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May feature killer robots.</span></p> </div> </div> </div></div> </div> </div> <div class='header-cap-bottom cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> </header> <div class='tabs-outer'> <div class='tabs-cap-top cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left tabs-fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right tabs-fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='region-inner tabs-inner'> <div class='tabs section' id='crosscol' name='Cross-column'><div class='widget PageList' data-version='1' id='PageList1'> <h2>Pages</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <ul> <li> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/'>Home</a> </li> <li> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/p/against-wicked-city.html'>Against the Wicked City: Collected Information</a> </li> <li> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/p/collected-wfrp-posts.html'>Collected WFRP posts</a> </li> </ul> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div></div> <div class='tabs no-items section' id='crosscol-overflow' name='Cross-Column 2'></div> </div> </div> <div class='tabs-cap-bottom cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> <div class='main-outer'> <div class='main-cap-top cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left main-fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right main-fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='region-inner main-inner'> <div class='columns fauxcolumns'> <div class='fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-center-outer'> <div class='cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='fauxcolumn-inner'> </div> </div> <div class='cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> <div class='fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-left-outer'> <div class='cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='fauxcolumn-inner'> </div> </div> <div class='cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div> <div class='fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-right-outer'> <div class='cap-top'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> <div class='fauxborder-left'> <div class='fauxborder-right'></div> <div class='fauxcolumn-inner'> </div> </div> <div class='cap-bottom'> <div class='cap-left'></div> <div class='cap-right'></div> </div> </div>  <div class='columns-inner'> <div class='column-center-outer'> <div class='column-center-inner'> <div class='main section' id='main' name='Main'><div class='widget Blog' data-version='1' id='Blog1'> <div class='blog-posts hfeed'> <div class='status-msg-wrap'> <div class='status-msg-body'> Showing posts with label <b>Pathfinder</b>. <a href="http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a> </div> <div class='status-msg-border'> <div class='status-msg-bg'> <div class='status-msg-hidden'>Showing posts with label <b>Pathfinder</b>. <a href="http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Thursday, 17 June 2021</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvv756n1VDDXdWEdMDIKZL8i7THuk8D_a-3qq69z7o3JO2-U1vnCMZSAughTVGFHJqqu2ODjRlSaZibt1E2kOzlde7cHAjvQFIaGZKYmGjeFtEUb0OFj6oTIPO2eNofPaLAaIdKEU53Av/w460-h259/image.png' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='392427526916288536' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='30123855902860410' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='30123855902860410'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/06/condensation-in-action-10-wrath-of.html'>Condensation in Action 10: Wrath of the Righteous</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-30123855902860410' itemprop='description articleBody'> <p>Part 10 in an irregular series where I take bloated <i>Pathfinder </i>adventure paths and try to prune them into something more useful. Previous Condensation in Action posts can be found here:</p><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/03/condensation-in-action-from-600-page-ap.html">Kingmaker</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/11/condensation-in-action-rise-of.html">Rise of the Runelords</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/01/condensation-in-action-part-3-curse-of.html">Curse of the Crimson Throne</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/10/condensation-in-action-part-4-council.html">Council of Thieves</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/01/condesation-in-action-5-cults-of.html">Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/06/condensation-in-action-6-iron-gods.html">Iron Gods</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/05/condensation-in-action-7-skull-and.html">Skull and Shackles</a><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html" target="_blank">Mummy's Mask</a></div></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/condensation-in-action-9-carrion-crown.html">Carrion Crown</a></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Wrath of the Righteous </i>was Paizo's attempt to write a high-level campaign. Normally their adventure paths top out at level 15, but this one goes all the way up to level 20, as well as awarding the PCs additional power boosts in the form of 'mythic tiers' along the way. If you think this sounds like a recipe for disaster, you'd be right. D&D has always had three basic tiers - levels 1-3 for scrappy underdogs, levels 4-8 for tough, capable fantasy heroes, and levels 9-14 for epic heroes and domain level play - and has tended to really struggle to imagine what adventures are supposed to look like beyond that point. (Tellingly, most of the original classic module series like <i>Dragonlance </i>and <i>Queen of the Spiders </i>topped out at level 14.) What are you meant to <i>do </i>once you've outleveled the dragon at the bottom of the dungeon?</div><div><br /></div><div style="direction: ltr;">Most of <i>Wrath of the Righteous </i>is very boring: just standard-issue dungeon crawling with much, much higher numbers. The situations quickly start to get ridiculous: the PCs are strong enough to take on dungeons full of demons by book 2, so all that books 3-6 can do is fill their dungeons with ever-bigger demons. One late-campaign dungeon has guards who are <i>fourteenth-level demonic clerics made of locusts riding ancient black dragons</i>. In any other campaign, just one of these guys would be a terrifying end-boss whose dark schemes threaten entire nations. In this one whole groups of them just sit around like glorified security guards, keeping an eye out for intruders and waiting for the over-levelled PCs to wander past and kill them all. </div><div style="direction: ltr;"><br /></div><div style="direction: ltr;">This hexcrawl is what I was able to salvage. About half of it comes from the appendices rather than the adventures proper!</div><div style="direction: ltr;"><br /></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvv756n1VDDXdWEdMDIKZL8i7THuk8D_a-3qq69z7o3JO2-U1vnCMZSAughTVGFHJqqu2ODjRlSaZibt1E2kOzlde7cHAjvQFIaGZKYmGjeFtEUb0OFj6oTIPO2eNofPaLAaIdKEU53Av/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvv756n1VDDXdWEdMDIKZL8i7THuk8D_a-3qq69z7o3JO2-U1vnCMZSAughTVGFHJqqu2ODjRlSaZibt1E2kOzlde7cHAjvQFIaGZKYmGjeFtEUb0OFj6oTIPO2eNofPaLAaIdKEU53Av/w460-h259/image.png" width="460" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><b>Context: </b>This adventure takes place on a militarised frontier zone, where a crusading military order maintains a string of fortified settlements along the edges of a demon-haunted region of deserts and jungles, blighted by the release of unholy energies a century ago. (The order was founded in response to this event, and has had the same leader, Queen Galfrey, ever since.) Recently, stories have been emerging from the jungles of some kind of magical and/or industrial undertaking by the region's most prominent demon-cult, the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth. Armies fare poorly in the jungles, and Queen Galfrey is in the market for a team of disposable, deniable scouts willing to brave the warped lands of the south and work out what's going on before it's too late...</div><div style="direction: ltr;"><br /></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><b>A Note on the Military Situation: </b>The land north of the jungles is notionally controlled by Queen Galfrey, though the border is porous, and beasts and cultists from the south sometimes slip across. The jungles are inhabited mostly by monsters and cultists, too few in number to meet the crusaders on the field of battle, but amply capable of whittling down military expeditions who enter their territory. Over the last century the crusaders have several times advanced as far as the southern coast and claimed 'victory', but the jungles are impossible to hold and they have always ended up retreating, leaving nothing but abandoned forts and temples in their wake.</div><div style="direction: ltr;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-AiLrQQOqBqIgr42ac1h2bTl10ExoOHxk0GkbuhBDTKPJtSaYRYdbYIUyLeSsiBxB0Z1Zkg_-SD9Hrom9rYYyw4VzFImD9yIUOO2C9eA9JxXj1cnx-xgUOqHYYq63a6BMUi-3JMdq4Gt/s340/wotr+map.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="288" height="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-AiLrQQOqBqIgr42ac1h2bTl10ExoOHxk0GkbuhBDTKPJtSaYRYdbYIUyLeSsiBxB0Z1Zkg_-SD9Hrom9rYYyw4VzFImD9yIUOO2C9eA9JxXj1cnx-xgUOqHYYq63a6BMUi-3JMdq4Gt/w380-h449/wotr+map.png" width="380" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Hexes are 12 miles across.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="direction: ltr;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li><b>0000: </b>This broken-down old town is sinking into the swamps, and has been abandoned by all but its most misanthropic inhabitants, who are increasingly coming to resemble the toads that infest its rotting buildings. One among them is a master astrologer, an expert in predicting all kinds of ill-fortune, but the only thing he wants is to be left alone. If he could be persuaded to cooperate, his divinatory abilities would provide one way to navigate the ivory labyrinth at 0104.</li><li><b>0001: </b>This shadowy, bat-haunted town is run with psychopathic violence by its despotic governor, who has reduced its people to a state of abject terror. In truth, she, in turn, is a mere pawn of the cabal of vampires who secretly run the town, using its cowed inhabitants as food stock. The vampires are no friends to the Templars, whose victory would ruin their comfortable living arrangement, and could be convinced to ally with the PCs if they were persuaded that the threat against them was serious enough. (Such an alliance would, however, obviously need to be kept secret from the crusaders.)</li><li><b>0002: </b>In this tower lives a crazed cavalier, a defector from the crusades, who believes the victory of the demons is inevitable and hopes to win their favour and attention by committing random acts of pointless villainy. The townsfolk of 0001 hate and fear him, but their governor is in no hurry to apprehend him, as his depredations are a good excuse for all manner of restrictions and curfews.</li><li><b>0003: </b>A succubus lairs in this desecrated chapel. She is served by a band of charmed warriors - mostly ex-crusaders - who believe her to be a holy goddess, and will gladly lay down their lives in her service.</li><li><b>0004: </b>These mountains conceal a ruined and accursed city, among whose shattered buildings can be found an ancient library of stone tablets containing many secrets otherwise lost to the outside world, including maps of the Ivory Labyrinth at 0104 (which was built by the same vanished race who constructed this city). It has no guardians, but its curse afflicts all who discover it with psychotic and murderous jealousy, meaning that expeditions that stumble across it tend to self-destruct long before they bring word of it to the world beyond.</li><li><b>0005: </b>This blasted ash waste is the origin-point of the demonic taint that afflicts these lands. The earth here trembles with magical energy, and the air is full of demonic whispers. Anyone remaining here too long will be tainted in body, mind, and soul. </li><li><b>0006: </b>The jungles here are roamed by a filth spirit who takes the form of a woman made of mud, rising from foul-smelling seepage of its rivers and caves. She is furious about the mining activities of the Templars in 0105, which are polluting 'her' waters with all kinds of weird magical run-offs, and will gladly assist in any efforts to shut them down. </li><div><ul></ul></div><li><b>0100: </b>These marshy hills are collectively known as the Moonbog. They are dotted with huddled settlements, who live in fear of the werebeasts who roam the moors by night.</li><li><b>0102: </b>Hidden in these hills is a trap-filled dungeon of iron and stone - the stronghold of a cruel demon, the Razor Princess. She is served by a demonic murderer with the head of a stork, who abducts victims for her and drives them through her deathtrapped mazes so that their blood might lubricate her cruel machines.</li><li><b>0103: </b>The jungle here is roamed by a flayed, headless angel, once an ally of the crusaders, now a victim of the Templars. It attacks intruders with its still-blazing sword, its body continuously spurting gouts of boiling, sulpherous blood over anyone who comes too close.</li><li><b>0104: </b>Here stands the Ivory Labyrinth itself, a vast subterranean maze paved and walled with ancient bones. It is inhabited by primitive humanoids who have dwelt there for centuries, but who have recently been enslaved by the Templars, who have claimed the place as a site sacred to their demonic patron Baphomet. The labyrinth is <i>very </i>confusing, mostly due to the demonic magic that infuses it, and navigating it successfully is almost impossible without very good scouts (such as the Pitlings at 0401), magical aid (such as the Stalker's Crossbow from 0205 or the divinations of the astrologer at 0000), or a map (such as the one at 0004). The Templar leadership are all demoniacs, who willingly invite demonic spirits into their bodies, and spend most of their time in states of entranced spirit-possession. Their champion wields an enchanted golden scimitar, which once belonged to the wife of the antipaladin from 0404.</li><li><b>0105: </b>Here, deep in the jungles, the Templars have begun mining enchanted crystals from the magic-saturated earth. Their mine labourers are demonic minotaurs, who use their immense strength to hack their way through the rock. The more of these crystals they mine, the more demonic spirits their leaders will be able to call down into their bodies. If left unchecked for too long, they will become powerful enough to sweep away the crusaders once Queen Galfrey finally meets her death. </li><li><b>0107: </b>Here a demonic sorcerer dwells with his herd of man-eating aurochs. He is notionally allied with the Templars, but is happy to turn a blind eye to visitors as long as they bring offerings of human flesh for his herd.</li><li><b>0201: </b>This manor house is home to a noble family, supposedly subjects of Queen Galfrey, but secretly loyal to the Templars. Building a labyrinth in their own home was a bit impractical, so instead they settled for a hedge maze, consecrated by unholy stone bull's heads buried beneath its corners. Unbelievers who try to navigate it find themselves becoming confused, their bodies growing heavy, their skin scratched by branches and opening in hundreds of tiny wounds that never, <i>ever </i>stop bleeding. By the time they reach the centre of the maze, where the family wait for them, they're ripe for slaughter.