An Abandoned Map (Now Found)

An Abandoned Map

Gus L from over at Dungeon of Signs has abandoned this map, so I thought it would be interesting--and fun--to see what happened if it showed up somewhere else, so here it is. I opted to keep things minimally-statted and aimed at a party of low-level adventurers. This dungeon can be quickly and painlessly used or adapted for use with whatever system you prefer, whether Swords & Wizardry (Complete), OD&D, DCC RPG, Heroes & Other Worlds, T&T, AD&D, Labyrinth Lord, or whatever, maybe even some version of FATE, FUDGE or one of those other newfangled games.

This is pretty much a bare-bones sort of thing, wide open to re-interpretation, adaptation and on-the-fly improvisation. If you don't like a particular monster, feel free to swap it out for one you do like. If there needs to be more monsters, more traps, more whatever, then feel free to add whatever you need to make it work for you. Take it and make it your own. Go for it. Knock yourself out. Have fun!

The Weird Mound

Prologue
A weird tumorous mound of semi-petrified flesh was recently discovered in the middle of a previously unexplored box canyon that a family of goat-herds thought might hold some decent pasturage for their goats. The pasture is lush and very tempting. They just don't trust the mound-heap and have offered a modest reward to anyone brave enough to go examine the thing.

Getting There
The surrounding area is steep, rocky and heavily wooded everywhere there's a spot for trees to take root. Several small streams cut through the rocky soil and there is a lot of sage, thyme and rosemary growing in abundance wherever the trees haven't quite taken over yet.

It takes one or two days to get to the weird mound, following the tracks and trails used by the herders. They have sent along a guide to lead you to the place, but upon arrival the kid runs off figuring that you can find your own way back.

First Look at the Weird Mound
Maybe, once long ago, this thing might have been a big jiggly mass of stuff like aspic or pudding. In places it still looks kind of soft or squishy. Distorted and tangled weeds of unhealthy aspect jut out of cracks and crevices all over the mound. It gets progressively and more obviously drier, darker and more brittle the higher up it goes. The upper layers are a tumbled mess of fractured splinters and shapeless, broken debris. Nothing grows on top of any of this stuff.

You are not the first ones to discover this Mound. There are a number of entrances, crevices, niches, carved-out cavities and ledges built into the place by diverse hands in various styles, apparently at several different historical periods.

---

The Outer Areas (A-G)
Roll 1d4 and consult the options in the green box however often or as many times as you like while the characters are poking about or loitering in these areas.

Area A
Marble columns flank an ornate door, three to a side. Rancid-smelling blue-veined vines clutch the columns to about half-way from the top where they fall away in a fine gray powder. The ornate doors crumble to dust and half-petrified fragments if you attempt to open them. The space beyond the outer columns is cool, dry and has an indefinable mustiness to it. None of the vines intrude on this dimly lit area.

Roll 1d4 as often as desired...
1) The vines attack as (1d4) constrictor snakes. 2) A column crumbles as you pass. 3) Nasty green mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It drips a mild acidic fluid on everyone who passes. 4) The disintegration of the door startles a flock of hairless three-eyed bat-things that squawk loudly as they flutter off in a swarm to escape from the disturbance.

Area B
A sandy slope leads into a sharp-edged crack in the Mound. There are bones jutting out of the sand. Mostly small animals. The sand gets deeper and more slippery the farther back you try to go, making this route challenging and potentially difficult.

1) A partial (legless) Skeleton crawls out of the sand and attacks wielding a beautiful jade cutlass. 2) The sand begins to pour forth from the opening in a massive surge. Everyone attempting to make their way through this stuff must Save or make a DEX Check to avoid getting buried. The sand-flow subsides in about an hour.  3) Nasty yellow mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It drips a foul-smelling milky fluid on everyone who passes. Those exposed must make a Save or their leather and fabric clothes/armor/gear will begin to fall apart. 4) Someone finds a rough-edged disk of translucent gray stone carved with the likeness of an octopus that has the face of a mandrill on top wielding some sort of jagged-toothed chopping weapons in each of its eight limbs.

Area C
Crudely carved stone steps lead back into a roughly-hewn hole hacked and hammered through the very stuff of the Mound. There are chunks and pieces of brittle mound-stuff scattered across the steps. The debris is as brittle as charcoal and appears harmless. The walls of this entrance are covered with angular spirals with sharply-exaggerated corners almost like hooks.

1) A section of the ceiling overhead collapses. Everyone within 10' of the opening must make a Save or DEX check to avoid getting struck by falling debris for 1d4 damage. 2) The spiral-carvings in the walls seem to swirl and change colors as you pass. 3) Nasty red-spotted mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It sprays a fine mist of sweet-smelling nectar on everyone who passes. This stuff remains pungent for the next 2d4 hours and turns exposed portions of skin a sickly pink. 4) There are (1d4) Giant Centipedes coiled-up within some of those carved-out spirals and they will attack with surprise if no one notices them in time.

Area D
A small stairway leads up to a flat, clear corridor. The walls are whitewashed. The floor is spotless.

1) The 'whitewash' is actually caustic lime and anyone stirring up the stuff by walking through here must Save or be blinded for the next 1d20 hours. 2) An stunted, albino Black Pudding lairs in a niche in the ceiling. 3) Nasty bone-white mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It does nothing, but it is extremely flammable. 4) A Skeleton wielding a broken spear (The head is missing) attacks. Inside its skull is a small green stone cut with three indecipherable rune-marks.

Area E
A ledge where someone once set up a modest shrine from mounded-up bones, candles and other bits and pieces. It hasn't been used in decades, if not centuries. There might be a sort of altar-stone set-up towards the back.

1) There's a small white conical stone lying amid the bones, stones and debris. It is cool to the touch and radiates a faint magic (Radiates a faint aura of Protection From Faeries in a 12' radius). 2) The debris shifts as you sift through it, or as you pass it by. In either case there's nothing to see here. 3) Nasty black mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It crumbles into a toxic cloud of smoke-like spores if disturbed. Those exposed must Save or suffer intense diarrhea for the next 1d4 hours. 4) A Skeleton of some sort of prehuman creature digs, claws and pulls its way out from under the debris. It will mindlessly serve any one-word command given to it by the first person it encounters.

Area F
Another ledge, only this one was stripped bare and blasted by intense heat. There are harpy bones burned into the Mound-stuff from whatever destroyed the shrine that once occupied this niche.

1) A section of wall collapses as you pass, revealing even more blackened bones embedded in the side of the Mound. 2) A hazy black flame erupts from the center of the floor inside the niche. It lasts for less than a second, but fills everyone who sees it with a lingering sens of dread. All retainers, hirelings and the like must roll their Morale Checks with a -2 penalty. 3) Nasty orange mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It scrutinizes your group with a single lambent green eye but disdains to converse with lower life-forms. 4) A blackened harpy-skeleton tries to free itself from the wall only to tear itself to pieces in the process, scattering burnt old bones across the floor.

Area G
Four very angular, very precise openings have been sliced through the Mound-stuff. Each of these openings extend upwards for over 30'. The walls are clean, smooth and exactly perpendicular to the extremely smooth and flat floor. Everything gets rougher and less finished and cruder the farther back one goes.

