Hex Descriptions from Yavana

This is a post my home group players SHOULD NOT READ.

Towns

1007 - Asterion Population ~ 5000, 500 Militia, 50 Men at Arms.  Tags: Incompetent Ruler, Corrupt Officials - Capital of Yavana.  Satrap is Ajaxos (Knight 12), a deluded warrior.  His vizier, Babashek (Wizard 10), plots his death.  Chief merchant is Kistomerces - will buy magic items for 50% value.  Guard is lead by Nordron barbarian named Eirik Blom.  Has latent psychic powers.

0604 - Elone - 500, 50 Militia, 5 Men at Arms. Tags: Grasping Noble - Acts as trading post along river.  Governor Akekos (Fighter 6) is in league with Babashek and thinks he will replace Ajaxos.

1712 - Oetylus - 2000, 200 Militia, 20 Men at Arms. Tags: Plague, Malignant Slum - Shitty habor town that acts as repair point on ships going to Asterion or Ilion.  Beset by plague of boils because of angry home gods.  Think it’s because of the necromancer in hex 1414.  Governor Lukos (Rogue 7) is a cunning rogue who cares little for his people.

0208 - Olizon - 2000, 200 Militia, 20 Men at Arms.  Tags: Wizard School, Forced Evictions - Totalitarian Aramite city.  Ruler is the Wizard of Red (Wizard 12), who seeks apprentices.  Expels people from the city based on strange visions he gets from using a spyglass to read the shadows on the Dwelling of Demons.

Castles

0204 - The High Keep - Large Keep - 80 Men at arms, 8th Level Lord (Knight), 5th Level Captain (Barbarian), 20 Crossbowmen, 20 Light Horse, 40 Hoplites - Tags: Exiled Magistrate, Wanted Outlaw.  

0809 - Moonrise Castle - Castle - 200 Men at arms, 8th Level Lord (Wizard), 6th Level Captain (Knight), 50 Knights, 50 Crossbows, 100 Hoplites - Tags: Motherlode, Secret Recipe

Dungeons

0210 - Dwelling of the Demons - tomb of demon sealed during the Age of Silver.  Belt buckle in

0216 - Shrine of the Old One - Gorilla People temple dedicated to ancient dinosaur god.

1105 - Water God’s Temple - Temple of Abzu.  Sealed from priests and parishioners by the angry god.

1414 - Palace of the Necromancer - Palace located in a cave.  Inhabited by necromancer and bandit crew.

2306 - Tomb of the First Men - Tomb dedicated to hero of the First Men from the Reptile Wars.

Sites

0106 - The last remaining wall of a temple to Serapis.  Guarded by 5 harpies.  An old altar piece is buried in the sand inside what would’ve been the temple.  Contains 90pp, a set of gilded laurels (150gp), incense (600gp)

0111 - A group of 6 cavemen are working their way through an old Aramite village of five huts looking for loot.  The inhabitants took all valuables with them because of the coming of a strange mold found in many of the huts.  Some corpses can be found with strange black threads growing out of their eyes and mouth.  CON save or contract a deadly disease from the mold spores.

0202 - A group of 16 gorilla people pick through the remains of an old battle between Ilionians and Aramites.  Few items remains, but picking through the carnage will yield 500gp in gold teeth.

0214 - Iron Golem guarding a Sun Sword.

0301 - Scorch marks cover a broad area of land.  A burned corpse holds an undamaged set of Pipes of the Sewers.

0315 - 60 gorilla people have a small village around a hideous idol of a gorilla god.

0410 - 4 Charon Fiends guard an ancient vault containing the miraculously preserved body of one of the Men of Gold.  The body itself, if it can be carried, would be worth 2500gp if melted (though what man in Yavana would do this is unknown).  Burial garb (2500gp), “heavy silver” worth 2500gp, 5000gp

0413 - An algae-filled cistern is all that remains of an Aramite castle.

0502 - Wild dogs play with a copper golem (HD3).  It plays with them like a little boy, tussling and play hitting, but will attack any humans that come near along with the dogs.

0505 - 2 Rocks lair on a mountain.  Has a platinum idol of Zeus that, if it can be carried away, would be worth 9000gp.

0509 - A storm giant attempts to open the magical door to his treasure cache but has forgotten the magic words.  Without the words it is impossible. If somehow opened it contains 8500gp, an extra set of lovely clothes for a giant-sized humanoid (8500gp to right buyer), and a magic cutlass +3 for a normal sized human.

