The Foot of Blue Mountain

Malachi's Cradle - A Violet Flower Region

Malachi's Cradle

New games begin at hex 138-529.

Any farmland in this region is terraced, long-gone gentle hills long-ago shaped by powerful hands into easy farming land.

Italicized Items can be found in my previous post about magic items on the Violet Flower except for the Elytra Tunic, which is described below:

Elytra Tunic: A shirt made from the vestigial wings of Gnolls. Jump your own height with no preparation and balance perfectly on anything that can hold your weight with the aid of the wings, which twitch and shake erratically at all times.

Monsters here reference the Antarctic Bestiary I wrote earlier this year. The bestiary should be receiving an update in the next few weeks with more information about the monsters therein, and potentially some new monsters as I come up with them.

I may make a PDF version of this at some point in the future. No promises, though. Graphic Design and Typography is hard even if you're educated in it (and I am certainly not).

Encounter Table

2d6 Encounter
2 Great Owl, 3-in-6 chance of being overtaken by the rage wyrm (See Hex 136-518)
3 4d6 Giant Centipedes on the hunt
4 2d6 Skeletons if within 2 hexes of Hex 137-519 otherwise nothing.
5 2d6 Ghouls, hunting for servants to add to the false burial of 9 Scale in Hex 139-520
6 4 Wraiths, running away from some long-past danger. One trips and falls on something no longer there and explodes into nothing. Beneath that point is a Vengeful Baby.
7 2d6 Pilgrims, traveling to the closest village. Use a reaction roll to determine their general state; low means they have been ravaged by their journey.
8 2d6 Berserkers
9 4d6 Fire Beetles
10 Cockatrice King Calciferous and a Retinue of 2d6 Ghouls
11 1d6+2 Hunters from the closest village
12 Not Right Now (See hex 141-530)

Weather Table

Roll 2d6 at commencement of play.
After this, roll 2d6 and:

2d6 Weather Result
2-4 Scorching
5 Hot
6 Overcast
7 Sun
8 Cloudy
9 Raining
10-12 Downpour

136-518

Atop a square hill in the center of this hex is the nest of the Great Owl (HD 9, 1d6 Beak, Flight, Armor as Leather). The foot of the hill is covered with the rotting corpses of 16 Berserkers, and the path up to the nest is slick with blood. The Great Owl sleeps fitfully in its nest during the day, caught in the throes of crimson nightmare. Madness will overtake her in the next 3 days, if she is not already gone when the party arrives (3-in-6 chance the rage wyrm she consumed will overtake her each day).

She knows much of the happenings in this region and the next and is eager to help the Entourage while she still retains her mind. There is no saving her.

In her nest:

136-523

A hulking bridge built from basalt nearly blocks the river that bumbles through this hex. When it rains, the river swells and floods the area surrounding the bridge.

Inside the bridge and unseen by all living men lives Nochamachus, Ninth Titan. He is 14ft. tall, fully nude, and has a long beard which he has braided around his waist like a girdle. His massive hands are coated black with soot and covered in warts and tumors. His unblemished skin is a faint blue, like the sky when seen from a high place. He produces 6 Gnolls a month and releases them into the wild by stuffing them into the river through a hole at the bottom of the bridge. They eventually surface farther down the river. During the day, Nochamachus sleeps, causing the whole bridge to rumble and vibrate rhythmically.

Nochamachus misses the night sky the most, and dreams of seeing it each night.

136-524

The Village of Rumbling Bridge is out of the way by all accounts, living on the fringes of the region and keeping to themselves in most matters. Their children play happily on the riverside in the evenings while their parents cook delicious food. It is a rare happy place in a dangerous time and they have nothing to request of an Entourage.

19 Gull is a young boy who loves to swim. The evening after the Entourage visits, he will discover the secret compartment from which Nochamachus releases his Gnolls and be slain by the trapped titan. The titan, enraged by the presumption of mankind, will break his way out of the bridge, destroying it irreparably, and travel upriver to destroy Rumbling Bridge. When morning arrives, Nochamachus will be knelt calmly in the epicenter of his arrival, facing the moon as it disappears past the horizon. The light of day will blind him, and he will kneel here, unmoving unless disturbed, forever.

Population: 55

137-516

A stone bridge bullies the riverbank here, punching into the land anticlimactically. Beneath the bridge are 4d6 Bandits. They call themselves the Bridge Brothers and they are keen to extract a tax from anyone trying to cross the bridge.

