Perils & Wonders

#Dungeon23 (week 3 / day 1)

A large room with rotting remains of carpeting and tattered strips of flowery wallpaper. In the center of the room, on a raised dais, a great baldaquin bed, the once beautiful curtains now ragged far beyond recovery. An old stained painting, removed from the original frame, lies rolled up on a chair.

Painting: the frame was probably looted, leaving behind just the blackened canvas. It's hard to tell what was pictured under the grime, but careful restoration will show the portrait of a beautiful lady holding an elaborate feathered mask. In the background a tall and dark figure stands reflected in a mirror. The renovated canvas is worth 300 gold pieces to a collector.

Bed: Sturdy and well preserved wooden frame. The four columns supporting the baldaquin are finely inlaid with different motifs: flowers and fairies for spring, ripe fruits and fawns for summer, grape vines and sickles for autumn, thorns and demons for winter. Each pillar has a rotating pommel at the base, each with four faces: a child, a maiden, a lady and a crone. Matching the right face with the right pattern will unlock an hidden mechanism in the dais, letting the whole bed swivel to the side with minimal effort and revealing a secret passage.

Under the dais: a small chamber, with a set of stone steps going down to the hidden door in the dressing room on the nobles quarters. An armoire contains fine dresses and silks worth 100 gold pieces. a locked vault is enshrined in the wall.

Vault: coiled serpents decorate a metal plate almost flush with the wall, with no keyhole or handle. If the bearer of the coiled serpents flask (found in the hearth room) approaches the safe, it will just unlock by itself. Cracking it open with brute force is noisy, it will trigger a random encounter. Inside, a silk lined coffer containing a bottle of perfume, some desiccated cosmetics, and a pair of silver and gold necklaces worth 100 gold pieces each.

Perfume bottle: actually a strong aphrodisiac. While wearing it reaction rolls from intelligent creatures that might find you attractive are at +3, but surprise checks are at -2 due to the strong scent. 3 doses remain in the bottle, each lasting 1 hour.

#WildFrontier

In the spring of her life, the Mother was the Child, and with innocent fancy and primeval wonder she birthed the stars, the moons, and the worlds to be her toys. Her childlike whimsy took a life of its own, becoming the Fae; their moods as mercurial as the newborn's own.

In the fullness of summer the Mother became the Maiden, ripe with vigour and mirth. Dancing about she gave birth to the plants and the beasts. Her footfalls made thunder and storms, the rains forming the lakes and the seas. Her stumbles made mountains and gorges, her laughter gave song to the birds, her joyous tears became the ores and gems of the earth.

When harvest came, and with it wisdom and poise, the Mother was then the Lady. She looked back at the world and the state it was in, and sought to impose order to all things. From this desire to tame the wild beasts, till the plains into fields, dig the ores from the mountains, master the lands and the seas; from all this arose men and women: to inherit this world and care for it well.

At last winter came, as it must for all things, and the Mother was the Crone, bent and blind to the world. The shadows she imagined became the spirits and demons that haunt the places where the light doesn't shine, where the matter is not.

As a last gift to creation she gave birth to herself, to start the cycle anew, and remind us that often the conclusion is not the end.

#WildFrontier #WorldBuilding #Fiction

#Dungeon23 (week 1 / day 7)

A stained glass double door opens on the ruins of a balcony, almost completely buried. Many circular tunnels of various sizes bore through the earth. Sturdy roots woven through the soil keep it all from collapsing.

Roots: when cut a thick white sap squirts out. It's sticky. When dried it holds as glue. The only way to dissolve it is to burn it. Cut too many and the tunnels will cave in, blocking the entrance from the servants' hall.

Tunnels: Labyrinthine. Some are small, some are large, all are dangerous. You can hear the sound of running water somewhere down there. There is a 2-in-6 chance to attract a maw while moving through. There is a 1-in-6 chance every turn to find the way to the large worm hole.

Worm hole: a huge hole, 2m in diameter, going straight down through the earth (to the underground lake in the ruined complex). there is a 1-in-6 chance the Maw Mother will appear every turn.

Maw: HD 1, AC 11, Morale 10, Attacks +1 bite (d6) Numbers Appearing: solitaire

2-in-6 chance of surprise underground: they tunnelling in from unexpected directions.

An unholy mix of earthworm and lamprey. Completely blind, hunts by vibrations. Attacks anything that move. Always hungry.

Maw Mother: HD 6, AC 13, Morale 10, Attacks +6 bite (d10+1, swallow whole) Numbers Appearing: unique

Swallows a medium creature on a roll of 19-20. while swallowed: d8 damage each turn.

Completely blind, hunts by vibrations. Can be soothed by music.

Rumbling earth announces her coming. 9m long, 2m wide. The queen of the toothy annelids, in all her glistening grace. Run for your lives.

