What's In The Attic? (Table 2)

His old servant ... had spoken of the strangely aromatic and hideously carven box he had found in the attic, and of the indecipherable parchments and queerly figured silver key which that box had contained: matters of which Carter had also written to others...

Through the Gates of the Silver Key
by H P. Lovecraft

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What's in the Attic? (Table II)

1. This attic has become overgrown by a patch of Stranglemasses that appear to have been seeded by chance, just down-wind of Glindeng's attic (Table3/Option6). One has to wonder how many other randomly-seeded patches of these foul plants have taken-root in the roofs, eaves and attics around here. Some crazy old lady, they call her 'Mildred', most likely an escapee from one of the broke-down sanitariums along Skinner Row, has been tending to this unplanned-for garden of Stranglemasses for years now. No one knows why the plants tolerate the crazy lady. Perhaps it has something to do with the illegal experiments that were done on her while under the care of Doktor Rommiro?
2. The people on the floor below have been complaining of an unnatural draft coming from this attic. Even in the Summer. Turns out there's a Weak Point lodged in the back wall. It opens onto an empty, barren, frozen wasteland. Beware the penguins.
3. Wet, sticky goo covers nearly every surface in here. The stuff is setting-up like so much dried snot in the corners. Everything stinks worse than rotten cabbages. There's a swarm of some kind of pink-banded slugs clustered beneath a messy mound of old rags and newspapers heaped against the back wall, just to the side of the broken window. The slugs will pop into small puffs of poison gas if exposed to heat or bright light. [Save or suffer debilitating nausea (50% penalty to Move, -2 To Hit, -4 to Morale) for 1d4 hours.]
4. Six dead penguins lay next to a zinc-plated tub. A blood and feather crusted Tsalalian obsidian knife rests on a rickety taboret next to the tub. Why is there a shattered mirror lying face-down on the floor?
5. An old Zugritti woman bundled-up in tattered old red and yellow blankets sits in her wheelchair at the window, keeping a look out for something she cannot, or will not describe. Once every 15 minutes roll a d6, on a roll of '6' there comes a scratching, scraping noise at the window which drives the old woman to screaming madly. She will be inconsolable, hysterical and extremely agitated for the next 1d4 hours during which time the neighbors, the Constables or other Local Authorities, and others will be attracted to all the ruckus.
6. Javeer Nerladoux, once a famed investigator among the Secret Police in Narliz, sits quietly in a corner of this old attic smoking a foul-smelling pipe and tinkering with his broken grammophone. Perhaps one of you might know a thing or two about fixing such devices? Javeer has dozens of dusty cylinders originally recorded at the Great Opera House of Narliz from before the war. His favorites feature his nephew Erik.
7. Five old crates have been set before the windows and filled with dirt and other soil-like substances scraped from the near-by eaves and other sources to form the seed-beds for strange yellow flowers that someone has been tending to for several months now. But what kind of flowers get fed blood, mud and what may well prove to be White Powder residue? and is that a tender shoot from some form of Red Weed just poking up out of the soil in that third make-shift planter?
8. There is a Loathsome Mass behind an old airship trunk packed with deeply stained and saturated military campaign maps once drawn-up by the map-makers of the Third Logistical Battalion of the Pruztian Army dating back to before the First Occupation. The Loathsome Mass has compromised the trunk's structural integrity--any attempt to move it will result in the trunk collapsing into bits and pieces, and further exposing--and ruining--the maps, journals, correspondence and other papers contained within it.
9. Seventy-Two little bat skulls have been hung upside-down from red thread pinned to the central rafter. Each one has been lovingly inscribed with an idiosyncratic summoner's personal Noetic Glyph drawn from Unter-Noetica, an illegal manual only ever written-out in Noorstrian, an obscure language that remains on the Banned Languages List to this day. The Board of Community Hygiene offers a reward for information on sites like this...but they would quarantine the place, and possibly detain anyone who has come into contact with the little skulls. Can you hear the tiny, raspy little voices just at the edges of your consciousness yet? Perhaps there is time to locate a Karcist, Medium or someone with a background in purging mischievous spirits and Littelgeists...
10. Someone has re-built an electric airship motor in the middle of this attic. all it is missing are the batteries...and some way to get it out of here, as it is far too large to pass through either the door or the windows.
11. Six barrels of Spectral Brine sitting in the dark, slowly rusting away. 
12. A lonely little Flidder has been trapped in this attic for months now. Who would do such a thing? Why? Will they be mad that you let it go?
13. A small blue-tinged lens lies in the middle of the floor. It glints coldly in the dark and inflicts 1 point of damage to anyone licking it up, every time it is picked-up. The Lens allows whomever is holding it to locate any of the Cold Roads they so desire to find...but somehow the Lens also shifts them into the Winter-time to do so.
14. An un-finished gargoyle statue scowls disapprovingly at anyone who enters. The dust is several inches thick in here, so the artist may not be coming back.
15. Four zinn-plated rolls from a printing-press have been stashed here by a Yellow Kid following a raid on their master's shop due to charges of engaging in Caprichographika. These rolls could be set-up to print out the weird images etched into their outer surfaces, but it might draw the attention of various Local Authorities. It might be easier to auction the things off, perhaps engaging the services of a dealer in curios and antiquities such as the kindly Mr. Cave or someone less scrupulous, but more inclined to handle such objectionable materials. There is a base 45% chance that disturbing the rolls will attract the attention of a Phantasmal Menace.
16. A young man lies dead in his ramshackle bed set below the central gable window. A trail of little red footprints reveals that this was the work of a score or more Little People who appear to have returned to their domains within and between the walls after dispatching their enemy. The young man was something of a Dreamer, even now in death his dreams permeate this space and if one is careful not to use too bright a light source, or to cast damaging or disrupting spells, there are 1d6 Oneiric Codices on the little nightstand next to his bed that could be perused if one so desires. These books are made-up of dream-stuff and will disappear instantly if there are any loud noises, bright lights, spells cast within the room, or if anyone attempts to move or disturb the dreamer's body in any way. Each book has a base 30% chance to contain 1d4 spells that an avid reader could attempt to memorize. Doing this means they must remain still, quiet and entirely focused on the task at hand, disregarding all else, or the attempt fails and the books dissolve into so much oneiroplasm. Each time a spell is successfully memorized, roll a d6, on any result other than a 1, the books all disappear. On a result of '1' the current book dissolves, but the others remain and can likewise be consulted if desired. Any spells gained in this manner can be immediately cast and lost, or it is possible to attempt to inscribe them into a grimoire, journal or spell-book...but unless the caster does so while asleep, the inscription will fail and the spell will be lost.
17. (1d6) Ravens are on the windowsill, taking turns tapping out competing rhythms or patterns in order to annoy a cat that no longer lives there.
18. Three glass plates prepared for use in Ectography and wrapped in black fabric lie next to a broken camera and related apparatus. A calling card for B. Jazmir, Master of Ectographry can be found on the floor near the table. It seems that Master Jazmir ran afoul of a cabal of Fantomists. It is just possible that the Fantomists have left someone to keep an eye on this attic studio in order to capture any of Jazmir's possible associates, suppliers or clients. The Fantomists might take an interest in the players if they poke around in this attic for very long...
19. A partially visible and quasi-fossilized Horla hangs suspended from the rafters by a stout chain affixed to an electric winch. Someone has been making detailed anatomical drawings of the creature.
20. A broken case containing three partially-chewed bars of Lear's Soap.
21. A black-iron spear mounted with a battle-lamp has been jammed into the floor-boards. The cable is missing, otherwise it is in working order. When powered, the spear can emit an Actinic Ray capable of causing an additional 3d4 damage to any creature susceptible to sunlight struck by the blade, or 1d6 damage if used as a Ray Attack (Ranged). Typical battery-packs yield 6 attacks at full-strength.
22. The ceiling is encrusted with a Scabrous Froth.
23. An old barber used to make this his home, before he got mixed-up in some nasty business with a pair of Wall Guards and a missing Electric Mitrailleuse. In the battered old chest at the foot of his un-made bed there is a large glass jar containing a dormant Corpuscular Sludge. A pair of Lesser Nosferatus have been watching this place, waiting for a chance to gain entry and recover the Sludge for their Mistress. Both wear Rings of Rat's Teeth and will cast Vile Residue to facilitate their escape if necessary.
24. Something Squick and Ichorous can be found here, as can be a mop with a broken handle and three rusty buckets.
25. A trowel for fighting Gobbling Grouts and Jellies has been left on the windowsill.
26. The spell Unnatural Acromegally has been carved into the floor-boards by a pair of Thumblings who are still caught-up in their argument about the best methods for adjusting this spell to have the most impact upon their hated enemy.
27. A Black Key dangles from a blue ribbon looped over the handle to a closet door. For a moment you might be able to hear the waves crashing across the rocks below the Gormenstille of New Chillon, but perhaps that is all just in your head
28. A magic circle has been botched. The outer perimeter is clotted with shiny little lumps of congealed Purple Amber, while the inner border still smolders with a foul-smelling green flame that is taking an extremely long time to burn itself out. An enterprising Forager might be able to scrape-away a few samples of the Purple Amber, but doing so runs the risk of coming into contact with the green flames...and they do not consume anything physical, but rather they consume spiritual things. A close examination of the rest of the attic will turn up a small ivory carving of a Peryton in the classical Franzikaner style. This little item is an un-charged Charm Against Perytons suited to use within the Purple Forest. Perhaps a Jaladari might help make the Charm work, or offer you something for it?
29. Ruttolfen, a Gleiben Rat-Killer stayed here in this garret in-between jobs exterminating vermin in the Near Deeps under a Sewer Militia contract. Several pairs of half-shredded banded-leather gauntlets and some other bits and pieces litter the floor and there might be Something Under his Bed. No one has seen or heard from the guy in over a month. Some of the other tenants are concerned enough to ask you to consider looking for their friend. they might be able to put together some kind of reward if pushed.
30. An un-exploded cannister of Black Smoke protrudes into this attic from the ceiling. Some one really did a shoddy job repairing the roof and did not bother checking the spaces below for whatever made the hole. Tampering with the cannister runs a cumulative 30% chance to set it off. Loud noises, jarring contact, excessive heat or electrical discharges within the room and most forms of spell-casting will all incur an additional 10-40% chance to detonate the cannister...so it might be better to leave well enough alone and maybe report this UXB to the Local Authorities. Of course, there are those who would pay handsomely for this cannister, and others who would be willing to purchase the details of its location...but that's a matter of conscience and/or commerce...