137-519

An old stepped pyramid, collapsed into a mound, with a single tree growing from the top like the stem on a rotten apple. At the base of the tree is a small gourd, hollowed out and dried, which holds 5 Lightning Pellets. Trenches cut into the base of the ruins by looters reveal mass graves beneath the foundations and a mural that depicts a warrior wearing a crocodile-shaped headdress overseeing human sacrifice. At night, 17 Skeletons wielding rocks emerge from the trenches and travel in groups of 2d6, slaughtering anyone they come across on the route to 138-520. If they are confronted with the truth, that their village and their families were murdered long ago, they will crumble instantly to dust.

They steal any jewelry off of the bodies of those they murder. Each skeleton is wearing 1d3 beautiful pieces of jewelry, mostly necklaces and bracelets. They would be good gifts for anyone who does not know where they came from.

137-522

In the place where the little river joins the big river, a hive of Gnolls grows like an insectoid cancer. They dig in the riverbanks and carry large hunks of clay back to their hive, which grows up and out like a boil or an ingrown hair. They craft clubs from the smooth stones of the river and cut down trees throughout the hex to make spears and bows. There are 24, and that number grows with each passing month. In their Hive:

137-528

A large flat pedestal adhered onto the middle of the open plains, with strange numbers and equations written all over it in a circular pattern. Locals know the pedestal to be a remnant of the Before Kingdom.

If a Gnoll is slain upon the pedestal, it shifts and spins open, revealing a small cache which contains:

137-529

A tributary village of Shouting Hill. The people here are kind and welcoming. Many are cousins of those who hail from Shouting Hill. They have nothing to request from the Entourage.

Population: 44

138-518

A small bay here is the host of 4 Hydra heads and 124 Berserkers. They dance wildly at all times of day and rarely sleep and paint elaborate patterns on their skin in red. Their fires and the smoke that is betted by them are visible from adjacent hexes. Unless they are roughly equivalent in number, the Berserkers will attempt to capture any they find instead of killing them, so that the Hydra may gain new servants by their hand.

138-519

The Village of Looking Place has been tormented by the Skeletons from 137-519 for some time, and many of their once-populous city have been slain in their sleep. They ask the Entourage to rid them of the plight of the skeletons in exchange for their choice of items from the deceased.

Population: 23

138-520

Rotting wooden houses little more than piles of wood slouch in a sea of terraces. At night, skeletons (See hex 137-519) travel to the houses here and dig through the dirt, as if searching for something. They lie distraught in the dirt of the house, completely passive, until dawn comes, when they retreat back into the graves beneath the pyramids. If they are confronted with the truth, that their village and their families were murdered long ago, they will crumble instantly to dust.

No one in the region travels through this hex willingly, for fear of its bad luck spreading to their own village.

138-522

A stone longhouse, buried under thick layers of dirt, sits in a field of terraced hills like a blister. Excavating the mound reveals a Before Kingdom storehouse, which now contains only 4 bundles of fine textiles and a Badge of Office amongst the long shelves of the structure. 3 Skeletons wielding stones and clubs and draped in stinking decayed fabric guard what they believe to be a storehouse beyond compare. If they are confronted with the truth, they will crumble to dust.

138-523

There is a thick grove of tall grass against the river here, where 34 Berserkers launch nighttime assaults on Resting Place (see hex 140-524). Their paths into the grass are hard to traverse and well-hidden, and anyone who traipses into the grass without care is easily spotted.

Once a week, a single Hydra head slithers up the river bank to check on the progress of the Berserker sorties and offer advice. If the Berserkers are threatened by assault, 20 more will arrive by raft from the Berserker Camp in hex 138-518 in 2 days.

138-524

A citadel named The Mountain That Stalks makes its home amongst the hills here, its bulky stone walls hung sleepily over the surrounding hills. The people who live within its walls are happy enough to have forgotten why they built the citadel many generations prior.

They are ruled by Rumbling Quiet (3HD, Badge of Office, Raptor) who is unhappy with his familial claims. He has long envied the coastal lands of Resting Place (See Hex 140-524) and as a result has allowed the Berserkers in the adjacent hex to remain there. He would ask any Entourage to pass quickly west, away from Resting Place and the Berserker camp, citing that the regional troubles of this place are of no import to such an esteemed party. He will lie to the Entourage and tell them that to the southwest is a giant snake which guards the riverbank and cuts off The Mountain That Stalks from Resting Place.

Population 159

138-527

Farmers and foragers abound amongst the terraces here and are encountered in groups of 2d6 on a 3-in-6 chance for every watch spent in this hex.

138-528

Population: 188

Play in Violet Flower Begins Here. A Village named Shouting Hill is spread throughout this hex, clusters of three or four families and their little homes like raisins on a mountainous muffin. There are wide stretches of land in this hex between the hills that have been completely deforested, and many paths that travel between housing groups.

This is home for you and yours.