1) The upper portions of this passage are unsteady and will collapse in a heap of debris after anyone goes farther than ten feet into this space. Unless they stand there gawking, there is no danger of getting hit, hurt or buried as the collapse proceeds in slow motion and makes little to no noise. 2) The other openings close-up as you enter this one. 3) Nasty blue-striped mold covers the overhanging ceiling. It drips a meaty-scented liquor that is absorbed by the walls before it can reach you. 4) The floor cracks and peels as you pass and grows progressively more brittle the farther back you move until finally a section gives way, leaving a yawning pit that blocks the way forward. The pit forms in slow motion, so is easy to avoid. It extends to a depth of at least 300' deep, and is 1d4x10' across and goes from wall to wall.

---

The Inner Regions
Wherever there appears to be a door marked on the map roll 1d6: 1-4) The door collapses into fragments and dust without harming anyone or making much noise; 5) Whomever touches or is within 5' of the door must roll a DEX Check or Save to avoid taking 1d4 damage from the petrified fragments of the door cascading down around them with a terrible clatter. Make a Wandering Monster Check; 6) The door screams loudly, tears itself loose, and charges past the group in an attempt to escape its centuries-long imprisonment only to splinter, shred and fall to pieces with each step. It will get about 30' before it finally collapses into a pile of debris. A Wandering Monster is pretty much going to happen now, no need to roll.

Room 1
The door leading inwards from here is partly petrified, partly rotted. It breaks into shards and pieces on contact. The noise echoes quite a bit. [Roll bonus Wandering Monster check.]

There are two rows of four columns. Each column is featureless, smooth and seemingly all of one piece of peculiarly mottled marble. Closer examination will reveal that these 'columns' are in fact semi-petrified mottled puddings that are slowly awakening due to your lingering presence. Leaving the room allows the Puddings to return to their suspended animation state, sticking around will have a 3HD Mottled Pudding (treat as Black Pudding)  become active every other round until all six have been awakened. If the Puddings are destroyed, examining the much smaller-diameter columns they were mounted upon will reveal several intricately carved panels of fragile fossilized ivory, each one weighing over 200 pounds and approximately 10' tall, 1/2' wide and 3" thick. The panels can be removed from the columns simply by prying them loose with a dagger or whatnot. Transporting the panels will be tricky; they break if handled roughly and will be ruined unless carefully handled. They are priceless archaeological finds dating back thousands of years, but will probably net about 1,000 GP each from the usual suspects...if you can get them back intact. The fragments will be all but worthless, except to very peculiar crafters of exotic materials.

Room 2
Small Temple. The columns in this area are stark black stone and quite inert. A large black basalt block has been set-up in the middle of the floor and appears to have been used as the base for an altar and other fixtures that have all been rudely and vigorously removed be some previous despoiler of sacred precincts. If anyone cares, the walls are painted with frescoes depicting strangely interconnected clusters of organic swirls and loops that take on an ominous aspect the longer you look at them. All NPCs allowed to stare at these frescoes must make a Morale Check with a -4 penalty.

Room 3
A half-dome ceiling completely covered with an ancient mosaic fashioned from human finger-bones. There is a dull gray fuzz extending down from the top obscuring the most interesting parts of the mosaic. What you can see is disturbing, disgusting and causes all NPCs to make another Morale Check with a -6 penalty.

There are a couple of small, dark storage-spaces behind grated-doors. Both of these little rooms were in fact cells where dozens of fingerless skeletons have been piled like so much cord-wood.

Room 4
The walls are smeared with long-dried blood and show the clear signs of a mighty struggle. Massive vertebrae from some sort of exotic giant serpent lie scattered across the dusty and filthy floor. There is no sign of the things head. What remains of the furniture is smashed and burned. Someone has chopped some sort of vulgar insult into one of the walls at about thigh-level with a chisel or axe.

Room 5
A badly mauled skeleton missing one arm is suspended by chains head-down over a brazier that has fallen off of its tripod. There is a large ruby ring still attached to the skeleton's sole remaining index finger.The ruby glitters and glimmers seductively in the dimness of this room. It contains the essence and soul of the old High Priest who used to be master of this shrine, before his insatiable hunger for human sacrifices brought him into conflict with a band of adventurers...but that was long ago and of no interest or lasting consequence.

Room 6
A ledge littered with broken idols, all of which have bat-like features. A closer examination will reveal that each one is in fact the petrified remains of something that once lived.

The bat-thing idols are fragile, but can be carried if wrapped carefully. They might fetch a few coins from those interested in extinct monsters and the like.

Room 7
A fractured pedestal stands between two opposing stairs. A heavy metal foot broken off just above the ankle is all that remains of an ancient iron golem that used to guard this space.

Room 8
The old castellan's desk is a mouldering mass of rotted wood and loose-bits of trash. A heavily tarnished silver-chased ceremonial shield has crumpled to the floor. It might be worth a few coppers, but moving it will upset the (1d4) Giant Centipedes hiding behind it.

Both sets of bunks in the two sleeping areas have fallen into ruin and rot. There are a few random bits of off-hand junk left behind, including a letter-opener (dagger-1), and a carved bone chit once used in a brothel long since gone.

Room 9
Bats have taken over this room. Hundreds of the wee beasts sleep suspended from the ceiling and a few projecting pieces of the walls during the daylight hours. Each night they fly forth to feed on insects. The floor is almost waist-deep with accumulated guano. They've been here a long time. Digging in the guano will only attract a wandering monster. This room was cleared-out well before the bats moved in.

Room 10
A cultic shrine. The pillars in this place are twisted and slick with an oily residue. The floors are covered with enameled tiles arranged in intricate geometric patterns that resemble angular, hook-like spirals of green and yellow flaring across black and purple abstract cloud formations. A brazier of white metal suspended in the air by a lingering enchantment flares into life as anyone enters this room. Three more of the things lie dead and inert on the floor. The brazier can be moved slowly, but will go inert if taken out of the room.

All NPCs entering this room must make a Morale Check with a -4 penalty. Those rolling a result of '1' become suddenly and violently ill, vomiting uncontrollably and suffering 1d4 damage per Turn that they remain inside the Mound. Those that die from this disorder rise as zombies within 1d4 Turns.

Stairs lead down and away from this room to a landing. There are two black onyx statues set in rounded niches on the left-hand side of the landing. These figures are grim, menacing and monstrous but inert. Each has a large, crudely cut ruby mounted in each of their three eye-sockets. Tampering with the statues will result in the floor of the landing falling away, leaving only a 3" rim around the pit trap so revealed. This pit is 60' deep and the walls are dry and crumbly, making climbing difficult as portions will cascade down upon anyone struggling about down there. A gong will sound as the floor falls away. It might attract a wandering monster, but the guards it was intended to call are long gone.

Room 11
The door to this small room was spiked shut from the inside. The door breaks easily now, due to rot and age. There are two small humanoid skeletons in here, one clutching a short sword, the other with a clearly damaged skull. A small sack in the corner will fall to dust if disturbed. Underneath are 400gp, 20sp, and a small gem worth maybe 100gp. The coins are crudely stamped from chunks of raw metal and might be of some interest to a numismatist or historian.

Room 12
The old font, nave and statuary in this room have all been thoroughly smashed and defecated upon.

Room 13
The frescoes on this room's walls have all been defaced, often in crudely humorous ways. There is a stack of 27 slightly fractured skulls stacked along the wall. All of them have turquoise and jade bits implanted in their teeth.

Room 14
The walls are covered with strange, angular hook-like spirals. All NPCs must roll Morale checks with a -2 penalty. There are (1d4) skeletal rats lurking within one or more of the spirals.

Room 15
The door used to be reinforced with heavy panels of bronze that have spilled out onto the floor as the wood rotted away underneath it. Inside are several ornately-carved wooden clubs set with obsidian and animal teeth, as well as dozens of egg-shaped throwing stones and hand-axes. Some of it might be useful still, but most of it is too old, too brittle to trust.