What's in the Attic? (Table I)  |  What's in the Shuttered Room?

Wandering Monster Matrix: The Gormenstille (New Chillon)

"This is a place of bastards and illegitimate bloodlines, cast-offs and caitiffs, criminals and deposed heirs alike, all sent here in secret and left to rot, only they didn't all rot. They have their own lineages here, as well established and documented as any in the outer regions of the known worlds; only they are Ignobles in New Chillon, within the walls of the Gormenstille; all of them vying for power or prestige and squabbling among one another over obscure points of genealogy, precedence or their personal entry in the Red Book."

Hedrard's description of the Gormenstille in Bujilli: Episode 102

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(1d20) Wandering Monsters in the Upper North East Calotte-Passage of the Gormenstille...

1. Varn-spiders. (3d4) Dim, gray spiders that have associated with vampires for far too long...
2. Skeletons. (2d4) They have been tasked to collect and carry all plague victims down to the coroners and plague doctors working in the lower levels. There's a 40% chance that any one of them is carrying a plague ravaged corpse. The rest carry spears. Each one bears the insignia of a red square on their prison-issue tabard.
3. Ordrang. It is not interested in inedible, living things...however the Squirmy Gurgle that is hiding behind it is...
4. Gobbling Grout:  1d4: 1) Type I, 2) Type II, 3) Type III, 4) Type IV.
5. Poppers. (4d6) Squiggly little leeches that explode from guzzling their victim's blood faster than they can process it.
6. Drab Jelly.
7. Ceiling Scorpions. (4d4) Huge mottled ochre and black-striped scorpions scuttle across the ceiling, seeking to attack from above by surprise. They never willingly leave the ceiling.
8. Purple Wisp.
9. Stranglemass. (1d4) of the things are floating free and on the hunt for fresh victims.
10. Ourang. (3d6) Recently-escaped, they are headed towards the highest point in the main tower in the hopes of finding (and possibly hijacking) an airship.
11. Gloomshadow. (30% chance it is trapped within a Binding Geometry).
12. Yelg Froth.
13. Screechers. (2d6) Bestial Winged Monkeys hunting for grubs, slugs or other easy-meat.
14. Orbiculate. It's rolling along the wall, completely absorbed in hunting a pack of green-eyed wolf puppies, after having already consumed their parents. [This means that there are (2d4) wolf pups somewhere nearby.]
15. Roll 1d20 to determine which random Vicious Slime has crossed your path.
16. Shrieking White Moths. (3d4) Fluttering, flapping, clamorous winged-things with all too human faces shriek and scream in an effort to escape...only to attract something else in their stead.
17. Flidder.
18. Aethyric Eels. (2d4) are swarming around the recently deceased corpse of a Morlock Shaman that summoned them to aid her escape, but did so too late after being stung by a swarm of huge hornets.
19. Escapees. [See Escapees Table]
20. Bats. (3d100) of the filthy, diseased plague-bearing things--they were released into the passage by Baron Bannerworth's minions.

(1d20) Special Encounters in the Upper North East Calotte-Passage of the Gormenstille...

1. (2d4) corpses. Each one has a 50% chance to be infested with Gore Worms.
2.  A Zahj watches from its position upon the near wall. It may toy with those who pass it by, mostly out of boredom.
3. Three adolescent Yellow Creepers have broken free of their cells and are desperately looking for the way back to Yellowholm. Their constant bickering alerts you to their presence long before they realize they are not alone.
4. A Horla has begun to follow you...
5. Weird whistling noises echo through the passage; there is a Saiitii Manifestation nearby...
6. The passage is heavily covered and obstructed by a massive build-up of guano from either a huge flock of passenger pigeons or bats.
7. Thaddeus, a Lesser Nosferatus, who claims that he was cast out of Baron Bannerworth's service over a minor impropriety. In truth, Thaddeus is a scout for Bannerworth's forces and hopes to lure gullible victims into a trap in order to gain a reward.
8. They did not get very far before collapsing into a Loathsome Mass...
9. Giant Blue-Speckled Hornets are building a massive hive in this section of the passage. They gained entry through a broken window and have been working away undisturbed until you showed up.
10. A patch of Philosophic Mold has taken-up a cozy spot along the far wall where it contemplates intensely obscure matters of an esoteric nature. It is inclined to ignore anything that does not expose it to harm.
11. A larval-stage Irradiant prowls this section of the passage, endlessly spiraling along the same twenty-two foot area again and again.
12. Rubble. Someone has wrecked a section of the wall. Upon taking a closer look, the wall has buckled out from the constant over-tunneling of things working within it...a colony of Thumblings...
13. Roll 1d20 to determine which sort of Unsightly Stain you've just discovered.
14. You find a scabrous amulet on the floor. It bears the sigil of a powerful Sanguinovore. They will attempt to make a psychic connection with whomever picks up the amulet. They are trapped behind a walled-in section of the attic-maze of the Secondary Tower claimed by Baron Bannerworth, whom they consider their most dire personal nemesis.
15. Suzraal is a Fantomist, recently arrived from the bombed-out ruins of her Nulgarian estates. She has a Black Pass from the Warden allowing her free passage through the Gormenstille for services rendered.
16. Roof Whale. The massive thing is stuck in a hole it has bashed through the wall. The plaintive fog-horn-like groans of the thing make the walls and floor shudder.
17. Gudivak is a one-legged Lurm who will gladly teach you a few handy variations on Gloomlight if you agree to help them escape from this place.
18. A sad, broken and (thankfully) inert Biting Doll lies in a congealed puddle of blood. Somewhere nearby, possibly in a niche behind one of the wall-supports are a small band of Todtenhilzig who keep a vigilant watch over whomever passes this way. They are unsure how to get out of this place and might be inclined to attempt to parley with a suitably impressive-looking group. All others they will seek to avoid.
19. A chunk of Purple Amber. It was dropped by an Oneirist whose plague-infected body lies only a few feet past the shiny bit. They were able to leave their body before it expired, but now they are trapped in a dreamlike state and only someone holding the piece of Purple Amber can see or communicate with them.
20. A cat. Yes, it is mostly black. No, it is not interested in you...unless you offer it fresh meat, milk or cat-nip. If treated favorably, the cat has the ability to lead anyone it selects across the temporal threshold of this place to some other place by walking through a wall. Certain walls work better than others and the cat has a liking for the musically-gifted mousefolk that occupy certain choice interstices behind the walls of particular museums on the campus of the Academy at Wermspittle. The cat would be most pleased if you would break through the spell-warded walls protecting the singing mice so it can satisfy its current craving.

