Cavern of the Beloved Prophets (4DJ Dungeon)

d6 Random Encounters on the way to the Cavern

1. The robbers from area 2 (entrance)
2. The dangerous animal from area 4 (mountaintop)
3. Cloud of locusts. No damage, but will eat food or fabric
4. 1d4 cows, guarded by a bull with a deceased rider hanging off it
5. 1dNumeri Cut Riders: 3 hp, stats 11/11/10/8. Bleed wherever they go, charging into foes. 3-in-4 have a spear and smallknife, the remainder have a halberd and cruciform sword. No armor, but 1-in-4 mounts have barding (expend to negate a bladed weapon attack). They ride draft and flight horses.
6. Plague Squire: 4 hp, stats 12/11/9/13. Breaths a poisonous miasma. Fire deals +1 damage against them. 1-in-4 rides a horse and wields a spear. The remainder wield a cruciform sword and ideology (Inoculationism: IF you see a healthy person, THEN afflict them)

Cavern of the Beloved Prophets

1. Gatehouse surrounded by rows of barren earth. Full of immaculate farming tools and a single dose of incense hidden on top of the doorframe.

2. Entrance, a mouth in the earth through which the smoke of robbers’ fires waft. There are four, and they know very little about the deeper cavern, since they are not virtuous enough to enter. The camp has five slots of beans, one of cassava, two of wild rice, an axe, some firewood, and a couple tents.
Robber: 3 HP, stats 10/12/10/8. Prefers to strike form hiding.

• Nick-Veins: sling and snare. Avuncular leader. Afraid of holy people. Has a hollow gold ring in case he needs to trap a demon.
• Do-Not-Assassinate: fire and fauchard. Paranoid cambion, codependent friendship with Nick.
• Dek-Preemptively-Dishonors: flail and poison (red mercury). Dreams of joining the sorority to learn the meaning of names.
• Exceed-In-Ingenuity: cruciform sword. Suspects there is a great treasury in the cavern.

3. Trash heap full of ash, soiled bandages, compost, and shattered pottery. Evidence of frequent fire. Conceals a short tunnel lending to area 10 (mushroom farm). Significantly interacting with the trash is a test of skill to avoid touching anything contaminated with leprosy. Those who resist plague only have a 1-in-4 chance of infection.

Leprosy: if they can help it, NPCs will not get within 30 feet of you. Life expectancy 1d20 years.

4. Mountaintop desecrated by graven wooden poles. A dangerous animal stalks the area.

Bull with the head of a yaffingale, skin of tinder, and the voice of a dragon: 7, stats 15/8/13/13. Prefers to roar before dashing downhill at its prey. Resists fire. Quick climber, and clever. If slain, it can be salvaged for the equivalent of a point of charcoal, three of soot, and three of fabric. Scholars will play 50 fragments for its innards, and know how to make an unguent of non-flammability from it.

• Roar: this calumny sets someone on fire and fills the area with smoke
• Charge: cannot be parried. When charging downhill, may harm multiple foes in a line.
• Terribly Writhe: can take the attack action twice in a round, targeting multiple foes.

5. Arcade, a long room of many arches, overlooked by area 7 (balcony) Covering most surfaces is a colony of resting flies. When aroused, they swarm and inflict plague damage. They flee fire, smoke, and incense, or can be bypassed with a test of skill.

6. Spokesman’s Room, the office of the head of the prophets. On the desk is writing supplies, as well as scrolls describing the location of the tomb of an ancient virtuous man, Vision-Of-Dek. The door to area 7 has no handle but rather a radiant bronze face, its open mouth covered in dried blood. Sticking a hand in the mouth unlocks the door, but has a 1-in-3 chance of triggering a blade that slices that hand off, provided it’s attached to an arm. Behind the door is an innocuous doorstop, easily overlooked. Elsewhere in the room is an ark containing a point of fabric and a point of scrap metal.

7. Balcony from which imperial relic hunter Szudzo-Ab-Dur looks over area 5 (arcade). He may interrogate trespassers, or simply retreat to a part of the room they cannot see. The room also contains two doses of incense, a phylactery, two points of squash, and a point of wine. 

