Junkernaughts, Serums, Addiction

In the dark pits of the Misshaper's lairs, metal is grafted onto the bodies of the unwise and the unwary. Their forms are twisted and warped, a Cage of metal built around them, and horrendous drugs and concoctions forced through their screaming veins.
Those that survive emerge reborn, a living nightmare; taller than a man, girded in metal, and dread Serums running through their bodies granting them powers far beyond the natural. They are the warriors of the Misshapers, their great and most terrifying weapon.

Hit Die: d8
Saves: As fighter
Attack Bonus: 1/2 level (rounding up)

Cage
At first level, Junkernaughts gain an additional hit die, which is a d4. At further levels, they can gain additional hit die of this sort, but it costs 10% of the xp requirement of that level in gold to create.
HP from these additional hit die cannot be regained normally. They must be rebuilt at a rate of 1 per hour with a cost of 10gp per hit point.
Additionally, Junkernaughts cannot wear most armour, save that which is specially commissioned for their bulky frame, and they can never wear heavy armour at all. Commissioning special armour for a Junkernaught can cost anywhere between double and 10 times the regular cost, depending on the area.

Serums
At first level, Junkernaughts have three Vials incorporated into their cage, and can gain an additional vial every third level, with a cost equal in gold pieces equal to half the xp requirement of that level.
Each vial holds a use of a Serum, from the Serum list. At first level, a Junkernaught has three uses of random Serums already in their vials, and an additional use of a random Serum in their inventory.
At any time, a Junkernaught can inject themselves with the Serum in one of their Vials, with no action cost.

Exposure
Junkernaughts are well adapted to the biological torture of long-term Serum exposure, and can resist the dreadful stains of addiction more easily than common men. When a Junkernaught would turn a Mark into a Stain, they may make a Constituion(/Poison) Save. If they succeed, the Mark does not become a Stain.

Serums

All Serums have a duration of 10 minutes.
If a Serum is imbibed whilst under the effects of another Serum, you must succeed on a Constitution(/Poison) save, or roll on the Reflux Table.
Users of Serum are also at risk of Addicition.
None of the effects of a Serum are magical, though spells like Remove Poison, or those with similar effects can suspend or remove the effects.
1 - Rage
For one minute, you gain +3 to your Strength modifier, for the remainder of the duration, you have a -3 penalty to your strength modifier.
2 - Surge
For one minute, you are affected as if by a Haste spell, for the remainder of the duration, you are affected as if by a Slow spell.
3 - Spew
For one minute, for your turn you may make a Constution(/Poison) Saving Throw. If you fail you do a sick-nasty burp. If you succeed, you spew forth a 15 foot breath weapon, dealing 2d6 + level damage, with a save to halve the damage. For the remainder of the duration you have disadvantage on all rolls for physical activity due to weakness. You must also eat an additional day's worth of rations when you next eat.
4 - Spark
For one minute, your touch becomes electric from massive static build-ups. You send people flying with an electric crack from the barest blow, and you can melt small metal objects with prolonged contact. This applies to everything around you, whether you want it to or not. For the remainder of the duration you become heavily polarised, and no metal can touch you at all, except that which is worked into your body, such as your cage.
5 - Mend
For one minute, you regain 1 hit point per hit die each round. For the remainder of the duration, all damage you take is rolled twice, and you take the higher result.
6 - Envision
For one minute, you can see everything! You can also see invisible creatures, spiritual beings, lies, diseases, and murderous thoughts, as long as it isn't behind more than one wall.
For the remainder of the duration, you are blind to everything more than a couple of feet away from you.
7 - Gel
For one minute, you become like, super sticky. You can climb on (almost) any surface, including upside down. Anything that touches you, even limbs and weapons, will require a strength check to remove from you. For the remainder of the duration, you just absolutely reek of glue and alcohol, and anything with a functioning nose can easily track where you have been.
8 - Bouyance
For one minute, you float through the air as long as you aren't over-encumbered, gaining about 10 feet of altitude each round, with only minimal, limb-powered maneuverability. For the remainder of the duration, you sink about 5 feet every round. If you are on the ground, your movement speed is halved as you feel just incredibly heavy.
9 - Spines
For one minute, you can grow spines from your wrists into empty hands, which detach easily, and can be used like throwing knives, though it costs you 1 hit point each time you do. You may do this at most twice per round. For the remainder of the duration, you have a 1 in 6 chance to take 1 damage as spines randomly burst from your flesh, painfully.
10 - Echo
For one minute, you gain delicate echo-location senses. For the remainder of the duration, any loud noise will stun you for a round.

Reflux

Roll a d10 when instructed to.
1 - The Second Serum imbibed has no effect, and you Mutate.
2 - Refresh the duration of the first Serum you took, and the second has no effect.
3 - Both Serums take effect, though you can't benefit from them again for 1 week.
4 - Both Serums take effect, and you take damage equal to your level.
5 - Both Serums take effect, and you Mutate.
6 - You suffer the negative effects of both Serums for the next 10 minutes.
7 - Cancel the effects of both Serums and Mutate twice.
8 - You benefit from both Serums, but their negative effects last for an hour instead.
9 - Both Serums take effect, and you gain the effects of a random third Serum too.
10 - Neither Serum effects you, you gain the effects of two random Serums (reroll duplicate serums once, but after that the results stand).

Addiction

Keep a track of which Serum you use the most. If it is a tie between more than one, pick one.
Each time you imbibe a Serum, add a mark to your Addiction Track. When you have a night's sleep, erase half of your Marks, and one of your Marks becomes a Stain, which is a permanent type of Mark.
If your Marks and Stains ever total more than your Constitution Score, you are Addicted to the Serum you use most often. You are Addicted until you have less total Marks than your Constitution Score, and you have no Stains.
While you are addicted, you only remove one Mark each day, and you suffer the effects of a random Addiction Trait. The Serum you imbibe the most is your Addictive Serum.
Addiction Traits
1 - Longing: You are always under your Serum's negative effect, though you suffer no negative effects while Imbibing it.
2 - Voracity: You suffer a hunger, deep and fierce. You require 2d4 day's rations every day. A dose of your Addictive Serum is worth d4 rations. Human flesh, about an arm's worth, sates all of it.
3 - Frailty: The addiction wracks your frame. You suffer 1 damage each time you use a serum that isn't your Addictive Serum, and each time you take damage from another source.
4 - Restlessness: You must take a dose of your Addictive Serum to gain the effects of rest.
5 - Reshaping: Each day that you don't take a dose of your Addictive Serum, Mutate.
6 - Dulled Senses: You always lose initiative if you don't imbibe your Addictive Serum as a part of rolling for initiative. You will always be surprised when the situation demands it unless you imbibe your Addictive Serum.
7 - Crazed Visage: You roll for reaction rolls when interacting personally with people with disadvantage. If you are part of a party whilst rolling for reaction, it is rolled with a -1 modifier instead. This is nullified whilst you are affected by your Addictive Serum.
8 - Benign: You got off lightly. You are irritable, and struggle to sleep, but otherwise there are no adverse effects, except that you don't gain the positive effects of Serums you imbibe while addicted.

The Alchemist's Manor

The Alchemist Arnault Roftengirt passed away peacefully in his sleep. His house however, has passed into chaos and horror.

Adventure Overview

As far as is known, Arnault was something of a recluse anyway, and was never really seen around town, only his manservant, Jeeves. Recently thought, many of his house-servants have left his service, saying that he has gone slightly mad in his old age.

In truth, his obsession with Alchemy drove them away, and he came this close to achieving his Magnum Opus before old age claimed him. 

Since then, all the various bottled terrors and demons of science have broken free from their restraints, and the house is now a veritable death-trap.

Though a deathtrap that also happens to be full of the riches of a retired noble and accomplished alchemist...

Terrors of the Manor

1 - The Quicksilver Serpent
A great roiling serpent of purest mercury, it surges throughout the house when roused, engulfing and crushing with its flowing poison-flesh.
For the most part it is happy to remain in its vat, but vibrations bother it, and the greater the vibration, the greater the Serpent's anger. The source of its life is a chunk of alchemically treated stone, carved with runes, and infused with strange aethers. It cannot be subdued unless the stone is removed from its head.

2 - The Formless One
It tries its best to look human. Perhaps it was once, but not any more.
The unfortunate result of alchemical run-offs and by-products carelessly disposed of. Its flesh warps and flows, and can with only a few minutes observation, perfectly (for the most part) mimic another humanoid creature. It only lasts a few minutes, but until it breaks down, most would not be able to tell the creature apart from the original; except for one major difference. The Formless One stinks to high heaven of ammonia. It is well aware of this fact, and tries to hide this from potential prey by remaining in areas that already reek of alchemical compounds.

3 - Poor Old Jeeves
The much used and abused butler of the household in his time has had to clean up alchemical accidents, nurse the old alchemist back to health after said accidents, and quietly 'dispose' of numerous failed experiments. These days, he finds his own health in a state of some flux, though he still dutifully conducts his tasks throughout and around the chaos of the grounds.
His skin is black and brown and bubbling, more oil and grease than meat. His eyes have gone too, replaced with ever weeping pools of sickly yellow gel. He can't tell that you're a person, he just sees you as another mess to clear up, and he's awfully good at clearing away messes with his terrible, inhuman strength.
Luckily for you, he won't kill you. Unluckily for you, he'll probably dump you in with the Menagerie...

4 - The Aqua Regiad (The Acid Nymph)
She luxuriates in her steaming chamber, constrained by glass to contain the worst of the vapours she sloughs off.
An elemental spirit of some maddeningly specific facet of nature, summoned by Arnault, and contained for future conversation and general chit-chat, being one of the few people Arnault ever saw whom he wasn't paying to be there. Even now, her inhuman nature is content with the quiet, though she would certainly appreciate some actually coherent company. Even better if she could ever find a way out of her containment...

5 - The Menagerie
They are twisted and pathetic. Their skin bubbles and wriggles against their crooked bones, and their hair seems to float across their bodies. The results of Arnault's final experiments in his infirmity, they are utterly wretched, and Jeeves the Butler couldn't quite bring himself to burn them alive after blade and poison didn't kill them. Now they languish in the cellars in cages too small for them and with all possible food gone. Some have resorted to auto-cannibalism in their desperation.

These shall be the Table for generating them:
Locomotion
1 - Only ragged arms
2 - Many faceted legs
3 - Long, thin hooks of nail
4 - Oozing and heaving
5 - Legs like peoples', almost
6 - On all fours, animal like
Method of Attack
1 - Retractable Teeth-Spears
2 - Claws and Teeth
3 - Caustic Bile
4 - Jutting rib-cage maws
5 - Formless flesh-gloop
6 - Constriction with boneless arms
Patheticism
1 - Huge, weeping, and misshapen eyes
2 - Its flesh is all but gone from where its mouth can reach
3 - Bones protrude from flesh
4 - Boils and blisters cover it
5 - It spouts many useless, vestigle limbs
6 - Its flesh has all but abandoned it
Useful Mutation
1 - Gribbly insect wings
2 - Sensitive detecto-whiskers
3 - Constantly spills slippery oil
4 - Contortionist rubber-bones
5 - Poisoned gas-bladders
6 - Extra, actually useful limbs

6 - The Corruption
Like tiny feather-shreds of black glass, it creeps and grows like mold throughout a section of the Manor, contained for now by the last few efforts Arnault made before he succumbed to age. It is a result of his effort in achieving his ultimate goals [see the Magnum Opus], which he of course, never fully realised. Exposure to the Corruption is not immediately fatal luckily, but it is slow, insidious, and secretive. The explosive finale where the black flakes and spines erupt from your skin and take you over entirely will not occur until you least expect it. Its almost as if the Corruption plots against you to find the opportune moment to strike. Almost.

Hazards of the Manor

1 - Crystal-Grass
Crystals are odd things, and during his initial experiments with them, Arnault created this strange, self-replicating formation. It grows only slowly, but over the years it has infested a goodly portion of the house. It is far sharper than it looks (and it looks terribly sharp), though a good strong brush will clear it out, even if it means the destruction of the brush...