</li><li><b>0204: </b>This ruined temple is full of maggots that constantly squirm across its floor, spelling out heretical prayers with their writhing bodies. If intruders enter, the maggots twist themselves into the shape of unholy runes instead, blasting all those who gaze upon them. Beneath the temple are tunnels made from heaving, cancerous flesh, continuously fed upon by vermin. At their heart meditates an awful cleric made of locusts, the servant of an ancient demon lord of vermin. If he is still alive after the Templars are defeated, he will lay claim to their abandoned places of power and start calling forth horrible insect monsters, laying the foundations of a new demon-cult to replace them.</li><li><b>0205: </b>This Templar stronghold is guarded by obese naked undead armed with scythes, who have the power to cause bloody wounds to open upon all those they gaze upon. Within dwell a nest of cultists who have amputated their own feet and replaced them with enchanted brazen hooves, the better to resemble their demonic master. If their stronghold is invaded they attack in a kicking, trampling mob. One of them wields the Stalker's Crossbow, whose wielder will always be able to find the last person wounded by it.</li><li><b>0302: </b>This frontier camp is the current base of Queen Galfrey. Galfrey swore at the very start of the crusade to vanquish the demons or die trying: she is now over 100 years old, her life prolonged at crippling expense by alchemical means. Utterly weary of her life of endless warfare, she has developed a not-so-subtle death-wish, and has begun provoking new battles mostly in order to give herself a chance to die in them. (It hasn't worked yet because people with alchemically-enhanced bodies and a century of combat experience and are <i>very difficult to kill</i>.) Morale in the camp is low, as the soldiers resent being made to risk their lives in unnecessary battles. They have been secretly infiltrated by an agent of the Templars, Hosilla, who is here posing as a knight from a minor (and fictional) noble house. If the queen actually does manage to get herself killed, Hosilla will hasten back to the Ivory Labyrinth at 0104 and tell the Templars to call down as many demons as they can and strike as soon as possible, while the crusaders are still reeling from her loss. If the mine at 0105 has not been disabled yet, they will probably win. </li><li><b>0304: </b>The trees here exude a sticky sap into the poisonous, swampy waters below. Anyone who ascends into the canopy is set upon by monstrous bird-creatures, who attack in screeching flocks</li><li><b>0307: </b>Here the jungle is torn open by vast rifts inhabited by warped and troglodytic humanoids, who roam ceaselessly searching for prey. </li><li><div style="direction: ltr;"><b>0401: </b>This massively fortified clifftop city is the stronghold of the crusaders. The cliffs beneath are riddled with caves and tunnels inhabited by the 'pitlings', deformed descendants of the original crusaders who found their children were born warped by the weird energies to which they had been exposed during their campaigns. The people of the city regard the pitlings with scorn, but the pitlings still revere their warrior ancestors, guarding the graves of their crusader forebears and nurturing a pathetic loyalty to the state that rejected them. They are hardy and stealthy and can see in the dark, making them perfect scouts for any attack on the Ivory Labyrinth at 0104.  </div></li><li><b>0404: </b>The jungles here are inhabited by giant slugs and dire crocodiles. On its poisoned rivers floats an enchanted barge, pulled by a great skeletal serpent, and manned only by a freezing undead antipaladin as cold as his own frozen heart. He wields a terrible icy halberd, which freezes the blood of all those it wounds. He will curtly question all those who pass if they have seen his wife, who vanished into the Ivory Labyrinth years ago: anyone failing to give a useful answer will receive an icy death, instead. If touched or wounded by her scimitar (see 0104), his heart melts and all his unholy powers desert him.</li><li><b>0405: </b>Deep in these jungles lies a hidden chasm, apparently bottomless, whose walls are lined by the immense fossilised bodies of dead demon kings from ages past.</li><li><b>0502: </b>In this town, the people long ago started to adopt the talking animals that occasionally wandered from the forests, keeping them as pets and messengers. Unfortunately for them, the animals are demon-tainted and delight in defamation and slander, with the result that the whole town is now a tangle of feuds, scandals, and misplaced attempts at revenge. (In particular, everyone is convinced that their neighbours have something to do with all the children who have been going missing recently - in fact these have been taken by the inhabitants of the house at 0503, frequently with the connivance of the talking animals.) The people are highly resistant to the idea that their animal companions are anything other than loyal and adorable. </li><li><b>0503: </b>High in these gloomy mountains stands a huge house in which kidnapped children tend to a great clockwork mechanism of obscure significance, guarded by cloaked, silent figures and clanking automata who hunt down any who try to escape. What, if anything, the machine actually <i>does </i>is deeply unclear.</li><li><b>0504: </b>A succubus inhabits this mansion, beset by besotted admirers longing for her favour or even acknowledgement. Most starve to death in her courtyards, or kill one another in desperate attempts to win her attention and prove their devotion. Only the most exceptional displays of talent or prowess will suffice to win an audience. </li><li><b>0600: </b>This steep mountain valley echoes with distant, half-heard songs. (These come from a tragic ghost who haunts its slopes, but finding her is extremely difficult.) It leads to a smug little town, bright with mirrors and loud with bells, whose vain inhabitants are notionally loyal to the crusade but actually care nothing for the outside world. It would be a good source of mirrors with which to torment the rat-demon at 0603.</li><li><b>0601: </b>This town is a prison-colony, to which convicts are set from throughout Queen Galfrey's domain to work as slave labourers, mining gems from the hills. (These are the kingdom's most profitable export.) Because slaves are so much more profitable than corpses, many captured low-level demon cultists have been sent here, and their teachings are spreading covertly among the convicts. If the flow of gems from the mines was disrupted then the crusaders would soon be unable to afford Queen Galfrey's ruinously expensive life-extension potions, and she would wither and die within a year. </li><li><b>0603: </b>This ruined town was built by the crusaders during one of their expansionist phases, only to be abandoned when the tides of war turned. Now it is infested by flocks of fiendish vultures, and roamed by a ghastly knife-wielding rat demon that hates and fears its own reflection. A band of mad knights camps nearby, utterly unreconciled to the town's abandonment and determined to reclaim it regardless of what it may cost them (or anyone else). </li><li><b>0604: </b>This ruined shrine is inhabited by a deeply confused demon, who unwisely preyed upon a priestess of the goddess of dreams. The priestess linked their minds as she lay dying, and now the demon has a head full of someone else's emotions and memories and is having a massive identity crisis. She still has her demonic instincts towards cruelty, but her new human feelings mean that she feels revolted by them. If her newly human side was carefully nurtured she might be guided along a path of repentance, but any kind of severe stress will cause her to have a massive breakdown and start lashing out. </li><li><b>0605: </b>Here a boiling river pours out of the mountains and runs through the jungle to the sea, terminating at a beach of powdered bone.</li><li><b>0607: </b>This graveyard island is surrounded by shipwrecks, driven upon its shores by the regular floods and hurricanes that beset it. It is the home of a powerful ghoul, the Coffin Groom, who feasts upon the drowned dead.</li><li><b>0701: </b>This ghost town was abandoned when its well ran dry. By night it is haunted by the walking corpses of the parched and vengeful dead. </li><li><b>0704: </b>This desert is inhabited by gigantic scorpion-human hybrids, who know ancient spells capable of calling armies of mummified demons up from their crumbling tombs to do their bidding. They greatly predate the conflict between the crusaders and the Templars, but have been stirred up by the energies released at 0005. If the taint could be lifted from the land they would go back to sleep.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuCGep2LW2qz9Wlk6vfg3F0nvEo8_UhViljvdpnDDssQGWEM5nzdAmCppfOF3ca8-EbSWawhMHfSfWT67BkMXz3exJ8nshjQxC_QcFuqHUtoB1QBpn1__Lt9D93o28ZXRrvQCthfn2rZR/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="595" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuCGep2LW2qz9Wlk6vfg3F0nvEo8_UhViljvdpnDDssQGWEM5nzdAmCppfOF3ca8-EbSWawhMHfSfWT67BkMXz3exJ8nshjQxC_QcFuqHUtoB1QBpn1__Lt9D93o28ZXRrvQCthfn2rZR/" width="170" /></a></div></div><div></div></div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Joseph Manola</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/06/condensation-in-action-10-wrath-of.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/06/condensation-in-action-10-wrath-of.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2021-06-17T16:50:00-07:00'>16:50</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/06/condensation-in-action-10-wrath-of.html#comment-form' onclick=''> 16 comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1956681088'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=30123855902860410&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Hexcrawling' rel='tag'>Hexcrawling</a>, <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Pathfinder' rel='tag'>Pathfinder</a>, <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Playable%20adventure' rel='tag'>Playable adventure</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, 18 September 2020</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_frZZyD27Z8CezACx08HOY_tUrmVBSAHgQrtvJoTEBZNsQeoC1VDB6SJKV2NLEAYIpW2sRakzqITwLpyhn84iD1QvUiAC51gikviXyBqBbLsIiZ-toCt387arHLCqKc7XfaukMmoxRoM/s320/haunting-of-harrowstone2.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='392427526916288536' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='980146096237359953' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='980146096237359953'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/condensation-in-action-9-carrion-crown.html'>Condensation in Action 9: Carrion Crown</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-980146096237359953' itemprop='description articleBody'> As I try to get back into the groove of blogging again, I thought one good way to do it might be via another Condensation in Action post. I find these useful as mental exercises: looking at someone else's material and thinking about what I'd keep and what I'd cut, and why, is helpful practise for my work as a writer and GM of my own adventures. As usual, this post will take a massively bloated <i>Pathfinder </i>adventure path and hack it down into something that someone might actually be able to play. This time, the series in my crosshairs is <i>Carrion Crown. </i><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_frZZyD27Z8CezACx08HOY_tUrmVBSAHgQrtvJoTEBZNsQeoC1VDB6SJKV2NLEAYIpW2sRakzqITwLpyhn84iD1QvUiAC51gikviXyBqBbLsIiZ-toCt387arHLCqKc7XfaukMmoxRoM/s918/haunting-of-harrowstone2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_frZZyD27Z8CezACx08HOY_tUrmVBSAHgQrtvJoTEBZNsQeoC1VDB6SJKV2NLEAYIpW2sRakzqITwLpyhn84iD1QvUiAC51gikviXyBqBbLsIiZ-toCt387arHLCqKc7XfaukMmoxRoM/s320/haunting-of-harrowstone2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>Previous Condensation in Action posts can be found here:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/03/condensation-in-action-from-600-page-ap.html">Kingmaker</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/11/condensation-in-action-rise-of.html">Rise of the Runelords</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/01/condensation-in-action-part-3-curse-of.html">Curse of the Crimson Throne</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/10/condensation-in-action-part-4-council.html">Council of Thieves</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/01/condesation-in-action-5-cults-of.html">Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/06/condensation-in-action-6-iron-gods.html">Iron Gods</a></div><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/05/condensation-in-action-7-skull-and.html">Skull and Shackles</a><div><a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html" target="_blank">Mummy's Mask</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Carrion Crown </i>was Paizo's first attempt to do a proper horror-fantasy campaign<i>. </i>It's set in a mock-Eastern-European region which was clearly meant to be <i>Pathfinder's </i>answer to Ravenloft, and the whole campaign walks the PCs through a sort of 'greatest hits' version of the pop culture horror canon. Book one: ghosts. Book two: Frankenstein. Book three: werewolves. Book four: Cthulhu mythos. Book five: vampires. Book six: fantasy undead. </div><div><br /></div><div>All Adventure Paths are uneven, but <i>Carrion Crown </i>is extreme. Part one is a good low-level dungeon crawl in a haunted prison. Part six is a good high-level dungeon crawl in a haunted church. Almost everything in between is incoherent rubbish: one contrived fight scene after another with only the most tenuous tissue of railroaded plotting to hold them together. In this post, I'm going to be channelling my own inner Frankenstein as I cut out the best bits and try to stitch them together into NEW LIFE...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Backstory: </b>This adventure is set in a desolate region that was ruled, centuries ago, by an infamous necromancer called <b>The Whispering Tyrant</b>. The Tyrant was eventually defeated in battle, and his haunted stronghold, the <b>Gallowspire</b>, was left to fall into ruin. The whole region has had an evil reputation ever since.</div><div><br /></div><div>Recently a young aristocrat named <b>Adivion Adrissant</b>, whose two main interests were necromancy and genealogy, discovered that the Tyrant's line was not extinct, as had previously been thought: he had a living lineal descendant in the form of one <b>Count Galdana</b>, a local nobleman. Upon learning this, Adivion came up with a <strike>terrible</strike> brilliant plan: using the unique magic he had researched, he would call the Tyrant's soul down through the generations into Galdana's body, allowing him to learn sorcery from one of the greatest necromancers in history! To help him gather the necessary reagents, he used his charisma, wealth, and connections to gather a small cult of debauched followers. Calling themselves <b>the</b> <b>Whispering Way</b>, they believed that the returned Tyrant would make them kings and queens in exchange for their assistance with his resurrection.</div><div><br /></div><div>Adivion's plan required <b>four specific components</b>: the ectoplasmic essence of a powerful ghost, the heart of a werewolf alpha, the magic from a powerful holy item, and Galdana himself. Ever impatient, Adivion has sent his followers out to grab all these at once, hoping to rush through the Tyrant's resurrection while he is still young and beautiful. The consequences of these none-too-subtle acquisitions have destabilised the whole region... which is where the PCs come in.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcg3TjDZN-FJ9FABvh3rO1UiARveLOmvGLFwskOdcpWN8ooyvFL_vHgAYN29GHmWdKKJicWPC4SIh9EY5ZUA_6WOZdh-MU4X6D5xvmZ8FczBldsmRjWkQcO1gAbcpkSoq5cOdJ0PK94LRO/s800/626975_carrion-crown-kyles_800x547_h.