Showing posts with label 1d6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1d6. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Index: Six Things

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Saturday, July 5, 2014

Six Things That Walk That Ought To Crawl...


Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl...
The Festival
H. P. Lovecraft

Everyone knows that those who walk into one of the Black Zones don't always come back out again. Many of these places are not only cordoned-off, they often are surrounded by mounds of blackened and blasted bones where gibbering idiots squat who lack the will or the ability to go any farther and who can never really go back either. They are like stunted, botched larval forms of something that will never be...

Those that do return from these strange places are often changed in horrific ways. Some have suffered terrible injuries or are strangely debilitated, others come back prematurely aged or grotesquely disfigured, still others are never quite themselves ever again. Sanity is a fluid, ephemeral quality that tends to evaporate all too readily in these spaces, and one's identity can be damaged, modified, even replaced by the things encountered on the shattered fringes of life and death. But there are other things that come out from the Black Zones...things like these...


  1. It lopes from out of the flickering shadows. Wrapped in soiled and tattered rags...then you realize it isn't alone...
    Raggedy Things (2d4/4d6) [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 6[13], HD 3, #AT 2, DG 1d4/1d4, SV F2, ML 12 (mindless), Special: Has a 50% chance to resist Charm or Sleep spells. All slashing/piercing damage is reduced by 50%, blunt weapons do normal damage, all magical weapons actually heal it by 1 hit point. Fire and spells do double normal damage, but also affect a 10' radius around the Raggedy Thing. These things tend to mob one victim at a time.] It's just a bunch of rags...
  2. Click. Clack. Scritch. Something wicked, possibly hoofed, is coming this way...what is that? Furniture?!?
    Vicious Credenza (1) [AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 4[15], HD 4, #AT 1, DG 3d6, SV F4, ML 12 (Vicious), Special: It slams its victims into the ground and then attempts to crush them into a bloody pulp. It can attack up to three opponents simultaneously, if they are grouped close together. Once it knocks an opponent down it will settle on top of them, gaining a +4 bonus to hit for double damage if it is allowed to remain in place. It requires a combined STR of 26 to overturn the thing, but if it is overturned, it is immobilized for 1d4 hours.] Note: A Vicious Credenza usually contains a mix of trash and loot similar to a typical chest or trunk.
  3. You hear glass breaking. There it is again. And again. It's getting closer...
    Shatterglass Swarm (1) [AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 6[13], HD 3 to 7, #AT 1, DG 1d6, SV F3 to 7, ML 12 (Implacable), Special: Unaffected by mind influencing effects like Charm, Sleep or visual illusions, sees invisible, light-based attacks do half-damage and have a 30% chance to reflect back at the attacker.] It is a serpentine mass of broken glass shards from one or more mirrors and windows. It slithers towards you leaving a trail of fine grit and needle-sharp bits of glass behind it. The thing tries to bite chunks out of its victims, but lacking any sort of internal digestive system, it leaves the bloody pieces of flesh lying all over the place...
  4. Six Skulls. They appear to be fused together somehow. Moving towards you. As they pass out of the shadows you can see that the skulls are lodged within some sort of translucent slime...
    Skull-bearing Clear-Slime (1d4) [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 48[11], HD 6, #AT 1d6*, DG 1d4 per bite, SV F5, ML 12 (Insane), Special: Immune to acid, Charm or Sleep spells. Clerics can Turn/Destroy them as 9HD creatures. The Clear-Slime causes anything affected by it to suffer 2d4 damage per round when exposed to sunlight, requiring a Cure Disease/Remove Curse to eliminate the effect. *The Skulls float freely within the Clear-Slime, but are one unit and can only bring one or two mouths to bear on any one opponent, unless it can somehow squeeze in-between multiple targets. Each attack after the first one incurs a cumulative -1 penalty To Hit, so the sixth skull rarely succeeds, which is a source of some frustration to it...]
  5. Skinless and shameless she strides from out of the Black Zone with a writhing spinal-column staff in her hands, her eyes replaced with bitter iron orbs...and her legs are swirling masses of chittering, snapping undead insect husks...
    Sheedra Miskaan (1) [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7[12], HD 5, #AT 1, DG 1d6 or by spell, SV MU5, ML 10, Special: Sheedra regenerates 1 hit point per every 6 points of non-magical damage inflicted on her. She casts the following spells once per day: Animate Necrotic Tissue, Appreciation of True Weirdness, Assault of Chaos, Black Touch, Breathless and Unexplainable Dread, Cerebral Conception, Ectoplasmic Wall, Literary Incandescence, Malign Thought Emanation, Umbral Maiming, and Vistas of Unplumbed Space. She can be Turned/Destroyed as a 10HD creature.] Sheedra has come far for a once disgraced mercenary with no aptitude for sorcery. Her pact with certain Insectile Horrors she encountered within the Black Zone has changed everything...
  6. The soft sounds of someone crying echo from within the darkness. At first you might be inclined to ignore the sounds. You've probably heard plenty of not-so-clever things try to lure the unwary into the shadows with such a ploy. But there's something different about this...
    Weeping Shadow (1d4) [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 7[12], HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d4 (Special), SV F1, ML 4, Special: A very minor shadow, it is not fully undead, nor is it truly alive either; it is stuck in-between. This thing has a 30% chance to resist Charm or Sleep spells. It drains 1 point of STR on any attack roll of 18 or better To Hit, the drain persists for 1d4 hours. Anyone reduced to zero STR in this manner is left in a coma for 3d6 weeks during which time magical healing has no effect on them, after which they recover normally, but suffer a permanent loss of 1 STR point and have a permanent -1 penalty on all Saves against undead/necromantic effects.] It is elusive, seeking to run away and will only attack if cornered...
Not only is this something of an Invasive Species post, it plays off of a quote used by Moebius Adventures in kicking off last month's RPG Blog Carnival as well...so it's a sort of Lovecraftian two-fer...
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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Six Oval Portraits