0515 - 0616 Isle of the Old God; A group of 6 satyrs frolicks on this island, playing pan pipes, singing, and molesting the occasional herd animal.  If any humans land, they will inform them that “[they] have such things to show you” and will attempt to take the players to a pit containing a primordial one that they call “mother.”

0602 - 6 Iguana people celebrate the destruction of an air loom a wizard had been using to harass them.  The air loom’s parts are worth 3000gp, but none of the iguana people will allow anyone to take it away.

0606 - 2 cavemen worship a 3’ tall silver idol in the style of a moai.  Praying or meditating before it will turn the victim into a caveman (charisma save avoids).

0609 - A dead body in a cavern is guarded by the hero’s wraith, which refuses to leave this mortal coil.  He strikes at all that enter with a short sword of wounding and appears as a spectral hoplite.

0611 - Abandoned camp filled with obvious plague victims holds chest.  Chest is locked and contains 500gp.  Spending enough time in the chest requires a CON save in order not to catch the plague.

0705 - 3 Raptors hover over the corpse of a wizard.  They have destroyed his spellbook and are engaged in tearing out and eating pages, which has given them an odd, phosphorescent glow.  Wizard wears  a golden circlet (2500gp), 1 star sapphire (2500gp), and has 250pp

0707 - 13 Purple scaled human-like  beings (2 HD, AC 16, as Fighter 2) are cursing over their dead worm-mount.  They speak no language known to the surface world.  Their weapons are masterwork but made of a strange plastic no one will buy.  Their strange plastic cards are worth nothing on the surface world.

0801 - The remnants of an old trail are the haunt of 3 giant mantises.

0803 - A shrine to Dionysus lies in the jungle.  A fount burbles with dark purple wine.  If the wine is tasted, gives the identity of the demon in the Dwelling of Demons.

0805 - A khemian wizard (4) and his 15 pirate minions are attempting to salvage some papyri from the river.  They have 1500gp on them in a small chest two of the pirates carry, wizard robes bejeweled with little garnets cut into dinosaurs (1500gp),

0903 - Dead man tangled in vines with dead pteranodon mount.  Covered in army ants.  Save or die to interact.  750gp jeweled belt buckle on corpse.

1009 - Giant metal buckle appears to be natural rocks from a distance.  No guardians.  If excavated worth 1000gp in iron.

1101 - The Tower of the Hydra is a ruined tower (no floors or roof remaining, but exterior walls) where hordes of snakes are summoned by an ancient force.  The snakes fight in a mass as a 7 headed hydra.  If the “hydra” is slain, his body is revealed to be surrounding an enormous gem worth 6000gp.

1104 - 112 Iguana people built their village around a basalt block depicting the coronation of one of the First-men.  Together the village has 60000sp, a golden circlet covered in emeralds (2000gp), and a rod of pure gold (2000gp).

1106 - Partially submerged painted depicts serpent with spiral eyes.  Looking at it for any length of time requires a WIS save or be blinded for one hour.  A group of 7 Jaculi hang in nearby trees to drop down on those blinded by the stone.

1109 - A set of boundary stones kills any who cross it and resurrects them as zombies (Wisdom save to avoid).  2 victims have yet to succumb to rot.  In the center of the boundary stones is a buried sarcophagus containing no corpse but 1000gp.

1115 - A group of 160 bandits work 30 slaves at a wheel of pain.  They are led by a bandit chief (HD 5, AC 16) and have 4 sub-chiefs (HD 2, AC 14).  If their camp is raided one will find 1500gp in a locked chest, a silver circlet belonging to the chief (500gp), 10 bloodstones (50gp each) in a small sack, and a mahogany throne (500gp)

1202 - A +1 Ilionian breastplate, partially hidden by ferns,  serves as the home for a mass of 5 poisonous snakes.

1208 - The foundations of this old Ilionian villa are haunted by 4 shadows.  Under a “loose” cobblestone (trapped with poison gas, CON save or face type III poison), is a bag containing 1500gp, 4 black pearls (400gp each), and gold-threaded desert pants (1500gp).

