Still cranking away on this hex crawl. About 30 more encounters to write, then the overall description and encounter tables. Getting there …

5140. Fey Samurai: A fairy knight in the trappings of a samurai has made camp here. He has been wandering the land searching for an honest man, for it is the kiss of an honest man that will awaken the Silver Maiden who sleeps beneath the mountains.

5227. Bonnacon Herd: This district is home to a large herd of bonnacon, and a somewhat flighty herd at that. The grassy hills and trees show many signs of burning, and more than a few bonnacon carcasses are evident, victims of “friendly fire”, so to speak. Long-legged buzzards constantly patrol the sky, waiting for accidents. Encounters with the herd, or at least portions of it numbering 2d6 x 20 animals, occur on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6.

Attacks on the bonnacon have a 1% chance of drawing the attention of the bonnacon lord, called Choupi by the Mu-Panese and worshipped as a minor deity of comical rudeness to authorities. Choupi appears as an old man with a large, bloated belly and long, wispy beard. He carries a staff to which is affixed three gourds.

5408. Magic Fountain: There is a limestone cavern here in which drips enchanted waters into a shallow pool stained electric blue. The water of the fountain staves off death, but only barely retards aging – perhaps halving it. At the same time, it links the drinker to the pool. Drinkers who try to leave the pool are affected as though by a geas.

Living under the cavern there is a tribe of troglodytes in service (out of fear) to the shugenja Qorchon, who dwells in the cavern, depending on its waters to keep himself alive. Qorchon is now 120 years old, and his time is growing very short.

Beneath the troglodyte caverns there is lies the body of the demon A’meggologabo imprisoned in ice.

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PS – Mutant Truckers is working out pretty well. Should have a preview soon.

PPS – Still gathering players for the Mystery Men! Dark Renaissance campaign on Google +. We have about 12 people who have shown interest and four who have actually produced characters. Should be fun!

4811. Banshee: A stone road extends from the river to Artuk. Those walking the road often (66% chance) come across an aged woman with lank hair, eyes sealed shut, with clawed fingers and tattered robes. The woman bears a great burden of sticks on her back and wails a mournful song, singing of terrible dooms that are to befall the people she meets. She uses the people’s names in these songs. People who ask her if they might ease her burden are given a toothless smile and handed a stick, which can be used one time as a wand of turn undead (as a cleric of 6th level). Those who do not are cursed and spat at as they pass. Once behind them, the woman throws her sticks at them, one each round. The sticks become white snakes that attack as cobras. Their venom causes a person to shift into the ethereal plane whenever they are stressed or frightened (i.e. save whenever a situation becomes tense) for 1 hour.

4921. Forest of Legs: The forest of trees in this hex gradually turns into a forest of giant, stone legs. The legs are limestone and carved from the “living rock” as some people say. They once held aloft a create limestone cavern that was apparently pulled apart in ancient times. The woodland of stone legs is inhabited by giant blue eagles and silver foxes, and a few of the legs serve as the roosts of hermits, devout wushen who seek enlightenment through the denial of comforts like regular meals and bathing.

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Image from Wikipedia

No, all that Target 12 jazz doesn’t mean I’m not still writing the next hex crawl. Here are two more sample encounters …

4604. Cherik, Chan of the Sea: The pleasure barque of the suzerain of the Jade Sea, a sinuous dragon called Cherik, often visits this hex due to its exceptional beauty. The barque looks like a hemisphere of coral-colored metal that can achieve whatever depth its master desires. The hemisphere is 200 feet in diameter and fitted with a massive couch of gold. Two dozen aquatic gargoyles held with 80-ft long bronze chains surround the barque at all times as its protectors. A school of web-fingered mermaids with grey-green skin and billowing crimson hair entertain Cherik and feed him delicate morsels plucked from the sea. Cherik is usually accompanied by his ministers, a brass dragon called Noger and a copper dragon called Kipchech.

A secret door beneath the couch holds a small treasure of 9,685 gp in coins stamped with a spiral pattern and a suit of cursed haramaki-do -3.

| Cherik, Ancient Gold Dragon: HD 12 (96 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (3d8); Move 12 (Fly 24); Save 3; CL/XP 15/2900; Special: Fire (90-ft cone, 30-ft wide at base) or chlorine breath (cloud 50-ft long, 40-ft wide, 30-ft hide, save or die), spells as 8th level shugenja.

| Noger, Brass Dragon: HD 7 (42 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4), 1 bite (3d6); Move 12 (Fly 24); Save 9; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: Fear or sleep breath.

| Kipchech, Copper Dragon: HD 8 (48 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (Fly 24); Save 8; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Spit acid or breathe slowing gas.

4740. Colossal Skeletons: In a dry cave obscured by tall trees there are three colossal humanoid skeletons. In life, these creatures must have stood 40 ft tall. The bones appear to made of crystal clear glass. Touching a bone brings on a vision of doom that lasts only a moment. For the rest of the day, the person who had a vision must pass a saving throw each time they go into combat or suffer a -2 penalty to hit and make saving throws during that fight.

