#dungoen

[higgsfigs]

Uh oh! Looks like an early career ender~

[dailyadventureprompts]

I really want to run something involving bouncing around between different points in history, but i'm struggling to find a way to incorporate that into a working campaign. Any ideas?

Adventure: Doors To Yesterday, Windows to Tomorrow

We Study History as one might the wreck of a great ship, studying its flotsam, checking it against the manifests, extrapolating events from the damage we observe to fragments of hull. The great advantage of our search is that our wreck is set to occur at some point in the indefinite future, and with our hands on the tiller we may steer this vessel away from its inevitable fate. 

-Aderix, mage of the Circle of Navigators

Setup: To their fellow citygoers, the mages of the Circle of Navigators seem your typical lodge of wizards, gathering to discuss mystic business in secret, perhaps only as a pretense to socialize. They are not grand magi of myth or even powers within the city’s own elite, but there is still something uncanny about these dabblers that gives them a unique purpose. 

That something is a secret held among the members of the circle, concerning a great doom that will befall their city and render it a desolate ruin. Whatever this calamity was, it was so great as to spend fractures spiderwebbing out through the firmament, both forward and backwards through time. Together trough the study of these faultlines, the Navigators hope to track the origin of whatever ruin will befall their home, and have managed to open two fragile gateways capable of letting them step into the distant past and far future. 

The fist gateway leads to the plain upon which the city was founded, millenia in the past before habitation of any kind came to the land. The plain is inhospitable, in the depths of a drought that sees the presently temperate region as a virtual desert, buffeted by constant windstorms and cyclones that threaten to blow the very hills away. 

The second gateway leads to the city’s future, an ossified husk of a settlement that bears little resemblance to its current layout, inhabited only by creeping monsters and mad, desperate scavengers who have little idea of the outside world and have gone so far as to forget the city’s name. 

Untangling this temporal knot will require the party to explore the vast wilderness of the past, aid the Navigator’s research in the present, and delve the crumbling ruins of the future, a gauntlet of the party’s wits, strength and skills if ever there was one. 

Adventure Hooks: 

The Navigators have lost their leader, A mage by the name of Wesley by-Greenbend, boldest and bravest of their number, and mastermind behind their opening of the temporal gates. Wesley loved his city, and was the hardest to push the Circle to act in its defense, recruiting  many of them personally for their wisdom and abilities. He was also, coincidentally, a friend and correspondent of one of the partymembers, and before his disappearance sent them a letter requesting that they come to the city and see about meeting some of his friends. The Circle Beleives that in his haste, Wesley opened one of the portals himself, marooning himself somewhere in either the past or future, though which, they circle cannot say. 

The Circle first became aware of the looming disaster by way of the invisible fissures it created through time. Imperceptible and harmless to most, the first members of the Navigators charted them by observing how their fellow citygoers would gain or lose minute stretches of time. These fractures were a curiosity at first, but are at risk of reacting violently to the Circle’s meddling, to the point that when the party first enters town, they encounter a rampaging monster let loose from the time-stream, currently being engaged by the local gaurds and a member of the circle who just so happens to be on hand.  

Though many of the Circle of Navigators will help the party through their adventures in time, few may be as essential as Jinnella Palm, a young practitioner tapped by Wesley thanks to her skills at Chronomancy. Having only dabbled in time manipulation before joining the Circle, Ms. Palm’s expertise has only grown in exposure to the temporal anomaly, facilitating her invention of a charm that allows for the party to communicate with the Navigators across the time barrier without the need to ritually open a portal. Should they undertake a few optional missions, Jinnella will be able to perfect her charm and enable constant two-way communication across the millennia. 

Background:  Unbeknownst to all, the land on which the city was built was once home to a settlement of the primordial age known as Ehnkhron, dedicated to the now exiled god Khronos. Like all places sacred to the fallen god of time, this settlement fell prey to a plague of entropy that saw it crumble away into nothingness, its last remnants buried beneath the hills that dot the landscape. This ancient disaster paved the way for future calamity, as the god’s passage scarred the weft of reality in the region, creating a weakspot that would endure throughout the Eons.  Khronos’ cultists, closer to the modern day, would later be drawn by this temporal wound, and seek to open it anew in the hopes of summoning their god back to the mortal plane. It was this event, and the ensuing manifestation of other gods bringing their full force to bear to repel Khronos that would destroy the “modern” city, creating the crumbling ruin that the Navigators see in their “future” portal. 

