Hawkins
In the suppurating jungles of the Lost World are a sea of cocoa
plantations. The River Sweat connects those plantations to the Shallow Sea. The majority of the chocolate made in the world flows down that
river, out to Isle of Sweat and from there to the world. Iron Cup taxes
every boat that passes within shooting range of their
coastal fort.
CHOCOLATE COAST
Imagine a towering fern and shrub meadow. Cycads with enormous red cones. Purple blossoms of magnolia and allspice. There is no grass, the peaty soil is covered with moss and tiny fiddleheads growing in the mulch.
This arroyo used to turn into a river when the Sweat flooded its banks. Count Starshell used a Disintegration Ray to carve a permanent channel a few miles inland, splitting off from the River Sweat and connecting it to the coast a few miles away (and out of line of sight) from the Iron Cup fort. The water flowing down this new channel is rusty brown from the exposed clay in the soil bed. Because of this and because of its use in smuggling cocoa beans, the canal is thus called the River Chocolate and the mouth the Chocolate Coast.
Zond set up his base of operations in an ancient SHRINE after reaching an accommodation with its guardians. The same Disintegration Ray that dug the canal now serves as a defensive emplacement against attack by land, sea and air. Iron Cup learned this when they sent a gunboat to shell him into submission and he sank it with one shot. Now he's under siege by a Copper Dragon and his hired goons, who are taking a more cautious approach.
A herd of eight titanic Thunder Lizards graze in this area. The ground is hard packed enough that they don't sink to their knees, but damp enough for lots of tasty plants to grow.
A flock of five Flying Lizards inhabit the inland mountains, descending from their rookeries to feed on small animals and eggs in the undergrowth.
Mark Witton
RAID CAMP
The Copper Dragon Constantan Malachite set up camp in a stand of gingkos, screened from line of sight of Count Starshell's fortified Shrine. The camp is camouflaged and surrounded by hidden abatises and pit traps. Malachite's forces are dispersed within the camp with empty tents set up to draw fire, so if the Count shoots the Disintegration Ray at them it will deal minimal damage.
BLACK MASK
Black Mask is a combined arms force, hired by Malachite to assault the Shrine.
The eight Myconids are crooked of body and chalk white in color. Their mycelial mother founded the company with a murderous Halfling entrepreneur because she wanted her children to see the world. Lumbering toward the enemy and spraying them down with spores is a small price to pay for seeing the world. They communicate telepathically via spores.
The eighteen Mercenaries wear eponymous masks of cloth impregnated with activated charcoal. Combined with glass goggles these respirators stop them from inhaling spores, allowing them to storm positions after the Myconids saturate them. They carry swords and pistols for close combat, keeping polearms and muskets in reserve for defense of the camp.
The platoon is led by Hintikka, a superstitious Fighter who constantly harangues Malachite for increased hazard pay. It's bad luck to attack a Shrine, plus a bunch of her guys got petrified. Until she gets more money or the enemy defenses are reduced substantially, the Black Masks aren't sallying against the fort again.
MOAI
TRADE WARDEN CONSTANTAN MALACHITE
Warden Malachite is an Ancient Copper Dragon, barbed and shimmering with bands of orange, pink and green. He likes acquiring money more than having it, sinking money into risky business ventures and taking to the field himself to oversee operations. He is a shareholder in Iron Cup's operations in Isle of Sweat and considers it his right to meddle in their business - including crushing rivals to the Lost World chocolate trading operation.
Constantan expected an easy victory, melting the Shrine with acid breath and sending the Black Masks in to clean out the underground sections he couldn't reach. Count Starshell's defenses are stronger than anticipated, and the dragon is delighted to have a real fight on his hands. He only gambles with money and other people's lives, and won't take to the field himself until he's sure the Tortoise Tsar's Disintegration Ray and Potion of Control Dragon have been neutralized.
The Warden carries a cashbox stuffed with gold trade tokens, a Potion of Expeditious Retreat, and a Control Amulet for his Golem proxy.
THE GOLEM
Malachite uses a Clay Golem as a proxy for battlefield leadership in dangerous situations. Its slimy red bulk accompanies the Black Masks on attacks and he watches events on the frontline through its eyes. When not fighting it performs tasks that his claws aren't dexterous enough for. The Golem was expensive and the dragon won't spend it carelessly, but will gladly sacrifice it as part of a clever scheme.
SUNKEN SHIP
When they heard Count Starshell had dug a channel to circumvent their trade monopoly, Iron Cup sent the sloop-of-war Indubitable to blast him to smithereens. The vessel boasted an eight gun broadside, a weather wizard and a compliment of marines who were supposed to storm the Shrine after the cannons reduced it.