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Image from HERE

4505. Island of Dust: This island was once covered by lush grasses and macacque peach (kiwifruit) trees, but the destruction of the islands of the Nakdani sent a wave over the island that carried away the soil and sowed what remained with salt. The island is now inhabited by two factions – the men of the barren high plateau and the men of the shore, which is covered with scrub. The only fresh water comes from springs on the plateau, making the men of the plateau the island’s masters. They demand a heavy tribute in shellfish from the men of the shore, as well as taking their most beautiful daughters to be their wives.

The fresh spring on the plateau arose after the disaster. It followed a trio of pearl-skinned demons that looked like glistening children with black eyes that burrowed up from the underworld. The spring does provide plenty of sweet water, but those who drink from the spring itself lose their ability to sympathize with others, gradually becoming cold and humorless and thoroughly chaotic.

The men of the high plateau live in burrows, while the men of the shore dwell in little huts of driftwood.

4547. Qatu of the Nine Fingers: Qatu is an elder shugenja that lost a finger to the belly of a tiger whose skin now forms her cape. Qatu is a big-boned woman of Amazonian stature, with gray-green eyes and dull brown hair worn in thick braids.

Qatu’s tower is a pagoda of fulgarite bricks bound in copper bands. The roof is peaked, and electricity courses down the length of the building, making it very dangerous to approach without invitation or some manner of protection. A lightning elemental is bound in a globe of glass in the roof of the building, powering the pagoda’s defenses and other bizarre devices kept by the shugenja.

Qatu has a treasure of 1,430 sp, 1,520 gp, a rose quartz worth 200 gp, 22 black bear skins worth 5 gp each, a brass locket holding the skin of a human thumb (worth 5 gp with or without the skin), a brass toe ring worth 95 gp and, her greatest treasure, a strange salt-glazed jug shaped like a squat samurai. The jug holds a giddy wine in which resides the essence of Manai, a warrior who adventured with the shugenja in olden times before tangling with a lich and winding up in his strange, pitiable state.

4415. Cloud Giant: A lanky giantess has made her home here atop a cloud that covers the entire hex and appears each day at sunset. The sunbeams shining through the cloud crystalize and allow one to climb to the top of the cloud, where the giantess, Dalun, has her castle. Dalun has skin like a desert sunset during a sandstorm and eyes as blue as the sky. She dwells with her seven children in her castle, which is filled with her sculptures, many of which can be animated by her voice. She does not seek the company of others, and has a cruel streak when dealing with unwanted visitors.

4440. Master of Constellations: There is a tall tower of golden bricks that dominates the landscape here. The tower seems to be the sources of a thick, clammy mist that fills the hex. Folk walking through the mist feel as though they are being watched and sometimes touched.

The tower belongs to Tagab, a tall, studious shugenja who goes by the moniker “Master of Constellations”. Tagab is an astrologer and diviner who lures the distraught and desperate to his tower to read their fortunes. Those he finds pleasing or fascinating (he’s quite eccentric and often takes a strange fancy to people) he makes his prisoner, holding them in one of the many rooms of his tower.

Tagab has as a staff of (nearly) unseen servants that appear as floating star sapphires. His tower is guarded by the mist – actually a monster that congeals from the mist and appears as a great, blubbery shape with dozens of beady eyes. The creature is covered in wriggling, hair-like tendrils and a luminous gray slime.

| Mist Monster: HD 12 (46 hp); AC 9 [10]; Atk 1 bite (1d8); Move 18; Save 3; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: Surprised on roll of 1 on 1d8, immune to cold, slime (save vs. charm monster).

Two more entries on our whirlwind tour of eastern Mu-Pan …

4330. Abbey of the Bodhisattva Joodoj: An abbey dedicated to Joodoj, the bodhisattva of vegetation and fertility, has been constructed here at the head of a wooded valley cultivated by the fourteen nuns of the abbey and their abbess, Baatai. The valley’s has terraced fields growing the five sacred grains and rutabagas.

Baatai is the abbess of the monastery. She is a plump woman of sixty winters with high cheekbones and vibrant green eyes. Cynical and taciturn, she does not welcome strangers to the monastery, though she will provide hungry strangers with boxes of steamed rice and vegetables and skins of water and then send them on their way.

She and her priestesses wear green robes and wear their hair in thick braids that they pile atop their heads like coiled snakes.

| Baatai, Wushen Lvl 9: HP 38; AC 9 [10]; Save 6; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Spells (5th), turn undead, special move, special move, elemental spirits. Equipment, prayer beads.