The portrait, I have already said, was that of a young girl. It was a mere head and shoulders, done in what is technically termed a vignette manner; much in the style of the favorite heads of Sully. The arms, the bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair melted imperceptibly into the vague yet deep shadow which formed the back-ground of the whole. The frame was oval, richly gilded and filigreed in Moresque. As a thing of art nothing could be more admirable than the painting itself. But it could have been neither the execution of the work, nor the immortal beauty of the countenance, which had so suddenly and so vehemently moved me. Least of all, could it have been that my fancy, shaken from its half slumber, had mistaken the head for that of a living person...
 The Oval Portrait,
by Edgar Allen Poe

Neither living nor undead things, there are cursed objects, haunted relics and malevolent fixtures that retain some partial impression of a particular spirit, or that bind the tattered vestiges of some unfortunate geist, or that contain the fragile last ectoplasmic remains of some venerated or reviled ancestor. Most such things are destroyed as a matter of course, especially since the passing of the hygiene laws under the Pruztians. But there are those who collect such sordid treasures. There is money to be made. Especially if one is not afraid to deal with those from Nagrothea who have a deep and abiding desire to possess such items.


  1. Ruthilda Krozenrante. A bitter matron in lace-mail glares out from her portrait with a look of utter contempt that took her more than four decades and three failed marriages to perfect...
    Everyone within line-of-sight of this grizzled old harridan's portrait must Save at +2 or suffer a penalty of -2 to Initiative and -2 to Saves versus mind-influencing/morale damaging effects for the next 1d4 hours due to their being distracted by a nagging sense of self doubt. Victims are also prone to taking double damage from Gloomshadows, Gloomswallows and related things that prey upon pointless angst, personal insecurities, lingering doubts and inner turmoil.
  2. Amfeldtrig Dushmallian. Once a gloriously beautiful trapeze-artist in a Worlds Renowned travelling circus that toured the Adjacent Worlds by airship, her career was cut tragically short when she was crippled in a lover's quarrel once it was revealed that she was not an albino hermaphroditic Tsalalian princess after all...but was in fact a legless dwarf in a hoopskirt golem-chassis. This portrait was commissioned by her loving children.
    The frame is heavier than expected and the enamel on it is scratched-up, making it look tacky and cheap. A closer look will show that the frame is actually worth a considerable sum since one of the smarter children melted-down all the ugliest of their mother's medals, trinkets and curios and fashioned the frame from all that gold in order to keep it safe for some rainy day. The family was rounded-up as suspected agitators during the First Pruztian Occupation and the oval portrait was reluctantly left behind by the ones that escaped.
  3. Count Zaleskaniv. The hereditary ruler of an obscure principality in the S-K region of Outer Ruritalia, this blue-blooded Noble is notorious for sealing his enemies within cruel ceramic pots he acquired from his dealings with the Comprachicos. He was eventually deposed and died in exile in Wermspittle after serving out a fifty year sentence in the Tower.
    All images of this vile tyrant have been destroyed by the decree of his successors, making this last remaining oval portrait quite a collector's item...or a possible source of danger from any of the aging and mostly forgotten agents of the crown who were sent here long ago to keep an eye on the bad old king. If you look closely at the oval portrait, especially in moonlight and at a certain angle, you can see the iron mask they forced him to wear for half a century in his cell. Other than that weird little quirk, the painting is pretty normal, though the pigments used were heavily mixed with White Powder, as was the style in certain circles at the time it was done.
  4. Niggliv. One of the Tongueless Warlords who ruled in silence over the Third Avenue Free Zone during the siege by Franzik forces that led to the three year effort by the Red Watch to ban and summarily execute everyone connected with the Butchers and their underground abattoirs. When the Franzikaners were driven out, Niggliv led the reprisals against the Red Watch and is considered by many to be responsible for re-instituting the ancient and accepted Winter Rites of the Butchers.
    This is a very dangerous bit of degenerate art to hold onto, not the least since it will almost certainly attract the attention of the Butchers and what remains of the Red Watch as well as certain other, interested third parties that are not inclined to accept no for an answer. Anyone having this oval portrait in their possession suffers a -2 penalty to all Reaction Rolls due to the reeking stink of rotten blood that rolls of the thing as well as the paranoia it seems to instill within the minds of anyone who looks at it for very long. All Random Encounter/Wandering Monster checks that indicate 'no encounter' get re-rolled, just in case the dice were wrong the first time.
  5. Hermindra Radcliffe-Southanger. Prim, proper and well-armored, as one would expect from a daughter of executioners and blood-scribes, this Grand Abbess fought valiantly against the Zurks during the Battle of Six Fingers where the ancestral estate of the Radcliffes was cast down and became the wrecked and ruined pile now known as The Jumbles.
    Anyone of Zurkish descent must Save or suffer the effects of a Cause Light Wounds spell. In the old days, they would have been struck dead or blind, but time has diminished the effect, if not the virulence of Hermindra's lingering hatred. Close examination of the back of this oval portrait will reveal a glyphic-map that once activated will open the way to an isolated shrine constructed along one of the overhanging shelves of white basalt in the Polar Wastes of Judrang. Unfortunately there are no clear instructions for how one is supposed to active the glyphic-map. Perhaps one of the cartographic specialists at the Academy or one of the acolytes at the well of Saint Krevlisia might be able to help you with that...for a price. Or you could go consult with one of the Yellow Phantoms. They seem to know a lot about the old days and they are bound to the blasted ruins that make up The Jumbles.
  6. Murthiford Lao-Besk. No one knows anything about this Non-Person. But whomever they may have been, their portrait's unblinking eyes seem to be keenly interested in everything that goes on around it...
    This isn't technically an oval portrait as it is an oval mirror that has been heavily painted-over with lead-based and White Powder pigments to bind a six hundred year old Simulacrum within the frame. They can see out, but cannot speak, cannot move, and cannot hear...but they do feel everything that happens within 30' of the front surface of their image thanks to a twisted form of a Clairvoyance spell deeply imprinted within the paints by a group of meddling kids with artistic pretensions whose Movement died with them when they all burned to death during a salon exhibition that featured a juggling dog (either an art-golem or canunculus) formed entirely of black velvet that got too near an open flame.
The Red Watch have issued a reward for any information that leads to the apprehension of a party or parties unknown that have absconded with a prohibited piece of degenerate art recently identified by Mrs. Cave at Schroedinger & Cave Dealers in Discrete Curiosities. Three competing Freikorps Units have offered sanctuary to any and all unfairly persecuted art lovers with a preference for old fashioned portraiture of historically significant figures...
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Six Pillows

