Tomb of the Iconoclast - Level 1 Rooms 1-12

INTRODUCTION

LEVEL 1 (Rooms 1-12)

Level 1 (Room 13-24)

Level 1 (Rooms 25-37)

LEVEL 2 (TBD)

~~~~~

(X-Y) = Dungeon Level X - Room # Y

(2-26) = Dungeon Level 2 - Room # 26

FOREWARD

The Tomb of the Iconoclast is built upon the foundation of the temple of the Forgotten God - a god of unknowing, memory loss, entropy, and dementia. The Iconoclast was his greatest servant, and eventually his greatest victim. This erased king used the temple's power to destroy the gods of his enemies, throw down their idols, and bring ruin to their nations, but he could not prevent the Forgotten God from doing the same to him through the slow process of entropy.

An aura of forgetfulness encompasses the entire tomb, emanating from the Idol of the Forgotten God (2-26) and leaking out into the countryside. Those proximal eventually lose all of their memories and become as the old woman in Cast: unable to remember even their names or formulate coherent thoughts. This entropy also applies to the tomb's residents and even its mechanical traps: none of them function as they should (but some of them are still dangerous!).

The Reverse River leads to the Idol. In any room with water present, there is a moderate current going towards the Idol Room. In Tidelock, the original setting for this dungeon, it is implied that the god eats water, because memory is stored in water, hence he eats memories. An alternative explanation may be needed for your game. Perhaps...

• Onderboven, a local god of reversal, is trying to bury the temple and its denizens as an act of revenge.
• The spirit of the Lake, Mother Superior, is trying to hint at the presence of the temple. No god likes a god that kills all other gods.
• The effect of the temple is so strong that water forgets which way to flow and the laws of reality come apart at the seams.

ONCE EVERY TURN...

Roll 1d12. On a 1, roll on 'Something Is Lost'. On a 2, roll on the 'Random Encounter' list.

1: Something Is Lost... Take turns with each character, starting with the character of lowest Intelligence. If the thing lost isn't present, move down the list until it works.

1. A Spell - Lose one prepared spell, Magic Die, or spell slot of lowest available.

2. A Skill - Lose random proficiency until retrained.

3. A weapon proficiency - Until you retrain in this weapon, gain no proficiency bonus (or take a -4)

4. Personal Memory - Cross off ONE NOUN on your character sheet. That thing never happened, and if it did someone else now has credit.

5. One Name - Cross off ONE PROPER NOUN on your character sheet or contact notes. That person will treat you like a stranger. If it’s one of yours, nobody in the party can remember it.

6. Item - Cross off ONE ITEM from your character sheet. Where did it go??

2: Random Encounter. (Roll 1d8)

1. The Juggernaut - Rumbling around in the next room over. May come crashing through the wall or door making a new passageway.

2. The Cauldron Spider - Doesn’t want to be seen unless in lair. It is shocked, abashed!

3. Unseen Servant - Appears behind a door with the sound of stones grinding together.

4. 2d4 Feral Ratfolk - Looking for food

5. Passive Green Slime - Can’t attack, but it can occupy a space.

6. The Wizard BA-UL, he’s probably crying.

7. Stray Deer, Boar, or Badger. What is it doing here? (Going to the Chapel)

8. 1d8 Ancient Skeleton Warriors, patrolling for intruders.

LEVEL 1

Entrances: Tomb Entrance (1-1), Crawling Bats (1-10), Cistern (1-17)

For a bigger map, link here: Tomb of the Iconoclast Map

Made in Gridmapper

1-1. Tomb Entrance

Cave entrance leading into/out of the mountain. Where the Reverse River leads, flowing down a narrow passage. A great seal, now crumbled. Above the threshold, beside crumbling plaster there remains the word: “OBLIVION”

The full message, if the remaining plaster is removed: “May those who enter embrace OBLIVION.”

1-2. Epithet

A mighty 20ft-high statue of the Iconoclast dominates the center of the room. Hammer in hand, imperial beard, face seemingly melted away as if erased by the ages. The Reverse River from outside snakes around the following inscription on the floor before heading west:

HERE RESTS ~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RAZER OF TEMPLES

SLAYER OF KINGS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~ ICONOCLAST!

Crumbling stone doors to the west and east. The eastern door is locked by a bolt-lock mechanism. Standard door-breaking check to bust it down.

The walls are decorated in crumbling plaster depictions the same figure as the statue. In no depiction is his face visible. He burns the weeping priests. He enslaves their servants. He crushes idols and gods beneath his great hammer. The plaster on the northern face contains in bas relief a great leering demon face (the same as the Juggernaut’s). Its orifices are obviously hollow on inspection.

Inside the...

• Mouth: a dusty crawlspace leading to a hallway beyond. Dead bugs cover the floor.
• Nose: One hundred ancient scrolls, fused together by time and compression. They crumble in your hands. Thorough search reveals one good spell scroll of a Deconsecrate spell.
• Left Ear: hidden switch covered in spider webs. Seemingly doesn't do anything when flipped, but it will alert the Cauldron Spider in Rooms 1-15/18 that there are visitors.
• Right Ear: hidden switch unlocks the door to 1-19
• Eye Pupils: Aperture six inches across. Horrible endless void within. The space in here goes on forever in darkness. Anything tossed within will fall endlessly in a fathomless void forever.

Deconsecrate Scroll: Cast time 1 Turn. Any room which this is cast on becomes unnoticeable to all gods. No sins can be committed in it, and the Forgotten God cannot impose its influence on it. Lasts until reconsecrated by a priest.

1-3. Pit Trap

(Note: Smell of rot from Room 1-5)

The floor is uneven, visibly sloping down from west to east at a shallow angle. A smell of rot emanates from the hall west.

Somehow, the Reverse Stream goes down into the pit and back up the other side.

Walls depict soldiers leaping over a gorge to slay priests. A concealed plaster pit trap hides a spike pit. 10ft fall onto rusted metal spikes. The spikes are decayed to the point being unable to hold weight, but they can still give you tetanus.

1-4. Empty Chapel

Cold walls and a stone altar split in twain - by mighty blow sundered. Inside the cracked altar is but unremarkable-looking dust. This Saint Bone dust can be revealed by Detect Magic, or by a cleric putting their hands in it (gives them a holy feeling), and can be rubbed upon wounds to staunch bleeding and heal any single wound or disease.

1-5. Idol Dinner Torment

Smells like rot from one room away. The Reverse Stream traverses the room, flowing north.

Stone table eternally piled with rotting offal. Broken god-idols are placed around the table like a big dead propped-up family, indistinguishable from another save for vague anatomical forms. Like the barbarians came through and mockingly set up a pantheon dinner. Their eyes are all scratched out, and their ears torn off, but their noses remain so they can smell it.

One is not like the others - an Unseen Servant has replaced one - the replaced broken idol body litters the area behind it. The Servant will stalk those it can, for a way out.

The vessels on the table are made of good silver, obscured by the rot. Bowls, cups, knives, forks, plates: all together would fill up a potato sack and be worth 1000sp.