1210 - 6 weretigers guard a shrine they have defaced and rededicated to Mouther Mountain.  3000gp, kingly robes (3000gp), gilded castration tool (3000gp to the right buyer)

1412 - A group of 6 fire giants futz with their broken earth borer.  They wish to return to their cthonic abode.  They have 650pp, art-deco pottery from the center of the earth (6500gp to right buyer), and the earthborer itself could be sold for 6500gp to the right buyer.

1702 - 1 Kraken guards a sunken ship.  Inside a chest in the ship is 15,000gp, and platinum bars (7500gp).  Chest’s are trapped but mechanism is too slow to work underwater.

1904 - A group of seven pirates had attempted to return here for their treasure but were ambushed by an ankheg.  In a partially unburied chest one can find 5000gp.

2011 - 6 Cyclops guard a tomb of a bi-clops (2 headed cyclops mage).  Tomb contains +2 Great Hammer, 25 steel bars (6000gp), purple mantle (3000gp), and 3000gp

2012 - 16 strangely lovelorn cyclops attempt to repair a woman of gold for sex reasons.  They argue mightily over who will get to “serve” her first.  It is very strange.  The broken woman could be sold for 2000gp.

2014 - A patch of oil emanates from a strange, metal barrel at the bottom of the ocean.

2204 - 4 Perytons hover over a raft filled with corpses.  Each has golden antlers worth 1000sp each.

2310 - A strange, tumbled keep is completely covered in green slime.  All interior metal and organic matter has been destroyed.

Dinosaurs of Yavana

Castles & Crusades doesn't have a lot of dinosaurs so here are the ones that inhabit Yavana converted from AD&D.  I tried to have it so that certain types (club tail, long neck, duckbill) only had one representative so that I didn't have to describe minute differences between extinct animals.

Allosaurus #1d2 AC 14 HD 15 Move 120’ Attacks 3 (1d4, 1d4, 6d4) Save P  Vicious predator, can run across the ground at great speed.

Ankylosaurus #1d4+1 AC 19 HD 9 Move 30’ Attacks 1 (3d6) Save P Armadillo-like dinosaur with club tails and armored plating.  If attacked or threatened uses tail as club, otherwise docile.

Camarasaurus #2d4 AC 13 HD 20 Move 15’ Attacks 1 (3d4) Save P Swamp-dwelling Smallish (50’ long) long-necked dinosaurs.  Easily spooked.  Attack represents trample.

Compies #3d6 AC 14 HD 1 (1d4) Move 30’ Attacks 1 (1d3) Save P Small, carnivorous dinosaurs.  Hunt in groups.  10% chance a group will confer a disease as giant rat.

Dimetrodon #1d2 AC 15 HD 3-5  Move 30’ Attacks 1 (1d10+5) Save P  Sail-backed reptile ancestor of mammals.  You know the one.

Dinichthys #1d4 AC 13 HD 10 Move 60’ (swim) Attacks 1 (5d4) Save P Actually giant mean fish, not dinosaurs.

Elasmosaurus #1d2 AC 12 HD 15 Move 60’ (Swim) Attacks 1 (4d6) Save P  Long necked reptiles of the loch-ness type.

Mosasaurus #1d3 AC 12 HD 12 Move 10’/60’ (swim) Attacks 1 (4d8) Save P Crocodile-like marine dinosaur that goes on little flippers.

Orintholestes #2d6 AC 15 HD 2 Move 60’ Attacks 1 (2d4) Save P Man-sized predators that run incredibly fast.  Feast on men and on dinosaur eggs.

Plateosaurus #5d4 AC 14 HD 8 Move 30’ Attacks 1 (2d4) Save P These are panicky herbivores that go on two legs.  Attack represents trampling.

Plesiosaur #1d3 AC 12 HD 20 Move 60’ (swim) Attacks 1 (5d4) Save P  large (50’ long) marine loch-ness type.

Pterosaur, Giant #1d8 AC 14 HD 6 (d10) Move 10’/60’ (fly) Attacks 1 (3d4) Save P  Giant flying lizard that can carry off a large horse.

Raptor #1d6 AC 15 HD 4 (d10) Move 60’ + 5’ Jump Attacks 3 (1d2/1d2/2d4) or 1 (2d6) after jump Save P Technically deinonychus, but everybody calls them raptors.  Have bright feathers.

Trachodon #2d6 AC 14 HD 12 Move 60’ Attacks 1 (1d8) Save P  Duck-billed dinosaurs of the plant eating sort.  Run from attack; only defense is lashing tail.