Further Adventures: 

Ruins beneath hills in the past contain crumbling testimony from the survivors of their god’s banishment, shedding light on the nature of the temporal anomaly throughout the region, Though not what will cause the future disaster. Many of these ruins are left forgotten, but those nearest the surface are occupied by a band of gnolls, drawn there by visions granted to their shaman. Though the hyena folk are not unfriendly to outsiders ( and there is quite a language barrier to cross), they only become directly hostile once their shaman ( drawn into the service of Khronos by the same visions that drew her to the ruins) grows suspicions of them. 

The Survivors of Khronos’ cult linger on in the future, drawing scavengers to their banner and reveling in the doom created in their patron’s wake. These acolytes are just as territorial as any other wasteland gang, ambushing travelers and trespassers for supplies and capturing them as captives. Wesley is held captive by the cultists, who seek to extract from him the location of his homeland with hopes of finding rich new territory to raid. 

Though none would Expect it, Jinnella Palm is a Khronos cultist.. or at least, she would have been if not for the actions of her future self.....Time travel is complicated.   Jinnella’s interest in time magic stemmed from a tragedy in her past, and her attempts to develop a spell that could warn her past self and deliver a different outcome. In another timeline, Jinnella’s interest in chronomancy leads her to discover the wound in reality, and in trying to learn its secrets becomes the central figure around which a new cult of Khronos forms. It is this cult that eventually, (under the leadership of an aged, hopeless Jinnella) opens the wound in time, bringing about the city’s destruction, and causing the fractures. These fractures are noticed by other magical practitioners , who end up forming the circle of the Navigator and recruiting the young Jinnella, diverting her from her original descent into sorrow and villainy. 

Because Khronos is the god of broken chronology, those most dedicated to his service are immunized against the tides of paradox that occur from mucking about with timelines, and those most attuned can even sense it. Old, villainous Jinnella begins to FELL her past self altering the timeline, and returns to the present day to discover just what has set the younger Ms. Palm on a different course.  After kidnapping herself ,Old Jinnella is DELIGHTED to to discover the Navigator’s timegates and sets about uniting cultists past, present, and future into a unified front against the adventurers and the Circle. With them out of the way, there’ll be no one to stop the master chronomancer from making infinite adjustments to the timeline, ensuring that her god’s Manifestation is successful and that her forces are prepared for the rebuff that nearly wiped them out during their first attempt. 

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[ask-rye-dimar-dragon]

Mod note | Chapter 3 page 15 Artwork by | @ask-professor-ponyarity Script Written by | William S.

[dreaming-in-darkness]

[alchemysheep]

{ NecroBouncer #66 }

Still working on the relic system, but I’ve come a long way. Pretty much everything works now, just a couple of things remain to be completed. Also, I’ve fixed a LOT of bugs and errors and finally started testing this on my phone again, and I am quite happy how this is turning out so far, so I hope I will be able to start sending this out for testing soon... -ish. twitter: @megaFIKUS

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: The Wall in the Wyldrwood

Over hill and stream the kings’ wall goes/ 

Its heavy bricks stacked, rows upon rows/

Taller than the trees, from sky to floor/

Only ghosts know where to find the door/

Setup: Its a well known fact that the deeper you go into any fantasy world forest, the more likely you are to stumble into the feywild, or encounter cursed temples to forgotten gods of roots and revelry, or some semi-mythic beast sent by the gods to punish you for some unacknowledged hubris. Better to do away with all that kingdom-destabilizing whimsy thought King Rabadyr, wall it off for all time and get back to the business of running a sensible kingdom free of from the interference of primal forces. 

In hindsight the task was easier said than done, much like trying to use sand to hold back a river intent on spilling over its banks. Rabadyr poured lives and treasure into his great work, scouting out miles and miles of uneven wilderness and emptying his kingdom’s quarries to supply the stone. Two generations and three monarchs later, the wall was complete, mortared with spellcraft and wards to preserve the structure and prevent anyone from crossing over the boundary. 

Now the Wyldrwood is reaching out again, the forest having regrown to encompass all of Rabadyr’s work, making his barrier a part of its own mystery. 