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcg3TjDZN-FJ9FABvh3rO1UiARveLOmvGLFwskOdcpWN8ooyvFL_vHgAYN29GHmWdKKJicWPC4SIh9EY5ZUA_6WOZdh-MU4X6D5xvmZ8FczBldsmRjWkQcO1gAbcpkSoq5cOdJ0PK94LRO/s320/626975_carrion-crown-kyles_800x547_h.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><div><b>The Hook: </b>The default starting point is for the PCs to be passing through <b>Ravengro</b>, when the locals beg them to investigate their haunted prison. However, given that Adivion's actions have pretty much thrown the whole region into chaos, the PCs can start from just about anywhere, as all the threads connect to one another in the end. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Harrowstone: </b>The ruins of this infamous prison stands on the edge of the town of <b>Ravengro</b>. Once a place for the imprisonment and execution of the region's most notorious criminals, it burned down fifty years ago in a fire started during a prison riot, and has been abandoned ever since. It is also famously haunted, which led the Whispering Way to pick it as a good site from which to acquire the ghost essence their ritual required.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Harrowstone fire claimed the lives of guards and prisoners alike, and ever since the <b>ghosts</b> of Harrowstone have existed in a kind of stand-off, with the ghost of the prison warden acting as jailer to the ghosts of his prisoners in death just as he did in life. Unfortunately the Whispering Way grabbed the warden's ghost in an ectoplasmic siphon, and now the murderous ghosts of Harrowstone are on the brink of breaking out. Only the ghost of the warden's wife, <b>Vesorianna</b>, stands between them and freedom.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Ravengro: </b>Everyone in this town knows that something terrible is happening. Everyone's got stories to tell about nightmares, hallucinations, episodes of missing time, and poltergeist activity. Everyone blames the ghosts at the old prison, but any locals who go near the place get chased off by skeletons. As Vesorianna's hold over the ghosts weakens, the manifestations of the haunting grow more extreme: torches flame up and cause house fires, zombies shamble from the cemetery, screaming flaming skulls hurtle through the sky by night. The letter V starts turning up on buildings, daubed in blood: then, a few days later, the letters VE, and so on. (This is the work of the <b>Splatter Man</b>: see below.) If the haunting isn't stopped before he spells out the whole name VESORIANNA, then the ghosts of the prison will burst their cage and the whole town will be abandoned amidst mass spirit possession and indiscriminate poltergeist activity. The people will beg (and, if necessary, bribe) the PCs to help lay the ghosts in the prison to rest.</div><div><br /></div><div>PCs who do some investigating can discover that the town's troubles began shortly after the arrival of a group of travellers who stayed a few days, supposedly in order to 'study the local landmarks', before riding on to <b>Lepidstadt</b>. (These, of course, were the Whispering Way cultists who abducted the warden's ghost.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Approaching the prison: </b>The prison graveyard, where executed convicts were buried in unmarked graves, has collapsed into a sinkhole, and mud-dripping <b>skeletons </b>of the vengeful dead will come staggering out to drive off those who come too close. Once these are defeated or bypassed then the prison ruins can be entered, but <b>poltergeist activity </b>within is rampant: floating brands try to burn intruders, hurtling scalpels fly around the prison infirmary, rusted chains fly up to bind and strangle, etc. Most dangerous of all is a rusted <b>furnace </b>containing the bones of a prisoner burned alive by sadistic guards: now his bones burn eternally, and the furnace lashes out with great tongues of flame at anyone who approaches. If his bones could be cooled (e.g. by throwing water on them) the furnace would go out. <b>Vesorianna's</b> ghost waits beyond, haunting the way down to the cells below.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZND31v35WUWV-vlQ9ltk2K48NCmINqeV83Abl4H2rlQrsIWuy_AD49Y2iPGaBBNZEzX8hz2Kdi7ClyMm1eZop5f5jJwd0BTO2cnxYXtDbonwdyNP-0URPyKGvAua0X-7SEzHGe69Z_G0/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="450" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZND31v35WUWV-vlQ9ltk2K48NCmINqeV83Abl4H2rlQrsIWuy_AD49Y2iPGaBBNZEzX8hz2Kdi7ClyMm1eZop5f5jJwd0BTO2cnxYXtDbonwdyNP-0URPyKGvAua0X-7SEzHGe69Z_G0/" width="188" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vesorianna's ghost. I'm sure there's a totally legitimate in-universe reason why the damage to her clothes persists but the damage to her skin does not.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></b></div><div><b>Vesorianna: </b>Like her husband, she died in the fire. Now she tries to hold back the teeming ghosts in the dungeons below, though her grip is weakening. She will tell PCs that the ghosts do not regard her as the true warden, and will thus not obey her, and begs them to retrieve her husband's <b>badge of office </b>from the dungeons beneath. If they tell her about the bloody letters in town she will realise that this is the work of the <b>Splatter Man</b>, and plead with them to stop him before he finishes spelling out her name. If the PCs can return her husband's badge to her, then she will take her place as the new warden of Harrowstone and force the ghosts of the prisoners back into their cells. However, if the Splatter Man finishes spelling out her name before this happens, she will lose all her power and become a mere wraith wailing around the ruins of the prison. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vesorianna saw the Whispering Way cultists who abducted her husband's ghost. She can describe them to the PCs, and tell them they spoke about heading to <b>Lepidstadt</b> next, but won't volunteer this information unless they help her with the prison situation. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>The dungeons: </b>Here most of the prisoners died in their cells, burned by fire, suffocated by smoke, or crushed by rubble from the collapsing prison - but not before they got their hands on several of the prison guards, who were decapitated by the Lopper. (See below.) Now the ever-burning skulls and skeletons of the murdered guards roam the corridors attacking trespassers, in two separate patrols: one of <b>headless flaming skeletons</b>, and one of <b>flying burning skulls</b>. The cells are also haunted by the ghosts of four notorious criminals - <b>the Lopper, the Piper, the Mosswater Marauder, </b>and <b>the Splatter Man </b>- which each haunt a different part of the cells, and will attempt to stop the PCs from recovering the warden's badge of office.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Lopper: </b>A mad axeman who was imprisoned in the prison's oubliette. Now his axe-wielding ghost pops out of the oubliette to try to decapitate anyone nearby. Completely fixated on his <b>axe</b>, which can be found elsewhere in the prison: anyone wielding it can wound him, and destroying it banishes him.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Piper: </b>A serial killer who dosed his victims with paralytic poison, then used his pipes to call flocks of tame <b>stirges</b> to suck their blood. His ghostly piping has called stirge swarms to his section of the prison ruins, where they now nest, and if anyone approaches his bones he will pipe a tune that causes their muscles to seize up and blood to trickle out of tiny bleeding holes in their body. His <b>pipe </b>is still locked in an evidence locker in the warden's old office, and destroying it ends his haunting.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Mosswater Marauder: </b>Crazed by the death of his wife, this man murdered several people and smashed their skulls to pieces, convinced his dead wife could be revived if only he could find a piece that exactly matched the missing fragment of her skull. Now his ghost roams the prison whacking people with its ghostly hammer, accompanied by the floating, ghostly, incomplete skull of his wife. He has obsessively collected and reassembled every <b>skull </b>in the prison (apart from the flaming ones), and his cell is full of them. Destroying these skulls will banish him.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgSEJbrJ2mk3oCKL3YVFMSfltC1H9hIQ61HUH1Iv3dZjrUwiwAdoeQHwGAwi7Q0-AAg8BDEGauIdVExuqvi-PpW6zQD78q7Of3DvBua_duSiWJYZN_eeQid0-k8Xd9q8s2dW0QzrwjNiz/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="840" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgSEJbrJ2mk3oCKL3YVFMSfltC1H9hIQ61HUH1Iv3dZjrUwiwAdoeQHwGAwi7Q0-AAg8BDEGauIdVExuqvi-PpW6zQD78q7Of3DvBua_duSiWJYZN_eeQid0-k8Xd9q8s2dW0QzrwjNiz/w208-h263/image.png" width="208" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Mosswater Marauder.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><b>The Splatter Man: </b>In life, a crazed serial killer with a gimmick - he would taunt his intended victims by writing their names in blood on walls and objects, then arrange for their deaths in apparently random (but extremely messy) accidents. Now he's a ghost, and causality runs the other way around: if he writes someone's name on something in blood, then that object will catastrophically break / fail / collapse when they come close, harming or killing them in the process. He keeps a herd of rats around for this very purpose, telekinetically draining them of blood. The strongest of the ghosts, he's sometimes able to slip past Vesorianna's guard and possess random villagers as they sleep, forcing them to write letters in blood on the walls of buildings in the town. If he finishes writing her name then her power will be broken, and he and the other ghosts will be free. His ghost haunts the torture chamber where the warden was murdered during the original prison riot, and where his rusted <b>badge of office </b>is still to be found. (No shortcuts on this one: the PCs are just going to have to run the gauntlet of his splatter traps to get the badge. Clever PCs can protect themselves by using fake names while in the dungeons, as he has no supernatural means of learning what their names are, and only a real name will trigger his traps.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Lepidstadt: </b>This large university town is currently in uproar. Everyone knows that the nearby swamps have been haunted for years by a hulking monster, the so-called <b>Beast of Lepidstadt</b>, who is blamed for dozens of murders and disappearances: but a few days ago the creature, which turned out to be an intelligent flesh golem, was caught breaking into the university archives! Now it's been captured and is being held for trial - and subsequent execution, as soon as they can figure out a way to actually kill it.</div><div><br /></div><div>PCs who investigate the affair will swiftly realise it doesn't make much sense. When the monster was captured it was wandering around in a state of addled confusion, randomly smashing things, but if questioned it seems alert and articulate. It didn't break anything on the way in, heading instead for a single cabinet and smashing it open, and only <i>afterwards </i>began its random rampage. The <b>seastone idol </b>that the targeted cabinet once contained is now missing, even though everything else the Beast smashed is clearly present (albeit in pieces). And the Beast itself claims to have no memory of the entire affair, and also denies being responsible for any of the other murders it's been blamed for, claiming that it's been living peacefully in the swamps ever since it was first abandoned by its creator. (This isn't <i>quite </i>true - it has a bad temper and has killed a few people who antagonised it over the years - but it <i>is </i>innocent of the murders it's being accused of.) </div><div><br /></div><div>In fact the Beast was mind-controlled by the Whispering Way into carrying out the robbery, using the machine at <b>Castle Caromarc </b>(see below). They used the Beast to steal the idol, which they needed to trade to the Deep Ones at <b>Ilmarsh</b>, and then left it behind to take the blame. The last thing the Beast remembers before his memory blank is seeing a group of men approaching. PCs who come to Lepidstadt from <b>Ravengro</b> will be able to match them to the descriptions of the men who stole the warden's ghost. The Beast promises to help the PCs find them if they can help save it from execution.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Investigating the murders: </b>The murders that the Beast is being tried for were actually committed by a pair of body-snatchers named <b>Vorkstag and Grine</b>, who have mastered a horrible technique for disguising themselves using preserved and flayed-off human faces. There are two main charges: a string of disappearances at a <b>village</b> in the swamps, and an arson attack on an <b>asylum</b> which stood on an island in a nearby lake. </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The village was targeted by Vorkstag and Grine because of the preservative qualities of its soil. They emptied its graveyard one grave at a time, and when demand outstripped supply they started murdering locals. Their first victim was a local poacher whose face Grine wore in order to infiltrate the community, and the actual murders were carried out by Vorkstag wearing the face of a horribly deformed man, ensuring that any witnesses would be led astray. The villagers still boast of how they drove the 'Beast' out of their boneyard, but a careful search of the site will reveal a secret stash containing medical tools and the poacher's preserved and flayed-off face. If the tools are shown to local manufacturers of <b>medical implements</b>, they can identify them as part of a bulk order sold to Vorkstag and Grine Chymical Works.</li><li>The asylum doctor had a two-way deal with Vorkstag and Grine, buying bodies from them in bulk for his own medical research while selling them the corpses of his own more physically unusual patients. He eventually became suspicious about exactly where all these fresh corpses were coming from and tried to break off the deal, at which point Vorkstag put on his monster face, killed the doctor, and burned the place down. Witnesses report seeing the 'Beast' fleeing the scene, but a careful search of the burned-out ruins reveal hidden dissection rooms below, and charred but still legible <b>account books</b> showing regular payments to and from Vorkstag and Grine Chymical Works. </li></ul></div><div><b>The Chymical Works: </b>Vorkstag and Grine are still very much in business, running a horrible chemical company that supplies the university laboratories with all sorts of chemicals and compounds derived from human corpses. Their tightly-sealed compound, notable for the foul black smoke that pours day and night from its chimney, is staffed by <b>freakish and horribly acid-burned workmen</b>. Within, <b>alchemical zombies </b>float in pools of ice-water below the chemical works proper: these wretched creatures retain their intelligence only as long as Vorkstag and Grine give them regular alchemical injections into their brains, which they use to retain their loyalty. (If the PCs can steal the relevant <b>chemicals</b> and a box of syringes for them, they'll turn on Vorkstag and Grine in an instant.) In a locked room hangs a <b>wardrobe</b> full of flayed-off human skins, and a stack of hatboxes containing flayed-off human faces, which Vorkstag and Grine use for their horrible disguises. One of these is the deformed face that people at the village and asylum misidentified as belonging to the Beast, which should be enough to clear its name.