Questionable Trinkets & Trash: An Index

Questionable Trinkets & Trash...

...From the Streets of Wermspittle

Along the Low Streets and the back-alleys of Wermspittle, whether they are within the areas patrolled at night or out among the ramshackle wasteland of the plague-ridden Shanty Camps, one cannot travel very far in Wermspittle before encountering some street vendor hawking curious goods of ambiguous provenance. Sometimes there are real bargains to be had, in between the piles of dented and bloodied armor left-over from some recent battle or the obligatory peddlers and pushers trying to foist their noxious concoctions upon the unwise and unwary. Other times a sack of what at first appeared to be some good loot might turn out to be only so much trinkets and trash, but even so, one person's trash can turn out to be another's treasure...

• Table I
• Table II
• Table III
• Table IV
• Table V
• Table VI
• Table VII
• Table VIII
• Table IX
• Table X

Download the compilation PDF for this series.

(COMING SOON)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (VI)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (VI)

1. A well-worn and seriously notched old squeeze-box that will drive-off Ungezeifer and Cacozombies when played with both hands. The effect is equivalent to a sphere or Circle of Protection for as long as the Squeeze-Box is played. It ends when the music stops.
2. A silver spoon that will cause 1d20 damage to anyone under the influence of the White Powder, just on contact. If the spoon is used to stir White Powder, it ruins it, converting it into a useless gray ash.
3. A small locket that wards off Macroceum.
4. Six marbles that will purify any liquid into drinkable water, no matter how toxic, acidic or good the vintage might be. Certain unscrupulous tavern-owners are known to use these things to sabotage their rivals.
5. A small charm that will allow the wearer to paralyze Gore Worms for 1d4 hours with just a single touch.
6. A simple tavern dart that will point to the nearest Weak Point when tossed casually in the air.
7. A gold pinky-ring that will cause all Midwives to charge the wearer triple the going rate for the least service. Once worn, the ring won't come off, not without the help of a Midwife.
8. A humble cloth sack with a shoulder strap. Any vegetables placed within the bag will remain fresh for 1d4 weeks on a case-by-case basis.
9. A pair of heavy wool socks that will grant the wearer a +1 bonus to all Saves versus cold.
10. A glossy black walking stick that will cause anyone using it to walk with a pronounced limp, move at half normal rate, and gain the chance to re-roll either their INT, WIS or CHAR, counting all 1's rolled as 6's. Any attempt to use the walking stick a second time will reduce the re-rolled attribute by 1d4. The effect only becomes permanent after carrying the walking stick around in one of the character's hands steadily for 2d4 months, at the end of which time the thing disappears.

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (V)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (V)

1. A box containing (2d4) wigs. One wig will grant a +1 bonus to CHAR for 1d4 hours. The rest just make you look like a dork.
2. Three brass monkeys nailed to a board. Placing this on your table will get you free drinks for 1d4 hours. The effect works for the entire table, but someone, chosen randomly from among those indulging under the auspices of the monkeys will be comatose for 1d4 days afterwards.
3. A clam-shell smeared with blood and gristle. It inflicts 1d4 damage and drains 1 point of WIS from both the wielder and the victim with every failed SAVE on either's part.
4. A complete heavy-duty Mechanic's Ratchet Set in a box the size of a packet of Low Lander cigarettes. It still weighs the same, though. Unless you're a certified Mechanic.
5. A tin ecto-trap that will still work for about 2d4 hours. Expose it to sunlight to clear it.
6. A magnifying glass that allows the user to peer 1d4 planar layers deep without being spotted by whatever is on the other-side. It only has a range of 1d4x10' at any given moment, but it has proven handy to several investigators, all of whom are now sadly deceased.
7. A gritty, smelly sack of dirt and wriggling worms. If the worms are withdrawn with the left hand and slapped against the owner's thigh, the worm will transform into an arrow. Each arrow will revert to a worm after 1d4 minutes. If it is still lodged in a target, it will burrow into their body, inflicting an additional 2d4 damage and requiring a worm pliers or surgery to extract them.
8. A gourd filled with a tarry purplish ichor that will indelibly frost glass and cause 3d6 damage to any Jelly or Grout it comes into contact with. Those amorphous monsters killed in this manner curdle-up and leave behind more of the purplish ichor. The smell of this stuff attracts Jellies in particular and unlicensed use by non-professionals is discouraged because it can sometimes cause Jellies to go berzerk and double in size/HD, unless the user knows exactly how to use the ichor.
9. A necklace of (2d6) black beads. Each bead removed from the necklace will allow the wearer to skip one wandering monster check.
10. A full-length mirror that allows anyone looking into it to heal all damage or cure any affliction, so long as they can get their reflection to fail a Save.