4348. Weasel Shrine: In a gaudy shrine of brass and pine painted bright red there lives a giant weasel. The weasel commands a flight of twenty flying monkeys to forces travelers to visit his shrine and pay a tribute of foodstuffs and gold. The weasel is actually a disguised dragon, Yardoc, a huge, young wyrm that looks like a 20 ft long, one ton serpentine toad colored a brilliant scarlet. A massive boulder located about 90 yards north of the shrine in a hollow hides the dragon’s treasure in a pit. It consists of 290 pp, 4,530 gp, 440 sp and a coat of fox skins worth 100 gp that makes on immune to illusions.

| Yardoc: HD 11 (11 hp); AC -2 [21]; Atk 2 claws (1d4), bite (1d6) and tail whip (1d6); Move 10 (F10); Save 4; CL/XP 15/2900; Special: Breathes a giant wad of goo that hardens on the skin and reduces movement by 3 and AC by 1 with each hit, the goo is dissolved by alcohol, surrounded by a thick fog (as fog cloud) that forces those who breath it to save vs. disease.

| Flying Monkey: HD 2+1; AC 6 [13]; Atk 2 claws (1d3) and bite (1d4); Move 9 (F18); Save 16; CL/XP 3/60; Special: If both claw attacks, the monkey can grasp and lift the person, rising 10 feet in altitude per round.

4219. Dragon’s Gorge: Dragon’s Gorge is deep and wide, with walls of granite covered with knotty pines that grow on precarious ledges, some at odd angles. A small stream now flows through the gorge, spilling into an area of geysers and hot springs that themselves feed into a long, deep lake. The lake is inhabited by a gold dragon called Mongiyn, an ancient wyrm that enjoys the medicinal qualities of the lake.

Caves in the sides of the gorge are home to a tribe of 60 lizard men and their 70 mates, 20 hatchlings and 40 eggs. The lizardmen look like geckos and are incredibly adept climbers. Their cave homes are shallow and small, consisting mostly of a fire pit and nest. The lizardmen arm themselves with throwing clubs and stone knives. They serve the dragon loyally as guardians of the valley. The chief, a being called Karn, acts a warrior and shaman, having learned magic spells from Mongiyn. He carries a large wicker shield and staff and decorates himself with hawk feathers.

4242. Didi Lair: The wooded hills here are resplendent with waterfalls and towering pines. One of these small waterfalls hides the entrance to a wondrous community of strange subterranean dwellers. Behind the waterfall there is a cavern with a large, green pool. The pool flows into a subterranean system of canals and burrows inhabited by many houses of didi, an underground race skilled in the medicinal arts. In their burrows, they keep large archives of medical knowledge, dried and fresh herbs and other powders and extracts useful in the medical arts. The quest of every didi is the elixir of life.

A didi is a small humanoid that looks like a skeleton with pale skin stretched over the bones. Their skin is covered with velvety, platinum blond hair. Didi have over-large heads with long, pointed ears. Despite their hideousness, they are a kind people, assuming you can win their trust.

| Didi: HD 1d4; AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 dagger (1d4); Move 9 (S12); Save 18; CL/XP 1/15; Special: Magic resistance (30%), spells (confusion, continual flame, dimension door, mirror image, ventriloquism, protection from evil 10-ft radius).

4109. Three Nymphs: A patch of hot springs bubbles from the ground here, coating the ground in translucent, poisonous salts and causing nearby vegetation to twist and wither. The hot springs are home to three nymphs, Yemun, Chuka and Manai, who have serpentine tongues and a taste for plum wine.

4147. Azer Lair: Through a stone arch in the side of a mountain one can enter the blazing hot lair of a band of seven azer, black-skinned and bulbous-nosed and occupied in the manufacture of weapons for Lei Gong, the Duke of Thunder. Beyond the arch one enters a cavern of glassy basalt, empty and dry, though there is a sheen of moisture at the back of the cavern where a natural slide grants access to lower caverns. The slide spirals down into the earth about 300 feet and presents a significant obstacle to climbing back up, as it is as smooth as glass.

At the bottom of the slide there is a collection of caverns, all starting out as great bubbles of poisonous gas in a massive flow of lava, and now inhabited by the azer. The largest has a deep pit, maybe miles deep, in which bubbles magma that is used by the azer for their fire. Their anvils surround the magma pit. A few feet away there is a trough dug into the stone in which water flows from another cavern, a cavern of steam blocked by an iron gate traced with silver glyphs and sealed with a complex lock. Steam rises into this chamber from below and condenses to form the stream that feeds the azers’ trough. A mihstu inhabits this cavern, and it is the mihstu that the magic gate is designed to thwart.

Other caverns contain the living quarters of the azer, decorated with basalt couches and bronze sculptures that are geometric and abstract, and storage chambers containing their tools, their iron, bronze and adamant ignots and armories with their armor and weapons. The living quarters of the seven brothers holds a gilded cage inhabited by a nightingale, a polymorphed sylph that displeased the Duke of Thunder and now wiles away in the acrid, choking air of the azers’ lair until Lei Gong has decided she has suffered enough.

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Image of azer by Sam Wood and owned by Wizards of the Coast.