Six Pillows by Albrecht Durer;
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum
Early to bed, early to rise; keep a sharpened stake handy, and always keep an eye out for mice...
 Old Wermspittle Nursery Rhyme

Getting a good night's sleep is essential to one's health and well-being. Everyone knows this, many people say it, few get the opportunity to experience it in Wermspittle where insomnia is rampant, nightmares are far too commonplace, and there's often something under your bed or weird distracting sounds or things other than rats crawling around in the walls...really, it's a wonder anyone gets any sleep at all in this place...


  1. Pillow One. A sturdy sack of goose-down, this pillow looks exceptionally comfortable and inviting to a weary traveler...
    Soft, soft pillow (unique) [AL N, MV n/a, AC 7, HD 1+1, #AT 1, DG 1d4 per round (suffocation), SV F1, ML 6, Special: Only ever attacks with surprise for +4 bonus to hit on first attack. If initial attack fails, pillow goes flaccid and tries to appear harmless for next 1d4 hours, after which time it may attempt another attack. Takes only half damage from blunt weapons. Anyone suffocated by this pillow has a 30% chance to rise as a minor undead.]
  2. Pillow Two. This pillow appears a different shade of purple every time you look at it...
    Lurid Purple Pillow (unique) [AL C, MV 9' (3'), AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d4+Poison, SV F1, ML 9, Special: This pillow is saturated with vapors from a recent Deep Purple Smog Event and there is a lingering trace of the Purple Vapors, possibly a weakened Purple Wisp lurking within the thing.]
  3. Pillow Three. There's nothing exceptional about this pillow whatsoever...
    Dastardly Cuddler (unique) [AL N, MV n/a, AC 6, HD 1+2, #AT 1, DG 1d4 per round, SV F2, ML 12 (fearless), Special: This nasty cushion simply lies there waiting for the opportunity to strike from surprise with a +2 bonus to hit on its first attack. When it strikes, this foul thing wraps itself around the victim's upper limbs and chest and squeezes relentlessly. It will not stop trying to crush its victim until destroyed. It takes only half damage from blunt weapons, the other half affecting its victim. It is highly flammable, but shares all damage it takes from fire-based attacks with its victim on a 50-50 basis.]
  4. Pillow Four. There's a faint whiff of something sulfurous coming from this pillow...
    This pillow conceals a hidden Grobbly-Bonk map...
  5. Pillow Six. [Note: Pillow Five was lost in an unexplained fire suspected of being a case of spontaneous human combustion. It will be missed.] This pillow seems slightly damp...and sticky...
    There could be a small swarm of freshly hatched vermin squirming around within this increasingly soggy pillow, or perhaps something Squick and Ichorous, some sort of Unsightly Stain, or maybe it's just some Strange Ovum...
  6. Lucille. This pillow is the favorite method of capturing potential new Thralls by a local Somnambulist who has concealed a small clockwork device underneath the pillow that will snap open a vial of chloroform in the middle of the night...
    Stitch-Sack Clutcher (unique) [AL N, MV  9' (3'), AC 7, HD 2, #AT 1 (Clutch), DG 1d4, SV F1, ML 5, Special: The clockwork mechanism secreted beneath this pillow can be spotted by simply checking the bed, but it is amazing how many people simply forget to do this on a regular basis. When the timer runs out, this pillow will clutch onto the victim while soporific fumes spew forth from it. Save at -1 to avoid falling unconscious for the next 3d6 Turns from the chloroform.] A Sleeping Thrall named Janoz is waiting for the clock he is watching to strike the designated hour, at which time he will lurch out of the closet where he was hidden behind a secret panel, scoop up the unconscious form of the victim, and carry them off to his master...
Six Sleeping Thralls | Six Somnambulists | Six Dreamers
Six Scenario Seeds for Somnambulists
Lesser Oneirical Beasts
Red Bestiary Index
Three different victims of so-called 'night terrors' have been reported to the local authorities. Each one a fairly healthy, robust, well-armed denizen of the Low Streets and not the type to get suckered by some trollop with a razor or any of the usual perils of the night. In fact each one is rumored to have been strangled or smothered in their sleep, prompting some alleyway experts to declare it all the work of Stranglemasses. So far there is no proof, no leads, and no comment from either the Red Watch nor the Street Patrol.
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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Six Biting Dolls

"Look at the teeth. LOOK At THE TEETH! LOOK--"
 Last words of Grevok Lak
Former Delve-Scout

The Todtenhilzig are renowned for crafting Biting Dolls as personal guards and weapons. Since the horrid little people continually work on making new dolls all the time, and they can only ever control just a few at a time, they sell the things off by the bushel basket to merchants who are willing to deal with them. It is said you can spot the best sellers of Biting Dolls by how many fingers they still have, only no one agrees on whether it is better that they have lost a few fingers to exceptionally sharp-toothed dolls, or if it is better that they still have all their digits, which could be seen as a sign that they are adept at controlling the nasty little things...