They didn't expect the turtle to shoot them with a disintegration ray. It blew a hole right at the waterline and they sank almost immediately. Many of the crew were eaten by eurypterids and other Ancient Arthropods. The ones who survived were finished off by a Kappa who opportunistically snatched their souls as they lay weakened on the beach.
The Kappa is hidden in the sunken wreckage of the ship, concerned that the Lifebreakers are now after him. In addition to his small hoard of gold the vessel is full of goodies that survived the sinking, like the rum and the bronze cannons.
SHRINE
APPROACH: With the exception of the SACRED GROVE to the east, the plant life around the shrine is trimmed to provide a clear field of vision from the top of the central dome. There are seven statues in the dead ground to the west of the central dome, frozen in the act of rushing toward the cover of the exterior wall. Four humans, one Orc and two Myconids.
The circular roof of the main building has a Medusa and ten crossbow armed Skeletons with painted eyes on guard. The Medusa has a huge lens that magnifies her eye so that it can be seen at great distances - just looking at the building while she's facing your direction is sufficient to trigger her petrification effect. The Skeletons shoot anyone who approaches with their eyes to the ground.
By night, the Medusa on guard duty uses a bright burning phosphate lantern in combination with a mirror behind the lens, allowing her to aim it like a searchlight. Parties of D8 Peasants herded by D8 Skeletons emerge from the door in the east side of the building to cut peat in the dark.
If there's a big attack, the hatch in the center of the roof opens and the Disintegration Ray comes up on an elevator, through the shrine from the caves below.
S1: A round chamber with a domed ceiling, lit by tiny slits high up on the wall below the eaves of the roof.
At the north end of the room is an altar of Leper Heart, god of mutants and aberrations. The enormous scabby statue looks like it was chiseled out of a rockface or a much older monolithic temple. 75% chance the Naga Muisca is here during the day along with a Medusa tending her, 100% at night.
In the center of the room is a shallow pit. The ground is scorched from burnt offerings. There's a seam down the middle, freshly cut.
The room is scattered with gifts given by supplicants. Gold and gems and other trinkets that were too rough for Muisca's skin. Great coiled strings of glass beads that she loves to rub on. A potion of Liquid Light and a Ring of Luck.
When the Disintegration Ray is in use the seam in the floor opens up, along with the ceiling, and it rises out of the cave on an elevator with its Skeleton crew.
S2: This room served as sleeping quarters for the monks of old. Now it's a storage area for things the Shrinekeepers don't keep in the main chamber. Jugs of wine and rare perfumes whose smells were offensive to Muisca. Clothing that doesn't fit. Billhooks and agricultural tools. Sledgehammers and chisels for statue disposal.
S3: An old pottery workshop, used by the previous inhabitants of the shrine. Sooty and dusty despite the Medusas' attempts to clean, the Naga stays out because it makes her sneeze.
A steep staircase with a thick, polished railing leads up to the roof. A wide freshly dug staircase from the stone floor leads down into the Caves below at C2. A heavy door in the east wall, barred from the inside, leads out to the Sacred Grove.
S4: The entrance to the shrine. Unlocked, heavy doors connected to a set of bells that alert the Shrinekeepers to entry.
Procedure is for supplicants to enter with their eyes downcast, crawl on their belly into the chamber to the north without looking up, and deposit their gift to the Shrinekeepers in the central pit. If the offering is accepted, the supplicant will be cured of diseases and disabling injuries, at cost of mutations replacing any damaged components of their bodies.
Anyone who performs this rite correctly will not be harmed by the Shrinekeepers, although making it to the door requires running the gauntlet outside.
S5: This courtyard has no roof, save for a portico supported by six columns. The exterior wall is eight feet high and topped with spikes to deter climbing dinosaurs. A small pond collects rainwater and serves as a breeding ground for tasty frogs the Shrinekeepers love to eat. A disused pottery kiln. Lost coins from ancient times. Gravel made from statues pulverized with sledgehammers.
25% chance the Naga Muisca is here during the day along with a Medusa, lying in the sun atop one of the flat stones.
SHRINEKEEPERS
The Shrine is kept by Muisca the Naga, a blind snake-woman with beautiful banded scales of red, yellow and black. She put her own eyes out so that her wonderful shrine maidens could work without fear of stoning her. She is lazy in her old age and resents intrusions, but believes wholeheartedly in dispensing the Mutated God's mercy to those who show proper respect. She let Zond the Tortoise Tsar turn her Shrine into a doom fortress with a death laser because he was polite and gave her a wonderful gift: a dried finger of Leper Heart himself, fallen off his hand when he walked the earth. It's the only article of clothing she wears, dangled on a silk string around her long neck.
If Muisca is killed and respawns at the statue in the Shrine, her eyes are healed.