Relic Hunter: 5 HP, stats 13/12/13/12. Lingers near narrow places to fight foes one at a time. Cruciform sword and kukri. Resists swords.

• Spring-loaded gauntlet (2) expend to negate harm after a failed parry. Repair with scrap metal, a hammer, and an hour.
• Scarab charm (1) expend to negate calumnies or curses. Repair with resin, fine tools, and two hours.
• Riposte: successful parry deals 2 harm.

8. Well: walls covered in frescoes of birds clutching fruits. Simple shadoof lowered into a hole in the floor that leads to a basin in area 13 (altar), empty and dry. Also, a random spooky merchant.

9. Larder containing spoiled wine, ruined jams, and cranberry and curd stains on the floor. A pack of hateful capuchin monkeys lair here, and will spill out into the arcade if they attack. (They are not immune to plague.) The number there currently varies (see the numeri)

Capuchin: 3 hp, stats 6/12/9/4. Prefer to form vicious swarms, stealing items if it seems like they’re winning. Not clever, but moved by ideology and music. If reduced to half their number, they will flee.

• Swarm: when one monkey fails to harm a target that hasn’t been harmed by a monkey this round, other monkeys get +2 to do so.

10. Mushroom farm, only a single point of fungus remaining. The cavern’s back entrance is filled with garbage from area 3 (trash heap).

11. Stairwell, dense with miasma. The plague is literally visible in this warm, damp, mold-covered connection between area 10 (mushroom farm) and area 12 (reliquary). Passing through without holding one’s breath inflicts plague damage. Three candelabrum torches are ensconced along the wall at regular intervals, but they are stuck in their frames and require a test of size to free.

12. Reliquary. The odd pillar and plinth. Objects are obviously missing from their places. As well, there are a small swarm of dog-sized locusts lairing here, though they are not aggressive and would have a hard time harming someone if they tried. The densest pile of them conceals a gold-hilted cruciform sword and a pot of honey.

13. Altar, still-burning lamps arrayed around it. Most will go out as soon as they are touched, save for one which is a lamp of holding (can hold up to 8 points, liquid only) Here also reside the spectres of sword-saints, one for every member of the party. They accept obeisance, but are angered by strange things outside the party’s knowledge. They are familiar with every part of the cavern.

Sword-Spectre: 2 hp, stats 12/12/12/12. Prefer to fight mano-a-mano. Cruciform sword and ideology. Only hurt by swords, curses, and calumnies.

• Spookum: their calumnies cause ghosts and minions to flee.
• Reform: returns to haunt after 1dnumeri days.
• Reactionism (1) IF you are attacked, THEN draw your sword and parry in a single motion.

14. Infirmary, each table occupied by a deceased leper. Touching one risks leprosy as described in area 3 (trash heap). One wears a gold necklace, another a lucky woven bracelet. Stored under the tables are three doses of incense, two points of medicine, a waterskin, some chalk, a lamp, and two points of lamp oil.

15. Meditation Room: A bare cell containing a lioness who ate (and in some ways is) a good woman. She will likely hear the party approach and if they are careless she will take them by surprise when they open the door.

Lioness: HP 7, stats 14/11/10/5. Prefers to jump on one target and rip them apart before dragging them into a hiding place. Also, from her stomach can be heard an apologetic laywoman.

• Pounce: after a successful charge, make a free attack against the same target.
• Names: from her meal, the lioness has a woman’s understanding of names.

16. Back room: Sixteen dead prophets, slain by various means. They are thin and long-suffering. The only consolation is the relics they carry, though many do not seem valuable.

• Salamander Robe (4) immune to fire
• Third of the Blade of Barn (1)
• Candle that, so long as it is still, never goes out (1)
• Lead that tames any animal it lassos (1)
• Just a really good pepper (1)
• Pile of donations equal to 200 gold fragments
• and the collected accounts of over a hundred common people

House of the Serpent Kings

 If you want to better understand something, take it apart and put it back together.

Attic

Looking out of the windows, one can see that they are on the second floor of some ornate building, the slope before them covered in thorn-studded vines, loose tiles, and the occasional glimpse of movement. Throughout the attic, crates with adventuring gear can be found. How did we get here?