There is a section of the back wall that sags oddly. Disturbing it, as in examining it more closely, causes the gypsum and paint to finally give-out and collapse into the little armory with a groaning crash. A choking cloud of white dust will fill the space for the next hour or so before it finally settles. A passage is revealed. A corridor that leads to a still functional pit trap that will trigger on a roll of 1-3 on a d6 once someone passes over it. This pit is lined with jagged bits of jade and obsidian taken from broken weapons and anyone falling down into this pit takes 2d4 damage. Any rope lowered into the pit will be severed on a roll of 1-2 on a d6, if it is used to help pull someone out of the pit.

Room 16
The floor swirls with the faintly luminous coils of an ancient Silence 15' Radius spell that remains in effect for 1d6 Turns. It used to be permanent, but age has worn it down somewhat. The walls are all glossy black and featureless and they end abruptly two-thirds of the way into the room where the floor extends as a bridge over a dark body of water. There is a fetid and disgusting breeze wafting off of the water below. Any organic materials left in this room for longer than an hour begin to rot.

Room 17
The front third of this room is wall-less just as Room 16. Once past the part where the bridge enters it, the room takes on a nacreous, greenish cast. All the surfaces are covered with a mold-like encrustation that fills-in the gaps and corners to cover-up any right angles or sharp edges. The mold extends like a carpet across the floor and seeps a blood-like fluid as anyone walks across it. The fluid is sticky, foul-smelling and causes leather and similar things to slowly take on the consistency of raw liver and eventually to slither off into the darkness.

Room 18
A sandy-floored cavern that surrounds a dark body of still, stagnant water. Anything organic left in this chamber for longer than ten minutes will begin to rot. Touching the water will force a Save against Disease with a -2 penalty, those failing this Save suffer the effects of Mummy Rot. There might be little fishies, or something pale and scaly swimming about down there. Out towards the middle of the non-lake, right below the bridge connecting Rooms 16 and 17 overhead, is a mound of bones, metal and gems. These were the sacrifices who didn't make it over the bridge, back when an absurd-looking tentacled extraplanar monstrosity lurked within the non-lake. It has since returned to its plane of origin. However...if someone is carrying the strange gray stone disk from Area B (option 4)...then that stone disk begins to glow, emits a high-pitched keening whine, levitates out to the middle of the non-lake and re-summons the mandrill-headed octopoidal beast...

Room 19
The viewing chamber. There are three gaps cut into the spell-infused stone of this round chamber, each one littered with crudely stained glass, amber, horn and what might be some other kind of resin. The floor is a smooth glassy surface that reveals a shifting and swirling pattern of angular, hook-like spirals slithering through a black and purple abyss. All NPCs must make a Morale Check with a -6 penalty. Anyone else looking at the floor must make a WIS Check or else stand their gaping for 1d4 Turns.

Originally, you weren't intended to see anything--this room was built to allow the sleeping god below to gaze upon those brought before it.

Now...you can look through one of those gaps and behold the still sleeping, perfect golden form of some forgotten Godlike Being surrounded by a unspeakable hell-broth of mold and corruption.

You are not worthy of its notice.

Room 20
Everything is whitewashed and clean. Even the bones of interlopers that have been piled along the walls.

There is a section of bars set into the outer wall. A heavy membrane has been stretched from bar to bar. Standing in this room, one can look out upon the pasture surrounding the Mound, but no one can see into this space. The membrane weeps yellowish ichor if cut.

Room 21
Much like room 20, only there are four Skeletons covered with a heavy coating of what at first appears to be accumulated whitewash, but is in fact the dried remains of slain albino Black Puddings. These skeletons are faceless, with disks of intricately carved black jade set into their foreheads. They attack as Black Puddings--their claw-like hands excrete sizzling acid. If destroyed, the jade disks can be pried loose form their heads. They might be worth a few coins to anyone who doesn't recognize them or know their source of origin.

Room 22
An old (12 HD) albino Black Pudding covers most of this ledge. It is the ancient slave of the cult who use its flesh to achieve a form of immortality as they keep vigil over the Sleeping God-Thing below. This old Pudding is sluggish and takes 2d4 rounds to rouse itself from its torpor once someone steps upon it. If intruders leave, it will go back to sleep. It dislikes leaving the ledge for any reason.

Room 23
Secret Inner-Shrine. Six pillars of rare violet onyx mined from some extradimensional quarry are arrayed before a statue of chunky, pitted lead. Taking a closer look will reveal that the lead figure is an intentionally crude replica that was lowered into place to facilitate the theft of the original, presumably golden statue that used to occupy this space. The pillars are scratched and chipped where chains were wrapped around them for the use of a block and tackle. The substitute statue weighs several hundred pounds and will most likely never be worth the effort required to retrieve it.

Room 24
Octagonal room set aside for meditation and using Commune spells by the third cult to occupy this Mound. A basin of marble has been set-up in the center of this room. It contains crystal clear water that will Cure Disease unless the drinker has passed through Room 19, in which case the water turns into a black oily substance that causes Mummy Rot on contact.

There is a secret passage to Room 3 that might come in handy. Anyone using Commune or Contact Other Plane in this room gains the immediate attention of the God-thing sleeping amid the horrid muck below...

Room 25
 Similar to Room 24, only the basin is here a brazier that holds an apparently eternal green flame. Anyone lingering more than ten minutes in this space that has not received Bless from a priest of the Third Cult will suffer 1d4 fire damage per round until they leave. A Save is required to avoid incurring any lingering angular spirally-hook shaped scars of livid green seared deep into their flesh.

Room 26
Six violet onyx pillars are all that stands between you and the sleeping, golden God-Thing surrounded by cosmic filth and primordial matter. The God-Thing dreams of far more interesting things that you.

Room 27
Safe behind a secret door, this is what remains of the treasury of the Third Cult. The Last Priestess of the Third Cult sits upon a modest throne at the back of the room keeping eternal watch over the raw gold, rough gems, ivory and other ancient treasures that have slowly crumbled into dust and rubbish. She intends for her undead vigil to continue until her deity arises from the muck and slime that surround it to do whatever it is going to do--this is the deepest mystery of her cult. The air of this chamber is saturated with dark green poison gas from multiple Cloudkill spells. If anyone finds this room, and if they survive the toxic fumes, and if they manage to destroy the 10 HD Mummy of a 5th level Cleric holding a wand of Cloudkill (2 remaining charges) sitting on the throne, then they will be able to scrounge-up a pretty good haul of raw gold, silver nuggets, ritually-inscribed ivory mammoth tusks, obscure clay tablets, chunks of amber, copper beads, turquoise and jade ornaments and so on. There will be too much stuff to carry it all out, so the group will have to deal with encumbrance and all the fun logistical issues of carting off heavy loads of bulky loot.

---

Wrapping It Up
The real challenge will come after the party has returned from the Weird Mound and have to deal with the ambitious, greedy and woefully unprepared goat-herds who descend upon the Mound with visions of easy pickings and an end to their poverty.

If the party heads back into whatever town or village is close-by, the goat-herds will be watching and once they see all the loot these guys got, they will run off to go plunder the place themselves. The goat-herds will also insist on getting a 50% cut of the recovered loot, at a minimum...so expect some friction and escalating tensions and potential conflict over the disposition of the loot that will not only continue to be a source of disputes and arguments, but the goat-herds will blame all their casualties and injuries on the group as well, so things could get pretty heated fairly fast.

