Looming from the cracked, reddish umber rusted plains of the Vandaled Lands, several miles East of the Cinder Kings domain stands a rusting artifact of untold antiquity. The timeless pillar is a twisted brass metal spire that rises lonely above the rust covered earth and tomb covered complex that surrounds it. Visible from miles away, the Rusted Fang as it has come to be called is a massive brass structure that climbs over 1000' straight up, a metal outcropping in the middle of nowhere, rusted and corroded by time. Travelers use its shade as a stopping point on their journeys, and when the Dervish sects pass near, they leave ritual protective offerings and chant mantras of binding against the strange and terrible gods here so they may never be freed. The rusted pointed summit is as red as the surrounding lands and searing hot in the afternoon. The wind blows constantly through the gap in the eroded cliffs, carrying the overwhelming smell of ferrous iron, and eerie sounds like moans from the Underworld.
A large area made up of dozens of half buried Burial Domes surrounds the Fang and represents only a tiny part of a much larger burial complex. The Tombs may be looted, but doing so requires tools and considerable effort, and most will contain little of value. The Burial Domes are large hemisphere-shaped cathedrals. A pinkish orange glow rises from a 15ft-wide chute in the center of each brass dome. A chimney-like hole in the 50ft-high ceilings.
Men, Dervish |
| Armor Class: | 12 |
| Hit Dice: | 2 |
| No. of Attacks: | 1 weapon |
| Damage: | 1d8 or weapon + 1 |
| Movement: | 40’ |
| No. Appearing: | 1d10, Wild 10d4, Lair 10d4 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 2 |
| Morale: | 7 |
| Treasure Type: | C |
| XP: | 75 |
Men, Brass
| Armor Class: | 16 |
| Hit Dice: | 3 |
| No. of Attacks: | 2 fists |
| Damage: | 1d6/1d6 |
| Movement: | 30’ |
| No. Appearing: | 1d6 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 3 |
| Morale: | 12 |
| Treasure Type: | None |
| XP: | 145 |
Men, Brass (Wight) |
| Armor Class: | 15 (s) |
| Hit Dice: | 3* |
| No. of Attacks: | 1 touch |
| Damage: | Energy drain (1 level) |
| Movement: | 30’ |
| No. Appearing: | 1d6, Wild 1d8, Lair 1d8 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 3 |
| Morale: | 12 |
| Treasure Type: | B |
| XP: | 175 |
Crab, Giant |
| Armor Class: | 18 |
| Hit Dice: | 3 |
| No. of Attacks: | 2 pincers |
| Damage: | 2d6/2d6 |
| Movement: | 20’ Swim 20’ |
| No. Appearing: | 1d2, Wild 1d6, Lair 1d6 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 3 |
| Morale: | 7 |
| Treasure Type: | None |
| XP: | 14 |
Scorpion, Giant |
1. Sacrificial Cavern: This point is the furthest local guides and the Brass Men will go. A small cavern holds dozens of clay jars with offerings of grain, iron and brass tools, bones and clay figurines. There are also two large silver plated metal slabs containing ancient and corroded murals. The mural appears to be expertly embossed with dizzying patterns. One depicting five kings whose crown adorned heads and bodies are engulfed in a swirl of stylized flames, while the other depicts a prosperous city with brass-domed palaces, lush and green pleasure gardens and a central, three-tiered brass ziggurat that hangs suspended in the sky above the domed city. If the remains of a deactivated Brass Man are brought here and a ritual sacrifice is performed, the spirit of the one sacrificed will receive rebirth as a Wight within the deactivated Brass Man body thus reactivating it with new life and memories.
2. Branch: The path forks here. The wider branch approaching the gap is safe, but the narrow and treacherous path to the northeast is hard to navigate (1x6 of slipping unless precautions are taken, fall
1d6x10’).
3. Burial Chamber: There is a small overhanging ledge here with a narrow cave mouth – enough for Man sized creatures to fit through. A 30' high ceiling gives the chamber a sense of majesty. The chamber itself is simple, formed from metal with walls of gleaming brass polished to a golden hue and filled with 3d6 niches containing the carefully arranged damaged remains of deactivated Brass Men.
A) This chamber has a layer of rust sand, carried in by the winds. The corridor leading to B has an uncovered 60’ pit in the middle.
