acolyte, for the love of god

acolyte, 

1hd, ac2, thaco 19: 1d6, sv 14, ml 7,  quest: 

seeking god through effort and force, they work to become cosmic punctuation. 

decadant war priests 

mistaking power and meaning.

hands of god

full of zeal

their customs odd

priest carried steel

a quest begun

a blessed meal

hymns violent verse

bid faithful, weal

acolyte quests and number appearing: 

1. return the melancholia (club, +2) to the fading mother (f), it is always raining when they're around. he seeks a coven of kindly old nuns (13) who can show him the way to the mother, they will kill him (become a revenant, see below). he covets the station of his brothers (b, boffer brothers, see below). add him to the die roll.

2. guts, they must prove they have them, they seek a chateaux (f, see below), occupied by trolls (see below), and shadows (see below), it is said the owners (ghosts, see below) had a chalice which purifies water.

3. triple the hydras (see below) heads, were offered a vorpal sword and the stomach to use it. they will probably not survive the encounter. 5in6 chance its the hydra (see below) next time, roll 1d100 heads to see how well they did

4. must learn to turn sticks to snakes from a nearby toad demon (e, see below), they bring offerings of gilded pupa from the goldthedral (g), a pair whisper of a portal at the bottom of the earthvane (e, hellmouth [h]) and of the treasures that grow there.

5. gold priests and a dozen fighters, they have a prisoner (roll again), they are bringing them to the goldthedral (g) for gilding.

6. a troupe of barber surgeons, they carry stories of a haunted chateaux (f, see below) and gossip (c, d, g, see below). they seek the carnivorous island, where the mace of smiting breaks parasitic teeth (see below). most want to help, one covets the artifact.

7. the strongest men you have ever seen (+3 damage), pursue glory through feats of strength and daring, they are easily tricked, and hard to muster without coin.

8. marking territory, pushy, ask for coin, actually bandits (see below), but cool about it, threatening confidence, but a little burned out.

9. mid ritual, sacrificing 3 rock baboons (see below), they turn stone to flesh, their god is almost here (pagrazham the night bear, see below), he is eager to meet you.

10. making camp, and setting up a small shrine, a pack tortoise chomps on potted plants, and priests offer portership for offerings of pittances. one plans a coupe in three days, it will be split down the middle, winners survive, split profits, and keep the tortoise. 

11. carry a tiger (see below) in a palenquin cave, it is ferocious and testy, they do magic shows and perform miracles in a big tent. it does not respect the priests and will eat them soon. priests looking for tiger cage cleaners: 100gp/week.

12. herd geese with golden crooks (lance, 600gp), three lay eggs of gold, one lays eggs of silver. they are enourmous from the eggs (ogres, see below). billiam (b, see below) trades honey beer for eggs sometimes, he is accompanied by 13 brigands (see below) with polearms and honey blades (see below).

13. kindly old nuns of incredible power (c14), hunted by a mourning revnant (1, dead unless they are with the party, see below). their nunnery travels with them. it is a strange place, full of haunted hauls halls. they are immortal, and will always return, thanks to their husband, the toad demon (e, see below). they know where the sleeping mother (f) hides her treasures. they are obssessed with the queen, and her court apiarist (a, see here).

everything means what you think it means,
 things sometimes mean multiple things

adventuring party: one of each class or six of one, and a dozen men at arms (see below). they want what you do, or its opposite.

bandit, 1hd, ac 6, thaco 19: 1d6, save 14, ml 5: desperate times call for passionate response. young and full of angst, rowdy, but rarely dangerous, cannot afford the life in carton (c). they favor the forest path (c, f, g), elsewhere they are in trouble. they will mug you if they can get away with it, they expect the same of others.

brigands, 1 hd, ac 3, thaco 19: 1d8, save 14, ml 7: hooked on honey blades (see below). paid by billiam boffer to skim honey beer from dragon road (d, g). billiams greed gets many killed.

boffer brothers: rarley together, never alone, they are paranoid of being cut out like their brother. a painting over the fireplace wall depicts the three together at the brothers tavern (b, 1)

billiam boffer: brigand (see above), an actor playing a heavy, always has backup (brigand, see above), he sends honeybeer, he recieves gold in return, he takes back honey beer on moonless nights and sells it to the dragon (d, see below) again, his crimes will soon be discovered, he is in over his head and will be brought in deeper.

