Nod

The Glooms – Ghoul Town

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110.100 Ghala-ghilan: Ghala-ghilan is the gruesome city-state of the ghouls and ghasts and their hideous lords. The city houses 5,000 ghouls, 1,500 ghasts and their slaves/cattle, which number 1d10 x 1,000 humanoids at any given moment. Ghala-ghilan has sandstone walls topped by a hundred onion domes cast in bronze and painted with black enamel. In each tower there is a squad of ghouls armed with slings and crude axes. The streets of Ghala-ghilan are wide and covered with a damp, slimy film. The buildings are sandstone towers rising 30 to 50 feet in height, with flat roofs topped by memorial statues stolen from cemeteries all over the world. Amidst these towers there are long palaces with colonnades.

The ghouls need not eat often, so when they do slaughter their herds of humanoid slaves, they hold grandiose feasts with strangely sedate and dainty entertainments.

112.99 Celestial Army: An army of luminous aasimar has gathered here for an assault on Ghala-ghilan, the city of ghouls [110.100], for the ghouls have stolen something precious to the powers of Law, the legendary Pistis Sophia. The paladin Eaduvenius leads the bright host, who are now camped in white pavilions (regrettably sullied by their long trek through the Underworld) flying white pennons emblazoned with various symbols holy to the forces of Law. The army numbers 25 companies of heavy infantry and 50 companies of light infantry and archers. Almost all of them are drawn from the Farukh, the descendants of the Heavenly Host that once descended to Nod to destroy the wicked city of Irem and stayed to long. The Farukh dwell in the hills outside of the city-state of Guelph. In addition to the warrior, the army has about 300 bearers and handlers to look after the giant lizards used as pack animals, and ten packs of blink dogs.

117.64 Hot Cave: There is a deep, dank, damp cave here that is heated by a thermal vent and mineral spring. The interior of the cave and much of the exterior is covered by a massive yellow musk creeper. The cave is always filled with 3d6 yellow musk zombies and encounters with 2d4 zombies occur in this hex on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6 per day.

120.63 Exploding Pool: A simple pool in this hex is bordered by white stones that glow lightly. Should a person try to drink from it, the fountain explodes into a water spout, throwing them 1d10 x 10 feet into the air. Should one attempt to ride this spout to the top (requires a dexterity check on 2d6+12) find they can access a chamber carved into the ceiling that contains a great trove of treasure guarded by an ancient water elemental.

121.66 Tormented Mephits: Ten fire mephitis have been chained to the ground here near a frosty cave. The cave is inhabited by three frost giant brothers, Frimli, Giri and Hundi and their pet small white dragon, Snurl. The giants torment the mephitis from time to time, carrying small torches near them and then snapping them away.

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Image from Golden Age Comic Book Stories; by Virgil Finlay

The Glooms – A Sphinx Says What?

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Another quickie preview. Soon, I’ll be previewing some art for Blood & Treasure!

92.99 Criosphinx: A talkative, obnoxious criosphinx has set up shop here on a ledge about 500 feet above the ground. The ledge leads back into a natural amphitheater and several shallow mines dug ages ago by kobolds searching for gold. They finally quit when one group of miners struck an underground river, which flooded the mine and formed a waterfall for years. Eventually, the river shifted and the ledge and mines are now dry and worn very smooth.

99.95 Hidden Ropers: The landscape here contains an old stone road that descends into a deep canyon. The walls of the canyon are streaked with deposits of gold and marred by many ledges and shallow caves that spout clear, fresh springs. The springs empty into rifts in the canyon floor, keeping it from filling with water. The ledges in one mile-long stretch are occupied by several ropers that are hidden beneath a hallucinatory terrain effect created by a duergar magic-user who wants to keep the gold safe until he is ready to clear the canyon of ropers.

102.96 Stone Golem Inn: A band of enterprising svirfneblin have established a rollicking good inn here. The inn is set about 40 feet above the ground in an abandoned cliff dwelling that looks to have once belonged to mantari.