Who knows, maybe one of those goat-herds will take it upon themselves to revive one of the old cults...especially if they are upset with the player characters and want to get some revenge upon them...

---

Wandering Monsters: Outside

1. (1d6) Lost Goats.
   
2. (1d4) Wolves, hunting the above-mentioned goats.
3. (1d4) Deer or other game animals.
4. A flock of birds that seem to be acting oddly. If one is brought down with a sling or an arrow, you'll find that they're infected with a peculiar green mold that might be what turned them undead.
5. An immature Giant Serpent that slithers away from your group as fast as it can go.
6. A very suspicious goat-herd keeping an eye on the group.

Wandering Monsters: Within the Mound

1. (1d4) Giant Centipedes.
2. (1d4) Mold-infected bats.
3. (1d8) Green Slugs. [3hp each, DG 1hp+ Save or lose 1 point from daily healing for 1d6 days.]
4. A really lost goat.
5. (1d4) Skeletons. These ones are carrying heavy stone clubs and wearing lots of copper bangles.
6. A single, solitary Skeleton mostly covered in flaky white stuff. It melts into a pile of white slop after taking 3 or more hit points of damage.

Wandering Monsters: What's That? (Bonus Wandering Monsters Just In Case)

1. (1d6) Giant Centipedes hiding in niches set into the walls. Attack at +4 to hit on their first attack.
2. (1) Patch of Yellow Mold all over the ceiling and extending down the walls. not a good place for torches.
3. (1d8) Yellow-Striped Slugs. [6hp each, DG 2hp+Save or suffer -1 penalty to all Saves versus Poison for 1d4 days.]
4. The carcass of what once was another really lost goat. There are rot grubs tucked away underneath the haunches.
5. (1d4) Skeletons. These ones wield stout spears with obsidian heads carved like screaming monkeys and wear wicker-work armor that used to have lots of feathers attached.
6. A wounded and panicking goat-herd. Returning this kid safely back to his people will alleviate a lot of potential unpleasantness and could lead to an alliance of sorts between the greedy goat-herds and the characters--there should also be a reward, possibly an offer of marriage into the clan, etc. Returning their body will divide the other goat-herds, with only half of them turned against the party and the rest willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Abandoning the kid might come back to haunt them if anyone else finds them. Killing them outright will cause them to become a vengeful ghost or other form of undead with a distinct grudge against the characters. In any case the kid has 1d4 hit points and moves at 1/2 normal speed and needs some healing, or at least bind their wounds or something. Feel free to let things get worse as things progress, and to make the kid a real drain on resources, needy, clingy, and continually whining about going home...this should be a challenge.

---

If you run this dungeon for your group sometime, let us know.
Thanks to Gus L. for the cool map!

Six Biting Dolls

"Look at the teeth. LOOK At THE TEETH! LOOK--"

 Last words of Grevok Lak
Former Delve-Scout

---

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

---

1. Trilly-Ninda. This floppy rag doll is fashioned to appear like a morlock clown, complete with constipated grimace and gleaming green-brass teeth.
   

   ---

   Trilly-Ninda (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 7, HD 2, #AT 1, DG 2d4, SV F1, ML 10, Special: Trilly-Ninda can bite immaterial targets, such as geists, as a +1 weapon thanks to the Plattnerized teeth. It only takes half-damage from blunt weapons.]
   
   Control Mechanism: Trilly-Ninda is controlled by a sigillized sock that the controller must wear on their left hand.

   ---

2. Frilly-Nan. A foppish rake of a doll, Frilly-Nan was originally molded to serve as a typical baby doll from the Krempf Dollwerks. That was before the Todtenhilzig recovered the pieces of her burned and half-melted body from the wreckage and set about rebuilding it into a sleek, almost gangly-limbed long-nosed courtier complete with a brass mask to hide the burnt parts of its face and a cod-piece that is equipped with a fighting-syringe filled with sulfuric acid.
   

   ---

   Frilly-Nan (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 4, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d6+1 (bite) or 2d8 (acid), SV F3, ML 9, Special: Frilly-Nan has been heavily reinforced and all the ribbons, fancy jacket and lace cover an articulated armature of hand-tooled brass with only three segments replaced with carved bone or scrap metal. The syringe is retractable.]
   
   Control Mechanism: Frilly-Nan only obeys the commands of whomever is wearing an exceptionally frilly collar of filthy lace taken from the corpse of an obscure opera singer. She also tends to get distracted around opera music.

   ---

3. Silly-Linny. This hideous doll comes after you astride a badly singed and partly melted Creeping Baby Doll. Where did the Todtenhilzig ever get their tiny hands on actual shark teeth? No one knows...
   

   ---

   Silly-Linny (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 7, HD 1+1, #AT 1, DG 2d4+2, SV F1, ML 12 (fearless), Special: On any attack roll of 19 or 20, Silly-Linny gets to make a follow-up attack at +1. Her limbs are sand-filled fabric bound with grass and leather, her torso is a leather form fitted with whalebone strips taken from a corset and her head is half porcelain (top-half) and molded leather (Bottom-half) fitted over an actual shark's jaws.] She carries a prop whip, actually it's stitched into her hand.
   
   Control Mechanism: Silly-Linny answers to a hand-carved shark tooth set in red-brass. Three times. then it tries to eat whomever tried to control it.
   
   Riding Doll [Creeping Baby Doll; AL C, MV 15' (5'), AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d4, SV (as Zero-Level Human), ML 12 (Doesn't Know Any Better), Special: Extremely flammable, if exposed to open flame the doll with erupt into flames causing 2d4 damage as they rub burning celluloid-flesh on victims. Regain 1 hit point per ten minutes, unless inner workings are destroyed after being hit with a natural 20 on to Hit roll. After inflicting 20 points of damage, the doll goes inert for 1d4 turns while it regurgitates a slippery pool of gore in a 10'x10' radius.]
   
   Control Mechanism: It is unknown how Silly-Linny controls this doll; if Silly-Linny is destroyed the riding doll is no longer under anyone's control.

   ---

4. Willy-Nik. A harlequin-style marionette that has had all its strings cut and twisted around itself, then wrapped with the tendons of dozens of mice, rats, voles and other small mammals. Its teeth are the needles, punches and pointy-tools of a master leather-worker who ran afoul of the Todtenhilzig and was subsequently devoured. It carries along a foul-smelling Hand Puppet that it tosses at you as its opening move...
   

   ---

   Willy-Nik (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 6, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 2d6, SV F2, ML 10, Special: After scoring a successful hit, this doll moves at double normal speed and only takes half-damage from all non-magical for the next two turns.]
   
   Control Mechanism: Willy-Nik serves a leather mask painted with sharply slanted diamonds of green and purple on one side, red and black on the other. The inside surface of the mask is lined with the broken tips of needles. Few people are willing to wear the thing, so controlling this doll is very hit or miss, unless you wear the mask, then it is supposed to get better...but anyone willing to wear that sort of thing is probably not going to remain in control of the doll for very long.
   
   Zik-zik [Hand Puppet; AL C, MV 30', AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d4*, SV F8, ML 4, Special: On any modified To Hit roll of 20 or better the Hand Puppet envelopes the victim's hand and inflicts triple damage (3d4) and will remain in place until destroyed or they succeed in severing their target's hand.]
   
   Control Mechanism: Willy-Nik has a way with Hand Puppets that seems to be an in-born knack.

   ---

5. Jilly-Boo. Plump and proper-seeming, this doll rarely smiles, unless it is to sink her serrated steel teeth snapped from discarded surgical instruments into the flesh of her victims.
   