Western wall has a portion oddly bricked-up. A secret tomb behind. The eastern wall’s plaster is failing, revealing a room scattered with bones: Room 6.

Unseen Servant - Virtually indestructible. Weeping angel rules. Won't snap necks but it will block doors and arrest intruders by grabbing their limbs and holding still forever.

1-6. Bone Bins

(Note: Smell of rot from Room 1-5)

This room may be viewed from a peephole in the crumbling plaster to the east, the decomposing plaster from the west, or tunneled through the wall to the north.

Three gleaming golden bins full of miscellaneous crumbling bones. Upon being touched they will jumble as if animating, but they are too tangled to do anything but rattle the bin. They will continue to rattle loudly for 1d4 Turns. For each Turn this is happening, Encounters happen on a roll of 2 to 6 on the d12 Once Every Turn.

If any bins are emptied or turned over, their bones will spill out and animate into a horrible bone amalgamation, which will vengefully try to end anything it sees.

The gold can be stripped off of the exterior of the bins. Each bin's gold exterior is worth 200gp, and can be stripped off with appropriate tools (like a chisel) in 1 Turn, or 4 Turns without tools. Up to four people can divide this required time amongst themselves.

7. High Priest Sarcophagus

(Note: Smell of rot from Room 1-5)

Lead sarcophagus, sealed weakly with plaster. Inside: skeletal remains of a high priest, with an obsidian dagger impaled within a desiccated heart and an all-encompassing iron vessel placed on his skull. Ancient wound still stains brown the ceremonial robes, which depict a skeletal hand. If the dagger is removed the heart will beat again, and the flesh will regrow. Replacing the dagger will require an attack roll or skill check and will arrest the regrowing process.

High Priest Mithrum was so devout to the god of undeath that he could never truly die. For him but a moment has passed since the forgotten dagger BLASPHEMY was plunged into his heart. He believes the Iconoclast and his servants are still before him, though now his body has rotted away and he is blind and deaf from an iron helm placed on his head. He will cast dangerous spells (lightning bolts, cloudkills, marks of death) purely randomly, with a 20% failure chance due to his deafness.

BLASPHEMY causes those its strikes to blaspheme, losing the favor of their gods. Very effective against angels, clerics, priests, and those that made dark pacts with godlike beings, robbing their powers unless they can atone.

If the iron helm is removed before the dagger, Mithrum will only cast one killer spell in confusion.

If his initial onslaught is survived... He will apologize curtly in a strange tongue and quickly come to despair at his surroundings. If by some odd chance there's an expert in dead languages present, he'll ask what year it is. Whatever the answer will be an unfamiliar system to him. In a panic, he'll expedite to the east, and seek to exit the temple. He horrors at the scene in 1-5. If the pit trap in Room 3 is yet unrevealed, he'll fall right in an impale upon the spikes, but of course it won't kill him (he can't die). He'll just be stuck there forever, fixed by the spikes, until someone comes along.

8. Falling Statue

(Note: Smell of rot from Room 1-5)

Giant statue of the Iconoclast overlooks the hall. He wields his great hammer high above his head, as if he might strike the ground before him.

Concealed pressure plate activates the hammer: it swings partially down, but gets stuck before it can hit the ground. A great sundering of stone can be heard where the ankles of the statue break. Two rounds later the whole statue will topple into the hallway, crushing anything underneath.

Retreat or dash forward, a decisive maneuver is required to avoid getting smooshed. (Note: there's a good chance the way back will be blocked by the Unseen Servant, if eyes haven't been kept on it.) Being within the hallway but not within 20ft of the statue's original position does the damage equivalent of a Fireball instead of instant death.

Once the statue has fallen, the hallway will be completely blocked. It will require 10 Turns with tools, or 30 Turns without, divided among all the working people to excavate the blockage. Double that time is needed to excavate anything crushed beneath the statue.

9. Strange Docile Ooze

Natural caverns appear oily, as if the walls were sweating. Pools of docile Grey Ooze linger about. They will corrode metal if touched and burn skin if in prolonged contact. The ooze has forgotten its aggression and will not react to anything. If brought outside, after 1d4 days it will gain its animating spirit again and start ravenously consuming metal.

Navigating around the ooze will require a climb check to not fall in it. Failure means falling down, taking a menial amount of acidic damage and saving for each metal item that's exposed (armor, weapons, belt clasps, etc.).

10. Crawling Bats

The floor is covered in crawling guano-covered bats. They scurry around like rats, and will peep and scatter if approached. Guano litters the floor. Moving through it faster than a crawl requires a dexterity check. Moving on a slippery slope likewise.

If handled, they bite! Bite means 1 in 6 chance of contracting rabies.

A set of slippery guano-covered stairs in an alcove leads directly to a dusty red-bricked wall. A solid hit will bust it open, revealing more slippery stairs down to 2-7 - Slippery Moss.

11. Dark Pit

A black pit whispering multitudinous madness. Compulsion emanates from it, powerful and wanting. It wants libations - alcoholic drink poured down into the well. If not spirits, it will take oil. If not oil, it will take blood. The compulsion gets stronger and stronger the more one resides in the room.

If their patience runs out: it will attempt to enchant all those in the room to jump down the pit, spilling their blood upon the cthonic deities within. The last thing you'll see after plunging 200ft down is a horrible face.

With the giving of spirits or blood, the Nameless Excess God will give its blessing to all those around. When next they do something incredibly excessive, it’ll be incredibly successful in an excessive way.

12. Idol Hands and Idle Heads

Piles of severed stone idol limbs, heads, fingers, and noses lie in heaps beside a large pit. It’s clear that they were here to be cast down, though the pit is now jammed up with so many.

Searching among them carefully, or with magical detection, or having found one of the other fingers reveals the Black Thumb, embedded in a stone eye.

A narrow way can be navigated down this jam, but it will require a squeeze. The jammed chute is not so stable either. A dexterity check is required, or one will be trapped. A stable way can be cleared in 6 Turns. Only one person can work at a time on this. It will be tiring.

Black Thumb - 1 in 4 pieces of the Black Hand. The Black Thumb can be used when held aloft like a holy symbol to wither all plants within 60ft. Or otherwise as a Blight spell. It can do this once per Day for each finger of the Black Hand you possess (max 4). (When used on Slippery Moss, it also dries it out and makes it not slippery anymore.)

Tomb of the Iconoclast

INTRODUCTION

Level 1 - (Rooms 1-12)

Level 1 (Rooms 13-24)

Level 1 (Rooms 25-37)

LEVEL 2 (TBD)