B) A number of copper pots, urns and jars lay on the rusted metal floor. They are less numerous than those in location 1, but they are both more ancient and more sophisticated. Their contents, whatever it might have been once, is dust now.
C) A haunting bone throne sits in the chamber. A 12’ tall brass skeleton sits on it, still clutching the scabbard of a magical two-handed sword which is laid before it (described below). The skeleton wears no clothes or identifying marks, but it possesses an additional eye socket in the forehead. It is inanimate.
4. Wailing Gap: The gap in Rusted Fang is the source of the wailing noises. There is a huge arch over a flat resting place, where about forty or fifty men could sit. Hidden among the metal debris, there is a narrow crack in the cliffside, and a set of stairs going straight downwards. At the terminus of these stairs lies a small natural grotto. Precisely cut stone blocks placed seamlessly into a square depression in the middle hides an Enameled Portal wrapped in brass wiring. The Portal is decorated with elaborate patterns of blue, red and yellow enamel, all of it as freshly coloured as new. Entry is at the Referee’s discretion, but characters should be well armed!
5. Lost Altar: The summit of the Rusted Fang has a depression in the middle, where a brass altar sits. It is of advanced construction and plated with white gold along its edges. The altar is damaged as if it had been cleft in twain by a huge sledgehammer. The symbol of the god is unrecognizable. Invocations accompanied by a sacrifice of burnt incense, an animal, gold, etc. are 3x6 likely to be unanswered. If they succeed, the invocator and his companions must immediately save vs. spell.
Failure means insanity – the victim hurls himself into his doom unless restrained. Otherwise, the invocator is later visited in his dreams by the Cursed Brass god, Mnoyór The Despoiler, who will offer great power in exchange for services. The powers will be single use magical spells (level 1-3), an invitation to become the god’s champion, or the like. The material form of Mnoyór is highly mutable yet amorphous, like liquid gold. Mnoyór can bestow the ability to summon primeval brass slime as a 5th level spell; these are essentially brass puddings. The price for this spell is to have thirty-three victims consumed by the slime within the fortnight; not one man less or more!
Pudding, Brass |
Mnoyór The Despoiler was once a sentient self-directing Brass Man that slew his Matriarchal maker in single combat using eldritch sorcery when he emerged from his long stasis. As punishment Mnoyór was thrice cursed and transfigured into an undying Brass Pudding of not insignificant power able to mold himself into various forms.
ITEM APPENDIX: the Thrice-Accursed Sword
This two-handed sword +1 is made from a semi-liquid, brass-like substance. The blade is dry to the touch, but pockmarked with several small irregularities where minor globules drip off. The sword performs as a normal magical weapon, but it also bears three curses, each of which manifest a week after the weapon is taken up. Unlike normal curses, they do not mean the item is stuck to its possessor – it may be discarded at will, or handed over to someone else.
THE THREE CURSES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
§ First: +1 to hit. Any creature reduced to 0hp will rise within 1d6 days as a brass pudding.
§ Second: if the wielder drops the blade it turns to an amorphous blob of liquid bass and returns to whence it came.
§ Third: if the sword is willingly given up or lost, the wielder will be visited by three Brass Men (Wights) the next time he is alone and challenged to mortal combat. The challengers will be 3rd to 5th level Fighters (more will come if the wielder is a high level character). They are supernatural, +1 or better to hit. They fight until slain.
If the wielder flees combat, the same is repeated again and again, the wielder constantly haunted by the supernatural Brass Men, until he can kill all three or he is slain himself (in which case he becomes a Brass Man, Wight).
Each curse may be removed in a specific way (found out via consultation with elder dervishes, in old tomes, contact other plane, etc. – these shall be short but hard quests).
When all three are gone, the curse will have been removed and the sword becomes an ordinary two handed sword +2 that can also spray a liquid searing brass causing 2d6 points of damage once every day. The spray is only usable above ground when the sun is visible. All sprayed droplets will return to the sword.
| Armor Class: | 15 |
| Hit Dice: | 4* |
| No. of Attacks: | 2 claws/1 stinger |
| Damage: | 1d10/1d10/1d6 + poison |
| Movement: | 50’ (10’) |
| No. Appearing: | 1d6, Wild 1d6 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 2 |
| Morale: | 11 |
| Treasure Type: | None |
| XP: | 280 |
1d6x10’).