Main Floor

Windows give much away. If the party does a circuit of the building, they might see a wight hiding in room 13, or treasure in room 32. A path leads easily up to room 9, but a copse of trees hide the entrance to 41. Spot 42 has been converted to a simple dumbwaiter.

Basement

As in the original module, 20 and 21 lead off into the great unknown. I would personally have one lead to the Dungeon Station, and the other to, say, the Tower of Hylox. You'll note that some of the rooms have changed floors from the original dungeon.

In general, you may here embrace sequence-breaking. Smashing through walls and climbing along exteriors is good fun, and the players should do it! Leave construction tools (and destruction tool) lying around. Nestle rooms between other rooms.

4DJ: Merchants and Barter

Inspired in part by https://hexculture.com/2019/12/home-again-home-again.html

The empire and the remnants in the cities use golden currency, usually in fragments of golden rods. The remnants elsewhere prefer bartering and gifts. In the Ten Merchants table below, the barter value for goods is listed, but later on the article also lists the typical cost in rods.

• In a community, roll a d4, d6, d8, and d10 to establish which merchants are present
• In a city, roll a d4, d6, and 6d10 to establish which are present. They sell objects at their standard cost in golden rod fragments and buy them for half their value.
• In a dungeon, roll a d10 to establish which are present

Each merchant has no more than 1d4 of a given item for sale. Though they typically won't purchase items beyond what they want, canny PCs can make gifts in the form of sharing wine, food, offering jewelry, or other appropriate items. These contribute the total barter value of the gifts plus 10% (minimum 1) for negotiations, but only if the gifts are given well and with no overt expectation of recompense. A merchant might make other gifts to the PC to try to ameliorate this, but most people are happy to make friends. Still, there's no accounting for personality.

art by Boris Groh

Ten Merchants

1. Host- his first guest eats nothing, but his second guest eats for cheap

• Offers: food (1/2/3), cosmetics (7), candelabrum torch (3), clothing (2)
• Wants: wine (1), fabric (1), lamp oil (3)

2. Smith- his caste predates even Dek’s people in the land

• Offers: swords (5), tools (2), seal (4), chain (2), ash (1), random soldier weapon (7), horseshoes (3)
• Wants: metal (1), charcoal (2), wood (1)

3. Husband- butler to his kine, bully to his family

• Offers: meat (2), skins (1), feed (1), tent (5), dung (1)
• Wants: tobacco (3), kine (varies), reeds (1), straw, (1) goad (2)

4. Vintner- the invaders permit vintners for the time being, but a wine-maker thinks ahead

• Offers: wine (2), grapes (1), lamp oil (3), wineskin (1)
• Wants: jewelry (4+), goblet (1), cart (4)

5. Farmer- when nothing grows, he gets into trouble easily

• Offers: food (1/2), lantern (6), rope (4), straw (1)
• Wants: incense (8), coffin (30), ploughshare (3)

6. Carpenter- he fells forests of abandoned furnishings and plants short-lived pieces

• Offers: staves (4), ladder (5), saw (3), ark (6)
• Wants: wood (2), tongs (1), nails (1)

7. Lender- the spiritual center, he says he’ll be rich when the hostages come back one day.

• Offers: kine (varies), loans (varies), lock and key (10)
• Wants: writing supplies (6), wick trimmer (6)

8. Ranger- When he comes into town, they ask what he saw and he only shakes his head

• Offers: snares (5), poison (18), yellow chalk (1), shells (1)
• Wants: whistle (2), resin (12), tent (8)

9. Cupbearer- hopeless attempting to regain his master’s estate

• Offers: lock and key (10), horse brush (8), saddle (40)
• Wants: horses (varies), scroll case (4), dye (10)

10. Scholar- how wonderful to love learning when the land has become an abject lesson

• Offers: writing supplies (7), brazier (6), reading and copying (varies), vitriol (1)
• Wants: organs (2), phylactery (20), ash (1)

Items (inventory points/cost in rod fragments)

Almanac scroll (1/35)

Ark (2/30)

Axe (1/14)

Basket (1/14)

Bell (1/10)

Belt (0/6)

Bracelet (0/40+)

Brazier (1/30)