Bujilli and Leeja are currently adventuring within the upper reaches of the Gormenstille upon New Chillon, having arrived there at the end of Episode 100 in an effort to rescue their friends Hedrard and Lemuel. Now they are in the process of making their escape from this place...

New Chillon

Sewers and Cellars of Wermspittle (Encounter Table III)

Then came the locked cellar door, and the search for something to break it down. A heavy stool stood near, and its tough seat was more than enough for the antique panels. A crack formed and enlarged, and the whole door gave way—but from the other side; whence poured a howling tumult of ice-cold wind with all the stenches of the bottomless pit, and whence reached a sucking force not of earth or heaven, which, coiling sentiently about the paralysed detective, dragged him through the aperture and down unmeasured spaces filled with whispers and wails, and gusts of mocking laughter...

The Horror at Red Hook, by H. P. Lovecraft

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Sewer and Cellar Encounters Table III (D30)

1. Six barrels of Spectral Brine have been roughly pushed up against the far wall. They are leaking. The muck at your feet faintly glows and you're already feeling sick.
2. There is a small (6' diameter) Maelstrom swirling at the center of this muddy, mucky-floored cellar. Only the whirlpool is on the ceiling. Every ten minutes the Maestrom's sucking force grows stronger and stronger until, after the third hour it is creating something of an inverted/reverse hurricane. Then it settles down to a light draught once again. The cycle is a bit erratic. The tenants above have barred the door to keep anyone else from getting taken away by the violent winds this thing causes.
3. A small, possibly immature Yoggidam packed in some kind of brine inside a heavy glass jar. Someone's specimen? A torn messenger-bag, a scuffed-up pair of airship-mechanic's goggles (left lens is missing), and some incidental trash gives the impression that a Forager may have hid out here not long ago. Perhaps they left the jar behind by accident?
4. Congratulations. Right there in the muck nearest your good right foot there's a Dread Penny staring right back up at you. Don't mind the half-dissolved gas mask and the six empty carboys labelled 'sulfurick acid.' It's probably safe to pick it up...
5. There must be at least twenty penguin carcasses hanging from the beams overhead. All of them skinned, salted and smoked...and sprouting the wriggly green tendrils of some pernicious and vicious form of fungi. This is why the Tsalalians prefer to use attics.
6. Three, perhaps four bodies are crumpled and curled up along the left-hand wall. Each one is covered in the distinctive gritty-sooty residue left behind by Black Smoke.
7. They were doing some work up above, renovating the old place. Then the floor collapsed and everything fell down here, into the basement. Three of the workers might have survived, if they hadn't been locked in here. With the rats. You might not see them right away. You might not even hear them immediately. Stick around and you will meet them soon enough. There are hundreds of rats running around in the warrens surrounding this basement. Their incessant digging has weakened the foundations of several buildings next to this one.
8. Seven circles of heavy translucent moon-metal chains encircle a trapped Insectillar. The chains are anchored into the floor with six-foot spikes of hardened greenbrass. You're about two steps away from awakening the guardians--the creature weakly informs you through its heavily suppressed telepathy.
9. A section of the ceiling has been compromised by the runners and shoots of some sort of Red Weeds. This particular infestation is still quite fresh and very vulnerable. The leaves are streaked with pale blotches of orange and there are pulsing, bulbous growths dangling form the ceiling that resemble mandrakes crossed with lumpy potatoes. Should you burn it or call some experts?
10. The floor is flooded to a depth of just under four feet. There are blind catfish swimming about. You've just surprised a pair of kids who were fishing. They're climbing through a window that is only partly boarded-over. One of them dropped their pole. A large fish is dragging it along the rubble and gravel slope that used to be the lower part of the wall near the entry-window.
11. Something, or someone, is watching you. It's exceedingly dark in here, possibly because of a spell. It reeks of moldy persimmons. Some merchant caravan has used this cellar for storage the last two summers. Something else has taken up residence while they're gone. Three Morlock runes have been scraped deep into the limestone above an old door that has been cut in half and fitted over the bolt-hole in one of the back corners. It is locked. With poison needles still sticking out of the mechanism from the last intruder's unsuccessful attempt to gain entry.
12. A pair of Grunters are playing some form of gambling-game with the hacked-apart finger-sections of some previous intruder. One of them carries an air-tight greenbrass tube that holds a rolled-up map to a series of three captured Weak Points that will take you to the outer perimeter of the most recent base of operations for their Queen-General's main army. The passwords are scrawled next to each of the Weak Point symbols, against all regulations and orders. You might have heard a few whispers or rumors that Idvard might be interested in something like this...and he has a good reputation for being generous to those who bring him things he wants or needs. The other Grunter, a corporal blind in one eye, wears a black iron ring that can be used to call forth a wall of tangled, burning black iron blades and spikes directly from Kalkendru that will persist in its bilocation for one hour before collapsing into the space it has been summoned into (20%), or back into Kalkendru (70%)...or just simply disappearing into some indeterminate non-space (10%), possibly taking along anything/anyone unfortunate enough to be entangled within it. The ring works once a day and costs the used 1d4 hit points to activate. It is meant to hurt. It also has three other functions, but those are unknown to the corporal.
13. There is a layer of curdled mud covering the floor to a depth of 4 inches. There are traces of the mud extending up the walls for more than three feet. The carcass of a dead crocodile lies twisted-up in a painful looking manner just out of the mud in what must have been its death throes. It appears to have been digging into the base of the far wall. That section has partially collapsed. Trapping the beast's head under a heavy pile of stones, bricks and blocks. Removing the debris will re-flood the basement. The crocodile is slightly squirmy to the touch--its insides are filled with maggots and eggs about to erupt into a swarm of cellar flies.
14. The good right arm of an Iron Pig lies in the middle of the floor.
15. A scratched, pitted and slightly dented Hexagon of Bohz lies partly embedded in the floor. It was improperly prepared. A casual inspection will readily reveal the shoddy workmanship. Polyps are unforgiving; they also have very high standards.
16. Three feet past the door everything is blocked-off by the dried-out form of a massive, gigantic Gunpowder Grub packed with well over 43 tons of unstable gunpowder. Please tell me that you're not using torches with an open flame...
17. Someone's wine cellar. Left over from better days. The entire space is infested with purple-spotted spiders. Hordes of the things. Past the third set of wine bottles in their racks you can see multiple cocoon-like masses dangling from the ceiling. One might even be writhing a bit. Are they victims or massive egg-sacs? From here you can't really tell...
18. Bubbles? Yes. There's an Orb Cluster trapped down here because there are no Weak Points available to it, and all the Ley-Lines in the area have been somehow re-routed or blocked. How is that possible?
19. Sixteen bales of moldy Yellow Wallpaper were stored down here right before the place up above was burned-out due to arson. Everyone blames a gang of Feral Children. Perhaps it was a Yellow Kid or a Creeper that escaped from the Wallpaper instead? Maybe it doesn't matter. Whoever did the arson is long gone. The bales of this horrid stuff are still here. How do you dispose of it?
20. Three arrows tipped with Yirgao-teeth. One has blood on the fletchings, which are harpy-feathers.
21. Either that's a Sallow Stain, a Loathsome Mass or a Wet Spot that is seeping into this space over by the right wall.
22. She might have been pretty. Before. Now she's a real mess. Those kids didn't leave much of her personal possessions behind after they stripped her corpse. Just the Gore Worms breeding in her heavily distended belly. There are a few blood-soaked maps, a half-burned atlas, and a small pocket notebook left in her torn-apart belt pack. The pocket notebook contains numerous references to someone named 'Bujilli.' She was sent here by her older sister. A Zurian Princess.
23.  A deserter made this space into a decent little home-away-from-the-Ramparts, up until the Takers caught up with him. There are (1d4) cans of pickled meat and some penguin-jerky (spoiled) behind the over-turned end table. There is also a Hole in the Wall that you might want t take a closer look at...
24. Pods. Six, child-sized pods of some wrinkly, almost scrotum-like plant material, split down the middle, flecked and speckled with a pungent off-white foam that reeks of rancid parsley. They're empty.
25. Someone has piled-up forty-three rolls of sod in this space. All of it is dried-out now.
26. A broken guitar. The strings have been removed. With a dull knife.
27. The deal went bad. A panicked Eloi in fishscale armor tries to force their way past you. They botched their attempt to work out an arrangement with the Withering Mist behind them.
    