  1. Trilly-Ninda. This floppy rag doll is fashioned to appear like a morlock clown, complete with constipated grimace and gleaming green-brass teeth.
    Trilly-Ninda (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 7, HD 2, #AT 1, DG 2d4, SV F1, ML 10, Special: Trilly-Ninda can bite immaterial targets, such as geists, as a +1 weapon thanks to the Plattnerized teeth. It only takes half-damage from blunt weapons.]

    Control Mechanism: Trilly-Ninda is controlled by a sigillized sock that the controller must wear on their left hand.
  2. Frilly-Nan. A foppish rake of a doll, Frilly-Nan was originally molded to serve as a typical baby doll from the Krempf Dollwerks. That was before the Todtenhilzig recovered the pieces of her burned and half-melted body from the wreckage and set about rebuilding it into a sleek, almost gangly-limbed long-nosed courtier complete with a brass mask to hide the burnt parts of its face and a cod-piece that is equipped with a fighting-syringe filled with sulfuric acid.
    Frilly-Nan (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 4, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (bite) or 2d8 (acid), SV F3, ML 9, Special: Frilly-Nan has been heavily reinforced and all the ribbons, fancy jacket and lace cover an articulated armature of hand-tooled brass with only three segments replaced with carved bone or scrap metal. The syringe is retractable.]

    Control Mechanism: Frilly-Nan only obeys the commands of whomever is wearing an exceptionally frilly collar of filthy lace taken from the corpse of an obscure opera singer. She also tends to get distracted around opera music.
  3. Silly-Linny. This hideous doll comes after you astride a badly singed and partly melted Creeping Baby Doll. Where did the Todtenhilzig ever get their tiny hands on actual shark teeth? No one knows...
    Silly-Linny (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 7, HD 1+1, #AT 1, DG 2d4+2, SV F1, ML 12 (fearless), Special: On any attack roll of 19 or 20, Silly-Linny gets to make a follow-up attack at +1. Her limbs are sand-filled fabric bound with grass and leather, her torso is a leather form fitted with whalebone strips taken from a corset and her head is half porcelain (top-half) and molded leather (Bottom-half) fitted over an actual shark's jaws.] She carries a prop whip, actually it's stitched into her hand.

    Control Mechanism: Silly-Linny answers to a hand-carved shark tooth set in red-brass. Three times. then it tries to eat whomever tried to control it.

    Riding Doll [Creeping Baby Doll; AL C, MV 15' (5'), AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d4, SV (as Zero-Level Human), ML 12 (Doesn't Know Any Better), Special: Extremely flammable, if exposed to open flame the doll with erupt into flames causing 2d4 damage as they rub burning celluloid-flesh on victims. Regain 1 hit point per ten minutes, unless inner workings are destroyed after being hit with a natural 20 on to Hit roll. After inflicting 20 points of damage, the doll goes inert for 1d4 turns while it regurgitates a slippery pool of gore in a 10'x10' radius.]

    Control Mechanism: It is unknown how Silly-Linny controls this doll; if Silly-Linny is destroyed the riding doll is no longer under anyone's control.
  4. Willy-Nik. A harlequin-style marionette that has had all its strings cut and twisted around itself, then wrapped with the tendons of dozens of mice, rats, voles and other small mammals. Its teeth are the needles, punches and pointy-tools of a master leather-worker who ran afoul of the Todtenhilzig and was subsequently devoured. It carries along a foul-smelling Hand Puppet that it tosses at you as its opening move...
    Willy-Nik (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 6, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 2d6, SV F2, ML 10, Special: After scoring a successful hit, this doll moves at double normal speed and only takes half-damage from all non-magical for the next two turns.]

    Control Mechanism: Willy-Nik serves a leather mask painted with sharply slanted diamonds of green and purple on one side, red and black on the other. The inside surface of the mask is lined with the broken tips of needles. Few people are willing to wear the thing, so controlling this doll is very hit or miss, unless you wear the mask, then it is supposed to get better...but anyone willing to wear that sort of thing is probably not going to remain in control of the doll for very long.

    Zik-zik [Hand Puppet; AL C, MV 30', AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d4*, SV F8, ML 4, Special: On any modified To Hit roll of 20 or better the Hand Puppet envelopes the victim's hand and inflicts triple damage (3d4) and will remain in place until destroyed or they succeed in severing their target's hand.]

    Control Mechanism: Willy-Nik has a way with Hand Puppets that seems to be an in-born knack.
  5. Jilly-Boo. Plump and proper-seeming, this doll rarely smiles, unless it is to sink her serrated steel teeth snapped from discarded surgical instruments into the flesh of her victims.
    Jilly-Boo (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 6, HD 2+2, #AT 1, DG 2d4+2, SV F1, ML 7, Special: If Jilly-Boo can catch a victim unawares, she gains an attack bonus of +2 to hit and does double damage. She can only attempt this sort of thing once per encounter, unless she can get someone to think that they've destroyed her and then she can try to surprise them one last time. Just to add insult to injury, the main cavity of this doll is stuffed with rotting meat and maggots.]