Standing beneath the inn there is a stone golem that has the appearance of a great ape with pearly eyes and upward jutting fangs. The gnomes have nicknamed it “Ook”, and are apparently capable of commanding it, perhaps by dint of their now owning the cliff dwelling. The stone golem is the only means of accessing the inn other than climbing the walls or flying in, and the gnomes only grant access to folk who appear to be no danger and who are willing to dance a lively jig for the entertainment of themselves and their customers.

The svirfneblin number four ex-adventurers and their significant others and children; there are twelve in all. They serve a passable mushroom brew using fresh water that falls down the back of the inn (a subterranean waterfall) and serve thick mushroom steaks and anything else they can get their hands on.
The inn has ten small rooms (15 gp a night), or folks can stay in the common room for 3 gp a night.

107.102 Cracking Ground: The ground here cracks and juts up at random intervals, presenting a terrible hazard to travelers (1 in 6 chance per hour of being struck for 8d6 points of damage). Amidst this chaos, there rests the magnificent Throne of Glooms, a simple throne carved from basalt (and quite rough) and set with three dozen onyx (1d6 x 100 gp each). Each of these stones holds an ethereal shade, who can emerge if a living person sits in the throne. The person is stuck fast to the throne while it drains away their charisma (1 point per round). They can only escape the throne with an open doors check, though the shades do their best to prevent this.

As a person loses their charisma, the color gradually drains away from their skin, eyes and hair. When their charisma is drained to 0, the person transforms into a terrible creature called a gloom, the genius loci of the Glooms, so to speak. At this, the terrible eruptions of the hex end and the ground becomes perfectly smooth and placid.

The newly created gloom will expect its former comrades to become its avid worshippers and help it to facilitate the re-conquest of its domain.

Hell South – Preview 5

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59.109 Ancient Lake: There is an ancient lake here, the shores of which are thick with tall mushrooms, about ten to twenty feet tall. The mud in the lake bottom is infused with spores that animate corpses as water-logged zombies. A notac-ichat necromancer called Otatach has set up shop on a secluded harbor in a half-ruined tower. He currently has a dozen of these zombies serving him, and is looking for more – a few are already buried in the muck, but new bodies can be added if their current owners die.

70.109 Blue Flame: This hex is a tableland of buttes and wide, empty canyons. The walls of the buttes are a dark gray streaked with white, and there are numerous caves. In the northern portion of the tableland, the ground drops suddenly to form a basin filled with a thin layer of salty water. Amidst this water there is a beacon tower. The tower is 50 feet tall and made of the same gray stone as the buttes. The exterior is studded with spikes and there is a powerful blue flame exploding out of the top of the tower. The flame rises about 20 feet taller than the tower. A stone door descends into the ground when a secret panel near the door is pressed to allow entry.

Inside the tower, which is 15 feet in diameter, there is a spiral stair leading to the top of the tower. The stairs are about four feet wide. In the center of the tower there are glass walls that go from bottom to top. Inside the glass walls one can see the blue fire as it erupts from the ground. At the top of the tower one is exposed directly to the flame, which gives off very little heat.

The flame is actually an ancient red dragon that defied the gods and was turned into this flame as punishment. If one can communicate telepathically they can communicate with the dragon, Vornthek, who will tell its sad tale (all lies, of course) to an adventurer in hope of being changed back, though undoing a deific punishment is no simple matter.
Some folk of the Gloom have been known to spread a tale of the great power that can be acquired by jumping through the flames (not easy, of course, as it is a seven foot jump and a fifty foot drop if one fails). Those who pass through the flames take on draconic powers.

The power comes with a curse, of course. A day after one takes on the draconic aspect, they become a bit smaller and a bit more draconic. After two days, their hands become claws, their nose extends into a snout, etc. By the fourth day the person is noticeably smaller and they have sprouted wings and begun to think like a dragon. This continues until, on the seventh day, they become a little, blue pseudo-dragon.

Draconic Powers: The person who steps through the flame gains the ability to breathe a 30-foot cone of fire for 6d6 points of dragon once per day. In addition, they are immune to fire and their AC improved by four points.

79.106 Well of Evil: A rocky hill here is topped by a shell keep with 30-foot high walls that are 15 feet thick. The walls contain several chambers in which dwell the Platinum Order of dwarf clerics and their servants, three dozen dwarf berserkers who cover their unclothed bodies in violet tattoos and wield two-handed axes.

