Encounter area 29 is a large goat demon. He has been waiting for you.
This is the Demon Prince Akelarre.
He is the demonic patron of the Vampire Queen. They have an agreement and he is protecting her tomb, but he is under no obligation to stay and will retreat if the battle goes against him.
Unlike the others on this level, he can come and go as he pleases. Indeed he is the one that summons these creatures here. He is given all the spoils of this level.
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| Image by Freepik |
Incidentally, 2024 is also the Year of the Dragon.
Tentatively, I am looking at the following "theme months."
January will be part of TardisCaptain's New Year New Character challenge. Mine though will be delving into some of my favorite characters since I started playing D&D.
April is the A to Z Challenge, where I will write about D&D and its history.
May is Sci-Fi month and I'll do a deep dive into Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and the d20 Star Wars. I'll also looking into games with a solid D&D connection with me.
June has typically been Basic-era month where I focus a lot on B/X, BECMI, and OSE/LL. I really want to be sure I do that this year.
August is Dave Chapman's RPGaDAY month. I pretty much do this one as is. But I might focus on D&D more than other games.
October is "horror" month for me. I want to focus on Ravenloft. All my horror movies will also all be connected to D&D in some way. Either movies from Appendix N authors or horror movies that mention D&D or fantasy/horror. I'll start putting together my list soon.
Additionally, I have something else fun planned throughout the year that I am keeping close to my chest for now.
But the big thing for me next year is going to be my year-long exploration of the Forgotten Realms.
The Forgotten Realms and Me
I was never a Forgotten Realms fan. I dismissed it in the 1980s as an "upstart," ignored it in the early 90s, and actively disliked it in the late 90s. But it seems my ire was misplaced. Around the time the 3rd Edition Realms book came out I was beginning to soften my stance. By the 4th Ed era I was considering moving a campaign to the Realms. In the 5th Ed era I made it official, more or less.
Honestly, my coverage of Ed Greenwood's work in the pages of Dragon magazine changed my mind.
These past few months, I have been playing the hell out of Baldur's Gate 3, and my desire to play in the Realms has only grown.
To this end, I have amassed a small collection of Forgotten Realms books. Nothing special, just ones that I have come by easily either at game auctions, Half-Price Books, or as in the books pictured above, Print on Demand from DriveThruRPG. So I will go over them in detail throughout the editions.
I'd like to run a Realms-based game someday, but I am still figuring out what edition to use. Part of me thinks I need to do it in AD&D 2nd Edition since that was the edition that was the most "Realms" to me.
The Forgotten Realms to me was always viewed through the eyes of a character, whether that was Elminster or Drizzt or whomever. Likewise, I am going to look into the Realms through the eyes of a new character. Presently I am leaning toward my half-elf sorceress Sinéad. I know I want use someone that has magic, and someone that I can tie to the rich lore of elves in this world. She is also one of two characters I had specifically created for the Realms in all my years of gaming. I think I owe it to myself to actually give her a spin someday. However, my wife reminded me the other night that Keller the Silent Monk might also be fun.
In any case, 2024 is going to be a busy year of posting here and I am looking forward to it.
Encounter area 28 is another portal. Out hops (yes) is a white rabbit dressed as an adventurer.
This is Sir Fluffles. He is a Neutral Good 7th-level Ranger. His favored enemies are dragons. He is about the size of a halfling. He will join the party if asked, he is actually quite brave. He has a short sword +1, +3 vs dragons. He knows nothing about Vampire Queen but thinks she sounds positively horrible. He asks if you know anything about the Dragon King.
If the party encounters a dragon he will quite literally hop at the chance to fight it.
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Sir Fluffles is not a bad character and would be fun with the right group. He comes from a world where all the main lifeforms are anthropomorphic animals. Think D&D meets Bunnies & Burrows.
We were playing with the bunnies tonight.
Ok. Back it! We had some measurable snow here in Chicagoland, and I thought a snow monster might be nice for today. But while working on it, it morphed into something else. So I might bring those original ideas back later, but for today let do the monster that came out of this process. The Ulmenfrau.
The Ulmenfrau, or "Elm Wives" are what my Roman-Germanic/Norse Pagans call the tree spirits of the Black Forest Mythos. They are related to the Norse Askafroa of the Ash Trees. They also fold in elements of the Nisse of the Scandinavian countries, the Greek Pteleai (Elm Dryads), and the nymph Chione. There are some elements of the Norse myth of Ask and Embla here as well.
Ulmenfrau are tree nymphs, so they most like dryads but can move further away from their trees. It is believed that Ulmenfrau are actually tied to a grove of elm trees rather than a specific singular tree. It is said they are the daughters of the North Wind and can be encountered most frequently after the first snowfall.