    Jusgat de la Vardin [Eloi, AL N, MV 100' (30'), AC 6 (fish-scale caster-armor), HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d4+poison (glass dagger filled with arsenic), SV MU3, ML 4, (Spells per day: 2,1) Level One: Hammer Toe, Needle-Fling, Shield, Sleep.  Level Two: ESP, Kazwen's Reflections, Knock.] They left their scroll of Call Withering Mist behind.
28. A lilac and almond striped disk of pressed-chitin embossed with the twenty-seven characters of the click-speech of Nhor. Successfully reading the disk, even to oneself, summons a 4 HD War Grub.
    
29. The gnawed femur-bone of an Almas. Each end is wrapped tightly in sinew and braided hair over a cap of thick felt. There is a swarm trapped inside it. You'll need to open it to find out what kind...
30. Six feet deep. The piles of dead frogs are six feet deep in here...

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Sewers & Cellars: Encounters Table I  |  Sewers & Cellars: Encounters Table II
Sewers & Cellars: Encounters Table III | Sewers & Cellars: Encounter Table IV

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Local Authorities: Cellar Inspectors in Wermspittle
Making the Prinn Street Rounds  |  Beneath Suydum Blvd  |   The Butler Street Station
Cellar Inspectors: PreGen Characters

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Wermspittle Index

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

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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...

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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.
   

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   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.]

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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...
   

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   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.
   

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   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

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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...

---

Oneiric Encounters I

We
 have just begun to navigate a strange region; we must expect to encounter strange adventures, strange perils...

The Terror, by Arthur Machen

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Oneiric Encounters Table I (1d20)

1. A swarm of beetle-pigs stampedes past. They leave quite a mess behind them.
2. A smallish Oneiric Vortex shimmers and fluctuates in the immediate vicinity for 1d4 Turns, then collapses with a wet popping noise.
3. Six mice in blue surcoats, armed with tiny rapiers, are on a quest for a great green cheese. They scurry past and quickly descend into a rabbit-hole that closes after them.
4. A bed flies overhead. Someone is riding the thing. They wave as they go past.
5. (1d4) Dream Snails have caught your scent.
6. A school of moth-winged fish flutter past. There's a 30% chance that some prowling predator may be following the school.
7. A wave of roiling, boiling Dreamscum rolls across a section of the surrounding area at an angle quite different to your own orientation.
8. A slightly larger Oneiric Vortex swirls into close proximity and spins menacingly for 1d6 Turns before dissipating without a trace.
9. (1d4) Transparent Giant Spiders with 1d8 scowling faces in place of eyes. They are always bickering among themselves. Those with fewer than eight faces are always looking to add one more.
10. A very disoriented Miasmagaster Spawnling mewling and spewing for its siblings. Even in dreams, these things stink terribly.
11. (1d4) Feral Simulacra fight and claw their way up out of some barely coexistent region of nightmare. Each one resembles a distorted version of whomever first observes them. They are desperate to switch places, even going so far as to assault their originators with the intent to cast them into the nightmare realm in their stead. They are naked, unarmed, but will have access to spells equal to their originator.
12. Things start to look kind of wet. Then you realize that you've blundered into the midst of a massive Dream-Jelly. Thankfully it is currently occupied with the frenzied mob it is manipulating in the material regions of some world you're unfamiliar with. Perhaps you can avoid attracting its notice.
13. A 6 HD Mind Slime floats past, completely oblivious to everything. It is under the effects of an Oneirist's Dream-Binding. Interfering will break the binding and release the ungrateful, nasty creature.
14. Foul, miasmic tendrils of gellified madness and congealed hatred twist and writhe within the immediate dream-vicinity of a dying Harpy Tormentor. Come closer. She would appreciate a final victim before her passing.
15. Someone recently cast Oneiric Bubble on a space that impinges on the Dreamscape close to here. You can see it shimmering and shiny in the near distance. There's someone inside. It looks like an Aegogur. The new wand it was trying-out did not do what the Jaladari said it would do.
16. (2d4) Umbral Troglodytes slither out from the Vortex in pursuit of a more physical existence outside of the regions they used to occupy deep within the collapsing umbral-substrata of the Oneiric Cacophony of Zalchis. They thought they had found a point of entry, but that Oneiric Vortex collapsed, trapping half their number somewhere they can't reach any more.
17. (2d4) Grunters are out hunting and gathering on behalf of their Mistress, an ambitious young War-Sow from Kalkendru. They do not realize that they have become disembodied dream-things enslaved to their mistress. It probably wouldn't make much of a difference if they did know the truth of their situation. She did not select them on the basis of their critical thinking ability, only their loyalty.
18. A Rarebit Fiend has noticed you. Maybe they want to be friends?
19. The shriveled black gem-shard of a broken Hasnamuss streaks past on its doomed trajectory. You can almost hear its fossilized screams as it passes.
20. A Saiitii Manifestation has taken root in an abandoned attic lined with Yellow Wallpaper...and there is a Loathsome Mass leaking into the room from next door. This has created a weird oneiro-fungal infestation that has completely baffled every curious oneirist and incautious dreamer it hasn't out-right consumed or infected. Perhaps there are experts and scholars at the Academy who might reward those who alerted them to such a thing?

---

Pretty Young Things (20 Eloi NPCs)

My life might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when theirs are failing...

Frankenstein, by Mary W. Shelley

---

Twenty Eloi NPCs (D20)

1. Lucretia has a thing for mirrors and ghosts. She dances for the spirits that sing to her through her mirrors. They whisper to her of peculiar keys and dreamy things, and especially of an empire that is hers for the taking. She only needs to locate her own reflection. It escaped one night, during a terrible storm, and has been playing a sort of cat-and-mouse game with her ever since. Now neither she nor her independent reflection (most often taking a male guise), can be seen in a mirror or any other such surface. Sometimes this prompts her associates to suspect her of vampirism, accusations of which can sometimes be very inconvenient to disprove.
   