2 - Melt-Haze Mold
A spongy kind of mold that bloats itself on specially prepared surfaces, that ran rampant when Arnault, in his infirmity, spilt the mixture that would allow its spread. The air around it shimmers and shines subtely, and is dreadfully corrosive to organic matter. Luckily, all that is needed to undo this dreadful hazard, is a stiff breeze. Blowing away the vapours allows safe passsage for 10 minutes, while the Mold replenishes the dissolving mists. Alternatively, a thin film of any inorganic matter will also protect you from the mists, and applying this cover to the mold will kill it in only a few minutes, though it must be nearly airtight at least.

3 - The Tree of Life
At first, you would be forgiven for assuming that it was a tree, but the fruit it produces are too soft and meaty to be real fruit. Within each fruit-sac a fetus-thing slowly grows and develops. No-one yet can tell what they will become, but surely it can't be anything good. Damaging the sacs with an edged or piercing tool or weapon bursts it prematurely, releasing a smattering of soft flesh and acidic fluids. Other weapons deal insignificant damage to the squidgy sacs.
What lies within?
1 - Tiny people, with strong and strange telekentic powers, and a deep set hatred of humanity.
2 - Wolf-like things with tentacle mouths, they will steal babies to hatch eggs in.
3 - A thin serpent of green and pallid flesh. It can burrow into flesh to wrap around the spinal chord, and pilot the helpless person like a meat puppet.
4 - Uncountable spiders with a single hive mind, their task is to retrieve prey to feed the tree.
5 - Clones of Arnault, with dark and twisted ambitions and minds, and all his vast knowledge.
6 - Seeds of the Corruption.

4 - The Old Lab
Beakers, vials, metal boxes, glass tubes in all shapes and configurations, tomes, grimoires, incunabula; Arnault spared no expense in stocking his laboratory. Unfortunately, in his old age he left much of it in long-term experiments that he swiftly forgot about and neglected. The descent of his lab has only accelerated since his death. Even the smallest touch could have drastic effects.

5 - Vitae Storms
Clouds of ever-billowing purple-tinted smoke, shaped like people. Small arcs of lightning crackle and snap within. They don't move, unless you touch them, then they mirror you. Only strong winds can disperse them away from you once you touch them. Don't go inside them, or you'll crackle up into burnt meat.

6 - Bubbling Doom
Spilt vats of glinting powder, harmless, unless inhaled. Its effects won't manifest straight away, but in the weeks to come, you will hack up lumps of your lungs, slowly giving in to asthma, and eventually suffocation on your own liquefying lungs. There are masks which allow safe handling of the stuff in the Old Lab, and of course, its perfectly safe to handle as long as you don't breathe...

Treasures of the Manor

1 - Fool's Gold
It looks almost, but not quite like it. It would take an expert to be able to distinguish it though.
1 ounce of Fool's Gold is as valuable as an ounce of Gold, to those who can't tell the difference.

2 - Vials of Alchemical Products
Mysterious vials of equally mysterious liquids? Probably quite valuable.
What does this vial do?
1 - Heady fumes; enough to get you high for a good hour.
2 - A viscous, and terribly staining, ink.
3 - A minor explosive, enough to knock someone down.
4 - Apparently nothing... roll twice more if mixed with another vial.
5 - Bottled blood.
6 - Glows when shaken. Burns on contact with air.
7 - A powerful (if gritty) antiseptic.
8 - Steams a huge amount when mixed with water.
9 - Fizzes and sparks when exposed to air.
10 - Just water. Colourful water.
11 - Horrifyingly potent acid.
12 - Mutagenic, make a constitution save. On a fail, gain a menagerie patheticism. On a success, gain a menagerie useful mutation.

3 - Roftengirt Heirlooms
Potentially there are other branches of Arnault's family who might pay for these. At the very least, there must be collectors who would cough up for them.
Each heirloom is either a trinket, or a trophy. Trinkets take up no inventory space, each trophy takes up 1 inventory slot.
Trinkets are worth d6-1 gp each.
Trophies are worth 2d6 x 10 gp each.

4 - Arnault's Alchemical Notes
His works were extensive before his untimely demise. There must certainly be dozens of stable recipes scattered around the house, and many more pages of unfinished projects beside that still fit for fiddling with.
By using Arnault's notes, you can speed up one of your alchemy projects. The notes begin with a rating of 6. Each time you wish to use the notes, roll a d6. If the result is equal to or less than the Note's rating, you cut the time and costs required for the project by half, as Arnault has already performed much of the work for you. Then, decrease the Note's rating by 1 if it was successful.
The Note's effect can be used whenever you perform that project as well, but on subsequent attempts, it only halves the time cost of a project.

5 - The Distillation Knife
This is a rather rare and exceptionally well-made tool of alchemy. Its specific purpose is to, rather than cut things into pieces, to separate them on a chemical level into their component parts. Slicing a loaf of bread would not result in slices of bread, but piles of flour, maybe a bit of sugar, some yeast, a puddle, etc. Nothing is beyond the capabilities of the knife, though more complex materials take more time to separate. Harming a living being with one would take minutes of plunging the knife into them, slowly bubbling them away; hardly worth the effort.

6 - The Formalline Lense
The other half of a Distillation Knife, and apparently unique in all the world, Arnault's true masterpiece and legacy. It allows you to see things as their constituent alchemical parts, ripe to be separated with the Knife.

Alchemical Products

1 - Alkahest
The universal solvent, it requires a talented alchemist to construct a container that you can remove the glue from. Once applied, it indelibly binds two surfaces together. Onyl Sovereign Glue can separate them after that.

2 - Sovereign Glue
The exact opposite of Alkahest. Also requires a skilled alchemist to create a container that won't fall apart while containing it. Reverses all reactions, separates all binds, key component of Distillation Knives.

3 - Gilting Oil
When applied, leaves a material stained a slick brown. When dried, it appears to all eyes to be gold. Even to experts. It wears off after about a year, or after exposure to alcohol.

4 - Liquid Crystal-Grass
Takes a minute to set, by once poured, will harden into a slightly cloudy crystal that is just as hard as glass, but also half as brittle. Viscous enough to pour into rough 3D shapes too, but very rough shapes. Runny enough to spoil most details without great skill and/or constant tooling.

5 - Rejuvenation Salts
When dissolved in water, one dose of Rejuvenation Salts creates a tonic which has the same effects as a potion of healing. Desperately hard to create, a key ingredient is serpent scales.

6 - Withering Stone
The opposite of Rejuvenation Salts. Even mere physical contact withers and desiccates living tissues. Swallowing one would be terribly painful, and almost certainly lethal. Similarly tricky to create as rejuvenation salts, a key ingredient is ferret bone.

Alchemical Equipment

Every machine described here is present in the Manor somewhere, but only one has Arnault's masterpiece in or near it, according to his specialism.

1 - The Psuedo-Resonator
Part observatory, part crystal sphere, part dream-occulum; no-one is quite sure what it really does, or how it does it, but its uses are documented, and the instructions are followed, and the results occur, and everyone is mostly happy about it. Putting your head into it is like the most incredible high, hallucinations, strange sensations, sudden revelations, the whole bit. It also requires a saving throw or reorder your mental statistics due to mind-scrambling.
If Arnault had an Abstract specialisation, the shard of the Philosopher's Stone is within the Psuedo-Resonator.

2 - Ioniser/Deioniser
A bizarre labyrinth of crackling coils and sparking resistors, standing between the coils while they are activated (which is done by dipping the control rods in the battery-bath) requires you to make a saving throw of some sort or get blasted with lightning. Wearing metallic armour means that you take the saving throw at disadvantage.
If Arnault had an Energetic specialisation, then additionally, the False-Arnault is here.

3 - Distillation Chamber
A great vat with tubes, valves, and small localised furnaces dotted higgledy piggledy over it. Within, things are broken down, reconstituted, or refined. Getting inside would be something of a chore, but if you did, you would have to make a total of 3 saving throws. For each you fail, you lose a third of your hit points. If you succeed on all three, you actually gain a new hit die, and gain 1 point of AC as your flesh crystalises.
If Arnault had a Basic specialisation, then within the Distillation Chamber floats the Psuedo-Panacea, which will require a saving throw against the Chamber's effects to retrieve.

4 - Condensing Chamber [Aetheric - Breath of Life]
A great tank with a rib-cage of looping coils that runs underneath the vat into a freezing bath of mysteriously cold liquid. Anything dunked into the coolant the pipes loop through instantly freezes and in all probability, snaps off immediately. This is doubly certain for organic matter, and limbs in particular.
If Arnault had an Aetheric specialisation, then sat among a huge number of nearly, but not quite, identical glass beakers, is a stoppered bottle holding the Breath of Life. It is the only bottle that holds a gas, all the others have dusts and liquids and oozes and such, but you wouldn't spot it from a cursory glance.
Arnault's Breath of Life is not perfected of course, and rather than a permanent effect, it has 6 doses which provide its effect for 1 hour.

5 - Deep-Freeze Storage [Biological - False Homunculus]
A chamber, reinforced walls and stranged frosted pipes. The noise it creates is incredible, and it can be heard clearly in any room it borders, and faintly in rooms bordering those. Staying in the chamber is dangerous, and causes damage for each round beyond the first you stay within, such is the rampant cold. First, it deals d4 damage, the d6, then d8, scaling up a dice size each turn up to d20 every turn.
If Arnault has a Biological Specialisation, then the False Homunculus sits, floating in a iron chamber filled with preservatives and sedatives.

6 - The Smelter Vats [Impirical - Fool's Gold]
Basically a huge, huge furnace, with great vials of glowing liquids resting atop it, bubbling gently. A small door hinges open to reveal a deeply soot-black chamber that reeks of gas.
If the Vats are activated, almost anything placed in there will be almost immediately obliterated. If its organic and alive, it takes 10d10 fire damage each round. Most anything else will be ruined after a round, and obliterated d6 rounds after that. Its somewhat hard to get anything in there though, the aperture is only a little larger than a shovel's blade. Metal will melt in a round as well, regardless of how much is placed inside.
If Arnault had the Impirical Specialisation, then on one of the desks near the Vats is an instruction pamphlet (scribbled and rough) and a few goodly sized nuggets of Fool's gold (appearing to be worth about 100sp). From the instructions, given 10 sp of input materials, 2d10 x 10sp of Fool's Gold can be produced. It has no real value of course, it is only worth that much money to those who can't tell you aren't offering the real deal.

Arnault's Magnum Opus

Depends entirely on the specialism that Arnault held in life. Roll to determine the specialism and thus the Magnum Opus.

1 - Biological

The Pursuit of Bodily Perfection, the skill of distilling humours, and molding flesh into new modes and shapes.
The Magnum Opus of the Biological Alchemist is the creation of a perfect Homunculus, a created man. Arnault was close, but his creation was flawed, and the mind of his creation fractured at birth. It currently sleeps in an amniotic tank, but it is vastly aware of the House, its psychic powers latent, but unconsciously potent.
- Additional Terror: The Imperfect Homunculus - It is a horrible thing, diseased and corrupted, afflicted with every single result on all the menageries' tables. Somehow it is still nimble, fast, and strong...
- The Maker's Mark: The forms of the Terrors (except the Quick-Silver Serpent and The Aqua Regiad) look distrubingly close to human, but not quite close enough.
- Additional Treasure: The Nomad's Rose - A single flower, deep crimson, so deep as to almost be black. Smell its scent, and be transported briefly to a comprehension beyond comprehension. Eat it, and gain a revelation. It is also a token for a journey to the far shores of death and a safe return, for yourself at least.
- Signature Machine: The Deep-Freeze

2 - Impirical

The Pursuit of Material Perfection, the skill of refining metals and crystals, of ascending base materials to transcendent metals like Gold.
The Magnum Opus of the Impirical Alchemist is the perfection of Transformation of Base Materials, particularly into Gold. Many methods of creating materials that look very much like gold have been devised, and Arnault's is likewise flawed. It is however, new, and as such it will fool most for a while at least. Possession of it will attract attention however, both from those who wish to posses that knowledge and those that seek to destroy it. 