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjEAZX5zam770FMIGKUqRWtLF_C1ETaPzFvhMpNwWaz8lr0ggP8Qmu4S4TolI0z51U6netbtWIB2DTLNJLhkyRajnqk38DRO653Qhygwhinwcf1WIW3IxBqP5gGyqoxp_sSVLvgapuSkRo/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="790" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjEAZX5zam770FMIGKUqRWtLF_C1ETaPzFvhMpNwWaz8lr0ggP8Qmu4S4TolI0z51U6netbtWIB2DTLNJLhkyRajnqk38DRO653Qhygwhinwcf1WIW3IxBqP5gGyqoxp_sSVLvgapuSkRo/w249-h273/image.png" width="249" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The skin wardrobe. Ewww.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></b><b>Castle Caromarc: </b>If the PCs save the Beast, it will tell them that the men who controlled it must have done so using the machines of its creator, the reclusive <b>Count Caromarc</b>. If they <i>don't </i>save it, then as it is dragged off to execution it will roar and bellow that its 'father' Count Caromarc will never forgive them for this, which should point them in the same direction!</div><div><br /></div><div>Caromarc built the Beast years ago as a substitute child, after the death of his son. Unfortunately he liked the idea of being a father much more than the reality and soon got bored of it, leaving the neglected Beast to wander off into the swamps: but he recognised that having a nigh-indestructible golem on call might still be handy, so before it left he built a machine, the <b>Bondslave Thrall</b>, which allowed him to seize control over its body remotely from the comfort of his own castle. (The Beast has no memory of what it does while under the control of the machine.) The Whispering Way tried to recruit Caromarc, but when he rebuffed them they locked him in a cage to starve and used the Bondslave Thrall to force the Beast to steal the seastone idol from the university for them. Caromarc barely ever leaves the castle anyway, so his disappearance has not yet been noticed by anyone else.</div><div><br /></div><div>Castle Caromarc has two main guardians. The main castle is roamed by a <b>clattering hook-clawed apparatus </b>that attacks anyone not accompanied by someone wearing the count's livery: fortunately uniforms can easily be looted from his various dead guards and servants. The count's private rooms - his museum, library, and laboratory - are protected by <b>a blind flesh golem, accompanied by a fluttering cloud of six mind-bonded homunculi</b>: these act as its eyes, allowing it to see six different places at once, but killing them all will leave it blind and easy to evade. Caromarc himself is locked inside a cage in his own lab, which has become the web-swathed nesting place of his latest creation, an awful <b>human-spider hybrid monster </b>released by the Whispering Way on their way out. He would have long since died of thirst were it not for his faithful mute homunculus, <b>Waxwing</b>, who sneaks in every day with meals of crumbs and water under the cover of its ring of invisibility. Waxwing will invisibly observe the PCs as they move through the castle, and will attempt to guide them up to the lab to free his master. The Beast has no desire to return to the castle, but clever PCs might locate and use the Bondslave Thrall to force it back there to fight Caromarc's guardians on their behalf. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Count Caromarc: </b>If the PCs save him, Caromarc will be hugely grateful, and will happily tell them about the Whispering Way. He knows that they came to Lepidstadt from <b>Ravengro</b>, and that some of them were planning to take the stolen idol to <b>Ilmarsh</b>, while others headed for the <b>Stairs of the Moon </b>in the woods nearby to seek out the local werewolves. He also recalls them discussing some kind of plan involving the nearby city of <b>Caliphas.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Stairs of the Moon: </b>A ruined shrine deep in the woods, now used as a meeting place for the local <b>werewolves</b>. A band of Whispering Way cultists led by <b>Auren Vrood </b>(see below) ambushed the local alpha here, killed him, and stole his heart for their ritual: Auren then went on to <b>Feldgrau</b>, while his assistants carried the heart to the cult's leaders at <b>Renchurch</b>. Now the two leading werewolf packs - the <b>Prince's Wolves </b>and the <b>Demon Wolves </b>- are engaged in a civil war over who should be the next alpha, much to the consternation of the humans in the nearby villages, who are terrified by all the howling from the woods at night. PCs can pick a side in the battle if they like, or just interrogate a random werewolf to find out what's going on and then leave them to fight it out.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRQxd6QbbcxdEIcGyZPCQljWG_pHFa1duG5kLdALoSUJUlRE9WhSMYR7VBETWR8-bhfFmPINdPcHHH2IywhxjmzpdhDQ35Rr_TG39yiR-pI_CCnyScCUw79_xyRQvoVP1ZtGp7p_OJMLZt/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRQxd6QbbcxdEIcGyZPCQljWG_pHFa1duG5kLdALoSUJUlRE9WhSMYR7VBETWR8-bhfFmPINdPcHHH2IywhxjmzpdhDQ35Rr_TG39yiR-pI_CCnyScCUw79_xyRQvoVP1ZtGp7p_OJMLZt/" width="320" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Feldgrau: </b>Two decades ago, the people of this remote village were massacred in a petty war. The only survivor was a boy named <b>Auren Vrood</b>, who lived for in the ruins years as a traumatised scavenger before being found by <b>Adivion Adrissant</b>, who was on a bit of a dark tourism kick at the time. Adivion adopted Auren and taught him necromancy, and now he's returned to animate his slaughtered community as <b>skeleton warriors </b>to take revenge on the world in general. The werewolves know full well that he was involved in the murder of their previous alpha, and as soon as their civil war is settled they'll descend in force on Feldgrau to avenge him, even if it means fighting through Auren's nascent skeleton army. Auren is stubbornly loyal to Adivion's cause, but he's also rather unhinged, and PCs can potentially learn a lot about the Whispering Way's various plans in <b>Ravengro, Lepidstadt, Ilmarsh, Renchurch</b> and <b>Caliphas</b> by secretly listening to his ranting, goading him into making Evil Villain Monologues, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Ilmarsh</b>: This town is under the protection of <b>Deep Ones </b>in the nearby bay, who watch over it in exchange for regular sacrifices. The Whispering Way came here because they needed a powerful holy mace, the Raven's Head, which was lost beneath the bay centuries ago. The Deep Ones agreed to retrieve it in exchange for the return of their <b>seastone idol</b>, which led the cultists to stage their break-in at the university. They've since picked up the mace and headed on to <b>Renchurch </b>via <b>Caliphas</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>PCs visiting Ilmarsh may want to amuse themselves by raiding the local not-so-secret <b>temple to Dagon</b>, or by exploring a ruinous <b>manor house </b>in the swamps nearby which houses the town's leaders: its foundations incorporate an ancient and unholy stone circle, and it is guarded by an <b>ambibious marsh giant </b>who serves as the Deep Ones' champion. They probably won't want to explore the underwater lair of the Deep Ones themselves, which is in any case guarded by a <b>giant octopus</b>. All they really need to do is kick in enough doors to learn that the Whispering Way carried the idol here, swapped it with the Deep Ones in exchange for something powerful from beneath the sea, and then left for Renchurch via <b>Caliphas</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Stupid Fucking Vampire Subplot: </b>So there are these three <b>witches</b>, right? Except one of them is about to get burned at the stake, so she distributes her consciousness into a massive <b>swarm of spiders </b>and they all run off into the mountains. And while they're up there they find this accursed immortal knight called <b>Konas</b>, who is just a suit of plate mail armour with blood constantly seeping from between the joints, and they magically control him into working for them. And then they meet Adivion and I can only assume that he was really fucking high at the time because he's like, hey, why not use your magic blood knight to make addictive strength-boosting blood potions for <b>vampires </b>and then use them to make some young vampires murder some old vampires and then we'll have an army of vampires and that'll come in useful, somehow, I guess. So now the city of <b>Caliphas </b>is full of vampires killing other vampires and the PCs might want to look into that at some point. If you only cut one part of the whole adventure, make it this one.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Caliphas: </b>This large and decadent city has been thrown into consternation by the mysterious recent disappearances of some of its palest and most fashionable citizens, including the sinfully sexy <b>Adivion Adrissant </b>(who has, of course, left for <b>Gallowspire </b>to resurrect the Tyrant) and the ludicrously wealthy <b>Count Galdana </b>(who was abducted by Adivion). The other vanished notables were just <b>vampires</b> murdered as part of Adivion's shadow war. PCs looking into these disappearances will soon be sought out by <b>Quinley Basdel</b>, a dhampir thief whose vampire mother was among the victims of the recent killing spree. He can confirm that all the disappered other than Adivion and Galdana were old high-ranking vampires with plenty of <b>mind-controlled spawn</b>, all of whom are free now - but while the PCs will probably instantly suspect the spawn, the city's vampires have never even considered the possibility, because vampire spawn are normally unable to act against their own makers. Even a small amount of investigation by PCs without these particular blinders will reveal that the spawn <i>were </i>the killers, and that they've all been making regular visits to a <b>winery </b>outside the city ever since: this is where the witches give them the addictive <b>bloodbrew </b>which boosts their physical and psychic strength, allowing them to overcome the mind control of their sires, and encourage them to pass it on to other spawn like themselves. The witches currently have a small army of <b>vampire spawn bloodbrew junkies</b> coming and going from their winery by night, which is attracting some attention among the local population. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Winery: </b>If the PCs raid the winery they'll find the two still-human witches, <b>Aisa and Hetna</b>, in there making bloodbrew potions using the blood that constantly leaks out of the accursed blood knight, <b>Konas</b>, while their spider-swarm sister, <b>Oothi</b>, acts as lookout, watching through a million eyes. They also have a sideline in distilling vampire essence from all those murdered vampires, with the objective of making potions of youth for their human patron, <b>Countess Carmilla Caliphvaso</b>, who owns the winery. Aisa and Hetna are absolutely terrible at OpSec, and their winery is <i>full </i>of incriminating (and rather spicy) correspondence between them and <b>Adivion </b>about the plan to resurrect the Tyrant, the cult's base at <b>Renchurch</b>, their activities in <b>Ravengro, Ilmarsh, </b>and <b>Lepidstadt</b>, etc. Konas is slow but borderline-unkillable, but killing Aisa and Hetna will break their control over him and allow him to flee back into the mountains to sulk for another few centuries, causing all the vampires junkies to die in agonising withdrawal pangs once the bloodbrew supply runs out.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgbCe6BHbm8sGw0Ge104CPbUlF6UqMWe1ApBg1EOfpAwIeT8ywKXoPPyIv9zlmErTFOJ5mZILVSLczcBTEzwv4-DsUXE-FO76Qkat5zWW6lsvloIcPehK1fqlgQZ31Ll1FCECOQUt2jdY/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="500" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgbCe6BHbm8sGw0Ge104CPbUlF6UqMWe1ApBg1EOfpAwIeT8ywKXoPPyIv9zlmErTFOJ5mZILVSLczcBTEzwv4-DsUXE-FO76Qkat5zWW6lsvloIcPehK1fqlgQZ31Ll1FCECOQUt2jdY/" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Konas. From dark knight to vampire drug factory.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Renchurch: </b>This ruined church, deep in the wilderness, is the stronghold of the Whispering Way. (If the PCs befriended the <b>Beast </b>or the <b>werewolves</b>, now would be a good time to call in their favours!) It is haunted by the ghost of an ancient heretic, the <b>Grey Friar</b>: steeped in centuries of evil, the Friar sees Adivion as a bit of an idiot, but is willing to work with him in the hope of bringing his old buddy the Whispering Tyrant back to the world. Adivion has stashed the kidnapped <b>Count Galdana </b>here, and the Grey Hermit is preparing him for his transformation by slowly leeching his mind and soul away, reducing him to a blank slate ready to be overwritten by the Tyrant's spirit. </div><div><br /></div><div>The church is guarded by a pale, crooked-bodied, <b>three-armed giant </b>in a black robe, as well as by a host of <b>ghostly monks</b>, the slaves of the Grey Friar. If the alarm is raised, the ghosts will ring the great, cracked bells, and <b>waterlogged corpses </b>will come lurching from the monastery pond, reduced to bog mummies by centuries in the earth. The nearby <b>graveyard </b>has been desecrated so many times that very earth has become furious, and now seeks to devour anyone who steps on it unless they obviously come to repair its tombs and rebury its plundered bones. (Clever PCs can use this against their enemies.) The <b>iron doors </b>of the church are built from hundreds of rusted, cursed swords, which snap outwards to decapitate intruders unless deactivated via a hidden switch nearby.</div><div><br /></div><div>As PCs enter the church, its <b>unholy power </b>will wash over them: whispers fill their minds, weapons rot and rust, armour tarnishes, and holy symbols suddenly become loathsome to the touch. They will be stricken with nausea, and those who succumb will find themselves vomiting up floods of <b>flesh-eating beetles </b>that promptly try to eat them alive. The church is also guarded by a terrible <b>undead wolf with human hands </b>instead of paws, whose gaze causes sickness, and whose proximity induces crippling weakness and fatigue. Fortunately for the PCs, these supernatural security features have rendered the <b>Whispering Way cultists </b>within so complacent that they spend most of their time snorting mummy dust and inhaling ectoplasm from hookah pipes, and are consequently unlikely to mount any kind of effective defence. The one asset they do have is a <b>giant life-draining lens </b>that they use to turn human captives into ghouls, which they will attempt to deploy in battle as a potentially powerful but extremely inaccurate weapon. Once they are defeated, the way to the catacombs will be clear.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Renchurch Catacombs: </b>Here bloated <b>ghouls</b>, created by the lens above, gorge themselves on corpses. Stuffed <b>human heads </b>line the walls: when intruders approach they begin gulping convulsively, sucking all the air out of the room, requiring PC to move quickly to destroy them before they suffocate. <b>Sinkholes </b>in the ground flood unpredictably with icy water mixed with worms, dead flesh, and bones. Side-rooms house <b>the ghosts of dead necromancers </b>who act as tutors to the cultists, and a collection of <b>skulls </b>and jawbones: matching a skull with the right jawbone allows the spirit trapped within to speak, but attaching the wrong jawbone just results in maddening chattering sounds that will bring the ghouls running. In the deepest subterranean shrine the <b>Grey Friar </b>himself hovers over <b>Count Galdana</b>, draining his life-force away by inches, surrounded by unholy ever-burning flames: these are piled high with the charred bones of all the human sacrifices burned within them, which will animate and leap out as <b>flaming skeletons </b>to defend the shrine from intruders. If these are defeated, the Grey Friar will simply vanish, letting the PCs take Galdana rather than risk his own immortal existence for the sake of Adivion's plan.