The berserkers and clerics are the official guardians of an ancient iron well in which are bound dozens of ancient (far more ancient than the devils), evil spirits. The dwarf clerics are bound by several tattoos. They cannot speak or cut their hair, must never draw blood. If they break these taboos, the evil spirits are released from the well as a nightcrawler, a shadowy worm of immense proportions.

Hell South – Preview 4

/ jstater

Another glimpse at the Underworld …

24.94 Old Buckle: The ground here is quite uneven, with deep (1d4 x 100 feet) canyons and narrow ridges. On the edge of one such ridge an adventurer might spot a buckle and the remains of a leather belt hung on a small spike of stone attached to the ridge. An adventurer tried to use the belt as a rope to swing themselves down to a ledge located about 6 feet below the edge of the ridge. On this ledge there is a small idol of Lilith made of gold with inlaid ruby lips and amethyst eyes (worth 500 gp, weighs 100 lb). Touching the idol causes one to lose their balance. Kissing the idol teleports them into the stronghold of Lilith in Erebus, the second circle of Hell.

39.107 Quarry Men: A tribe of 200 rock men have an extensive quarry here, pulling granite from the walls of the cavern and selling it throughout the Glooms. Despite their stodgy and staid ways and dull way of speaking, the rock men are quite intelligent and excellent bargainers. The rock men dwell in small caves dug into the sides of their ever-expanding quarry. The best granite is retained and carved into new rock men. The rock men have a treasure of 2,130 sp, 380 ep, 2,520 gp, a brass icon of Vulcanus (worth 30 gp), two fine rhodochrosites worth 500 gp each and 20 barrels of mineral spirits (worth 6 gp each).

51.109 Notac-ichat: A clan of 40 notac-ichat and their 30 females and 35 young dwell here in a citadel of gray bricks, tiny windows and flat, crenelated roofs. The notac-ichat own a tapestry in which is impressed not only the image, but the intelligence of the archmage Vaunus the Vain. The tapestry advises their chief, Yar-Iskr, a rambling old male with purple chitin and a wandering mind. In truth, the archmage controls him and rules his people, using them to collect rare ingredients for a spell to make a simulacrum body that his mind can inhabit until something more permanent comes along. They currently lack an ounce of halfling blood and the wisdom teeth of a dwarf.

Image from Wikipedia

The Glooms – Dungeons and Mines

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7.91 Adalark’s Tomb: A tall cenotaph of black marble stands 20 feet tall here. On the top there is a sculpture of a giant serpent, mouth open and fangs bared.

The serpent is the entrance to a small tomb complex located about forty feet below the ground. One cannot fit in the serpent’s mouth, of course, but by reaching deep into its mouth (unfortunately impossible for halflings or gnomes) and touching a stone lodged therein, a person is teleported beneath the ground.

[A] The entry chamber into the tomb is a square room with black marble walls and a 30 foot high ceiling. Against one wall there is a copper plaque bearing the following inscription: “Adalark | Called Great | Was Great | He cannot blame lesser thieves for following in his steps.”

There is a terracotta statue here of a weeping woman looking at the plaque, on hand reaching toward it. Approaching any of the walls in the room causes a sub-section (10’ wide by 10’ tall) of that wall to move backward – apparently one cannot step closer than five feet toward a wall. The walls extend back ten feet, at which point a metal portcullis descends from the ceiling, locking them in. The walls then slowly begin to crawl back to their original position to crush the intruder. The section of the wall with the plaque does the same as the others.

If all four walls are forced back at the same time, the wall with the plaque disappears completely and reveals a second chamber, and the other three traps do not spring.

[B] The trapped chamber opens here onto a balcony overlooking a square room about 10 feet below. In the room below there is gathered the treasure of Adalark the master thief, which consists of three gold ingots (3 lb each), a brass icon of a winged woman (worth 1,000 gp), a cape of deep red velvet (100 gp), six silver shields (250 gp each), thirty pairs of chartreuse gloves (they were Adalark’s trademark), a suit of halfling-sized platemail and 8,000 gp. The interior of the platemail is coated with platinum (2,000 gp worth).