The Medusas Hirta and Kana tend Muisca and the shrine. They love her and they love the God. They advised her against letting the Tortoise Tsar build a base under the Shrine. They don't mind defending the place from attackers, it's their job. But spending twelve hours a day on the roof watching for people sneaking up? They're ready for this nonsense to be over. If Muisca didn't strictly forbid it they'd Warden Malachite and his goons walk right into the caves.
CAVES
The caves are 25 feet below the Shrine, excavated and enlarged by Count Zond Starshell. It's hot and humid down here. Illumination is provided by sprites in jars of soporific poison, keeping them comatose and emitting light. The sound of waves is audible.
C1: The Disintegration Ray is mounted to an elevator platform, tended by a dozen Skeletons.
To activate the lift, Count Starshell closes the hatch on his tank at C3 and floods it with water. The steam generated spins a wheel connected to the elevator with a drive shaft. It goes up 50 feet, through hatches in the floor and ceiling of the Shrine.
C2: The landing of the stairs leading up to S3 is home to eight Peasants, who rest here when they aren't tending the turtle. It's the farthest they can get away from his billowing steam and heat, the clacking of the Skeletons and the jabbering of the Homunculus. The Medusas won't allow them in the shrine upstairs, except when the Skeletons herd them outside to cut peat for Zond's internal furnace.
There's nothing of value here, just a little food and some religious trinkets of the harvest deity Beer and Bread.
C3: Count Starshell lounges in a simmering tub of seawater, fed by a sluice from the natural sea caves to the south. A Homunculus jabbers battlefield information to him, fed by the painted eyes of the Skeletons upstairs on the roof of the Shrine.
Bricks of peat and dried vegetable matter are heaped around the cave, periodically hauled to the edge of the tub and fed to him. A big hatch cover sits by the tub where the turtle can pull it over himself.
Stacked in the corner are metal pieces of the Count's ship. Anchor, chains and other things that wouldn't burn.
C4: Count Starshell's getaway submarine, chained to a makeshift pier.
A clumsy wooden contraption, soaked with drakesblood to make it fireproof. The operating mechanism is simple. Zond gets inside, floods it and channels the escaping steam through valves to propel it. A Trident of Water Breathing stops Zond from drowning and doubles as the steering mechanism. Depth is controlled by flooding ballast tanks to dive and boiling the water out to ascend.
A chest in the crew compartment holds the remaining petty cash Zond brought for the operation. Assorted coins and beads of precious stone. Below that is a chest filled with white soil, a legal formality that lets Zond drag serfs "tied to the land" wherever in the world he pleases.
COUNT ZOND STARSHELL
Count Zond Starshell is a Tortoise Tsar, a fire turtle instinctively driven to rule and dominate beings lesser than himself. He bought the old Count's debts in exchange for marrying his daughter, granting Zond a peerage. He left her in charge of his demesne in the Baronies after eliminating a number of troublesome rivals (personally undermining two of their steadings) and went adventuring abroad, searching for new lands to conquer and riches which will propel his ascendancy to higher ranks in the order of precedence.
The Count is arrogant, but not as airheaded as he appears. He did careful research and even bought shares in Iron Cup so he could receive reports about their operations in Lost World. He commissioned the Disintegration Ray to dig the canal and defend the base, and a Potion of Control Dragon to fend off the person most likely to attack him. He had his ship disassembled so he could eat the wooden components for fuel. If things go right he can buy a new ship home with the profits from undercutting Iron Cup. If they go wrong, he's got a getaway submarine. It only seats one, but he can always get more Peasants.
The Count has two sockets in his shell that hold enormous rubies. These gems power the Disintegration Ray, charging using his internal heat. It takes a half hour to fully charge one.
THE HOMUNCULUS
The Homunculus was created by Zond's court wizard alongside the Disintegration Ray and the Skeletons, to help the Count manage the weapon system and crew. In tense moments he summarizes battlefield conditions in a rapid-fire spew of information, takes dictation from Zond and transmits commands to the Skeletons. He rarely leaves Zond's side but when he does he prefers to fly on his buzzing wings rather than walk on his stumpy legs. He drinks blood from the Peasants when he's thirsty.
The Homunculus carries a Potion of Control Dragon. The range is line-of-sight and he can see through the eyes of the Skeletons, forcing the Copper Dragon to stay under cover.
Trampier
DISINTEGRATION RAY
The Disintegration Ray is a giant wand, mounted to a cradle of metal rings like an orrery that let it point in any direction. A floating disc mounted to the Ray reduces its weight, allowing the crew to aim it with little cranks that rotate the interlocking wheels. The ray is powered by energy crystals, charged with Zond's flames and socketed into the base of the wand for firing. Each gem is good for a single shot.