Brooch (0/40+)

Candelabrum torch (1/10)

Cart (14/100) Counts as 4 slots when pulled by a draft animal

Chain (2/20)

Charcoal (1/6)

chisel (1/6)

Cloak (1/30)

Coffin (20/200)

copper scrap (1/7)

Cord (1/8) ten feet

Cup (1/5)

Diadem (1/100+)

Drum (1/16)

Dye (1/50)

Earring (0/50+)

fabric (1/5)

File (1/7)

Goad (1/7)

Goblet (1/7)

Grappling hook (1/20)

hammer (1/12)

Handpipes (1/18)

Harp (1/16)

Headband (0/4)

horse brush (1/40)

horse feed (1/5)

Hurdy-gurdy (1/20)

Incense (1/25) Cost multiplied by most recent Plague roll. Negates chance of harm from plague for one encounter

Jar (1/6)

ladder (3/25) 15 feet tall

lamp oil (1/10)

lantern (1/30) can have a hood or other attachment for another 5 fragments

lock and key (1/50)

Mortar and pestle (1/8)

nails (1/6)

Onyx (1/60)

Phylactery (1/100)

pick (1/20)

Pitcher (1/12)

Ploughshare (3/14)

pole (2/10) ten feet long

reeds (1/4)

Resin (1/60)

Ring (0/60+)

Rope (1/20) 30 feet, well oiled

Saddle (0/200)

Saw (1/14)

Scissors and pliers (1/15)

Scroll case (1/20)

Seal (1/20) usually commissioned, not resold

Sickle (1/10)

Soot (1/1)

Straw (1/6)

Tambourine (1/14)

Tent (3/40)

Tobacco (1/10)

Tongs (1/6)

Trumpet (1/18)

Veil (0/20+)

Vitriol (1/8)

Waterskin (1/4)

whistle (1/10)

Wick trimmer (1/30)

wood (1/5)

Writing supplies (1/30) scribes can use these

Yarn (1/5)

Yellow chalk (1/4) anyone can use this

Kine

Alpaca (-/110)

Bull (-/240)

Cow (-/200)

Level 1 Horse (-/300)

Level 2 Horse (-/400)

Pig (-/50)

Pony (-/120)

Sheep (-/60)

Provender

avocados (1/5) Heals 1

Beans (1/5) Heals 1

Beef (1/10) Heals 2

Blueberries (1/5) Heals 1

butter (1/4) Heals 1 when added to a meal

Cashews (1/5) Heals 1

cassava (1/10) Heals 2

Chestnuts (1/5) Heals 1

cocoa (1/10) Heals 2

crab apples (1/5) Heals 1

cranberries (1/5) Heals 1

Cream (1/6) Heals 1

Curds (1/5) Heals 1

gourds (1/5) Heals 1

Manna (1/12)Heals 2, double on holy days

Milk (1/5) Heals 1

Mixed nuts (1/5) Heals 1

Mutton (1/10) Heals 2

onions (1/4) Heals 1 when added to a meal

papayas (1/5) Heals 1

peanuts (1/5) Heals 1

Peppers (1/5) Heals 1

pineapples (1/5) Heals 1

plums (1/5) Heals 1

potatoes (1/9) Heals 2

poultry (1/10) Heals 2

Pumpkin (1/5) Heals 1

Raspberries (1/5) Heals 1

Soup (1/14) Heals 3 the day it’s made, otherwise 1

squash (1/5) Heals 1

strawberries (1/5) Heals 1

sunflowers (1/5) Heals 1

sweet potatoes (1/10) Heals 2

tomatoes (1/10) Heals 2

wild cherries (1/5) Heals 1

wild rice (1/5) Heals 1

Wine (1/10) Heals 2

Weapons (Cost divided by the most recent result of the Sword roll for an expedition.)