   Lucretia [Eloi, F/MU, LVL 2/3, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (loop-scale corset-cuirass, war-gloves), HD 5 (22 hp), #AT 2, DG 1d6/1d4 (+1 Mirror-blade & +2 curved dagger), SV MU5, ML 9. Special: 18 DEX, 17 CHAR & INT. Dagger can re-roll a miss if wielder takes 1d4 damage. Mirror-blade does double damage to Dobblekin, Simulacra, etc. Spells per day: 2,1. Level One: Charm Person, Light/Dark, Sleep. Level Two: Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force. Lucretia carries or owns (2d4) random mirrors of various kinds and sorts at all times.]
2. Gelja has been hitting the Hard Candy way too often lately. She doesn't much care any more. Ever since her twin was taken by the Comprachicos she has been obsessed with tracking them down and getting them back. She hasn't slept in three weeks or more. It's starting to show. She bleeds black, like a Tsalalian now and her once golden hair is turning black as well...
   
   Gelja [Eloi Thief, LVL 3, AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 6 (Banded Leather), HD 3 (14 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+4 (Six-Scalpel-Lash), SV T3, ML 11. Pick Locks: 27%, Set/Disable Traps: 25%, Sleight of Hand: 30%, Move Silent: 36%, Climb: 80%, Hide: 27%, Hear: 1-3. Backstab: +4 to hit, X2 damage, with surprise. Special: The Lash can be used as a garrotte on a score of 18 or better; inflicting double damage if the victim fails a Save. Hard Candy Addict: Gelja needs to make a CON Check (or a Save) every 24 hours to hold off the effects of the Vile Transformation. Right now she has a +3 bonus to her Check/Save, but every time she takes more than half her hit points in damage, she loses one of those pluses. Eventually her bonuses will become penalties and the Vile Transformation will be increasingly difficult to hold off. It's a losing game. She knows this. It's a price to pay to get what she wants. She's paying it. Now she has no time to waste.]
3. Pask served as a body guard and concubine to a rich noble who was banished to Wermspittle for certain unspecified excesses that incurred the Imperial Wrath. Like a fool, Pask followed his mistress to this place. She died after her third week. Poison. They blamed Pask. After three years in the Arenas, Pask still wouldn't talk about it unless blind drunk on Black Liquor. After the Black Liquor, he can't recall any of the details, only the pain remains.
   
   Pask [Eloi Fighter, LVL 4, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 5 (Layered Mesh and Shield), HD 4 (32 hp), #AT 1, DG 2d6+2 (Flame-Spike Flamberge) or 3d4 (Three-Section Flail), SV F4, ML 5. Special: Pask must make a WIS Check (or a Save) to remember anything any more. He has a 45% chance to go berserk in his sleep and wildly attack anyone and everyone within 30' of his resting place.]
4. The sight of old brick slums and dark foreign faces eat ever so deeply into Lylistire's ennui-stifled soul, or so he often will remind anyone whom he suspects of listening. Tormented and precious, this Eloi poseur is obsessed with appearances and implications. His paranoia is rich and virulent in respect to his closest colleagues and dearest friends, but rarely troubles him around complete strangers. He strives cunningly to make a suitable impression on those he has never met before. Those whom he knows, even only slightly, he tends to take for granted.
   
   Lylistire [Eloi Expert (Poet), AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 8 (Velvet-lined Panel-Coat), HD 2 (8 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4 or Scathing Rebuke, SV MU2, ML 4. Special: Lylistre can opt to inflict 1d4 damage per Scathing Rebuke in place of sullying his new gloves with blood. This is a verbal attack and requires him to use a language recognized by the target. He is fluent in eleven languages.]
5. Zeeb was raised among Roof-Runners. She is highly skilled at climbing, jumping, and all the things expected of a Roof-Runner.
   
   Zeeb [Eloi Thief (Roof-Runner), LVL 3, AL C, MV 120' (60'), AC 8 (Slick Brigadine), HD 3 (12 hp), #AT 2, DG 1d4+2/1d4+1 (Climbing Axe or Daggers), SV T3, ML 7. Pick Locks: 30%, Set/Disable Traps: 35%, Sleight of Hand: 20%, Move Silent: 36%, Climb: 84%, Hide: 25%, Hear: 1-3. Backstab: +4 to hit, double damage, with surprise. Carries 4 sets of climbing cable or rope (each 50-100'. Keeps a pouch of spider-bane on her belt.]
6. Shildra is a restless, high-strung, difficult child; brilliant, messy, incredibly creative, and far from ornamental, now that the vivid blue-green mold has robbed her of her looks (-4 to CHAR). She has looked upon the Smoldering Seas of Kazibak and traded her left hand for something more useful...
   
   Shildra [Eloi Spellcaster, LVL 4, AL C, MV 120' (30'), AC 7 (Studded Vest, Ragged Lace), HD 4 (15 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+1 (+2 Bodkin), SV MU 4, ML 5. Special: Shildra can cast  Contact Other Plane (Kazibak) once per week. Her left hand is a disconcerting mess of silver fluids and writhing phosphorescent green tendrils that somehow remains intact, despite its weird appearance. This prosthetic can change its shape at will, automatically Detects Magic (on touch), can reach past most mundane barriers (limited Passwall), and either smother or scald opponents on a successful attack (does both on 19 or better). Spells per day: 2,2. Level One: Hold Portal, Magic Missile (Searing Mercurial Droplets), Shield. Level Two:  Levitate, Locate Object, Web (Strands of Mucous).  Special: Shildra possesses a bone whistle that casts Sottarix's Six Clouds once per day. She does not know how to choose which cloud it will produce.]
7. Dashae was raised in an attic by her maternal grandparents. They negotiated an arranged marriage for her and her three sisters. It was a terrible blow to them all when the emissary of a foreign Prince they were supposed to be dealing with turned out to be a fraud. She ran away the night they discovered the truth. She's a Forager now. There hasn't been any opportunity to find out what became of her sisters. She has to keep busy, keep moving, keep working, or else her spot will get forfeited and someone else will take her place in the queue. Only seventeen spots remain between her and a real apprenticeship or even entry into the Academy.
   
   Dashae [Eloi Thief (Forager), LVL 3, AL C, MV 120' (60'), AC 7 (Boiled Silk), HD 3 (16 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (Yurlishi Katar), SV T3, ML 7. Pick Locks: 20%, Set/Disable Traps: 25%, Sleight of Hand: 17%, Move Silent: 38%, Climb: 80%, Hide: 35%, Hear: 1-3. Backstab: +4 to hit, double damage, with surprise. Carries a Forager Pack.]
8. Joola's family has been raising winged cats for generations now. She, however, cannot stand the filthy beasts. For their part it is a mutual antipathy. Joola wants to be a singer. Her looks and her innate charm-ability have gotten her quite a bit farther than her meager talent and grating voice ever could. A shot of Black Liquor tends to smooth out her voice. Now if she could just get those damned cats from crashing her shows.
   
   Joola [Eloi Expert (Former Cat Herder), AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Cat Leather), HD 2 (7 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+1 (Cat-Skinning Knife), SV F1, ML 5. Special: Joola's voice provokes a CHAR Check with a -2 penalty, unless she has had a shot of Black Liquor, then it gains a bonus of +2. Joola recently picked-up a mandolin. She does not know how to play it. Cats hate her. They frequently target her boots.]
9. Karj reads too much. He's the first to admit it. But with his memory, he only needs to read something once to be able to recall it later. Sometimes he wishes he could forget certain of the things he's read.
   