~~~~~

Five days ago an outlaw returned to your town, raving and muttering incomprehensibly. Before being put to death, he claimed that he had found a temple in the wilderness where beasts walked as men, men behaved as beasts, the lost congregated, and the waters of the rivers flowed backwards into a cave in the hills. The local sheriff deemed the outlaw mad and a liar, and little thought was put to the outlaw's testimony until a charcoal rubbing was found on his person after the hanging. It said in ancient script, with some parts smudged:

HERE RESTS ~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RAZER OF TEMPLES

SLAYER OF KINGS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~ ICONOCLAST!

The elder woman of the town believes the outlaw may have found the long-lost Valley of Wells, where the ancient forefathers buried their gods. A town council has determined that an expedition should be sent to the valley across the great lake to investigate the madman's claims and bring back evidence of the legends. You will be part of this expedition.

ALTERNATIVELY....

1. You have noticed in the corners of every map you have ever seen a smeared section, corresponding to the same place. It's never exactly the same way twice. Sometimes the corner is cut out entirely. Sometimes a legend or compass has been drawn over it. Sometimes someone spilled dark wine on it. Nobody asked knows what lies at its center. Will you?

2. A man of some importance has gone missing, and his wealthy family is offering a bounty for his return. His name is Hundar of House Fingol-Mar, and he left with his childhood friends one month ago to explore some ruins he'd heard about from a talking spider. His last scryed position is the ghost town of Cast. (If this is chosen, the old woman in Cast will cackle and point towards the Valley of Wells if questioned about Hundar.)

3. How do you kill a god? The Shadow Hermit says that across the Great Lake, beyond the ruin of the ancient town, there exists a void from which nothing may ever escape, even the gods! Go there with great hubris, mortal!

4. You find the outlaw's charcoal rubbing above, along with a map showing the path to the Valley. A great big black blot exists where one might expect the 'X'.

5. The wizard-ecologist Sigmund Brief has discovered that the waters surrounding this unknown mountain valley flow upwards against gravity! Where do they lead? Tenure awaits!

THE VALLEY ACROSS THE LAKE

Made in Hexographer. 1 Hex = 1 Mile

1. Ruins of Cast

Long-ruined town inside the Valley of the Wells. Nothing but the husks of houses and the bones of stone walls. Considered a cursed place and none go there. Weather is always overcast.

Only one denizen of the town remains: an old woman sitting upon a stone, as if guarding the way. She wears a dirty white robe and holds a broken walking stick. She will cackle maniacally, and when asked a question will say: “I do not remember”. Then she will slowly slump over and die on the spot. She has in her pocket a wooden plank that says: “My Name Is ~~~~~~~” The last word has faded away.

To the north lies a forested valley, with tall broad hills swelling up to the east and west. The narrow Reverse Stream flows backwards, against gravity, through the Ruins of Cast and up into the valley.

Reverse Stream. 2-5ft wide. Weak current. Flows north, against gravity, into the hills.

2. Valley of Wells

Lightly forested valley, through which runs the Reverse Stream, where long ago the idols of enemy gods were cast into deep and narrow pits. Many wells have been sealed up by stone, but some remain unclosed and concealed. Moving through the field, or searching for 1 hour prompts a discovery below (d6):

1. A pit, and then a passage to Room 19, Level 2. It is dark, and filled with ancient household refuse (pots, furniture, clothing, etc.)

2. The body of a massive Purple Worm slowly segments along, foot by foot. It has forgotten its aggression… unless provoked.

3. Dark pit 15ft deep, filled to the brim with rusty ceremonial weapons.

4. Angry stone face leers up from beneath the earthen well plug. Become cursed! The next time one who viewed the face makes an important die roll, they roll twice and take the worse result.

5. Hidden 30ft pit trap overgrown with grass, bottomed out by bumpy stone statue fragments.
6. Functional well. Sign posted above it: "This well was dug by ~~~~~~~~~"

Valley Caves

Difficult to spot if a mountain/forested hex lies between the players' position and the respective cave. A keen eye or careful looker will notice them from the Tower of Baul, or up along the rocky ridges that border the valley.