Cruciform Sword (2/40)

Sling (1/20)

Spear (3/60)

Kukri (1/40)

Halberd (3/65)

Flail (2/50)

Fauchard (3/65)

Billhook (3/65)

Smallknife (1/20)

Cosmetics (1/40)

Poison (1/100) Most people refuse to trade in poison

Staff (2/20)

Snare (1/20)

Gonne (4/300) Fetches one-tenth the price to someone who doesn't know how to use it

Condensation in Action: Legacy of Fire

 After reading through the second chapter of Legacy of Fire, the House of the Beast, I decided to imitate the inimitable Joseph Manola in his ongoing series condensing Pathfinder adventure paths into something more usable. I’ve converted the Brazen Peaks into a hexcrawl and placed events that are designed to happen elsewhere within them. If I was running this at the table, I would add maybe a dozen to twenty additional locations, but what I present here is mostly accurate to the goal of condensation.

Legacy of Fire has a couple really solid chapters, and even the filler has parts to salvage, but the structure of the adventure path is strange. It tends to skip the interesting bits, contrive strange directions for the plot, and stuff a lot of fighting in. By focusing the adventure on the promise of settling a town and making the surrounding area safe, I hope I’m focusing on the parts of the adventure that are most fun and that give the party the most freedom in pursuing their objectives.

Background: Long ago, the evil genie Jhavhul sought to become the resurrected avatar of Rovagug, his god of destruction and apocalypse. He attempted this by collecting 1,000 wishes, painstakingly extracted from mortal middlemen. Before he could achieve this, the noble genie Nefeshti and her Templars of the Five Winds managed to trap him in a demiplane with the mythic Scroll of Kakishon, trapping herself in the process.

Much later, the PCs have been hired to settle the abandoned town of Kelmarane. Their initial expedition is composed of themselves, their humorless major domo Garavel, gnoll-tracker Dashki, cleric Zastoran, four soldiers, six mercenaries, two camel drivers, and a dozen pack animals. Once the town is cleared of threats, the party’s benefactors will send settlers and entice merchants to stop in the town.

This town is currently under the sway of a man who serves the Carrion King, a gnoll warlord who rules from deep in the Brazen Peaks. He will likely serve as an ongoing antagonist, coordinating strikes against whatever the PCs do. However, his death is only likely to be a halfway point for the party, as under his fortress is the scroll of Kakishon, which when deciphered will bring a genie war to the region the players have spent the campaign getting invested in.

Every month for ten months after the town is cleared, fifty settlers of various professions are sent to live in Kelmarane.

• After the first month, a thief named Radi Hamedi embeds himself in the community, passing on information to his criminal connections in the nearby town of Bronze Hook.
• After two months, an evil minor genie named Zyandian will approach the PCs in disguise, trying to get them to steal the Scroll of Kakishon from the Carrion King’s lair.
• After three months, there are enough people to get the battle market going, filling the stalls with traveling merchants and the arena with willing combatants.

The mythic Scroll of Kakishon: If rumors of the scroll’s location reach the general public, all sorts of freaks and weirdos from Bronze Hook will try to claim it, none less threatening than the jackalwere crime boss Father Jackal (11.8), who has promised to acquire it for the Merchants of Leng. It takes two weeks for an expert (11.8 Rayhan or 7.8 Glos for instance) to learn how to activate the scroll. If the scroll is activated, it brings the user and anyone else present into a tropical paradise demiplane, but unfortunately releases an efreet general Jhavhul and his army of genies into the material world. If the party stays in the demiplane for even a day at this stage, Jhavhul will has his servants send it them to his cursed estate in the City of Brass (2.2)

The Jackal’s Price: After the Carrion King is slain, it takes about a week for a gnoll strike force to unite under a prophet named Shiz and her captains, ranger Vlark and cleric Zjuja. They seek revenge against the Carrion King’s killers as well as the recovery of magic items, especially if the Scroll of Kakishon is taken. (8 human mercenaries, 15 gnolls, 12 hyenas, 1 ettin, and the three leaders prone to infighting)

The Final Wish: After the Scroll of Kakishon unleashes a genie army, Jhavhul sends one detachment to seize Kelmarane (9.8) while he himself establishes a lava-filled court underneath the lowest level of the House of the Beast (3.5). The corrupt city of Bronze Hook offers tribute to him to avoid outright invasion, for now. Meanwhile, Jhavhul’s genie foes arrive to do war with him, led by a noble genie called Nefeshti. They gather in the old monastery outside Kelmarane (9.8)  Jhavhul’s dark scheme involves forcing mortals to wish for his accumulated power. This rampant wishing creates magical “wishwarps” that harrow the land, making magic unpredictable. Since he can grant three wishes a day, and he has only a few wishes to go before he finally achieves some terrible apotheosis, there is some kind of ticking clock before Pale Mountain erupts, destroying Kelmarane, and the ascended Jhavhul leaves for the Plane of Fire.