    Control Mechanism: Jill-Boo is controlled by whomever carries the doctor's bag she hides inside, but only so long as they remain very polite and speak only Franzik.
  6. Kill-Billy. Buck-toothed and ornery in the extreme, this doll has a bruthem-hide torso-covering faux breast-plate that splits down the middle to expose a second mouth full of wickd-sharp teeth in its belly that it uses as a follow-up attack once they've hit with the first mouth.
    Kill-Billy (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 5, HD 3, #AT 1*, DG 2d4 (2d4), SV F4, ML 12 (fearless), Special: If Kill-Bully scores a hit, they get to make a follow-up attack at +4 to hit for an additional 2d4 damage using their hidden belly-maw.]

    Control Mechanism: There is a bone-flute that can be used to make Kill-billy do various things, tricks mostly, but the old woman who carved the flute was eaten, and the note-book she left behind is incomplete where it isn't soaked in her blood...
The Street Patrol had to break-up an unlicensed Doll-Fighting Ring that had taken over an abandoned flour mill just off of Washburn Boulevard. Things got out of hand when some local genius threw a soggy stuffed bear into the ring and it tore more than a dozen dolls to pieces before it was finally burned to a cinder with cling-tar...
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Saturday, June 7, 2014

Six Bears (Wermspittle)

This time it was a bear. The bear stood at the edge of the darkness and looked into the moonlit valley with the brook running through it. He could hear no sound of Morons, no whistle of manshonyagger, as he and his kind called the hunting machines.
Said the bear in perfect German, 'You are at the edge of the Unselfing Zone. You have been rescued by a Moron. You have stopped a Menschenjäger very mysteriously. For the first time in my own life I can see into a German mind and see that the word manshonyagger should really be Menschenjäger, a hunter of men. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Middle-Sized Bear who lives in these woods.'
 Mark Elf
Cordwainer Smith

Black Bears are fairly common in the woods surrounding Wermspittle. There are Grizzlies in the mountains that sometimes wander down towards the Meadows claimed by various Farm Enclaves for their flocks, but these brutes are usually not much of a problem. Since the disastrous experiment in 936 involving artificial Weak Points in the Lidenbrock Reservoir by the Arctika Korps that resulted in the cataclysmic transposition of a six-mile-sphere of glacial ice into the the very center of the Reservoir, there have been numerous sightings of Boreal Sea-Bears in the surrounding subterranean waterways. The last Horned Bear was killed and mounted as a trophy by Claudino Chapwick at Yrmingost Manor...until it was possessed by a vilegeist and the thing was necessarily destroyed in the ensuing violent debacle. No one has seen a real War Bear in over three hundred years, leading most Parazoologists to consider the things well and truly extinct. And as for Owlbears, they are almost always a nuisance whenever they show up...which tends to be far too often...


  1. Tisha. She's a young, precocious, and badly wounded black bear that has gotten herself stuck within a collapsed section of a fallen fire escape...
    Tisha  (unique) [Smallish, Female Black Bear; AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 7, HD 3, #AT 3, DG 1d3/1d3/1d4, SV F1, ML 6, Special: Tisha was taken from her mother as a young cub by some adventurer who intended to train her as a companion animal before they fell down a hole in the street and were never seen again.]
  2. Zoris. Sluggish and bloated, this bear is immense. Her legs can hardly support her grotesque, squirming girth. Her skin is flaking away from extreme eczema and her claws have all turned a vibrant orange, as have her teeth. She hacks up a clotted pinkish phlegm and reeks of spoilt milk. If antagonized, she will defend herself for 1d4 Rounds, then seek to flee before collapsing back down into a miserable heap.
    Zoris (unique) [Massive, Adult, Female Grizzly; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 7, HD 5, #AT 3 (Claw/Claw/Bite), DG 1d3/1d3/1d6, SV F3, ML 8, Special: Zoris has werms.]

    Bloat Werms [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 7, HD 5, #AT 1 /Bite or Sting), DG 1d3/1d6, SV F1, ML 6, Special: These slippery things will latch-on with their sucker-like mouths on a result of 19-20 on their To Hit rolls and then lash about wildly in an attempt to skewer their victim with their tail-stingers for double-damage. Each sting attack imposes a -1 penalty to the victim's Saving Throws for 1d6 Turns. If a werm gets a natural 20 on one of these tail-sting attacks, they do double damage and inject 1d6 eggs into the victim. The eggs will cause painful, extreme bloating, persistent nausea and impose a -4 penalty on all attempts to attack or defend while the eggs gestate over the next 1d4 days. Cure Disease will cause the werms to be discharged from all available bodily orifices causing 2d4 damage to the host. The werms will then attempt to escape. Some Quacks will recommend a concoction that includes a heavily-diluted solution of Lear's Soap, often mixed with strong Red Weed Root Vodka. The mixture has a 46% success rate, killing the eggs and any hatched werms, but it also incapacitates the victim for a week's worth of debilitating diarrhea as their body rejects the inflammatory-enzymes secreted by the werms and shrinks back to normal.]
  3. Nauzir. Huge, old and wise; Nauzir wears a special monocle that allows her to Read Magic. She speaks only a few words that are more growls than anything, but she can understand and follow simple Franzik, a few useful words in Illushian, and will suffer a -4 to her Reaction Roll towards anyone using Pruztian within her hearing. She had befriended a trio of Street Urchins, but they were eaten by Curb Slugs, so she has been wandering about in mourning ever since.
    Nauzir (unique) [Ancient, Female, Middle-Sized Bear; AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 4, HD 6, #AT 3 (Claw/Claw/Spell--rarely, if ever bites), DG 1d3/1d3/By Spell, SV F3, ML 10, Special: Knows 1d6 random spells. She has buried 1d4 disreputable grimoires which she intends to go collect later for further study.]