Froglings for Castles & Crusades

Froglings

Froglings are frogs that walk and speak in the manner of men.  They are short, only about 4' in height on average, and range between thin and stout.  Froglings make their home in a distant, marshy country known as Hoppland; however, they are found throughout the World of Nightwick as brewers, merchants, and adventurers.  Their skin ranges between slick and bumpy, and is usually a dull green or brown - though more exotic colors and patterns are not unheard of.  They favor flamboyant clothing and jewelry in garish colors.

Racial Traits and Abilities

Dusk Vision

Froglings can see in starlight and moonlight just as a human can see at dusk.  They retain the ability to distinguish color and some detail under these circumstances, though everything is cast in shadows.  They have no enhanced vision underground, in torchlight, or under similar conditions of poor illumination.

Hop

Froglings can leap 30 feet horizontally or 15 feet vertically.  Since their body is built to withstand leaps of this  sort, they ignore the first thirty feet of falling damage, treating a fall of 40 feet as though it were only 10.

Amphibious

Froglings may also swim as fast as they can walk unless encumbered.  They need less oxygen than other characters while swimming.  The effects of this must be determined by the individual Castle Keeper.  However, if they are in a dry climate, such as a desert, or a cold climate, such as a high mountain top, they take a -2 penalty to all actions due to their inability to function properly in such environments.

Resistant to Poisons (Constitution)

Languages: Common, Croakish

Size: Small

Movement: 20 feet

Typical Classes: Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Bard, Wizard

Attribute Modifiers: +1 Constitution, -1 Strength

Ranger Modifier: +2 Scale, +2 Track

Thief: +2 Climb

Yavana Session 2 - Theft of the Arrowhawk

Like this, but backwards

After having two players make characters using the Hill Cantons background generator, we had...

Brandon as Bjorn Gunnarson, a Nodron Ranger 1 (Deceased)
James as Diomedes, an Ilionian Fighter 2 (3 at session's end)
JP as Janstor, a Margive Assassin 1
Chris as Adom, a Khemian Rogue 2 (3 at session's end)
KC as Sable, a Nodron Druid 1

Those who had been to the Temple of Abzu last week boasted of their victories and wealth in the Salty Squid but also decided that returning there would mean certain doom.  Their boasts attracted two knew partisans and also a job offer: Faldor, an apprentice to High Vizier Babashek asked for a double duty that he would repay with a double boon.  The first duty was to seek out a large ruby in the Serpentine Jungle and return it to his master.  Babashek was willing to pay 6000 pieces of gold for the gem, or so said the apprentice.  The second task, he asserted, required great skill and cunning.

The Town of Asterion

Faldor asserted, with great nervousness, that there was a man masquerading as a mere beggar on a street corner in the Temple District.  This villain needed to be silenced forever.  Faldor was willing to offer 500gp to end this man's life.  The adventurers at this point split up, with Janstor and Sable going to see what was up with the beggar and Diomedes, Bjorn, and Adom staying to inquire about the tasks from Faldor.  The trio learned that Faldor was rather flustered by questions and was unwilling to elaborate on the nature of the beggar's alleged turpitudes.  Despite this, the trio decided to take the job (in a sense) after forcing Faldor to pay in advance.  Diomedes then headed to the market district to purchase a mule, a cloak, and a week of iron rations.

Meanwhile Janstor and Sable were trying to figure out the nature of the beggar.  He seemed to have a thousand yard stare and be easily frightened - traits unusual in powerful wizards.  They dragged him into an alley where he explained that a bright red scarf he had was a sign of his protection by (and from) the Old Red Gang and that he had payed his money this month.  At this point the rest of the party arrived on the scene.

Interrogating the beggar revealed that he had seen Faldor enter the strange, featureless tower reputed to be owned by Babashek by way of a secret door.  They gave the beggar the rations, the mule, and the cloak and told him to head to Olizon and never to return to Asterion, which he presumably did.  They then set about testing, in broad daylight, his statements about the tower using a grappling hook.  They found the secret door with great ease - thanks to the skill of Adom's throwing arm, but decided not to enter the tower of such a supposedly powerful wizard.