3. Stone Bear Cave - Three bears that operate under Weeping Angel rules. Appear as tan stones hibernating. Stone is unusually warm to the touch. Ancient refuse of bones and hairy tatters litter the cave. They are living servants of the Unseen God, and they will follow behind those they encounter, waiting for an opportunity to scavenge a meal. If one can speak with animals and simultaneously not observe them, they might divulge the true nature of the wizard Baul, thinking the players are allied with him (why else would they talk to them?).

4. Crawling Bats - Leads down to Room 10, Level 1. Guano-covered filthy bats unnaturally crawling around the cave floor on their legs and wings. The climb down is difficult and slippery from the guano. A climb check is required, even with rope, unless excellent harnesses are made to control the descend. Failure causes 30ft of fall damage as feet and handholds slip, and one goes cascading down into the smelly darkness.

5. Upside-Down Idol - Mossy cave contains a stone idol carved from a stalactite hanging from the ceiling. Depicts a mischievously-grinning youth, craning their neck around so that their head is rightside-up, while their body is upside-down (the neck is somewhat grossly long). A stone altar is carved on the ceiling, upside-down, along with:

• Handholds on the side of the cave, that one could use to climb up to it.
• Rotten rope on the ground, and little stone hoops to tie oneself to stand upside-down by the altar.
  A lectern just below the altar, that one could place a book upside-down to read.

The Prayer Book for Onderboven, a god of inversion, is located in Room 30, Level 1. If it is produced, and recited by one who is upside down, they will find that they gain the power to reverse gravity for themselves for one week at will.

6. Tomb Entrance

The reverse river flows into a narrow passage. A great seal, now crumbled. Above the threshold, beside crumbling plaster there remains the word: “OBLIVION” The full message, if the remaining plaster is removed: “May those who enter embrace OBLIVION.”

(Dungeon link TBA.)

7. The Tower of Baul

The ruin of a tower juts upward like a broken femur. A wizard named BA-UL lives among this husk, and has forgotten all of his magic and knowledge. Pathetic and dirty, he scrambles about in rags, surviving off of a Jar of Everlasting Egg. He believes himself a powerful wizard still, and will attempt to command respect. If ever he tries to cast a spell, though, he will not remember the words nor the motions, and break out weeping from his own dementia.

The tower interior contains a pile of grass and refuse where BA-UL sleeps, a horrible smell like a thousand farts, and the word 'BAUL' inscribed upon a single loose flagstone. When not using it he keeps the Jar of Everlasting Egg hidden in the grass.

When encountered BA-UL is…

1. Sleeping so quietly one might think he's dead. Will be angry if awoken.

2. Descending down his tower slowly, dramatically, like Saruman.

3. Staring up at the spot on the hill where The Keeper resides. He listens for variations in his torment.

4. Making out with faces on the Jar of Everlasting Egg disgustingly. Yokes in his beard. Will be angry if interrupted.

5. Staring up at the sky without a single thought in his brain.

6. Attempting to scry in a puddle of water unsuccessfully. Frustrated that it’s not working.

He remembers his name: BA-UL. This is not his name - it is the tower’s, but it is the only name he can remember. He will fumble with this for some time if questioned.

The Jar of Everlasting Egg can produce 2000 kilocalories of eggs each day. (About two dozen chicken eggs. Twelve dozen quail eggs. One ostrich egg.) These eggs can be incubated and hatched, taking as long to hatch as they normally would after having just been laid. Careful experimentation can eventually conjure any kind of egg provided it's equal to or less than an ostrich egg.

The Mystery Egg. In the midst of the tower is a pile of refuse. It smells like ten thousand farts. In this pile there is a strange red egg. BA-UL sometimes incubates it without knowing. Sometimes he mothers it. Whatever it is, however it hatches, it will not act as it normally does. What is it? (d6):

1. Dragon. A strange one. As it dreams embryonic dreams, it makes BA-UL more caring and territorial, like a mother crocodile.
2. Phoenix. Needs everburning fire to hatch (see below). Loyal to whomever feeds it digested meat.
3. Basilisk. Need a chicken to incubate it. Will eat the chicken. Tamable with considerable work.
4. Tiny Man. Hatches a 1ft tall fully grown man who knows one Level 9 spell. Can't talk or communicate initially, but he can learn.
5. Yolk of Perfect Health. Unhatchable. Contains a golden yolk that heals all ailments and reverses magical aging.
6. Demon King. Sealed away in a dark egg and forgotten for 1000 years. Whispers to those who touch it to crack its shell. If broken open, the Demon King will reward the breaker with a single Wish before flying off into the sky to initiate the End Times.

Just Beyond the Tower...

On the peak beyond the tower there is a cursed place - a small abode that once kept watch on signal pyres on the mountains. But the Keeper, in a time of great need, forgot their duty, and was cursed to everlasting torment for their indolence. The Keeper was cursed to burn immortally for 300 years (we're around 200 now) upon the fire that he had failed to light, and stays there now as a smoldering Prometheus. He has no notion about how long his torment has been.

He speaks in a crackling rasp. Every time he is asked about why he burns, he’ll have a different story. He makes it up, either from memory loss or shame. (d4)

1. A watcher during the war who forgot his duty (true, this one, but The Keeper doesn't know that.)

2. Fell in love with a demigod, and her mother, a god of flame, disapproved.

3. He was a righteous man, but the gods tested him with misfortune and he cursed at them. In response, they decided to torment him forever.

4. He swallowed the heart of a magma elemental, thinking it would grant him immortality. It did, but it tied him down to the earth and left him in this state.

The Keeper laments his fate, but believes it is just. If he is informed that the nature of this place causes forgetfulness, then he will rage and despair, and throw himself from the everburning pyre and instantly crumble into ash. Those who touch him risk the fire spreading to their flesh, and must Save vs. Magic or slowly start burning with flesh-addicted fire.

The Everburning Coal where his heart once was can be harvested, and used as a heat source or infinite fuel. It is valuable, though taking it while the Keeper still exists risks the everburning fire spreading to one's flesh.

Beneath the Tower...

