (that's d10 --10 being the worst result, in this case something short of death).

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Ok for the DIY D&D Gen Con Party....

We got our location for that. It'll be Friday night, the night of the Ennies and after said Ennies, as I mentioned, there will be a party, thrown by D&D With Porn Stars and Satyr Press. We have our location, it within a leisurely walk or short cab ride from the Con and the place of said part will be emailed to you on the day of.

If you'll be at Gen Con on the 18th: email zakzsmith AT hawtmayle dawt calm and I'll put you on the list.
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And now, a word from our sponsor:
Get this game finished by donating to the Demon City Patreon right here

Friday, February 3, 2017

Vornheim Campaign Index

This is quite fucking useful:

Matt Strom over at the Ice And Ruin blog has created (all by his lonesome without telling me) an index of all the world-material entries for my D&D game that are on this blog--everything from the Maidenmother Crone to the Jade Fang of Tiamat and all that.

With over 1000 entries on this blog, it can be hard to sort through this stuff.

Thanks Matt!

Friday, January 27, 2017

Pit of the Demonweb Queen


This adventure was created by taking every line of TSR's Queen of the Spiders (which combines the Giant series and the Drow series), rearranging them in reverse alphabetical order using textmechanic and sampling:

Your party crosses the last of the low hillocks
your misfortune

you will need a copy of the statistics of the Slave lords
You will also need the map of the Lonely Inn.
you want to fuel their paranoia
you want the coming events to be surprising!
You should devise the glyphs upon this pillar and select which two are the trigger mechanisms..

you force us to dispose of you personally.
you do not understand

yet vaguely familiar men shadow them.
Yet the trail does not end there
yet I cannot remain silent

written in giant
writhing and bleeding as needed
wretched
wrestling
wreaking havok in their wake.
wraiths
wounds

worthless hot peppers
worthless and mangy

with 10th level the norm as the characters leave the surface world and journey into the sunless realms of the depths beneath the earth.
Within this room are two lounge chairs
Within this alcove is a table with a flat chest upon it.
Within the Web
within must save vs.spells or be blinded from a sudden

with specks of lilac and orange and purple.The third tier is dull black stone with whorls of plum and lavender and splotches of red.There is a great drum of blackened skin and chitinous material on the western third of the first tier.On the eastern third of this tier stands a rack from which depend nine silver cylinders.
with specks of lilac and orange and purple.The third tier is dull black stone with whorls of plum and lavender and splotches of red.There is a great drum of blackened skin and chitinous material on the western third of the first tier.On the eastern third of this tier stands a rack from which hang nine silver cylinders.

with slits in the walls and murder holes above.
with slits and murder holes guarding its length.
with sleep poison
with slaves
with slaves
with slaves
with skins and hides covering the floor

with several chairs around it and several comfortable couches along the walls.The floor is covered with soft carpeting

with a spider on one face and a female drow on the other
with a small black metal cap which al lows her silver hair to float free.

While the first succubus does her routine
While the characters are opening the door hidden by the illusion
While the characters are making this over land journey
while the characters are lazing about in their favorite castle
while the characters are in the web

which is inlaid with ivory
which is in the center of the wall and  feet from the floor
which is covered by snow and ice
which is beyond the range of the spell.
which is almost certain
which is a lie

which are very successful in this land of perpetual night.

which are not too large
which are filled with ornate pieces of art and other objects rescued
which are a mixture of various races
which apparently serve as chairs for the sala manders.

Three salamanders from room # will come to investigate the cause of any disturbance

This type of behavior continues for ten years
this town is not named nor is a great amount of detail given.

This sudden increase in activity
This structure is not only Lolths castle; it is also her vessel
This stronghold of the dark elvenfolk is
This stone block is blue and twice as large as the one below it.

This special encounter should occur just as night begins to fall.
This spacious room is littered with broken furnishings
This small place has excellent acoustics

This room would delight the heart of the most avaricious person in the world.
This room quarters two female drow fighters
This room is primarily meant as the place where slaves are rounded up and sent about their tasks under guard.
This room is of faintly glowing purplish green stone
This room is identical in contents to #6
This room is hung with rugs and skins and there are hides on the floor.There is a bed
This room is furnished with a table
This room is foul and odorous

This room is dank and unlit
This room is bare of any furnishings

This room is as lewdly and evilly decorated as the outer room.
This room has a strong animal odor
This room contains no treasure.
This room contains beds

The main ways of this ancient and depraved city are thronged with as unlikely a mixture of creatures as can be imagined.

the guardsmen use force.
the guardsmen carefully circle around the party
the guardsmen are going to pursue this arrest with great vigor

the guards.
The guards sound the alarm if attacked
the guards arrive in  round.