   Karj [Eloi Spellcaster, LVL 3, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Lacquered-Plaque Robes), HD 3 (11 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+poison (Bundle of Tail-Spines), SV MU 3, ML 9. Spells per day: 2,1. Level One: Cloud of Sparks, Magic Missile (Cascade of Pages), Read Magic, Shield. Level Two: Locate Object (Book), Web (Constricting Tendrils). Special: Karj is very well-known to several local book-sellers.]
10. Lurri was born to a family of gardeners. Their ancestors tended the great greenhouses that were ruined in the war. Which war depends upon which of her relatives is telling the family lore. They've lived in the attics of an Abandoned Property in the Burned Over District for so long that no one remembers where the old greenhouses used to be any more. Some of the younger cousins don't believe in such nonsense. They understand the harsh realities of the here and now.
    
    Lurri [Eloi Expert (Gardener), AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 6 (Lacquered Lamellar), HD 2 (10 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4/1d4 (Knife or Trowel), SV F1, ML 6. Special: Lurri was gifted her great-grandsire's crossbow...but she has lost the quarrels.]
11. Keedri has very pale eyes and incredibly tangled hair that is on the verge of becoming a riotous mane of dreadlocks. She is frail to the point of appearing anemic and almost bloodless, with a distinctly unhealthy grayness around the eyes. The spirits that possess her and speak through her at the seances she holds only grant their guidance and favor at a very steep price.
    
    Keedri [Eloi Spellcaster (Medium), LVL 2, AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Bone-Reinforced Plaited Cordage), HD 2 (7 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (Sword-cane), SV MU 2, ML 4. Spells per day: 2. Level One: Protection from Spirits, Ventriloquism. Special: Keedri has the ability to use her CHAR Reaction roll to befriend spirits. She also can Discern Presences at will and allow a spirit to talk/communicate through her if she voluntarily fails a Save either via Spirit Trance, ritual seance, or by Invoked Possession. She has three distinct entities that have taken an interest in her. One is a Predatory Projection that is attempting to mislead her about its true nature. She has a Received Text that she is transcribing in a backwards cipher based upon another of her spirit-guides' efforts to instruct her in various aspects of the sorcerous arts. The third spirit is difficult to contact, as it cannot abide the Predatory Projection's influence. It is some sort of discarnate scholar that cannot recall very many details about their previous existence, but it is attempting to teach Keedri a form of Voorish Sign to help defend her from the duplicitous Projection.]
12. Faren is descended from a proud line of idlers and do-nothings. Her people were once so rich and powerful that they had slaves to perform every menial task for them. Those days ended abruptly when their city was bombed into ruins. Reduced to penniless refugees, her people have had a particularly hard time of it in the shanty towns. It's amazing to her how quickly her kin took to the brothels. Her aunts now both control two very prosperous establishments, though they each had to arrange for their disagreeable husbands to disappear when they both started making noises about who was head of their households. Faren helped dispose of the remains. That was when she realized that her aunts had no intention of leaving her around as any sort of witness. She's been wandering the alleys and by-ways of the Shanty Towns ever since. She prefers to keep a low profile, in so far as her vanity will allow her...
    
    Faren [Eloi Cleric (Serves: Zoosh The Selfish), LVL 2, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 5 (Ancestral Chain-Mail), HD 2 (11 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (Bifurcated Staff), SV C2, ML 3. Spells per Day: 2. Level One: Allurement (limited phantasmal forces), Expand Capacity (only for self), Purify Food and Drink (only for self), Resist Cold (only for self), Sleep (Dispel Vigor). Turn Virtuous (as Turn Undead). Holy Symbol: Wide-Open Mouth molded in solid gold, modeled upon Faren herself.]
13. Voona is a former Rat Catcher's apprentice. She saw a swarm of rats obliterate her mentor and seven other apprentices just last week. She only just barely escaped. Mostly because she had fallen into a crevasse and had been climbing back up out of the pit when the rats turned upon her group. In her hurry to draw her weapon and attack the squealing mass of rodents, her hand slipped and she fell back down the crevasse. She awoke on the lichen-covered floor of a cavern overlooking one of the older cisterns. It took her four days to climb back up and out from there. Now she's debating what to do with herself. She doesn't see much of a future in being a Rat Catcher. Maybe knowing where a forgotten cistern is located might be worth something, to someone...
    
    Voona [Eloi Specialist (Ex-Vermin Hunter), AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 6 (Decommissioned Sewer-Scale, Mesh-Gauntlets), HD 2 (14 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4/1d6/1d4+2 (Serrated Knife, Truncheon or Fighting Torch), SV F1, ML 6. Special: Voona is currently listed as missing in action and presumed eaten by rats. She has about a dozen dinged-up old rat-traps and cages that she's considering selling.]
14. Jalisk ran away from home tonight. His mother had become one of the Soulless. He decided that he wasn't going to stick around to get used like another pawn in her devious machinations, not like his brother, his sister, and everyone else in their family. If he wasn't so scared, he might start to have ambitions.
    
    Jalisk [Eloi AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Quilted and Shield), HD 1 (5 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4 (light club), SV Zero-Level Human, ML 4. Special: Jalisk stole 400 silver coins on the way out of his mother's estate.]
15. L'Vinya was named for her great-aunt who was lost when her wagon didn't make it through the second Weak Point in the dark forests they had to cross to get to the seemingly endless plain of gray mud that brought them to the North East Rampart and into Wermspittle.
    
    L'Vinya [Eloi Spellcaster, LVL 2, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Vertebrae-Disk Leather), HD 2 (7 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4* (Ruuzang Stiletto), SV MU2, ML 5. Spells per day: 2. Level One: Charm Person (Revulsion), Light/Dark (Lilac Dimness), Protection From Insanity, Sleep (Incite Dream), Foul Fumes, Glossalalia. Special: Ruuzang Stiletto does double damage on roll of 19, triple on a natural 20; but it has a 75% chance to snap off in either instance. L'Vinya owns a copy of Manku's Black Book, three unfinished wands and a scroll of Convert Blood to Lamp-Oil.]
16. Kosha dreams of a white sphinx every night. A huge, alabaster sphinx looming over a vast expanse of wind-swept ice. Sometimes they wake up in the morning with a layer of frost over everything in their room.
    
    Kosha [Eloi Spellcaster (Dreamer), LVL 2, AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Fungal Leather), HD 2 (6 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+1 (Glass Club), SV MU 2, ML 9. Spells per day: 2. Level One: Protection From Nightmares, Dreamlight, Dreamwalk, Lucidity, Interpret Dreams, Oneiric Shield, Sleep. Special: Kosha's Glass Club affects intangibles for 2d4+3 damage. It cannot/will not affect non-intelligent undead.]
17. Tidri isn't quite so easily-hypnotized as Tonash the Master-Somnambulist originally thought. She never batted an eye as she slit his throat. She still smiles sweetly every time she thinks of it. If it hadn't been for him trying to stuff her into one of his velvet-lined cabinets, she might never have discovered her talent for the more subtle arts. Looting his library before she left was also one of her better ideas. After selling off the less useful tomes, she was able to get herself some decent clothes and secure a reasonably safe place to study. She just has to avoid the snares and servants of the other Somnambulists seeking revenge on her.
    
    Tidri [Eloi Spellcaster (Oneirist), LVL 2, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Beaded Leather), HD 2 (9 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4+2 (Snip-Shears), SV MU 2, ML 8. Spells per day: 2. Level One: Collect Oneiroplasm, Detonate Oneiroplasm, Dream Projection, Discern Unreal, Disperse Oneiroplasm, Language of Dreams, Lesser Hypnosis, Protection From Dreams, Rude Awakening, Trance Induction. Special: Tidri has six manuals and books on various oneirical techniques and practices from which she has taught herself her eclectic repertoire of non-standard spells. She has also dreamed of a shining short sword formed of some sort of bone-like material that is becoming more manifest each night she dreams of it. Three more nights and it will be usable for one hour each night.]
18. Zizi never wanted to be part of the Circus. She didn't ask to be a contortionist. She wasn't going to let Uncle Leonard send her off to the Comprachicos to get her 'fixed.' Things had gotten increasingly hard after her father died at the Battle of Xoron and the Gray Pox took her mother away from her. And, yes, she was grateful for all her uncle had done for her, but she had had enough. If he wanted someone cut and stitched and reworked to please the crowds, he could go get himself mangled. She ran off and hasn't looked back once in three years. She tries not to notice the hunchback that seems to be following her everywhere.
    