Technically, these would be five-mile hexes but I figure that’s close enough to six-mile hexes. I’d say one day’s travel is two mountainous hexes, three normal hexes, or four hexes on a road or river

1.5 Litha Vale. A medusa, her living stone “children”, and the forest she accidentally turned to slate with forbidden druid magics.

2.2 The City of Brass, a magic genie metropolis that cannot be detected unless you have been there.

2.5 Serpent’s Canyon. Travel along the canyon bottom is swift, but roll twice for encounters.

2.6 Nowruz Vale. Druids in this grove seek to kill the medusa and lift the curse on Litha Vale (1.5)

2.10 Gnoll outpost. Thirty gnolls camp in the shade of a giant tumbled statue, daring each other to go on spying missions to learn of the Carrion King’s movements. They serve Red Sultana, a more successful rival warlord in the south.

3.5 The House of the Beast, the palace where the Carrion King holds court, currently in a state of civil war between his gnolls and a formerly allied tribe of Troglodytes. Beneath the fortress is the Scroll of Kakishon

3.6 Mountain’s Maw, a salamander-infested series of caverns that form a secret entrance to the House of the Beast (3.5)

4.1 Vorn, a large lake leading down a beautiful forking cascade into Lake Fors. Small shrines are left for an aquatic monster that lives in the larger lake.

4.5 Pale Mountain, jagged stone palisade and dig sites house the Circle (human cleric of Rovagug called “The Witch” leads 38 gnolls, 9 flinds, some dogs, and two dozen slaves) They dig haphazardly in the mountainside for a jade disc she thinks will help the Carrion King. A random gnoll of the tribe, Purkor, unknowingly carries it. 

4.9 Onyx Hall. Abandoned manor cursed by a wronged slave, such that all its owners will “dwell in bondage until the stones themselves burn like a pyre.” Full of fabulous heirlooms

5.4 Silver Tarn. Shining lake, with some nearby abandoned silver mines that access the Underdark. Stunted, shadowy figures have been seen at the lake’s edge.

5.5 Three Jaws camp (25 gnolls, 11 flinds, 6 goblin slaves, 15 guard hyenas. All wear trophies and jewelry worth 5 gold coins in their pierced bodies)

6.5 White Canyon. Gnoll byway. Roll two extra times for encounters here, but disregard anything other than gnolls and their allies.

7.2 Marudshar. Remote mountain temple with a crumbling gateway and a 63-foot-tall pilar carved to resemble petrified humans. Inhabited by all-male pride of unnatural, black-eyed lions who speak in strange tongues.

7.5 Chalk Cliffs. River runs through a chalky limestone box canyon with many caves. Limestone gargoyles blend in with the natural stone. 

7.7  Waterfall inhabited by a reclusive nixie sorcerer. Gnolls say it’s haunted.

7.8 Incredibly deep cave home of the Wymhollow tribe (45 gnolls, 4 flinds, 6 gnoll slaves, led by fanatics, spies, and elder cleric of Rovagug Glos.) The cavern entrance is narrow and trapped, guarded constantly by two gnolls and giant solifuges. Their chief knows an obscure tunnel that leads to the Underdark.

8.5 Hammerfalls. Many rough waterfalls and rapids. Hidden behind one of these is said to be the Halls of Hammerfall, an abandoned dwarven city.

8.7 Ruined Fort, currently inhabited by Three Jaws scouts (flind and 9 gnolls.) Like the main contingent in 5.5, all wear jewelry worth 5 gold coins. If the party operates in 9.8 for at least three days, the flind will send five gnolls to offer their help with the rival gnolls of Kelmarane. If the combined forces are successful, he will double-cross them.