Adventure Hooks: 

Numerous entities control access in and out of the Wylderwood, taking control of secret smuggler’s tunnels, natural caverns, and places where the enchantments have failed and caused the walls to crumble. In particular, a gang of bandits, malicious fey, and other forest lowlifes have taken up residence in one of the many fortifications that dot the edge of Rabadyr’s wall. Led by a sadistic bugbear named Snagglehook, these outlaws kidnap innocents to sell to fey lords in exchange for enchanted fairy goods and other treasures of the feywild they pass on to discerning mortal patrons. 

A fearsome creature with red eyes and leathery hide stalks the wall, taking advantage of its enchanted architecture to ambush travlers who use it to navigate, Fretful of the sun, it emerges only in the dark through veiled doorways to hunt the forest before returning to its lair. When a merchant’s daughter is kidnapped by the beast while traveling through the wylderwood, the fearful and desperate mother promises to reward the party handsomely if only they can return their darling girl to her. Their best chance of finding the girl? Let one of their own number be snatched, and follow the creature back to its lair. 

Though Rabadyr intended for his wall to be impregnable, he still built a gatehouse for it: a fortress in its own right with multiple defenses on either side of the barrier, and living accommodations for a whole crew of guards and workers to live there year round. Since the wall has been abandoned, the gatehouse has become the home of wild denizens, ruled over intermittently by fey and forestlord alike. Currently unoccupied, it provide a prime target for a group of adventurers who’d like to explore a bit of the wall’s wonder without diving into the dangerous inner forest completely. 

Background: The creature that haunts the wall is infract a powerful and malicious fey that calls itself “Mister Goodneighboor”, an entity that feeds off the fear people have of the wall and the lands it contains.  Those it snatches are brought to a hidden place in the wall’s foundations, where the fey subjects them to all manner of minor torments before releasing them on the far side of the wall, as it has no real interest in actually KILLING any of its victims. 

Rabadyr’s granddaughter, Queen Rhysilla knew her ancestor’s project was an unmanageable disaster, draining money and resources away from the kingdom that could be spent on art, armies, or critical infrastructure. Honor bound to keep the construction going, she was eventually approached by one of the very fey she was trying to contain with a solution to her problems. Though fearsome in mien, Mister Goodneighbor, offered to miraculously speed the wall’s construction, with the caveat that he would take ownership of it once the wonder was complete. More than happy to wash her hands of the situation, The Queen’s builders somehow completed the wall before the next year, and returned home well paid and content to let the hulking structure be forgotten in the depths of the forest. 

Further Adventures:  Mister Goodneighbor is inherently tied to the wall itself, able to traverse its circumference in an instant and to see anything from the eyes of its many gargoyles. Should the Players slay it, the wall’s many enchantments will begin to unweave, unleashing a tide of primal magic and whimsical chaos upon the unsuspecting surrounding kingdoms. 

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: Shamblekeep, the Bandit’s Bulwark 

Here’s the thing I never understood about backwoods criminals: now that they’ve got the gold, what are they going to spend it on? 

Adventure Hook: Bad luck and unexpected detours sees a caravan transporting a vast store of treasure waylaid by bandits. Intended to pay for the release of an important noble captured in recent skirmish along the border, the noble’s family is now desperate to reclaim the loot and send it on to its intended desination lest the ransomers increase their price or do away with their hostage out of inconvenience. 

Setup: Made up out of frontier outlaws and those members of highland clans exiled for dishonorable warfare, the bandits that came to occupy shamblekeep never dreamed of the riches they’d luck their way into, instead aspiring to nothing larger than rustling livestock from local herdsman and maybe ambushing the occasional tinker on their way to market.  Recently though they’ve fallen to infighting over their pilfered gold,  and the ramshackle fortress they occupy has been split between brawling factions. 

Challenges & Complications: 

A relic of a long forgotten war of expansion against the highland clans, Shamblekeep’s disrepair is nearly as much a danger as the ruffians that occupy it. Walkways fall to splinters under the feet of the unwary, and a reckless swing of a weapon may collapse a pillar and a section of the roof with it. Worse yet, an unsteady floor may crumble  and have an intruder plunging into a garrison of paranoid ( and now slightly concussed) marauders. 

A few of those traveling with the initial caravan were captured along with their prize, and have been kept by the bandits in the hopes of extracting knowledge of more loot. Many of them are weak from maltreatment and will need to be extracted, but a few are willing to take up arms and help the party give the bandits what they deserve. 