There is a Guidestone in this hex which every path stems from, tall and broad and veined and green like the stem of a flower. And across it are holy words that read:

Across the petal dug the ants and the sleeping petal people were tugged from their craters and dragged across the petal towards the petal person who stood upon the hill called Shouting Hill. And these people woke from their slumber and were joyful to see their siblings and in their joy were dancing.

The One Called Shouter (for it was they who shouted) called their siblings around a large fire and named them each, and in so naming them proclaimed the first Entourage on the Petals of the Violet Flower. "We will go to the ends of each petal and make a sacrifice" said The One Called Shouter, "One of us on each part, that we may honor where we began and bless the petals which birthed us." And so they did, though this is not that story.

The leader among the people in this village is named Nine Whippoorwill (HD 2, Mace and Shield, Unarmored) and he is too old to go on the Entourage. This haunts him.

If the players linger for a day, the village will ask them to check on their sister village, Little Stream in the neighboring hex.

138-529

At the foot of the river on the western side of this hex lies Little Stream, a ruined village. Long snaking trails of mud and corpses abound. In the middle of the village, 3 Hydra heads have wrapped themselves around 6 villagers and whisper of great power that can be bestowed unto them. They will become Berserkers before the sun sets. Protecting the long, scaly necks of the Hydra heads are 12 Berserkers painted in red warpaint.

138-530

24 Villagers lie dead in the plains here, slain while fleeing from Little Stream. 1d6 Giant Centipedes feast on each corpse.

139-519

7 Gnolls hold hands in a circle and chitter around an 8th Gnoll, who is disemboweling itself ritually with a large obsidian blade atop a large stepped pyramid. At the base of the pyramid's steps is a large clay jar in the shape of a fish. If the ritual is allowed to proceed uninterrupted, the 8th Gnoll bursts into flames and falls down the steps of the pyramid, landing in the jar with a soot-caked clang. the smoke that escapes the jar forms a humanoid silhouette (as Wraith, 1d6 Brawn Damage). The Wraith follows the commands of whoever is holding the jar, which is quite heavy. The Gnolls will then travel back to their hive in Hex 137-522.

139-520

In the side of a hill is a burial mound labeled "13 Crocodile" above the entrance. The stone vault cover has broken apart and there are sounds of sniffling and snorting coming from within. 7 ghouls inside arrange crude pieces of jewelry and sculpt obscene statues from clay around a paralyzed warrior in the center of the burial chamber. A hole in the far end of the room leads to the underground kingdom of the Cockatrice King Calciferous (time traveled through the tunnel is equivalent to one quarter the equivalent overland travel between the hexes).

If saved, the warrior's name is 9 Scale (HD 3, spear and shield, Macaw). He was looking to join the Entourage when the ghouls attacked him and brought him here. He is from the destroyed village in 143-520, but does not know its fate.

The tomb has been thoroughly defaced. On one of the walls is a mural depicting 13 Crocodile, a lanky man with a scar over his eye, driving ghouls into a cave with an obsidian-tipped spear.

140-518

A small community of farmers work the land in the hills and keep llamas. They trade with the village to the south, whom they have not heard anything from in several days. Their request to the Entourage is to check on their neighbors and make sure all is well. Led by 4 Weevil (2HD, bow, Spider).

Population 22

140-524

Among the terraced land here is a walled citadel named Resting Place from which irrigation channels spring like cracks in ice scatter from a poorly placed footfall. Farmers in the field are accompanied by 1d6 guards who wield bows and knives.

Each night, 4d6 Berserkers assault the citadel. They are easily repelled but unrelenting, and many in the citadel fear a siege or sustained attack. The Prince of the citadel, Feathered Jaguar (HD 4, greatclub, Macaw) would ask an entourage to investigate where these Berserkers are coming from, that the Prince might make an army to slay them all in the light of day.

Population: 84

140-530

An open plaza with a single bony stelae, poorly maintained, that depicts a skeleton dancing amidst a forest. An inscription reads:

A search party was sent out to find Shivers Beneath the Wind and Sun, that he may lift his curse and be sacrificed to bring prosperity back to the village. The search party came upon a ----------------- walls flowed with shiny black dust as the riverbanks do. They rapped upon the door to the palace and within a ----------------------- answered them

"Leave me be, heathens! I alone have discovered the ----------, and will return to the dawn of creation when Malachi sat and wept upon the great flower bud and -------."

Those who rest in this hex dream of stars and the great void before the unfurling of the Violet Flower.

141-518

A small fishing village lies deserted on the southern side of this hex, boats still moored. All of the villagers possessions are still here, and there is food enough to feed 23 for a week.

In the mountains to the north of the village there is a cave which smells of death. A single dead woman lies at the entrance, her back scored by the large grasping claws of Calciferous.