Her long ivory teeth will fetch a small fortune on the right market (200 gold coins)

#WildFrontier

#Dungeon23 (week 1 / day 6)

The entrance door is blocked by vines and mud. The room is covered in colourful mushrooms and creepers with sweet smelling flowers sprouting from broken adobe vases. Most of the eastern side collapsed in a mud slide. The air is so humid stalactites started to form.

Blocked door: forcing it open requires a cumulative STR bonus of at least 4. Noisily breaking it down triggers a random encounter.

Mushrooms: Mostly inedible varieties. Looking for unusual ones you find:

d6	aspect	effect
1	Toadstool, green-blue cap	Restore 1hp.
2	Sac, orange and red	Lose sense of touch for d4 hours. Can't feel pain.
3	Stinkhorn, brown and black	Feel sated for one day, but causes shivers (d4 DEX damage, save vs poison for half).
4	Puffball, big white and spongy	Intense fear of the dark, 2d6 hours.
5	Chanterelle, pink	Tastes like chicken, makes you hungry. Need double rations for the day.
6	Jelly, translucent yellow	Gain a spell dice and a random fey-touched spell for one day.

Creepers: Green vines dotted with tiny trumpet like blossoms. Searching the tangles or the floor reveals the desiccated corpses and bones of small animals. The flowers emit a psychoactive substance. After one turn make a poison save or become charmed, unable to leave the room voluntarily. Every turn after that make a poison save or become unconscious. The vines will completely wrap a human body in 1d6 hours.

Mud slide: The soil is soft and crumbly. With the right tools one hour of digging opens up a new access to the balcony.

Stalactites: limpets with razor sharp mother of pearl shells cling to the limestone formations. Worth up to 250 silver coins to the right buyer. Carefully harvesting them takes one full turn.

#WildFrontier

#Dungeon23

(Note: I'll add entries to this table when inspiration strikes)

d20	Name	Description	Mechanics
1	Annalis and Tessa, cartographer sisters	Two blonde women, short and thin, almost identical. Ink spotted clothes and fingers. Tessa looks at you from behind thick glass spectacles (or maybe that's Annalis?). "Want to buy a map? Got most of the first floor right here".	Sell handmade copies of a fairly accurate map of the servants quarters for 25 silver pieces. Haven't tried to delve deeper yet, since their bodyguard fled a few days ago, with most of their supplies.
2	Sir Wylrom of Castlerock	Haughty nobleman. Fine clothes that don't belong on a delve. Covers his nose with a silken handkerchief. Nasal voice, bad accent. Second son of a second son, you recon. Accompanied by 10 sullen men-at-arms (treat as 1HD veterans) and a loud minstrel	Endlessly planning and organising, storing resources, trading rumours. Seldom actually venturing in the palace
3	Granny Gossa	A wrinkly old lady. Milky eyes and a sour breath. Leans on a crooked cane. Holds a clucking brown hen tight to her breasts. "Don't touch her. Don't even come near. She has a demon in her. Don't say I didn't warn you!"	She is a minor sorceress, and the hen does have a demon in her (it's harmless, it wails when danger is near). HD 3, AC 11, Morale 10, Attacks cane (d4). known blood workings: tarnish (lesser, spill the blood on a non-magic metal object and it will rust and break in d4 hours), venomous curse (lesser, hurl black blood at the victim. Save vs death or lose 1hp every minute spent standing for 1 hour)

#Dungeon23 (week 1 / day 5)

A large corridor with doorless openings on four spartan rooms. A small red gem lies atop mounded sludge in the middle of the hallway.

Rooms: sloped ceiling, sleeping pallets, rags hanging from wires. Hidden under one of the beds a canvas roll containing mismatched silverware (value: 100 silver coins) and a couple of makeshift lock picks (breaks on a 2-in-6).

Red gem: one of Carmenta's core crystal, used as bait for a concealed bear trap under the mud.

Bear trap: rusty, creaking. Has a 2-in-6 chance of actually going off if disturbed. 2d6 damage. on a failed death save take 1d6 CON damage: whatever appendage you got in there is now broken.

Ambush: if the bear trap goes off, Rolsch will spring from the privy holding his flintlock pistol. if too much time passes and the snare doesn't land, he will come out and try to justify the lure has “mud shrimp bait”. “Those leggy beasties love shiny stuff, they do! Good meat on them, good eating… Wanna share?”. He will try to flee as soon as possible, possibly with stolen belongings.

Privy: locked from the inside. The key is still in the hole. You can easily hear heavy breathing from the other side. Rolsch is waiting in ambush. His meager belonging are stashed here: a pile of smelly clothes, a satchel with 32 silver coins, an half empty wine jug, and a fine rapier used as a skewer for mudcrawler's meat.

Closet: looted. A footlocker violently hacked at the center of the room, the ripped clothes inside scattered on the floor.

