Sunday Summary: Week of 12/23 to 12/29, 2013 (Delayed)

Things got a little jumbled over the holidays, plus I scalded my hand pretty badly, so the Sunday Summary for the last week of December got skipped. Until now.

Here's a quick summary of what we've posted to the blog for the week of  Monday 12/23 to Sunday 12/29, 2013.

Monday

We posted our first new entry for the revised and expanding Zalchis Bestiary. The Malevolent Vestiges are mindless echoes of forgotten things that do not want to remain forgotten. They are on the Wandering Monster matrix for the upcoming Zalchis: Cold Start scenario at Con of the North in February 2014. That time is fast approaching, so we'll have a few more things to share very soon.

Tuesday

Lorveer's Mask is a peculiar relic that could show up in any number of places, spaces and campaigns. It has its uses, but it will insist on using the wearer in its own schemes. This isn't just another unpretty face, this mask has an ego and a personality...too bad it's a real vain, petty sort of would-be tyrant...

Wednesday

Nadume of the Ashen Maze has made the transition over from the old Zalchis blog. Her Labyrinth Lord stats are provided, and we'll be detailing some of her favored retainers and providing more details on the Ashen Waste in the weeks ahead. Nadume's Glyph-Gems can teach you many things, if you strike a good bargain.

Thursday

Bujilli was delayed due to unnecessary roughness on the part of the coffee pot. I scalded my hand pretty badly and needed some time off to heal-up.

Friday

Oneiric Encounters. This is just the beginning. We've been working on Oneirical things for a while now, and as more details get revealed concerning Sprague in the ongoing serialized adventures of Bujilli in Wermspittle, we'll be rolling out more of this sort of stuff.

Saturday

A quick place-holder while my hand healed up; this Square is part of a work-in-progress. you'll see more of this stuff soon.

Sunday

We participated in Tim Snider's Obsolete Simulations Roundup blog-hop. Our first installment was a review and consideration of SPI's orphaned and seemingly abandoned Universe RPG.

Next we'll get caught up on what happened last week...

We did not do a Year-end Retrospective. Yet. We're just more excited about what we're working on for the weeks and months ahead. Now that my hand is healed-up fairly well, we may take a look back. There were some interesting things that happened in 2013...

Ragossa (Monsters of the Kalaramar Drifts)

Ragossa

No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30') [can cast Passwall or Levitate up to 3 times per day]
Armor Class: 5 [+2 to defense if using Parry]
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 4 or 2 (Either 4 weapons or 2 spells, never both)
Damage: 1d6/1d6/1d6/1d6 or by spell.
Save: MU 10
Morale: 9

Special: True Seeing (120' radius), Telepathy, Immune to visual/gaze effects, Limited Paratemporal Awareness, Move Silently (85%), Consume Sapience (Special), Spell Use.

Parry: A Ragossa can swap-out 2 attacks for 1 Parry, gaining a temporary +2 bonus to their AC and an additional +2 on their Save.

Spells: Can cast Clairvoyance, Clone, Levitate, Mirror Image and Passwall up to three times per day. Can use Aethyric Agitation, Duplicate Weapon, Conjure Paratemporal Surrogate*, Gestural Globs, and Jiggly Scribbles, once per day.

They cast no shadow. They make almost no noise. They have no eyes, yet they discern many things other beings overlook or are incapable of apprehending. The Ragossa are proud of this ability. It almost makes up for their innate illiteracy. They cannot read any form of writing whatsoever. They are incapable of learning how to read, despite incredible innate magical gifts and their peculiar form of Paratemporal Awareness that allows them to discern events and occurrences across dozens of alternate timelines at once. It is for this reason that the Ragossa hold a particular grudge against any who flaunt their ability to read before them. It is also the root of their intense hatred of magical scrolls, spell books and grimoires.

Ragossa consume the sapience and special abilities of any magical item or weapon they wield for more than an hour. The bonuses to hit/damage remain intact, but all else is drained away and lost permanently. But the Ragossa are unable to affect scrolls or other written forms of magic, from which they can draw no sustenance, so they attempt to destroy such things at every opportunity.

A Ragossa should never be summoned unless the conjurer wishes to part with a substantial amount of their personal library. These beings are notoriously greedy in their need to despoil books of magic. All other literature is dull and worthless to them and thus ignored.

The favored tactic of a Ragossa is to lurk in the shadows and observe its prey at a distance. They will use Clairvoyance to learn what they can, then they will select one or more victims to duplicate through use of their Clone spell, using Duplicate Weapon to properly equip them. They will then direct the clones against their originals using Telepathy. If the clones defeat the originals, they will be allowed to take over the identities they've earned. The Ragossa will use its Telepathy to transfer most of the original's memories over to the new clone, a process requiring a Save to avoid insanity. If the clones are defeated, the Ragossa must make a Morale check (-2 for each clone defeated). If they do not flee (using Passwall, Levitate, etc.), the Ragossa will play its trump card spell, Conjure Paratemproal Surrogate, and summon forth a version of the strongest remaining opponent from an alternate timeline. If the Paratemporal Surrogate defeats the original character, it will have the option to swap places with them. If the Paratemporal Surrogate is defeated, the Ragossa will flee.

Ragossa's will always consider an offer to parley if it is backed-up with an offer of magical scrolls or spell books that it can destroy, or magical items it can drain. It is a special weakness in their character that numerous adventurers have exploited to avoid unnecessary hostilities and unpleasantries.

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The Kalaramar Drifts lie hundreds of miles past the Ten Thousand Plateaus in a region referred to on most maps as simply 'The Red Wastes.' The lingering legacy of a terrible war, these are broken places, porous and punctured, ripped and ruptured by Weak Points, wandering gates, feral portals and worse. The Red Wastes of the Kalaramar Drifts shift and shimmer across multiple worlds, numerous timelines, other planes and beyond.