Down in the Chthonic Deeps: Fluffy

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Further Tables for Katawa's Bath-House

Its been a bit, I need to get myself back into this habit.

Here are some tables for my Ghibli-esque by way of strange folk-lore Bath-House.
Events!
Rumours!
Secrets!
Food Stalls!
The Actual Baths!

Events at the Guest House

1 - One of the Guests of the Bath-House is hosting a party, they have an Ulterior Motive

2 - An important talk is being hosted in the Bath-House between two Guests, a third Guest is out to disrupt them. If they succeed, the consequences could be dire indeed.

3 - A great Festival of Fire is being hosted at the Bath-House, it is cover for a crucial meeting. Security is extra tight.

4 - A Guest has gone missing in Pod 317, somewhere deep within indeed.

5 - Bath-Tokens are 50% off! A wondrous bargain! The Bath-House throngs with punters.

6 - A fight broke out in the Sake Bar. Milly sadly cleans up the mess.

7 - A special guest-Gourmand is doing business in the Food Court today, the level groans beneath the weight of the guests.

8 - Secretly, the Spring-Spirits are on strike today, the Baths are closed.

9 - A distinctly inhuman guest has come today, their appetites are overwhelming, and they are causing a bit of a scene about it really.

10 - One of the Guests has brought a large number of friends with them today, half of the general patrons are affiliated with the Guest in question.

11 - One of the Flame-Sprites has gone berserk and swollen to the size of an elephant. Servants and staff rush around in a mad panic trying to contain it and clean up after it.

12 - One of the Guests is hosting a soiree, and everyone is invited!

Ulterior Motives

1 - To steal from another guest.
2 - To discover the truth of the Bath-House's heating.
3 - To break into Katawa's office and read a document.
4 - To rob Administrator Goro's safe.
5 - To learn another Guest's secret.
6 - To break up talks between two other Guests.
7 - To ruin another Guest's reputation.
8 - To hunt down a Guest who knows their secret.
9 - To hunt down Katawa and have a stern word with him.
10 - To find the Complaints Statue's records.

Rumours

Mundane Rumours - spoken by those unaware of the true nature of the bath-house
1 - The castle out on the lake is haunted by the spirits of the damned.

2 - A witch dwells there and transforms men who trespass into beasts and monsters!

3 - Echidna, mother of monsters, holds her court there on nights of the new moon.

4 - It is a prison for a Demon of monstrous size!

5 - Incredible riches and secret powers are hidden in the deeper dungeons beneath it.

6 - It was used as a meeting ground between ancient man and spirits of the world in elder days.
Extraordinary Rumours - spoken by those who know its nature, but have never been there

7 - A Masked-Spirit serves Sake of breath-taking quality, and magical property!

8 - A spirit in the old Bath-House has gathered gold for centuries, and hidden it away within!

9 - At least one dragon has to live there right? Deep beneath in hidden caverns I'd wager.

10 - Elf folks hold faerie-courts there to decide the fates of those replaced with changelings.

11 - Humans are like ants to the occupants of the old bath-house! Ants I say!

12 - If you pay a shiny silver Obol to the doorman, you too can enjoy the finest Bath known to man.
Intimate Rumours - spoken by those who frequent the establishment
13 - Any meeting can be arranged there, between man, spirit, and most anything in-between.
14 - The baths are many, and all with especial attributes, some wholesome, some decidedly not.
15 - The Master of Servants holds a bag of many swords, and each can tell an ancient tale.
16 - The food-hall is something to behold! There are so many foods, and so many secrets to sample!
17 - Stay only during the day, at night, the spirits are replaced with foul demons.
18 - Djinni-spirits guard the Bath-House, beasts of flame with cage-metal bodies.
19 - The Master of the Bath-House knows many secrets, but is a mystery himself.
20 - Spirits play a Great Game of power and influence at the Bath House. They trade in secrets.

Secrets of the Bath-House

If a secret about the Bath-House is discovered by some means by the Party or a Guest, roll below to discover what is now known.

1 - The Servantry are enchanted by their contracts; Katawa is aware of everything the servantry see or hear while on duty, this is how he maintains such a close connection to the Great Game.

2 - Goro's Vault also holds the minds of the Water-Pumpers, without which they are docile and pliable. They are like storms in glass jars.

3 - A the meeting rooms have spy-cubbies, in which a watching, listening servant is festooned to eavesdrop on meetings.

4 - There is a cupboard full of paintings, depicting Guests who earned Katawa's ire. Their spirits are trapped within, never to escape without the destruction of the painting.

5 - The Flame-Sprites are small motes of a greater Flame-Being who is currently trapped by Katawa (in one of his paintings). He is decidedly displeased by this, naturally.

6 - A series of exactly five valves, if simultaneously closed, would shatter the Bath-House's entire water-system.

7 - A dormant Demon-Seed lies hidden in the earth in one of the gardens. No-one knows which.

8 - The Koi in the pond are not what they seem, but attempts to discover their true nature have yet proved fruitless.

9 - Mushi foolishly keeps a spare set of his keys inside a hollow lucky cat on his desk. Since he is almost never in his office, they are somewhat unguarded...

10 - Milli has venom in her bite that could kill almost anyone and anything. She is very, very secretive about this. Not even Katawa knows.

The Food-Hall

Everyone loves the food at Katawa's, and competition is fierce to keep one of the limited spaces for stalls. Its a chef-eat-chef world up there, and most everyone has a dirty secret of some kind...

Everyone at the Bath-House has a favourite food, even Katawa himself; find out what it is, and you will most certainly gain at least a small bit of favour with them.

What do the Stalls sell? (2d10)
1 - Curried 1 - Animals, butchered
2 - Candied 2 - Bones
3 - Roasted 3 - Fruit and Veg
4 - Vegan 4 - Wood
5 - Stewed 5 - Stones
6 - Frozen 6 - Insects
7 - Fermented/Pickled 7 - Animals, whole
8 - Dumplings of 8 - Seafood
9 - Raw 9 - Birds
10 - Votive 10 - Feces

What secrets do the Stall-Owners hold?
1 - The recipe to their secret spice blend.
2 - The "secret ingredient" which is supposedly well known, is actually something entirely different.
3 - Never flushes the toilet. Rude.
4 - Knows a ruinous rumour about another Stall-Owner.
5 - They can get you heckin' weird spirit-drugs.
6 - Knows how to pick the locks to the Sleeping Pods.
7 - Secretly forges Bath-Tokens.
8 - They know a Guest's secret. Perhaps you could persuade them to tell...
9 - They know a Bath-House secret. They are smart enough to know not to tell frivilously...
10 - Their stall is a drop-point for agents of the Great Game.

The Baths Themselves

The main attraction, the talk of spirits the world-over (probably), the decadent heights of luxury.

Needless to say, even the basic bath-tokens are pricey, and the higher tier ones are positively ruinous.

Bath Tokens:
For a normal bath, roll a d6.
For a more exotic bath, roll a d12.
For a potentially bizarre bath, roll a d20.
1 - White: The Classic; hot water, cleansing soap, wooden duckies.
2 - Black: Anti-scented Bath; removes all smells you might have.
3 - Red: Really Hot Bath; sweat out and neutralise poisons.
4 - Green: Herbal Soak; invigorating, gain 1 temporary hit point per level.
5 - Blue: Ghost Sauna; spiritually cleansing, the next time you roll a MD and it exhausts, it doesn't.
6 - Copper: Exorcist Massage; removes bad spirits, cleanses a random curse.
7 - Silver: The Bath of Princes; all the benefits of 2 d6 rolls, rerolling duplicates.
8 - Gold: The Bath of KINGS; all the benefits of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
9 - Feathered: Cloud-Chamber; become light and fluffy, double jump height, half jump speed for 24 hours.
10 - Crystal: Star-Stone Sauna; attune with the universe, and gain a random cantrip you can only cast at night when the stars shine bright. Lasts 1 week.
11 - Speckled: Multi-Coloured Ooze Soak; only slightly dissolves you, you can squeeze through spaces of 4 inch diameter or larger without trouble, though it feels really strange. Lasts 1 week.
12 - Coal: Spider Massage; try not to think about it, advantage on saves against sticking to things for 1 week.
13 - Squishy: Radioactive Sauna; save and mutate; random mutation on a failure, roll thrice and pick once on a success.
14 - Luminous: Aurora Plunge Pool;Your eyes emit light as hooded lanterns for 1 week.
15 - Bark: Mysterious-Moss Masks; your hair and face occasionally sprout plants, but you can also speak with plants three times in total, so there's that.
16 - Glass filled with Smoke: Ultra-Cleanse Vial-Pods; Enter hibernation for 2d4 days, at the end of which, emerge from your cocoon of soap physically restored, even lost limbs return to you.
17 - Rusted Iron: Butcher's Scrub; remove a limb, replace it with another limb if you have one. (You need to bring your own limbs please, the fresher the better)
18 - Tentacle: Hot Eel Rub; okay, this one is really gross, not going to lie. You have advantage on rolls to escape restraints for 1 week.
19 - Bone:Skeletal Sauna; just take all your meat off for a bit, and let your skeleton have a clean for once yeah? Reroll all your hit die and add any modifiers you usually add, if the result is higher than your current hit point maximum, it becomes your hit-point maximum.
20 - Tar: The Black Bath; receive a Revelation from the Beyond.