- Additional Terror: None - the true test is fending off rival Alchemists and Witch-Finders who want what they think you know.
- The Maker's Mark: The forms of the Terrors are somewhat metallic in patches and growths.
- Additional Treasure: A nearly endless supply of Fool's gold; almost the same thing, only detectable by a knowledgeable few
- Signature Machine: The Smelter Vats

3 - Aetheric

The Pursuit of Environmental Perfection, the skill of inducing vapours, and dictating their properties and uses.
The Magnum Opus of the Aetheric Alchemist is the Breath of Life, which would allow Man to survive most any condition, to free him of such needs as comfort, and oxygen. One of the rarest branches of Alchemy, in this result, Arnault is one of the few to dedicate himself to it, but his work was dreadfully flawed, and instead of creating a Breath of Life, he accidentally opened a gateway to the outer reaches of that Distant Night, and a Monstrous Wind came into our world. It twists and warps, much like Arnault's experiments do, and it was such that attracted it to the gateway, but for now at least it is sealed; Arnault had the foresight for that much at least.

- Additional Terror: The Monstrous Wind - Slightly yellow tinged air, it ages and deteriorates far too rapidly to be safe at all. For the most part it is quite placid, though sound disturbs it, the louder the sound, the greater its desire to hunt you down and weather you down to nothing...
- The Maker's Mark: The Terrors (except the Quick-Silver Serpent and The Aqua Regiad) have mechanical breathing apparatus incorporated into their bodies.
- Additional Treasure: 2d4 vials of Void-Vapours - A vial of void vapour does wonders for the human brain, you gain insight into the wisdom of the starry heavens for a moment, enough to ask a question, and receive a truthful, if brief and overly-literal answer.
- Signature Machine: The Condenser

4 - Base

The Pursuit of Unseen Perfection, the skill of removing flaws, of making what already is as good as it can possibly be.
The Magnum Opus of the Base Alchemist is the Panacea, the universal remedy. It is said that a few examples of it already exist in the world, and as skilled an Alchemist as Arnault was, his was not quite as perfect as those must be. His version is very close to it, once ingested, all ailments are cured and forced from the body, resulting in perfect health. There is a catch however. The removed impurities and imperfections are literally removed from the body, and will form a new instance of the Corruption whenever the Psuedo-Panacea is used. 

- Additional Terror: None - though use of the Psuedo-Panacea will recreate the Corruption
- The Maker's Mark: The terrors (except the Quick-Silver Serpent and The Aqua Regiad) bear Corruption like marks on their flesh.
- Additional Treasure: The Psuedo-Panacea - Will heal any diseases and ailments that trouble you, and even give a go of curing those of magical providence. However, the following day you will vomit up a harmless black pellet, which will sprout into an infestation of the Corruption the next day...
- Signature Machine: The Distillery

5 - Energetic

The Pursuit of Power and Potential, the skill of inducing and discharging, of making machines and controlling the obscure energies that control them.
The Magnum Opus of the Energetic Alchemist is the Machine-Mind, the Deus Ex Machina. Arnault's experimentations created many things in the world that could be mistaken for thoughts, but none were truly original. None arose from nothing, they were only ever reflections of himself. One of these reflections he sculpted in his own image, an idol of narcissism, who even now pretends control of the house and the roiling chaos within.  

- Additional Terror: The False-Arnault - Just like he used to be in his prime, only his intentions are dark, and the corruption bears no risks to him. He sees it more as... a tool to get what he wants. And his hungers range so deep...
- The Maker's Mark: Sparking rods and cables adorn the Terrors and/or their prisons
- Additional Treasure: The Charging Rod - All lightning is attracted to the rod, and stored endlessly within. Where does the lightning go? Who can say, it just does.
- Signature Machine: The Ioniser/Deioniser

6 - Abstract

The Pursuit of Splendid Existance, Eternal and Untouchable, the skill of uttermost refinement and perfection, even unto levels the human mind cannot conceive.
The Magnum Opus of the Abstract Alchemist is theorised and conjectured to be possible, but none have ever managed to produce a Philosopher's Stone of their own. Arnault had decades of his own research and the research of dozens that came before him, and the stone eluded him too. Through great personal expense, he managed to procure for himself a spent shard of a stone for his own tests, though he never quite managed to replicate it.

- Additional Terror: The Kaleido-Meister - A terrifying, long being of strange and abstract realms, he might boil you away into butterflies, or flense you with merely a touch. It is somewhat confused about being in this... simplistic world, but its confusion is deadly to us.
- The Maker's Mark: The Eyes of the Terrors are Starry Voids
- Additional Treasure: Shard of the Philosopher's Stone - can transform one object into solid gold, ever. Don't touch the ground, only a small patch would transform. Be very literal with the definition of "one object".
- Signature Machine: The Psuedo-Resonator

The Bovine Mass

[Look, this has been set in my drafts for feckin' forever. Have a peek.]

So like, I've got this whole list of monsters I've come up with for an adventure that I may eventually ever get around to running. In the mean time, gorge your eyes on them.

The Bovine Mass

When the star fell, one of the tiny incandescent fragments landed in the Abbey's cowshed, and unfortunately, every one of the Abbey's animals was there. Now, there are no cows left, only the Mass.

It heaves and grunts when it sleeps, limbs hanging limply and gangling here there and everywhere. Its hide is covered in pustules and lesions of every colour, and its many tongues hang vacantly from its many, many mouths. Drool hangs in thick, ropey knots, and eyes roll unseeing in bloated, puffy sockets. The Mass is about the size of a small bus, about 20 cows in all went into it, and now only this hateful screaming thing remains.

Mostly it just loiters, wallowing in its unending misery. Mud cakes it, and shit. It has the colons of a couple of dozen cows just sitting there, every other day or so one bursts.

And yet the Mass continues to live, sustained by the baleful energies of the fallen star.

If disturbed, the Mass slops up on many spines like a hateful fleshy worm, limbs hanging from it like hairs or spines, and screams, loud enough to shake the pathetic timbers of its home. It has no dexterity or grace at all, it attacks only when it must, and when it attacks, it throws itself forward with no sense of self-preservation, its massive and crushing weight the only it has.

Wounds phase it very little too, its nerves long since disintegrated. Even hacked off hunks of flesh will continue to thrash about and struggle long after death unless they too are dealt sufficient punishment. Mostly they can only writhe and squeal and spray acidic vomit in gouts from weeping wounds, but even the vomit is caustic enough to be deadly for the unlucky.

The Gardener

When the star fell, a small shard of it stabbed down into the Abbey's garden, where one of the unlucky brothers was tending the vines. Now, the vines tend to him.

Take the bones of a person, wrap them all about with the thickest, lushest, greenest vines you can find, make sure they are the deep greens of the hearts of forests, and then give it the life of a dead star that it walks and lives too. 

The Gardener continues to perform the duties it conducted in life, leading the orchestra of fecundity and feral growth the fallen star has induced in the Abbey's gardens. He walks about it jerking, faltering steps, and he caresses the plants he tends with a stiff, arthritic affection. He wields no tools, only his hands and the more dexterous creepers that curl and spiral up his back like spider legs; these he uses to prune and weed with single-minded determination and endless effort. He slows down at night, but he never stops.

If disturbed, he will ignore you. If greatly disturbed, he might shove you away without turning towards you, is other limbs continuing their work as he does so. If you attack him, he will collapse into a pile of soft and rotting vegetable muck. He will then grow again, out of sight, and watch you.

When he thinks his moment has come, vines will erupt from the earth, grasping, strangling, choking. If he slays one of your number, he will slink into their flesh and wear it like a suit. For now he will only play dead. Later he may use it to ambush you, or possibly just fertilise his subjects with the softening meat.

An Overview of Magic

Beginning Brain-Wiggles
I have discovered that, in my world, the magic number is three. This is only partly because there was a kick-ass Dark Crystal Art Book with all kinds of law stating that three was the most stable number, and was thus the number of magic (with other, forbidden numbers too). The rest of the reason is total coincidence.

Magic Itself
There are three main "classes" of magic, in as much as mortal minds can comprehend. The higher beings such as angels, seem to enjoy magic of their own which does not fit with this system. It is however, useful to bend the simple geometry of the human mind around and against such mystical forces.

1 - Hedge Magic
The simplest kind, which most anyone can master, given time, knowledge, and resources. The magic for the most part is bound in the objects, though bond is a very loose and mostly incorrect way to put it. It is the passive magic of things; the way the deck of cards can be used to predict the future, the way that a bowl of water can reveal visions; how, with the right chalk marks, a mirror can hold things inside its reflections.

2 - Theurgy
The classical magic, where words and spells summon powerful effects and rain destruction down from on high! Difficult to learn, even for those that devote themselves to it. Works pretty much like in regular DnD, probably only wizards can learn this kind of magic easily (but that's a discussion for another day). 

3 - Arcana
This is deep wizard knowledge man. This is where the whole "sufficiently advanced..." and "appears to be magic," stuff kicks in. This is where being able to enter into contracts with outer-powers comes in, where you can find the ways to the Undying Lands of the Fae, where you can discern the routes to eternal life. Its magic to everyone else, to the sufficiently learned, its just elementary.

Magic Items
Similarly, there are three kinds of magic item, which roughly sort of map to the three kinds of magic.

1 - Awoken Items
All things have their spirits, and the spirits of made-things are strange indeed. Unsure of what they really are, they sleep, and have little magics of their own. It takes great deeds to rouse them to greatness again. This is how the fighter can ambiently make magic weapons, how the cloaks of invisibility get made, how Magic Mirrors get to answering questions about subjective opinions.
Coincidently, this type of magic item has the greatest abundance of sentient items by far, even if the sentience is only the passive type.

2 - Enchanted Items
These are your classic "A WIZARD DID IT" items. They have magic woven into them, the item is more of a store and a repository, than a source. They will run dry and disenchant naturally if you let them, but many items (especially those made by competent wizards) have ways to replenish their enchantments.

3 - 'Magical' Items
This type of magic only sort of counts, these are the items made of magical things, and thus possess their properties. Healing potions, adamantine weapons, mithril armour, that kind of thing.

How this fits into the game
Firstly, I imagine Wizards interacting with the types of magic like a ladder.
They start off with very few spells, but the ever usable (but minor) Hedge Magics.
As they level up early and into mid levels, they begin to amass their vast repertoires of spells that they are famous for. Then, as they progress, they slowly pick up Arcana, and puzzle out the deeper mysteries.

What about other magic classes?
I really don't know.
I do like the difference between Wizards and Sorcerers being learned versus innate, but that doesn't jive nicely with my magic system. And I don't know what the third type of wizard would be for the "Magical Trifecta".
I could on the other hand, try and wrangle out classes that each focus on other types of magic. For example, if Wizards overall focus on Theurgy, then you could have a Hedge Wizard type class. An idea I had for a type of magic user who focused more on Arcana would be a kind of Monk type character who pondered the universe, but then I lose out on the space for a Sorcerer.
Oh I don't know what to do.

Also, the Awoken Items are a great way for non-magical folks to get/make magical items, which is always a good thing I think.

The Seclusium of Time the Wizard

Time the Wizard never mastered the magics of chronology, the Inevitable would not let him. He cast many spells that mangled cause and effect, and made the current flow backwards for a while, and he snatched extra moments out of the march of minutes here and there. The effects are disconcerting, and his tower was twisted and warped because of his works. As he aged, he grappled with causality less and less, and let his desires outgrow his restraint eventually only when he died many years from now. These days in the present, he still lives, lost deep within the inwards-facing confines of his tower.
He has not been seen in some time. Many think he is dead.