Within the cave is the Cockatrice King Calciferous, who maintains an entourage of 14 Ghouls (including any encountered on the random encounter table and those in the tomb of 13 Crocodile). Calciferous is currently holding 22 prisoners from the nearby village within the cave. They are bound by the hands and ankles with a cold stone chain. He is making preparations to turn them into ghouls in an elaborate ritual. If he does this, he will personally march his army to the closest village and wreak havoc.

Among the Cockatrice King's hoard:

141-526

The hills hide a vacation home for a ruler long dead. The site is abandoned, little more than dust and the stone half-walls which divided the complex up into chunks. Left behind in the main plaza amongst the cobbles is a small jade amulet that looks like a crocodile.

141-530

At the foot of a square pool an old man named Not Right Now (HD 6, Monkey's Staff, Sign of the Macaw) dangles his feet in the dirty water and peddles his meagre wares on a large cloth. Of particular interest is a jar of rage wyrms, 6 in total, which he will sell "to anyone with the gall to eat one in front of me". If someone does this, he laughs a wheezing laugh and tosses his blanket into the face of the eater and leaps into the pool, disappearing from sight.

If encountered travelling, he is a humble traveller who asks to stay the night in the protection of the entourage. He will be gone by the time anyone is awake, leaving behind a bundle of food big enough to feed someone for 7 days and a small stone carved to resemble a fish. It hums in the presence of Ghouls and Cockatrice.

142-520

The water on the northwestern side of this hex is shallow. 46 Mermen live beneath the waves here, on an underwater shelf. They walk the island at night, abducting those found outside and filling their lungs with Hydra Spit. They arise as mermen by the next sunrise.

The mermen are lead by an old merwoman, her wrinkly fish skin drawn taught over aged bones. Her name is Llora (HD 3, Quarterstaff, Sign of the Boar) and she wields the spell Storm or Calm engraved upon the back of a sand dollar. She invites those who do not aggress upon her or her kind to join the ranks of the merfolk. Any who accept do not maintain control of their character. She perceives declining this offer as a declaration of war from the people who live on the island.

142-521

A grand temple pyramid. During the day, a fire is lit at the top, and religious officials wearing green robes bring large bundles of firewood at regular intervals to keep the fire lit. Farmers and laborers come at all hours of the day, bringing supplies to a team of laborers who are constructing another, bigger pyramid. A large plaza between the new and the old serves as the staging ground and living quarters of those builders, who live here with their families. At night, the plaza is quiet and the priests let the fire atop the temple burn away, planning the future of the metropolis in the light of the dying coals.

Led by Jaded Snake (1HD, quarterstaff, Sign of the Void). In the dying coals of the temple a week ago, he foresaw the arrival of the entourage and petitions them to bless the site of the new temple with a ritual dance. This dance takes 6 hours. Members of the Entourage who partake in the dance find that all their attacks deal double damage (double the rolled value) while they remain on the island.

Population: 179

143-519

A small colony of farmers work fields of maize and beans on the terraced slopes of the mountain. They are simple folk; their only request is that the Entourage visits the temple in 142-521 if they have not already.

Population: 29

143-520

In the middle of a valley of farmland lays a cluster of destroyed houses. 3 Berserkers (Clubs and shields) wearing red war paint patrol the ruins, daring anyone to challenge them and reclaim the land they have won by battle. 8 of their brethren lay slain amongst 13 dead villagers.

144-519

A large but worn down palace complex sits on a hill in the center of this hex, murals mostly faded and stone walls crumbling faster than anyone can muster up the care to fix them. In and around the palace live a simple life, farming the terraced hills and happily worshipping Malachi Who Mourns What He Made.

A boy named Xiba slept next to the guidestone in 144-520 and dreamt of the Lady of the Sea. His mother 4 Jadestones, the matriarch of the settlement, would ask the entourage to travel with Xiba to the shoreline and guard him during an audience with the lady of the sea.

Population 64

144-520

Amidst the terraced farmlands in the valley here is a large guidestone depicting a girl on a small raft being overtaken by a colossal wave. Along the broad side of the wave is an enscription:

The first to be tempted by the Hydra was a young girl, mistreated by her family and cast out by her house on the night of a terrible storm. She fled to the sea, for her parents and her clan were fishermen all, taking a boat and some food with her.

The storm thrashed her boat and would have sunk it, had not the neck of a great beast risen from the water and shielded her from a wave at the last moment. She called out "oh creature of the sea, what do I owe thee?" and the great beast turned to her then, red eyes gleaming with joy. "Share a meal with me, child, and let us be family in this terrible storm." And the great beast produced a wiggling wyrm which shone with rainbow light even in the darkness of the night, and the girl happily ate it though she had food of her own to spare.

Those who sleep near the guidestone dream of the shallows in hex 142-520 and are called to share a meal with the Lady of the Sea.