Questionable Trinkets and Trash (IV)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (IV)

1. An oil painting in a slightly bent frame. It depicts a forest. Anyone hanging this painting over their sleeping place will have weird dreams, but heal at double the normal rate and their hair will grow out like an unruly hay-stack.
2. (1d4) slightly used Koponu-cages. One has a cryptic message scratched into the bottom that can only be read in the light of the second moon.
3. A rug made out of the rags cast-off from a worm-monger. The seller attests vociferously that the thing will repel all worms from any room graced by this fine example of Low Lander craftsmanship.
4. Three shin bones tightly wrapped with gut-cordage and daubed with crumbling blue pigment that smells sulfurous. In the hands of a Medium, this thing serves as a +1 mace versus ectoplasmic entities/spirits, in addition to the +1 to hit/Triple damage it does against cannibals.
5. A brass-fitted Morlock skull that will belch forth 4d6 orange-speckled toads whenever it is given a sip of wine. Apparently the better the vintage, the more toads pour forth.
6. A beautifully-carved black-alloy ring that will go on smoothly and wear like a charm, until, after 10 minutes, when it will sever the wearer's finger, causing 1d6 damage. Save or suffer a -1 penalty to DEX.
7. A heavy trench-fighter's cloak that keeps everything within it wet and raw, no matter how dry or hot it might be outside. The inside hem seems to have a peculiar reddish fungal growth along the seam that smells strongly of cinnamon and cheap rum. Dogs and related beasts will seek to avoid the wearer of this thing.
8. A much-used copper fat-rendering pan. The handle is inset with bits of human bone.
9. A sieve that will not let a single worm pass through it no matter how much you press.
10. (1d6) rolls of pinkish, leathery bandages that will practically wrap themselves on bloody wounds, instantly healing 1d6 damage and preventing infection. The bandages will seal off the wound, stop the bleeding and then slither off to go gestate before spawning 1d4 Gore Worms.

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (III)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (III)

1. A smooth green whetstone that will grant all blades sharpened on it a +1 bonus to their damage for the first 10 attacks that hit.
2. A tin whistle that will drive off Miasmas to a distance of 10' for every 1 hit point the user allows the thing to take.
3. A crusty old inkwell that was once part of a general's campaign kit. If filled with fresh blood, the inkwell will provide waterproof black ink that can only be read by those identified in the document, at least without extreme tampering.
4. (2d4) tiny toad harnesses delicately studded with tiny carbunkles and dim yellow cabochons.
5. An old horse shoe.
6. An umbrella fashioned from the preserved hide of a large octopoid. The handle is imprinted with the imprimatur of a long-gone airship line. The metal framework is a little rusty, but otherwise works fine. A hidden trigger in the handle causes the central pointy-bit at the top to shoot 20' with sufficient force to inflict 2d4 damage. The springs inside the shaft are shot though, so it cannot be reloaded.
7. A gauntlet set with moonstones. The leather is completely eaten away, three rivets need to be replaced and two of the stones are missing. If it is properly restored, the gauntlet will allow the wearer to collect moonlight for use in spells. The seller mumbles something about certain others having other uses for it, but won't elaborate for fear of being overheard by some Outlaw Oneirist.
8. A silver-studded crow collar. It grants the crow a +2 bonus to all Saves, which it does not have to share with the owner. If fastened around the neck of a crow in moonlight, the collar will grant the bird speech in the language of the one who caught it. The collar does nothing to make the crow behave or cooperate.
9. A large-sized raw silk tunic. If worn under the clothes or armor, it causes all damage done by missile weapons such as arrows, darts, thrown knives, etc. to not count any 1's or 2's rolled for damage. It also prevents the wearer from bleeding for as long as the shirt is kept in-place.
10. A saddle with a lot of straps and lines, jammed into a heavy burlap sack that also contains three sets of worm-bridles and two pair of blinders.

