In Room 2 there are five round passageways that lead out. They look like old lava tubes and are larger than the one the salamanders came out of.
On the first tube on the left the party will come face to face with the three large mastif-like hounds. They are large, vicious, and on fire.
These are powerful Hellhounds.
One has 7 HD, and two have 6 HD. They attack the party.
The area at the bottom of the stairs is an oval-shaped natural cave. There are small openings in the walls where fires can be seen. In one of the larger holes to the left of the stairs a glow can be seen. The glow, and the heat, grows stronger by the moment.
From the hole emerges a large lizard-like creature, a Fire Salamander.
There are two in total, they crawl out to attack the party.
They have Treasure Type F x2 hidden in their lair.
The passageway beyond the opening on level 6 leads to long, long stair going down.
Giant visages of the soulless damned are carved into the walls on either side of this massive staircase. The detail is phenomenal and you swear it looks like they could reach out and get you.
The air here is hot and quite fetid. The heat seems to come from everywhere, and even the rocks glow with a soft hellish light.
While on this level humans, elves, forest gnomes, and halflings will suffer a -1 penalty to hit due to the heat. Dwarves, deep gnomes, and others accustomed to the deep caves of the nether dark suffer no penalties.
Enjoy!
A couple of Kickstarters close to my heart today.
Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Role Playing Game
A tabletop RPG of cosmic horror, swords, and sorcery in a savage lost epoch, 1000 years after the Old Ones fell to their eternal sleep.
I have been talking about this Kickstarter all month, and now it is live. Please check it out and give Jason your support.
Sherwood: The Legend of Robin Hood 5E
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sherwood-the-legend-of-robin-hood-5e#/
Adam Thompson, brother of the late Jonathan Thompson, has taken over Battlefield Press and plans to get Jonathon's unfinished work completed. And I, for one, could not be happier.
Jonathan was a great guy, and he had such a love for RPGs and everything about them. It is great knowing that there are still guys like Jonathan and Adam for every crappy person in this biz you meet.
I have only gotten to know Adam over the last few days, and he also seems like a great guy. I can think of nothing more fitting than getting all of BPI's projects out there for gamers to enjoy.
Sherwood, here is something that should have been a no-brainer. Robin Hood, for D&D. Yeah. Let's make this one happen!
Runu and Urnu lead the characters from room 27, to another room behind the statue of Orcus to where there is another statue of the Vampire Queen.
Here she appears in her human guise. The statue is 20ft tall.
Her hands are damaged, and on closer inspection, it appears that there were once rings on her fingers that have been chipped away. One ring on her left hand still has a place for a setting, but no stone.
Runu and Urnu will say that by placing the Eye of Orcus into the setting the secret door to the next level will open. It symbolizes the "marriage" of the Vampire Queen to the Demon Lord. Runu will state that "they were lovers, you see." in a dreamy way that makes you doubt her sanity.
Climbing up to place the Eye into her ring should not be difficult for a thief but a climb walls roll can be used. Grant them a +15% to success.
Once the stone is placed in the ring an opening at the feet of the statue will open and a gust of hot fetid air will rush out. If the gem is removed, the opening closes. Anything used to prop it open with be crushed. The closing doors themselves are heavy and weighted. Anyone caught in the doors when the close will take 5d12+25 hp of damage. The weights can be countered but only on the other side of the door on level 7. Tying a rope around the gem to pull it in afterwards will not work.
Runu and Urnu want the gem. They are willing to fight for it but not die for it. They will mention a rumor of a secret exit on the Vampire Queen's tomb that would allow her to ascend to the surface without dealing with everything in between.
If worst comes to worst Runu and Urnu can kill the PCs, but they don't want too. Whoever is killed while in possession of the Eye of Orcus will haunt the killers. So if the PC killed Urnu or Runu not only will the survivor try to kill them, they will also be haunted by the dead shadow elves.
One of the features of The Wasted Lands is the inclusion of the O.R.C.S. games system that first appeared in Spellcraft & Swordplay. While the Wasted Lands uses the advanced O.G.R.E.S. for rules, it does include a chapter on using the O.R.C.S. as well. This gives the Wasted Lands a solid Old-School background and indeed a good OSR one with one of the very first clones ever made.
I have been talking about Shadow Elves all month long, I thought it might be good to bring two of my Shadow Elf, or Dökkálfar characters to life. I also want to compare them to their Spellcraft & Swordplay counterparts.
Runu and Urnu are reoccurring characters in my various game. They were "born" while I was walking to the Daley Plaza "El" station (which is actually underground at that point). From here I imagined two evil drow elves, exiled from their society not because they were good, but because of their perversions in necromancy. As children, they were raised by my Necromancer Magnus and became devotees of Orcus. They became two of my first playtest characters for Eldritch Witchery.
They are twins, already a bad sign among the drow, with Runu being slightly older than her brother Urnu. I further make their "inversions" complete by making Runu a warlock and Urnu a witch.
These are not misunderstood drow. They are evil. They are the type that reasons that if someone doesn't do what they want, they can always kill them and get their corpse to do it.
In my playtests for Monster Mash for OSE they became Shadow Elves with Runu as a Profane Necromancer, and Urnu as a Gothic Witch.
In the Wasted Lands, they are a Necromancer and Sorcerer, respectively.
Runu
Class: Necromancer
Level: 10
Species: Dökkálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Abilities
Strength: 11 (0)
Agility: 12 (0)
Toughness: 13 (+1)
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A
Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: 8
Vitality: 35 (10d6)
Degeneracy:
Corruption:
Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2
Ranged Bonus: +2
Saves: +5 to Persona based
Special Abilities and Spell-Like Abilities
Channel the Dead
See Dead People
Summon the Dead
Command (Spirits)
Protection from Undead
Turn Undead
Taste The Grave
Death Knell
Suggestion
Vampiric Touch
Charm Spirit
Life Drain
Slay Unliving
Call the Reaper
Divine Notes: Death
Background: Outsider
Gear
Leather armor: DV 8
Dagger: 1d4
Urnu
Class: Sorcerer (Wits Aspect)
Level: 10
Species: Dökkálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Abilities
Strength: 12 (0)
Agility: 11 (0)
Toughness: 13 (+1)
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 17 (+2) N
Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: 8
Vitality: 30 (10d4)
Degeneracy:
Corruption:
Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2
Ranged Bonus: +2
Saves: +5 to Magic based
Special Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers
Spells
1st: Bane, Black Flames, Phantom Lights, Sleep
2nd: Defile, Find Traps, Invisibility, Vampiric Augmentation
3rd: Fly, Globe of Darkness, Zone of Protection vs. Good
4th: Black Tentacles, Kiss of the Succubus, Life Drain
5th: Commune w/ Deeper Dark, Shadow Armor
Arcane Powers
1st: Arcane Bond: Runu (and spell of "self" also affect her)
4th: Exorcist
7th: Incubus
10th: Shadow Walking
Divine Notes: Death, Witchcraft,
Background: Outsider
Neither have divine touchstones since this is not their destiny.
Like this The Wasted Lands can be played as a gritty Swords & Sorcery game.
Don't forget to check out the Kickstarter happening right now.