    Zizi [Eloi Fighter/Thief, LVL 2/2, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 6 (Light Bruthem-Hide), HD 4 (24 hp), #AT 2, DG 1d6/1d4+2 (Machete or Pincer-Knife), SV F3, ML 7. Thief Skills: Pick Locks: 27%, Set/Disable Traps: 20%, Sleight of Hand: 27%, Move Silent: 27%, Climb: 88%, Hide: 15%, Hear: 1-2. Backstab: +4 to hit, double damage, with surprise. Special: Pincer-Knife can snap-shut on a roll of 18-20, causing double damage and automatically inflicting 1d4+2 per turn until removed.]
19. Ladjo lives hard. He's rarely sober and only gets meaner when he goes for very long without a drink. His tolerance for exotic liquors is astounding. But then having three livers has more than a little to do with that.
    
    Ladjo [Eloi Fighter, LVL 4, AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 4 (Spike-Mail), HD 4 (38 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6+2 (Trefoil-Axe), SV F4, ML 9. Special: Heavily scarred in mind and body alike. The right eye isn't his. The right hand has talons and looks like it came from a griffin. The Grafters in the Arenas aren't always so choosy about what parts get used. Ladjo did a few favors for an Almas Glandculler a while back, hence his internal modifications that allow him to drink well past the point of excess and survive.]
20. Vashun is quiet. Almost skittish. They lost their tongue to some geist-thing their party ran into on the Third Flight of the Deep Stairs. They haven't been the same since.
    
    Vashun [Eloi Fighter, LVL 2, AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 6 (Scale-Mail), HD 2 (7 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6 (Crossbow or Short Sword), SV F2, ML 5 (-4 to ML when facing Geists). Special: Vashun tends to flake out when faced with what feels like overwhelming odds. They prefer to run away, not finish the job. They've been dismissed as a henchman by three employers already. Vashun does know several unmarked secret passages located along the first three flights of the Deep Stairs, which in itself is often pretty useful and valuable.]

What Lurks Below the Purple Glow? (Wermspittle)

Then, nearer, I perceived a strange light, a pale, violet- purple fluorescent glow, quivering under the night breeze. For a space I could not understand it, and then I knew that it must be the red weed from which this faint irradiation proceeded. With that realisation my dormant sense of wonder, my sense of the proportion of things, awoke again...

The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells

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Encounters Within the Purple Gloom
(Areas Overgrown by the Red Weeds...)

1. You've just discovered the dimly-lit niche where a swarm of bats have taken-up residence.
   
   Bats (10d10) [AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 6, HD 1 hp, #AT 1, DG Confuse, SV Zero-Level human, ML 6. Special: These bats are infested with a peculiar green-speckled mold. If exposed to open flame, they explode for 2d4 damage in a 10' radius, each.]
2. A few not-so-good Morlocks are hunting rats and other easy-meat in the Gloom.
   
   Morlocks (3d4) [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7 (Riveted Leather), HD 1 (9 hp each), #AT 1, DG 1d4x2 (Steely Knives), SV F1, ML 9. Special: Each carries a bone whistle that can be used to signal their main group (5d10). One of the Morlocks is possessed by a Gloomshadow.]
3. That stinking, vile mess of putrid flesh and ichor? It's the skinned and mutilated corpse of a Gloomswallow. Foragers or Gloomhunters have killed and stripped the thing for the leather that can be made from it. Examining the rapidly putrrifying flesh will reveal (1d4) unborn young still writhing within the murksome gore.
4. Huudrin the Marmoset has entered into the Purple Gloom looking for adventure. Now she lies bleeding and battered, hoping against hope for someone to help her back to her troop's encampment back in an Abandoned Property in the Burned Over District. They are searching for the Brazen Tomb of Gargantua...
   
   Huudrin the Marmoset Knightess (1) [AL L, MV 120' (40'), AC 4 (Cocoon-linked Chain-Mail), HD 5 (42 hp/currently 12 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (+1 Battle Axe), SV F5, ML 9. Anyone rescuing fair Huudrin will be richly rewarded in mustard, musk-wax and at least a passable meal...her troop are not rich folk, but they are honorable and will seek to repay a debt as best they might.]
5. A cloud of Flidder-spawn have found a small, undocumented Weak Point. It looks dark and stormy on the other side. Cold mud tinged with flakes of rust, though that red stuff could be pollen and the like blown across from the Red Weeds.
   
   Flidder-spawn (4d4) [AL C, MV 120' (60'), AC 6, HD 1+1 (ave. 4 hp each), #AT 1, DG 1d4 (special), SV F1, ML 10. Special: These immature spawnlings can inflict an involuntary Phaseshift on one target once per day, if they all work together. They will use this ability to remove the most obvious threat, once attacked, then they will attempt to flee, half going through the Weak Point, the rest scattering.]
6. Something is moving under the leaf-litter. These Ferropedes have been stalking you for the last little bit. You'd best attend to them, one way or another, before they attack. They may not be especially good at stalking prey, they are very tough, very nasty things.
   
   Lesser Ferropedes (3d4) [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 5, HD 2 (12 hp each), #AT 1 (bite), DG 1d4 + poison (Save or become seriously ill for next 6 days, and can only move at half normal rate, with no other physical activity possible.) The dark, swirly chitin of these insects contains a form of allotropic iron that may or may not be workable. If anyone knows how to use the stuff, it would be a Morlock armorer.]
7. The ground gives way. Those failing a DEX check or Save slide 3d6 feet down a muddy incline obscured by red leaves. You find yourself at the very rim of a most precipitous drop. Some sort of pit extending more than 30' and more than half-filled with rusty, oily-looking water that doesn't quite obscure a mid-sized Corpuscular Sludge that is trapped down there.
   
   Corpuscular Sludge (1) [AL N, MV 3', AC 6, HD 3 (12 hp), #AT 1, DG (Special), SV F3, ML 3. Special: On a successful attack the victim must make a Save or become infected with the creature's terrible blood-borne toxins. A second Save is then attempted, success means that the victim is incapacitated with a raging fever for the next 3d6 hours and they suffer the loss of 1 point of STR for the next 3 weeks. Failing this Save results in the victim losing 1 point of STR every hour until either they reach zero and die or the infection is halted or removed by medicine, potions, or other curatives. Each hour, before losing the point of STR, the victim is entitled to roll another Save. If they succeed they can lose one point of STR permanently and be cured, or they can fight the infection, retain the point of STR and have to endure another full hour of debilitating fever followed by another Save/potential STR loss.]
8. (1d4) Wretches slashing and burning their way through the Red Weeds. They are looking for a fight.
   
   Wretches (2d6) [AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 3 (Chain-mail and Shield), HD 4+4 (Regenerate 1 hp/3 turns unless burned), #AT 1, DG 1d6+3 (Broadswords or Battle-Axes, gain bonus for 18 STR), SV F6, ML 9 (3 if confronted with fire). Special: These Wretches have deserted Bairini's Big Top, several of them still carry tickets, tokens, or other small items from the Circus. Each one you return to the Ringmaster might be worth a small consideration.]
9. A small herd of Graylings snuffling and digging about for tasty roots. One in four has a serrated spade, the rest use their tiny hands to pluck forth the bulging tubers that grow parasitically at certain junctures of the root-system of the Red Weeds.
   