    We suggest the following spells: Auric Sheath, Dalrin's Lesser Call (Uncorrected Version), Dirt to Meat, Dorind's Demulcent Yellow Claw, Charnel Breath, Egregious Effusion.
  4. Clever Franz. Nimble and quick, Franz rides a unicycle through the alleys as he hunts down his next meal. He's very partial to fresh berries and rotting fruit; the more fermented, the better he likes it. He's never tasted liquor before, but will happily (greedily) guzzle all he can get. But it is honey that really gets him going, and has made him the bane and scourge of every hive and Beebalmer's den in the area. Fortunately for Franz, he is not allergic to bee stings--most poisons don't bother him overly much, a trait he inherited from his sire, Brutazio--The World Famous Dancing Bear who was killed in the aerial  bombings that stranded the Udolpho Carnivale in Wermspittle. Franz has a beautiful spiked collar that is engraved with the distinctive Udolpho Carnivale crest and an offer of a reward for the safe return of their good friend Franz.
    Clever Franz (unique) [Huge, Adolescent, Male Black Bear; AL N, MV 120' (60')/180' on Unicycle, AC 6, HD 4, #AT 3 (Claw/Claw/Bite), DG 1d3/1d3/1d6 , SV F4, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Any time Franz gets a natural 18-20 on his To Hit roll, he uses his unicycle to ram his target for 2d4 and gets a follow-up attack at +4 to hit in order to hug his opponent for 1d6. He's very enthusiastic about this special attack, but not large enough, nor quite strong enough to be all that good at it. Franz also knows a lot of clever tricks, is a very good dancer, and loves to play games like trading shiny-bits for morsels of food--as long as the food offered is especially tasty (i.e. half rotten).] The Udolpho Carnivale Troupe will indeed be quite pleased at the return of their errant bear, but their idea of a reward may not be quite what was expected...
  5. Chadda. This owlbear wears a vest that appears to be a re-worked straight-jacket from one of the old asylums or clinics. Its left eye has been replaced with a Purple Amber orb that allows Chadda to Detect Miasmas at 120', and it constantly emits a flickering violet radiance that Repels Purple Minions (such as Smog Thrall or Breathless). Chadda lost his custom-made gauntlets, the one fitted with a variety of wicked-curved blades, back at...that place...where the headaches started...
    Chadda (unique) [Huge, Adult, Male Owlbear; AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 4, HD 4, #AT 3 (Claw/Claw/Bite), DG 1d8/1d8/1d6+2, SV F3, ML 8, Special: Chadda is registered as Test Subject 11k-2, and is part of a special project managed by Doktor Klinefeldt who has transferred the brain of a recent Purple Smog victim into the modified body of a captured Owlbear. If you look closely there are stitches and a bald spot on the back of its head. The personality of the brain is slowly degrading as the instincts of the Owlbear assert themselves. apparently the 3% Solution of White Powder used in the process is somehow allowing the Owlbear to reclaim the foreign brain matter, to literally regrow itself through the transplanted tissue. Klinefeldt would be very happy to have his creature returned to him unharmed, he can be a most generous and helpful patron, or a terrifying personal enemy.]
  6. Lumo. Tall, fierce and intimidating, Lumo has been trained to act ferocious despite having no pointy teeth left. He got lost when his handlers were ambushed by some overly-ambitious Feral Children. The handlers are dead, except for one. Lushima desperately wants to recover her trained bear before the ringleader at Bairini's Big Top discovers what has happened. Unfortunately she was wounded by an Achromic Powder/Salted Shot and needs serious medical attention herself. In the meantime Lumo has wandered through the alleys terrorizing the locals and having a great time reliving his long-lost youth. So far no one has noticed that the old bear has no fangs...
    Lumo (unique) [Huge, Old, Male Brown Bear (Striped Shoulders); AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 6, HD 6, #AT 3 (Claw/Claw/Bite), DG 1d4/1d4/1hp*, SV F4, ML 9 (drops to 3 when confronted by galvanic prods), Special: Lumo has an imposing appearance, which is what convinced the handlers to make him part of their show, after they removed and replaced his fangs with blunt knobs of hardened cellulosic plastic. When Lumo rears up on his hind legs and roars, he radiates Fear in a 20' radius...however all Saves are made at +2, since he's getting old and isn't quite the bear he used to be.
    * On any roll of 19-20 To Hit for a Bite attack, Lumo clamps down and vigorously shakes his victim for 1d6 damage.]
Lions | Tigers | Bears
Lesser Beasts
Red Bestiary Index
The badly decayed carcasses of three bears were pulled from another unlicensed basement cess-pit being run by an absentee Landlord alleged to have connections to certain unnamed exotic ammunition crafters on Burr Street. One of the bears, the smallest one, was clutching a stuffed human doll that had to be doused with Cling-Tar and burned before its killing rampage was ended with sixteen seriously injured and two fatalities...
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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Six Lions in Wermspittle

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander the Great

There once were lions that prowled the mountainous regions to the West and South of Wermspittle. For a while it was fashionable to hunt the magnificent beasts, at least until there were too few lions and far too many hunters out in those wooded hills and the hunters turned their gonnes and spears against one another...