Among the treasure sent along with the ransom is a vivid red ruby the size an apple, possessing an alluring luster and an unfading warmth.  This is the  Malum- Desideravit , the crystallized essence of a demon of betrayal and avarice. The nobles intended on slipping this cursed item in with their payment and reclaim the rest when the Malum had infected the minds of the ransomers.  Now the Bandits have fallen prey to the Malum, driven to kill and horde the treasure that is already rightfully theirs. 

[dailyadventureprompts]

Encounter: Trial of the Tides

Exploring along the seacliffs, the party discovers a tiny, lopsided tower on a promontory overlooking the water. After Investigating they are introduced to a mad old hermit who’s dedicated his life to the goddess of the moon, winds and sea, maintaining the tower as an impromptu observatory, lighthouse, and temple to his patron. 

After some pleasantries and an offer of smoked fish and a little brinegrass tea, the hermit  invites the players to take part in a ritual to evoke the goddess’s blessing. 

The ritual is simple enough: At the appointed time, they must run down the steps from the tower and enter a nearby tidal cave, a network of tunnels worn through the seacliff by centuries of crashing waves. At this point the tidewaters will be at their lowest, and like the clever creatures that make their living by the ebb and flow of the sea, they must snatch up what they can within the cave before the waves return and reclaim all of their bounty. They will have six hours to explore and extract the wonders of the cave, returning up the stairs and present their offering to the hermit when they are done, who in turn will bathe the object(s) in moonlight to determine if their trail was indeed worthy of a divine blessing.  

Challenges & Complications: 

Attempting to enter the cave at another time or without the pre-trial ritual enacted by the hermit will lead to the party discovering only a small fissure int he rock, barely enough for two of them to stand in elbow to elbow. Both the space and the treasures within are liminal, and exist at the grace of the goddess.  

Should the party fail, they will need to wait for a full turning of the moon before they can try again. The Hermit is happy to host them, and may offer cryptic advice for their subsequent attempts. 

The caves are full of distractions intended to slow the party in their attempt to find a worthy offering. An early Chamber may have opalescent shells the party will have to laboriously dig out of the sand, while another might contain a tide pool full of numbing urchins. Locked chests full of stones, false maps, phantom sirens to lead the unguarded astray, the cave’s traps grow ever more devious as the party delves within. 

Rewards: 

The party is free to keep any of the “mundane” treasures found within the sea cave, often manifesting as valuable flotsam, or oceanic magical items. Unlike many other potential offerings, these do not regenerate on subsequent attempts.  

It appears the goddess has a sense of humor, or is perhaps a bit loony, as her most potent gifts are often disguised among her obstructions:  One chest of stones among many, different only in that it bares her symbol, will turn to silver ore in the moonlight. Waterlogged maps of the caves intended to lead them astray may become maps to undiscovered islands, or to other treasures buried along the coast.  Those who listen and perform the ghostly notes of the siren’s song for the hermit may find him singing along, a haunting ballad or a bawdy jig that contain a hint of prophecy: a great reward for those with the wisdom to listen.

At The very back of the Sea cave, in the most dangerous and well guarded chamber there is a scratched and pitted bottle, within which is a wrecked ship rendered in miniature. The Hermit weeps when he sees it, and will tell the party the story of how he was saved from such a wreck by his goddess, and offered his life to her in thanks.  He will offer the bottle, but no reward will come immediately, and he will ask the party to return in the cycle of the moon.  

When they do, the hermit will greet them as his saviors, and guide them down the stairs to the moonlit beach himself.  There he will reveal the bottle, and the tiny model ship within restored by his careful craftsmanship and sailing on a sea of silvery mist. He will remove the stopper, and as the mist flows out of the container it will coalesce into a proud ship with a hull of silvery wood and sails of moonlight. His goddess has found them all worthy, and has gifted them this vessel to do with what they wish. 

For his faith, the Hermit has been transformed into a celestial, and is to serve the party as their humble captain. Forever a paired with the ghostly ship and blessed with knowledge enough to sail them across all the seas and to any shore touched by her lunar light . Both he and the vessel can be recalled to the bottle for easy transport, but summoning either requires moonlight ( for the Hermit) or moonlight and a large enough body of water (for the ship).