Extending from the balcony there is a wall of force that does not allow one access to the treasures below. The treasure chamber is actually an optical trick called “Pepper’s Ghost”. The treasure is actually located in a room beneath the balcony. A large pane of glass slanted across the open area reflects the treasure, which is illuminated from below using a continual light spell. The most likely way of dropping into the treasure chamber is to use dispel magic to remove the wall of force. Any who then drop into the chamber without being very careful may drop through the glass into a pool of acid below (inflicts 3d6 points of damage from the fall and 1d6 points of damage each round from the acid).

14.87 Boring Wreck: A large earth borer made of steel with brass highlights has been abandoned here by the Master’s synthoids after the drill bit broke. The Master was already on to other projects and never reclaimed it. Eight were-weasels have now adopted it as a lair, and keep 60 cp, 170 gp, fifteen wolf skins (worth 8 gp each) and a small pearl worth 3 gp hidden inside.

20.92 Iromir Mine: Iromir is a natural alloy of iron and mithral. A very deep mine here, run by kobolds (who took it from a clan of svirfneblin), produced a good amount of the material, which the drow favor for their weapons and armor when they cannot find pure mithral. The shipments recently stopped. When a band of orog from the village in [32.98] appeared to investigate, they discovered the mine (it has seven levels) crawling with kobold zombies. There are now fifty orogs camped outside the mine and making some shallow forays into the place.

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Image is copyright Wizards of the Coast.

Hell South – Preview 2

/ jstater

“Hell South” sounds weird. Anywho …

4.68 Kobolds in Distress: A band of 15 kobolds have been trapped on a ledge about 30 feet above the ground. They are armed with javelins and clubs, and especially worried about the cave located about 10 feet above their ledge, where a lone howler dwells. Below the ledge there are four chaos beasts that escaped the Master.

HOWLER: HD 6; AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 bite (2d8) and 1d4 quills (1d6); Move 18; Save 11; CL/XP 8/800; Special: Quills (save or quill breaks in flesh, imposing -1 penalty to d20 rolls, removing deals 1d6 damage), howl (those who hear for one hour must save or become confused (per spell).

CHAOS BEAST: HD 8; AC 3 [16]; Atk 2 claws (1d4); Move 9; Save 8; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Magic resistance (20%), corporeal instability (save or become amorphous mass and lose one point of wisdom per round; at 0 wisdom the victim turns into a chaos beast).

5.69 Goons: A tribe of 370 goons and their 60 females and 40 children dwell here in an ornate, garish palace of stone set with ornamental stones. The carvings depict cavorting demons, hunting beasts and scenes of terrible melancholy. The palace contains barracks and living chambers, fungal gardens, cruel prisons and kennels for the goons’ 30 champion hunting dogs. The palace is laid out in rings separated by fungal gardens crawling with shriekers who double as guard animals.

The goons are ruled by Vodic, a brutal priest of Cali, the demon queen of assassins. Vodic dwells at the center of the palace in a shrine of Cali. The ring just beyond the shrine is inhabited by 30 louts. The shrine contains a bronze idol of Cali and three iron chests hanging from thick, iron chains attached to the ceiling. The idol holds aloft in one hand a compass carved from a single large sapphire (worth 4,000 gp). The compass has a permanent find the path effect cast on it, activated by holding upright on one’s palm and blowing on it.

GOON: HD 1+1; AC 4 [15]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8+1); Move 12; Save 17 (12 vs. hold spells); CL/XP 4/120; Special: Crown (if knocked from his head, he either slinks away in embarrassment or flies into a rage, gaining +2 bonus to hit and damage until reduced to -5 hit points), magic immunity (immune to mind-affecting spells).

6.102 Dusty Halls: There is a small castle here, abandoned ages ago while under siege by the wizard Porin Bloody Bones. Porin devised a wondrous spell that sealed the castle – a powerful variation on the venerable hold portal enchantment. In time, the garrison succumbed to hunger and cannibalism and eventually wiped themselves out. Unfortunately, the wizard didn’t last long enough to enjoy his victory, having succumbed to the venom of a serpent that crawled into his tent one night. The castle has been sealed ever since, and is now inhabited by twenty ravenous zombies. Within these dusty hallways one might discover the great hall with its magnificent opal-studded throne (ten opals worth 250 gp each).

