Ghost Towns of the Certopsian

Ghost Towns of the Certopsian

 

The Certopsian Plains, where the shadows of the distant clouds creep long like black burn scars amongst the dry hills, silver sage brush, waist high savannah grasses and dust bedeviled alkali flats.  This clean, hot vastness obscures thousands of years of tragedy and evil, marked only by grit scoured bones and the tumbled petrified timbers of ancient homesteads.  Sometimes these tragedies leak back into the present, manifesting in the form of Ghost Towns, each a unique colony of supernatural necromantic power.  Ghost towns are dreams of the past, and will loom from the shadows of dusk, suddenly revealed in a gulch or behind the next ridge ready to succor weary travelers.  The towns often appear plausible and are not always hostile, but they are inherently dangerous and unnatural. 

Upon encountering a Ghost Town, roll a secret reaction check (with a bonus of 1) on a non-hostile roll the party may interact with town in the normal manner (SEE PEACEFUL INTERACTION below), and may only discover that it was a phantasm when they awake in the morning on the ground or begin to ask too many questions. On a hostile roll the town appears normal until the party reaches its center at which point the buildings themselves begin to stutter between material and ghostly, aging rapidly with leering sagging widows and yawning black doorways that pour out aggressive phantasms. (SEE COMBAT below)

Ghost Towns are incredibly dangerous, even to powerful adventurers or large organized group, as a fully hostile and active Ghost Town may attack with tens of weapon immune, life draining phantasms from all directions.  Towns may be defeated and destroyed, but it is usually advisable to simply flee as the phantasms will only pursue intruders a few hundred feet into the night.

The Pleasure Gardens of the Bruised Enormity - Map

The Bruised Enormity is the name given to a hedonistic creature that resides in the mountains between the Livid Fens and the Lower Certopsian Plains.  Some regard the creature as a Wizard of the normal megalomanical sort, though it is unclear if it holds any villages in thrall, or rules much of a domain beyond its own pleasure garden.  It is obvious that the Entity has access to potent Super-Science and dangerous magics both from the danger posed by its protectors and its otherworldly appearance.  The Entity is a protean mass of bruised looking flesh that speak telepathically and trundles slowly along on a series of stump like legs.  The enormous creature is served by a loyal staff of equally strange and varied creatures as it lolls about in the pools of its mountain side pleasure gardens.  From beautiful languid odalisque to hulking multi-armed guards the servitors of the enormity appear strangely alike, their flesh marked with the same flushed and purple tone as their master.

The Enormity is not actively hostile, seemingly content to bide its time and remain neutral in the struggles all around it.  It is no weakling however, and besides its battalions of mutated and freakish soldiers it possesses many allies and trades in intelligence among the various factions South of Denethix.

The Pleasure Gardens of the Bruised Enormity

TEMPUS GELIDUM- Full PDF

A black shadow above the alkali dust.  The caravan master shouts and several of the guards, the ones who know the road between Denethix and the Lower Certopsian panic.  You ask the nearest veteran if it's a nomad attack, he shakes his head, scars shiny in the oppressive sun, "That's not a Snakeman Terrordactyl, it's something worse" he mumbles and then points to a black pillar in the distance.  "That there, it reminds you, you've run out of time..." With that the veteran darts off his horse and under a creaking wagon, his lips dry and his crossbow loaded.

So that map I published a while back with a drawing of a winged gorgon monster - I've got a downloadable PDF of the adventure local. It's under 20 pages, and considerable tougher than the last adventure I put up.  Again it's aimed at a party of Levels 3-5.

It's a freaking flying Gorgon... This is where my home game would have ended up I think.

The Mute Tower - Map

THE MUTE TOWER

Just finished running this for the Google+ ASE group, it took three session, but I think it was fun.  As a dungeon I designed it to be introductory with a little bit of everything, and a fair number of odd things to play with.  The party managed to circumvent most to the death traps and didn't lose anyone, though there were two saves vs. death and on near TPK (Well it would have resulted in capture and enslavement by Johnny Two-Bad - reanimated pugilist/Wizard).

