A secret door in Room 21 leads to Room 22. This room opens to a small circular area where a luminescent pool of water has collected in the lower part of the room.
The water is fresh and clear. Drinking it removed your thirst for a day (the water can be bottled and taken with without loss of properties).
Bathing in the water removes diseases and heals 4d6 hp of damage. For the next hour anyone that does this also has 1d6 + their CON bonus of additional hp.
Akelarre is a demon that has kinda always been with me in one form or another. He has had a variety of names over the years, but in all cases, he has been a large goat-headed demon whose main reason for being is to corrupt witches. He is based on the various Demon-Goat creatures, mostly featured in the witch sabbat paintings of Francisco Goya.
Akelarre is the Basque word (where Goya is from) for a Witches' Sabbath. The name of both of these paintings from Goya is "Akelarre."
I wanted a new demon lord, one associated with evil witches. The role in my games in the past has largely been filled by Graz'zt and others. But I wanted someone I had more creative control over. I also wanted someone that was also like Éliphas Lévi's Baphomet. He will serve as the witches' "Dark Man" as mentioned in many witchcraft trials. In Europe that was always considered to be the Devil or a at the very least a high-level demon.
 |
| My print of Alelarre with Larina for scale |
Akelarre, Demon Prince
Huge Demon (Evil, demon)
Str: 18 (+3) Dex: 16 (+2) Con: 22 (+4) Int: 20 (+4) Wis: 15 (+1) Cha: 20 (+4)
Akelarre appears as a large goat-headed humanoid. On his brow is a burning crown. His heavily muscled form is covered in dark gray fur. His hands end in vicious-looking claws, and his feet are cloven hooves made of gold. He smells of animals and brimstone. His voice is high but melodious and comforting.
This demon avoids interactions with other demons and instead focuses on growing his cult on the Material Plane. He is known as the Demon of the Witches' Sabbat and he eitehr attends himself or via proxy when he can. Here, once per year, he gathers his witches for revels of feasting, sacrifices, and all sorts of debaucheries. He flies to these via magic once the sun has set. It is claimed that it is impossible to know if it is genuinely Akelarre at a sabbat, a high priest, or even a goat he has possessed for the night, save for when the sun rises. The true Akelarre will flee before the sun, a possessed man or goat will revert in the morning light.
Akelarre can fight, though he prefers not to do so. He can attack with bite and claw or a weapon. Most often, he prefers to cast spells. He can cast any Magic-User spell and has the casting ability of an 18th-level caster. He can also breathe fire 3 times per night, doing 6d8 hp of damage, save vs. Breath Weapons for half. He has a Charm gaze that can Charm Person at will, save vs. spells to negate. He can also use this power to charm animals with no save granted. Magic is needed to hit Akelarre, whether by spell or by weapons. A +2 weapon is needed. Like many demons, he is immune to mundane fire and mind-affecting magic. He takes half damage from magic or dragon fire, cold, electricity, or gas-based attacks.
As the Demon Prince of Witches, Akelarre teaches witches of the demonic traditions of their craft. He sends out demon familiars in the form of normal but evil and lascivious in nature. Offspring of these familiars and normal animals tend to be more wild and prone to attacking humans. His court comprises satyrs of the more feral natures, succubi, warlocks, and witches. He has no dealings with the undead.
Akelarre is a highly charismatic demon, and his honeyed words sound like the voice of a friend or lover promising you everything you desire and more. There is a great rivalry between the demon Akelarre and the devil Abraxas. Each seeks to find more magical tomes than the other, and they instruct their respective warlocks to do the same.
Akelarre as a Patron: Akelarre believes that the pleasures of the world are the best reward and the pleasures of the flesh most of all. He typically grants his witches and warlocks the ability to summon demonic spirits for their pleasures, the ability to conjure up feasts as needed, and of course, grants them gold on signing their pact. Witches and Warlocks of Akelarre gain a Charm Person and Glamour-like powers they can use once per day.
Licensed RPGs can either be really great or less so.
One of my favorites might sound self-serving, but it is my favorite.
I have to admit it is my favorite because everything I wanted is there somewhere. A system I love, in a time period I love and I got to work with some really great people too.
Going back to Room 19 and then to the central passageway takes the party up to a room similar to Room 20.
Inside this wet room is what appears to be a gargantuan frog. Its evil eyes though, betray its true origins.
Dæmon, Hydrodæmon
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 9+36**** (76 hp)
Attacks: 2 fore claws (1d8 x2), 2 hind claws (1d4), 1 bite (1d10)
Special: Spittle, spells, only harmed by silver weapons, immunity to acid and poison, magic resistance (35%), telepathy 100 ft.
THAC0: 11 [+8]
Movement: 30' (10')
Swim: 240' (80')
Saving Throws: D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 SS 7 (9)
Morale: 10
Alignment: Neutral evil
XP: 3,607 (OSE) 2,300 (S&W) 3,800 (LL)
Number Appearing: 1d3 (1d6)
Treasure Type: I, Y
Hydrodæmon are frog-like daemons that swim the River Styx. They are the only known creatures in existence that can touch the waters of the Styx without suffering any ill effects.
Hydrodæmon are 10 feet tall and weight about 4,000 pounds. Large flaps of skin under their arms allow them to glide when leaping. The flesh of a hydrodæmon is warty and green. Its eyes are a sickly yellow in color.
Up to five times per day a hydrodæmon can expel a 20-foot long line of sputum that causes those hit to save vs. sleep (as the spell) for 6 rounds. Hydrodaemons can, at will, cast cause fear, darkness, detect magic, and dimension door. Once per day, they can summon an 8 HD water elemental.
They can communicate telepathically but have low intelligence.
--
This hydrodæmon is awkward on land, and there is not enough room for it to glide. It has been trapped here since the necromancers controlled this place, and it is pissed off.
I would like to say yes to this. I'm in my 50s now. But my dad is going strong at 93 and his dad lives to his 90s. So in my 70s? Yeah. Let's do this!
 |
| By the way, my wife hates this picture. |
I kinda have a Larry Elmore thing going there! Besides that is about how long this will take me to get through all my games.
Taking the first exit on the left the corridor begins to rise up and out of the water. This leads to a circular room covered in slime (the ordinary kind).
There are several evil looking, but normal-sized toads in this room but nothing else.
I have a few, to be honest. Sometimes I run them as is, other times I alter them. But one of my all-time favorites has to be the original I6 Ravenloft.
I grew up on a steady stream of Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, and Dark Shadows. That's my Appendix N. So an adventure set in pretty much the Hammer Hamlet where I get strange locals and have to fight a vampire? Yeah, that is what D&D was to me.
Ravenloft was TSR's great experiment. Take the central monster and make him a fully realized character. Seems odd to ask to do this now, but back then, that was crazy talk. Gothic Horror in Heroic Fantasy? Crazy! But it worked. Sure, Strahd can be thought of as a poor man's Dracula, but he has since become his own monster.
I know some old gamers bemoan "The Hickman Revolution," as it it called, but I loved it. Ravenloft was a literal game-changer for me. Finally, an adversary worth fighting and a REAL vampire too, not the D&D one.
 |
| Original, 25th Anniversary Edition, Print on Demand |
I even got my original module from 1983 signed by Tracy Hickman.
I have run this one a lot and even in other game systems. It is a lot of fun.