Kistomerces, head merchant of Asterion

Instead, Janstor suggested they go hear an offer from Kistomerces, the most powerful merchant in Asterion.  Kistomerces was angry beyond rational thought because a group of merchants had landed up the coast and they were transporting their goods along a longer path to avoid his tariffs.  He demanded that a magic bird - known to learned men as an arrowhawk - be stolen from the caravan and brought to his warehouses.  The party decided this sounded like an easier task than gathering treasures from the Temple of Abzu, and thus they decided to make their way to intercept the caravan.

They purchased canoes and made their way upriver, with only a few tapirs to bother them, and stopped at a small village.  Here they conversed with one of the farmers who was vexed by a problem: "My greatest fear is that my sons will not understand me."  Feeling this moment was awkward, Diomedes wondered aloud "so... is the Bible out yet?" much the the bemusement of all listeners.  They paid for their stay in the farmer's hut and paid extra in the morning before setting off again - though not before Bjorn tried, unsuccessfully, to hire the farmer's degenerate sons.

The next night, while camping in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon, the party met with tragedy.  Lions set upon their camp in the night.  These lions seemed to be of unusual intelligence, and when threatened by Bjorn only the youngest pair of males went to seek their doom.  They killed Bjorn in a flash but were in turn killed by great chops (and lucky rolls) from Diomedes' falx.  The two males dead (and a female injured by missile fire) the lions vanished into the hills.  The survivors divided up Bjorn's belongings and failed to bury him before heading off once again to try to intercept the caravan.

The Walls of the High Keep

Since Bjorn had been planning their route and they were relying on his trap-making abilities and wilderness senses for the ambush, a new plan had to be devised.  The druid Sable decided that instead of ambushing them in the wilderness, they would meet them at the High Keep and decide what to do there.  They made their way to the keep with little trouble but found it guarded well beyond their ability to fight.  They did not seek to take the keep, of course, but did believe it would make it harder to steal the bird.

Things turned even worse when they realized the caravan had upwards of 100 members.  Any plan they concocted would have to be daring or meticulously thought out.  However, they had two very good turns of luck: first, Diomedes was able to ingratiate himself with the leader of the caravan guards, and second, Janstor was able to worm his way in to the merchant hierarchy.  Janstor was even given the task of dosing the arrowhawk with purple lotus to keep it docile.*

These developments now changed the color of their plans.  They ran through several that involved the use of lotus, only to realize they would have little left over to drug the bird.  This would not do, as the bird was likely extremely powerful - one of the merchants referred to it as being "of another plane."  So they decided to use a modicum of the purple lotus to drug the guards' horses during a shift change, then they would yoke some non-drugged horses to a cart and make off with the largeish cage that housed the bird.  This worked surprisingly well as the intoxication of the horses caused much confusion in the camp.

While making their daring exit, they passed by some pickets sent out by the High Keep.  These men inquired what the ruckus was, and Janstor and Diomedes were able to convince them that bandits had climbed over the walls and their presence was required at once.  The rest of their journey involved exchanging their cart for canoes and heading back down river, avoiding an ambush by gorilla people using obscuring mist, and finally Adom narrowly avoiding being dragged out of his boat by a tiger.  They made it home safely and without further combat for a reward of 3000gp.

*I have a "system" I use when the players ask me something I don't know the answer to: I roll a d6.  Low is good for the players, high is bad.  JP asked if there were any jobs he could do for the caravan and I rolled a 1.

20 Questions: Yavana

You know... these things. 