Adventure Overview

The Tower of Time the Wizard is a chronologically damaged dungeon. Within it, there exist three seperate versions of the Tower, the Tower as it is now in the Present, the Tower as it existed when Time successfully cast his first Chronomancy Spell in the past, and the Tower in the future, on the last day that Time ever cast a Chronomancy Spell. Needless to say, the map differs, significantly in some places, depending on the time period you visit in. Sometimes guards are more potent, sometimes they are less.
Oh, and the Paradoxes you cause simply by being there are anathema to the Inevitable, who will try to kill you out of time and space.

Paradoxes, how to have already resolved them, and you 

For the most part, ignore the whole bloody thing, except for these rules:
1 - If you destroy a guardian in one time period, it is destroyed in more advanced time periods.
If you have already interacted with it/them in those advanced time periods, this still stands as part of your paradoxical time-stream. This is what pisses the Inevitable off, that you can achieve this.
2 - If you take an item, you can only take the earliest advanced version with you. You can see early versions of objects you have, but once you take them, the elder version disappears entirely.
For example, you take Time the Wizard's spellbook from the future, where he was weak and frail, and his spellbook bulging with knowledge. You go to the distant past, and kill Time there too, and take his spellbook from there, were it is slim, and mostly full of experimentations. The elder spellbook fades and vanishes, and when you go to back to the present, Time is again dead, and the Spellbook he should have had (and you indeed saw earlier) is gone.
3 - You can never find yourselves, time flows constantly through the tears such that if you spend five minutes in the future, then return to the present, 5 minutes has passed in the present as well.
4 - You can only leave the tower in the present, as the Time-fields that contain your paradoxes end at the door. You can try and leave, but you could only manage it by magic, and even then a flood of Inevitables would quickly isolate you and obliterate you.

Inhabitants of the Tower

Time the Wizard 

The man himself, the very picture of the classic mad mage; frizzy hair, wild eyes, and yet a deep sagacity visible only shallowly beneath the weight of years. Would very much like to know what you are doing in his bloody house, and wants to get on with his studies. Time is not his name of course, but due to an accident involving his own mother, he never actually got a proper name.
In the past, Time's power is at its peak, though he in inexperienced, reckless, and proud.
In the present, Time is crafty, and knows much about his craft. He is careful, considered, and crafty.
In the future, Time's power has run its course for the most part, though he is still somewhat potent. His greatest power is the vast amounts of wisdom he now has, and the vast amount of preparations he has had time to create. He is tired, curious, and even friendly, though the old storm-clouds of rage can still be stoked up within.

Thesean Eternals

One of Time's most successful experimental creations (from a execution stand-point, if not a practicality stand-point), these servitor-golems exist in exactly the same state in all possible time-states, once the final enchantment is wrought. The unfortunate side effect is that many of them simply underwent catastrophic existence failure as soon as they were activated, due to some mysterious doom in their future that destroyed them simultaneously in all time-states. Some survived, and serve Time as menial labour, and occasionally as intruder disposal. Not even Time quite understands how they work, as some spontaneously collapse of no readily apparent cause.
In game, what is done to a Thesean Eternal is reflected across all three time-states; if you put a flower-wreath on its head in the future, when you go to the present, the Eternal will still be wearing the wreath. If you kill it in the future, it is dead in all three time-states.

Chronomatic Golems

The most complex of Time's creations, the Chrono-Golems utilise Time's magics directly, though only as a power-source. They have a field of time energy surrounding them, which they can direct outwards, and slow the actions of things around them, or polarise it and direct it inwards, speeding itself up significantly. The only thing is, if you break their time-core, it explodes, and that would be bad.
In the past, the Golem's power-sources are unperfected, and have a 1 in 3 chance of not working each turn.
In the present, the Golems are at the height of their repair.
In the future, the Golems are slowly desolating under the weight of ages, and take damage when they polarise their time-fields.
Results of the Time-Explosion
1 - Unstuck in time! Catapulted back a zone (or to the future if you're in the past).
2 - Un-aged! Reduce your age by d6 years, and forget that many things (such as spells, secrets, skills etc.)
3 - Attracts the attention of the Inevitable, also is a big explosion.
4 - Births a time-spirit, who gives you a Crystalised Moment for your trouble, then leaves, mysteriously.
5 - Aged! Increase your age by d6 years, and lose a point from that many stats from the shock.
6 - Unstuck in time! Catapulted forward a zone (or to the past if you're in the future)

Wicker-Men

Servants of Time even before he mastered time magic, they are spirits bound heavily within cages of living wood, resentfulness slowly mellowing into indifference, all the while forced to obey the commands of their captor.
In the past, the Wicker-Men are still green and verdant, and have half their normal hit die.
In the present, the Wicker-Men are mature and strong, and have their normal hit die.
In the future, the Wicker-Men are gnarled and twisted, and have double their normal hit die.

The Guardian Drake

It entered a contract with the wizard, in return for a steady supply of Arcanite, that precious crystal, it would guard Time's innermost sanctum. It was never all that invested in its job, as Time never had a steady supply of its payment.
In the past, the Drake is young and small, but fierce in its duty.
In the present, the Drake is larger and mature, but much more mellow in its responsibilities.
In the future, the Drake is gone, and has left behind a small clutch of eggs.

The Inevitable

A terrifying thing, a manifestation of the Time-Stream itself, detached from time to follow paradox-makers, such as the party, where-ever they go. Something like a humanoid, only built of angular, polyhedral metal-ish shapes, balancing on needle-thin feet, and stabbing forward with clusters of needle-sharp fingers. It acts like the party, in that it follows the same rules about traversing time-states. It will pursue the party doggedly as long as they remain within the tower, chasing them between time-streams.

Treasures of the Tower

Time's Spellbook

The most obvious of any list of valuable things held by a wizard, Time's matches his development through the subtle arts. 

In the past, the spellbook is rough and scrawled, full of much experimentation and little success. 

In the present, much of it has been consolidated into useful magic and practical theory. 

It is in the future, however, that the book's potential is fully realised, though the book itself is a veritable motley riot of pages and replacements. Its wisdom is most elucidated of the three accessible versions.

Time's Arcanite Supply

Through his many years, Time did battle with many other wizards, and over time came into quite the collection of Arcanite.

</sidenote> Arcanite is massively valuable, and it is what a wizard's bones become as they cast magic. They crystalise into magically potent Arcanite, and it can be used to store and release large amounts of magical energy. Eventually, the entire skeleton can crystalise, though this is rare for many reasons, not least of which is unscrupulous wizards like Time. </end sidenote>

He used much of it to pay of his Drake, and also to fuel his experiments into Time Magic, much of which can only be achieved with vast amounts of the stuff. 

In the past, it is still small, Time's scraps and battles are yet to come.

In the present, the supply is at its largest retrievable state.

In the future, the Drake consumed most of it already, and has left only meagre scraps.

Time's Staff

The real deal, though it only became that way later on, and due to the powerful time-magics involved, it became that way in all points of time, which surprised Time somewhat, as it was quite a mundane stick, until he picked it up and it spontaneously became an instrument of obscene magical power.

Its user can apply a time-effect to any spell they cast, such as sending it into the future, effectively having a magic spell at their beck and call to summon instantly from the past. A wizard could also call forth a spell from the future, though they would then have to cast it in the future to send back, or else face the consequences of an unfulfilled paradox.

Davidi's Witnesses

A painting of vast skill and value, Time's first Chronological outing was to steal it from Davidi's workshop even as it dried as a lark. The lost Davidi has been sought for many years, and the search has pretty much dried up in the present day. Perhaps unintuitively, the value of the painting actually decreases based on the time-period it is taken from, as modern art-scholars will doubt its authenticity due to the warpings of age.

The Tree of Rubies

A bit of a departure for Time, before his obsession with time, he created a tree which grew rubies. Much to his annoyance, the tree adopted some of the tectonic life-cycle of the stones it grew, and would take a life-time to mature, by which point his interest in the stones had thoroughly cooled.

In the past, the tree is still immature, and has only a small yield,

In the present, the tree is at is height, and has a great yield of jewels.

In the future, the tree is wizened and old, and its yield is in between the past and the present.

Time's Alchemical Laboratory

A life-time's collection, full of every and any kind of glass, furnace, distillery, rack, chemical, cooler, and other such trinket of science, eventually.

In the past, the set is still somewhat amateur.

In the present, the set is quite professional.

It is in the future that the set becomes exhaustively complete.

Other Features of the Tower

Crystalised Moments

One of Time's more useful creations, he stole little motes of time from other places and bound them, screaming and fighting, into little soluble tablets, that can be swallowed to allow someone to take twice the normal actions for a minute or so, though the paradox has to solve itself later, by stealing that minute back at some point.
When does that minute manifest?
1 - In your sleep, when it isn't important at all.
2 - When you next fall more than 20 feet, about 10 foot from the bottom.
3 - In the next combat, after your first turn (you are however, utterly impervious to any damage)
4 - In the middle of the next important conversation you have outside the tower (with all the awkwardness that will surely entail)
5 - The next time you take a saving throw, in the moment before you must make the save (which could also save you from the thing you needed to save against, maybe).
6 - In the next situation that requires you to help someone else urgently.

The Chrono-Vault

A powerful piece of arcano-engineering, though Time himself never really quite appreciated his achievement in its creation. It is unstuck in time, existing perpetually in a state of continuity, no matter what time-stream you are in. In-fact, its benefits can only be reaped by time-travellers, as the contents of the Chrono-Vault are matched to your personal time-line, no matter when you access it, the contents are the same relative to the last time you opened it, regardless of when that actually is.

The Twists in Time

These are how you move between time-zones. 

Red ones blossom outwards in brilliant rings, and carry you one step forward into the future, and thus only appear in the past and the present.

Blue ones collapse inwards endlessly, and carry you one step back into the past, and thus only appear in the present and the future.

The Saturnium

It was the first real clock ever built, about the size of a train, its faces are about 30 feet across. Not made, note, but built; and it is one-hundred percent accurate. 

It is so accurate in fact, that if you were to alter it, the very mechanisms of time itself would judder, so deep are the Saturnium's roots into the fabric of being. The gods would be pissed, if they weren't already dead. In fact, you can't move the Saturnium without a force that can also alter the fabric of time itself already. Its hands are somewhat inscrutable, but can offer great forecasts of a great many things, and also function (roughly) like immovable rods.

The Lightning-Cage

When Time ran out of Arcanite to both fuel his experiments and feed his drake, he stole a spirit of lightning and bound it in a cage it could never escape, to leach off its energy. It is not around in the past, but in the present, it is very tired, and wants to be freed. Doing so would wreck a good portion of the tower, and that is infact what has destroyed a chunk of it in the future, when Time's conscience finally caught up with him.

Time's Hidden Moment

A moment in time, stolen out from causality, when Time was truly happy. Its up to the DM what the nature of this moment is, but in this room, that moment lives eternally, unknowingly, undisturbable and serene. Over time, Time spent less and less time here. It just made him sad eventually.

Disguises and Fancy Duds

AC is pretty good right?
We can use this in more ways than we thought.

A thief asks to make a disguise to do... whatever. How much time and effort and gold is he going to put into this disguise? A few hours and roughly  enough gold to buy some chain mail? Right, the DC on seeing through his disguise is now 16.

Here's how I'd do it, given that this is completely untested.

Take the table of prices for armour.

For each chunk of time (1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, whatever is most appropriate) you move up a rung towards plate mail.
If you pay enough gold for your rung's equivalent armour, you can keep it as your disguise DC. If you don't pay, move down rungs; one if you pay more than half, two if you pay less than half. Move up rungs depending on your disguise skill, if that's something your game has.
The rung you end up on is your equivalent disguise armour.
You can use the stats exactly as written.

Why is it so heavy? Eh, clothes are heavy sometimes, but I also I think it could represent the kinds of "empty spaces" in clothes that are expected for your disguises. You wouldn't expect a priest/noble/beggar's clothes to be bulging with loot/equipment.
Why would it give you disadvantage on stealth (if that is a thing your armour does)? Same kind of reason, the clothes you need to wear might be heavy, or dingly, or otherwise not helpful for sneaking in.
Why does it mean you have disadvantage against shocking grasp spells? Okay, look smart-arse, why don't you put some thought into it and apply your common sense instead?

We could also easily apply this to Fancy Clothes too. Fanciness is a protection (or insulation at least) against a good few things sometimes, especially if parties are a thing your uh... party go to.

A good disguise/set of fancy duds could be as valuable as armour in certain games. It could be a money sink for people who don't need plate mail. And I think it adds something to the discussion of "What do you mean I can't wear my owl-bear-stained plate armour to see the king? Why do I need to look good for nobles?" and also the "What do you mean I can't immediately disguise myself as an archbishop in ten minutes with only a set of face paint and bravado?"

Though that last one does actually sound like it can only end well.

Cosmology Addendum 1: The Gods

There were 8 gods in the last age; one for each humour of the body, and one for each humour of the mind.

The Red God; named Azathoth.
It lies underneath the Crimson Cathedral of Holy Vesturia.
A thin red figure, one central limp and trailing leg, with many, many fractal arms that constantly move and shift between geometries. Its chest beats like a drum, pulsing red, caged in by bony protrusions like famine-bones. It has a head, but no face.

The Yellow God; named Hastur.
It lies underneath the city of Glorious Babylon.
A figure swathed in yellow robes like feathers, or maybe they are feathers like robes. It is tall, imperious, impervious. Robe-feather wings crest up four ways behind it, and its face is an ever shifting and roiling mask of pale wax.

The Green God; named Tsathoggua.
It lies underneath the First Tree of the Oldest Forest.
It has two legs like tree trunks, and arms to match, only they are fused to its body as if in a straight-jacket. Its face and back are lost in an explosion of limbs of all shapes and forms, ever reaching up towards the sun, a forest of supplication.

The Black God; Shub Niggurath.
It lies underneath the ground, and Station 4 has been built upon it by the Foundation.
Something like a man, its arms trail on the ground next to its feet, and its mouth hang low, dragging down its face into a tear drop shape. Its flesh is lump and misshapen, at the same time appearing like black and oily ooze, and dark, dark sand. Its face and head are studded with many, many eyes.

The White God; Ithaqua.
It forms the deep, deep bones of Cyng Dun, king of all mountains.
A curled, barely-formed foetus shape of pale milky flesh, born aloft on a peacock-spray of spine tentacles which erupt from the nape of its neck. Some tread the ground, some reach round and ahead like arms.

The Blue God; Father Dagon.
It lies at the most precipitous depths of Nevuah.
Its head is like a fleshy skull without eye sockets, with a huge distended jaw like an angler fish, full of needle teeth. Its long, serpent-body is run along with frills of tentacles, endlessly churning the waters around it. Out of the oceans of Nevuah, it merely swims through the air as if it had never left the seas.

The Grey God; Yog-Sothoth.
It is the Ever-Eclipsing Moon of the Lifeless Realms of the Grimm.
It looks like a shade shrouded in a great billowing cloak, hanging straight down over a deathly-thin frame, only there are no bones, no flesh; within the cape is only darkness, and a deep and endless grey fog spills from beneath the bottom of the robes.

The Brass God; Nyarlathoptep.
It lies underneath Mechanus, the great city of the Djinn.
It is a vast, vast computer; endless cogs and capacitors, spindles and spokes, racks of circuits and spider-meshes of wires, endless chaos bound within a brass frame-work of order and logic.

Should the Druids succeed in their goals, the four gods whose bodies lie on earth would be awakened by the blood-sacrifice of cities. Once the first is restored, it would hunt down the others and awaken them too. The chaos would be unimaginable. This would only be the beginning. The gods would continue only as four; the effort to retrieve any of the other four would be considered too costly. They would destroy the world as far as we care, devouring all the blood and souls they can, and then set off for the sun, to see if it was all worth it.
As of yet, I am undecided if it would be.

A Legendarium, a Cosmology

Few mythologies beyond the Abrahamic religions (as far as I really know) have stories about the creation of the world ex nihil, from nothing. This is fine and good, as it allows me to begin the hidden history of my world thusly:

Once there was nothing, then the gods made a pocket of something, and called it the Universe, the one-song.

This was the First Age, the Age of Beginnings, and the first life of the Sun.

First, the gods bled, and from the burning hot fluids they birthed the sun, great furnace of creation, linchpin of reality. Without it, there could be no being, so the gods guarded it jealously.
Secondly, the firmament was forged to keep out unbeing from the Universe, and the burning stars of angels were set in it to guard what is, from what is not. Thus the precious Sun was safeguarded from the cold and hungry nothing of the void beyond.
Then, there was wild experimentation with what was possible, discovery of the limits of being, the first little splinters forming in the fabric of reality, and their careful study and exploitation. Great chunks of rock were pieced together, and set in the firmament, worlds and planes on which to create anything the Gods desired.
Finally, the Gods became aware of the undeniable power of the void beyond what they had made; Entropy. They saw it in the dying heat and light of the sun they had given of themselves to birth.
They tried eveything. They created beings on the worlds they had made to offer blood and souls to the sun to keep it burning.
It worked, for a time; but the wheels of entropy turn forever, and only crash round faster and faster.
Eventually, nothing the Gods could do was enough, and they knew it.
They held much conclave, and talked long and deep of what they would do.
They reached consensus. They gathered all blood and soul and worship as they could from their worlds, grew fat and strong on it, and cut their throats upon the furnace of the sun as it it died, and glutted their life upon the embers of the Sun.

Thus died the first Sun, and so was born the Second.
This was the Second Age, the Age of Birds, and the second life of the Sun.
The Gods awoke again, but to the confusion of the Reborn Sun, they were not who they were before.
The new Gods, for their part, knew a few things; for life and light to continue, they would need to grow fat and strong on the blood and worship of the living things that again now crawled forth from the rocks that hung improbably in space. They knew the angels that burned a great light on the firmament protected them during their duty. And finally, they knew that when the Sun guttered and died, they would need to feed the solar-embers their life-blood to relight it, and allow existence to continue to be.
All was well, and all was well, and the many folks of the birds opened the skies, as was provisioned for.
One day however, a wicked being calling itself Jaguar, who dwelt behind the mirrors, seduced one of the folk of the city of Xanadu, and a great breach was opened, which was forbidden. To seal it, the sun gave of its flame to weld the mirrors shut again, imprisoning Jaguar.
Thus, before its proper time, the Sun died, and the Gods killed themselves upon it to light the flame again.

Thus died the second Sun, and so was born the Third.
This was the Third Age, the Age of the River, and the third life of the Sun.
Again, the song began as before in the Second Age.
All was well, and all was well, and it was an age of spiritual enlightment and transcendence, lead at the city of Shambalha of the River-Font.
This time, the song ran its full course, and at the Ordained time, the Sun withered and died, and so the Gods again gave of themselves to relight the flame again.

Thus died the third Sun, and so was born the Fourth.
This was the Fourth Age, the Age of the Many, and the fourth life of the Sun.
All was well, and all was well, and it was an age in which were born a great multitude of creatures and peoples, the remnants of which still wander the earth to this day. This was the first Age in which Saints were born of the flecked remnants of gods of older ages.
One day however, the second through fifth of the Saints; The Minotaur, The Monkey King, The Ibis Sage, and the Lion Grandmaster, fought at the city of Daikuzu, and the crash of their battle wounded the world, and even the sun itself. It was after this day that the worlds began to drift apart, such that now to transverse the worlds is difficult and hazardous.
In their pride, the Four Divine Beasts were destroyed by the gods, though their names and titles survived them.
Thus, before its proper time, the Sun died, and the Gods killed themselves upon it to light the flame again.

Thus died the fourth Sun, and so was born the Fifth.
This was the Fifth Age, the Age of Horses, and the fifth life of the Sun.
All was well, and all was well, and it was an age of great exploration and rediscovery, for the ravages of the war of the first saints in the previous age had caused the world to crumple and reknit itself, as it would at the end of each further age. This was the first age in which mankind would arise ascendent, and conquer all the world. Their lords were the Great Khans, and they ruled from mighty Karakorum.
With the world united under one banner, the gods prospered, but when the empire fractured, and the world fell into chaos, the Gods panicked. In the cataclysms that followed, much was lost, and the Sun nearly died and withered beyond repair.
Thus, past the appointed hour, the Sun died, and the Gods killed themselves upon it to light the flame again, though it sputtered and sparked with fear for its light.

Thus died the fifth Sun, and so was born the Sixth.
This was the Sixth Age, the Age of Sands, and the sixth life of the Sun.
All was not well, for this sun was born hot and red, a result of the Chaotic end of the previous age. It was a harsh age, where rather than light and life, death was worshipped, and the mighty Monuments of Keshmet housed dead far outnumbering the living.
Thus it was, as the world was close to withering away entirely, the Sun called forth the newest generation of gods, and called upon them to slay it and begin again, before the damage was irreversible.
Thus, before the appointed hour, the Sun was slain, and the Gods killed themselves upon it to light the flame again.

Thus died the sixth sun, and so was born the Seventh.
This was the Seventh Age, the Age of Saints, and the seventh life of the Sun.
All was well, and all was well, and again mankind united all the world in one empire, whose great capital was Byzantium of the Pantheon, for many Saints were born in this age. This was an age of the great march of progress married with purpose, and the Gods rejoiced.
A wicked seed was planted however, whose bitter fruit would be tasted only when it was too late.
Thus, at the appointed hour, the Sun died, and the Gods killed themselves upon it to light the flame again.
But.
It was at this late hour that the Traitor-Saint, who by the will of the Sun would have their teeth crushed and their name blotted from all the world, betrayed their fellows in a misguided attempt at justice, and slaughtered them in the now desecrated pantheon. Glutted on stolen divinity, the Traitor-Saint approached the dying and bleeding gods, whose pooling blood dripped onto the coals of the sun. With his wicked blade, he tore at the still and bleeding forms of the gods, and wounded them utterly, to a final death. As the dying sun screamed in rage and fear, the Traitor-Saint realised what he had wrought, and fled from all knowledge.

Thus died the seventh sun, and so was born the Eighth.
This was the Eighth Age, the Age of Godless Chaos, and the Eighth life of the Sun.
All is not well. The Gods are dead, they were not renewed with the rebirth of the sun. Their bodies lie broken and scattered.
The angels, unfed with blood, are waning at their posts, and among their number are seen traitors, who have taken the title of Devils and stolen a world called Hell for their own, devious devices. Further, the ever empty void has crept into the eyes of some angels, and driven them mad. The first Demons.
Without the guidance of gods, man has again united the world under a single empire (nearly), ruled by his Dread Majesty from the Holy City of Babylon. They are without protection from those wicked things which, without the powers of Gods to hold them in check, become only more and more bold and numerous as the reluctance of man to accept them rises to meet it. Thus, man has turned to lesser powers to guide them.
The Church of the Heavenly Host, inspired in the hearts of man by the desperate Angels, offers them worship and blood, as the Angels believe themselves the most worthy and needful of it, sentinels of the Firmament as they are. They are deluded and wrong. Without Gods; they will one day fail and let the void flooding into the universe; or the Sun will die one final time, and they will fail regardless.
The Church of the Saints, which is man's creation alone, rallies the spiritual defence of man behind the Saints born of the floating shreds of Divinity left behind by ancient and dead gods. None in the Empire of All Humanity recognise the existence of gods. They just, know somehow, that the gods are either dead, long since left, or maybe never even existed at all.
There remains one psuedo-god. At the dawn of the Age, the new pantheon was born, but the old gods were dead and cold, and so they could not come into their glory. One among them had the strength and will to live, and so it devoured all it could. It ate its brother and sister gods, but that was not enough. It ate itself, but that was not enough. It ate everything, until not even its name remained, and finally it was satisfied; and now it is the Red God, the Cannibal-God-who-is-no-God.
The sun knows little of its past lives, but it knows this, there are no gods to save it this time, and the appointed hour of its death is coming. It knows it is that it is hungry, and it is panicking. For these reasons, it reached out to many worlds, a Bright and Burning Deity, to demand blood, and souls. Thus it fuels itself, and delays the end.
But the march of Entropy is irresistible. In the end, the Sun cannot escape its fate. Blood satisfies, but not forever. Souls satisfy more, but they are consumed utterly, and so the cycle becomes vicious, the more souls it consumes, the less blood will be produced. It was enough to start, but now it isn't. In the end, nothing will be.
The world fears for the plight of the sun, and so it reaches out to man, and those it touches who accept its words become the druids. The oldest and most feral, who understand the most of the Earth's designs, seek the corpses of the Gods, and seek offerings (willingly given or not) to revive them, and hope that their desperate strength will be enough when the Appointed Hour comes.

And so it is, in this Choatic and Godless Age; where the dregs of ancient, better ages succumb to desperation and apathy; where the order of the world decays under its own bloated weight; where the earth betrays itself out of desperate hope that another, better age might be born of the ashes of this one; so it is that the PC's become adventurers.

20 Questions for the Old Frontier

Look, we all know Jeff, let's get on with it.

Brief Introduction: The Old Frontier
The Dread Emperor rules, has ruled, will always rule from the Mightiest of Cities, Babylon, seat of the Throne, and from his Basalt Throne he stretched his hand across all the Empire and beneath his benevolent gaze, mankind flourishes.
In theory at least.
In reality, the Duchy of Brockenwold is far, far from the vital beating heart of civilisation. The frontier has stood here for centuries, ebbing and surging back and forth, cities and towns blooming and wilting in turn, no-one even knows anymore if the ruined cities in the mountains are the corpses of Imperial cities or the ailing remnants of even older ages. This is just as far as humanity can go, there is nothing worth having beyond the Brockenmoors or the Saurmachts. Some things are certain though.
Something isn't right about the Duchy.
There are (utterly spurious of course) claims that monsters roam the moors, and beasts and creatures of legend, things that cannot and should not be, roam the Eldenwode, and there are even whispers of Gods.
Someone needs to sort these out, and put the old tales to rest.

1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?
There are two religions in the Empire, the Church of the Angels, and the Faiths of the Saints. There are most certainly, no Gods. This fact is not contested within the Empire, people just sort of... know it. Feel it in their bones, there are no celestial benefactors of divine will and power. Mankind is nearly alone.
This is where the Angels and the Saints come in. Angels protect man from the goodness of their hearts, in exchange for reverence. Saints are the creation of men, self-made heroes to keep the darkness of the world at bay, and defend the bright but feeble hearts of men from devils and demons.
Think of them something like the Catholic and Protestant Churches, roughly. They do the same thing, in theory, and they tolerate each other, barely.
There are Saints of many, many things. I have about 30 or so of them, one day I will do a post about them.
The Angels are a pretty uniform bunch. Very aloof, very imperious.
Some particularly degenerate (noble's words, not mine) foreigners (even in the Empire of All Humanity there are still, somehow, foreigners) supposedly worship gods, bright burning gods. But they are of course, delusional. Gods don't exist. At least, not any more.

2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Many towns and some villages will have your basic blacksmiths who can repair and maybe even make basic weapons and arms. You'll have to go to the bigger towns and even cities to find the more competent blacksmiths to forge proper adventuring equipment. The blacksmiths of the biggest cities (which are beyond the borders of the Duchy) can make you arms and armour of the greatest art and magnitude.

3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?
You can't. Monsters don't exists.
For people of... differing proportions however, you will need custom fitted armour, and so you'll probably want to go to the more proficient blacksmiths of the larger towns. Brygge and Regensburg (the duchy capital) are your best bets.

4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
Wizards are a quiet bunch, its hard to tell. Most certainly the Cardinal (who dwells near the Cathedral of Silburn) is well versed in esoteric lore, and some of Duke Hatori's men are supposedly quite proficient in the Subtle Arts, but who can tell?
In the darker corners, by those who profess the trade of Hedge-Magics, the name of Nakvisa is whispered in hushed tones. Nakvisa has yet to announce themselves to the world, however.

5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
There are several contenders for this title. Cazimir, the Dogskin knight has supposedly never lost a fight, though this is more than likely the fact that he never fights fair when he can help it.
Most would point at the highest ranked soldier, and left hand of the Duke, Capitan Grace, as certainly the finest traditional swordsman to enjoy prominence and a name, but whether he is the best? Uncertain.
On some of the wilder fringes, there is a new name rising, Vermont, called 'Swiftblade', but there will have to be more of this name to determine the truth of it.

6. Who is the richest person in the land?
Certainly the Duke, Don Hatori. His taxes are legendary, his coffers, more so. No one else even comes close.

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Magical healing is vanishingly rare, granted only by certain Saints and particularly soft-hearted Angels. Seek out the Shrines and Temples, there are at least one in every village, multiples in towns and cities, perhaps you find some there.
The Cardinal has been known to perform healing miracles from time to time, but good luck getting an appointment with him in his lifetime.

8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Pffft... most people don't even know those things exist. Still probably the Cardinal. Mundane curses can be broken by Witch-Finders though. They are your best bet on curses for sure.
You could go to an Alchemist or a Physician for poisons or diseases if you're brave. Very brave.

9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
No, Wizards don't even officially exist. If you want to learn wizardry, you need to find a Wizard to learn from. Or a Witch, they're a little more unsavoury though.
Hedge Magic you can learn from anyone who already knows it though.

10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?
Some villages will have one. Many towns will have one, or even more. Cities are your best bet, they'll possibly even have multiple of what you're looking for.

11. Where can I hire mercenaries?
It'll probably have to be Regensburg, the Duchy Capital. There won't be bands of them, just individuals and small groups. Politics are quiet here on the very edge of civilisation.

12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
There's nothing silly like that, but security is tightest in the Towns and most of all in the cities. Regensburg is positively authoritarian, if the Duke is a street over you'd best hide from the Town Watch.
Out in the countryside however, there are other concerns. The Witch-Finders are always on the prowl, and without the close oversight of their Urban task masters, more zealous hunters might just dish out a little discretionary justice if they think you smell off.
Notably, Johnny Law is rather heavy handed in Brygge. Baron Nathair is somewhat cautious at the moment for some reason.

13. Which way to the nearest tavern?
Most villages will have at least one. The ones that don't are sad villages indeed.

14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
Oh, there are lots of stories; The Beast of the Brockenmoor; Nakati, Black Goat of the Woods; the Whisperer in the Web; Tash, the Breath-Taker; the Grotlyn and her broods; the list goes on. Of course, none of them actually exist, as any proper folk could tell you. Bringing back proof would certainly spread your name far and wide.

15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Nah, the world is too old and tired for that. Maybe when his Dread Majesty finally dies a succession war might tear apart the empire. We can all hope I suppose.

16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
Rare, but certainly Don Hatori is a big fan of Gladiatorial Battles. So, Regensberg then.

17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
No.
Well of course there are, but they're secret.
There's something called the Foundation, but no-one knows what it is. Don Hatori supposedly has a sect of Secret Police, but there's no proof obviously.
There are many cults throughout the world. Lady Dusts is a fairly prominent name in that regard. Many foolish people who think they have found a god, when in reality it is anything but. They only ever find out the truth when it is too late.

18. What is there to eat around here?
Pffft. Bread? Meat if you're lucky/pay well for it. Its better out in the cities though. Apparently places out on the coast of Eidolmeer have a rather good line in sea food.

19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
Loads, the Three Swords of the Ancient Kings, the Five Links of the Sorcerer, the Cursed Pearl Blades, loads. Thing is, they're all legends.

20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?
Well, apart from there not being any such thing as a monster...
Supposedly, deep, deep in the Sauermacht peaks, there is a Dragon...

Brygge: Town of The Serpent Baron

I warn you in advance, this thing knows no bounds in terms of disorganisation...
A town, ruled by a Tyrant, with an invisible serpent around his neck that whispers magic in his ears. If he can just crush the Resistance, and erase the last traces of subversion, he could become a god...

Terrors

1 - The Serpent Baron, Nathair Illiad - The cruel and imposing ruler of the town, blessed by a powerful serpent spirit who has developed a symbiotic dependency to the Baron. Dreams of ascension to Anti-Sainthood, though he doesn't see it that way, and of usurping the Duchy from Don Hatori.
2 - The Slithering Priest, Donovon Lascal - Has three acolytes, and they pretend to be adherents of a Saint of Guile and Wit. They are merely sycophants of the Baron and his Parasite-Spirit, and have been granted powers by the spirit.
3 - The Three Lieutenants - Granted minor powers by the Baron, they are his right hand, and main agents in the town.
4 - The Baron's Fangs - Assassins of the highest calibre, most of the town aren't even aware they exist.
5 - The Basilisk - Dwelling beneath the castle, most of the town believe it to merely be a legend.
6 - The Whispering Deceiver - The Serpent Spirit who has attached itself to the Baron. Incredibly selfish, self-serving, and sycophantic. Final goal is to become strong enough to challenge Yig for patronage of the Serpent-men, though for now, the Baron has shackled its will to his.

Features

1 - The Baron's Castle - Has traits like the Corrupt Lord's. Serpent themeing is kept pretty subtle for the most part. Has entrances to the True Temple, and a tunnel to the Secret Dungeons underneath Wooden Street.
2 - The Temple of the Scaled Saint - A front for worship of the Deceiver, where the Slithering Priest dwells and spreads the whispers of the Serpent.
3 - The Secret Dungeons - Where the political prisoners of the town are thrown. 2 in particular are kept in padded cells, and are pumped full of all manners of poisons, and enchanted so that they will not die from the corruption coursing through them. Every so often, the Baron sends loyal cultists to extract some of the poison running through their veins...
4 - The Seven Stars Tavern - A hub of dissenters against the Baron's rule, the Resistance. Secret as of yet. Connections to a secret underground hideout beneath the Shrine of Saint Thomas.
5 - The Drowning Posts - Where executions take place, people are tied to posts and left to sink down into muck and suffocate. Officially only used for murder, arson, and treason. Many political prisoners end up here unannounced.
6 - The True Temple - Down beneath the town, where worship of the Serpent and the Baron is conducted openly and nakedly.

Treasures

1 - The Baron's Spear - Master-work spear, the blade appears to erupt from the gaping mouth of a serpent; enchanted to transform into a serpent when the fangs of the serpent head taste blood.
2 - The Minx's Eyes - Twin gemstones named for a Minx-shaped spirit who gifted them to humanity as a ward against poisons.
3 - Many Potent Poisons - He breeds them within a pair of desperately wretched prisoners in the secret dungeons.
4 - Rod of Fangs - Wielded by the Serpent Priest, partially transforms into a serpent, and is a catalyst for spells.
5 - The Baron's Treasury - Full to bursting with years and years of harsh taxes and fines.
6 - The Snake-Skin Bracers - Allow you to see through your sense of smell, even if otherwise blinded.

The Serpent Baron

He found the Whispering Deceiver out in the forest one day, wrapped around the neck of a beautiful woman, compelling her to catch and swallow mice whole for it. He took both for his own, and broke their spirits, they now both serve him.
He will break the whole world, if he can.
He is normally quite charming, and a dab-handed liar. You'd never suspect he leads an insidious cabal.
Knows three spells; Hypnotic Gaze, Snake Swarm, and Scale Skin.
Aside from his spear, he wields a great Butcher's Blade, which can be wielded one handed only if you have 15 or higher strength. It has a series of groves which allow it to hold twice as much liquid as a normal sword might be able to (poison in every case for the Baron).
Once per day, he can exude a poison breath, which deals 1 damage for each point which the victim's saving throw fails by. If the save result is a 1, they are instantly on 1 hit point if they wouldn't be lower.
Every other round, can replace one of his normal attacks with a special grapple, which if successful, can then consume another attack, to throw the grappled creature as a ranged weapon dealing bludgeoning weapon as a javelin, and knocking both targets prone on a hit.
If he is ever reduced to 0 hit points and not killed outright, he will consume the Deceiver's spirit, and become a Serpent Demon as a last ditch effort to survive.