</div><div><br /></div><div>If saved, Galdana will gradually recover from his ordeal, but the ritual components the PCs have been tracking - the werewolf heart, the ghost essence, and the Raven's Head - aren't here. By interrogating Galdana, a captured cultist, or one of the talking skulls, the PCs can learn that Adivion took them with him to <b>Gallowspire</b>, where Galdana was meant to be brought for his final transformation.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_80PovlWy7wGMK7r-Mhy8DyNigp_mMqjQ40bKs6ZIZ0ViamfA-ZKK-dxdCalmaO2LTzLGciCH-hrW3DshvOPNf0odRkUHDR4g4r6DWMTBK_MPLExNczNWicRmoRlC2wXkYFSzD3unGyTa/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="875" data-original-width="710" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_80PovlWy7wGMK7r-Mhy8DyNigp_mMqjQ40bKs6ZIZ0ViamfA-ZKK-dxdCalmaO2LTzLGciCH-hrW3DshvOPNf0odRkUHDR4g4r6DWMTBK_MPLExNczNWicRmoRlC2wXkYFSzD3unGyTa/" width="195" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Adivion in his stupid tryhard necromancer outfit. What a loser.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gallowspire: </b>Once the stronghold of the Whispering Tyrant, this tower stands in the middle of a ruined city of sulpherous sinkholes, impaling gardens, and <b>pavements of skulls </b>that turn to bite the feet of anyone who tries to walk upon them. It is surrounded by a perpetual storm of screaming spirits, and <b>two giant zombie knights </b>guard the gate. Countless rusted hooks hang from the tower on the ends of chains, with <b>impaled bodies </b>dangling from them - these are, of course, animated, and will swing out to grab at anyone who comes within reach. <b>Adivion</b>, being a massive drama llama, is sitting right on the top of the tower with the ritual components around him, practising his evil villain speeches and waiting for his followers to bring Galdana to him.</div><div><br /></div><div>As soon as Adivion sees the PCs approaching the tower, he will realise that the game is up. Instead of waiting for Galdana, he will use the prepared ritual on <i>himself, </i>naively assuming that his own necromantic talents will be enough to keep the spirit of the Whispering Tyrant under control. The result will be a bit like locking a wannabe teenage Satanist in a room with Vlad the Impaler, and by the time the PCs get to the top of the tower Adivion will be in a pitiful state, screaming and pleading and babbling as his body disintegrates under the impact of the Tyrant's assault from within, his voice intermittently drowned out by the roars and whispers of the Tyrant himself. He's not part of the Tyrant's bloodline, and he hasn't been properly prepared for the transformation, so the result will never be more than a massively-imperfect synthesis of his own collapsing body with the Tyrant's undying will. Even that adds up to something pretty dangerous, though, so the PCs should really kill him before the Tyrant manages to integrate himself any further...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Aftermath: </b>The death of Adivion means the end of the Whispering Way, and the end of the line for its various accomplices. The estates of Adivion and Countess Carmilla will be seized, and the grateful Count Galdana will see to it that the PCs are generously rewarded from both these funds and from his own vast personal fortune. If the PCs retrieved the skulls from beneath Renchurch, they will also be in possession of an incredible unliving library of magical knowledge, much of it otherwise lost to the ages. Equipped with such knowledge, they might even start speculating how to bind or banish the ghost of the Whispering Tyrant for themselves....</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0dgXsUotpH8M5fSy-Y_zKIALaXSCZftt6duBZHB92dpeQ8o8fyftGWSVODuz65L2wtVoPoJrrkUxhYtQ914CdVgOkJIRJWC2Nh9CPSqd-BGehL8gY5IkwDZUJpzPPEl6UGC56UXwzf2C/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1139" data-original-width="1500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0dgXsUotpH8M5fSy-Y_zKIALaXSCZftt6duBZHB92dpeQ8o8fyftGWSVODuz65L2wtVoPoJrrkUxhYtQ914CdVgOkJIRJWC2Nh9CPSqd-BGehL8gY5IkwDZUJpzPPEl6UGC56UXwzf2C/" width="316" /></a></div><br /><br /></div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Joseph Manola</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/condensation-in-action-9-carrion-crown.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/condensation-in-action-9-carrion-crown.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2020-09-18T15:01:00-07:00'>15:01</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/condensation-in-action-9-carrion-crown.html#comment-form' onclick=''> 26 comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1956681088'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=980146096237359953&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Pathfinder' rel='tag'>Pathfinder</a>, <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Super-long' rel='tag'>Super-long</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Sunday, 1 September 2019</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/6b150a7b-3b18-425b-bca6-cb29429e215a/d9zigou-7f966fa5-fee3-458e-8278-6c081c027cbc.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzZiMTUwYTdiLTNiMTgtNDI1Yi1iY2E2LWNiMjk0MjllMjE1YVwvZDl6aWdvdS03Zjk2NmZhNS1mZWUzLTQ1OGUtODI3OC02YzA4MWMwMjdjYmMuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.FzfI8qSHrbn4oDPmdU9ser3SFnb0K9CBTdTmbpC9-FU' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='392427526916288536' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='8287403469815998213' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='8287403469815998213'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html'>Condensation in Action 8: Mummy's Mask</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-8287403469815998213' itemprop='description articleBody'> Welcome back for another installment of <i>Condensation in Action, </i>where I take hopelessly bloated <i>Pathfinder</i> adventure paths and try to turn them into something lean and open enough to actually use. Like all adventure paths, <i>Mummy's Mask </i>is a 600-page monstrosity of filler dungeons, blatant railroading, incoherent plotting, and pointless bloat. Let's rip it open and mine out the good stuff.<br /> <br /> Previous Condensation in Action posts can be found here:<br /> <br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/03/condensation-in-action-from-600-page-ap.html">Kingmaker</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/11/condensation-in-action-rise-of.html">Rise of the Runelords</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/01/condensation-in-action-part-3-curse-of.html">Curse of the Crimson Throne</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/10/condensation-in-action-part-4-council.html">Council of Thieves</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/01/condesation-in-action-5-cults-of.html">Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/06/condensation-in-action-6-iron-gods.html">Iron Gods</a><br /> <a href="https://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/05/condensation-in-action-7-skull-and.html">Skull and Shackles</a><br /> <br /> <b>Backstory is a Necessary Evil: </b>Thousands of years ago, Fantasy Egypt was ruled by an evil pharaoh called <b>Hakotep</b>. Hakotep had heard of a magical flying city far to the south, and he both feared and coveted the power of its creators. He worked thousands of his people to death constructing great geomatic earthworks that, if activated, would be capable of pulling the flying city to the ground: then, confident that he was safe from retaliation, he sent his agents to abduct some sky wizards from the flying city and put them to work building him a giant flying pyramid.<br /> <br /> Hakotep died just after the pyramid was finished, and as soon as he was safely dead his people - who by this point were pretty sick of being worked to death building insane magical vanity projects - rose up in revolt against his dynasty. His mummified body was desecrated by rebel priests, who trapped his <i>ib </i>(higher soul) and <i>ka </i>(vital spark) within his <b>preserved heart</b> and his <b>funerary mask</b>, respectively, in order to bar him from the afterlife. But the rest of his preserved corpse - which still contained his <i>ba, </i>or personality - was stolen by loyalists and carried back inside his pyramid, which they then launched skyward. <b>The Flying Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh </b>has been hovering in geosynchronous orbit over Fantasy Egypt ever since.<br /> <br /> Feeling rather embarrassed by the whole affair, his successors ordered his name to be struck from the records, and today almost no-one knows that Hakotep even existed. Unfortunately for everyone, however, a band of scholar-conspirators recently worked out from discrepancies in the old king-lists and chronologies that the legendary 'Sky Pharaoh' must have been real after all, and decided to try to claim the power of his Flying Pyramid for themselves. Their leader eventually located the preserved heart of Hakotep beneath the ruined tower of an ancient wizard... and was promptly possessed by his <i>ib</i>, which ate her mind, stole her identity, and took over her organisation. Now calling themselves the <b>Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh</b>, they seek to reunite Hakotep's body, heart, and mask, allowing the Sky Pharaoh to be resurrected and reign over the land once more from his flying pyramid of death...<br /> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder mummy's mask hakotep" height="320" src="https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/6b150a7b-3b18-425b-bca6-cb29429e215a/d9zigou-7f966fa5-fee3-458e-8278-6c081c027cbc.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzZiMTUwYTdiLTNiMTgtNDI1Yi1iY2E2LWNiMjk0MjllMjE1YVwvZDl6aWdvdS03Zjk2NmZhNS1mZWUzLTQ1OGUtODI3OC02YzA4MWMwMjdjYmMuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.FzfI8qSHrbn4oDPmdU9ser3SFnb0K9CBTdTmbpC9-FU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="190" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Hakotep.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <b>Wati: </b>This ancient city is where the adventure begins. Centuries ago, it was abandoned after being ravaged by a magical plague of such virulence that, when settlers eventually returned to the region, they built a wall around the ruins of the old city in order to avoid disturbing whatever ancient contagions might lie within. Today, modern Wati is a bustling city, three times the size of its ancient counterpart: but the walls still stand, surrounding the crumbling ruins of the <b>Old City</b>. The locals regard the place as taboo, but adventurers hoping to unearth valuable relics within the ruins can purchase exploration licenses from the local authorities, which permit passage through the gates to the Old City. However, would-be treasure-seekers must beware the ancient undead who lurk there, still furious at being left to rot without their proper funerary rites all those centuries ago.<br /> <br /> <b>Nebta-Khufre: </b>This ambitious young necromancer was raised by his grandmother, <b>Neferekhu</b>, a seeress plagued by prophetic dreams. In her last years she was haunted by visions of a terrible sky-king and a golden mask, and the specific details in her visions convinced Nebta-Khufre that an object of great power was hidden within the Old City of Wati. When she died before he found it, he reanimated her head and took to carrying it around with him in a golden bird-cage, so that she could continue prophesying to him. Eventually, guided by the visions described by his grandmother's animated skull, he located the <b>mask of Hakotep</b>, with which he hopes to transform himself into the all-conquering sky-king whom she foretold. The adventure begins when he finally works out how to activate it.<br /> <br /> <b>The Hook: </b>The PCs are in Wati when Nebta-Khufre activates the Mask of Hakotep, triggering a zombie outbreak which devastates the city. After they hopefully survive (and perhaps help to contain) the resulting chaos, the ravaged city authorities beg them to investigate who or what is responsible for all this horror, promising lavish cash rewards and lifetime looting rights in the Old City if the threat can be identified and destroyed.<br /> <br /> <b>Night of the Living Dead: </b>On the night when Nebta-Khufre activates the mask, a <b>pulse of energy </b>ripples across Wati, animating the <i>ka </i>or vital spark within every human corpse in the city. The consequences of this will include the following:<br /> <ul> <li><b>Zombie mobs </b>clawing their way out of their graves and roaming the city streets, mindlessly devouring the living.</li> <li>In the city market, the <b>severed and preserved hands </b>of thieves are hung up from a central pillar as a warning to criminals. When the mask is activated, these hands will tear themselves free. The freshest ones, which still retain some instinctual memory of life, will set off across the city to find the people who bore witness against them and strangle them to death, while the older hands simply roam the market in a scuttling swarm, leaping up to throttle anyone who approaches.</li> <li>A local antiques dealer recently acquired a real prize: the intact sarcophagus of an ancient noblewoman, complete with her <b>mummified corpse</b>. Naturally, he's halfway through selling the mummy and sarcophagus as a job lot at auction when the mask is activated, causing her to lurch out of her casket and start clobbering people to death. </li> <li><b>Magistrate Sotenre</b>, a long-dead judge infamous for passing out sentences of blinding upon the criminals tried in his court, arises from the dead and stumbles to his old courthouse. Still driven by his passion for eneucleation even after death, he establishes instinctive psychic control over a gang of <b>skeleton 'bailiffs'</b> and sends them out to start dragging random people into his court, where Sotenre presides over bizarre trials before inevitably sentencing them to be blinded - a sentence that often proves fatal, due to the clumsiness of his minions. The streets outside his courthouse soon fill with eyeless corpses and wailing, blinded victims. Sotenre is quite mad, but it's very important to him to maintain at least a semblance of legal procedure, so PCs entering his courtroom should be able to stall him for quite a long time by quoting random precedents and shouting 'objection!' a lot. </li> <li>A gang of <b>Silver Chain grave robbers </b>(see below) are transporting a cartload of corpses through the city, concealed under a fake cargo of cloth, on their way to a laboratory where the corpses will be wrapped and embalmed prior to their sale as 'genuine ancient mummies'. As the mask is activated the corpses start thrashing around inside the cart, ultimately breaking out of their boxes and attacking anyone nearby while the driver flees in panic.</li> <li>The <b>ancient dead </b>of the Old City arise <i>en masse </i>and besiege the gates to the New City, trying to smash their way through. Many of the gate guards desert their posts: the ones that remain are rallied together under the leadership of a young priestess, <b>Bal Themm</b>, who pleads with anyone who approaches to fight their way through the streets to her temple and return with all the holy symbols and holy water they can carry.</li> <li>A sorceress named <b>Sehhosep Naahn </b>is mournfully preparing the corpse of her husband for burial when the mask activates and he 'returns to life'. Convinced that her prayers have been answered, she ties a rope around him and starts dragging his zombified corpse through the streets towards her workshop, where she hopes to use her magic to restore his mind, too. She makes very slow progress, forcing her to blast the zombies that attack her along the way. Barricaded within their houses, the locals swiftly conclude that this obviously-magical woman dragging a zombie on a rope is to blame for the whole situation, and start forming hurried plans for how best to ambush and lynch her.