3. Burial Chamber: There is a small overhanging ledge here with a narrow cave mouth – enough for Man sized creatures to fit through. A 30' high ceiling gives the chamber a sense of majesty. The chamber itself is simple, formed from metal with walls of gleaming brass polished to a golden hue and filled with 3d6 niches containing the carefully arranged damaged remains of deactivated Brass Men.
B) A number of copper pots, urns and jars lay on the rusted metal floor. They are less numerous than those in location 1, but they are both more ancient and more sophisticated. Their contents, whatever it might have been once, is dust now.
C) A haunting bone throne sits in the chamber. A 12’ tall brass skeleton sits on it, still clutching the scabbard of a magical two-handed sword which is laid before it (described below). The skeleton wears no clothes or identifying marks, but it possesses an additional eye socket in the forehead. It is inanimate.
Failure means insanity – the victim hurls himself into his doom unless restrained. Otherwise, the invocator is later visited in his dreams by the Cursed Brass god, Mnoyór The Despoiler, who will offer great power in exchange for services. The powers will be single use magical spells (level 1-3), an invitation to become the god’s champion, or the like. The material form of Mnoyór is highly mutable yet amorphous, like liquid gold. Mnoyór can bestow the ability to summon primeval brass slime as a 5th level spell; these are essentially brass puddings. The price for this spell is to have thirty-three victims consumed by the slime within the fortnight; not one man less or more!
Pudding, Brass |
| Armor Class: | 14 |
| Hit Dice: | 10* (+9) |
| No. of Attacks: | 1 pseudopod |
| Damage: | 3d8 |
| Movement: | 20’ |
| No. Appearing: | 1 |
| Save As: | Fighter: 10 |
| Morale: | 12 |
| Treasure Type: | None |
| XP: | 1,390 |
Mnoyór The Despoiler was once a sentient self-directing Brass Man that slew his Matriarchal maker in single combat using eldritch sorcery when he emerged from his long stasis. As punishment Mnoyór was thrice cursed and transfigured into an undying Brass Pudding of not insignificant power able to mold himself into various forms.
The large head of Mnoyórs god-like maker now rests hidden in one of the tombs surrounding the Fang, the head bashed and dented, with one optical unit shattered. Though damaged the head possesses an unnatural beauty and would still fetch a fortune if found.
ITEM APPENDIX: the Thrice-Accursed Sword
This two-handed sword +1 is made from a semi-liquid, brass-like substance. The blade is dry to the touch, but pockmarked with several small irregularities where minor globules drip off. The sword performs as a normal magical weapon, but it also bears three curses, each of which manifest a week after the weapon is taken up. Unlike normal curses, they do not mean the item is stuck to its possessor – it may be discarded at will, or handed over to someone else.
THE THREE CURSES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
§ First: +1 to hit. Any creature reduced to 0hp will rise within 1d6 days as a brass pudding.
§ Second: if the wielder drops the blade it turns to an amorphous blob of liquid bass and returns to whence it came.
§ Third: if the sword is willingly given up or lost, the wielder will be visited by three Brass Men (Wights) the next time he is alone and challenged to mortal combat. The challengers will be 3rd to 5th level Fighters (more will come if the wielder is a high level character). They are supernatural, +1 or better to hit. They fight until slain.
If the wielder flees combat, the same is repeated again and again, the wielder constantly haunted by the supernatural Brass Men, until he can kill all three or he is slain himself (in which case he becomes a Brass Man, Wight).
Each curse may be removed in a specific way (found out via consultation with elder dervishes, in old tomes, contact other plane, etc. – these shall be short but hard quests).
When all three are gone, the curse will have been removed and the sword becomes an ordinary two handed sword +2 that can also spray a liquid searing brass causing 2d6 points of damage once every day. The spray is only usable above ground when the sun is visible. All sprayed droplets will return to the sword.
Note: Intoning the inscriptions on the Thrice-Accursed Sword in the hand of the skeleton will free Mnoyór The Despoiler as the sword becomes amorphous, covering and re-animating the skeleton thus freeing the cursed god Mnoyór.
No comments:
Post a Comment