   ---

   Jilly-Boo (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 6, HD 2+2, #AT 1, DG 2d4+2, SV F1, ML 7, Special: If Jilly-Boo can catch a victim unawares, she gains an attack bonus of +2 to hit and does double damage. She can only attempt this sort of thing once per encounter, unless she can get someone to think that they've destroyed her and then she can try to surprise them one last time. Just to add insult to injury, the main cavity of this doll is stuffed with rotting meat and maggots.]
   
   Control Mechanism: Jill-Boo is controlled by whomever carries the doctor's bag she hides inside, but only so long as they remain very polite and speak only Franzik.

   ---

6. Kill-Billy. Buck-toothed and ornery in the extreme, this doll has a bruthem-hide torso-covering faux breast-plate that splits down the middle to expose a second mouth full of wickd-sharp teeth in its belly that it uses as a follow-up attack once they've hit with the first mouth.
   

   ---

   Kill-Billy (unique) [Biting Doll; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 5, HD 3, #AT 1*, DG 2d4 (2d4), SV F4, ML 12 (fearless), Special: If Kill-Bully scores a hit, they get to make a follow-up attack at +4 to hit for an additional 2d4 damage using their hidden belly-maw.]
   
   Control Mechanism: There is a bone-flute that can be used to make Kill-billy do various things, tricks mostly, but the old woman who carved the flute was eaten, and the note-book she left behind is incomplete where it isn't soaked in her blood...

Red Bestiary Index

---

The Street Patrol had to break-up an unlicensed Doll-Fighting Ring that had taken over an abandoned flour mill just off of Washburn Boulevard. Things got out of hand when some local genius threw a soggy stuffed bear into the ring and it tore more than a dozen dolls to pieces before it was finally burned to a cinder with cling-tar...

---

Suspense & Decision Magazine, Issue 7

Download Issue #7

---

Suspense & Decision Magazine
Link: Play By Mail, Play By Mail Wiki
Index of Issues: Here

---

Back Issues: One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six

---

Ever since seeing the ads for those Play By Mail games in Dragon and other magazines, I've always been curious how they worked, what they were like, who did that sort of thing. I always meant to try it out sometime, but never got a chance. The notion has been sitting there in the back of my skull for years and years. Never quite forgotten.

A few months ago I began to research Play By Mail (PBM) games as a possible option to consider for one of the projects we've been developing. The whole Play By Mail thing seemed like a good fit or at least a parallel development to the Choose-Your-Path sort of thing we were already looking at. It was in the course of looking into the esoteric world of PBM that I stumbled into the Play By Mail website, and learned about Suspense & Decision magazine. Later on I learned about Callisto, a new-fangled and updated PBM-type game that really, really sounds cool. So, yeah, I'm looking at the whole PBM approach to gaming a little more seriously now. Once I get back on track, and if my health stays good, I'm considering setting up some sort of Callisto game down the road...but I'm more interested in trying my luck as a player first.

What's in the Hole? (Take Two)

The Theme for this Month's RPG Blog Carnival is What's In The Hole? and it is being hosted by Moebius Adventures. The Kick-Off Post for getting things started is right there at the Moebius Adventures blog. This is a great question. One rife with possibilities for all sorts of gaming goodness. So let's take a look at what might be down in a hole in Wermspittle...

---

What's In The Hole? (Take Two)

1. Someone's Been Digging-up Maggie's Garden. It may have been those pesky feral children rooting around after her potatoes again. Or it might have been someone after something buried on her property, possibly by a previous tenant or owner...in which case it ought to be hers by rights...
   

   ---

   Maggie's Proposition: The aging Seamstress is too damn old to keep watch in the night and catch whoever is making a mess of her garden. You lot look young and fit enough, and hungry enough to help an old lady out. She offers you food and the services of a Seamstress, if you'll keep an eye on her garden and get to the bottom of what's going on.
   
   A Dirty Deal: The holes all appear to be dug out with a shovel. Keeping watch over the garden will allow the party to catch a Somambulist's Thrall in the act of digging up the garden within the next night or two. The Somnambulistic Thrall is completely unaware of what they are doing and incapable of being effectively interrogated or questioned. If captured, they will attempt to escape, but if unable to do so, they are under a powerful hypnotic compulsion to destroy themselves before they can reveal anything. If their clothes and body are examined, there is a small grayish alloy medallion stamped with the image of a three-headed eagle grasping a thorny rose and flowering apple branch. If this item is revealed or turned over to Maggie, she will consider the job well done indeed and prove to be very generous. The characters gain a +4 bonus to the next Reaction Roll with Maggie or any other Seamstress they meet for the next couple of weeks. Not revealing the medallion to Maggie will leave her stymied as to who her tormentor might actually be, and as she remains uncertain and suspicious, she will start to think that perhaps the characters are not telling her everything they know...perhaps they are working for her unseen, unnamed enemies...so she will dismiss them and settle her debt to them with a coarse loaf of bread and some dried meat. The characters gain a -2 to any subsequent Reaction Rolls with Maggie or any other Seamstress for the next month or so. Whomever keeps the medallion will begin to suffer from recurring nightmares involving some wild-eyed old man in a tattered top hat and lots of pointy teeth and black velvet gloves...and they have to make a Save each morning to regain any lost hit points, as their capacity for healing seems to be a bit off...
   

   
   

   ---

2. A Hole in the Wall. Looks like some unlucky forager set off a previously unexploded bomb just down this next alley. The buildings on either side are badly scorched by Black Smoke and there are bits of half-melted shrapnel studding the walls all along the alley. The fire-escape on one building now sags dangerously and just needs a slight push to get it to fall. The debris has been cleared from around this hole and stacked off to either side to form a few rough benches and sitting places. You can smell the reek of brewing wafting pungently from the hole in the wall...
   

   ---

   Inside: Three large vats are in use by a trio of brothers from one of the low-land farm enclaves who have decided to become independent brewers and distillers. They learned how to brew various types of beers and ales, as well as distill a number of infusions, spirits, dubious potations and liquors from their elders. The brothers are keen to experiment with some of their own recipes and ideas for innovations now that they are on their own, but they have run into some trouble from members of the Corruption Trade who don't want them moving in on their turf, or worse yet, offering people some sort of alternative to the toxic brews and black liquors that they specialize in. All three of the brothers are excellent shots with fowling pieces, prodds and short bows, all of which they have at-hand and are willing to use at a moment's notice. They have attracted 2d6 'regulars' who will also come to their aid, if called upon, but what they really need right now is someone to help explore the rest of the building that they have claimed for their base of operations. The forager they had only just hired to help them out just blew herself up, hence the hole in the wall. They need the four floors and attic above examined, as well as the cellar and possibly the buildings on either side and the one abutting their back wall--there have been strange noises from back there where there seems to be some sort of greasy black rot...
   
   Not Just Black Rot: There is a patch of Brewer's Bane growing in the back end of the old dress-maker's shop where the brothers have set up shop. It was deliberately set loose in order to sabotage their operation before it can become any sort of competition or threat to one of the local brewers. 
   

   
   

   ---

3. Hole in the Head. Massive, ancient and now tumbled-over into the square; the old statue of some forgotten general on his war mollusc has finally toppled due to the heavy growth of Red Weeds, revealing a hole in the statue's huge, hollow head...
   

   ---

   Don't Mind the Weeds: Feel free to roll for an encounter with something lurking beneath the Purple Glow of the Red Weeds. These particular Red Weeds are fairly inoffensive vines, runners and lianas that have taken-over the square, converting it into a small, walled-in and rampantly overgrown vineyard of sorts. There are strange pink fruits and clusters of berries that can be collected from the underside of the larger leaf-clusters. The fruit seems edible. The berries seem to produce a highly flammable organic solvent.
   