</li> </ul> For maximum impact, try to arrange things so that the PCs are either in the marketplace, at the sarcophagus auction, or close to Sotenre's courthouse when the outbreak begins. Note that the animation of the dead is a one-off event: anyone who dies after the pulse will not rise as undead.<br /> <div> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder mummy's mask sotenre" height="200" src="https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/104117/assets/437766/old_eye_taker_by_jasonjuta-d7p6eum.jpg?1426573672" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="123" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Magistrate Sotenre. Tough on eyes, tough on the causes of eyes.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /></div> <div> <b>Dawn of the Dead: </b>The night of the initial outbreak is likely to be one of total chaos, with the PCs stumbling around the city being attacked by zombies, chased by severed hands, pursued by the mummy, 'arrested' by skeleton bailiffs, etc. By dawn some level of order will have been restored: the zombies aren't very bright, so once the people of Wati work out what is going on they will mostly be able to protect themselves by simply barricading themselves inside their houses and dropping heavy things on the undead outside. The gates of the Old City remain under siege, however, and Sotenre's bailiffs represent a much more organised and intelligent threat. Isolated bands of zombies will continue to thump around in basements, back alleys, and abandoned buildings for days to come.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> By mid-morning the city authorities will issue a desperate plea for help, and if the PCs have in any way distinguished themselves - by killing the mummy, for example, or dealing with Sotenre, or defusing the situation with Sehhosep, or bringing help to Bal Themm - then they will be particularly keen to obtain their assistance. Their first priority will be to secure the gates of the Old City, and their second will be to find out what has caused the dead to rise. Many will suspect (incorrectly) that the answer has something to do with the scattered reports they have received for years about a <b>'voice in the darkness'</b> sometimes heard in the city streets by night, trying to lure people into the Old City, and will suggest that the PCs begin their search there. Others suggest that they investigate sporadic reports of people transforming into <b>ghouls </b>in the slums of the city - investigations which will ultimately lead them to the Silver Chain.</div> <div> <br /> <b>The Silver Chain: </b>This criminal gang are based in an old <b>brickworks </b>in Wati, which they use as a base for smuggling, grave robbing, and trading in fake and/or stolen antiquities. They maintain a network of secret tunnels that extend under the walls of the Old City, allowing them to creep in and out unnoticed by either the city authorities or the undead currently besieging the gates. They also distribute the addictive drugs created by <b>Bheg</b> (see below) in the <b>Ghoul Market</b> of the Old City, which are brought to them through the tunnels by his ghoul minions. Repeat customers who start turning into ghouls are bundled off through the tunnels in the opposite direction.<br /> <br /> Not long ago, the Silver Chain were taken over by the <b>Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh</b>, who set them to work searching the Old City for Hakotep's mask (although Nebta-Khufre got there first). Their new leader, <b>Meret-Hetef</b>, is swift to realise that the zombie outbreak means that someone has beaten them to finding the mask, and as soon as the initial danger has subsided she will send her men out to try to find who is responsible. As a result, PCs investigating the same thing are soon likely to cross paths with the Silver Chain. They may also learn of them by investigating the ghoul transformations, or by asking around about alternative ways into the Old City, or by trying to find out who was transporting a secret cartload of preserved corpses through Wati by night, or just by investigating why a supposedly semi-derelict brickworks by the Old City walls was defended so furiously during the outbreak.<br /> <br /> The gang's senior leadership are all cultists, now, but most of the rank-and-file aren't keen on their change of direction, and are kept in line only by their fear of the cult's magic. PCs who bribe, threaten, or capture the gang's members will soon learn about the cult's take-over, and its quest for the Mask of Hakotep. Meret-Hetef will happily assist the PCs in finding and fighting Nebta-Khufre as long as they promise to hand over the mask afterwards: alternatively, the PCs may help the gang's street toughs launch a coup against the cultists and restore the power of the old guard. If befriended, the gang can guide them through the tunnels to the Old City, and put them in touch with Bheg in the Ghoul Market.<br /> <br /> All members of the gang know that the cult is based somewhere in the desert, but they're not sure exactly where. If the PCs manage to capture or interrogate one of the cultists then they can learn that rest of the cult is currently exploring an ancient monument called <b>The Faceless Sphinx </b>(see below) deep in the remotest part of the desert. The cultists will talk a good game about how the Sky Pharaoh will be coming any day now to rule the world from his flying death pyramid, but they're pretty new to all this - the whole cult is only a few months old, after all - and will crack quickly once any real pressure is applied.<br /> <br /> <b>Old Wati: </b>Once PCs have travelled over (or under) its walls, the Old City is actually less dangerous than one might expect, as the vast majority of its undead are currently besieging the gates of Wati. There are four significant locations here: the <b>temple</b>, the lair of <b>Imanish</b>, the <b>Ghoul Market</b>, and the <b>observatory</b>.<br /> <br /> <i>The temple: </i>This<i> </i>was the hiding place of the funerary <b>mask of Hakotep</b>, until it was stolen by Nebta-Khufre (see above). The temple is currently swarming with mindless <b>undead</b> left behind by Nebta-Khufre to cover his tracks, but the very concentration of these creatures at this site should signal to alert PCs that there is something unusual about this particular building. PCs who explore the temple will find ample evidence that it has been recently explored and looted, including a broken-open secret chamber which clearly once held something very valuable and very secret. The walls of this now-empty secret chamber are covered in hieroglyphics warning intruders to leave its contents intact, lest 'the Forgotten Pharaoh' devour their souls.<br /> <br /> <i>The lair: </i><b>Imanish </b>is a wicked spirit who takes the form of a flying head, with six ram's horns framing a bestial face. He is the <b>'voice in the dark'</b> that concerns the city's rulers: for many years he has been in the habit of flying over the walls of the Old City by night, concealed by illusions, and whispering plausible lies to anyone he finds walking the city's streets after dark, using offers of gold, sex, or secrets to tempt them back to his lair in the ruins. He has nothing to do with the zombie outbreak, although he does find it pretty funny. PCs can find his lair by talking to people who were tempted by his whispers but turned back at the last minute, or just by wandering around the ruins of Old Wati, which aren't really all that big.<br /> <br /> Imanish holds court in a ruined house, built around a central dining room. On the ancient table sit polished <b>human skulls </b>on tarnished silver plates, taken from its previous victims: whenever anyone enters the room, these skulls fly up and attack intruders in a clacking, biting swarm under Imanish's command. Imanish creates these skulls by means of a <b>cursed headband</b>, which he will try to trick or force his victims to wear before killing them. If someone is wearing the headband when they die, then at the moment of their death their head will tear free from their body and float off to the table to join the others under Imanish's command.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Image result for pathfinder mummy's mask imanish" height="200" src="https://mxyzplk.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/imanish.png?w=584" width="167" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <i>The Ghoul Market: </i>In what was once the marketplace of Old Wati, a ghast alchemist named <b>Bheg </b>has set up a laboratory, manufacturing drugs made from the flesh of ancient mummies. The drug has sedative and curative properties, but is addictive, and long-term use eventually turns users into <b>ghouls</b>. A band of these unfortunate addicts now serve as Bheg's guards, minions, and go-betweens, giving the market its name. Distribution to the city beyond is handled by the <b>Silver Chain</b>. (See above.)<br /> <br /> Most of Bheg's ghouls are feral and ravenous, but Bheg himself is pretty reasonable, and is not keen on seeing his primary drug market reduced to a depopulated graveyard. He can tell PCs that he and his ghouls have spotted a number of strange men in golden masks roaming the ruins in the days leading up to the outbreak. Most of these are sightings of <b>Forgotten Pharaoh cultists</b> from the Silver Chain, combing the ruins looking for the mask while wearing their ritual regalia, but if his sightings are cross-referenced with the movements of the Silver Chain - either revealed willingly by allies within the gang, or extracted from them via interrogation - then one sighting, of a man entering a ruined observatory, remains unaccounted for. This was Nebta-Khufre, wearing the Mask of Hakotep, on his way to activate it.<br /> <br /> <i>The observatory: </i>PCs can find this building by following Bheg's tip, or by noticing the amount of unusual zombie activity within. This is <b>Nebta-Khufre's</b> hideout, where he is using his necromantic powers to turn the mindless undead raised by the mask into his personal army, one zombie at a time. He'll have about a dozen <b>zombies </b>under his command for each day that has passed since the outbreak, plus the undead head of his seeress grandmother, <b>Neferekhu</b>, which he keeps in a golden birdcage guarded by <b>skeleton warriors</b>. Neferekhu deeply resents being kept in this horrible half-life, and will turn against him in an instant, revealing his plans, routines, and the passwords of his magical defences, if the PCs promise to let her truly die rather than keeping her around as portable prophecy generator.<br /> <br /> <b>The Mask of Hakotep: </b>This enchanted mask grants the wearer limited power to raise and control undead. The '<i>ka </i>pulse' effect used by Nebta-Khufre exhausted its power reserves, but a patient PC willing to spend several years waiting for it to recharge could use it to stage a local zombie apocalypse of their own. The Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh will do anything to obtain it.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Related image" height="200" src="https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/9a6ce74c-2fee-4ca4-b8da-e36fed6ccab2/d7uah0q-374b8029-2178-4290-aa4f-06f91e10847d.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzlhNmNlNzRjLTJmZWUtNGNhNC1iOGRhLWUzNmZlZDZjY2FiMlwvZDd1YWgwcS0zNzRiODAyOS0yMTc4LTQyOTAtYWE0Zi0wNmY5MWUxMDg0N2QuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.CzxKySlr9AiMjInJ2iGfHPp5LmU94GETTe-2RL2e5SM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="147" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The Mask of Hakotep.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <b>The Great Library of Tephu: </b>The town of Tephu is a short way downriver from Wati, and is famous for its ancient <b>library</b>. PCs who want to learn more about Hakotep will be advised to check there first.<br /> <br /> Any individual of good social standing can gain access to the main library for the payment of a suitable fee, but research there turns up nothing about Hakotep. In fact, it turns up <i>suspiciously </i>little, to the point where scholarly PCs are likely to suspect that all relevant documents have been deliberately suppressed. There is an <b>Inner Library</b>, which can be accessed only by breaking in, by lavishly bribing the librarians, or by obtaining a letter of recommendation from the governor of Tephu, <b>Muminofrah</b>, a lascivious woman whose head is easily turned by a pretty face and a muscular back. Even in the inner library, however, information about Hakotep is conspicuous by its absence.<br /> <br /> In fact, the library does house some relevant information, but in a <i>third </i>collection: the secret <b>'Dark Depository'</b>, hidden at the bottom of a deep shaft and guarded by a <b>bone golem</b> with a crocodile skull for a head. This is where the librarians hide all the materials they wish to suppress, but cannot bear to destroy. Its walls are lined with sarcophagi containing the remains of scholars who trespassed upon its secrets, and were punished by being embalmed alive. Rumours about the place abound among the library staff, but getting in will require the PCs to either persuade the <b>head librarian</b> of the necessity of their work, or getting Muminofrah <i>very </i>sweet on them. Either way, they will probably have to fight the bone golem, which continues to murderously enforce all kinds of obscure regulations laid down by some long-dead archivist or other.<br /> <br /> Diligent research in the Dark Depository will reveal the following:<br /> <br /> <ul> <li>Hakotep the Sky Pharaoh was a real historical figure, and not just a folktale as generally supposed, and he really did build a flying pyramid. Information on him is scarce because his name was stricken from the histories and king-lists after his death.</li> <li>Hakotep's pyramid was said to contain a king's ransom in gold and jewels. It was last seen flying skyward, and apparently never came down again.</li> <li>He was responsible for building the infamous <b>Bone Trenches, </b>a mysterious network of haunted earthworks whose origins have long puzzled scholars. Apparently they were meant to serve as some kind of magical weapon.</li> <li>His spirit was divided between his body (lost inside his flying pyramid), his mask (hidden in Wati), and his heart (hidden beneath an ancient spire - once the home of a powerful wizard, but now nothing more than a pile of tumbled stones).</li> <li>Both his pyramid and the Bone Trenches were designed by an architect named <b>Chisisek</b>, who was buried deep in the desert, beneath a great stone sphinx without a face that Hakotep also commissioned for some reason. Chisisek was said to have taken all kinds of secrets with him to his grave, and his tomb has never been discovered since.</li> </ul> <b>The Spire: </b>Thorough PCs may wish to check the spire where the cult found Hakotep's heart. Until recently there was a proper dungeon down here - ancient deathtraps, undead guardians, the works - but the cult cleared the place out, and now nothing remains except some recent excavations and shallow graves to show that the cult has got here first.