   Graylings (3d4) [AL C, MV 30', AC 9, HD 1d4 hp, #AT 1, DG 1d2 or 1d4 (spade), SV T1, ML 3.]
10. (3d12) Recently hatched Flutter Worms are crawling about the leaf-litter. Their tiny membranous winglets have not fully formed in some cases, in others their winglets appear to be missing. Something has affected them, causing these birth defects. But what could it be?
    
    Flutter Worms (3d12) [AL N, MV 10' (60'*), AC 9, HD (1d4 hp each), #AT 1, DG 1 hp (blood drain), SV MU 1, ML 4. Special: Each worm 'flutters' (a limited form of Blink), 1d6' in a random direction every few minutes.]
11. The bloody remnants of a Bruthem. From all appearances the clumsy brute blundered into the Red Weeds while wounded. The Red Weeds have grown through the carcass. The bones gleam wetly from behind a veil of twisted creepers, tendrils and fronds. The hide looks to have been carefully removed in sections.
12. (3d4) Murkim stalking a tusker-bear cub that they claim is theirs. They accidentally released the newly-acquired Tusker-Bear cub from its cage while looting the camp of a travelling menagerie that was ambushed by a band of heavily-armed Wretches as it was returning to the Big Top. The Murkim are duly spooked and are moving at maximum stealth. They will attempt to arrange for the Wretches to run afoul of others, so they can continue their search for the missing cub.
    
    Murkim (2d4) [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 6 (Disc-Mail cut from specially-cured stalks of ancient fungi), HD 2 (8 hp each), #AT 1, DG 1d6+poison (Short bows and short swords), SV F2, ML 9. Special: Murkim weapons are infested with fungal spores, all wounds inflicted require a Save or the victim suffers infection, most commonly a delirious fever for 1d4 hours, followed by 1d4 days of unpleasant dysentery and half movement, though they can fight at a -1 to hit penalty.]
13. A cluster of Shrieking White Moths were surprised by your almost stepping on them. They scream madly for 1d4 turns, then fly off to go perch somewhere less traveled. If provoked, they will certainly attack.
    
    Shrieking White Moths (2d4) [AL C, MV 60' (20'), AC 6 (small shields), HD 2+1 (12 each), #AT 1 (Shriek or Weapon), DG Save or Stunned for 1d4 turns or 1d4+1 (javelin), SV T2, ML 7. Special: Examining these moths reveals disturbing things, like their very human-like hands, and yes, they bleed red and are warm-blooded.]
14. Heavy iron nails have been driven into the denser, larger stalks and stems of the Red Weeds, each one anchors a chain sunk into the writhing, cursing, madly babbling Blatherer that some apprentice named Frenidall has oh so rudely and crudely left behind, after summoning the thing to serve as a familiar in the first place. Anyone coming within 100' of the constantly kvetching and complaining Blatherer will need to beware the almost constant Wandering Monster checks. If the Blatherer notices them (and they do this without eyes), the creature will holler, yell, and call out for help until it receives succor or grows tired and takes a break from its tirades for 1d4 turns before launching into a scathing analysis of all the shortcomings and failures of everyone who has passed it by and opted to leave it here.
    
    Blatherer (1) [AL C, MV 120' (90'), AC 9, HD 3 (20 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4/turn, SV F2, ML 12. Special: Their only real attack is the constant babble and chatter that they create, an unholy racket that gnaws away at a person's brain, mind and soul until at last they either expire or go stark raving mad. In desperation they can bite for 1d4, once. They'll stop after the first bite as it interferes with their preferred onslaught of verbal harangues.]
15. An especially argumentative group of Tsalalian Refugees have gotten themselves lost. They are very loudly blaming one another for their current predicament. They were hunting after carnivorous black penguins. Now they'd be happy to find their way back to the shanty town they call home.
    
    Tsalalian Penguin-Hunters (3d4) [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 5 (Cheap Splint-Mail), #AT 1, DG 1d6 (Barbed-Spears of Seal-Clubs), SV F2, ML 5. Special: Cast Confusion once per day, per HD.]
16. A pair of Morlock Weed-workers gathering choice leaves, shoots, tendrils and other parts of the Red Weed to use in their crafting for armor, weapons and other items. The old master is limping. They were accosted by a gang of Feral Children who may still be following them. They would like to parley. Perhaps you might see your way clear to help them get back to their cellar door? The apprentice offers you a Pruztian Five-Pence piece.
    
    Morlock Weed-Worker (1) [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 4 (Untermail), HD 6 (45 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d4x3 (Modified Bec-de-corbin), SV T6, ML 9. Special: Lurk in Shadows, Move Silently, Climb as Thief of level equal to HD.]
    
    Morlock Apprentice (1) [AL N, MV  90' (30'), AC 6 (Square-Scale Mail), HD 2 (8 hp), #AT 1, DG 1d6 (Axe or Pry-bar), SV T2, ML 9. Special: Lurk in Shadows, Move Silently, Climb as Thief of level equal to HD.]
17. A Gloomswallow lurks in the deeper violet shadows, whispering softly for its mate.
    
    Gloomswallow (1) [AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 7, HD 3+3, #AT 1, DG (Special), SV F4, ML 11. Special: Should the Gloomswallow's tentacles hit their target, the victim must make a Save or have the tentacles infiltrate their flesh and begin to drain away their emotions. It generally takes only 1 turn per level/hit die of the victim to drain it of all emotion. This effect will persist each day that the victim fails a Save. Each day of being devoid of emotion there is a cumulative -1 penalty to the Save. Those victims who fail more than four such Saves are rendered permanently emotionless, requiring them to re-roll their WIS with a -2 penalty, and re-roll their INT on 4D6 with a +1 bonus (discarding the lowest roll), and they become cold, calculating, logical and rational to an extreme--and utterly devoid of all emotion, warmth or affect. Also, the Gloomswallow can cast the following spells: Passwall, True Seeing, Discern Emotion, Locate Dreamer, and ESP at will. Most can also cast Shadow Theft, as well as 1d4 random spells, usually those of an Oneiric, Umbral or Ectoplasmic nature. See more at the Gloomswallow entry.]
18. Run-away Tusker-Bear Cub. Very confused and scared. It was taught several tricks by its master, including riding a unicycle. None of that seems to be much use.
    
    Tusker-Bear Cub (1) [AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 6, HD 2 (11 hp), #AT 3 (claw/claw/bite or tusk-gore), DG 1d3/1d3/1d4, SV T2, ML 4. Special: The cub has the basic idea of how to wield a sword, but isn't fully trained as yet. If it gets the opportunity, it will attempt to pick-up a sword and use it in its defense.]
19. Rats. Lots of fat, sleek, well-fed rats. They would just as soon ignore you, but will attack if provoked.
    
    Fat Rats (5d10) [AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 9, HD 1 hp, #AT 1, DG 1d6+Disease, SV Zero-Level Human, ML 5. Special: If damaged, the rats bleed a thick, metallic-red material more like grease than normal blood. Some strange side-effect brought about by eating a lot of Red Weeds, no doubt.]
20. A large Unseen Beast is contentedly grazing on the Red Weeds. Until you showed up. Now it's a might peeved. Especially now that you've gotten between it and its young.
    
    Unseen Mother-Beast (1) [AL N, MV 120' (40'), AC 4, HD 6 (39 hp), #AT 1, DG 2d6 (30% chance of additional 1d6 with Trample), SV F6, ML n/a -- The Mother-Beast will continue to attack until it feels that its young are safe, in this frenzied state she will continue to fight even after reaching -20 hp. Special: Invisible.]
    
    Unseen Young (1d4) [AL C, MV 60' (20'), AC 4, HD 2 (12 each), #AT 1, DG 1d4 (10% chance to Trample for additional 1d4), SV F2, ML 12 (Oblivious, unless Mother is grunting in warning then 3). Special: Invisible.]

You may also find the Random Swarms Table handy.