Behind the Tower there are stone steps leading down. Steps worn smooth by time and erosion. When it rains the steps become as a river. The way is dark. Leads to Room 17, Level 1: Cistern Entrance.

Sanguinia

 For other important Twilight City holidays, see: Carnalia, Twilight City Calendar

A summary of select excerpts from the Chronulean Journal of Sociology and Spiders Issue #133, co-authored by W. Smith and C. Le Brau, on the endurance of one of the most infamous and historically bloody of elven holidays.

The JSS is the most-cited academic journal with
regard to Sociological and Spider studies.

Few elven holidays exist within the popular imagination as much as the Sanguinia - The Festival of Love and Blood. Parents tell their children of wolves that don elven skins and stalk the streets in packs, consuming the flesh of the vulnerable and weak. They speak of those who, upon drinking the blood of the fallen, become addicted to it like a drug, and must sustain themselves on it evermore. They say that women roam the streets mad with bloodlust, screeching, killing, and lovemaking in wanton slaughter and passion.

There are dozens upon dozens of such myths about the infamous holiday, and it remains the duty of the authors and this journal to dispel these illusions which have eclipsed truth in the popular imagination. The Sanguinia remains the second oldest holiday in the Novan calendar, after the Fungalia in the Old Calendar Summer. As such, it has a complex history. In this article, we will attempt to state the facts and reconcile the perceived paradoxes of this perhaps misunderstood holiday.

Sanune and Hadrian

Teller to this tradition was the historian Sabzyrm di la Kenafin, who provided this history:

"In the first years since our forebearers crossed the undersea to this land, there was a terrible famine. The soil had been fouled by the folly of Agathon the Obstinate. Game eluded the hunters. The waters of the Low Lake congealed like clotted blood. Even the nobility ate their pets and newborn children, so desperate were they. So great was the hunger that even the child-laden queen starved. Imagine a famine so great that a chosen queen grows thin!

So on this day, despairing Queen Sanune spoke to her lover the Consort Hadrian: 'This blight rises above all other blights! How cursed a people are we, that every mother must reconsume their young, that our priestesses must dine on paltry rats! I will bear not these twins of ours. They shall become mine flesh once again, lest never shall the consecrated fruit again grow.'*

Thus spoke Hadrian: 'My love, so troubled have been these times, that even the gods' children must invoke these old ways. They have blessed this house with royal twin, and to permit it not would be tragedy I cannot bear. Take instead of their flesh: mine. To you I have freely given my heart, and so let it be shared with our children.

And so Queen Sanune consumed her lovers heart, brain, liver, loins, spleen, and muscle. All the richest parts of him became hers, and in a better year she gave birth to the only babes born that generation: Amantia and Amon, of whom the former lived on to become Glazz'gibrar's greatest queen.

It is said that her lover's strength carried Sanune and her children into long and prosperous life. So this Sanguinia we pour libations to her shade, and to Hadrian, whose fruitful viscera bore our people through their most imperiled times. So now the Queen Surrogate consumes a living heart to gain its vitality."

*Research suggests that the now-forsaken goddess Lolth commanded her followers to cannibalize their own young, as spiders, mantises, and bees often do. Her role in this story appears to be edited out in Sabzyrm's telling, likely reflecting her falling out of favor with the Novan people at the turn of the century.

Werewolves and Vampires

Much speculation has been made by fellow academics as to the rumors of "Werewolves" and "Vampires" produced or unveiled during the Sanguinia. We shall affirm that there are three categories of such transformations: Werewolves, Vampires, and Skin-Wearers. Though, we shall admit that more precise classification of these entities should be established.

"Werewolves", as they are called by the folk of November, are folk, typically young folk, who don The Wolf Mask during the Sanguinia celebrations for the express purpose of participating in the anonymous slaughter.

"Vampires", though evidence is only mounting (and shall be published in subsequent articles), appears to be a condition created through the externalities of the Sanguinia. Blood drinking (or blood mixed with mushroom wine, a cocktail called: saltvine)  is a common occurrence among those who have donned the Wolf Mask, and in some rare cases this produces a form of disease which inducts the subject into an addiction with consuming blood. Present evidence indicates that a sanguineous drug prevalent in some users creates this circumstance.

A third category, even rarer than the other two, has only been observed once during the research of this article. Though little is known about this creature, a physical description shall be provided courtesy of Mamus di Ronove, who was willing to be interviewed on the matter:

"We have elves who don the skins of wolves. And elves who drink the blood of elves. But what I saw wasn't that. It was a wolf that donned the skin of an elf. A wolf with an elven face, stretched thin across its long snout. Its eyes a terrible yellow. It spoke, too. Spoke perfect elven. Stood on its hind legs. I remember, it asked my brother and I, may he rest, it asked him 'Where is the public bath?' We told it, shaking so violently with fright: 'Past Piercers' Forum, brother!'... Off it went. We got home as quick as we could and locked the doors! The bath was closed on that day, but it could not detect our lie. We never heard what happened after that."

Hydur's Holiday

It may surprise some readers to learn that Hydur, the traditional god of air and vengeance, is worshipped in a holiday devoted to love. But to the denizens of November, this is not a paradox. Matriarch Koren III of House Nix provides an explanation to this:

(Note: some mandible chattering has been removed for clarity in this discussion.)

Interviewer: So, you mentioned that the Sanguinia was the 'Festival of Love', as well as the 'Festival of Vengeance'. How is this reconciled?

Koren: One cannot have vengeance without love! For to become vengeful, one must love something... or someone, and then suffer loss or humiliation, or act upon its threat. Vengeance cannot exist within a vacuum. It must exist concurrent, cradled with love, or else it cannot exist.

Interviewer: So what does this have to do with Hydur?

Koren: Hydur is the great god of love! The Great Wind would not swear vengeance upon the world if he did not once love it.

Interviewer: And how is Hydur worshipped during these proceedings?

Koren: Free love given is good. Love spurned is even better. Hydur relishes in denial and vengeance. To consume the heart and spleen of he who denies you invites great blessing!