The castle’s treasure is hidden in a room within a room. The walls of the outer room are studded with spikes. When the inner door is tampered with, it opens with a powerful gust of wind. Anyone in front of the door must pass a saving throw or be flung back on the spikes for 1d6 points of damage. If the damage rolled is “6”, the spiked walls of the circular chamber begin to spin, first at a rate of 10 feet per round. The speed increases by 10 feet per round until it reaches a maximum speed of 90 feet per round. Once the speed reaches 30 feet per round, anyone still on the spikes begins to suffer 1d6 points of damage per round.

Within the treasure chamber there are 5,650 sp, 2,310 ep, 1,060 gp, a tiny pair of gold dice (30 gp), a small book of dirty kobold limericks with a gray-brown cover (by reading the first word of each page you discover a wish spell that works one time) and a +1 broadsword.

CANNIBAL ZOMBIE: HD 4; AC 8 [11]; Atk 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d6); Move 9; Save 13; CL/XP 4/120; Special: Immune to sleep and charm.

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Image from WIKIPEDIA

The Glooms – Mechanical Men, Drow and Worm Food

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After taking two days off from writing about Hell (well, a week actually – it was two days between finishing NOD 11 and starting NOD 12), here is the first peek at the southern portion of the Glooms.

2.58 Mechanical Misfits: A little tribe of mechanical men, refugees from the experiments of the Master [4.105], dwell in a ruined kobold fortress. The fortress is carved into the wall and consists of a guarded, fortified entry chamber (locked portcullis, the ledge in front of it is trapped to collapse, sending people 50 feet to the cavern floor). Beyond the entry chamber there are about twenty chambers, mostly small, inhabited by the mechanical men. The mechanical men number 40 individuals built of scrap. Most are about 3 to 4 feet in height. They are sneaky little devils, scavenging far and wide for replacement parts and metal that they can melt down and forge into new parts. They have a working forge and a fine crucible and are open to trade, but find it difficult to resist the temptation presented by adventurers toting metal.

2.106 Troupe: A troupe consisting of five drow overseers and their master, Qodvigo, a drow warrior-mage, and thirteen enslaved ophidian dancing girls. The troupe is gradually picking their way through the ooze-filled tunnel using picturesque wagons painted with phosphorescent paint (skeletons, owls, the words “Master Q’s Traveling Show”) and supported on four spindly legs, like those of an elephant only longer and thinner.

There are three wagons in all, each one carrying three or four ophidians huddled around a coal-burning stove, a driver and a guard. The ophidians wear torqs that have a permanent charm monster effect cast on them and tied to Qodvigo. Qodvigo’s wagon is the largest and contains a separate, raised chamber (about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide) containing his ritual objects and spellbook.

3.66 Worm Food: A tunnel in the wall here features a series of stairs downward leading to a branch of three tunnels. In the nexus there is a brass idol of Tricrucia, the petty goddess of forks in underground tunnels. The three-faced, three-legged, three-armed idol has all three arms pointing down towards the three different passages. One of the passages has an “X” carved above the cave entrance, the second a short series of three white marble steps down and the third the smell of rotting vegetation. The third tunnel is the safe one, the other two containing great lantern worms. At the end of the stinky tunnel there is a small shrine to Tricrucia containing sacred coins (5,100 sp, 710 ep, 5,400 gp) in bronze pots. If any of these are stolen, the thieves suffer a divine curse that keeps them from ever knowing their way under-ground, at least until the treasures are restored.

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Image of Tricrucia by Chris Huth from Petty Gods – can’t wait for that release!

Map of Hell Hex Crawl – Current Incarnation

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Quick and easy post today – the Hell map in its most current incarnation. Things will be added as I write the rest of the hex crawl. The red river near the middle is Phlegethon. The little yellow squares indicate the location of something Hellish. The letters indicate the different tunnels and vaults, such as …

[A] Hall of Surt: This tunnel is roughly 10 miles wide and 300 feet tall, with roughly rectangular walls carved throughout with the images of solemn fire giants. The air here is warm and dry, and the tunnel has no resources, including flora, fauna and water, to be spoken of. The floor is covered in massive stalactites and the ceiling in stalagmites, some of them so massive as to connect to form pillars 30 to 50 feet in diameter. This forest-like environment makes travel slower than normal (one hex every two days) and increases the chance of wandering monsters to 2 in 6 per day.