1. What’s the deal with my cleric’s religion? It depends on where you roll for your background place.  Ilionians worship the Greek gods, Khemians the egyptian ones, and Nordrons the Saxon gods.  Some clerics may be in mystery religions that worship monsters, but these rarely actually impart spells.
2. Where can we go buy standard equipment? Kistomerces the Merchant (Rogue 4) has a franchise of three shops in town where you can buy common equipment and slaves.  For weapons and armor you can only get ones of Ilionian make.
3. Where can we go get platemail for this monster I just befriended? Monomachus is said to be part cyclops and thus gifted in the skills of metalworking.  His shop deals in only the finest quality goods.  Also, befriending a monster or race of monsters is the only way to get non-human characters as an option.
4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land? The greatest wizard is likely the Lord Babashek (Wizard 10), but who knows what weirdos squat in the jungle?
5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land? The greatest fighting man in the land is reported to be Asterion’s marshal, Eirik Blom (Barbarian 12).  He is a Nordron mercenary.
6. Who is the richest person in the land? It is reputed to be the Lord Babashek, High Vizier to Lord Ajaxos himself.  He has a smooth-walled, apparently entrance-less tower in town where he is believed to store his wealth.
7. Where can we go to get some magical healing? The Temple of Apollo in the Palace District has the most skilled healers in Yavana.
8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath? See above, though some of those are beyond the skills of even his priests.
9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells? There are no guilds of magic users, but it is possible one could apprentice oneself to someone in town.
10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC? Sages and other experts are likely to be found in Asterion, but if they aren’t available then one must search many leagues to find a more suitable city.  Olizon, though smaller, has sages that know things many in Asterion would not.
11. Where can I hire mercenaries? Asterion, Oetylus, or Olizon.  Their culture will determine their kit.
12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law? It is forbidden to take certain weapons into the temples of Asterion, and the ruler of Olizon denies all wizards entrance into the city unless they become his slaves.
13. Which way to the nearest tavern? The Salty Squid is the most popular tavern among adventurers in  Asterion.  It can be found in the foreign quarter.  Some prefer The Red Dog which can be found in the Military quarter.
14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?  There is reputed to be a kraken near one of the islands in the Winedark Sea.
15.  Are there any wars brewing I could go fight? Some say Yavana itself is about to be ripped apart in civil war due to the animosity between the factions of Babashek and Eirik, but that has yet to pan out.  There is certainly always fighting to be had along the desert frontiers or against the Aramite successor states in the south.
16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes? There are no arenas as such, but whenever officers in Ilionian armies die there are often funeral games that function similarly.
17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight? If you knew that, they wouldn’t be secret, would they?  However, there are rumors of a number of mystery religions in Yavana and particularly in Oetylus.
18. What is there to eat around here? Most people in Yavana’s cities subsist on fruit and fish, but some in the villages inland are able to raise herd animals on the forest-steppe for cheese and meat.  Some of the more outre establishments in Asterion serve “raptor eggs” and other delights only found in Yavana.
19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for? Too many to list.  See adventure hooks.
20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?  There’s that Kraken I mentioned... The only place that has “dragons” is the lands of the Nordrons or the Picts, but these are much different than those of other worlds.

Secrets of Lerouxville

My players should not read this.  MY PLAYERS SHOULD NOT READ THIS. MY PLAYERS SHOULD NOT READ THIS.  MY. PLAYERS. SHOULD. NOT. READ. THIS.

Ok now that that's out of the way, I'm working on an Uzumaki-type structure for a Call of Cthulhu game set in a fictional parish in 1930s Louisiana.  I used the tag tables from Silent Legions to try to give me some ideas for what was going on.  This is the result.

Note: If there are two paragraphs, the first paragraph is mundane information replicated from here.  The second paragraph is the supernatural thing.

Lerouxville | Inhuman Masters, Secret Nexus, Horrific Wealth

An Arkham-sized town that, while extant as long ago as 1810, grew in prominence due to a mass migration of carpetbaggers after the Civil War.  It was for many decades a combination logging town and rail hub, but as logging has moved to the Pacific Northwest the magnates of the town have come to focus more on other forms of commerce.  The town is surprisingly Klan free, in part due to the Klan's opposition to bootlegging, which has recently lined the pockets of many residents.

The magnates in the town owe their wealth to a pact made with inhuman entities.  The swamps near the town contain a passage to an alternate universe rife with strange plant-life and things inimical to man.  While Natchez Indians in the area fought to keep these entities at bay, a small group of carpetbaggers interested in the occult were able to harness the power to increase tree production for the logging industry.  Unfortunately, this has caused a great deal of abnormal defects in the local population for many miles around.  The magnates will do anything to keep their secret and their wealth.

Pinewood | Bitter Envy, Plutocratic Control, Terrible Pact

A small farming community of old Southerners with only a handful of last names.  Locals are poor, insular, and bitter.  About halfway between Lerouxville and Pinewood is the Pinewood Asylum, which was built with a grant from the Collins family of Lerouxville.

An impoverished local whose land was taken to help build the Asylum has entered into a pact with one of the creatures from the Other World.  His goal is the death of all those who own land here but live in Lerouxville.

Perilloup | Lich Lair, Eldritch Radiation, Impending Doom

This small community is a mix of Cajuns, African Americans, and mixed raced individuals and the subject of many rumors.  It is older than Lerouxville and by historical accident is home to the Skipwith Parish* courthouse.  It is home to an illicit gambling house and brothel, originally intended to service the loggers in Lerouxville.  These establishments have seen better days.  Many of the residents here make alcohol, which is smuggled to other parts of the country via Lerouxville.