Interviewer: Eaten many spleens, have you?

Koren: ...Did anybody ever tell you that you smell savory?

Interviewer: Uhh... Thank you for your time, Matriarch! I'm glad we could clear this up.

Carnalia and Sanguinia: Differences and Similarities

At first glance, the holiday bears many similarities to the Carnalia, which occurs several weeks prior in the calendar. Both holidays involve acts of violence and roaming mobs of festivalgoers. Both holidays involve copious consumption. Both holidays invoke cannibalism, and are initiated by the Queen Surrogate - whose priestessly office entails duties once held by the Spider Queen herself.

But apart from these surface level comparisons, that is where the similarities end. For though there are many acts of violence in these two holidays, their reasons and their targets differ in that they reflect the gods that are being worshipped. Take for instance the notion of violence in these holidays:

• In the Carnalia, the wealthy and powerful are targeted by the poor for their uncharitable miserliness. In the Sanguinia, the poor and the vulnerable are targeted by the powerful and well-connected. 

• Ale and bread is the preferred diet of the Carnalia festival goer, while wine and meat is that of Sanguinia.

• Carnalia is a festival in which everyone in the society partakes. The Sanguinia is thought as a 'young person's festival', with many elders and children locking up in their houses.

• Manmanuk, the god of Chaos, directly observes the events of the Carnalia through the Panchromatic Idol, whereas Hydur possesses no such benefit during his festival. Perhaps they thought he'd ruin the mood?

Further Research: Rites

The following consists of a list of observed religious rites during the Sanguinia, which would serve as excellent future direction for research.

Cardiovore: At the conclusion of the festival, the Queen Surrogate (a primarily religious office adopted by senior politicians for terms lasting 8 Novan years) consumes a raw heart. Our postdoc trainee observed this occurence, and called it, quote: "F---ING DISGUSTING!" Our handlers in the city ensured that it was, in fact, not originally a man's heart.

Revelry of the Youths: We were told that if a man should be out on the streets, and he becomes abandoned by his friends, and he should encounter a desirous wolf-masked woman, then a 'hunt' shall begin. If he is caught then 'his flesh shall be taken', which we assumed to mean some sort of romantic persuasion. This was never observed but we witnessed much innuendo to this fact in days following. Seemingly related to the subsequent rite.

Blood for Blood: We gathered this was like children's game of tag, except using knives and darts and performed by young adults wearing the sanguineous Wolf Mask. We were informed by our handlers that there is a romantic association with this violent game.

Hunt of the Motherless: Those without the protection of matronage were hunted down in the streets, and either beaten or occasionally murdered. In the aftermath of the festival it was reported that there were six such deaths (the elders claimed that in their day numbers one hundred times that amount were common): one was a beggar from Bright Town who frequented the Eight-Pathed Forum, another was a crier woman who was seemingly quite unpopular, the third was a foreigner to whom there was little account, and the last three were youths who apparently took the Blood for Blood too far in what was believed was a lover's quarrel... with quarrels.

Wells, Springs, Streams

 A need has arisen in my home game to account for water. Lacking landmark water sources (which are displayed on the campaign map), what sort of water sources can be found by forage?

WELLS (d12)

Someone had the put the effort into digging these. It means there are, or were, people living nearby.

1. Guild Well. Engraved on it: "CMG", Copper Miners Guild. They made a lot of these. Someone pried the copper engraving off of the well bucket. Times must be hard.

2. Charity. A sign is posted above it: "This well was dug by Lord (Insert Local Lord Here)". It's well-maintained. Clear, fresh water. Someone's usually watching it. (Who would entirely trust a band of rogues such as yourselves around their well?)

3. Deep. It goes down a lot further than you'd expect. Echoes, too. 2 in 6 chance it goes down all the way to the Underdark, and the water is a little musky.

4. Grudge. A sign is posted above it: "This well was dug by ~~~~~~~~". Apparently, whoever dug it, someone disliked him enough to scratch out his name.

5. Questionable. The water is a little murky... 2 in 6 chance if you drink from it, Save vs. Disease. Otherwise, it's perfectly fine, if a bit odd tasting.

6. Holy Depository. Hasn't been used in ages. The land around it is fertile. Used to properly dispose of desanctified religious materials. Never intended as a well. Some weren't properly unconsecrated. Clerics can sense the holiness below. The holiness has leached out into the groundwater. 1d4 uses of Holy Water can be salvaged from the well, although there's no bucket or rope.

7. Sacred Well. Maintained and consecrated by local holy persons. So valuable that it's minded by such a holy person, who only allows each person one single cup. The patron deity is (d4), and the water does thus:

    1. Smiter of Undead. Causes damage to undead things (as Holy Water). Slight skin/throat/eyes irritant.

    2. Water of Knowledge. Recall any memory with perfect clarity. Even the ones you've forgotten. If you didn't have something in mind, then make one up.

    3. Love God. You feel better about yourself. Others notice things about you.

    4. Hero of Strength. They drank from this well every day, and became big and strong. You feel motivated.

8. Unholy Depository. It was somebody's hope that nobody would ever find this place again. Have to stumble upon it: a manhole cover in the ground adorned with taboo warnings. Heretical religious materials have been buried here. Water has leached into them. The nearby ground is cursed if you look closely at it: plants form odd shapes, the bugs are unrecognizable and sharp, and there are eyes everywhere you look.

9. Cheap. A hole, wood covering, and not much else. Whoever made it had better things to do.

10. Abandoned. Nature is beginning to reclaim it. Overgrown with tall grass and vines. Tree roots perforate the rock lining. Something wild watches from the shadows.

11. Occupied. Something is living in the well. What might it be? (d6)

    1. Well Hermit. Wise in the ways of earth and memory, very very smelly and gross. Think Oscar the Grouch but even more waterlogged.

    2. Fish. Make a wish, they're good luck! The well is likely connected to an underground cave. 

    3. Flowering Cave Moss. Little white flowers bloom when the sun hits it just right. Water is mildly curative.

    4. Ghost. Visions of vengeful lidless eyes down in the watery darkness. Someone drowned in this well a long time ago. The bones lie well-buried under sediment. Those who drink from it will get nightmares until the well is exorcised.

    5. Pitcher Plant. Like the little ones, but much bigger and built into the ground. The area around the well is slippery and sloped downwards. A sweet aroma . The well itself looks enticing. Deals 1 damage per hour spent inside. Usually traps deer and lone goblins. It's not too hard to get out with some rope.

    6. Horrible Darkness. Something truly evil lairs in this well. It only comes out when it's dark. When it's bright, it hides in the shadows of the well, plotting and cursing the sun.

12. Hidden. 1 in 4 chance it is functionally a 20ft pit trap. Grass or moss has grown over the lid. Wouldn't be found except by rare knowledge or chance.

SPRINGS (d6)

Oases about which living things flock. Their origins are often storied, and their waters often magical.

1. Magnitudinous. Gallons of water emerge every minute. The pool is grand and wide. The spirit who lives here is mighty.

2. Nymphic. Where gods and spirits come to bathe, and perhaps hunt. Water is immaculately clean. Whispers issue from the reeds. Best be quick, before you see something you may regret. 2 in 6 chance a wandering god comes, or is already there.

3. Historic. A Hero struck the water from the stone, and here it remains. Offerings rim the waters. Gentle stones are carefully placed to give reverence. Tended by a hermit, or perhaps a holy person.

4. Painted. Steaming, burns the nostrils. The rock leaches brilliant reds and yellows. Uncomfortable to drink. Whatever spirit lives here greatly distastes the living. Fire spirits dwell down below.

5. Invisible. The spring is so shallow or new that it seems like runoff. You wouldn't know it's there unless you stepped in it.

6. Wisdom. A sacred and ancient place, guarded by powerful specters. Once per Day, drink from the water and gain a future insight. Roll a die, and save the result for later. Replace a similar die roll with your result.

STREAMS

Little rivers have little water spirits, sometimes so small they can barely be heard.

1. Ancient Bed. Laminar, with a body of stones so smooth they feel like unbroken eggs. They've seen eons pass this earth. Its spirit is old and wizened.

2. Hidden Jungle. Trees, bushes, and tall grasses hide the waters. The soil around it is fertile and soft.

3. Musical. A soft tune can be heard, if you listen closely. It's a young stream, like a blithe child.

4. Overflow. It's not usually a stream. Runs over flattened grass, like when you let the garden hose run. It's quick and smooth, and will be gone in hours. Must have rained recently.

5. Chatty. Rough stones and turbulent waters. Can be heard a fair distance off. Listening is difficult, as their words are chaotic.

6. Dam. Something's made a dam nearby, and a little pond to go with it (d6). Whatever is damming the stream pays homage to the water spirit in some way.

    1. Giant Bees. Big as limes. Harvesting the stream for power. Their honey is a strong narcotic and extremely valuable. They give some to the stream spirit.

    2. Beavers. They try to avoid people whenever possible. They make wooden monuments to the water spirit.

    3. People. The resulting pond is good for fishing, and hunting. Evidence of people activity: clearing, fishing pole, trash, or tracks. 1 in 2 chance that somebody's already there. They probably won't be expecting armed guests. They toss coins or bits of shiny metal in the water. Water spirits love those.

    4. Goblins. Static water makes good spawning pools. The reeds and muck are full of them. Mature goblins carve little idols out of grass for the water spirit.

    5. Happenstance. An old and mighty tree fell across the stream.

    6. Ogre. Ogres love throwing giant boulders into bodies of water. People have stories why. Maybe they have a beef with the water spirit. Maybe water makes them itchy and they don't like it. Maybe they just like the sound it makes?

7. Trickle. With an impoverished water spirit, thin and shriveled. Pockets of stagnant water, barely a whisper. Insufficient for filling a waterflask, unless you're plentiful on time.

8. Mossy. Water flows between moss-covered stones. It's cool and shady. Look very carefully, and some have been fashioned to statuesque heads. The spirit has mossy hair. It smells earthy and pleasant.

9. Valley Carving. A knight among streams. The hills have been terraformed by its gentle force. Such a spirit will be constant, chivalrous, and forceful. It accepts gifts as though it believes it deserves them, and it has grand plans.

10. Snake. Wends down the countryside with calm cool waters. Its tutelary appears as thus, too.

11. Icy. Brisk. Bits of snow or ice might even be washing downstream. Lethargic little fish watch from just inside the bank, wondering what shadows lurk above.

12. Plentiful. Brimming with as much life as it could possibly manage. If you're lucky it's something amenable to folk like you (d6): 

    1. Fish. Lots of them. Attracts predators. 1 in 6 chance that something big comes along to feed.

    2. Bugs, Non-Hostile. Water-skippers, grasshoppers, dragonflies. Something curious.

    3. Bugs, Hostile. Mosquitos. Stagnant pools hug the stream bends like tumors. Save or get sick.

    4. Toads. Their trilling song can be heard on approach. You're probably interrupting the ceremony.

    5. Flowers. Pretty ones. With colors brilliant and scents enticing. Enough to be worth something to someone back home.

    6. Gold. You'd need to look closely, but every so often the sparkle of destiny can be seen. Gold is a kingly substance, and they who possess the most are intractably caught in destiny's webs.

City of the Siege

Suspend your disbelief, if you will, about the siege of a castle long ago.

An army brought to its doorstep. The surrounding fields and villages have been burned. Terms are offered and denied. Trenches and tunnels are dug, and great engines of destruction are wrought. And then it simply. Never. Ends. 

No assault is brought, and no surrender is given. The attackers settle in for the long haul. The Defenders' position is unassailable, they must be waited out. That victory never comes, but the siege cannot end.