The floor here is polished obsidian
The floor here is also of traceried black stone

the drow will never by surprised by the party.

the drow will flee to safety back down the passage from whence they came here
the drow take their positions on the pyramids and cast various protective spells in anticipation of
the drow merchant who knows the secret of this pool usually tosses only 2 gp gems into it.

the black mass at the center grows larger and shows swollen veins of purple
the black mass at the center grows larger and shows swollen veins of purple
the black lion on red.

rubble
Royal Spawning Pool
Royal Fingerling Pool

On the second tier is a huge stone altar block of dull
On the other side
On the other hand
On the floor outside the curtains

multilensed eyes can be seen

mottled in various shades and tints of purple and violet.

more horrible as the end of the passage nears.
more disgusting

many different types of bones may be seen jutting from the body.

malachite statue
malachite and azurite

making the structure seem lacy thin.
making it very reflective.

Lolth uses weapons common to drow
Lolth uses vampires to terrorize lands she is about to invade.
Lolth regularly forces captives into the labyrinth
Lolth rewards

it is your input that makes it a worthwhile adventure.
it is whispered
It is very important to note that while in the Abyss
it is very probable that the thieves will strike from behind and kill in order to completely loot them.
it is up to you to fill in any needed information and to color the whole and bring it to life.
it is so.
it is quite nourishing.

it is of exceptional quality and rarity

In this chapter
In this chamber
in this case
in their attractive female forms
In the Web
In the Vault of the Drow
in the center of which stands an old fountain
In the storage area underneath the stairs which lead to the roof are two ration boxes
in the shade of an old elm
In the secret room are three very heavy iron chests
in the pool of water
in the past.

Ignore the whole thing
ignoring the blending power of the creatures

If the party leaves the area they find the land barren and depopulated.

If an individual tosses gems into the pool

Her Noble Highness Lolth
her infernal majesty is making the necessary final arrangements to link her plane of the Abyss most fully to that of the World of Greyhawk
her high armor class prevents most damage

Here dwells the Keeper and his wife.
here at all times

he will fight to the very end.
he will either go down to the rooms in the lower area or fight to the death.
He will do his utmost to prevent any creature from going northwest from the area toward the drow vault.
he will do any thing.
he will attempt to seek safety in the bottom of the pool
he will attempt to rally his troops and counterattack.
he will abandon the shrine entirely

he shouts
he screams for the guard.
he rumbles.
he returns with a round of cheese the size of a wagon wheel.
he releases the spiders
he realizes his mistake and apologizes for the case of mistaken identity

He knows nothing of the secret tunnel to area 7
he is to leave
he is secretly in vassalage to Neldyne
he is here with his wife and two guards

He has one goal to slay the player characters
he has prepared the final act.
he has no regrets.
He has a shield
He has a hoard of ivory tusks

Chamber of the Keeper
Chamber of the GoatBeast

but there are dozens and dozens of leeches elsewhere in the pool

and three halfgrown young.
and three eggs in the room.
and three bars of black metal
and three barrels

and those who chance to look within see a beautiful female gray elf imprisoned in a bowl filled with water.

and the walls are hung with tapestries
and the walls are hung with gossamer veils
and the victim spins uncontrollably.
and the very air tastes sharp and acrid

and the merchant clans and noble houses employ all sorts of servants and slaves who roam through the black and debauched City of the Drow
and the marble pillars are veined with black webbing.
and the manticores are wild with rage at their captivity.
and the males then fertilize them with milk
and the major sciences of dimension walking

and the eye is a fiery redorange
and the eye is a fiery red orange.
and the drow with them are of the few who are neither totally degenerate nor wholly evil; they hate the society around them and see no good in it.

and she will observe them through the slit of the secret door of room
and she will be suspicious of ANY creature entering her current abode.
and she some times assumes this form on her own plane
and she patiently anticipates the delicious moment of confrontation
and she is able to heal herself at will

and Lolth will paralyze these victims and then take them to feed upon at her leisure.
and Lolth will not be helpful.

and if they proceed closer they will observe it is an arena or pool filled with transluscent green water and surrounded bv six tiers of stone benches.

and each branch holds a fat black candle which burns with a flame of leaping lavender and deep glowing purple but never grows smaller.

and bone darts.
and bits of string.
and bits of armor

and anyone in plate mail is unavoidably drawn in.
and any within it must save versus poison at  -3

and by secret entrances in each pool bottom
and

An ancient city carved into the living rock itself

above which are two horizontal rows of circular windows.
above the floor

a wall of tentacles
a walk.
a victim hit must save vs.poison or die.