8.9 Sultan’s Claw, an amusing-looking rocky outcropping. A family of Pugwampis live in the cacti nearby.

9.5 Jackal’s Maw, a deep, sheer chasm. Gnoll tribes throw sacrifices into it, calling it the mouth and/or womb of Lamashtu. Spooky creatures guard the carrion and lucre thrown into the chasm over centuries.

9.7 Old shrine to the god of magic, now inhabited by a former nobleman turned into a weretiger by a cursed punch-dagger.

9.8 Pesh cactus fields with a dust devil fill the center of the hex. Also, the town of Kelmarane, full of gnolls, a demon, a harpy, genie chieftain disguised as a human warlord Kardswann charmed by a demon who runs a “Battle Market” arena refurbished from the time when the Pactmasters controlled the town.

9.9 Old monastery desecrated by Pugwampis and other desert creatures, including evil mold that contains the mind of an ancient genie templar. The first person exposed to this mold becomes a host to the templar’s mind, showing them where in the monastery’s courtyard to dig to unearth a magical weapon called Tempest. The monastery gives a clear view on happenings in Kelmarane (9.8) If the party stays here for three days or more, gnolls from 8.7 arrive to offer help attacking Kelmarane.

11.3 Iemos, a 40-foot-tall date tree with the soul of a dead dragonslayer. Controls plants and weather to keep the hex safe.

11.8 Hook Ford, guarded by veteran watchkeeper Dasharn. He has a deal going with dragonnes in the hills where he leaves them dead gazelles and they leave him alone.

12.10 Mythic oasis, corrupted by a sign of Urgathoa made at the bottom of it. A noble Iammasu warns travelers away.Three groups of 7 lacedon ghouls frequent the oasis, and drinking the water causes a save vs ghoul fever. A desecrated temple is guarded by a paladin’s spectre and the skeleton of the ettin who killed her. Beneath the floor of the temple is her holy avenger, which only functions when in daylight.

 

12.4 Giant’s Steps. Two small bootprint-shaped lakes, one on either side of the road. Roll twice for encounters here.

12.7 Bronze Hook, dried up trading town where authorities permit slavery and all illegal trade. The constabulary starts more fights than it stops. Rumor has it that you can make a killing by looting the fetishes of the Three Jaw tribe gnolls, or by finding a lost treasure by the Giant’s Steps to the north. The home of a planar scholar named Rayhan. Home also of Father Jackal, a jackalwere cult leader/crime boss.

13.9 Thricehills. Community of 70 humans and hobbits grow olives and other produce. Small, outdated palisade. In need of defenders.

d20 Encounter Table

1. 2d8 hyenas

2. 1d2 lions

3. 1d4 baboons

4. 4d20 gazelles

5. 1d4 crag tarantulas

6. 1d4 gargoyles

7. 1d3 chupacabras

8. Roc

9. 1d4 dragonnes

10. 1d4 harpies

11. Al’Vohr’s Hunters (6 flinds, track and ambush at night)

12. The Ghulveis (5 leprous flinds and their pack of mangy hyenas)

13. The Sordaiv (20 ash-robed human raiders)

14. Wyrmslaves (Fat, stupid behir and his 18 “slave” gnolls)

15. Al’Chorhaiv gnoll tribe (46 adults, countless scorpions, druid chieftess Ahrikvask, giant scorpion, scheming priestess of Lamashtu Vamaag)

16. Leprous merchant (sells among other things a precious jeweled decanter. Around its stoppered lid is a command word written in Terran, that when spoken if the bottle is open sucks those around it into the palace of a genie prince)

17. Drovoag the Lame (a gnoll exiled from the Wyrmhollow tribe for allegedly worshiping the wrong demons. Bitter, and offers to show the party the secret back entrance into their caverns. Wants a cut of their ancient treasures.)

18. Heretical cleric (d4: 1, Rovagug. 2, Lamashtu. 3, Sarenrae. 4, Abadar)

19. Blue Dragon

20. Roll twice and combine

If a gnoll tribe is slain, quickly invent one with some unique shtick. They have 4d20 members, plus 1d20-10 flinds and any creatures required for their shtick.

Maintain a list of NPCs with unfinished business or who the player like. Consult this list if you roll a unique individual that couldn’t make sense, e.g. if they slew the leprous merchant.