   What's inside: The hollow head of the toppled statue was once an excellent nesting space for a flock of Passenger Pigeons. Unfortunately someone poisoned the things with some sort of necromantically-tainted Spectral Brine and now there are 5d20 undead pigeons clustered inside the head of the general's statue. The mindless things just sit there. Silent. Staring. Until someone disturbs them...
   
   

   ---

4. Badly-Patched Hole. Someone went to a lot of trouble to fill-in or cover-over this hole with bricks, paving stones, rubble from across the street, rusty scrap metal, and the like. If you look closer, it looks like someone was trying to hold down some sort of heavy metal grate over the hole...perhaps this was someone's attempt to trap something down in that hole?
   

   ---

   A Closer Look Reveals: (1d4) items from one of the Questionable Trinkets & Trash Tables mixed-in with the rubbish and debris. There is a heavy armored long-coat, spattered with blood and caught underneath the rubble that can be tugged free by anyone who might be curious. The coat has a patch on the right shoulder from the 'Pazguin Expeditionary Force,' whatever that might be.
   
   There's a Gap: Poking around the patched-over hole, if only to collect a few shiny-bits from the debris, will make it clear that this was a rush-job and by no means adequate as there is a large, very unhappy White Beast down in that hole and it is riled-up and trying to dig itself out from under the hastily weighed-down grating...
   
   

   ---

5. What Was That Sloshing Noise? Over there. There's a hole. It leads down to a flooded cellar or private cistern. Something is moving down there...
   

   ---

   Regarding That Particular Hole: There are a few Exotic Bivalves clustered around the inner surface of this hole that gets bigger and wider as it goes down. There's also a cumulative 20% chance each minute that the surrounding surface gives way underneath anyone investigating the hole.
   
   Down Below: A Dreaming Nettle Jelly is floating in a flooded cellar down below. It is severely weakened by the continuous drain upon its vitality by a swarm of ochre-striped leeches that have fastened upon it. The leeches are huge, bloated and so distended with the Jelly's precious bodily fluids and vital juices that they can barely wriggle and are incapable of defending themselves. Destroying the leeches and freeing the Dreaming Nettle Jelly will leave it too weakened to escape unassisted, but very favorably disposed towards its saviors (+6 bonus to Reaction Roll). If the characters agree to defend the creature while it recuperates, it will make a gift of 1d4 dream pearls (treat as scrolls of 1d4 random spells each), or instill within a willing subject the ability to Lucid Dream--allowing them to become either a Dreamer or Oneirist. The creature can also awaken the telepathic ability of a willing subject, but it requires a three-day ordeal that inflicts 1 hit point of damage per day during which the subject is immobilized/paralyzed and helpless. Each day of the ordeal the subject rolls 1d20 and applies their INT, WIS or CHAR bonus to the roll. A result of 20 means they gain the ability to cast Telepathy (INT), Empathy (WIS) or Charm (CHAR) once per day as a special ability. If pressed, the Jelly can also attempt to teach someone one or more of their specialized, personal spells...but the subject runs the risk of temporary insanity, similar to the effects of a Contact Other Plane spell. Once the creature is back to half strength (roughly one week), it will thank everyone profusely then fade away.
   
   

   ---

6. There's a Hole in the Sky...Inside This Building. Inside this boarded-up old dress-maker's shop is a Weak Point that opens onto a lurid and glistening rain forest dominated by gigantic tiger-lilies beneath startling violet skies...
   

   ---

   Who Is That In There? A Tremish scout from a party of private collectors has just returned from performing an initial survey of this Weak Point and the immediate area on the other side. She is groggy from the accumulated effects of yellow pollen. Her left hand is coated with a crusty purplish-gray fungal colony that has the appearance of sharp-edged barnacles. She needs to get word to Gnosiomandus and will attempt to negotiate with the characters if they are willing to listen to her...
   
   Troublesome Things: She's no friend to the Academy, but Shumaligne knows that what she has discovered across the threshold of this undocumented Weak Point is too important to try and squeeze personal gain from it. There's a Purple Cloud back there and once it kills off that world, it is coming to Wermspittle...

   ---

What's In the Hole?
One   Two

---

Next Month's Blog Carnival will be hosted here at Hereticwerks.
The Theme is going to be: Invasive Species...

---

Everything you might want to know about the RPG Blog Carnival is available all in one place, including How to Participate, How to Sign-Up to Host a Carnival, as well as some handy advice for How to Host a Carnival if your topic gets accepted. You can also browse through the Archives of Past Carnivals and check to see what's coming next.

The RPG Blog Carnival is sponsored and supported by the RPG Blog Alliance. You can find out more about the RPGBA by clicking these links:

The RPGBA site
The RPGBA FAQ

Bujilli: Episode 93

Previously...
While wandering through the Farm Market, Bujilli becomes aware that Lemuel needs his help urgently...

Leeja and Mishka find themselves confronted by a small band of Voormis...

The he felt it. Lemuel. The connection they shared was too deep to deny. Lemuel* was in trouble. The boy needed help.

Bujilli stood off to the side of a gaudily-painted wagon of radishes and considered what he should do. He could feel Lemuel's distress through their connection. A psychic bond had been established between the two of them when Bujilli had salvaged the young boy from the ravages of the vile transformation brought on by his abuse of Hard Candy, an insidious treat concocted from the White Powder. Lemuel had nearly dissolved into a Loathsome Mass, but Bujilli had intervened, had risked his own life and well-being to pull the boy back from the brink of dissolution.

When he had left Hedrard's workspace, she was about to stitch together some wermskin to help stabilize Lemuel's physical form, which now mostly consisted of glistening gelatinous goo. The last time Bujilli had seen Lemuel**, the boy was carrying the unconscious body of Master Sprague back to Hedrard's workspace. There had not been time to do much more than nod to one another, as very important things were going on all around them at the time.

Bujilli looked around his surroundings. He knew he was close to finding the answer, the missing piece of the puzzle that was Wermspittle...but it might as well be locked away in the heart of the moon for all the good it would do to stand around here in the cool spring rain hoping to spot some clue that would help him unravel things once and for all. Watching the farm children with their rickety one-way carts and make-shift stalls. Seeing the peddlers with their mushrooms, roots, and herbs. Hearing the calls and cries of the various mongers and merchants. The smells. The colors. The textures and racket, movement and motion; he knew he was close to the truth. Painfully close.

If he could just see what he was missing...

"Excuse me young sir." An old crone clutched Bujilli's shoulder to steady herself after bumping into him.

"Your pardon. I was lost in my thoughts..."

"Yes. You were." She cackled softly. Her hands whipped out. seized his forearm and slapped something hard and cold into the palm of his left hand. Then she continued on her way. He looked down at his hand. A thimble. Silver. Blood was welling up from his hand where he held the thing.

He looked up. The crone was lost in the milling crowd.

He looked at the thimble. It was engraved in Aklo, Franzik and Etrurian. The sides were all spirally. It wasn't really silver, more like silver-plated yellow metal. It was much heavier than he would have expected.

The blood on his hand receded like the tide going out on a beach. It was being absorbed into the thimble.

"AH! such a find! I offer you three goats and a chicken for it!" A fox-tailed goblin tugged on his arm, eagerly trying to get a better look at the thimble.