A giant black widow spider guards these weblike stairs from a position about halfway upon them.
a ghostly plum colored light to human eyes
a gemset orb
A full mile from the entrance to the Vault

a darkness has fallen over that land
a dagger +2 among them
A curious stranger comes up to the player characters and asks them an innocuous question.
a crossbow bolt is fired at one character of the group.
a crennelated battlement pierced with small crosslets.

A city of white goblins

a blackness that threatens to eat the world.
a black stone tower with walls 3 feet thick.

a being created from the joining of many skeletons.
a bed
a bed
a beautifully wrought coffin
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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Blindheim > Bullywug + Cambion, Heavy


Still redoing the monster manual...

BULLYWUG BLINDHEIM

Page 35 of the 5th ed Monster Manual brings us to the bullywug, a boring petting-zoo-people reskinned goblin which should not exist. They should be replaced with the blindheim, from the old Fiend Folio. It's a frog guy and it looks at you and you go blind because they looked so fucked up.

They are a kind of Slaad--the gods of frogs--and come in all sizes and kinds--any sufficiently pious frog or toad (they aren't biologically distinct) can be transformed into a blindheim via acts of consequential service to their kind.

There is one good detail in the 5e bullywug entry. So they hang out with trained frogs, including giant ones--this isn't the good detail, this is a stupid thing that D&D always does but decent fiction writers and films almost never do where they lump together similarly-derived zoomorphic monsters in a way that would appeal to like a toy collector but in practice only ends up diluting the effectiveness of the archetypal images involved--the good part is that they use the giant toads' gullets to carry stuff, including people. I'm gonna have goblins do that.


CAMBION

The Cambion in classic demonology is like a changeling baby but with succubusses (which is more fun to say than succubi). Ever since at least the original Monster Manual 2 it has always grown up to be yet another generic horned devilperson that can do things like charm or poke you with a spear.

Blah.

Their conception is according to at least one source weird:

1. Succubus fucks guy, gets cum.

2. Succubus gives cum to incubus.

3. Incubus puts cum in human woman.

Between steps 1 and 2 and steps 2 and 3 there are several intriguingly tasteless adventure hooks or hentai plotlines. The only interesting thing I found in research about it after it's born is that it's extremely heavy.

So...

Cambions are not found as adults--as adults they either become full-on demons or grow into tieflings (so you can have PCs whose "parents" are succubusses which is fun). As an encounter, what you get is a gross child between 1 second and 5 years old--generally a punishment for excessive lustfulness.

The Cambion has a fuckton of hit points (82, like it says in the book) and good AC (19, like it says in the book) it bites for like d8+4 damage with its creepy teeth but its main gimmick is heaviness.

It gets heavier the longer it's in one place or in contact with a given creature, and cannot move except of its own volition.

The goes in for the kid-grapple (I would say it charms you into a hug, but I already used that for lava babies)  crawls onto you, begins to bite, and each round grows heavier--the first round it requires a strength save of 18 to stay upright, then 20, then 22 etc. All the while it exerts pressure on the floor equal to an attack with a strength equal to the save--shattering wooden planks, then stone tile, until it begins to be so heavy it will actually pull you into the ground, through all the dungeons of the earth, and down to hell to meet its parents.
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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Non-magic Ranger for 5e

Who decided rangers would be magical? Probably it's Gary's fault somehow but whatever...

This is for my hacked version of 5e--like the paladin I made (Knight of Tittivila) it's a non spell-casting ranger and is a bit less powerful overall than the 5e default--but also more straightforward and with less mechanical fiddly bits.