If they need to fire the ray, the dozen Skeletons crewing it retrieve a power crystal from Zond and socket it into the gun, then ride it up on the steam-powered lift to the roof of the Shrine. The crystals lose power quickly when not charging so they only bring the one to fire the gun. If they need a followup shot they lower it back down to the caves and grab the other off Zond's shell.
The ray destroys everything in a line 10 foot in diameter. The range is line-of-sight but the ray can't bore through an infinite density of material, the exact amount it can penetrate depends on the density. There's no save against its damage, only total magic immunity or being large enough to comfortably lose a 10 foot chunk of your body prevents instant death.
PEASANTS
Zond took a dozen serfs with him to Lost World. One died of a dinosaur attack and three died in industrial accidents during the digging of the canal, leaving eight survivors. The Peasants are from Pasty Basin, an oft-invaded region of the Baronies whose soft white soil can grow anything. They're used to deprivation but Zond didn't bring enough food for the trip and they're starving, not to mention dehydrated from the heat of the cave.
The Peasants are led by Banca, low level Cleric of the harvest deity Beer and Bread. The God teaches that loyalty and work will be rewarded with the necessities of a happy life. Banca uses her once-daily casting of Purify Food and Drink to make seawater and questionable surface plants safe for consumption, but she has too many mouths to feed. She would never think of betraying Zond but heat exhaustion might cause her to view someone else bringing food as an angel sent to reward her.
SACRED GROVE
Zond carefully manicured the landscape around the Shrine, trimming vegetation to provide a clear field of fire for the Disintegration Ray. The Medusas wouldn't let him cut down the thick vegetation to the east of the fort.
Sneaking through the grove is a great way to get close to the wall of the Shrine, if you can dodge the Predatory Plants infesting the place. The plants are sluggish at night, which is when D8 Skeletons herd D8 Peasants out there to cut peat.
In the center of the grove is a primordial statue, features effaced by time so that it resembles a column more than a humanoid. It has no superpowers.
THE LIFEBREAKERS
A cabal of magical creatures led by Odem the Lamassu. Odem
is here to chastise the Kappa for his extraction of souls from the
dying crew of the Iron Cup vessel. The creatures of the earth must be
allowed their atrocities, but the disfigurement of the soul cannot be
allowed.
The water
prevents the Lifebreakers from getting an exact reading on the Kappa's
location. Both sides of the siege are loath to attack them as they
circle the battlefield, looking for the offender. If they catch the turtle-man they deliver a stern lecture then find someone to conscript for his further moral edification, assigning him to the party as a hireling until he learns his lesson.
THE SIEGE
Warden
Malachite can't just fly over the fort and melt it with breath attacks
because the defenders have a Potion of Control Dragon, which could
ensorcel him if he got in line of sight. He can't send ships in because
of the Disintegration Ray. Land attacks have so far been repulsed by the
Medusas and their boss. The Shrinekeepers aren't letting anyone in.
Count
Starshell can't open the canal for business while it's under siege. The
ideal solution would be to send a Skeleton into the Copper Dragon's
camp so that he could use it to target the potion of Control Dragon on
Constantan, then order him to fly up the air so he could be targeted
with the Disintegration Ray. The golem and mercenaries have been
diligent about keeping infiltrators with exposed skulls or skull shaped
packages out of the camp.
If
cornered and plied with alcohol the Kappa in the ship could change the
course of the river, to dry up the Chocolate or make more branches off
the River Sweat.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
The players are...
- Smugglers with a ship, hoping to circumvent Iron Cup's tolls using the new channel.
- Iron Cup mercenaries reinforcing the dragon's assault on the Shrine.
- Assassins from the Baronies, hunting Count Starshell for massive profit.
- Horribly injured, on a pilgrimage to the Shrine to beg for Leper Heart's healing.
- Religious fanatics following the Lifebreakers.
- Necromancy students capitalizing on the Kappa's ability to extract and store souls.
THE MAKING OF
I used the Monster Manual Overhaul to create the nucleus of this area. I rolled
- 3d10 Skeletons skirmishing with 2d6 Myconids
- 3*1d6 roving Mercenaries
- 2d6 Thriae fleeing 2d6 Flying Lizards
- d6 Medusa and a blind Naga they adore
- 2d6 Thunder Lizards eating d4 Predatory Plants
- A Lamasu lecturing a Kappa
- A Tortoise Tsar arguing with an Ancient Dragon
- A Golem stalking a Homunculus
Yes! Good! How did I miss this series? These are absolutely excellent.
ReplyDeleteHell yeah, thanks for writing!
DeleteI just added another one yesterday: The Atoll of the Shark God. You might also check out Spears and Spreadsheets, where my friend is playtesting The Lost Vineyard (the second Test Drive).