belliam boffer: brigand (see above), obssessed with the occult and dresses like it, a troop of mediums (see below) offer him scrolls and ingrediants, they ask double from anyone else. he bound a demon to a venemous snake, he does not know what to do with it. snaking debts, and honey blade addiction lay him low. belliam tends to raging furnaces, where honey becomes molten and is pressed into blades harder than steel and lighter than wood. he covets the apiarists relationship with the queen (a, here), and her methods for making honeywood.

death curses:

1. you are unlucky, animals are wary of you, bad things happen when you are near.
2. you are a human lightning rod now, static shocks you often, and painfully
3. there is a cat that follows you, always appearing at dawn. where it walks, rats proliferate.
4. there is a boulder you must now sleep on top of, you know this and the stone is nearby. if you dont, you suffer a withering curse (-1 CON/day). you recover twice as much on the rock.
5. your eyes become goat eyes, you cannot stomach cooked food, it gives you psychopomp worms (see below)
6. gold you touch becomes silver

 

dragon: 

hd 10**, ac -1, thaco 11: 1d8, 1d8, 4d8, save: 14: 

*flight, fast and agile. flies like a diving, burning falcon, often ends in a flash of violence (prone, in mouth, and blind, if all attacks hit)

**fire breath, 1d100 damage, instant ignition in dragons fire (see below). 

burning violence 

endless consumption 

escalation 

it can not hold

it has not fallen 

the end of all

honey beer and labor trickle up the mountain, loved ones trickle down with pennies and iron and gold. a vicious cycle on a path without assurances, nesting in the smoldering heap of futures.

dragons fire: born with creation, it is their shadow. destruction of unimaginable scale, its heat rends the very fabric of the real and must be placated, not extinguished. it can be bottled, but it is rarely contained and never controlled.

gossip: carton (c), dragon mt (d), goldthedral (g):

1. timberly conners (c) has been writing love letters to abagail strange (a here)
2. ghotts talcum was found dead on the forest road (f), carton (c) is looking for an investigator (200gp), they suspect the manticore (see below)
3. the dragon (see above) was born in the heart of the world (false)
4. the dragon (see above) owes the devil (see below) a soul (true)
5. the high priest of the goldthedral is addicted to honey blades (true),
6. gold priests replace their hearts with gold replicas (false, but they all wear big gold medallions under their robes 150gp)

haunted chateaux: in foggy forest glades (f) grown from the very wood, they are haunted by another age. filled to the brim with silver and fineries, curses (see death curses above), all valued highly by the gold priests.

d6 encounter and number appearing:

1. shadow (see below), they mimic fresh movement, crave it, they will eat your shadow and follow you, people will begin to go missing, shadows will begin to propigate.
2. trolls (see below), boiling broth, it smells good, they are looking to add to it. 
3. ghosts (see below) trapped in a scene from their life (roll reaction), outsiders are often expected to play parts.
4. gold priests (see above) carefully looting, one is cursed, the others will leave them for dead.
5. elves, mourning party, they wear masks of silver and gowns of hemp and velvet. their songs carry melancholy, save or catch it.
6. mediums (see below) and a dozen brigands (see above), here to find treasures for bellium, they will cut you in if you seem useful, they will cut you out if they can.

honey blades: can be wielded by anyone (+2), gets them drunk on battle (-1 ac, +1d8 hp), filled with adrenaline and phantasmal glory, the sensation is one many chase. 

hydra: hd 3*, ac5, thaco 17, 1d6/hd, save14, ml5: it lives in the forest bog (f, off the road, follow compass north), its heart can kill the toad demon, it is in love with the nuns. it is a fractured hole, it loves itselfs more than anything. 