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (II)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (II)

1. (1d6) warped and bent brass trumpets caked in hardened mud, recently recovered from an old battle-site.
2. A mushroom-leather wine-skin that converts all alcoholic beverages poured into it into urine.
3. A plow-man's leather vest with a gaping hole in the middle of the back. If repaired the thing will repel all lesser vermin within 20', which to a farmer in the Low Lands is actually something of a curse.
4. (1d4) pair of +1 worm pliers.
5. One worm-chewed cat-skin glove. It grants a +1 bonus to DEX at night, but the wearer also develops a nasty case of worms that will require medical attention.
6. A crudely stuffed crow with silver orbs for eyes. It can be asked one question every New Moon, if you know the right procedure. It only has a 60% chance of lying even when it is wrong.
7. A Lodestone that will avoid all Ley-line intersections.
8. A plague mask that the seller claims came direct from Latterkamp. The sachet in the beak section is still fresh and heavily redolent of copal, benzoin and some unidentifiable substance that will bring the wearer to the immediate attention of every Goule within 100'.
9. A fractured mirror in a reinforced frame made to be attached or mounted onto a medium shield, complete with the mountings for two swinging lamps that are missing. If properly lit and mounted on a medium shield, this mirror will cause 2d4 damage per minute to all dopplegangers, simulacra and such creatures in a 10' wide and 30' long area directly in front of the shield. Using the wrong sort of lamp will instead enrage all affected creatures, who will attack the mirror-wielder to the exclusion of all others.
10. A tin box of translucent green salt that causes 1d4 damage on contact. All flesh touched by this stuff turns a vile mottled green and black as though gangrenous, but remains whole. Save or suffer a -1 penalty to CHAR, make the Save and only suffer a -1 to all CHAR reactions with healthy/+1 bonus to CHAR reactions with the Afflicted, Unfortunate, Patients, Plague-carriers or Poxed.

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (I)

Questionable Trinkets & Trash (I)

1. An over-sized and deeply engraved powder-horn. Even immersed in a bucket of water, this thing keeps the powder dry, at least until you pour it out.
2. A vile-smelling greenish snuff much favored among the women of Pitorria. It turns their teeth green and grants them a poisonous bite. Some say it also stimulates certain occult powers they are alleged to cultivate.
3. A dull and dusty old lens that comes in a faded purple velvet pouch. The lens is looped with a small silver wire and hangs from a tiny white-metal chain. If cleaned-up and used to look at the Moon during a particular phase it will reveal a second moon.
4. (1d4) antique cat-flensing knives in a small wooden presentation case inscribed with a large monogram 'F.' The lid sticks a little bit. They've never been used. Possession of these things causes all felines to have a -4 Reaction to the owner.
5. Mandrake roots packed in shredded birch bark. The seller will mumble various vague hints and such, but they will not inform anyone ignorant of such matters what they might do with the things, aside from a warning to the seriously ignorant not to eat them.
6. A small bracelet of dull bronze worked into a chunky, angular form with sixteen sections. The markings are mostly obliterated, in three instances deeply scratched off deliberately. Astrologers will potentially recognize enough of the remaining symbols to leave the thing alone, unless they have been properly attuned.
7. A small, delicate, wonderfully carved bone pen that can fill 3d100 pages without being re-dipped, if it is used to first inflict 1d4 damage on the user. It will write in any language specified by the wielder, even if they do not know it themselves.
8. A small, blackened ash-wood 'X' on a single upright brace. It is roughly a foot high when set on the floor. Numerous holes have been made by nails pounded into the extreme ends of each of the four arms of the 'X,' and the wood is deeply stained with old blood. It comes with a small lead-headed hammer and a box of silver pins. The seller claims that it is authentic. You're supposed to nail a toad to the thing and leave it near someone afflicted with a pox or plague and the toad is supposed to take-on the illness. If you let it dry long enough, the toad will remove the disease even from someone on their death-bed, or so they say. Toads cost extra.
9. A slightly dented brass lantern fitted with panes of hardened, tinted glass. Three of the panes are purple.
10. A peculiarly gnawed thigh-bone. It twists at the middle to reveal a small quantity of a peculiar blue dust. Each night this bone will attract 1d6 rats. Their numbers will increase by an additional 1d6 each night. They will not be driven off and will need to be killed. They want the blue dust. Giving the bone/dust to the rats will make them stop harassing the party, but it will also result in the spawning of 2d4 Ratterlings.