 A waste of cracked earth expands for almost a half mile around the Mute Tower, an ancient construction of cherry red ceramic fused adobe marring the plains several miles East of Marsten.  The tower has been home to many strange denizens in the eons it's stood, most recently the two-headed mutant wizard "Johnny Two-Bad" who once terrorized Marsten with his madness and displays of strength.

Thirty years ago, as Denethix consolidated its control of the surrounding area and battalion of the Unyielding Fist, led by Captain Tyrno himself besieged the tower and put its inhabitants to the sword.  While Marsten has since bloomed into a bustling cattle town, the tower remains, an almost forgotten oddity.  Only a few souls have ventured to explore the place, due to its bad reputation and the general belief that the place was looted out by the victorious army when Johnny Two-Bad was put down.

Recently a small expedition from the Temple of Science asked directions to the Mute Tower, and headed off towards it laden with a fancy assortment of supplies.  They haven't returned, and it's a well known fact the the Temple of Science is wealthy enough to pay ransoms and rewards for those who return, save or hold its Scientists.

The Dungeon itself had only a few monsters, and most were reskinned standard creatures - I got to use carrion crawlers without anyone realizing what they were until two party members were already paralyzed.  The party even bought barrels of salt to throw at the creatures because they were some kind of horrible slug creatures. I think this shows the usefulness of gonzo, at shuffling about the cliches and tropes of D&D play and allowing wonder or something like it back into the game.
 

Works in Progress and Some Tables

Finally got to run something again, though once again a one shot aboard the HMS Apollyon turned into negotiation and cocktails with the forces of (very lawful and indolent) evil rather than the punch fest I'd got planed.  It was one of the more seat of my pants sessions that I've run, and hopefully it turned out well.  I got to spring the Apollyon's version of displacer beasts on the party, which was fun - and they encountered what is Deck 9's "safe" area.  I think I managed to make it tense and creepy.

Girard - I think it's from the Incal

Anyhow I am typing up the adventure for the clocktower map I posted last Monday - it's turning a bit bigger than I expected, so it'll likely be broken up here. Below are the random encounters and rumor tables...

Tempus Gelidum - A Short Location (Map & Monster)

TEMPUS GELIDUM
An ASE Wilderness Encounter Levels 3-6

Deep in the badlands of the Certopsian Plains it is not uncommon to find strange remnants of ancient times.  Tempus Gelidum takes place in one such location, an ancient train station, now buried beneath the cracked earth, except for it's clock tower, which acts as the roost for a terrible creature and her minions.  The clock tower is home to Sthaleno, a winged gorgon, of rust and pitted iron who finds the tower's similar black metal construction the perfect perch from which to hunt.  Around the tower statutes of rusted iron provide a clue to the great gorgon's presence, though travelers and adventurers are a curious lot, and tend to investigate rather than flee.

Map of the Clock Tower

Gorgon

Stahleno herself is an ancient creature, perhaps not as old as the tower, but older than a thousand years.  Her body is made of thick iron plates, streaked with rust, but still incredibly strong and resilient, a combination of the mechanical and magical arts.  Unlike most gorgons, Stahleno does not have a bull's head, but bears the face of a beautiful woman, made from living porcelain, with black iron eyes.  Stahleno's breath is a noxious cloud of rust colored smoke that transforms those caught in it into iron statues, which she places at the base of her tower to savor the last reverberations of their hopelessness and fear.  Indeed, Stahleno lives off of the fear, terror and despair of mortals and will play with her victims to heighten these emotions.

In addition to her own considerable powers Stahleno has been able to reanimate some of her victims by returning a small portion of their life force, creating several iron servitors that act to protect her lair and the various treasures she has scavenged.

Things found amongst the loam and dust of the Certopsian Plains

So next Thursday is the 2nd go at ASE Google+.  I'm excited so I made a table of random stuff to be discovered while wandering through the grass and cracked dirt sea of the Certopsian Plains...

Moebius I'm pretty sure...

TABLE OF CERTOPSIAN DETRITUS

Session V - Drunken Loutishness in Denethix and Beyond

The Adventurers drown their sorrows, interview with dusty travelers, and Grimgrim makes a demanding friend.

SESSION V

Grimgrim – Fighting priest of the fierce God of Dooms, Monstcrom! (M) Cleric 1

Lemon Jackson – An loin cloth wearing wizard with strange yellow eyes and who tattoos himself with spells. (M) Magic User 1

Huxley McTeeth (Hux) – A gaucho with a past, clad in plains finery (M) Fighter 1

“Eyestabs” Nell – A tall scary woman armed with many poison hat pins (F) Assassin 1

Drusilla – Eleven lass of surpassing beauty, disturbingly unpleasant affect and taste for human babies (F) Elf 1

The diminished party has been lurking in their apartment looking at their dwindling stack of Gold for a week after their disastrous foray into the ASE gatehouse.

The party has reached the following conclusions:

1. They aren't going back into the gatehouse for a while. (They don't realize they've already killed the meanest thing in there)
2. They need to beef up their ability to not die – oil is going to get more popular I think, but there's talk of buying dogs or slaves and of hiring henchman. Of course they lack money for these things.
3. They need to get rich quick. (I really like ASE's treasure progression/cost of living, while advancement feels a little slow the party is so far cash strapped and a bit desperate, just as unestablished treasure seekers should be.)

Meet the Adventurers PT I - A Replacement for Mukuls the Fighter

Nell Hazenphaffler (Murderess)

Nell Hazenphaffler

aka “Stabby Nell/Eyestabber Nelly”

Assassin (Lvl 1)

STR: 17 +2 melee hit/damage

INT: 12 No extra langs, can read/write

WIS: 12 No bonuses

DEX: 18 – 3 AC/+3 missile to hit

CON: 15 +1 HP/die

CHR: 15 -1 Reaction Rolls

HP: 4 (per level)

AC: 4 (w/dex bonus)

Equip: Steel ribbed corset (armor as studded leather), Poisoned scimitar 1D8 + (1D6/per lvl on 1^st hit), 8 poisoned hairpin darts 1D4+(1D6 per/lvl). Dried and liquid Scorp-man venom. 24GP.

Alignment: Chaotic – quick to anger, vengeful and

callous, a practiced murderess. Thinking of becoming a better person, but not trying very hard.

Death in the Gatehouse - Campaign Rules Regarding Death

Death in the Gatehouse:

Session IV was a disaster for the party, a near Total Party Kill prevent only by some lucky interaction rolls, and by Lemon's timely use of oil.  The encounter was just bad luck frankly, the wandering encounter roll indicated that the adventurers were going to run up against the nastiest (and arguably toughest monster) in the Gatehouse without understanding the nature of the place.  I have no desire to kill characters, but they live in a nasty world, with pretty unforgiving rules, and so this was bound to happen.  I am glad it wasn't a TPK, because the party keeps taking on character and everyone dying might have driven my new players off despite my warnings. Death is pretty permanent in Denethix, divine healing is extraordinarily expensive and it's doubtful there's any cleric above 5th level anywhere nearby the city. I suppose untrustworthy super-science also exists, but it's hard to guess where they'd find it, except by accident.  The characters lost a couple of friends, worse for them perhaps, they also got nothing for their troubles.

Treasures: Grimgrim has an ancient coffee mug, but no one can tell it's ancient. It's worth 1 sp to a motivated buyer. It was not a good night for the party. 

Player Reactions: Both P and B had become attached to Mukuls and Hump – B even having worked out that elaborate history described at the start of the prior Session-log and repeated in Grimgrim's eulogy. (supposedly written in Dwarven in a small book recovered from his corpse). P was the more upset, this being her first character and disturbed at how quickly the well armored 8hp fighter had gone down to a lucky roll. She wanted him to come back and briefly toyed with playing his brother 'Beg Mukuls' come south to find Mukuls.

Both replacement characters rolled very well, this 4D6 this is too generous I think. P rolled and 18, 17 and two 13's while B rolled an 18, two 14's and a 13 (which is still pretty spectacular, even for best 3 out of 4D6). Neither of them rolled any stats with penalties attached. I let them pick what sort of characters they wanted to play and arrange stats accordingly, again being too nice.