They are closely associated with the European White Elm ("Ulmus laevis").
ULMENFRAU
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (2-12)
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 90"
HIT DICE: 5+10 (32 hp)
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 club or spell
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Magic Use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to charm, hold, sleep, and other mind-affecting spells. Immune to Cold attacks, vulnerable to fire and iron.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (Good)
SIZE: M (under 5')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
The Ulmenfrau, or Elm Woman or Elm Wife, is a type of woodland faerie creature similar to nymphs and dryads. Indeed, she may be a type of dryad and shows many similarities to the Askafroa found in ash tree groves. The Ulmenfrau as the name suggests, is the spirit of the Elm tree, though this fae is not tied to any specific tree, but rather the grove at large. A grove of 100 trees can support a dozen or so ulmenfraus. Larger groves can support more but often no more than a dozen will ever be spotted. When dealing with mortals they typically agree on a single ulmenfrau to interact.
Ulmenfraus are not combative as a rule. They can attack with a club when needed, but they mostly will attack and defend with magical spells, typically that of a 4th-level Druid or Witch. They will avoid using fire-based magic. If their need is dire then a group or three or more ulmenfrau can cast Control Weather as if they were a druid circle or a coven of witches. They will use this to blanket their grove in deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures.
All ulmenfraus are immune to mind-affecting and altering magics. They can not be charmed, held, or put to sleep. They are also immune to the effects of cold, either magical or mundane, and thus do not take damage from cold-based magic. Like many fae creatures, they take extra damage (+3 to damage per hit) weapons made of cold iron. Cold iron weapons are those that lack carbon to make them steel. They are hard and heavy weapons that break easily. Also, they take double the damage from any fire-based attacks.
Ulmenfrau are hard to find in summer months, where they are busy making sure their grove is growing, they can be spoted in their humanoid form most often in the winter. Here, they appear as slight (only 5' tall) elven women light grayish brown skin that gets lighter as they age with white hair. Like many dryads their hair changes with the seasons, but green-haired and red-haired ulmenfrau are harder to find. They are thought to venture out in winter to explore and potentially find mates. Though unlike other dryads the ulmenfrau have no magical ability to charm.
It is believed that the ulmenfrau are the offspring of the North Wind and the Wood Maidens.
Links
Encounter area 27 is quite bright. For 100' feet in either direction (East-West) of 27 is filled with glowing mushrooms. There is a mushroom every 5'.
As the party moves through there is a 1 in 6 chance that they will set off one of the mushrooms.
The mushrooms, if touched, will explode. If it explodes there is a 1 in 4 chance that the next one will explode as well. This will keep going for the 200 total feet.
Each explosion deals 4d6 hp of damage, save for half. Drop a d6 for every 10' the mushroom is from the victim.
A portal in Area 26 is similar to the one found in Area 25. From this one, a horse-headed demon comes out.
This is a Mezu Demon, a type of Yokai demon.
Mezu Demon (Yokai)
Armor Class -1 [20]
Hit Dice 8* (36 hp)
Attacks 2 claws (1d8+6, 1d8+6), 1 bite (1d10+6)
Special Magic resistance (45%), darkness, immune to poison.
THAC0 12 [+7]
Movement 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 SS 8 (8)
Morale 12
Alignment Chaotic
XP 1,750
Number Appearing 1 (1)
Treasure Type C
Mezu demons are low-level, but powerful horse-headed demons that have two purposes, keep people out of hell nad keep those in from coming out.
They are very strong (22 strength). They can use weapons but prefer to use their claws and bite. Their heads are horse-like, but filled with sharp teeth.
They can gate in 1d4 Mezu Demons or 1d4 Jigoku Demons (similar stats, but with Ox heads). Gating them in comes with an obligation of future service, so the Mezu will not gate them in unless the Hóu Yaoguai is with the party.
If the party has the Hóu Yaoguai demon with them they will attack each other. The Yaoguai and the Yokai are ancient enemies. This is true is the Mezu is with the party when encountering the Hóu.
Area 25 is the home to a portal to another world. Like all the portals on this level is it one way. When the party gets within 15' of it a humanoid monkey-like creature steps through.
The creature is a Hóu Yaoguai. It is evil, it is angry, but it is also intelligent. If the party explains their are not the reason it is here it will not attack them, yet. The Hóu Yaoguai will attempt to discover all it can about his world and attempt to recruit the PC to its side by claiming it will aid them in their quest to find the Vampire Queen.
This is all true, but the demon still plans on betraying them the first chance it gets.