Revelations from the Beyond
1 - Worship of an Outer-Godling; each time you sacrifice a person to the Outer-Godling, you gain a random Cleric spell you can cast once.
2 - Star-Roads of Heaven; you never get lost as long as you can see the sky. Once per month, you and any who touch you can astrally project.
3 - The True Heart of Man; your mind can never be dominated or affected by the magic of another.
4 - The Path to Heaven; you can instantly ascend to any heaven you wish to go to, your next character gains a level instantly.
5 - Secrets of Time and Space; you can teleport instantly to anywhere you can see or have ever been. If you can see that location at all, it costs one maximum hit point, if you can't, it costs d6 max hp.
6 - ITS ALL TOO MUCH; go insane, for 2d6 days at least.

10 + 2 Animal Kings

A long time ago I wrote about some kinds of spirits which dwell in the untravelled places of the world. I don't know how much I still like the idea of basically everything being a spirit of some kind, but hey-o, here are some spirits in the shapes of animals! They are the exemplars of their kinds, mostly-natural, that warp the world around them to better reflect their needs and natures.

Here are the first 10 (plus 2 silly ones) I've been able to churn out.

Ankhegs - Growth
The Queens of Ankhegs are almighty insects, legs like tree-trunks and shovel-ended. Their mouths drip with Alkahest, the universal solvent, and their piercing cries can shatter glass at their highest and split the earth at their deepest. Thankfully, they are really quite lazy and love to luxuriate deep in the earth. They bully other Ankhegs into serving, and carve out enormous cave systems with grand pillars and vast halls. They are spirits of growth, and their lairs are always overflowing with plants which constantly fight the long slow wars for light and nutrients that plants always fight, but in a constant, furious slaughter, fueled by the presence of the Queen of Ankhegs.
The heart of her lair is so choked with vines and roots and creepers that moving through it is more like swimming or digging like the worm does, and with her acid-slathered maw, the Ankheg Queen most certainly can dig through it quicker than you can...

Apes - Fire
The King of Apes, unlike it is commonly supposed, are not much bigger than their lesser cousins. They still need to climb, but they will still stand head and shoulders above other apes. The most marked difference will be their pair of extra arms, and the flames they hold in their second palms. They are mysterious, and hold deep loves for their flames, which they protect with all their might. Some say they are care-takers of the forests in which they live, and decide when it is time for fire to ravage the land, that new growth can begin. Their families are sometimes described as being almost entire cities of apes, with the Ape-King sat in meditation, clasping its flame in the highest branches of the mightiest trees.
The oldest legends say that it was the Ape-Kings who first plucked fire from the heavens, and shared the gift with man, but man spurned their generosity, and turned against their cousins, leading to their long divisions. More reliable sources suggest that, since of course Monkey's can't talk the whole story is ridiculous. The Ape-Kings are certainly not about to tell, the only interactions between men and Ape-Kings anyone knows about all end in charred and ruined villages, and haunting choruses of ape-song.

Badgers - Luck
Badger Kings are admittedly, pretty big, and they have great ridges of bone all along their arms and backs and flanks, the better to scour out their tunnels. Supposedly custodians of that most precious and mysterious resource, Luck, they hoard it like gold in their lair. You can't quite see it, but still, if you were to delve deep into their lair, you would find it, shimmering and glinting. The Badger-Lord guards it jealously, and its blood-lust is surprising and deadly. And they are quiet.
So very, very quiet.
As long as you do not threaten them in their lairs, Badger-Lords are somewhat amenable, even friendly, and there is more than one story about a wanderer clutching a badger-given charm which grants extraordinary luck.
The stories almost always end with the Badger-King coming to claim back the luck, with interest, with particularly deadly consequences, one way or the other.

Bats - Curses
Bat Kings are lazy, lazy creatures, content to while away days and days at a time in quiet contemplation, wrong-side up to the world. Easily the size of a man, they choose great caves in cliffs and mountains to hold their courts, and even men are sometimes permitted to enter to ask their questions of the Lords of Night. They pronounce curses, upon you, upon others, upon whomsoever they please, though mostly it is on the deserving (from the Bat-King's point of view). They aren't above bribery; and if caught in a relatively congenial mood, they might be offered full-blooded and vital livestock to break curses you happen to bear, or perhaps as an 'incentive' to speak against your enemy. Rarely do they take to the wing, but when they do, it is best to stay inside and look not at the sky for a day or two. The Bat-King can only Curse you if it sees you, though sometimes it can be very forceful in the matter, and its screech can stun even the largest beast.

Basilisks - Stone
Basilisk Kings are great wurms, snaking along the earth on tree-thick legs, dragging their mighty bellies, scouring the earth clean beneath them. They are like immense fleshy centipedes, pulling their lizard-bodies along on many many legs; claws like boulders, scales like breast-plates, gaze like a hurricane.
For the most part, the eyes of a Basilisk Lord are closed beneath stone lids, or what appears to be eye-lids at least. Their powers of petrification are so strong that they petrify everything they see, the ground, the trees, mud, man, monster alike. Even the air is susceptible to the gaze of a Basilisk Lord, and when a Basilisk Lord does release its eyes from their lithic prisons, it is a like twin spiraling coils of rock erupt from their heads, smiting all it touches to rock and covering the area in rubble, petrified air flaking and filling the atmosphere with dust.
Thankfully they wake but rarely. Like the rock itself, they see in the tectonic inevitabilities of stone and awaken only for those things that they believe must happen.

Bears - Strength
They almost seem to be made from stone, so tough is their hide, their fur is like bark and twigs, knotted and cruel. Teeth long as swords, claws like spears, and their eyes are glossy and black.
Twice as tall as even the largest of their mundane cousins, their treads shake the ground as they casually tear trees out from the earth and toss them aside like garbage.
Their strength is, needless to say, ferocious. They shred plate armour-like tissue and batter stone to rubble under the immense pounding of their wrath. Despite their utter dominance, they are not wicked; they are mostly content to sit and chew up bushes in their great mouths and guzzle cows. People have even been known to approach them, and with proper gifts (very large gifts) and demonstrations of strength, they have been known to teach even humans the ways of the forest.
But that's also not to say that they never get angry.

Crabs - War
Great living fortresses with shells of coral-reefs and claws the size of people, though often much of their features are covered in the mighty swarms of mundane crabs that cover them thickly, and that swarm about their feet. In great sideways drifts they march along the sea-floor, conquering all in their way. Once a slaughter is completed, and the flesh of their foes eaten, great shrine-piles of bones are built and set to wander the sea, tumble-weeds of the dooms of hundreds.
The Crab Kings love war beyond all reason. Only twice, two Crab Kings were seen to be fighting each other, two-hundred years separating both sightings. It was the same pair of Crab Kings, fighting the same war.
They are not totally belligerent though. They have been known to enter into mercenary contracts with devastating efficiency.
The rate with which they turn against their old masters at the end of said contracts does not bear thinking about.

Goats - The Occult
Horns that spiral endlessly (literally), cloven hooves that spill smoke from their contact with the earth, eyes which branch in fractal patterns. Their fur ruffles forever in an endless ethereal wind, and comes in all manner of shades darker than black. They are not bigger than other goats, but you would not need that to recognise that they are something other. Proud they walk the depths of the woods, supremely confident in the power and worth of the dark secrets they know, written in the empty spaces behind their eyes.
Sometimes, they share their knowledge with the outcast and the vulnerable. Sometimes, they share their knowledge with the greedy who bring them many gifts for the knowledge the goat holds. Sometimes, they step into the darkened cells of the condemned, and off them them power and the means of revenge. Whenever they release their secrets, it is always in the name of chaos and tragedy.
Once in a hundred years, all 13 of the Goat Kings will commune together at the top of a hill crested and crowned with great stony spires.
No-one knows what they do. Perhaps we should never know.

Owlbears - OH GOD NO PLEASE
YOU THINK REGULAR OWLBEARS ARE BAD OH BOY HOWDY DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING COMING THINK HOW CRAZY A REGULAR OWLBEAR IS HOW THIRSTY FOR BLOOD IT IS HOW THE RAGE CLOUDS THEIR EYES IN A OWLBEAR KING THE RAGE SPILLS LIKE MIST FROM ITS SOCKETS BLOOD SPILLS ETERNALLY FROM THEIR CLAWS THEY WADE THROUGH MIST AND BLOOD TO SLAUGHTER AND KILL AND DEVOUR HOW DID THEY EVEN GET ANIMAL LORDS OF THEIR OWN THEY ARENT NATURAL THEYRE MAN MADE OH GODS SAVE US PLEASE

Rocs - Wait, hang on
Hey... these are just Bird-Kings. What are you doing putting this in the list? Surely there can't possibly be birds even greater than Rocs? Preposterous.

Scorpions - Fear
Look, Scorpions are terrifying as they are. Twinned claws, arcing sting, many many legs; it isn't hard to see why Spirits of Fear take this form. The first sign you will see of a King of Scorpions is a strange pillar of stone, curved in a quite improbably way jutting up out of the sand. Perhaps there will be other such stones just protruding from the dunes. They like to bury themselves in the sand whilst they are dormant, and burst forth to destroy trespassers and prey. Their legs are many more than other scorpions. Their sting strikes with such speed that it needs no venom, and turns the very desert itself to glass when it strikes. And their claws snip through stone as easily as flesh. Oh, and don't look at their mouths. Please. Luckily for us, they are few, and they are mostly loners, and rarely encourage great swarms of their lesser fellows. Rarely.

Sharks - Death
Normal sharks can taste death on the water, Shark Kings can taste the intent of death, even hours before it happens. Dread omens of slaughters yet to happen. Large even as Sharks are large, they lead great demon-packs of deadly predators in slaughters of blood and frenzy, even tearing out the bellies of ships in their blood-lust. At least, only some of the time. Long days will pass when the Shark King and its court are content merely to swim long, lazy circles. The Lairs of Shark-Kings are mighty coral reefs of sunken and ruined ships, spires of shattered masts and halls of splintered hulls. It doesn't bear thinking of what they used before ships were made...

Spirit-Guests of Master Katawa's Bath-House

This was a cute little project of mine once upon a time, a Ghibli-esque bath-house inhabited by many spirits of all shapes and sizes, consumed with either having a great time, or commiting acts of sabotage and intrigue against each other. It spiralled out of control somewhat, so here's the one part that is so-far complete; a guest list!

More to come, hopefully.

Guests of the Bath-House

At any given time there are 2d4 dozen general patrons of the Bath-House going around their much-less-important business. For each dozen general patrons, there is an exceptional Guest, who are found on the list below.

Why are they here?

If you feel it appropriate, you could also roll the Guest an Ulterior Motive as well. Probably at least 2 or 3 Guests should have Ulterior Motives at any given visit.
1 - Just passing through, thought they would grab a drink

2 - Having a meal in the Food-Court

3 - Come for a Bath and a Meal, a nice day out really

4 - A few days rest and relaxation

5 - Come to sort out a little business in a neutral area

6 - A deep cleanse (and they mean deep)

7 - None of your business!

8 - "Business"

Where are they currently?
These are general guidelines for determining location without context, they need not be proscriptive.
General Patrons (i.e. non-specific Guests) roll d4.
Guests with INF 1 roll d6.
Guests with INF 2 or 3 roll d8.
Guests with INF 4+ roll d10.
1 - Enjoying a nice Sake
2 - Enjoying a relaxing Bath
3 - Wandering the Gardens
4 - Receiving a Deep Cleanse
5 - Sleeping the Sake off in a Pod
6 - Having a meal in the Food Court
7 - Speaking with the Complaints Statue
8 - Engaging in business in one of the Meeting Rooms
9 - Sorting out a discrepancy with Administrator Goro
10 - Talking with Katawa himself!

*Sidebar - Ulterior Motives*

Ulterior Motives

Guest Stats
There are 5 stats for guests.
Hit Die [HD] - A relative counter of how tough they are.
Number [No.] - A count of how many of them there are, in absolute number or dice.
Affiliated [Aff] - The chance in 6 of each guest knowing anything about another guest, the more it passes by, the more they know. Also the odds of knowing who you should talk to about a specific problem you might have.
Relation [Rel] - How friendly they might be with the party (to begin with at least).
Influence [Inf] - How much everyone else in the Bath-House will want to speak with them.

Guest List

1 - The Mantis Ambassadors
Long, thin, elegant. Soft of speech, harsh of word. Straight to the point. Superior, but are too polite to admit it. They speak for the Insect Queendoms.
HD - 3 No. - 2d4 Aff - 4 Rel - 3 Inf - 4
Secret: Plotting a war to elevate Queen Chitin to Arch-Fae status.

2 - The Dark Apostles
Soft and rounded in places, thin and curved in others, like they have been molded by great fingers. Large, haunted lantern-eyes. Dread adherents of the Void-God-Who-Is-Devoured
HD - 1 No. - 3d6 Aff - 2 Rel - 3 Inf - 1
Secret: If you propitiate them properly, they can eat someone totally and unacceptably. (No-one is truly safe from them, but by no means is the doom of particularly powerful beings guaranteed either.)

3 - The Flame-Bellied Djinn
An agent of Mechanus, the city of law and Djinni. His belly is a great barred furnace, smoke constantly pools in his mouth and ears, curls from his nose. Boistrous, laughs from the belly.
HD - 6 No. - Unique Aff - 3 Rel - 3 Inf - 2

Secret: Spying on the other realms to assess if any are approaching Mechanus' technological level.

4 - Grande Toade
A huge, boil-covered toad. Long fu-manchu style moustache, great bushy eye-brows like feathers. Apparently some sort of royalty, or perhaps semi-divinity. Uncertain. Never elaborates.
HD - 4 No. - Unique Aff - 2 Rel - 2 Inf - 3
Secret: Grande Toade is a manifestation of the True God of all Amphibians, who dwells partially beneath the lake the Bath-House sits upon.

5 - Reynardine, the Were-Fox
Seducer of women, seducer of men, seducer of trees and water features, seducer of... well just about everything. A bit of a foppish rake, but looks just fabulous without fail.
HD - 3 No. - Unique Aff - 4 Rel - 3 (5 for characters with 15+ cha) Inf - 2

Secret: When a 1 is rolled on an Affiliation roll for another guest, Reynardine has had a secret dalliance with someone close to the guest.

6 - A Squadron of Locust Knights
Members of the warrior caste of Sahandralar, the great democracy. On some sort of quest, but they've been on so many damn quests no one cares any more. Boistrous, but honourable.
HD - 3 (and 1 captain of 5) No. - 3d6 Aff - 2 Rel - 5 Inf - 2

Secret: They are exiles from Sahandralar, and cannot return until their great deeds outweight their hidden shame.

7 - Mogirus, the Bear
He's a big bear. Smart enough to come in every so often for some fish and a wander, but otherwise, just a bear. Despite this, all the other guests are convinced there is something more to him.
HD - 3 No. - Unique Aff - 0 Rel - 3 Inf - 2

Secret: Is literally just a bear, there is nothing special about him.

8 - The Sturgeon Scholars
The most pre-eminent scholars from the Benthic Colleges, with doctorates in all manner of subjects and passing interests in everything left over. As far as they know at least. Snooty. Intolerable.
HD - 1 No. - 2d4 Aff - 3 Rel - 2 Inf - 3

Secret: Stole much of their original research from a rival school, who they bully into silence.

9 - The Beetle Brethren
Adherents of the Holy Order of Mistress Moth. Thick, hempen robes and swinging fire-fly censers. Speak only in chittering, though they can speak human perfectly well. Just want to be left alone.
HD - 1 No. - 3d4 Aff - 3 Rel - 1 Inf - 1

Secret: Mistress Moth is dead, and they have killed her; they feasted on her semi-divine flesh.

10 - The Many-Armed Scroll-Keeper
How many arms does he have? Many. How many scrolls does he have? Many. How many long centuries has he kept to his sacred task? Many. How many more questions will he have to answer before you get he picture and bugger off? ... (sigh) Many.
HD - 2 No. - Unique Aff - 1 Rel - 2 Inf - 2
Secret: He keeps all the secret knowledge he collects, he does not burn it like he says he does.

11 - The Owl-Sages
Bedecked in fine robes and adorned with fine jewelry. Know much of the secret things of the world. They have many books they read at night that keep their secrets safe.
HD - 1 No. - 2d8 Aff - 3 Rel - 3 Inf - 3
Secret: They bought their knowledge from a Demon of the Moon, at a terrible cost that they have yet to pay.

12 - A Maniple of Centurion's Rose
Boistrous and unruly, they speak through pheromones and generally get up to little more than fighting and brawling. Easily coaxed into drinking competitions.
HD - 2 No. - 5d6 Aff - 1 Rel - 2 (4 if drunk) Inf - 1

Secret: They bear a magic book which contains a number of rituals for opening Secret Roads of magic. They use it as a seat for the Rose-Captain.

13 - A Random Hag
Even hateful demon-women of the woods need to pop in for a deep-cleanse and a few tots of sake every so often. Be reasonable please.
HD - 3+ No. - 1 Aff - d4 Rel - d4 Inf - d4

Secret: Depends on the Hag, usually is a magical power, with a terrible cost.

14 - The Prince of Bats
Long eared, wet-nosed, sniveling, squeaky voice. Much maligned, but put up with due to his powerful connections. Exceedingly nocturnal, and very nosy.
HD - 6 No. - Unique + 2d4 Bat-folk attendants Aff - 4 Rel - 1 Inf - 4

Secret: Plots to kill his father and become The Dread King of Night.

15 - Long-Ears and Long-Whiskers
Human in shape, yet animal in aspect, and a powerful spirit of the woodland in nature. They clad themselves in a human form to better facilitate negotiation about the well-being of the forest in which it lives.
HD - 4 No. - Unique Aff - 3 Rel - 1 (but pretends it 4) Inf - 3

Secret: Secretly despises "civilised" cultures, but will never let you know it. Dreams of putting them back in their place.

16 - A Dryad Bacchinalia
The best party you've ever been to, the worst hangover you've ever had. Some of its tame, some of it is jaw-droppingly decadent and depraved. Not good at tidying up.
HD - Between 1 and 3 No. - 10d10 Aff - 1 (with a +1 for each party the Guest has attended with the Dryads, if in doubt, roll d4) Rel - 3 (6 when drunk) Inf - 2 (6 if they're out for a party)

Secret: They stole all their membership from village orphans and changed them into the psuedo-spirits they are now.

17 - The Rat-Nobles
Refined, cultured, well-groomed. Always out on some kind of urgent (but never too urgent) business, always far too busy to talk to you (but never busy enough to rush).
HD - 2 No. - 3d4 Aff - 4 Rel - 1 Inf - 4

Secret: They pray that no one ever finds out that really, they aren't all that important, all that rich, all that cultured. They pour their hearts into the deceit.

18 - The Brewer Dogs
Punks in leather jackets, festooned with silver spikes, make a killer pale ale. Out for a good time, and hoping to bump into a great business opportunity while they're at it.
HD - 1 No. - 3d4 Aff - 3 Rel - 4 Inf - 2

Secret: There is only a limited supply of their precious ale. They don't know how to make more. They dread the day it runs out.

19 - A Bone Scrivener
Something like a cross between an owl and a centipede that wears heavy cloaks so that you are never quite sure what it really is. An oracle whose preferred medium should be obvious, the older the better.
HD - 3 No. - 1 Aff - 5 (but the costs are always high) Rel - 3 Inf - 3

Secret: The price it paid for its powers were its family's lives. The guilt wracks it terribly.

20 - Carved-From-Stone, the Giant
Barely fits within then Bath-House, has to bathe in the hot springs beneath, makes the whole place smell slightly when he does, is not well liked for that reason.
HD - 8 No. - Unique Aff - 2 Rel - 2 Inf - 1

Secret: He is a cousin of the Spirits of the Hot-Springs, which is the only reason Katawa still allows him to come to the Bath-House.

21 - Big-Headed Carlos
His head is far too big for his small, stupid body. He is not stupid, though everyone assumes he is. He knows far more than he lets on with his stupid, gormless face.
HD - 3 No. - Unique Aff - 4 Rel - 3 Inf - 1

Secret: None, but when he is affiliated with another Guest, he knows their secret too, and looks out for any chance to leverage it for his own gain whilst also maintaining his charade.

22 - Many-Legged Karthus
He is a spider, who is also a man. Somehow, try not to think about it too much, dear morsal, you get all tough and stringy when you get stressed. Long thin grins, like, all the time.
HD - 4 No. - Unique Aff - 2 Rel - 3 (5 for delicious looking PCs) Inf - 2

Secret: He is terribly lonely, and wishes only to find a mate.

23 - Rot-Grub the Stinky
Bloated body, buzzing wings, wrist-rubbing, wheezy voice. A consummate sycophant, and totally oblivious to the fact that everyone hates him. Never realises that some of the things he's heard are actually quite important...
HD - 2 No. - Unique Aff - 2 Rel - 4 Inf - 1

Secret: None, but when he is affiliated with another Guest, he knows their secret too, but doesn't know that its important.

24 - Stone-Antlers and his Family
A great elk with flinty protrudences, he is haughty and proud. Disinclined to conversation, but can easily be coaxed into opportunities to show off his powerful physicality. Family are quiet and subservient to the overbearing father. They wish to be rid of him.
HD - 4 (1 for family members) No. - Unique +2d3 family members Aff - 4 Rel - 1 (3 for the family) Inf - 3

Secret: Stone-Antlers is quite unaware of all the enemies he has accumulated, and his family would eagerly sell him out to any one of them.

25 - A Gaggle of Goblins
Immature, inept, inexplicable. They cause trouble wherever they go, and by their gobliney nature, they spontaneously generate more of them from the dark and damp corners.
HD - 0 No. - d6d6 (d6 more appear each day) Aff - 2 Rel - 2 Inf - 1

Secret: None as such, but if more than 100 goblins are ever present in the Bath-House at one time, the entire place will just become utterly infested, and it will resemble a battle-ground more than a recreational establishment.

26 - The Kindly Ferret Maidens
Just absolute sweethearts is clean white dresses. Virtuous to a fault. Courteous to the extreme. Everyone loves them, no-one has any reason to dislike them at all. Often go around the Bath-House handing out small plates of cookies. Delicious cookies.
HD - 3 No. - 2d6 Aff - 4 Rel - 2 Inf - 4

Secret: Actually deadly assassins. Very rarely are they here on business.

27 - The White Bride and the Black Widow
Two who seem similar in look, but are altogether opposites. One is delighted, one is devastated. Its not often that your expectations align with the reality. Perpetually awaiting their big days, supposedly related to some incredibly important people, but no-one can ever agree on who.
HD - 1 No. - 2, Unique Aff - 3 Rel - 4 for the Widow, 2 for the Bride Inf - 4

Secret: The Bride killed the Widow's husband, which put in her current predicament.

28 - Songbird the Beautiful
Wears her wings like robes and her feathers like jewelry, her song is exquisite, he laughter like sunshine. Everyone knows she's a spy, but she's just so charismatic that they don't care. She's never here to spy on them after all, she told them herself!
HD - 6 No. - Unique Aff - 6 (though you'd never bother a lady about her work would you?) Rel - 4 Inf - 6

Secret: Its always a secret just who it is that she really is here to spy on.

29 - THE BULL
THE BULL IS BIG. THE BULL IS MEAN. THE BULL WILL TOLERATE NO WEAKNESS. THE BULL WILL TOLERATE NO WEASEL WORDS. THE BULL IS TRUE! THE BULL DECLARES IT SO!
HD - 6 No. - Unique + d6 Minotaur attendants Aff - 3 Rel - 2 (5 for tough types) Inf - 2

Secret: THE BULL is slowly dying, his invincibility wears thin.

30 - A Visiting Fae Lord

Roll on your favourite table for Fae Lords!
HD - Lots No. - Unique (usually) Aff - 6 Rel - d6 Inf - 6
Secret: Depends on the Fae Lord

6 themes of the Old Frontier

Bogeyman's Cave and Throne of Salt (among others) did this thing already, so go read those ones. Once you're done with those, with no further ado, here's my setting flavour waffle!

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 - Mankind is Old, we have left many ruins

Many are the ruins of ancient times.

The empire of all humanity is ancient beyond reckoning, and its borders have shifted and ebbed like tides over the many millennia. In the quiet and forgotten corners are the dead remnants of old cities and castles and towns, obviously ancient, but only the most learned will be able to discern if they were the homes of civilisations of previous ages, or merely imperial cities that were lost in the latest spate of disasters.

2 - The Gods are Dead, but we are not alone

All man has left are Saints and Angels.

It is well known that the Gods are Dead; none dispute this. Without them, demons and devils and monsters and wicked men prey on the souls of man with ever growing audacity, but there is hope. Some few of the peoples of man are worthy to walk the Path of Saints and inherit the leftover scraps of their Divinity and ascend with power to the heavenly battlefields. So to do the God's attendant angels, now masterless, mass in heavenly hosts to battle against the dying of the light. These are the beings that men worship, to defend their living souls from being stolen in the night.

3 - The World is Alive, and yet Dying

The spirits of the world take many shapes and forms.

All things have their spirits, they are all alive; not quite in the manner that you or I are, but alive they are, and they all have their own minds and goals and agency. The druids and shamans and rangers of the world know the old ways of man, and can yet speak to them, and interact with the souls of mountains, and preposition the hive-mind of the forest.

And yet, the Sun wanes in the centre of the universe; the earth will not survive its death, and so it plans, and hopes.

4 - The System is Broken, and The Man is not your friend

Well, maybe not exactly like this, but maybe more of your nobles should be Skellingtons?

His Dread Majesty dwells far, far away in Holy Babylon, and his agents are scattered and few.
The Duke of the Frontier is corrupt and fat on the harsh, harsh taxes he extracts from the people.
The Baron of Brygge is a heretic, a demon-worshiper, and dreams of rebellion.
People in power are very rarely on your side, and will usually at best be out to use you for your abilities if they do seem to be aligned with you. There may well be a few that genuinely are good, but they are few and far between. Hold them close.

5 - Magic is Everywhere you can't see it

The Cunning Folk know all kinds of secret, simple magics.

Magic isn't common, but there are always wizards who dwell in high towers just over the next hill, shrines to ancient spirits with pools of healing water, and you can never tell when your neighbour might be one of the Cunning Folk, and have a talisman to heal the sickness that has settled in your gut.

Most people will never see magic, but then again most people will never visit more places than they have fingers, and few will go to the lost and wild places where magic still waxes strongly. Most people don't even believe in monsters for heaven's sake.

6 - In the end, there is still hope for the future

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

The world is bleak, but there is still hope.

The sun is not yet dead, there are still Saints to defend the souls of man, there are still heroes.

Perhaps you'll even be remembered as one.

The Major Locales of the Crimson Sea

Holy Vesturia - Seat of the Holy Covenant

Of all places sacred to men, none shall be held as high as Grand Vesturia, the Birth-Place of the Great Blood-Covenant forged between men and the Gods-to-Be. Its tall spires scrape the very skies, its statuary raise profligate hands to receive blessings from above, its people offer their all to the Grand Church of Blood-Communion.

And all are lead in Worship by his Most Holiness, Pontif Sanguinius the First and Only, forever and ever, Amen; who forged the Promise on which all who live on the Shores of the Crimson Sea do dwell. And blessed too be his Crimson Ministers who tend to the herds of the High Shepard of men.

During the day, Vesturia is a quiet bustle as humans tend to themselves and their daily tasks, underneath the watchful eyes of the Crimson ministers, who are jealous of their flock as a husband is jealous of his wife. In the darkened manors and homes of the Gods-to-Be, the Crusaders of the Covenant play at high society in grand symposiums and soirees. At night, men huddle in their homes, and try to shut out the sounds of the bloody violence, the screams of demons, and the Victory Hymns and exultations of the Crusaders.

The Church of the Holy Covenant rules all in Holy Vesturia, as it should be, for only through his Most Holiness can men ever hope to escape the horrors of the Night.

Sight-Seeing in the Red-Walled City of the Holy Covenant:

- The Mighty Cathedral of the Glories of the Blood-Pact - Where his Most Holiness, the First and Only (forever and ever, Amen) Pontif forged the Covenant with men, and the First of the Red Ministers joined him in holy brotherhood. Its tall, white-stone walls stand out against the dull greys and blacks of the Cities, an endless reminder of the Dominion of the Church.

- The Conflagration of the Apostate - Once a glorious estate of much wealth and the home of a noble lineage, the current occupant (who has lived there for over two centuries now) performed an unforgivable sin in the eyes of the Church: he poisoned himself. It was such a sin, Pontif Sanguinius himself came down from the Cathedral of Glories wreathed in wrath and power, and laid down upon the Noble and his house a terrible curse. Now it stands forever, as does its owner, only they are wreathed in an eternal flame, ever burning in parts, ever smouldering in places, always blossoming with smoke, forever and ever, until such a time as his sins have been scoured away in cleansing fire.

- Wolf-Pyre Plaza - A great square at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Cathedral of Glories, its centre is blackened and charred, for it is where the Beasts and Demons of the Night are burned as the morning sun is only just daring to rise, to the furious jeers and cheers of the Crusaders still high on the Night's Hunt-Lust.
-

The Bone-Metropolis of Demise

Built by those who would escape the Tyranny of the Church, Demise was constructed in the one place the Church would never find them, in the titanic, skeletal remains of the so-called "arch-demon". Though now the Covenant are well aware of the dissidents, they can no longer easily crush them, thus they bide their time and plot the downfall of the Corpse-City.

The skull of the Demon has been fashioned into a kind of Anti-Cathedral, the eyes and nostrils filled in with stained-glass, and the teeth hollowed out into the pipes of a Great Organ, played only when the Red Ministers of the Communion that are captured face their now traditional execution; a stake through the heart and decapitation.

The City proper is built in the hollow of the Rib-Cage, the tall off-white towers rising in their arcs above the homes and buildings, fashioned into Watch-Towers. The Left Leg and the Right Arm have been fashioned into the Western and Eastern Wharfs respectively, as the Right Leg has long been lost to the Waves of the Living Sea. The Shoulder Blades, flanking the Anti-Cathedral, now form the home of the Ivory School, and the Noble Houses of the City Founders. The Pelvis is the foundation of the grand Fortress of the City, and stands as their great Fastness against the Churches Crusaders. The City has now spread beyond the confines of the almighty bones now, and only continues to grow from those that escape Vesturia, and the growth of hope and rebellion against Pontif Sangunius.

Their true strength, though they do not know it, lies in the Ivory School, who practice the lost and ancient art of Bone-Carving. They have created and discovered many tools that are particularly effective against the Gods-to-Be, and when the Church finally makes their move against Demise, they will find it a much more stalwart foe that any guessed it to be.

The Leviathan Yards

Huge, Pallid, and Ever-Squirming and Writhing, beasts like beached whales mount the shore leaking foul fluids into the furious sea, and birth the Flesh-Hulks that can sail the Living Sea.

The Harbour-Masters of the Leviathan Yards are some of the most feared (and rich) individuals of the Crimson Sea, second perhaps even to The First and Only (forever and ever Amen) Pontif of the Church of the Communion. Certainly they are second in influence, as they sell the Living Ships that alone are capable of surviving the Attentions of the Crimson Sea for any length of time without cracking open like a nut. They charge exorbitant prices, which are duly paid for now.

They are something like a cross between Spiders and Lobsters, standing up like a crooked old man, most of their limbs tucked away like a mental-patient while the main arms constantly scribble in their record books, their multi-facet eyes dancing this way and that and their mouths full of articulated teeth chitter quietly even as they speak to you. They are thin and long, unlike their worker-soldier brethren, who are much like them, only shorter and fatter, like crabs in the way the Harbour Masters are like Lobsters. Their thick, almost lacquered armour plates have been know to turn aside even the heaviest sword blows, though their underbellies have proven to be relatively soft.

This isn't to say that they aren't also feared in battle. Most every power on the Crimson Sea has tried once or more to take the Leviathan Yards for themselves. All have failed, the Nerve-Arresters and Claws of the Worker-Soldiers proving devastatingly effective even against the terrible power of the Crimson Crusaders. Mercifully, they have neither the numbers nor the inclination for conquest, as far as is known and hoped.

The Supra-Human Republics

The last (and most recently founded) of the Mighty Powers of the Crimson Sea, the Supra-Human Republics are feared by just about everyone. Of course, the Red Church of Vesturia is the most powerful and feared of the cities of the Living Sea, but the Supra-Human republics have proven themselves their equal in terms of the fear they spread, in the way they deal with prisoners, in their ever-changing and unpredictable power struggles, and in the doom they represent for Man-Kind.

They are the pinnacle of Human Evolution, as they tell everyone, beyond the Gods-to-Be of the traitor-state, beyond the Homunculi of the Alchemists, beyond the Star-Priests, beyond the Elves, beyond all and any! Their biology is as perfect as can ever be attained, neither age nor sickness nor exposure will ever slay one of their number, and their unimpeachable flesh is left behind by the Crusaders of the Church, evidence of their superiority!

In one aspect they still seem human though, they squabble endlessly and constantly. The Republics are fractitious in the extreme, and new havens are constantly being born left and right, and coups are levied against the new most treacherous and decadent of the Doges, only to be replaced by a Doge twice as corrupt and reprobate again. Trade continues to thrive in the turmoil though, and thus the Apex of Men supports many of their lesser kind in orbiting towns.

Of course, there is much war made between the Republics and Vesturia, the one enemy the Doges can actually ally as a group against for any amount of time. Such wars are often short-lived, as the Crimson Crusaders must always return to The City of Red Walls before the fall of night, and the Doges can never actually organise any kind of co-ordinated assault against the Holy City, their fragile alliances born of mutual hatred of the Red Ministers finally being overtaken by the storm of their petty squabbles. It is doubtful the Republics could ever actually overcome Vesturia; their numbers are too few, but the Church is determined to exterminate them, which betrays more than the ever-teethy smiles of the Ministers could.

Within the Republics themselves, the Supra-Humans dwell in endless luxury and fathomless melodrama, constantly seeking deeper and deeper depravities to explore and thrills to chase. Around them, "lesser-men" toil to sustain them, even as the Supra-Humans bully them to work harder and harder.

Of the origins of the Supra-Humans, they will not speak. Many rumours have been circulated (many certainly started by the Supra-Humans themselves), perhaps they are the final result of an Alchemist's life-time research into the creation of perfect Homunculi, or maybe they are renegade Ministers of the Church who have overcome their needs and vulnerabilities. It is even possible that they are lying, and sustain themselves purely on magic. No-one can tell for now, and if the secret is anywhere, it is in the dread-hearts of the Palaces of the Doges of the Supra-Human Republics.

Tazima and the Thin Forest

South across the Middle Sea is the great city of Tazima, land of the the Long River, guarded by the Thin Forest.

Approaching from the sea, with the south-westerly wind in your sails, from far off you will first see the great Lamp-Fires atop their tall monoliths, and as you approach, the many faces of their many gods will watch over your ship as it comes in to port. Here, the river is a great delta, and many farms grow rice and crops of all kinds in the shallow mud. You sail up the deepest channels at the certain times of day to stop yourself from being grounded. Not far ahead are the 7 great pyramids that make up the city of Tazima.

They are arranged in a ring formation, six ziggurats surrounding a central seventh. The outer ziggurats have four steps, but the centre one has five, and they are all always topped with pillars of smoke, visible even from far off.

They sacrifice men to give the Dying God of the River more time.

The city of Tazima recognises many gods, but they revere (and equally fear) three in particular.

- The Dying God, whose blood is the river (which is named for them). They dwell far off to the south in a prison of mountains.
- Jaguar, who governs the jungle while the sun shines, and is noble, proud, and fierce.
- Panther, who rules the jungle while the sun is gone, and is secretive, cunning, and really quite personable.

Much of life in Tazima is focused on placating the three gods of their microcosm.
The hearts and bloods of their honoured warriors are cut out and drained and stored. Each year, when the river is at its weakest, the boats are set up-river to deliver a cargo of blood to the mountains. They never return, but the river floods again next year, so the cycle continues.
The bodies are left to the jungle to be eaten by Jaguar, Panther, and their courts. It is assumed that they do not mind that the hearts and bloods are missing, since their forest relies on the river just as much as Tazima does.

Almost all the other bodies are given to the river.

A tiny few are given to the desert beyond the far edge of the jungle.
Everyone in Tazima dreads the desert. Hungry spirits who wear the skins of jackals and the wings of vultures dwell in those spectre-haunted dunes.
But beyond that, the Desert represents a more existential terror. The Dry Wastes are eternal stasis; death in the jungle or the sea is rebirth, a return to the eco-system; death in the Desert is an endless non-life, relegated to a swirl of dust on the wind.

The Jungle is another world altogether.
A mad riot of life and vibrancy, continual death and renewal, ruled by twin-kings, haunted by mysterious spirits. All kinds of tales are told by the hunters who salvage meat from the fringes; howling spirits who dangle from the trees, snakes who can grow big enough to swallow trees (though they die and leave behind a great skeleton in the process) and insects who speak with the voices of dead-men.
The strangest sights are seen most commonly not deeper into the jungle, for it is a thin place, but further up-river, where even the men are strange, and the earth itself rebels beneath your feet.
In general, as long as one is courteous, and brings the proper gifts, your safety is usually assured. It takes a bold beast indeed to go against the guest-rites of the jungle, but it has been known to happen.

Within the city itself however, life is a competition, in almost every aspect.
Each of the seven Ziggurats is something of a mini-city within the greater whole; each is governed by a Great Family whose primary concerns are spiritual, followed by political.
Each tries to out do the others to raise the most sacrifices each year for the annual offerings; leading to inter-city raids, war-parties sailing out into the Middle Sea to raid nearby cities, and even up-river slaver-bands to steal people from the yet-more mysterious cities close to the Dying god.

Of course, only the most honoured warriors and leaders are worthy sacrifices for the offerings, luckily for the commoners of Tazima.

Plot Hooks in Tazima:
1 - The annual offering is due to leave when the river hits its lowest in 2d4 days. One of the great families would rather like some honourless mercenaries to head on over and steal a few hearts for their ships instead...
2 - This year, one of the Great Houses is rather inclined to have their ships returned to them after making their offering. They are looking for capable warriors to guard the ships.
3 - One of the Princes of the city has been kidnapped and left to die in the desert. Someone who isn't totally terrified of the sand needs to go out and rescue him.
4 - A spirit of the Jungle came back into the city with a hunting party, impersonating a warrior. Someone needs to find it before it causes any problems.
5 - A great spirit-king of the jungle has captured a group of hunters, with a voice like howling wind and fur like fire. The Great Families would really like their honoured warriors back, regardless of the whims of the Spirit.
6 - A classic; one of the heads of the Great Families is really too good at his job. For the sake of the whole city, they need to die.
7 - A rather large spirit in the guise of a crocodile has taken one of the inter-pyramidal bridges as its new lounging spot, and is apparently asking the populace to pay a toll of either a tooth, a chicken, or a riddle. Deal with it before it gets out of hand or really hungry.
8 - A spirit of the forest has been stealing the hearts of hunters in their sleep, it is unknown how it is accomplishing this.

Hadestown

The Isle of the Dead

Out on the lake furthest from civilisation, there is a perpetual fog, and squatting in the centre of it is the Isle of the Dead. They say that the spirits of the departed haunt the fog and they are only partially wrong. Many of the dead transition to the underworld here, but they all must pass the Gatesman.

The approach is quiet like thunder isn't.

He lurks at the mouth of the tunnel, passed the trees, passed the other side doors down. Like a statue, draped in stone cloths, he stands in constant vigil, shepherding the souls of the dead down the tunnel. The living however, he stops, and tells that; "THE PRICE OF ENTRY, IS TWO OBOLS." If questioned about this, all he will elaborate on is that "THE LIVING ARE NOT PERMITTED TO TRULY SEE THE CITY OF THE DEAD".

If the price is paid, the Gatesman will place the coins on the eyes of the entrants, and they will affix there, the eyes on the coin opening, and they will be permitted to pass. From this point on, the entrant can see as if through a thick, misty rain; all desaturated, grainy, and colourless. When they leave, the Obols will melt into mist from their eyes, and their sight shall be restored.

If they ever remove the Obols while they remain within the threshold of the Gatesman's door, their own eyes will melt from their head, as the Obol's eyes burst into sepia flame and scream.

And how do you get Obols you may ask?
In the dungeon of course.

The Dungeon

Long ago, the King of the Dead built his town and took his queen, who took umbrage at her imprisonment over a few pomegranate seeds. She sent beast after beast to take their life of her husband, but Kerberos, the Hound of Many Heads, denied her many times. Each beast was taken above, and then below again to be left in the Dungeons under the Isle of the Dead.

Dungeon Levels

There are nine levels of the dungeon. They begin civilised enough, covered in frescoes and ornate architecture. As you get deeper the carvings become rougher, the artwork daubed by hand, and older things crawl up from the darkness.

Each level is the prison of one specific demon-beast that sort to slay the Lord of Hadestown, though various other creatures and beings have crawled into its darkness or have been imprisoned down there with them.

Its a good thing they never made another one of these.
But also this is what the dungeon looks like. Like this movie.

1 - The Labyrinth

Form: Twisting and Writhing Halls, they never seem to stay the same for long. Prisoner: Minos, the Man-Bull

2 - The Cathedral of Bones

Form: A great holy city under one great vaulted roof. All the walls are covered and ornamented by bones. Prisoner: Tiresias, the Necromancer-Oracle

3 - The Forest of Roots

Form: A classic dungeon, only roots grow through many of the walls and choke many of the tunnels. Prisoner: The Hekatonkhieres

4 - Scrambletown

Form: A simple, mud-brick town, but the floor is covered in shattered stone statues. Prisoner: The Gorgon.

5 - Pandaemonium

Form: A great, many-ringed city with many gates of horn and ivory. Many things that are not real wander here. Prisoner: The Oneiroi, the Demons of Dream.

6 - The Pit

Form: A Shaft, dropping far, far away into the darkness. Worm-tunnels riddle its sides. Prisoner: Artemis, cursed to fall down the shaft over and over forever and ever.

7 - The Helix Fortress

Form: A curling, ribbed tunnel, twining deeper and deeper. Prisoner: Nautilus, the Murderer-Mariner.

8 - The Bleakling Sea

Form: A vast calcite cavern, dominated by a huge and eternally still under-sea. Prisoner: Typhon, father of Serpents. [Kerberos' loyalty extends even deeper than family it seems.]

9 - The Darkest Prison

Form: Only a black and lightless hole in the world. Prisoner: the Treacherous Queen of Hadestown. [Even the patience of the Lord of the Dead is not infinite.]

On each level, a few scant Obols can be covered, enough for your party I'm sure. Each time they return, they must venture deeper.

The Descent

Once you have paid your price and covered your eyes with the currency of the dead, you can begin your journey down into the darkness. Follow the tunnel for 3 days, eat nothing, drink nothing, ignore the scratches at your belly, they are only your body unsure about where it is. Grope through the shadows until finally you emerge in the great cavern beneath. Step onto the boat, pay as little attention to the boatman as you can, and wait for the journey to be over. Look up, step up onto the dock, and gaze upon Hadestown.

Hadestown

It is built upon a great sphere of stone, supposedly a mile in diameter, though only a thousand feet or so poke above the water, a cold dome upon which a mad jigsaw, mish-mash, building-block city constructed upon the dome.
Soft candle-light illuminates parts of the town gently, like a soft luminous mist. The buildings grow both in luxury and repair as you rise up the dome. A cancerous mass of ruined building clings ungratefully to the edge of the dome, partially eaten by the deep black sea. It is all topped with a palace, measured well with spleandour and melancholy.

This is Hadestown.

There are few views to the sky in the streets of Hadestown.
They have forgotten the Stars.

The streets are claustrophobic and layered like string, few places are open to the sky, save the forums where the diviners search endlessly and desperately for stars. Fires provide a soft light, though it is muted by the Obol-Eyes you must wear.

The water laps softly against the edges of the island, and the few edges that aren't built up are blistered with fisherman dangling fruitless lines into the black waters.

The Town is split into three districts, built one atop the others, dependant on their altitude. Some try to bring themselves into higher districts by building their houses taller and taller to breach into more prestigious heights and construct bridges to connect them to their new neighbours. Rarely are these towers not torn down.

The Three Districts are Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium.

Tartarus

The lowest of the Districts and the closest to the water. Here are the dead who arrived with their two Obols and little else. Sometimes inhuman things uncoil from the waters are pluck them from the wharfs and streets and pull them soundlessly under the surface. No-one cares, not even Tartarans.

The streets are slow and dark, they reek of damp and dust. They say the cobbles were cut from the bones of titans.

Very little of interest happens in Tartarus, which is exactly why the few illicit activities that do happen in Hadestown happen here. There are a few gangs of itinerant souls once led by five particularly sinister Souls, who now languish in the Phlegethon.

The other point of note in Tartarus is Cocytus, the purgatory slum.

Phlegethon

Of the four great houses of Hadestown, Phlegethon is the most dreaded by its people. Consisting of a wide and flat main body, much of its structure lies below the surface of the dome (more so than most buildings in Hadestown. These under-levels eventually constrict and separate into 5 anti-spires, delving deeper and deeper before terminating in the 5 prisons of the Conspirators, who led the people of Tartarus against the Lord of the Dead in the Traitor Queen's name. They are suspended by the neck in vats of boiling, burning blood.

Their names have been forgotten, but this much is remembered:

The Prisoners

One had an eye that could see the past, and one that could see the future. [They have been plucked out and are kept pointed back at themselves, all they can see is the eternal suffering they will experience, past and future.]

One had a voice whose commands had to be obeyed. [They are gagged, but in truth, any command given must be given, no matter how it is relayed. This face has been hidden well.]

One had hands that could not be resisted or restrained. [This one stumped the Judges of Hadestown for some time, until they created a pool whose edges could not be gripped and threw them in, so that they could never pull themselves free of the pool.]

One had feet who could carry them quicker than the wind. [They were hung by the hands in a wide pool whose edges could not be reached from the centre, but they needn't have worried. The power lies in their sandals, which are hidden in their old home on the waterfront.]

And one had much knowledge of the three Great Arts. [It is said that they have been left in their pool to suffer; but the Judges of Hadestown cut a deal with them. They can live secretly in peace in Elysium with the Judges if they copy all their knowledge into three great tomes. They accepted without hesitation.]

The Jailor of the Phlegethon is a fractal being forged from many, many overlapping souls of great commanders and expert archers, forced into one multi-faceted thing. It stalks through the hallways, thundering steps echoing from its single pair of feet, many ears listening through its single set. When intruders are discovered (which only happens rarely) many arms draw back many bowstrings, though only one arrow is loosed.

But with that many experts aiming and firing it, it never misses.
And with as many minds formulating and concocting strategies, it is all but impossible to outsmart it to.

It can out act you in almost every way, but there is only one of it.

And it still dies like a man does.

Cocytus

A festering scab of hovels and fire-pits clinging desperately onto the dome, here lurk the few that Charon didn't take across the waters. Once it was a great house of the dome, but it slid, slowly and achingly into the water, and its ancient hallways still make up the foundation of this water-logged despond. It is partially submerged into the black sea, like its inhabitants, for they are not permitted to walk upon the dome. They did not pay their price.

Everything is wet, and cold, and miserable. No-one wanted to be here, many did not deserve to, but they had no obols. If you could give them a pair, they could pay the ferryman and step upon the dry ground again.

But who of any actual worth would end up here?

In fact, a few important people do end up in Cocytus for various reasons, especially adventurers and warriors. It takes a good deal of effort to find any of them. Shades in Hadestown generally keep to themselves, or their social circles if they ever form them. They also look a lot alike, especially when you're wearing your obols, but they really don't like it being brought up.

In particular, there are three places in Cocytus that shades tend to congregate; the Dive, the Crush, and the Vice.

The Dive is about as miserable a bar as you could ever find. Even more dissolute that normal spirits stretch themselves thin beyond thin, and no-one is even drunk, just depressed and pretending. Its quite obnoxious. It is run by an especially spiteful shade by the name of Ixion. He can tell you the names and sins of each of his patrons, and has a book of grudges that any particular patron has built up against him.

The Crush is what passes for a market here. Shades with nets hook and snatch up the scraps that tumble off the dome and peddle them, shouting to swap and barter for other things, like tickets to be spent in the Dive or the Vice. No-one has anything of worth, they just trade shit round and round.

The Vice is as close to a brothel as incorporeal, miserable beings can manage, mashing ghosts and writhing spectres. They are all deluded, and its the only thing that stops many of them fading away completely, such is their desperation.

You could also descend under the water into the ruins of the old house, where it is said that many treasures still lie. You don't need to ask about much to hear many more tales of the dangers that lurk in the black sea.

Asphodel

The largest and most mediocre district of Hadestown. Grey and cold, but not so much so as Tartarus of course. The streets are not quite ruined, but they are certainly close to it. Fabrics even survive here a time, and craftsman make objects that do not succumb to the weight of years after a matter of hours. Shades wander the streets, make small talk, and even eat together. Life is somewhat normal here. Somewhat.

Here are the great houses of Lethe, and Acheron.

Lethe

This is the house of forgetting, a bar of some notoriety in Hadestown. Here, many, many souls come to be even more dissolute than normal, sometimes to the point of fading away entirely. Its like the Dive, but classier, and set in the dusty shell, refurbished many times over the millenia, of an old and noble house. Ancient Frescoes peel away from the wall as drinks cups are manufactured from ancient jars and flower pots.

Occasionally, balls are hosted by the proprietor, Mighty Lord Eschataloc, who claims to be the best friend you will ever meet, insist on becoming the first person you meet, and is far too comfortable grabbing strangers by the shoulder as her pushes dead drinks on them. He desires to be everyone's friend and have as many links to the world as he can, so that he can delay his fading away. All his friendships are shallow and artificial, and he can't for the death of him figure out why.

Acheron

The fighting pits of Acheron are some of the best entertainment in Hadestown, if simply for the reason that here the shades which frequent it can genuinely be said to be having a good time.

There are 7 pits in all; three are for shade versus shade bouts, three for shade versus beast bouts, and one basically always empty pit. The beasts are generally abducted from the dungeon above, and the living can (sometimes) be paid handsomely for catches that will put on a good show in the pits.

The pay is in relics of older ages, so value is not always consistent, let alone guaranteed.

The final pit is almost always empty because your opponent in the final pit is the owner of the Acheron, Axis. Axis is bad news.

He stands about 12 feet tall, and is wreathed in terrible flames, and crowned with many horns, and has many arms ringed about him, at least, when he doesn't want to be civil about things. His head is also a skull most of the time. Axis organises the fights, and occasionally asks favours of those who do particularly well. Very few are not friendly with Axis (not to his face at least) and his connections make Mighty Lord Eschataloc of House Lethe quite, quite jealous.

Elysium

As good as it gets in Hadestown. The buildings are actually cared for (often by souls from Tartarus who are bullied into doing it), and the streets are clear of rubble, even the back streets. The tea houses have comforting candle glows, and here, you might almost forget you're dead.

Almost.

In Elysium is the last of the great houses, Styx.

Styx

The final great house, it is something of a temple, something of a gathering place. One thing about it in particular stands out, while within its walls, no harm can befall you, of any kind. Knives will not cut, fires will not burn you, and even hurtful remarks gutter and die in the throat of those that would say them (if the saying would actually cause any offence to any that would hear it). It is a neutral meeting place for the dead and those that would visit them.
It is all presided over by The Dour Dowager, a woman of some startling age, beauty (considering her advancement at least) and cunning. She has little stake in the schemes and politics of her fellow dead, but she does so enjoy knowing about all about it, and is more than happy to trade secrets with those who offer. It is also she that controls the schedule of who can make use of each of the Styx's private rooms, the price often being a piece of juicy, fresh gossip.

The Lord's Palace

There are no records of it, but the Lord of the Dead was overthrown, and his corpse thrown into the black sea. In his place, 3 Judges sit in counsel of Hadestown, and continue the charade of the Lord's rule. His throne sits empty. This is very much secret.

The Three Judges

Mila - A general in life, she is stern, tactical, and imperious. This is also all a facade to ensure that none try to get too close to her. She is haunted by her old comrades.

Rhadaman - A king in life of a small but prosperous realm, brought to ruin in a single night because of a single mistake. Deeply disturbed by his past failings.

Aedriad - A mere beggar in life, long suffering and deeply empathetic, and yet also capable of startling acts of pragmatism in the name of Hadestown.

Together the three run the settlement fairly, if tersely and occasionally brutally. They are not above throwing shades into the lake and not looking back. They would do anything to continue the town's legacy, and their own standing.

The Seven Souls of Man and Clerics

Not many people know it, but there's more to you than you know.
Most people believe there to be merely one soul. This is true, but there are also six other souls. Various cultures are aware of various numbers of them. It is however, impossible to systematically prove any of it.

The First Soul: The Blood
The purest power of the universe, the most defined and real. There's a reason that demon-altars always ask for sacrifices of blood, and why blood is thicker than water.
Its power is mysterious and abstract, but it fuels all kinds of magics. Everything has blood, except some of the more enigmatic outsiders.
Blood lives, unsurprisingly, in your Blood.

The Second Soul: The Breath
Will, freedom, and choice. Without breath, there is no choice, there is no direction. Also you would asphyxiate and die.
Its power allows you to go where you wish, and choose what you wish.
Breath lives in your Lungs.

The Third Soul: The Body
Existence, physicality, resistance. Simply being is partially (more on that later) the result of having a body, it anchors the rest of your souls together.
Its power allows you to exist in one single space. Without it the composite nature of your being would drift apart.
The Body lives in your Bones.

The Fourth Soul: The Mind
Perception, conception, imagination. This soul is how you connect to the universe around you, how you take in data and interpret it.
Its power allows you to comprehend and calculate. Without it you would know nothing except that which is within you.
The Mind lives in your Eyes.

The Fifth Soul: The Soul
Remembering, feeling, believing. What people commonly believe to be your *Soul* as such.
Its power is what allows you to "grow" as a person, accumulate and develop. Without it, you would be hollow, existing only ever in the moment, remembering nothing.
The Soul lives in your Stomach.

The Sixth Soul: The Shadow
The other part of your physical existence, this soul governs substance and density, without it, you would be like morning mist.
Its power is weight and inertia, and also resistance and solidity.
The Shadow lives in your Liver.

The Seventh Soul: The Name
The most abstract soul. This is how others connect to you, it is a representation of you projected out into the world.
Its power is in identity, and self-actualisation. Without it, others won't remember you, and you would have no choice but to do as you are told.
The Name lives in your Teeth.

Clerics, as the guardians of the Souls of Man against the outer threats like demons and the undead, who would swallow up our being, gain benefits from souls, and use their powers in the fight to preserve the sanctity of our human flesh.
This is an attempt to link a Clerics powers to what they should be and do, with a loose metaphysical link thrown in for the heck of it.

The Circles of the Cleric's Power:
The First Circle: Rebuke
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Name.
By calling upon the names of God and Saint alike, the Cleric causes the unrighteous to flee before them.

The Second Circle: Presence
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Shadow.
By calling on Angels to augment or hide their shadow, the Cleric can become the most or least prominent individual in a room.

The Third Circle: Speak with Dead
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Soul.
By connecting with the last memories remaining in a body, the Cleric can speak with a facsimile of the departed.

The Fourth Circle: True Sight
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Mind.
With eyes wide open, the Cleric can see through any lie, whether created by magic, written, or spoken.

The Fifth Circle: Healing Hands
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Body.
By speaking to the Bones of their duty, the Cleric can heal even the most grievous wounds with a touch.

The Sixth Circle: Disspell
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Breath.
With a bellowing shout, the Cleric shatters the bonds of magic placed upon them and their allies.

The Seventh Circle: Resurrection
This power is gained by a Cleric's connection to the Blood.
The most potent power of all, the Cleric calls out to the powers that be, and by sacrificing a portion of their own life, it is granted to another.

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.

Events at the Guest House

Rumours

Secrets of the Bath-House

The Food-Hall

The Baths Themselves

Guests of the Bath-House

Brief Introduction: The Old Frontier

1 - Mankind is Old, we have left many ruins

2 - The Gods are Dead, but we are not alone

3 - The World is Alive, and yet Dying

4 - The System is Broken, and The Man is not your friend

5 - Magic is Everywhere you can't see it

6 - In the end, there is still hope for the future

Holy Vesturia - Seat of the Holy Covenant

The Bone-Metropolis of Demise

The Leviathan Yards

The Supra-Human Republics

The Isle of the Dead

The Dungeon

Dungeon Levels

The Descent

Hadestown

Tartarus

Cocytus

Asphodel

Lethe

Acheron

Elysium

Styx

Adventure Overview

Paradoxes, how to have already resolved them, and you

Inhabitants of the Tower

Time the Wizard

Thesean Eternals

Chronomatic Golems

Wicker-Men

The Guardian Drake

The Inevitable

Treasures of the Tower

Time's Spellbook

Time's Arcanite Supply

Time's Staff

Davidi's Witnesses

The Tree of Rubies

Time's Alchemical Laboratory

Other Features of the Tower

Crystalised Moments

The Chrono-Vault

The Twists in Time

The Saturnium

The Lightning-Cage

Time's Hidden Moment

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