The Serpent Baron's Appearance

1 - Green Slitted Eyes
2 - Huge Frame - At least a head taller than the tallest party member (usually at least)
3 - Slightly too large Incisors
4 - Ermine Cape - He really freaking hates ferrets and such animals
5 - Serpent Theme - Seems merely fuedal at first...
6 - Surprisingly thin Cheeks

The Serpent Baron's Equipment

1 - The Serpent Headed Spear - When it deals maximum damage on an attack, it transforms into a 3HD serpent to fight for the Baron. If killed, the serpent reverts back to spear form; the haft will be broken, but it is the spear-blade and its setting that are actually magical.
2 - Butcher's Blade - Detailed above.
3 - Serpent Scale Armour - AC as Half-Plate, with no other penalties.
4 - Twin Fang Ring - Can hold enough venom for one dose, which can be delivered almost undetectably with a touch by two, needle sharp fangs.
5 - Blessings of the Serpent - The Spells and Poison Breath detailed above.
6 - A Small Pouch of Poison Vials - Mostly hidden by his clothes and cloak, it contains holders for three vials of particularly virulent poisons, though these must be administered as usual.

The Baron's Ascension

Should the Baron's plans advance far enough, or he is driven to out of desperation, the Baron can begin his ascension on the Night of the Full Moon. At the end of a lengthy ritual, which takes the whole day beforehand, and is very vulnerable to interruption, and culminates at the stroke of Sun-Down, the Baron will then be suddenly encased within a great egg. During this time, he must be bathed in the light of the full-moon as much as possible. Cloud is not enough to disrupt it, unless it is supernaturally thick, but if he is out of the light for a full 10 minutes, the ritual fails, and he will hatch still human. The egg is otherwise invincible, except to high-level magic, for the duration of the Night.  During this time, if the Resistance is still active and knows of the Ritual, they will attempt to interrupt it and will be successful on a 4 in 6 chance. If the ritual succeeds however, he emerges a great, Serpent-Man hybrid with the strength of a god, or close to one. If it fails, he is human, and human forever. Therefore, he will only voluntarily undergo the ritual if he is certain he is entirely safe, since it is so delicate, and there is little margin for error.

Notable NPCs in the Town

1 - Mazdan Hobburn, the Master Blacksmith - one of the most skilled smiths this side of the capital, he forged the Baron's weapons and armour. Has no stake in the politics of the town, but obeys the call of money faithfully and discretely, if offered enough. His premises are in the Town Square.
2 - Urguyle the Wise - A wizard of some small power, he lives on Beech Street, between two empty lots, as the houses that used to stand there burnt down mysteriously. Not powerful enough to resist the Baron alone, and as of yet has incurred no bad blood between them. This cannot last forever. Has a decent magical library.
3 - Barkeeper Yuvio - A key member of the Resistance, and Proprietor of the Seven Stars Tavern, the cellars of which are used to co-ordinate the Resistance's efforts. Brave and steadfast, will cover the other Resistance members' escape to the Shrine of Saint Thomas through the secret cellar tunnels, a ploy which has so far seen them elude suspicion.
4 - Father Remmel - Head priest of the Shrine of Saint Thomas. Has an assistant, Harren, but they are desperately underfunded due to the taxes of the Baron. Sympathetic to the Resistance, but as of now, they are unwilling to commit to openly opposing the Baron.
5 - Notary - Celebrity - Scion of an Old Bloodline: Lord Elias Sturngart - Distantly related to the old ruling family of the county. They haven't ruled in decades, and he is disinterested in the responsibility, but he has the strongest claim to the title after the Serpent Baron. Lives in the Sturngart Manor on Rose Alley.
6 - Dweller - Shaman - Purge the Guilty: Ruffick (Words-in-Stones) - Seeks to destroy those who have debased their souls (The Baron and the Priests) and the Spirit who has lead them astray. As of yet does not know who it is the town, does not yet suspect the Baron. Lives in the woods just outside the city.
7 - Agent - Secret Police - Break the Local Faith: Office Nathan Shultz - An Agent of the Corrupt Lord, and a member of the Foundation. While the CL is not yet aware of the Baron's disloyalty, Nathan is on a mission to break the faith of the locals, as part of the CL's wider initiative, and will soon come across evidence of the liberties the Baron has been taking. Staying at the Haberdashers on Ash Street.
8 - Foreigner - Brass Bastard - Take Revenge on Someone: Silas Am'Thrick - Seeks revenge on the Slithering Priest, they have bad blood between them. Silas sought his metal as part of an old downward spiral because of what the Priest did to him. Hiding in the Town Sewers, plotting.
9 - Dweller - War Veteran - The Siege of Ulm: Ered Thuringen - A veteran of the coup that crowned the Corrupt Lord, he is a stalwart support of the CL, and won't stand to see him so openly disregarded by the Serpent Baron. Living on Oak Street.
10 - Foreigner - Angel - Bury the Dead: Raphael - Seeks to release the souls of those executed at the Drowning Posts, their preserved organs won't release them. Will help only so long as their task is done. Once its finished, they are gone.
11 - Undesirable - Changling - Secure a Life of Luxury: Scrilk - Did not wish to be what it is, but it won't let that stop it from using its gifts to take what it wants. Hasn't considered replacing the Baron, thinks its too risky to do alone, currently has its sights set on Lord Sturngart, thinking that he is rich, but out of the way. Currently has replaced on the Sturngart's servants.
12 - Agent - Bounty Hunter - Inflitrate the Circle of Meira the Heretic: Hogen Grent - Meira is one of the Slithering Priest's acolytes, and leads a sub-cult in her own time. The Serpent Baron set the Bounty Hunter on them without knowing that they are one and the same, wanting all worship within his own cult. Staying at the Severn Stars Tavern.

The Town Watch

All three Officers have the following gifts of the Serpent: Darkvision (based on scent), slitted eyes, forked tongues, and subtle scales on their chests (minimum AC is 2 more than normal), as well as those in their description.
1 - Captain Drummond - Leads the larger unit of footmen, and overall commander of the town watch. Cruel in a cold, detached sort of way. Unshakable. Keeps his left arm tucked inside his cloak at all times, since it is infact a serpent attached to his shoulder. Wields a duelist's rapier.
Has quarters on Oak Street.
2 - Captain Caid - Leader of the "Green Rain" archer unit. Disinterested in the whole cult deal, very much interested in the power it brings, so is willing to play along. Can spit caustic venom up to 20 feet.
Has quarters on Ash Street, which he shares with a girlfriend, who is in hiding from her vengeful husband.
3 - Lieutenant Farron - Leads the smaller unit of footmen, zealous and righteous. Wields a two-handed battle axe. Can hypnotise with his gaze over a minute at any time, or with a glance once per day.
Has quarters on Cedar street.
4 - The Footmen - Consisting of 2 Units, 1 of 15 men lead by the Captain Drummond, one of 9 lead by the lieutenant. All mere spearmen with swords too, almost all (80%) inductees of the Serpent Cult.
5 - The Green Rain - A unit of 12 archers lead by Captain Caid, who use poisoned arrows.
6 - Yara, the Honest Watchmen - One of the most stalwartly anti-cult members of the watch. Pretends to be merely indifferent to avoid suspicion and probable execution. Diligently gathers information about the cult, hoping to bring it down from the edges.

The Twin Fangs

Taken from the streets, extensive brainwashing has rendered them incapable of doing anything except what the Serpent Baron orders. They are his secret assassins, not even the Slithering Priest knows about them. They are brutally efficient, and have a perfect record (so far). They have extensive training and equipment, including snake-sticks, a smoke grenade, a flash grenade, paralysing poison which they apply to their weapons, and caltrops coated with a numbing chemical.
When they are not "on duty", they live in spartan quarters in the Secret Dungeons.

The Slithering Priests

Sycophants of the Baron deluded enough to worship him and his loathsome spirit. Donovon pretends allegience to a Saint by the name of Darian, though there is no such saint, and he instead venerates the Deceiver. Wields the Rod of Fangs, and knows four spells: Scaleskin, Fog Cloud, Snake Swarm, Paralysis. He can ritually sacrifice one of his acolytes to regain a spent spell, which triggers a morale check from the other two.
The three Acolytes are Meira, Jaimie, and Peiter, and they each know one of Donovon's spells, in the order given above. Meira has taken matters into her own hands in regards to furthering their faith, and has started a sub-cult of her own in secret. If it grows enough, she might be a force to be reckoned with.
The Acolytes live in quarters in the False-Shrine of Darian, in the Town Square, but Donovon has private quarters in the Baron's Castle.

Other Locations of the Town

1 - The Watch Barracks - Set near the eastern gate, on Oak Street, which leads back towards civilisation. One of the officers of the watch is always on duty here. Another is on patrol, and the third is off-duty, or attending court with the Baron.
2 - The Town Square - Set before the castle, the Serpent Baron adjudicates court cases in front of the people here, and makes announcements every so often. Well patrolled by the watch.
3 - Rattle Street Market - Though there are some stalls that are open all week, on the first two days of the week, the nearby farms will bring out whatever produce they do have. On those days, the streets nearby are congested beyond belief. The town watch doesn't go there on those days.
4 - The Cellars on Wooden Street - Owned almost completely by the Baron and rented to poor serfs who can't afford the rent and are thus utterly trapped. The cellars themselves are used to store all kinds of slightly illegal material. The serfs can't complain. The ones that try, disappear. Most Cult activity takes place here, and it contains an entrance to the True Temple, and is the main entrance to the Secret Dungeons.
5 - Rodrigo's Haberdashery - A front for the Secret Police in Brygge, the Serpent Baron does not suspect, but if he did, it would not take long for him to discover the deception. On Ash Street.
6 - The Town Sewers - Not particularly extensive, but a culvert on the western walls does run through both the Sturngart estate, and the western-most watch tower of the Baron's castle.
7 - Dice House: The Smiling Siren - The premier arena of luck outside Regensburg as the owner would say, the Smiling Siren has attracted a rather large clientel of both those who hold the Baron's favour, and those who have earned his ire and have large 'debts to the state' to pay off. Run by a weaselly fellow by the name of Hacken, he isn't particularly threatening, but his three thugs are. Lieutenant Farron has a bit of a habit here, and has racked up a bit of a debt, which the house has as of yet been understandably unwilling to attempt to collect. Hogen the Bounty Hunter has been frequenting this place too, asking around subtlety for information on his mark. On Cedar Street.
8 - Brothel: Madame Salaciea's - Not quite so seedy as others, but not great. The main selling point is the great discretion the Madame offers for guests of... unsavory appetites. Captain Caid frequents the place. Elias Sturngart makes the occasional incognito visit here. On Rattle Street.
9 - Fair: Saint Thomas' Feast - A week-long feast that began just yesterday in fact, a long table is laid for a meal in front of Saint Thomas' Shrine, and food is brought out for any and all to enjoy just before sun-down. So far this act of good will has gone unopposed. The Resistance, among others, will use it as a meeting point, and the Baron will grow suspicious of it.
10 - A Beautiful Shrine: Shrine of Saint Thomas - One of the last remaining establishments not touched by the Baron's Cult, will offer sanctuary and aid to any and all that need it, especially those not well-liked by the Baron. On Willow Street.
11 - A Statue of an Old Hero: Statue of Lucian the Dragon-Crusher - The founder of the town who supposedly wrestled control of the area from a fearsome dragon. In the Town Square.
12 - A Beautiful Garden: The Snowdrop's Waltz - A Spiral path through many pale flowers. A private meeting point for the Resistance. Just off the Town Square.