*multiply: 3 damage splits heads if cutting, max damage splits heads elsewise. loyal to the iron keep (i), and wields claws and teeth of magic, rending steel to prove it.

man at arms: hd 1, ac 5, thaco 19, 1d6, sv 14, ml5: someone who sells a willingness for violence, most do not have much of a capacity for it.

manticore: hd 6*, ac 4, thaco 13, 1d4, 1d4, 2d4, save 12, ml 9: 

*spines: can fire up to six spines (1d6) 180', thrice. the spines are coveted by the cartmen of carton (c, 3sp), a talisman made from a spine is said to ward off thieves.

a golden maned lion with the face of a beautiful elf. it is a mournful, and spiteful thing which wears a bramble crown. those eaten by the manticore haunt the forest (f) until the manticore is killed. its hide is rumored to bring the dead back to life.

medium: hd 1*, ac 9, thaco 19, 1d4,save 13,ml 7: 

*spell: each has a first level spell

there is a magic user scene in and around the brewery (b), they sell scrolls and potions (TT n,o) and curios (see below)

curios: 

1. a golden top, while spinning, the operator falls like a feather, while still, the carrier sinks like a stone. 250gp.
2. three electrum coins, their faces are in constant communication, they can answer yes or no questions posed to them. 500gp
3. a vest of gray lambs wool, causes head hair to grow a foot per day when worn. 750gp
4. a wicker mask in the shape of a lion, donning the mask causes it to animate (1d6 bite, massive roar). 1000gp
5. a glass skull, a magic word allows the speaker to swap places, sizes, or materials with it. 1250gp
6. a bone whistle that summons a ghoul from hell, it will aid its caller, but expects to be fed. he is the most awkward person you have ever met. free, please take it.

ogre: hd 4, ac 5, thaco 15: 1d12, save 12, ml 10: those who subsist off golden eggs become large and protective of the geese that lay them, they often become reverant as well.

o golden goose

mine heart, external

thy succorous grace

made mine, diurnal

delicate suns

break fast, nocturnal

and gives me strength

to break thine kernals

parasitic teeth: hd 2, ac 8*, thaco 18, 1d10 sv 14: save or become infected. they fill the hosts mouth, their bite carries their invasion. they will work with the host so long as that work ends in total assimilation. infected gain a d10 bite attack.

pagrasham the night bear: hd 6**, ac 6, thaco 14, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6, save 14, ml 8: 

*centipede tongue: bite attack (third) requires save vs paralysis. an enourmous grizzly bear with a centipede tongue.           **invulnerability: can only be harmed by honey wood.

a bear with a centipede tongue, its gift is life via strength to ward off death, its kiss acts as a potion of heriosm, its duration days, it demands fealty and service in return. 

psychopomp worms: infection in body and soul, they feed on what nourishes you, you require double of everything. ghosts are drawn to the worms, some will try to possess you, you must not let them.

revenant: f1: gains 1 hd each time it dies violently, remembers the names of its killers and seeks revenge. he was a boffer brother, the third, he gave his name to the fading mother and then died for her.

rock baboon: hd 2, ac 3 thaco 18: 1d6, 1d3 save, 14, ml 6: from the great troop of the earthvane (e). made of stone, their bellies are full of silver (1d20*) each comes with a death curse (see above), though the apiarist (a, here) offers protective amulets (grants a save, becomes lucky [+1, cumulative] each time you succeed, breaks if you fail while lucky) for a gp.

shadow: hd 2*, ac 7, thaco 17: 1d4, save 10, ml 8  the exhale of experience, it will fill you with cold time which saps the ones who carry it, they put on shadow plays and hide in pockets, they are your shadow now, the one before is gone.

the devil: hd 6**, ac -2, thaco 6: 3d6, save 6, ml 7

*magic will not touch them, steel must be blessed first

**knows every spell ever

this is the devil everyone knows around here, he is everything you imagine, he can show you such sights, he can make you sweet promises, but he is the devil, and he cannot be trusted.

tiger: hd 8*, ac 6, thaco 12: 1d8, 1d8, 2d8, save 12, ml 10: 

*impenetrable hide: cannot be cut

he is known to the priests as mastul, but he has older names. he is haunted by the men he has eaten, they travel with him and latch onto others.

toad, demon: hd 2*, ac 2, thaco 17: 1d20, save 9 ml 8: 

*impervious: it is immune to damage.

the size and weight of a boulder, mouth like a woodchipper: spews acid into the earthvane. (e), pulls from it gold.

troll: hd 6*, ac 4, thaco 13: 1d6, 1d6, 1d10, save 12, ml 10:

*rubbery flesh: quick healing, and resiliant, gain 5hp/cut or puncture, immune to blugeoning, fire and acid: treat skin as wet paper. 

they are very old giants

they do not stop easy

their skin like a slug

full of rubber and batteries

teeth like sharp stone

claws of iron

their flesh is like liquid

a living design

1d20*: one d20 squared: