Saturday, February 22, 2014
Chromatic Dragons
Chromatic dragons are the evil branch of dragonkind. They are aggressive, greedy, vain, and nasty.
True Dragons
True dragons are winged, reptilelike creatures of ancient lineage. They are known and feared for their size, physical prowess, and magical abilities. The oldest dragons are among the most powerful creatures in the world. The known varieties of true dragons (as opposed to other creatures that have the dragon type) fall into two broad categories: chromatic and metallic. The chromatic dragons are black, blue, green, red, and white; they are all evil and extremely fierce. The metallic dragons are brass, bronze, copper, gold, and silver; they are all good, usually noble, and highly respected by the wise. All true dragons gain more abilities and greater power as they age. (Other creatures that have the dragon type do not.) They range in size from several feet upon hatching to more than 100 feet after attaining the status of great wyrm. The size of a particular dragon varies according to age and variety. Though they are fearsome predators, dragons scavenge when necessary and can eat almost anything if they are hungry enough. A dragon's metabolism operates like a highly efficient furnace and can metabolize even inorganic material. Some dragons have developed a taste for such fare.
Although goals and ideals vary among varieties, all dragons are covetous. They like to hoard wealth, collecting mounds of coins and gathering as many gems, jewels, and magic items as possible. Those with large hoards are loath to leave them for long, venturing out of their lairs only to patrol the immediate area or to get food. For dragons, there is no such thing as enough treasure. It's pleasing to look at, and they bask in its radiance. Dragons like to make bed of their hoards, shaping nooks and mounds to fit their bodies. By the time the dragon matures to the age of great wyrm, hundreds of gems and coins may be embedded in its hide. All dragons speak Draconic. A dragon attacks with its powerful claws and bite, and can also use a breath weapon and special physical attacks, depending on its size. It prefers to fight on the wing, staying out of reach until it has worn down the enemy with ranged attacks. Older, more intelligent dragons are adept at sizing up the opposition and eliminating the most dangerous foes first (or avoiding them while picking off lesser enemies). A flying or jumping dragon of at least huge size can land on opponents as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only on opponents three or more size categories smaller than the dragon (though it can attempt normal overrun or grapple attacks against larger opponents). A crush attack affects as many creatures as can fit under a dragon's body. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, it is treated as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage each round from the crush if they don't escape.
Although goals and ideals vary among varieties, all dragons are covetous. They like to hoard wealth, collecting mounds of coins and gathering as many gems, jewels, and magic items as possible. Those with large hoards are loath to leave them for long, venturing out of their lairs only to patrol the immediate area or to get food. For dragons, there is no such thing as enough treasure. It's pleasing to look at, and they bask in its radiance. Dragons like to make bed of their hoards, shaping nooks and mounds to fit their bodies. By the time the dragon matures to the age of great wyrm, hundreds of gems and coins may be embedded in its hide. All dragons speak Draconic. A dragon attacks with its powerful claws and bite, and can also use a breath weapon and special physical attacks, depending on its size. It prefers to fight on the wing, staying out of reach until it has worn down the enemy with ranged attacks. Older, more intelligent dragons are adept at sizing up the opposition and eliminating the most dangerous foes first (or avoiding them while picking off lesser enemies). A flying or jumping dragon of at least huge size can land on opponents as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only on opponents three or more size categories smaller than the dragon (though it can attempt normal overrun or grapple attacks against larger opponents). A crush attack affects as many creatures as can fit under a dragon's body. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, it is treated as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage each round from the crush if they don't escape.
Dragons
A dragon is a reptilelike creature, usually winged, with magical or unusual abilities.
They have darkvision and low-light vision.
They are immune to magic sleep effects and paralysis effects. Dragons eat, sleep, and breathe.
They have darkvision and low-light vision.
They are immune to magic sleep effects and paralysis effects. Dragons eat, sleep, and breathe.
Friday, February 21, 2014
The Seekers
Symbol: Eight triangular plates arrayed in a star pattern around a
central circle.
Background, Goals, and Dreams: This loose-knit society of explorers, adventuring scholars,
and fortune hunters scours the world for ancient secrets and lost magic. Though
some members claim high-minded goals, the primary ambition of most Seekers is
personal enrichment, and the order is notorious for cutting corners and damning
the consequences of their insatiable curiosity and greed. For this reason they
remain a secret society, working in the shadows and pooling information to
benefit themselves, regardless of the moral and financial cost.
Seeker interaction is based upon the
lodge, in which members meet to discuss past and upcoming adventures, share
maps, or show off the spoils of the latest expeditions. Seeker lodges are often
hidden behind a mundane front such as a cartography business or social club,
and are renowned for their peerless libraries of Seeker journals and forgotten
lore.
Enemies and Allies: Seekers benefit from anonymity, attracting the ire of only
those able to follow the subtext of history or trace the wall scraping of a
plundered tomb. Exploration of the southern seas and the jungles of the Amedio
coast has also attracted the enmity of the Scarlet Brotherhood, who shares the
Seekers' interest in ruined temples and forsaken tombs.
Members: Seekers can come from any race or character class. They
must have a driving ambition to discover the lost secrets of the past, and they
must be willing to share - to a point - information that could help other
Seekers on the path to discovery, illumination, and enrichment. Most members
consider themselves scholars of the ancient world, and fluency with languages
(including those that fell out of use centuries ago) is considered a mark of
pride.
Type: College
Scale: 14 (continental)
Titles, Benefits, and Duties: Members of the Seekers are supposed to support the lodges
they visit with a tithe equating roughly 10% of their income. This is an
informal system, so a Seeker who routinely donates rare books to a lodge
library might be held in higher esteem than one who simply drops a few gold
coins into the lockbox. All members are expected to keep an explorer's journal,
and to turn over the journal for transcription at least once a month. Upon
graduating from apprenticeship, all Seekers receive a silver ring bearing the
eight-pointed star symbol of the order. The ring is worth 200 gp, and
identifies the wearer as a Seeker. Members are expected not to harm others they
know to be Seekers, but mistakes often happen in the field and no one spends a
lot of time worrying about those who violate this stricture.
Executive Powers: Gift, Research, Trade
Tracking Vanthus (days 9-11)
This octagonal room is supported by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. The seven walls of this room each bear fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters in threatening poses. Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the entrance to the room and moving clockwise, the carvings depict a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth, a looming dragon, a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles, a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs, a spherical creature with four eyestalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw, a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes, and finally a towering black spider with seven eyes. Each monster's eyes consist of a glittering red stone. The ceiling above is only ten feet high, with the now-familiar eight-pointed star pattern radiating out from the grooved pillar. The arms of this star are black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which is red.
The red stone eyes sparkle nicely, yet are relatively worthless agates, as determined by Graim.
The creatures depicted (in the order described above) are an unknown monster, a red dragon, some kind of aberration, an unknown giant, some kind of beholderkin, a gray render, and a monstrous spider.
This entire room is in fact a clever combination lock designed to hide and protect the five hidden alcoves in the walls of the chamber. The grooved pillar in the room's center is an immense stone tumbler that can be rotated in both directions, as Grunk revealed.
The pillar doesn't rotate smoothly. Rather, it "clicks" in its sockets as it rotates, eight times in the course of a single revolution. As the pillar rotates, the eight-pointed star in the ceiling rotates as well, the red arm pointing to a new wall with each click. The trick to this combination lock is the number of eyes each creature on the wall possesses. Starting from the wall immediately to the west of the entrance, the eyes number 1-7.
As the Tropic Thunder realized, the scrap of paper they found with the Vanderboren signet ring actually contains the combination to this lock. As Lavinia's personal troubleshooters, it fell to the Tropic Thunder to decipher the mysterious list.
The correct combination for this immense safe is 6 right, 1 left, 2 right, 4 left, 2 right. Although the parchment lists different creatures, the code is the same: the number of eyes each creature has corresponds to the number of the combination, while the notation of "sunrise" and "sunset" indicates east and west (right and left).
Once the combination was entered, the entire room rumbled as the five alcoves rotated in place, revealing several coffers and chests.
Most of the 20 chests in the vault are empty - at best, only a few silver coins remained scattered along the bottom of each chest. As more and more chests turned up empty, Lavinia grew increasingly distraught. Finally, in the last alcove, there was a reprieve - several of the chests here remained untouched. There were gold coins and gems left in these chests, along with a large number of ledgers and a small iron coffer containing a thick pile of documents.
Most of the ledgers list debts owed to the Vanderborens from guilds and noble families in Sasserine - it seems that Lavinia's parents made a practice of doing dangerous favors for numerous organizations in Sasserine, yet rarely bothered to collect rewards. Instead, they allowed their patrons to keep their rewards with the understanding that they could collect at any time.
The documents in the iron coffer are another story. These documents are written in her mother's handwriting but in a strange language neither Lavinia nor the Tropic Thunder recognized, although they recognized the letters as being elven. Included in the document are several maps of jungles, coastlines, and other regions that seem to represent some unknown tropical location. The document also includes dozens of sketches of strange, exotic creatures.
Between the gold and the IOUs, Lavinia now had more than enough to pay the back taxes and began setting her estate back in order. Nevertheless, the missing money concerned her greatly. It'll be a rough year, especially if her aunt and uncle in Cauldron can't help her out in the months to come, but at least she now had enough to carry on. She payed each of the Tropic Thunder (except Mary Rose) 200 gp as a reward for their aid, and asked them to come visit her as soon as possible regarding an even more important job when they get the time.
As they left Castle Teraknian, Lavinia asked the clerk if anyone else had visited the vault recently. He replied with an affirmative, saying that her brother Vanthus visited the vault several times over the past month. The clerk was shocked when he learned that Vanthus had been missing for a month and that Lavinia didn't know he'd been visiting the vault - Vanthus had a signet ring (which the Tropic Thunder assume he stole over a month ago from his mother) and the clerk recognized him as a Vanderboren. The clerk agreed to inform Lavinia if Vanthus tried to enter the vault again.
Once the vault was secured and Lavinia's immediate financial concerns were taken care of, Vanthus became her primary concern. Lavinia explained to the Tropic Thunder that the two of them were quite close growing up, since their parents were rarely around. They grew to depend on each other, and got into a fair amount of trouble together. After one particularly complex prank involving several elixirs of love being emptied into the nearby water tower, their childhoods came to an end. Lavinia was sent to the Thenalar Academy to live out the next five years of her life, and Vanthus was shipped out to work on a plantation. When they returned to live in the family manor a year ago, they had both changed. Lavinia likes to think she benefited from her time at Thenalar. Vanthus, on the other hand, spent his time away nurturing his bitterness. He no longer had time for Lavinia, slept all day, and spent the nights with what Lavinia recalls as "associates of doubtful character". Eventually, he moved out of the house entirely - Lavinia believes he took up with a lover in Azure district, but she never learned the details.
When their parents died, Vanthus returned for a week to live at the manor, but he had changed even more. Gone was the easy sense of humor she recalled fondly from heir childhood, and in its place was a biter cynicism and a morbid streak that sent chills up Lavinia's spine. After several arguments, Vanthus struck her with his fist. Lavinia was shocked, and for a moment she thinks Vanthus was shocked as well, but an instant later he was back to his new self, all scowls and menace. He gathered his belongings and left - Lavinia hasn't seen him since.
She knows something profound happened to her brother at some point to change him, but she's not sure what this was. She believes he's fallen in with a bad crowd, perhaps smugglers, or thieves or even killers. Although his attitude might speak otherwise, she hopes that it's not too late, that if he can be brought back to her side she might be able to talk some sense into him and redeem him before he passes forever out of her reach. The problem is, she doesn't know where he's gone.
Lavinia has few clues as to where Vanthus has gone. She recommended asking around about him throughout the city; she doubts he hides around in Champion's or Noble District, but even these locations may hold clues. Her suspicion that he's been living with a woman in Azure District arose from half-heard rumors, but it remains the strongest lead she has.
The Tropic Thunder tried to gather information about Vanthus and his current location in the various districts.
Graim found a few people who remember seeing Vanthus at taverns in Azure District, often in the company of a woman named Brissa Santos, a notorious pick-pocket turned semi-legitimate artist who's had her fair brushes with the law. Like Vanthus, no one's seen Brissa lately.
The Tropic Thunder find nothing in Merchant District, Cudgel District, or Noble District.
The red stone eyes sparkle nicely, yet are relatively worthless agates, as determined by Graim.
The creatures depicted (in the order described above) are an unknown monster, a red dragon, some kind of aberration, an unknown giant, some kind of beholderkin, a gray render, and a monstrous spider.
This entire room is in fact a clever combination lock designed to hide and protect the five hidden alcoves in the walls of the chamber. The grooved pillar in the room's center is an immense stone tumbler that can be rotated in both directions, as Grunk revealed.
The pillar doesn't rotate smoothly. Rather, it "clicks" in its sockets as it rotates, eight times in the course of a single revolution. As the pillar rotates, the eight-pointed star in the ceiling rotates as well, the red arm pointing to a new wall with each click. The trick to this combination lock is the number of eyes each creature on the wall possesses. Starting from the wall immediately to the west of the entrance, the eyes number 1-7.
As the Tropic Thunder realized, the scrap of paper they found with the Vanderboren signet ring actually contains the combination to this lock. As Lavinia's personal troubleshooters, it fell to the Tropic Thunder to decipher the mysterious list.
The correct combination for this immense safe is 6 right, 1 left, 2 right, 4 left, 2 right. Although the parchment lists different creatures, the code is the same: the number of eyes each creature has corresponds to the number of the combination, while the notation of "sunrise" and "sunset" indicates east and west (right and left).
Once the combination was entered, the entire room rumbled as the five alcoves rotated in place, revealing several coffers and chests.
Most of the 20 chests in the vault are empty - at best, only a few silver coins remained scattered along the bottom of each chest. As more and more chests turned up empty, Lavinia grew increasingly distraught. Finally, in the last alcove, there was a reprieve - several of the chests here remained untouched. There were gold coins and gems left in these chests, along with a large number of ledgers and a small iron coffer containing a thick pile of documents.
Most of the ledgers list debts owed to the Vanderborens from guilds and noble families in Sasserine - it seems that Lavinia's parents made a practice of doing dangerous favors for numerous organizations in Sasserine, yet rarely bothered to collect rewards. Instead, they allowed their patrons to keep their rewards with the understanding that they could collect at any time.
The documents in the iron coffer are another story. These documents are written in her mother's handwriting but in a strange language neither Lavinia nor the Tropic Thunder recognized, although they recognized the letters as being elven. Included in the document are several maps of jungles, coastlines, and other regions that seem to represent some unknown tropical location. The document also includes dozens of sketches of strange, exotic creatures.
Between the gold and the IOUs, Lavinia now had more than enough to pay the back taxes and began setting her estate back in order. Nevertheless, the missing money concerned her greatly. It'll be a rough year, especially if her aunt and uncle in Cauldron can't help her out in the months to come, but at least she now had enough to carry on. She payed each of the Tropic Thunder (except Mary Rose) 200 gp as a reward for their aid, and asked them to come visit her as soon as possible regarding an even more important job when they get the time.
As they left Castle Teraknian, Lavinia asked the clerk if anyone else had visited the vault recently. He replied with an affirmative, saying that her brother Vanthus visited the vault several times over the past month. The clerk was shocked when he learned that Vanthus had been missing for a month and that Lavinia didn't know he'd been visiting the vault - Vanthus had a signet ring (which the Tropic Thunder assume he stole over a month ago from his mother) and the clerk recognized him as a Vanderboren. The clerk agreed to inform Lavinia if Vanthus tried to enter the vault again.
Once the vault was secured and Lavinia's immediate financial concerns were taken care of, Vanthus became her primary concern. Lavinia explained to the Tropic Thunder that the two of them were quite close growing up, since their parents were rarely around. They grew to depend on each other, and got into a fair amount of trouble together. After one particularly complex prank involving several elixirs of love being emptied into the nearby water tower, their childhoods came to an end. Lavinia was sent to the Thenalar Academy to live out the next five years of her life, and Vanthus was shipped out to work on a plantation. When they returned to live in the family manor a year ago, they had both changed. Lavinia likes to think she benefited from her time at Thenalar. Vanthus, on the other hand, spent his time away nurturing his bitterness. He no longer had time for Lavinia, slept all day, and spent the nights with what Lavinia recalls as "associates of doubtful character". Eventually, he moved out of the house entirely - Lavinia believes he took up with a lover in Azure district, but she never learned the details.
When their parents died, Vanthus returned for a week to live at the manor, but he had changed even more. Gone was the easy sense of humor she recalled fondly from heir childhood, and in its place was a biter cynicism and a morbid streak that sent chills up Lavinia's spine. After several arguments, Vanthus struck her with his fist. Lavinia was shocked, and for a moment she thinks Vanthus was shocked as well, but an instant later he was back to his new self, all scowls and menace. He gathered his belongings and left - Lavinia hasn't seen him since.
She knows something profound happened to her brother at some point to change him, but she's not sure what this was. She believes he's fallen in with a bad crowd, perhaps smugglers, or thieves or even killers. Although his attitude might speak otherwise, she hopes that it's not too late, that if he can be brought back to her side she might be able to talk some sense into him and redeem him before he passes forever out of her reach. The problem is, she doesn't know where he's gone.
Lavinia has few clues as to where Vanthus has gone. She recommended asking around about him throughout the city; she doubts he hides around in Champion's or Noble District, but even these locations may hold clues. Her suspicion that he's been living with a woman in Azure District arose from half-heard rumors, but it remains the strongest lead she has.
The Tropic Thunder tried to gather information about Vanthus and his current location in the various districts.
Graim found a few people who remember seeing Vanthus at taverns in Azure District, often in the company of a woman named Brissa Santos, a notorious pick-pocket turned semi-legitimate artist who's had her fair brushes with the law. Like Vanthus, no one's seen Brissa lately.
The Tropic Thunder find nothing in Merchant District, Cudgel District, or Noble District.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Iron Cobra
An iron cobra has no intelligence of its own, but it can be commanded to undertake any number of actions by its creator. If its creator is not present, the cobra can undertake simple commands (such as "Guard this treasure" or "Seek out and attack the king"); it follows these commands to the letter. In combat, a cobra's tactics are straightforward - bite until its victim dies. It is also resistant to magic.
Constructs
A construct is an animated object or an artificially constructed creature. Most are mindless. They have low-light vision and darkvision. They are immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). They are immune to poison, sleep effects, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromancy effects.
Constructs cannot heal damage on their own, but often they can be repaired by exposing them to a certain kind of effect (varies for each creature) or through the use of the Craft Construct feat or repair spells. Constructs may still have the fast healing special quality.
Constructs are not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They are immediately destroyed when they are reduced to 0 hit points or less. Since it was never alive, a construct cannot be raised or resurrected. Constructs do not eat, sleep, or breathe.
Constructs cannot heal damage on their own, but often they can be repaired by exposing them to a certain kind of effect (varies for each creature) or through the use of the Craft Construct feat or repair spells. Constructs may still have the fast healing special quality.
Constructs are not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They are immediately destroyed when they are reduced to 0 hit points or less. Since it was never alive, a construct cannot be raised or resurrected. Constructs do not eat, sleep, or breathe.
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