"Thief! She would steal your trinket for next to nothing. I offer you my dolly--it's eternal servitude will be yours if you but grant me ownership of yon bauble." A serpent-tongued goblin leered meaningfully at him from beneath her grimy bonnet. She was clutching a dirty and beat-up looking rag doll. A doll that had miscellaneous blades, nails and screws stitched, sewn and taped into its pudgy little fists.

"Boys don't like dolls you stupid little slut. Here; I'll give you six packets of seeds, three golden keys, a ticket to Madame Ishwalla's Dubious Boudoir, and this ring that I cut off of the very hand of Yaximillian Vargoom Himself after the battle of Karlogne. what do you say?" This goblin wore antique chain-mail that hung loosely on their too-long and stick-thin limbs. He had a fuzzy green face covered in warts and scars, with six or seven ear-rings stuck into each ear apparently at random and he was proffering a grotesquely over-sculpted and bejeweled ring that he could not believe anyone would ever willingly wear.

Bujilli closed his fingers over the thimble. He didn't have the thing for even a minute before the offers started rolling in...he wondered why...

---

* Lemuel first appeared in Episode 21, fought with Bujilli in Episode 22, collapsed in the throes of a hideous transformation brought on by abuse of Hard Candy in Episode 23, was lent a helping hand by Bujilli in Episode 24, became something of a 'blood-brother' to Bujilli in Episode 25. We've seen Lemuel off and on since then. He seems to have made some significant progress in becoming more human and less a shapeless, loathsome mass of corruption.
** We last saw Lemuel in Episode 81.

Meanwhile...

Muishka pulled out her mother's pepperbox pistol and a wickedly serrated and wavy-bladed gutting knife. She was a Wanderer--they bought and sold luck, but rarely indulged in it themselves.

Leeja watched as the elevator continued downwards...maybe they could slip past unnoticed...the elevator didn't make that much noise...

One of the shaggy folk barked and pointed to the descending cage.

"Damn dog-mounting Voormis." Mishka cursed.

The elevator continued downward...maybe it would keep going. Leeja wasn't thrilled at the prospect of fighting a small band of these dog-snouted, hook-clawed little people. She was all but certain that they probably had friends near-by.

Mishka froze in mid curse.

Leeja extended her claws. Her hair lashed about like a cat's angry tail.

The machine stopped. The elevator door was ajar. The Voormis readied their spears and pruning hooks for a charge. Leeja rushed them instead. She dragged her claws through the shoulders and across the arms of the shaggy creatures, wounding as many as possible as quickly as possible. Once through their ranks she turned and snarled. Her gold-green eyes smoldered in the dim half-light of the landing. All six of the creatures were bloodied. One had dropped his weapon. Two were wide-eyed and looked ready to make a break for it. She charged right at those two, trilling her voice in a bloodcurdling sing-song ululation that would make a Mucoid squirm in fear.

The Voormis broke ranks. Three of them turned and ran. BANG! Mishka's pepperbox pistol discharged with a greenish flash.

One of the Voormis tried to assist its fellow back to its feet, the last one turned to face the thing in the shadows that Mishka had fired upon.

A bear.

"I am so glad that you missed." The bear squinted at them through a dusty monocle...

Bujilli seems to have been handed something special with this thimble; something special enough that three goblins have already made him offers for the thing. Should he accept one of those offers? (If so, which one?) Or should he see if he can get a better offer from a more reliable source? Or should he hang on to the thimble and get out of there before things turn ugly? (When goblins are involved, it's already well on the way to turning ugly...) He was about to decide whether to head back to the Academy, or to re-connect with Leeja, so we'll attend to that next Episode. Using a spell like Clairvoyance in the middle of a crowded market might not go over so well, so he needs to get going either way...

Leeja and Mishka have now seen the Middle Sized Bear. The Voormis are more scared of Leeja than the bear, now. 

Initiative: Roll 1d6 each for (1) Leeja, (2) Mishka, (3) The Middle Sized Bear, (4)The brave last Voormis standing, and (5) the rest of the Voormis.

Reaction: Now we need a Reaction roll for the Middle sized bear. Roll 2d6, and check the result against the Monster Reaction Table on p. 52 of Labyrinth Lord.

As always, if you have questions or suggestions let me know in the comments, or via email.

What happens next is up to you, the readers.

You Decide!

---

Previous                                Next

---

Series Indexes

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

---

Starting Page  |  Central Index

---

About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play

---

Bujilli's Character Sheet | Leeja's Character Sheet | Cast of Characters

Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules

---

Episode Guides
Series One (Episodes 1-19)

Series Two (Episode 20-36)

Series Three (Episodes 37-49)

Series Four (Episodes 50-68)

Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100-ongoing)

---

Labyrinth Lord   |   Advanced Edition Companion

Gelbore

"Can he be restored, or has ...this... gone too far?"

"Restored? No. Look at him. Barely a face, his skin is mostly liquid, his bones are beginning to bend. No. He's been using the Hard Candy for too long, in too large a dose, like a greedy sweet-pig. I can stitch him a new skin. It'd only be a temporary fix, really. I have some good wormhide on-hand. But that'd be a bit of bother. He's practically a Gelbore now."

"Gelbore?"

"Bone-thieves. Wicked, misshapen wretches like the boy here, their flesh is reduced to a gelatinous mess, but for some reason they don't entirely deliquesce, at least not right away. They slither around catacombs and ossuaries trying to scavenge bones. They eat bones. Absorb them, really. It forestalls the inevitable. Damned pains in the ass. They've ruined any number of shrines, churches or reliquaries and only the Bone Guard ever really do anything about them. It's no life for this one. Kinder if you killed him."

---

Gelbore (Bone-Thieves)
No. Enc.: 1d4
Alignment: chaotic
Movement: 30' (10')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 2
Damage: 1d4/1d4
Save: F1
Morale: 4

Squishy, flabby cowards with literally no backbone, the Gelbore slink and slubber about in the dim, dark regions where they seek out bones to scavenge. They are not very adept at getting bones from prey that actively resist their clumsy, sloppy attacks, so they desecrate shrines, plunder ossuaries, feed on the chained-skeletons confined beneath certain sanctuaries, and have been known to devour saintly relics. Any bone is as good as another to them--as long as it isn't too much trouble for them to get at it.

Once they were as human as anyone else. But they became addicted to Hard Candy. Their daily intake exceeded the recommended limits, often by a wide margin. In short order they began to undergo a transformation, not the full-on Vile Transformation that comes from abusing the White Powder, but instead their flesh and bones melt and reform into a gelatinous mass that exudes a bitter-smelling, bone-dissolving fluid that they leave behind them like a snail as they wriggle and writhe their way along dark passages and cemetery tunnels. Some say they are lucky to have escaped the vile transformation most victims of White Powder derivatives go through. But once they finally die, their grotesque bodies melt away into Loathsome Masses, so it wasn't much of a reprieve from the inevitable after all.

Butchers sometimes keep one or more Gelbores confined to a pit in order to dispose of bones they can't otherwise trade to someone else for whatever reasons.

There are several different bounties and rewards posted for anyone who can conclusively prove that they have destroyed a Gelbore, however transporting or harboring a live Gelbore is a capital offense, so it can be something of a challenge to collect on any of these offers...that said, the Todtenhilzig will always be pleased to receive word of the whereabouts of a Gelbore, but few, if any, want much to do with such despicable creatures. No one is quite sure what the nasty little people actually do with the Gelbores they capture...and it's probably not a good idea to ask...

---

Source: The Gelbore were mentioned in passing by Hedrard in Bujilli, Episode 23.