  1. Proud Zalik. Horribly scarred across his flanks, his left paw mangled by a hunter's trap, Zalik has outlasted and outwitted everyone who has ever pursued him. He is a survivor. Clever and ruthless, he has learned how to observe those who would hunt him and to learn their weaknesses, which he then exploits to destroy them.
    Proud Zalik (unique) [Huge, Adult, Male Mountain Lion; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 10, #AT 3, DG 2d4/2d4/4d4, SV F10, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Zalik not only does not play fair, he uses ESP and Clairvoyance to observe his would-be hunters. All creatures under 3HD must make a Save or suffer the effects of a Cause Fear spell when Zalik roars. If confronted with Black Smoke, Zalik will make a hasty strategic withdrawal, but will make a point of killing whomever dared use it on him.]
  2. Ridolphe. Brass has made this old lion immortal. Expertly cast as the very last piece produced by Fernand Mankaullier in his grand studio, there is an almost elemental sense of majesty contained within the sleek lines and dramatic features of this restless, untamed statue. They say it prowls the old studio grounds still...
    Ridoplphe (unique) [Huge, Adult, Male Brass Lion; AL N, MV 240' (80'), AC 0, HD 12, #AT 2/1/1 (Claws/Bite/Roar), DG 4d8*/3d10/3d6+Fear, SV F10, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Ridolphe moves fast for a beast weighing well over a ton. His body is cast from a proprietary form of brass known only to Mankaullier and his three apprentices.*If Ridolphe scores a natural 20 to hit, he does an additional 4d8 damage by raking his target with his hind claws. Hold, Sleep, Charm only last for 1d4 rounds before he shakes off the effects. Ridolphe's spirit is bound to an Opal mounted on his brow, destroying the Opal (90 hit points) frees his spirit and renders the brass form inert. If the Opal is not destroyed, the brass body will flow back into its original form in 1d4 hours, however it only regains 10 hit points per day and must completely heal before Ridolphe can become animate again.]
  3. Yzgridt. An ivory amulet carved to represent a crouching lioness. It is very, very old and so is the spirit that resides within it...
    Yzgridt (unique) [Huge, Adult, Female Geist Lion; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 6, #AT 3, DG 2d4/2d4/3d4, SV F6, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Yzgridt may be called forth three more times before the old amulet finally shatters into dust and fragments. She radiates an aura that combines Protection From Evil, Protection From Normal Missiles, and Remove Fear in a 20' radius for the duration of her manifestation.]
  4. Vossitelle. She was brought to this place by a group of hunters who supplied rare beasts to the exotic menageries and zoological gardens of the rich and powerful. Her distinctive speckled markings along her haunches made her a rare find and helped fetch her captors a hefty price. After the bombings, the riots and chaos, Vossitelle found herself surrounded by a host of Neomorphs, exotic animals and sheep...a flock of strangely cunning and carnivorous sheep that have since accepted her as their protector and defender...
    Vossitelle (unique) [Medium, Adult, Female Lion; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 6+1, #AT 3, DG 1d4/1d4/2d4, SV F10, ML 11, Special: Vossitelle can summon 1d6 Carnivorous sheep every 4 turns. These deranged animals will fight to the death to defend her. Neither the sheep nor Vossitelle are anything more, or less, than animals. They seek only to survive in a very peculiar environment, or to escape to a better place. There is a strange pool within the old greenhouse where all the animals in this place get their water. The pool seems to be contaminated in some way, possibly with some manner of Spectral Brine or something. The longer they stay here, the smarter the beasts seem to become...]
  5. Zura. She killed dozens of hunters with those scimitar-like fangs in her brief career of infamy as a man-eater. The newspapers and promoters liked to exaggerate and say that she had devoured hundreds of unlucky hunters and their servants. She never kept a count...
    Zura (unique) [Huge, Adult, Female Sabre-Toothed Lion; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 5, HD 8, #AT 3, DG 3d4/3d4/5d4, SV F16, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Zura is now an Undead Zoological Specimen. She is turned as a 16HD Undead Creature. She is driven by an insatiable urge to kill.]
  6. Blackmane. A noble creature. Originally brought into the city by the commander of a Pruztian Jungle Korps unit returning to the homeland after three long years in a green hell. This beast was intended to be released on a private hunting preserve. A bomb demolished the hotel where the commander was staying. Now Blackmane prowls the alleys of Wermspittle.
    Blackmane (unique) [Huge, Adult, Male Lion; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 6, #AT 3, DG 2d4/2d4/4d4, SV F14, ML 12 (fearless), Special: A wonderful specimen wandering about the streets and alleys looking for easy-pickings. He is easily distracted by shiny objects and the scent of females in heat.]
Lions | Tigers | Bears
Lesser Beasts
Red Bestiary Index
There have been conflicting and disturbing reports of some sort of gang that has taken over the old Brazgan Estate. It is unsure if the gang is some sort of group of rogue shepherds, possibly from Menillia, or whether it might in fact be some sort of autonomous flock of monstrously deformed and dangerous animals. Local Authorities have insisted on getting jurisdiction established before anyone sends anyone to investigate the matter...
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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Six Tigers (Wermspittle)

Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank him for not having given it wings...
 Karnadic Proverb

There are only six tigers in Wermspittle. Two are with one or another of the Circus Camps who continually squabble over the things. One has made a lair in the public aviary on Dunforthe Street. Another has been reported prowling the Burned Over District near the Funicular rail. Two remain unaccounted for and may have taken to making their lairs within disused attics or cellars...


