Mythic Bastionland Myth: The Wizard

The wizard is just that. 

He wears a pointed hat. 

OMENS

1: A poster. It reads: WANTED, A Wizard - 40 gold reward. A charcoal drawing of a bearded wizard, with pointed hat and mouth pulled back in a cackle. The eyes are scribbled out. No indication of who put it there or where to claim the reward.

 

2: Two blue robes dangle on stalks. They're warm to the touch and smell slightly of honey. The word PREPARE is etched into the flattest nearby surface. Four empty stalks suggest that robes were taken. Donning one grants A1 but slowly transforms the wearer into an APPRENTICE as it fuses with them.

 

3: Dairy farmers Lucy and Krow won't go into the barn. Their son Thinus is in there. He went missing but he came back. Inside, a hunched shape clad in a blue robe moans quietly, smearing ooze all over the straw. This APPRENTICE eagerly shares the Wizard's wisdom with Knights who enter. 

 

4: Sticky strands dangle from every surface. The air is heavy with spores that make the Knights drowsy. An APPRENTICE is suspended helpless over a pool of pale blue liquid, slowly dissolving in the acid fumes. A dark shape moves in the pond, its silhouette wormlike. A larval Wizardling, defenseless for now.

 

5: The landscape has melted, then solidified. An eyeless statue stands over an empty basin. It twitches and pulses when viewed from the corner of the eye. The couple from 3 grovel in front of the idol, clad in blue robes. If these APPRENTICES are Mortally Wounded, WIZARDLINGS erupt from the bodies. 

 

6: A sticky blue door hangs open, connected to nothing. On the other side: a dark space lit by a clutch of veiny, luminescent bulbs. The Wizard's eggs. The door leads to the myth hex. If one character passes through the door slams shut. The Wizard attacks the lone victim, cackling.

 

 

MEN AND MONSTERS

APPRENTICE 

Hunched, blue robed, dissolving, eyes hanging loosely in their sockets. Can't communicate what's happening to them in words, yearns to touch you.

VIG 9, CLA 5, SPI 15, 2 GD
A1 (Fleshy robe) 

Melting hands (2d6), targets foe with the lowest GD

Wounded victims suffer a Malediction, roll to see which one.

 

WIZARDLING 

Segmented creatures with spiderlike limbs and bristling beards of horrible appendages. Nimble climbers, instinctive sadism prevents them fleeing fights.

VIG 12, CLA 12, SPI 9, 4GD
A2 (Carapace)

Proboscis (2d8, restores Wizardling's VIG on a wound) or acid spit (d8), targets foe with the lowest GD

Wounded victims suffer a Maledictions, roll to see which one.

  

WIZARD

A hanging leg, a twitching tendril. A squirming beard, a grinning face under a hat like a beetle's horn. Doing all this because he can.

VIG 15, CLA 15, SPI 15, 10GD
A2 (Carapace)
Rostrum (3d8, restores Wizard's VIG on a Wound) or Flailing Limbs (2d8 blast)
Wounded victims take a Malediction of the Wizard's choosing. 

 

 

2D6 TABLES

Gibbering of Apprentices (Wizardlings don't speak)

1: “The wizard shall return! He shall return through the cracked sphere, reborn moist and glistening!”
2: “The two sentinels guard them! They guard the incomplete perfection!”
3: “Beyond the black veil lies seas of wonder and terror! Through the door hanging in emptiness!”
4: “He can see! He can see you coming as you stumble through the inky dark!”
5: “The statue has YOUR eyes, a beckoning call!”
6: “We have suffered, we accursed six, and we have been saved!” 

 

Six Maledictions. End if the Wizard is killed.

1: Victim sweats blue slime. If any of their attack dice show a 1, all their weapons slip out of their grasp.

2: Meltskin. The victim cannot wear armor. Any currently worn sloughs off their body.

3: Any time the victim fails a save, a random limb pops off with a wet crack. The part can be reattached. 

4: Victim's scent terrifies animals, who flee or attack. Cannot ride horses, mounted Knights are thrown.

5: Skittering, slimy grublike creatures bubble up the victim’s throat when they attempt to speak. 

6: Crunchy blue deposits build up in the victim's joints. 5 or higher to use gambits.

 

THE MAKING OF

A Wizard is one of the few RPG modules I've ever run. I like to write my own dungeons but I'd just finished two Esoteric Enterprises underworlds (both of which included handcrafted custom areas) and I was ready to let someone else put in the work. It's good.

 

Taking the Wizard out of his Tower loses a lot of atmosphere and the disgusting traps. Removing the abyss was essential to fitting it all in but necessitated the loss of some cool set pieces (the giant finger, the giant eyes...). I kept shrinking the scope and it still might be too wordy. The maledictions will not stop a determined group of players from chopping up the sorcerer's servants but will weigh the group down as they hike across the map looking for the asshole responsible.

 

Like The Bear, this one might not hit the right tone. Too much gore, too little wonder and mystery, nobody to talk to who knows anything. But that's what happens when you create your own myth. If it was a perfect fit it would already be in the game.