<br /> <b><br /></b> <b>The Faceless Sphinx: </b>This long-forgotten monument lies deep in the desert, in a region known as the <b>Parched Dunes</b>. Hakotep ordered it to be built for his wife, <b>Neferuset, </b>in honour of the monstrous gods she revered. Beneath it extend a vast network of crumbling tunnels, which presumably served some kind of useful purpose several thousand years ago. For most of the last century it has served as the home of a band of <b>maftets</b>, desert-dwelling hybrid creatures with the bodies of men, the legs of lions, and the wings of hawks, who turned the sphinx into a shrine to their ancient monster-goddess. More recently, it was found by the <b>Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh</b>, who hope to claim it as their base of operations and to plunder it for information relating to the life and works of Hakotep. The cultists and the maftets have been fighting for control of the tunnels beneath the sphinx ever since.<br /> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder maftet" height="200" src="https://1d4chan.org/images/thumb/2/25/Maftet.png/300px-Maftet.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="192" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">A Maftet.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <b>The Parched Dunes: </b>The deserts around the sphinx are plagued by <b>sand krakens</b> and <b>gnoll slavers</b>, and consequently avoided by just about everyone. They contain four significant locations, as follows:<br /> <br /> <ul> <li>A 15' tall <b>automaton </b>built out of corroded bronze, coeval with the sphinx itself, protruding halfway from a sand dune. Close examination will reveal a hatch on its back, which leads to a cockpit full of pedals and levers - but none of them do anything, because its engine is missing. (It's in the lair of the <b>efreet </b>- see below.) If its engine was reinstalled, it would rise once more into life, crackling with magical electricity and ready to be piloted. It's too big to fit into the tunnels within the Sphinx, but would be a major asset to any fight outside it.</li> <li>A wide expanse of deserts full of carefully-arranged piles of rocks. This is a zen garden maintained by an obsessive-compulsive <b>blue dragon</b>, who roams the area looking for stones of just the right size and shape to be balanced on top of other stones. Anyone intruding within the 'garden' will incur his wrath, but he will try <i>very very hard </i>to kill them without disturbing or damaging the stones in any way. His lair (and his hoard) are hidden in a sand-choked cave nearby.</li> <li>A fortified encampment of <b>maftets </b>displaced from the Sphinx, which has been their ancestral home for generations. They will tell anyone willing to listen how they were cruelly driven into the desert by ruthless humans wearing golden masks, and will beg the PCs for assistance. (They'll keep very quiet about being monster-goddess-cultists themselves.) They know of secret entrances into the tunnels beneath the sphinx, which they use to launch guerrilla raids against the cult, but are increasingly coming to despair of defeating them as long as they command the loyalty of their <b>scorpion-man </b>mercenaries. (See below.)</li> <li>A ruined temple, now the lair of a fearsome <b>efreet</b>. Amidst the various rusted treasures heaped up in the efreet's treasury is the magical <b>engine</b> of the bronze automaton, which the efreet has just been using as a source of electricity.</li> </ul> <br /> <b>Beneath the Sphinx: </b>The tunnels within and beneath the Faceless Sphinx are now the stronghold of the <b>Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh</b>, although the hard work of driving out the maftets has mostly been done by a company of <b>scorpion-man mercenaries </b>hired by the cult before they moved in. Now the cultists painstakingly comb through the ruins, looking for the ancient secrets of Hakotep, while the scorpion-men keep an eye out for <b>maftet </b>raiders. The tunnels are vast and half-collapsed, and the cult is not even close to mapping them all, let alone searching and excavating them.<br /> <br /> The scorpion-men are professionals, and believe in honouring their contracts: after all, their reputation is at stake. Ultimately, however, they're here for the money, not because they actually care about resurrecting Hakotep. They are willing to fight for the cultists, but have no intention of dying for them, and will abandon the cult if someone makes them a better offer.<br /> <br /> The cultists themselves were mostly scholars and treasure-hunters until a few months ago. Their only real fighter, a man named <b>Rathos</b>, got hit by some awful curses while looting one of the shrines beneath the Sphinx: he's now a warped monster with stone arms and the head of a crocodile, who flings himself into battle in the hope of ending his horrible, agonised existence. The mind of their leader, a sorceress named <b>Serethet</b>, has been overwhelmed by the <i>ib </i>of Hakotep: she now wears a golden mask engraved with Hakotep's bearded face, and insists on being referred to as The Forgotten Pharaoh. <b>Hakotep's preserved heart </b>has imbued Serethet with a lot of magical energy, and it's really only her power that holds the cult together. Any PC who takes the heart will find the deathless will of Hakotep rapidly overwhelming their own, and even the most strong-willed of PCs is unlikely to be able to carry it for more than a few days before becoming its slave rather than its master.<br /> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder mummy's mask faceless sphinx" height="200" src="https://orig00.deviantart.net/2435/f/2015/264/f/c/rathos_by_katemaxpaint-d9aevec.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="145" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Rathos.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> Many parts of the complex were turned into shrines by the maftets during their time here, and the cultists avoid these when possible. One such shrine is guarded by the animated corpse of a <b>giant mummified crocodile</b>. Another contains ancient <b>undead horrors </b>slumbering within sarcophagi, who burst out and attack anyone who gets too close: the cultists figured this out after the first one, and will try their best not to awaken any more, but anyone who wants to create a lot of indiscriminate chaos within the complex would just have to run past each sarcophagus and then out again. These undead are, in turn, powered by the unholy life-force of an even more ancient <b>zombie queen </b>bricked up in the walls. If all of them are destroyed then all her energy will return to her, and she'll kick down the wall and start murdering everything in sight.<br /> <br /> In the extreme depths of the tunnels lies the <b>tomb of Chisisek</b>. The maftets know perfectly well where his tomb is, and would be willing to reveal it to the PCs in exchange for their aid against the cultists. The Cult currently don't know where it is, but if they remain in possession of the Sphinx then they'll find it eventually, and Serethet will start interrogating his ghost. His grave contains a wealth of ancient papyri describing the construction of the <b>Bone Trenches, </b>including instructions on how to activate its <b>mechanism, </b>and plans for the <b>Sky Pyramid, </b>including enough information on its original position to allow PCs to 'aim' the power of the Bone Trenches at it once they have gained control of the mechanism.<br /> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder mummy's mask Neferekhu" height="200" src="https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/104117/assets/529857/host.png?1448226056" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="146" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Setheret.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <div> <b>The Bone Trenches: </b>An immense network of ancient trenches dug into the earth, arranged so as to spell out enormous hieroglyphs when seen from above. They're in the desert, but not nearly as deep as the Faceless Sphinx, so their rough location is pretty well known. However, they're also well-known to be protected by horrible monsters, so most people leave them well alone. There's been some scholarly speculation about who could have built them, and why, but most people who go in for a closer look end up getting eaten by <b>Dusk-Taker</b> (see below).</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> When the trenches were built, dozens of <b>air elementals </b>were bound into obelisks within them. When activated, the collective power of these elementals would have been sufficient to drag down to earth whatever the great <b>mechanism </b>at the heart of the trenches was pointed at, up to and including a flying city. Today, many of the obelisks lie in rubble, and the system is operating at far below full power - but if the mechanism was turned on and pointed in the right direction, it still has enough energy to drag Hakotep's <b>Sky Pyramid </b>down to earth. The Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh are counting on this as their means of recovering Hakotep's body, although they don't currently know how to activate the mechanism. (This is why they're searching for Chisisek's tomb beneath the Faceless Sphinx - see above.) </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Hakotep had these trenches built in a hurry, driven by terror of the wizards of the flying city. Thousands of slave labourers were worked to death during their construction, and were buried wherever they fell: today their ancient bones litter the trenches, protruding from their shallow graves. The combination of thousands of angry ghosts haunting the trenches with dozens of half-bound elementals radiating magic into the air and soil has given rise to weird composite monsters that the cult call '<b>ossumentals</b>': raging animated bone-storms that crash, howling, along the trenches, driven by a mixture of elemental energy and ancient grief. The continuous motion of these ossumentals endlessly sweeps the trenches, thus preventing them from being covered by the desert sands that would otherwise have choked them thousands of years ago. </div> <div> <br /></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img alt="Image result for pathfinder ossumental" height="200" src="https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boneswarm_pathfinder.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="146" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">An ossumental.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div> <br /></div> <div> As if the ossumentals weren't enough, the trenches are also protected by Hakotep's unaging <b>pet roc</b>, <b>Dusk-Taker</b>, which still waits patiently for its master to return. As its name implies, the bird prefers to attack at dusk, swooping out of the sky to seize and devour anyone who comes too close to the trenches. However, if anyone approaches bearing Hakotep's heart (and thus possessed by his <i>ib</i>), or wearing his mask (and thus radiating his <i>ka</i>), it will leave them alone, confused by the appearance of someone who apparently both is and is not its long-absent master. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <b>The Mechanism: </b>Buried beneath the heart of the trenches is the <b>command centre</b>, which houses the ancient mechanisms used to aim and 'fire' their collective power. The building has been sealed since the death of Hakotep, and is still guarded by <b>animated statues</b>, though anyone possessed by Hakotep's <i>ib </i>will know the command words to make these stand down. Without the notes from Chisisek's tomb, it would take months of patient study by a team of experts to work out how to activate this mechanism.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Besides killer statues and rusting machines, the command centre also contains a vault packed with small sealed jars that, if opened, each contain an odd-looking preserved <b>insect </b>floating in fluid. These 'insects' are, in fact, magically preserved thoughts pulled from the minds of Hakotep's subjects, which he stored here in case he needed them later: some contain moments of insight or understanding, while other house experiences of fear and trauma. Eating a bunch of the former will grant great wisdom and understanding, possibly allowing the working of the mechanism to be intuited in minutes rather than months. Eating lots of the latter will send you mad with horror. Whatever cataloging system once organised them was lost millennia ago. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> There is also an <b>animated mummified spinosaurus </b>down here. Because <i>fuck you, </i>that's why.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <b>The Sky Pyramid: </b>Hakotep's pyramid has been floating in orbit for thousands of years: a vast mass of weathered stone bristling with black iron rods that arc and crackle with electricity. It's <i>very </i>high up, making it effectively unreachable by any but the strongest flyers, but the <b>Bone Trenches </b>will be able to pull it down if aimed in the right direction. When it lands, its sheer weight is so great that it sinks several feet into the earth. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Unlike most pyramids, which were built as tombs, Hakotep always intended his pyramid to be more of a flying death fortress. The loyalists who launched it into orbit mostly died of intense cold shortly afterwards, but enough of Hakotep's minions have survived intact to make the pyramid intensely dangerous to intruders. These include the following:</div> <div> <ul> <li>Bound <b>lightning elementals. </b>These mostly exist to power the lightning rods outside the pyramid, but in some places they have come somewhat loose from their magical moorings and now roam the halls.</li> <li><b>Keshenepek, </b>a horrible fish demon whom Hakotep summoned to act as his royal admiral. He's been stuck inside a frozen pool of water for thousands of years and is extremely eager to take out his accumulated frustrations on anyone who comes within range of his harpoon.</li> <li>An arena containing dormant <b>brass golems and bone golems, </b>which will creak to life to attack anyone who sets foot within.</li> <li>The tormented ghost of <b>Princess Nailah, </b>who was executed for attempting to depose Hakotep in a coup, and her six <b>drowned handmaidens. </b>She will attack anyone entering her chamber, but if the PCs manage to communicate with her then she will do everything she can to help them in destroying Hakotep and his legacy. She cannot leave her burial chamber, but the dripping, waterlogged corpses of her murdered handmaidens can.</li> <li>The spirit of <b>General Tarawet, </b>the Hakotep loyalist who dragged her master's desecrated corpse into his throne room and activated the pyramid before freezing to death. Her ghost still roams the halls in her phantom chariot pulled by spectral steeds, attacking all who defy her beloved pharaoh. </li> <li>The undead body of Hakotep's wife, <b>Queen Neferuset. </b>In life she was a cultist of dark gods, and in death she has become something hideous and strange, crawling along the ceilings as she creeps from room to room. She has all sorts of horrible magic, and if killed she simply dissolves into a miasmic mist and starts reforming inside her canoptic jars. Only if the jars are destroyed can she be truly defeated.</li> <li>The awful sorceress <b>Kentekra</b>, whose body is composed of thousands of skittering scarabs.</li> <li>Rank upon rank of <b>skeletons, mummies, and animated statues, </b>still waiting for deployment orders that never came. They'll defend themselves if attacked directly, but will not otherwise act unless ordered to do so by the risen Hakotep.</li> </ul> <div> <b>Hakotep's Throne Room: </b>The hallway leading to this room is decorated with images of people abasing themselves before Hakotep, or offering him great treasures. It is enchanted with spells that strike down all who approach with unbearable agony, unless they are holding out an item of great value as though in tribute, or crawling forwards on their hands and knees. The room itself is defended by a fearsome <b>mummified sphinx. </b>If General Tarawet has not been defeated already, then this is where she will make her last stand.