 

I’ll have a more interesting post tomorrow – converting a famous Halloween family into something playable for Swords and Wizardry. Here’s a hint – they’re both creepy and kooky.

Hell Preview 11 – Earth, Wind and Water?

/ jstater

Another preview – maybe the last before the release of NOD 11. I’m going to try to finish the first Hell hex crawl installment this weekend and publish sometime next week. I think the schedule will be …

NOD 11 – Ante-Hell, Circle 1 and Circle 2 – North half

NOD 12 – Ante-Hell, Circle 1 and Circle 2 – South half

NOD 13 – Circles 2-5

NOD 14 – Circle 6 (City of Dis)

NOD 15 – Circles 7-9

I think it’s safe to say that by NOD 15, I’ll be sick and tired of writing about Hell.

In the meantime – here’s the preview material …

15.39 Aella: This windy hex holds the stronghold of Aella, titaness of whirlwinds, daughter of Khaos. Aella’s barony is always windy, with the direction of the wind shifting substantially from moment to moment and whirlwinds forming each hour on a roll of 1 on 1d4 (treat as an air elemental’s whirlwind power).

In the midst of these winds there is a great dome of tarnished gold. The dome is pierced by a grand gatehouse of white marble with towers 60 feet tall and inner and outer portcullises. The gatehouse and dome are defended by 15 companies of sinister bronze men, who pour molten bronze upon people from murder holes in the gatehouse (6d6 damage, save for half) and 5 squadrons of harpies, who pepper invaders with arrows and sing their terrible songs.

Aella is lithe and graceful, but her green eyes have a malevolent cast and her red hair is wild and unkempt. Her skin is the color of a crimson sunset and her frame is encased in mithral platemail. She carries a massive glaive. Her treasure includes 3,920 gp, 740 pp and a silver idol in a copper basin (worth 14,000 gp) that depicts her father.

18.28 Mount Kippat: Kippat is a lonely mountain that towers over the surrounding savannah. Plumes of white and yellow smoke pour out of crevices near the base (climbers must save vs. poison or fall unconscious and fall for 6d6 points of damage). The cracks and crevices of the mountain are inhabited by a tribe (really multiple families) of 400 goblins. The crevices are anywhere from 10 to 30 feet deep, and the bottoms have been hollowed out by the goblins, who sought both a place to live and the green garnets that abound here. Over time, the goblins tunneled deep into the mountain, discovering that the deeper one went, the larger the garnets became until they finally coalesced into a single garnet about 20 feet in diameter at the very center of the mountain. A bizarre creature appears to exist in the heart of the garnet. The garnet’s great size and faceted nature makes it difficult to discern just what it hides, but it is clearly evil and the garnets of its mountain seem to carry with them a taint to this mother garnet.

66.9 Water Bridge: A powerful gout of water emerges from the ground here and arcs into the distance, well past the horizon. One can step into the rushing water and, if they can hold their breath for 10 rounds or fight the current enough to keep their head out of water (requires an open doors roll each round) they are delivered across the hex, suffering only 3d6 points of damage for the journey.

Unfortunately, the plume of water plunges back into the ground at the end of its journey, depositing the adventurer in a series of partially submerged limestone caverns crawling with giant centipedes, green slimes and other monstrosities. It is impossible to “swim” back up the flowing water and the limestone caves seem to climb ever downward, with waterfalls and submerged tunnels all the way. At the bottom of the caves there is a sickly titan chained to the cavern walls. The titan looks pale, its eyes rheumy and its lips lank and parched despite the moisture of the caverns.

The titan, Felix, is the son of Anatole, goddess of the sunrise and Sors, the god of luck. He was locked away, hidden from the Sun, as a means of tormenting his mother. His chains are semi-ethereal and pass through his wrists and ankles. They keep him weak and prevent him from using his magical powers. If freed, he would be a target for every demon and devil in Hell, but he would be a powerful ally for a time and a great help in escaping Hell.

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Yeah, the titans were built with the help of THIS.