Crops are resewn. The soldiers settle in. Great walls are built surrounding the Defenders' holding. Towers constructed to oversee every inch of no man's land and outposts to watch the deep caverns. Patrols become formalities. A long fatigue sets in, beset by a yearning for home.

So home is brought to them. Supply lines become formal avenues of trade. The campaign community becomes a domestic community. The soldiers settle. They bring their families and raise their children between duty shifts overlooking that horrible castle. The Defenders could make a move any day now, out of desperation... But will they? Probably not.

Sutlers become merchants. Soldiers into farmers. Prostitutes become wives. Landless knights local landlords, and engineers craftsmen. The Siege continues.

So long, in fact, that it is forgotten that terms may still be offered. Where there was an army there is now a militia. Where once were patrols there are ritualistic 'parades' and grand religious postures in the dark castle's sight. The tools of the army become relics, and their duties become sacred covenant.

And during these long years, mysterious things are happening. An elder dies mysteriously, a well-read scholar's house burns down along with all their books, people whisper that their loved ones have been acting strange, and always are their accusations cast ruefully upon the dark castle the city surrounds.

The people begin to leave. The dynasty who began this cathedral of war has long subsumed. Little memory remains as to why or how any of this city exists, and what is there is veiled in legend and archeology. It all begins to collapse in slow motion, like a glacier receding forever: an earthquake, a neighboring polity destroyed, a great fire, civil strife.

Now, after twenty generations, there are but 500 people left. And there is just but exactly one old, tired, stubborn man who clings to the traditions of his grandfather's grandfather. He stands upon the watchtowers. He parades around the city alone in his faded clothes and tattered banner. He crankily complains that the city was great and beautiful in his grandfather's time - when the people were virtuous and prospered, and the walls were well-maintained - although, in reality even then the City was but a fading form.

One grumpy cantankerous elder, being all that stands between the world and these Defenders of the ancient order. When he dies, in two weeks, and the patrols finally cease, the dark castle will begin to wake.

Its tireless sentinels of the dark castle will see that resistance has dissipated, and they will wake their lord from his millennial slumber.

A Black Market History of Kalliope

 A follow-up to Kalliope Jazz

Stick around in the Black Market long enough, and you'll hear stories and myths from across the cosmos. You may scoff at learning myths instead of history, but the tellers would say that they're one and the same. This is one of them:

Timestamps are an instrument of machine minds, and as you'll soon discover, they're irrelevant anyway.

Long before mankind or machine set foot on Kalliope, the moon was an ocean of ice: frozen methane, water, and little creatures that had not names or jobs or grand schemes. Thus it was so, for a million-billion generations of these little things.

Long before even that, The Whale died.

Its body, still propelled by an engine of time and gravity at its heart, began to decompose as it drifted through the astral sea - faster on the outside than the inside, orders of magnitude more! That when by impossible odds it collided into Kalliope's cold oceans, its skin and muscles and mind were all long rotten dry, but its heart still smoldered on.

And this the Oracles call The Whalefall.

How it must have been, in those early days! To witness the oceans melt and the tides' liberty. When green things dreamed green dreams and new eyes found unfettered skies.

And the gods and monsters of myth descended from the stars...

Art by Levi Hastings

The Demon was the first to arrive. It burrowed deep inside and nestled right up to the heart. It remains there still, just as it was - a spear point piercing into infinity.

The Dragons came next: they had followed the sweet scent of the dying whale across the great expanse of space and time. They tore into its flesh, burrowing deep inside. They devoured its fat, its muscles, its brain, and they grew strong and wise.

The Pirates followed: crawling, curious, hungry. They'd heard its dying drift and come scuttling across the cosmos in their hardened shells. Around the Dragons' feasting they harvested their scraps. Their hard ships and sharp claws made them unappetizing to the others. They were first to uncover the mighty Sea Worms, and the six Great Ones within the Whale's decaying womb.

Then came The Oracles, tiny little things floating on the astral currents, feeling the call of prophecy across the stars. At the end of their journey they found a rich world to build their nations: bones to build colonies, water to fuel their thirst, fish to fill their bellies, and GRIS to satiate their souls.

GRIS is liquid dream. It's fuel for the fire that burns within. It's metamorphosis in a bottle. It's agency, it's power. It makes monsters and little crawling things out of men. GRIS grew in the Whale's guts, and the things digging within it ate it and dreamed their silent dreams, and when they were finished they discovered that their dreams were real.

GRIS made the Oracles as they wished they could become: strong, quick, sleek, smart, peaceable, clever, beautiful, poetic, fertile, wise, antagonistic, and complacent. In the darkest trenches they dreamed of light... and they dreamed of even greater darks. While many became actualized, some became monsters, and in time they learned to not abide each other. A war began in the hadal depths by the heart, which began long ago and continues to this day, and will continue on until the end of the universe: a war between monsters and men to hold onto infinity.

...At last, came we. Us, with our machine clerics and heavy mechs, with imperial ideology and extraction economies and interstellar market forces. With settlers and tourists, mercenaries and jazz. All of it eclipsed in the blink of an eye to the Whale's still-beating heart.

Art by StitchParadox

It's a nice story... It might even be true, but what we do know is this:

- The deeper into the Nemesis Deeps you go, the more time slows down. It's logarithmic: Epipelagic means a time dilation factor of 1:10. Mesopelagic, 1:100. Bathypelagic, 1:1000. Abyss, 1:10000. In the Abyss, one minute passes down there = one week passes on the surface. You don't even want to think about it being deeper than that.

- When you consume GRIS, your body becomes more what you think it is. It changes, mutates you. It's most pronounced and dangerous when you dream. The Kalliopean Ocean is the only place we know it comes from. The Oracles are the only people who trade it. A single ounce can buy you the moon. The Church is keeping it all under wraps.

- A significant number of aquatic species in the Nemesis Deeps inexplicably possess indistinguishably human genomes, but vastly altered chromatin structure. This has been discovered most often in fish, crabs, and sea slugs.

- "Hic Sunt Dracones" isn't an empty saying. There really are dragons down in the deeps.