It is also the home to the grave of a creole witch whose power was very real.  She was in touch with the Other World and worked in her life to save both indians and slave populations from the depredations of the white man, but the side effects of this salvation was sometimes even worse than the cure.   Her power still radiates out from her hidden grave, which has a number of “hoodoo” cultists that make trips to it during dates considered important in her life.  Few would know that the intensity of birth defects in the region is due to this old magic.

Bayou St Foy | Feuding Elites, Impending Doom, Predatory Entity

About 30 miles south of Lerouxville, many of the Lerouxville magnates have second homes here to enjoy the lush scenery.  Many of these homes include surrounding communities of share croppers.  The town is rounded out with old cajun families who are resentful of the "New People."  The water locally is also rising, something the old locals notice but the “New People” seem blissfully ignorant of.  Money moves in while old families leave.

It’s position on the coast also means that many involved in bootlegging have moved their shipping operations here.  The conflict between bootlegging interests and the Klan has meant that Bayou St Foy has a much higher murder rate than a town of its size would normally warrant.  It is also home to an inhuman creature summoned from the Other World long ago.  Immune to the effects of aging, this creature stalks the bayou and most recently has interrupted the construction of a large casino on a barrier island off the coast.

Okoholo | Depraved Clergy, Massive Ritual, Corrosive Vice

The “town” of Okoholo has aproximately three extended families in it.  All of them are involved in a strange religion.  They worship a bottomless pit (an artifact of the Other World) that their preacher says can raise the dead.  It can, but perhaps not in the same way as the Savior.

Borden College | Horrific Wealth, Breeding Program, Academic Sorcerers

his college was founded about 30 years ago as a teaching college, but in the intervening years it has added a number of eclectic departments.  It is known throughout the region as a haven for radicals and wackos, many of whom were rejected from the more conservative institutions nearby.

The grant it was founded on is based on the same timber-money held by the magnates in Lerouxville.  Many in its departments are actually occultists, and a small clade of three of those occultists are involved in trying to solve some of the local birth defect problems for the magnates using magic from the Other World.

Yavana Session 1 - The Hole in the Water

This is Yavana:

Click to embiggen

It is a project that started as a kind of map exchange when Nightwick Regular and friend of the blog Huth decided to use one of my maps for a project idea he had.  In exchange he offered to draw me a map.  He based it off of Lenap from the Wilderlands because it's maybe my favorite Wilderlands map and he knows me well.

The Map as provided by Huth

This started a new project for me.  I am somewhat trying to make my own thing that feels like the parts of the Wilderlands I liked (obvious cultural analogs like Skandiks, Sword & Sorcery feel, science fantasy history), while removing the stuff I didn't like (elves, towns with names that don't match the nearby cultural analogs, etc.*).  I stocked this map based on that principal - including using the Ruins & Relics table from the ready ref sheets.

Yavana, the key region is a former satrapy of the Ilionian Empire.  Culturally it is similar to Hellenistic Greek kingdoms like the Seleucid Empire or Baktria.  The natives of the desert regions are Aramites who alternatively live in trading cities or as nomadic desert-dwellers.

I created the following three hooks for the first session:

Six Aramite priests have come from Olizon to Asterion seeking aid in the placation of their god.  While Olizon is no longer has any ports to the Middle Sea, the god Abzu is still important to their people.  A temple dedicated to the god lies near the city of Asterion.  Many relics sacred to the god lie inside, and the priests would take these back to their city if they could.  However, it is forbidden for them to harm the guardians that lay within.  The seek violent men for such a task.

A merchant ship from Ilion was forced to run aground on an island a ways off the coast.  While camping on the island, the merchants were attacked by strange “yipping lizards” or “birds,” (opinion is divided among the crewmen).  Some fled into the hills but found only more of the creatures.  One, who bears many scars and possible signs of fever, claims he saw a mastaba painted bright blue in the middle of the island.  

Rumor has it that the small port town of Oetylus has been facing many problems of late.  Its people are stricken with a sinister plague and any who venture outside its walls to the interior of the island find themselves beset by dead riders.  Obviously this is the work of a necromancer and the people of the town believe they know where he is hiding and offer a reward for his capture or execution.