Miera the Heretic

She is still loyal to the Serpent Baron, she just has... divergent thoughts about this whole serpent thing. She still offers praise and worship to the Whispering Deceiver, as is right and proper, but she offers veneration to the other Reptile Spirits of the world, secretly, and with a few other followers she has gathered in secret all by herself. She follows the commands of the Baron and the Slithering Priest, but she would be deeply disturbed to know that the Baron has unknowingly set a bounty hunter on her.
Her cult currently has 3d4 members.

Table of Town Events

Roll once per week, or after the PCs are the cause (whether its public knowledge or not) of some disturbance in town.

1 - The Resistance is Revealed - The first time this is rolled, the Baron discovers that there is a Resistance movement at all, and posters for information about them will be posted. This won't result in anything by itself, but it will mean the PCs cannot approach the Resistance anymore, though the Resistance can and will still approach them. The second time it is rolled, the Resistance is discovered, and all members will be taken straight to the Secret Dungeons, except Yuvio, who goes straight to the Drowning Posts. The Resistance is done. Subsequent rolls are treated as "An NPC disappears".

2 - The Resistance is Revealed - As Above.

3 - An NPC Disappears - So Below.

4 - Meira's Cult Advances - The Sub-Cult doubles in size. If the Sub-Cult reaches a size of 30 or more, she attempts to seize control of the Cult from Donovon. She will succeed. The Serpent Baron will be amused by her usurpation with a 4 in 6 chance.

Little would change if Meira does usurp Donovon, she would assume his stats, and begin serving the Serpent Baron herself. If this is rolled again after she has usurped Donovon, the Baron discovers her heresy, and destroys her.
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

5 - Yara's Plans Advance - The first time this result is rolled, Yara gains sufficient information to be useful to the PCs. On the second roll, she will approach the PCs about a plan she has thought up. With each subsequent roll, she uncovers something further that makes the plan more likely to succeed.

6 - The Changling's Course Advances - The first time this is rolled, the Changeling replaces a Butler in the Sturngart household. The second time this is rolled, they replace Elias' personal butler. The third time, they replace Elias themselves. Each time they advance, it becomes harder to convince them of any path other than replacing Elias.

Once the Changeling has either replaced Elias, or has reached some other resolution, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

7 - An Auspicious Omen - The Statue of Lucian undergoes a small, but notable transformation. The Dragon is replaced with a Serpent. The statue will be removed for "renovation" within a day, but word will get around. The next "The Resistance is Revealed" result is treated as a "The Resistance's Aims Advance on a 3 in 6 chance, or is instead ignored.

Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

8 - An NPC disappears - Roll on the Disloyal PC table (see below). That NPC has run afoul of the Baron, and has gone. 1 in 6 chance of going straight to the Drowning Posts. Otherwise, they end up in the Secret Dungeons.

9 - Someone is left out to Die on the Drowning Posts - Randomly choose someone locked up in the Secret Dungeons, they are left out overnight to die on the Drowning Posts. At this point, the Baron knows everything they knew, and they are worth nothing more to him. If no-one is in the Secret Dungeons, treat this as a "An NPC disappears" result. 

10 - The Secret Police Uncover the Truth - The first time this is rolled, the Secret Police discover all they need to order the Baron's murder, and they begin plotting. The second time this is rolled, there is a 1 in 6 chance the attempt succeeds, a 3 in 6 chance it merely fails, and the final 2 in 6 chance that the Baron discovers the attempts, and is forced to declare war on Don Hatori, expelling or killing the Secret Police in Brygge in the process.

Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

11 - The Serpent Baron Uncovers the Secret Police - The first time this is rolled, the Baron discovers that the Corrupt Lord's Secret Police are investigating him. The second time this is rolled, the Baron completely destroys the Secret Police's efforts in Brygge, killing all of them except Officer Nathan, who is imprisoned in the Secret Dungeons.

Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

12 - Hacken tries to collect - He has finally tired of Farron's habits of not paying up, and he has sent his goons after him. There is a 2 in 6 chance that the attempt is successful, and Farron dies in the ensuing struggle, no blame can be traced back to Hacken. Otherwise, Farron kills his assailants, and the Smiling Siren burns to the ground the following night, Hacken disappearing down into the Secret Dungeons.

Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.

13 - Urguyle and the Baron have a Spat - The first time this is rolled, bad blood begins to foster between Urguyle and the Baron, and Urguyle is suddenly a lot more sympathetic to the rebellious elements of the town. The second time this is rolled, Urguyle and the Baron have a confrontation, and Urguyle always loses. There is a 3 in 6 chance he dies in the fight, which will level much of Beech Street, otherwise, he is sent to the Secret Dungeons.
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
14 - Ered Thuringen Surges Forth! - When this result is rolled, Ered joins forces with a party aligned against the Baron (randomly chosen from; The Resistance, The Secret Police, and Ruffick the Shaman). If this result is rolled again while he is free, they make an attempt on the Baron's life. They always fail, and Ered (along with other named characters) is thrown into the Secret Dungeon. If this result is rolled while Ered is in a Watch Cell (see below) he daringly escapes!
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
15 - Ered Thuringen is Arrested - His speaking out against the Baron can be ignored no longer, and he is thrown into a cell in the Watch Barracks. If this result is rolled again while Ered is in the Cell, he is then sent to the Secret Dungeons.
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
16 - Silas Am'Thrick confronts Donovon - In the Town Square, there is a rather explosive confrontation between Donovon and Silas. There is a 3 in 6 chance that Silas kills Donovon, who is succeeded by Meira as if she had usurped him. There is only a 1 in 6 chance that Donovon kills Silas. If Silas wins, or just isn't killed, he has to then roll a dice below what he previously scored to escape. Otherwise the town watch catch him, and he is thrown into the Secret Dungeon for the Baron's curiousity, he has never seen a Brass Bastard before...
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
17 - Caid and Elias cross paths - When this is rolled, Caid discovers Elias' more... improper tastes in women, and blackmails him for money. The second time this is rolled, it happens again, and Caid and his mistress have enough wealth to skip town, never to be seen again.
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
18 - The Bounty Hunter tracks down Meira - Meira's treachery and heresy is discovered by the Bounty Hunter. There is a 5 in 6 chance that Meira can bribe Hogen to be quiet. Each time afterwards, Hogen wants more money for his silence, and the roll must be made again, with a cumulative -2 modifier. When the roll is finally failed, Meira is sent to the Drowning Posts, and Hogen leaves town with a rather fat purse.
Once the whole business is resolved one way or the other, treat this as an "An NPC disappears" instead.
19 - The Resistance's Aims Advance - So Below.
20 - The Resistance's Aims Advance - The first time this is rolled, the Resistance covers one of their Requirements (see later). Each subsequent roll, there is a 2 in 6 chance that the Resistance makes their move. If they do, roll a d10. If they roll under the number of needs they have covered, they overthrow the Serpent Baron, and free Brygge from the Serpent Cult. If they fail, they will all be thrown into the Secret Dungeons. If they don't make their move, they cover a new need instead.

Disloyal NPCs

If you roll a NPC who has already been taken, use the next result down. If all NPCs down are taken, go upwards instead.

If all Disloyal NPCs "disappear", then there will be no-one left to stop the Baron, who will Apotheosise into a Mighty Serpent-Demon on the next New Moon (see the Baron's entry above).

1 - Barkeeper Yuvio
2 - Father Remmel
3 - Harren, Remmel's Aprentic
4 - Elias Sturngart
5 - Ruffick
6 - Silas Am'Thrick
7 - Ered Thuringen
8 - Raphael
9 - Yara, the Honest Watchman
10 - Officer Nathan Shultz
11 - Hacken
12 - Meira the Heretic

Disloyal NPCs can be rescued from the Secret Dungeons, though after the first time someone/a group escapes, security increases so much that it is almost impossible to break out anyone else without defeating the Baron in full.

The Resistance

They are a few desperate people who can see that the tyranny of the Serpent Baron will end nowhere well, and they plan and plot and hope, so that one day they might live free of his scaled clutches, or else die trying to snap off the fingers that strangle them.

The Resistance has 10 basic needs to overcome the Baron:

Needs:

1 - Weapons

2 - The Castle's Plans

3 - Information on the Baron

4 - Spiritual Aid

5 - Magic

6 - Armour

7 - Money

8 - Knowledge about the Serpent Cult

9 - Martial Training

10 - Luck (this can never actually be attained, outside of some stroke of myth)

They can cover these needs through the Event table, or through the actions of the PCs. For many of these needs, the party will probably need the assistance of another NPC, though they can supply some by their own expertise, or by the DM's discretion.

For the long-term prosperity of the town, the Resistance will also need a plan to replace the Serpent Baron, or things will get out of hand very quickly. They will neglect this for too long without help.

The Serpent Cult

The band of foolish sycophants and deluded worshippers makes up fully half the town in some capacity, though only a small percentage of that actively participates in cult activities. For the most part they are quite secretive, but a few flap their gums under certain pressures:
Pressures to spill the beans:
1 - Booze
2 - Some other drug
3 - Gold
4 - Love
5 - Violence
6 - Promises of Power
If you try to bully the wrong person, you might end up on the wrong end of the Town Watch. More than a few businesses have been torn out by the Watch because of jealous cultist competitors.
They meet sometimes in the Cellars underneath Wooden Street, and perform strange, undulating rituals. For the most part its quite harmless stuff, but with each ritual performed, the Baron's power grows.

Rumours

When gathering rumours, there is a 2 in 6 chance that you'll just get useless nonsense. Other wise, you get a roll on the following chance, with a 1 in 6 chance (on the same roll) of getting either a double roll, or some elaboration. If the same result is rolled again, further elaboration is given.

1 - People keep gathering at Rodrigo's for some reason.

2 - People keep gathering at the Snowdrops' Waltz Garden for some reason.

3 - I swear, someone was killed at the Drowning Posts last night.

4 - There's an underground movement against the Baron somewhere in town.

5 - People keep gathering at the Seven Stars tavern for some reason, they don't come out though.

6 - People keep leaving Saint Thomas' Shrine, they don't go in though.

7 - Something is up with Father Remmel, I tell ya.

8 - Something is up with Yuvio, the barman at the Seven Stars, I tell ya.

9 - I've heard that Elias Sturngart's family used to rule the city.

10 - I've heard that the whole damn Town Watch are in some sort of Cabal or something.

11 - There's a strange old man hiding out in the woods, he's hiding something I'm sure.

12 - People enter some of the houses on Wooden Street late at night, sometimes less come out.

13 - You go to the Rattle Street market on a farm day, you won't see a watchman for a mile.

14 - Heard there was some guy going around telling people he's an angel or some such.

15 - Thought I saw some guy in weird armour running around the sewer system once.

16 - I think that guy living in Lonely House on Beech street might be a wizard you know!

17 - The same people keep taking the same seats at Saint Thomas' feast. Its weird. 

18 - Some war vet keeps yapping on about how evil the Baron is. Come on, right?

19 - Captain Drummond has a gammy arm, childhood illness I heard.

20 - Buddy o' mine works for Lord Sturngart, they're acting all weird all of a sudden. 

21 - Lieutenant Farron's eyes aren't right, let me tell you.

22 - I've heard weird noises coming from under the Baron's castle, let me tell you.

23 - Mazdan's the best damn blacksmith you'll ever meet!

24 - The Corrupt Lord has sent his Secret Police here for some reason.

25 - The Baron has hired a bounty hunter for some reason, you see him at the dice house.

26 - Meira is running some sort of secret society.

27 - Lieutenant Farron has a mistress with a rather violent husband.

28 - Lieutenant Farron has a bit of a gambling problem.

29 - Captain Caid sometimes goes to Madame Salaceia's brothel.

30 - Elias Sturngart sometimes goes to Madame Salaceia's brothel.