Hit die: d10
Saves: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Pick 3--Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, Survival(/Tracking)

Level 1
-Favored Enemy: Learn their language (Int check if it's a strange dialect), Advantage on checks, +2 to hit and damage. Categories: Local creatures (incl animals and folkloric creatures), aberrations & elementals, reptiles, fey, giants, plants, undead, any 2 races of humanoids
-Favored terrain: Advantage on info and tracking checks. Pick: Arctic, coast, desert, forest, underdark, mountain, swamp
-Prof bonus +2
2
-Pick one fighting style:
   +2 to hit with bows (archery)
   +1 to AC
    Add ability mod to damage on second hit while using 2 weapons
-Animal companion: You get to pick one animal of 2 HD local to where you are when you level up or to your native environment, it behaves as if Charmed and gains d4 hp per level and is your friend. If it dies you may replace it but you can only have one at a time.
-Prof bonus +2
3
-Advantage to tracking rolls made in any environment
-Automatically succeed on any history, nature, lore etc check about any specific species or place previously observed (once per creature/place). Keep track.
-Prof bonus +2
4
-Add 2 ability score points anywhere
-Any environment you've spent 4 consecutive game sessions in counts as a Favored Terrain
-Prof bonus +2

5
-If the player playing the ranger maps a wilderness area, then, the second time the ranger PC passes through that area (provided at least an hour or one pitched combat has passed--to cleanse the ranger's mind of initial impressions), the ranger PC will automatically notice any concealed or hidden features in that area, and also any changes since last time. A mappy ranger will also notice any differences between a players' map drawn by someone else and the actual landscape and can find food or fresh water in any mapped wilderness terrain within an hour.
-If a ranger spends 15 minutes preparing camouflage, s/he can be unseen in any wilderness environment if not moving and gains advantage to stealth while moving.
-Prof bonus +3

6
-Extra atk per round.
-Choose a second favored terrain.
-Prof bonus +3

7
-Know a single sentence in any language from the area you come from on a successful Int check
-Given an hour and a successful Nature check you can locate berries, fungus, spider glands etc capable of restoring d4 hp to an injured creature. This stuff has to be fresh and goes bad after PC's level # of hours.
-Prof bonus +3
8
-Add two ability score points anywhere
-Given an hour and a successful Nature check you can locate lichens, molds, scorpion sacs etc capable of causing Confusion to a creature that ingests it (ie can't be stabbed in)--it doesn't take effect until the target fails a save (DC is ranger's nature check) and lasts until the target makes another save. The stuff has to be fresh and can't be used after PC's level # of hours.
-Prof bonus +3

9
-You may calm any animal or animal-minded creature with a successful Animal Handling check.
-Outdoor difficult terrain (unless magical) does not slow you.
-When outdoors, your passive and active perception allows you to notice features that would usually only be findable on a careful search.
-Prof bonus +4

10
-On a successful Survival check you can leave no trail and go undetected without magic.
-Growl can cause save vs Fear ( DC: 8+prof mod+Wis mod.) in animals of 5hd or less.
-Prof bonus +4

11
-You cannot be surprised in your preferred terrain.
-Choose a second favored enemy from any form of creature you have met in the campaign.
-Prof bonus +4

12
-If you spend at least 3 rounds setting up an ambush, everyone in your party gets an extra non-attack, non-spell action during the surprise round.
-Prof bonus +4

13
-After a round of study where you take no action, you can trip or disarm any foe on your next successful attack.
-If you roll maximum damage with any weapon, the blow lands exactly where you want.
-Prof bonus +5

14
-Add 2 more ability score points anywhere
-Prof bonus +5

15
-You may make any animal-intelligence creature you encounter of your level HD or less your companion (as level 2 otherwise). Mutant lion, dinosaur, whatever. You can only have one companion at a time, though.
-Prof bonus +5

16
-You cannot be surprised outdoors.
-You cannot be tracked outdoors.
-Prof bonus +5

17
-Add 2 ability score points
-Prof bonus +6

18
-You speak the language of any animal on a successful Nature check.
-Prof bonus +6

19
-Add 2 ability score points anywhere.
-Prof bonus +6

20
-Double damage against your favored enemies.
-Prof bonus +6

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Solidly Platonic




So modrons are the little geometric monsters from the Plane of Order Gary Gygax dreamed up while he was drunk staring at dice, and which I think first appeared in the AD&D Monster Manual 2.
Tony DiTerlizzi and Monte Cook later steampunked them out (before steampunk was even a thing) for Planescape and made them playable characters, but the core of their deal remained: they were creatures of ultimate order, hierarchical, and lawful.

So, I was thinking about how this could be turned into something that actually affects how you use them in play, rather than just being like another jerk that hits you for d8+2 only this time the DM does a robot voice. And I figure: Modrons know the rules. They have System Mastery.