  1. Rushakkim. Majestic and powerfully-built, Rushakkim Half-Tail is every bit what one would expect to see in a tiger. He is a consummate performer, however his former master was killed in a tavern brawl and the apprentices who took over the act were stupid and abusive, so he killed them and escaped. There is a jagged scar along Rushakkim's left flank that healed badly due to the kill-paste (a form of salve-like achromic powder) that had been on the rakes and hooks wielded by his former tormentors. If anyone had bothered to go over Malajam's journals and papers, they would have learned that he was administering a 2% solution of White Powder filtered through a glass-tank of moth-larvae to Rushakkim to keep the beast fit and healthy, despite being over a hundred years old...
    Rushakkim Half-Tail (unique) [Large, Ancient Male Tiger; AL N, MV 150' (50'), AC 5, HD 10 (regenerates 1 hit point per hour), #AT 3 (2 claws, 1 bite), DG 1d6/1d6/2d6, SV F12, ML 10, Special: Rushakkim escaped from the Big Top and prefers to hunt-down anyone connected or related to one of the Circus Camps over any other prey. He lost a portion of his tail escaping from a mechanical trap and has since become wary of entering enclosed spaces or sticking around anything that makes mechanical clicking noises (-4 on Morale).]
  2. Louise. Her coat is a rich, mahogany color, with wide black stripes. Her belly and underside is almost khaki in appearance. Her eyes are a smoldering green only the dead can forget. She is The Queen of the Circus and knows it.
    Louise (unique) [Medium-sized, Old Female Tiger; AL N, MV 150' (50'), AC 6, HD 7, #AT 3, DG 1d6/1d6/2d6, SV F9, ML 11, Special: Louise has no interest in what happens outside the Big Top. Show business is her life. She is fluent in seventeen languages and likes to read poetry, however lacking thumbs, she employs several trained winged-monkeys to handle her books, brush out her coat and otherwise tend to her needs, as befits royalty. She adores mirrors of all kinds and anyone presenting her with a mirror as a gift or token of admiration gains a +4 bonus to Reaction Rolls. She never forgets, nor forgives a slight. Louise has done everything in her power to hide the fact that she is sterile, a consequence of her troupe having spent too long in the Low Lands after their train was bombed and they became lost and had to winter-over in an abandoned Farm Enclave. The mere sight of a map drives her into a berserk rage.]
  3. Little Tess. Massive and sluggish, this She-Tiger appears distracted or confused, until she leaps upon her prey and tears them to bits with her exceptionally long claws. She is larger than most plow-horses and has a few scattered patches of scaliness around her arm-pits, groin and belly that came about as some form of taint caused by the gestating hybrid young she was forced to carry after being bred with a Chimera from Troz. Her saliva is now toxic as well. Once the cubs were born, she killed her handlers and escaped into the streets and alleys of Wermspittle. The frequent use of galvanic prods by her former handlers has resulted in sustained memory-loss; Little Tess cannot remember anything from five minutes ago, not even her cubs. She does, however, have an instinctive hatred of all galvanic weapons and will always attack anyone carrying a prod over anyone else...
    Little Tess (unique) [Huge, Female Tiger; AL C, MV 150' (50'), AC 6, HD 8, #AT 3, DG 1d8/1d8/2d6+Poison, SV F8, ML 11. Special: Little Tess has a poison bite that forces the victim to Save or suffer 2d4 damage from fever that also acts as a Confusion spell for 1d4 turns. She gains a +2 bonus to initiative and to hit against anyone wielding galvanic weapons or prods. Little Tess may be pregnant again, but what will the cubs be like this time?]
  4. Morigoth. His stripes are slightly spirally, and the fur in-between is tinted mauve and purple, with a lighter shade of purple along his underside. Morigoth's claws are translucent like sharp ice and slash geists and apparitions as easily as they part flesh. He wanders through the ruins of bombed-out buildings, half in trance, half in dream, but always and perpetually hungry...
    Morigoth (unique) [Huge, Male Dreamtiger; AL N, MV 150' (50'), AC 4, HD 7, #AT 3, DG 1d6+1/1d6+1/2d6 (Ignores non-magical armor). Special: Can use Passwall up to 3 times per night. Morigoth was born from the mating of an oneiric tiger and a fleshly one. He has since become far more substantial than oneiric, but can shift into the closer, more easily accessed dreamspaces when the situation merits it...]
  5. Pidro-Peeto. Tangerine and cream, with sharply-tapering sable stripes boldly splashed across his fur, Pidro-Peeto is a striking, imposing figure of malice and magnificence.
    Pidro-Peeto (unique) [Large, Adult Male Tiger; AL N, MV 150' (50'), AC 5, HD 10, #AT 3, DG 2d4/2d4/3d4, SV F12, ML 9, Special: Despite his impressive appearance, this big cat is an incredibly good ambusher, gaining a +2 bonus to initiative and to hit when striking from a concealed position. This big cat is playful, likes to listen to live music and will drink itself silly if offered liquor of any sort, but has a massive tolerance, as its keepers were career alcoholics...]
  6. Barnum Street Mauler. The black stripes of this huge cat have a distinctive greenish tinge to them according to the jumbled accounts gathered from those who have 'survived' any of its attacks...
    Barnum Street Mauler (unique) [Huge, Adult, Male War-Tiger; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 12, #AT 3, DG 2d4/2d4/4d4, SV F14, ML 12 (fearless), Special: The last survivor of an experiment meant to produce a 'war cat' for the Pruztian Jungle Korps. This beast has been fitted with a special armored vest/barding, and subjected to several invasive surgical modifications, including a derangement of its healing process that allows it to regain 2d4 hit points whenever it makes a successful Save against some exotic attack. Its senses have been augmented, and it Sees Invisible, Detects Magic and has darkvision to 300' range. It was originally trained to hunt and kill spell-casters, but has since taken to killing anything that crosses its path--the control mechanism patched into its skull has become faulty and the beast is now a mindless killing machine on the loose...]
Lions | Tigers | Bears
Lesser Beasts
Red Bestiary Index
Several Refugees from Yultranza were found torn limb from limb amid the wreckage of a shanty camp in the alleys behind the Athenaeum. Eye-witness accounts and evidence gathered at the scene indicate that there were no fewer than eleven men, women and children struck down in the middle of the night by the so-called 'Barnum Street Mauler.' Luckily, a team of volunteer surgeons from the recently demilitarized Tactical Experimental Medicine Cadre was able to recover three survivors, more or less. After they recover from the extensive reconstructive surgical procedures, as well as the usual trauma associated with dismemberment and being partly devoured, the three Wretched survivors are expected to work-off their medical indenturement by serving in the Wall Guard or Sewer Militia...
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