& Magazine, Issue 9

---

& Magazine
Link: http://www.and-mag.com/
Download it: http://www.and-mag.com/category/download/and-magazine-download/
Discuss it at: & Magazine Forums at OSR Gaming

---

& Magazine is primarily devoted to 1st Edition AD&D, but a great deal of the content can be ported over to another edition without too much trouble. There are maps, monsters, and more in every issue and it just keeps getting better.

Issue 9 is a jam-packed 96 pages of pdf gaming goodness all about Spells and Spellcasters. There's also an interview with Ernie Gygax and a fairly diverse selection of spells, magic items, monsters, NPCs, and the like all  through the issue. They also started two new columns--one on starting a campaign, and another on cooking for your gaming group.

The map of the Desert Ziggurat by Fingolwyn is a classic adventure site that looks like it came out of an old TSR module.

The articles on spontaneous casting and spell memorization were both short and sweet re-workings of Ye Olde Rules that both seem workable and The Perils of Psionic Blast was a fun read--it reminded me of some rather heated discussions about this very topic back in the old days.

Mr. Lakofka's article ought to be handed out to anyone considering playing a magic-user in any old-school game. This is a fairly useful reference for newcomers that explains the peculiarities of the spell system in the older editions, and it could save a lot of trouble, turmoil and tummy-aches at the table. There are some good things in this issue, but this one article is probably my favorite, mostly because I wish that we'd had something like this all those years ago; it would have stopped a lot of pointless arguments and let us get back to the gaming. I really like his analogy of the different levels of spells to derringers of differing caliber--that was brilliant.

The article on Greater Faeries was interesting, well thought-out and provided some handy tables for creating random faeries that would make a great generator like what Logan and those guys are doing these days.

The interview with Ernie Gygax was short but fun, so were the top three entries for statting-up the Harpoonapus creature.

The Ecology of the Dragon Turtle reminded me of the old Dragon magazine 'Ecology Of...' articles and it gives us three new variants of the Dragon Turtle, which I thought were pretty well done. The illustration for the Subterrene Dragon Turtle on p.39 was my favorite image in the issue.

There is also another 'Ecology Of' article for the "Oculus Despot," that provided a quick and easy way to randomize the eye-beams to this classic redacted monster.

The rest of the issue is packed with more new monsters, new weapons, new NPCs, and loads of resources that run the gamut from silly to inspired. The Stone Spirals are really interesting and could open up some interesting scenario options. There are a lot of new spells including Errgo's Gnawing Slabs that I hope my character Ushnab over on Unseen Servant gets to learn one of these days. It's Fifth Level, so it'll be a while...

The Tactical Magic article examines scrolls in AD&D and is a good book-end to Lakofka's article on spell casting.

The piece on Homebrewed Campaigns felt kind of random, but it was a decent first installment for what is going to be an ongoing column.

The Businesses of Gamington not only had a nifty map of the little fortified town, it detailed a number of interesting shops that really gave the place some character and was complemented by an article detailing three more shops (one is an inn) that can also be dragged and dropped into any campaign. Gamington is a great seed that could really grow into something fun and wonderful.

Juju Zombie Bandits, a Western Lake Lands Hexcrawl, and the second map for the Desert Ziggurat all provide some ready-to-go adventuring fodder, and the Gaming Gourmet tells you how to make some delicious pulled pork for feeding a pack of hungry gamers.

All in all this is a pretty fine read. Download a copy and see for yourself. It's free, so what are you waiting for?

Purple Clouds in Wermspittle

"The monstrosities of the Outer Circle are malignant towards all that we consider most desirable, just in the same way a shark or a tiger may be considered malignant, in a physical way, to all that we consider desirable. They are predatory - as all positive force is predatory. They have desires regarding us which are incredibly more dreadful to our minds when comprehended than an intelligent sheep would consider our desires towards its own carcass. They plunder and destroy to satisfy lusts and hungers exactly as other forms of existence plunder and destroy to satisfy their lusts and hungers. And the desire of these monsters is chiefly, if not always, for the psychic entity of the human."

The Hog, by W. H. Hodgson

---

Purple Cloud
(Worldkillers, Monstrosities of the Outer Circle)

Malevolent, virulent and massive, Greater Purple Clouds operate upon a planetary scale. They gorge upon death and grow bloated as they loom malevolently over the ruins of worlds they have killed with their toxic fumes. These vast, aerial horrors expand and spread upwards into the higher regions of the atmosphere, strangling an entire world in their gaseous grip. Those portions of a Greater Purple Cloud that can be encountered upon the poisoned surface of a given world are crude extensions of the greater cloud above, and act as the cloud's proxies or limbs. The main body of the Greater Cloud remains far, far above and out of reach of most attempts to contact or attack them.

Inevitably, as the Purple Clouds finally conquer a given world, they relent a tiny bit and allow a few unlucky souls to survive their poisonous apocalypse. These survivors become breeding stock for a race of slaves bound to the worship and service of the Purple Clouds and are alleged to be the progenitors of the so-called 'Kings of the Dead Worlds', also known as 'Desert Fathers,' as well as the Purple Horde and the Ledaan. This may be inaccurate, however, based upon the hotly disputed findings of the Kurtz Commission who knowingly and willfully violated several extra-territorial agreements to open negotiations with the self-declared King of Captivon, despite not having any established authority to do such a thing. Captivon is a desolate wasteland and one of the Dead Worlds in close proximity to Wermspittle via a Weak Point. In the furor over how the Kurtz Commission may or may not have over-stepped their bounds, more and more leaders as well as scholars are realizing that we know far too little about these vast, implacable Horrors. There have been calls to form an academic board of review to collect and manage all further investigations in the nature of the Purple Clouds. The Security Council is rumored to have formed a special task force to begin experimenting with ways to combat these things...hopefully, before it is too late...

---

Prior to the fall of the Western Keep of the Inner Ramparts, there was a specialized corps of Forward Observers dedicated to the study of Purple Clouds. Most of their records and files were left behind when the Guard House was abandoned in the midst of a terrible fire following a suspicious Black Smoke attack that is suspected to have originated from within the Main Keep itself.

Since then, the few reports recovered from the various Dead Worlds in closest proximity to Wermspittle by Foragers, Scavenger-scholars and others regarding Purple Clouds agree on only three things:

1. Whatever they are, they are purple and seem to be composed mostly of some sort of toxic vapor, possibly cyanide or something related;
2. The toxic gasses emitted by the Purple Clouds tend to stink of spoilt peaches or almonds, the scent is said to be unmistakable and one should seek to avoid it at all costs;
3. They appear to be actively hostile and possibly sentient in some bizarre fashion, leading some scholars into much pointless conjecture as to how this might be possible.

More study of these monstrous things is desperately needed, but so far the will, and the funds, have been lacking. However, since it was conclusively proven that there is in fact a direct relationship between the Purple Wisps, Deep Purple Smog, Purple Haze and the Purple Clouds, more funds are expected to be forthcoming...especially since there are signs that more than one Purple Cloud may be moving from world to world through Weak Points or some other means...

---

Minor Miasmas  |  Purple Wisps | Purple Haze | Deep Purple Smog |  Purple Rain 
Purple Clouds   |   Purple Horde
Srumachis

---

---

Source: The Purple Clouds are horrific planetkiller Outer Monstrosities inspired by M.P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud, with a nod to William Hope Hodgson. You can find a copy of The Purple Cloud via Project Gutenberg, if you're interested, or you might like to try to listen to the audiobook version via LibriVox. The Hog, quoted above, is another of Hodgson's Carnacki stories and a version of it can be found at eBooks Adelaide, among many other places online or in print.

---