Like Plato or those guys who used to write in to Dragon that castles wouldn't exist in a world with the AD&D spell list: they believe all that currently is is the one and only possible consequence of the principles by which the world operates. And they believe they know those principles. Like if you know the principles of the universe you should know how many feathers a chicken has--the world's not that complicated and Heisenbergian uncertainty doesn't exist.

Practically speaking, this means: they know how many hit points they have, how many you have, how many Cone of Cold does, how many xp they are worth. They'll say stuff like "Humans: if you slay me, you will advance 27/100ths of the way toward reaching another tier of skill but if you allow me to show you where the Jewel of Epoch lies, you will advance 7/20ths toward reaching another tier of skill and be less injured should you face the Epsilon Beast, which, if successfully slain will bring you 63/100ths of the way toward reaching your next tier of skill".

Their only problem is they only know the system. Anything that would require a DM call they just can't do. If you jump on top of one of their heads and they have to try to hit you with one of their dumb spears without hitting themselves they're just like fuck doesn't compute. If they're running down a hill from an erupting volcano on their clanky legs and you're like "Dude just roll it's a volcano and you're a sphere" they'll be like "Cannot! Maximum move speed is 10 feet per second". Until WOTC publishes it, they can't do it--if you thumb wrestle them, they'll always lose--and, in a deep irony, they can't play chess.*

Also some of them look like the bad geometry angel from Evangelion.


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*Wait I guess they could play if you literally walked through each second of the game but they couldn't abstract a game of chess to some kind of int/perception roll or whatever and do it because that'd be a GM call.

And now, a word from our sponsor...
26 days to go



Monday, October 10, 2016

Sailing on the Sea of Night

Though its atmosphere is round, the Earth is a cube.

It floats half-submerged, in the Sea of Night and spins slowly--one rotation every 24 hours.

It is said that if you can reach an edge of the cube at dusk with a ship, you can slide off the cube and onto the Sea of Night, at which point you can sail (beneath an ever-present but increasingly distant sun) out to distant positions (discoverable by certain charts, said to be deep in the vaults of Gaxen Kane, whose founders stole the sickle moon to use as a boat) where one can dive for stars--or else continue to sail to the great and palisaded islands where dwell the gods of all present things.

The elder gods (such as the great and tentacled She Who Sleeps And Her Dream Is The Sea) came to us via a process nearly opposite. Since (as anyone in a dungeon might tell you) all things seek the center of the cube via the process called gravity, they swam from the stars, up through the Sea of Night, into the oceans of the cube where they were bound by the magic of the First Reptile Empire.

It is not known how the stars maintain positions so distant from the Cube, at least not by humans. Anaximenes claims they are distant discs, hewn from gold.

And now, a word from our sponsor:
28 days left

Monday, August 29, 2016

Great Adventure Hooks In Art History 1: The Arnolfini Wedding

The Arnolfini (Arnoult Fin) Wedding

(First in a series about Art History is Actually Adventure Hooks)
Ok so this is the Arnolfini Wedding by Jan Van Eyck--a classic of the Northern Renaissance (the better Renaissance) and one of the first examples of not only oil painting (artists used egg tempera until then) but of a level of then-unheard-of realism in art. It also has a funny dog.

Art history records some odd facts about the Arnolfini wedding:

-Nobody knows who the woman is--the woman people thought it was didn't roll up until after Van Eyck was dead. One theory holds it's Costanza Trenta. "...this would make the painting partly an unusual memorial portrait, showing one living and one dead person"

-Art historian Erwin Panofsky claimed the portrait was actually a marriage contract with the force of a legal/religious document.

-The bride looks like she's already pregnant which--seriously WTF AD1434 posh people?

-The mirror in the background shows additional hidden figures.

-A 1516 inventory including it says "It is necessary to put on a lock to close it: which Madame has ordered to be done."

-By 1599 it had a new frame with a quote from Ovid "See that you promise: what harm is there in promises? In promises anyone can be rich."

-By 1816 a British Colonel James Hay had it and historians say it basically fell off a truck during the Peninsular War.


In reality...

Panofsky is right, but much else is wrong.

The painting actually depicts (as a 1523–4 Mechelen inventory correctly records) a merchant of Vornheim named Arnault Fin and a succubus (Isvin Othvyx of the Fourth Insidious) wearing the skin of the deceased Constanza Trenta.