Rolsch: HD 1, AC 11, Morale 7, Attacks +1 pistol (2d6), +1 dagger (d4)

Wild eyes; feverish shivers; mismatched clothes, crusted with blood. Holds his pistol in both hands. “You wanted to rob Rolsch, yes? Ah…”, stammers, spits, takes aim “Now we'll see who's robbing who!”

Rolsch lost two brothers to the lower floors. He doesn't remember much, he escaped with his life and not much else. Got bitten on a leg and lied feverish in a corner for a few days. Now he's trying to get enough loot to leave this accursed place forever. He found the core crystal hidden in the butler's room secret alcove. “Piece of junk. It's just tinted glass, see? Looks pretty though.”

Pistols ignore 5 points of AC at short range and require two turns to recharge. Rolsch only has one bullet.

#WildFrontier

#Dungeon23 (week 1 / day 4)

A small room with a couple of stoneware basins, a wooden tub, and a large laundry copper. Shards of broken pottery litter the floor and clog the drain at the center. The air is thick with the sickly sweet smell of decay.

Loundry copper: stuffed inside the large vat there is the relatively fresh corpse of an almost naked, frail old man. The right leg is broken and lacerated, but the cause of death is clearly repeated stabbing.

Drain: the muddy floor around the drain was disturbed recently. Someone attempted to clumsily hide undrained blood by mixing it with soil and rubbish.

#WildFrontier

#Dungeon23 (week 1 / day 3)

Oblong room, low ceiling. On the southern wall a large fireplace like a gaping mouth hurling sludge on the floor. An overturned table, recently moved, partially covers the opening. Mud caked kitchen implements lie scattered around, including a large cauldron. Wooden shelves crowd the walls. Closed doors on the east and west sides.

Upon entering: 2-in-6 chance a mudcrawler is skittering on the ceiling, dropping down and disappearing in the fireplace.

Muddy floor: digging and dragging turns up buried “treasures” (roll 1d6 every turn. if already found, tough luck)

1	fine silver spoon (value: 10 silver pieces)
2	rusty fire poker (damage d6, breaks on a 1-in-6)
3	mudcrawler molting
4	ancient bones (human)
5	a broken clockwork bee
6	A small metal flask decorated with coiled serpents, a dried drop of blood inside. The sealed vault in the mistress chambers will open when approached by the bearer

Shelves: clay and glass jars, decomposed food stuff. A thorough search turns up a small wax sealed vase of black honey.

Black honey: sticky, sweet and pungent, very addictive. can be applied on wounds as an healing salve. Eat too much in one go and lose your sight for d20 minutes. Made by clockwork bees.

Fireplace: mud spewed from the opening all over the floor. Strange thread-like tracks all over. The iron grate at the back is broken and bent. A brood of mudcrawlers makes their nest in the grimy chimney . The narrow passage down the stack leads to the noble quarters below.

Upset cauldron: a mudcrawler hides underneath.

Mudcrawler: HD 1, AC 15, Morale 5, Attacks +1 tail (d6), filthy bite (d4, poison)

Number appearing: solitary, 2d4 brood

Chitinous horseshoe head, wiggling antennae, scissor-like tail, too many scuttling legs. Big as a large cat, fast as one too. Gone in a flash.

Clings to walls, hides below mud on a 5-in-6. Attacks only if cornered or stepped upon. Poisonous bites. Every hour untreated: save or take d3 Dexterity damage.

Cooked meat tastes delicious.

#WildFrontiers

This entry is a placeholder, more on this later!

Carmenta is the palace, and the palace is Carmenta. It/She manages the palace for the Master. He will not be happy to see all this mayhem, oh no. Not happy at all.

#Dungeon23 #WildFrontiers

#Dungeon23 (week 1/ day 2)

A spartan room, almost as big as the dome above, but square and with a low ceiling. The air is thick, hot, and humid, with a strong earth and mushroom funk. Rotted wood panels cover the walls, crawling with small insects going in and out the lichen spots. A thick, long wooden table sits at the center of the chamber, with broken chairs and stools thrown around, and broken shards of plates and glasses littered above. More simple crockery can be found in an armoire nearby. Some is even still intact. Brass bells hung just below the ceiling. No wires attached anywhere. A swarm of of floating lanterns glides gently toward anyone entering the room, providing a soft blue light, and showing the way toward the doors in the eastern wall.

Rotted wood panels: a small panel is hidden behind the lichen on the western wall. if pushed it will open into small niche containing a mouldy basket with the spoiled remains of delicate skeins of yarn, a couple carved bone knitting pins and a decorated silver needles holder with 4 sewing needles inside.

Brass bells: if the core crystal in the butler's apartment has not been restored, Carmenta will make the bells on that side of the room start chiming when someone gets near, if she's able to.

Floating lanterns: tiny bubbles of clear glass, impossibly thin and light. Look like a swarm of ghostly fireflies when lit. If controlled by Carmenta they float in the air slowly, swirling around adventurers and toward the nearest core crystal holder.

#WildFrontier