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Hakotep's <b>mummified corpse</b> is still slumped on his golden throne, with an obvious hole where his heart should be. If his heart is returned, then his personality is reunited with his will and he essentially becomes an awesomely powerful ghost tethered to a vulnerable and inanimate body. If his mask is returned, then his personality is reunited with his vital spark and he becomes a raging undead powerhouse, crashing around the pyramid beating people to death with his ceremonial flail. If his heart <i>and </i>his mask are returned then he is restored to full unlife, sends out his minions to smash the mechanism keeping his pyramid earthbound, and flies off to start retaking his kingdom. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Behind Hakotep's throne room lies his treasury, which contains enough gold, jewels, and ancient artifacts to make all the PCs very, very rich.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <b>If the PCs do nothing: </b></div> <div> <ul> <li><b>Five days after the <i>ka </i>pulse: </b>The Silver Chain find Nebta-Khufre, assassinate him with the aid of Bheg, and take the Mask of Hakotep. The next day, Meret-Hetef will leave Wati with the mask, heading for the Faceless Sphinx.</li> <li><b>Two weeks after the <i>ka </i>pulse: </b>Meret-Hetef hands the mask over to Serethet, boosting her power and allowing her to finally drive the maftets from the tunnels beneath the Sphinx.</li> <li><b>Five weeks </b><b>after the <i>ka </i>pulse: </b>Serethet finally finds the tomb of Chisisek.</li> <li><b>Nine weeks </b><b>after the <i>ka </i>pulse: </b>Serethet leads the Cult into the Bone Trenches. Most of them die horribly, but she manages to activate the mechanism and call down the sky pyramid. Horribly wounded, she crawls inside, only to die a short way beyond the main entrance. </li> <li><b>Ten weeks after the </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">ka </i><b>pulse: </b>Queen Neferuset finds Serethet's body, and carries the heart and mask back to her husband's corpse. Hakotep rises from the dead. The Reign of the Sky Pharaoh begins again.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Joseph Manola</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2019-09-01T15:44:00-07:00'>15:44</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/condensation-in-action-8-mummys-mask.html#comment-form' onclick=''> 53 comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1956681088'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=8287403469815998213&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=8287403469815998213&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=392427526916288536&postID=8287403469815998213&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); 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Play as a clockwork octopus! Play as a whole bunch of nameless morons who die all the time! Download them in pdf format here and ruin your B/X campaign today! </a> </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div><div class='widget BlogList' data-version='1' id='BlogList2'> <h2 class='title'>My Blog List</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <div class='blog-list-container' id='BlogList2_container'> <ul id='BlogList2_blogs'> <li style='display: block;'> <div class='blog-icon'> <img data-lateloadsrc='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tO-cEekxxsLsv1nTTvkvmzZ0QUIdmJimOlAnLK26qatyKTLTmjuAxOmexsdIHROOpH_DT1Ka08Qo5Fvh-nhaurFltC2-Pl342Jb9NBa3ZS=s16-w16-h16' height='16' width='16'/> </div> <div class='blog-content'> <div class='blog-title'> <a href='https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/' target='_blank'> Goblin Punch</a> </div> <div class='item-content'> <span class='item-title'> <a href='https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2024/12/paladin-of-hell-monstrome-v6.html' target='_blank'> Paladin of Hell (+ Monstrome v5) </a> </span> <div class='item-time'> 1 hour ago </div> </div> 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href='https://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2020/10/revised-prison-of-hated-pretender.html' target='_blank'> Revised Prison of the Hated Pretender Release </a> </span> <div class='item-time'> 4 years ago </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </li> <li style='display: block;'> <div class='blog-icon'> <img data-lateloadsrc='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vyJfWsfkReelBKbsWLO778O4bm_-kE-GUEFojeAQcF2eNzpl1RpDvdf_m4IqJVvHKcUZk3uYfqZyieEpgG4jFNiQcCq67Hk2RQxwg4aWJuE1axRG0=s16-w16-h16' height='16' width='16'/> </div> <div class='blog-content'> <div class='blog-title'> <a href='https://honorandintrigue.blogspot.com/' target='_blank'> For Honor...and Intrigue</a> </div> <div class='item-content'> <span class='item-title'> <a href='https://honorandintrigue.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-campaign-is-currently-on-long.html' target='_blank'> </a> </span> <div class='item-time'> 5 years ago </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </li> <li style='display: block;'> <div class='blog-icon'> <img data-lateloadsrc='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vjqK_wIKYUSunXtiEUQC32DAS4RH4tQUpkpqhzxA34qUt8QeBIUu6FbAWwzbK0zpTCMvjHK2d4JYmpwYvGR0LWtf_N1buDUPj4Msqt1Q=s16-w16-h16' height='16' width='16'/> </div> <div class='blog-content'> <div class='blog-title'> <a href='http://gloomtrain.blogspot.com/' target='_blank'> gloomtrain</a> </div> <div class='item-content'> <span class='item-title'> <a href='https://gloomtrain.blogspot.com/2014/07/fairy-locations-21-30.html' target='_blank'> Fairy Locations 21-30 </a> </span> <div class='item-time'> 10 years ago </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </li> <li style='display: block;'> <div class='blog-icon'> <img data-lateloadsrc='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uFocgcJh_LjKLqATSr4BUGVMGPKnxbNo3LczyXC3ouVV_HFsMh-cs5afzHblMiXJTsPqSe-Q0PjAGhBfDp4H3yZfA5a-zt0iZSAOq0IQz0oaNL=s16-w16-h16' height='16' width='16'/> </div> <div class='blog-content'> <div class='blog-title'> <a href='http://gameswithothers.blogspot.com/' target='_blank'> games with others</a> </div> <div class='item-content'> <span class='item-title'> <a href='http://gameswithothers.blogspot.com/2014/06/storing-information-playing-information.html' target='_blank'> Storing Information, Playing Information, Dungeons </a> </span> <div class='item-time'> 10 years ago </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </li> </ul> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div> </div><div class='widget Profile' data-version='1' id='Profile1'> <h2>About Me</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <dl class='profile-datablock'> <dt class='profile-data'> <a class='profile-name-link g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' rel='author' style='background-image: url(//www.blogger.com/img/logo-16.png);'> Joseph Manola </a> </dt> </dl> <a class='profile-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939' rel='author'>View my complete profile</a> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div><div class='widget BlogArchive' data-version='1' id='BlogArchive1'> <h2>Blog Archive</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <div id='ArchiveList'> <div id='BlogArchive1_ArchiveList'> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate expanded'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy toggle-open'> ▼  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/'> 2022 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(11)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate expanded'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy toggle-open'> ▼  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> <ul class='posts'> <li><a href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/07/notes-on-semi-successful-skill-system.html'>Notes on a semi-successful skill system</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/04/'> April </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2022/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/'> 2021 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(16)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/05/'> May </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2021/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/'> 2020 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(14)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2020/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(8)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/'> 2019 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(23)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/05/'> May </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/'> 2018 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(43)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/05/'> May </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/04/'> April </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/'> 2017 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(58)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(2)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(1)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(3)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/05/'> May </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/04/'> April </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/'> 2016 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(100)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(8)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/05/'> May </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/04/'> April </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(9)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/03/'> March </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(11)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/02/'> February </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(9)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/01/'> January </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(8)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/'> 2015 </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(107)</span> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/12/'> December </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(9)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/11/'> November </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(9)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/10/'> October </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/09/'> September </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(8)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/08/'> August </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(14)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/07/'> July </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(25)</span> </li> </ul> <ul class='hierarchy'> <li class='archivedate collapsed'> <a class='toggle' href='javascript:void(0)'> <span class='zippy'> ►  </span> </a> <a class='post-count-link' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2015/06/'> June </a> <span class='post-count' dir='ltr'>(32)</span> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div><div class='widget Label' data-version='1' id='Label1'> <h2>Labels</h2> <div class='widget-content list-label-widget-content'> <ul> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Super-long'>Super-long</a> <span dir='ltr'>(61)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Monsters'>Monsters</a> <span dir='ltr'>(57)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/General-purpose%20musings'>General-purpose musings</a> <span dir='ltr'>(54)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Random%20tables'>Random tables</a> <span dir='ltr'>(54)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Central%20Asia'>Central Asia</a> <span dir='ltr'>(53)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Character%20classes'>Character classes</a> <span dir='ltr'>(46)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Wicked%20City'>The Wicked City</a> <span dir='ltr'>(43)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Actual%20Play'>Actual Play</a> <span dir='ltr'>(39)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Misc.%20setting%20stuff'>Misc. setting stuff</a> <span dir='ltr'>(38)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Almost%20a%20review'>Almost a review</a> <span dir='ltr'>(33)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Religion'>Religion</a> <span dir='ltr'>(30)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Clockpunk'>Clockpunk</a> <span dir='ltr'>(27)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/OSR'>OSR</a> <span dir='ltr'>(27)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Art'>Art</a> <span dir='ltr'>(23)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Warhammer'>Warhammer</a> <span dir='ltr'>(20)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Early%20Modern'>Early Modern</a> <span dir='ltr'>(18)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Playable%20adventure'>Playable adventure</a> <span dir='ltr'>(18)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Literalised%20metaphors'>Literalised metaphors</a> <span dir='ltr'>(17)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Yet%20more%20cannibal%20monsters%20%28I%20blame%20Hannibal%29'>Yet more cannibal monsters (I blame Hannibal)</a> <span dir='ltr'>(17)</span> </li> <li> <span dir='ltr'>Pathfinder</span> <span dir='ltr'>(16)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Possibly%20not%20entirely%20serious'>Possibly not entirely serious</a> <span dir='ltr'>(16)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Victorian%20weirdness'>Victorian weirdness</a> <span dir='ltr'>(15)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Steppe'>Steppe</a> <span dir='ltr'>(14)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/City%20of%20Spires'>City of Spires</a> <span dir='ltr'>(13)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Hexcrawling'>Hexcrawling</a> <span dir='ltr'>(13)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Rules%20stuff'>Rules stuff</a> <span dir='ltr'>(13)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Taiga'>Taiga</a> <span dir='ltr'>(12)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Desert'>Desert</a> <span dir='ltr'>(11)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Shut%20up%20about%20poetry%20already'>Shut up about poetry already</a> <span dir='ltr'>(11)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Romance'>Romance</a> <span dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Great%20Road'>The Great Road</a> <span dir='ltr'>(10)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Devonshire'>Devonshire</a> <span dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Underworld'>Underworld</a> <span dir='ltr'>(7)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Qelong'>Qelong</a> <span dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/self-indulgence'>self-indulgence</a> <span dir='ltr'>(6)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Gaming%20with%20toddlers'>Gaming with toddlers</a> <span dir='ltr'>(5)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Comics'>Comics</a> <span dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Crime'>Crime</a> <span dir='ltr'>(4)</span> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/search/label/Downloadable%20resources'>Downloadable resources</a> 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