Folkloric texts found in treasure hoards, sages of highly civilized lands, a DC 19 history check or, in Call of Cthulhu, an Occult roll or a successful Library Use roll made at a sufficiently specialized antiquarian archive will reveal that just before their (essentially shotgun) marriage, Fin (pronounced not like the guys in Star Wars and Adventure Time but like the French would, so like you're about to say "Fuck" then get turned into a sheep then get punched in the nose in the space of half a second) woke late one night to find his fiance missing. He headed to the pantry to get a pear and then chanced to glimpse her, naked atop a wide and spreading oak, throwing stones at the moon and eating the loosened flakes as they fell to the ground. Fin instantly recognized that this was not a proper diversion for a potential bride.

Othvyx's scheme was simple: seduce-, become impregnated by-, and marry- the prosperous Fin and proceed to birth into the emerging merchant aristocracy of Vornheim a strain of tieflings with which to manipulate and intrigue to the advantage of Hell against- and from within- the great cities of the Northern Continent.

Two minor obstacles obtained:
-According to the law of Vornheim, a spouse must obey any promise made to their partner during the first month of marriage.
-Demons can't break contracts.

Othvyx planned to circumvent these by using the false name that went with her false skin: Constanza Trenta.

However, once Fin discovered his wife's demonic nature, he consulted a witch-hunter, who instructed Fin to go on with the marriage and the usual marriage contract, but to also, unbeknownst to his new wife, enact the contract in a non-verbal form--thus the commission of the painting, which Othvyx, unschooled in art, mistook for a mere curio. Fin then playfully extracted from his new bride a pillow-promise to always be good and to teach their children and all the fruits of their line good things and Othvyx agreed, thinking herself safe due to the treacheries embedded in the written contract. Fin then burned the written contract, leaving only the painting--a loophole-free document of the reality of their marriage, and Othvyx was forced to be good and to teach her tiefling children goodness for all time.

The line of Fin is, incidentally, one of the sources of those non-evil tiefling PCs that pop up in D&D campaigns.

As for Othvyx (immortal and still extant long after the natural death of Arnault Fin): This rankles.

The Hellish siblings of the Fourth Insidious have inculcated many schemes over the years to free their sister and her descendants from her long-ago promise to Arnault Fin. Their various stratagems include:

-Destroy the painting

Seemingly the most straightforward scheme, but a demon can't destroy a contract, so it requires either manipulating resourceful mortals with unusual access into doing it. Complicating this is the fact that the artwork is discreetly protected by (in the D&D eras) various responsible clerical orders (thus the 1516 lock on the painting) and (in the Call of Cthulhu eras) clubby secret societies of Templars and whatnot, to one of which Colonel James Hay--who actually wrested the painting from the hands of a Spanish diabolist and scion of a corrupt family in Salamanca who had acquired it from the Inquisitorial libraries of the Dominican order and totes did not steal it off a truck like some parody of an entitled British world-heritage plunderer--belonged.

-Besmirch the good name of Arnault Fin

Divorce won't do it, but if the Church or State can be somehow persuaded that the Fins could never have been married in the first place and thus trigger an annulment then Othvyx is free to work once more her wicked way in the world. Generally this is easier in a D&D game than in a Call of Cthulhu one as the only entities extant still capable of annulling the marriage in modern times (the Catholic Church and the government of Belgium) seriously do not care. Either way, the most obvious way to do this would be to somehow smear Arnault Fin, finding someone in authority willing to retroactively and officially declare him a close relation of Othvyx, a changeling, a bard, or some other entity denied the ordinary rights of a citizen.

-Get the witnesses to recant or be declared unfit

The convex mirror in the painting shows two witnesses. One is presumed to be the painter himself, Jan Van Eyck.

In D&D, agents of demonic forces might hunt down these people themselves and cause them by threat or guile to recant their witness to the marriage of Fin and Othvyxx. In any game taking place long after the painting was finished, the task of ruining the witnesses is not unlike discrediting Fin himself--it will require convincing an authority figure that the witnesses were not what they seemed or in a state of disordered mind (drunk or possessed) rendering them incapable of proper witness.

Either way, you'd have to get a good look at the painting in person in order to figure out who these witnesses are or were.

So anyway...

If this painting happens to turn up in a treasure hoard or on a the wall of a great hall, it's valuable to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons and could start a lot of trouble. Keep an eye out.
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