(Asterion is the "capital city" icon on the map)

I decided to use Castles & Crusades for the rules because I wanted a flexible system that still allowed me to use the full sweep of AD&D monster manuals.  At my wife's suggestion (since it was in accordance with my goals) I told the players they could not make demi-humans until they unlocked certain peoples by making friends with them.

The resulting party was...
Brandon as Bjorn Gunnarson, a Nordron Ranger
Chris as Adom, a Khemian Rogue
And James as Diomedes,** an Ilionian Fighter***

Bjorn and Adom wanted to venture via-boat to fight "dinosaurs" on the mysterious island, but Diomedes was able to convince his compatriots to join him in the Mangrove Swamp looking for the temple to Abzu due to its proximity to Asterion.  At dusk, Bjorn scouted a head as part of his watch and happened to see the clearing where he believed the temple stood.  Their first night in the Mangrove Swamp involved a showdown with a group of dingos, but the wild dogs were unwilling to fight such large and healthy creatures.

The next day they made their way to the clearing, where they found the Hole.

The Hole

Investigating the "hole" they learned it was a magically created shaft of air going deep under the surface.  Hooking a rope up to one of the mangrove roots they repelled down into a strange structure.  The Temple of Abzu had sand covering its floor several inches thick. The walls were covered in deep-blue spiral tessellations that didn't quite tessellate so occasionally a light blue cuttlefish or dolphin tile would be used to fill in gaps.  This of course, was not why the place was strange.

The adventurers soon discovered that any sand they kicked up hung in the air a moment longer than it should.  Creatures encountered seemed to be aquatic animals and monsters that "flew" through the air.  The first instance of this that they saw were a pair of hammerhead sharks that lurked near the ceiling in the great entry hall.  The first they actually fought were a set of giant groupers hiding in the sand.  Adom quickly ended up in one's mouth but was able to escape by gouging out its eye.  Diomedes and Bjorn acquitted themselves well in the ensuing battle, but Adom was injured to the point of unconsciousness.  Luckily, Bjorn was able to bind his wounds and return him to consciousness.

Further exploration revealed a door they were unable to open because it had some sort of extreme pressure change, and two large chambers guarded by mermaids with long glaives.  These they slew handily thanks to Bjorn's skill with his rhomphaia which allowed him to cut through the fish women like butter.

Beyond the fish women they found another chamber with bas-reliefs depicting drowned human civilization in which the air seemed oppressive and breathing was difficult.  They assumed from evidence that the strange-pressured room from before was likely a more extreme version of this effect.  They also found a large chamber depicting a sword-wielding octopus in victory over drowned corpses.  Inspecting the sword in the relief, Diomedes was able to locate an open a secret door revealing the largest treasure cache I had placed in the setting thus far.  With such lucre in tow, they decided to leave the dungeon.

While trying to get the gold out of the hole, they were accosted by a group of iguana-men.  These did not seem hostile, but did seem to want to extract a "tax" for traveling through the Mangroves.  The PCs began to offer the lizard-people a chance to "use" the hole to gain yet more treasure, and the lizard-people, confused, decided it would be best just to leave.  Thus the party was able to return to Asterion without further incident.

Diomedes and Bjorn purchased new armor, and Diomedes spent a considerable amount of money carousing.  In doing so he became embroiled in a mystery religion (the nature of which I have yet to determine).

Monsters Defeated: 2 Groupers (as Giant Frogs), 8 Mermaids

Treasure Gained: 4000gp in a trapped chest, Silver Throne (1000gp), Jeweled Mace (1000gp), and a Jeweled Headpiece (1000gp)

DM Notes:  I halved the amount of treasure and number of monsters since several players were missing, but I still think they may have gotten too much treasure without enough work. I don't think I will continue to use the carousing rules but I may change the system to "xp per gold piece spent" in Arnesonian style.  If you have an idea, let me know.

* Some readers might wonder while I allowed the full range of C&C classes.  I find a lot of the "Swords & Sorcery is low magic" talk completely nonsensical with example stories like "The People of the Black Circle," The Swords of Lankhmar, and The Dreaming City. The Swords Series in particular seems to basically be AD&D without demi-humans.

** Diomedes did not receive his name until after his session.

*** My version of fighters utilize Follow Throw from Ruins & Ronin instead of Combat Dominance.  I will likely post the Nightwick version in a day or two.