This map created on Inkarnate by campaign creator Jarissa Venters.
It's certainly crude.
I used some textures (for which I have paid) that have limited licenses, so please completely recolor every bit of it if you want to use it somewhere else!
This entire map is a copyrighted map by DramaScape, available for free download via DriveThru RPG. All image rights remain with DramaScape. No infringement is intended or implied.
Sarsparilla Barn, the attached Bunkhouse, the ruins of the former ranch house, and immediately surrounding environs.
The spot near the northeastern barn door where the physical form of the Cloven Prince melted, that is a spot where nothing will ever grow -- not even worms, not even flies. The dirt from that spot will never be good for any life, neither!
Some other areas continue to show signs of fast plant decay. It will take many years for the residue of a druidic plant growth region followed by an infernal Greater Curse will work out of the soil. It will take almost as long for that persistent slime on the northwest face of the Bunkhouse roof to completely dry up and vanish, too!
Map created on Inkarnate by Jarissa Venters.
This map involves some purchased textures that come with licensing limitations on how they can be re-used, so if you want to copy the map and use it yourself, please change all the colors!
The majority of this map is a copyrighted map created by DramaScape. It is available for free download via DriveThru RPG. I added the stairwell, assembled by taking an existing asset and rotating it into place, and fitted everything into the surrounding darkness.
All image rights remain with DramaScape. No infringement is intended or implied.
I recommend several of DramaScape's products, which usually include a VTT version and a printable version. The text description may not fully match the visual, but they make great starting points!
Picking up where the computer crashed! Enhanced with a suitable soundtrack!
Bruthazmus Kele is in a nearly ideal position for some classic Old West dirty fighting. By his grip on Hell Hand Bowser Kotabe's waistband and collar, he had been swinging the fiendish cowhand around as a sort of makeshift battering ram to hit one of the Hell Bovines in the northern quartet. Now that he does not have hold of this Hell Hand any more, Bruthazmus could use a few more down-and-dirty Old Ranger Tricks to smash the rest of Kotabe's fighting capacity, or he could join Hell Hand Leather Cobb (!) in trying to keep Moo 001 from getting enough space to start trampling everyone!
And does Leather Cobb need some attacks coming his way as well?
Chica Alston tries to keep in the way of Moo 001 and the place in the grass where Gore Hester lies. If that hellcow charges, there won't be any dodging her. Maybe Chica can divert her course just barely enough to save the helpless Foreman?
Princess Alfredo-Alston is trying to maneuver through the combat to help her spouse stay alive. Princess has Gore's knife, so at least she's not completely unarmed!
Zhang Sephia, having taken immediate steps to keep Bull Hester functional, works to keep Moo 008 -- the Hell Bovine with the broken horn -- under control. So long as she is not being trampled by a juvenile Woolly Rhinoceros (and why is a Giant Bee clinging onto this one's hump and singing into its ears?!?), Moo 008 presumes that she has a chance of winning a fight against one of the hated Ranch Hands and one good-natured harpy.
Stormborn sorcerer Miro Teague, with his arms pinned to his torso by a Thorny Lasso, continues to be more of a danger to his opponents than they can handle! Now that Miro and Jesse Devonshire have taken down Moo 006, they must deal with an attacking [Happy Little Blood Cabbage.
Scholarly monk Lee Chung successfully roped the enslaved Man of the Book. Faith Harrell has proven to be a devilishly intelligent, resourceful, perceptive opponent. If there's a way for him to get out of this trap, the smart bet is that he will find it! But can his findings last long enough for Lee Chung to do something about the bigger problem?
For she is finishing up her final test before she takes strong action against all of those who have annoyed her this afternoon.
Apprentice Chef smashes Tonto the Faithful Cabbage with his trusty ladle. He is trying to protect Liberata Pasquarella long enough to get to the barn door. Miss Pasquarella has detected another threat looming which she has not yet had the chance to share with Chef.
Near Sarsparilla Barn, sorcerer's familiar Spiro curls up on Chef's hat for a restorative nap away from the sputtering smoke of the burning haystacks and the leaden weight of the starless sky. The world smells of ash and sulfur and green, gloriously healthy thicket to the little Outsider fire lizard. Spiro may yet need to join Chef on fighting this persistent blood-sucking cabbage. Somewhere in the distance, something may be wrong with Miro? But it does not yet feel as urgent as setting this giant brassica on fire!
Briarseed Children shout peppercorn clacking within the thicket. The harpy has flown beyond their sight. Where should they seek their next target?
We have bursts of fire near the barn. Those make a nice, bright beacon. We have bits of neon glow far to the north and west. Our missing master wanted those all eradicated. And let us not forget the gigantic dangerous moo to the West!
Zhang Sephia succeeded in saving the Mullinses from the Griefgalls, but was unable to expel the fiends inhabiting them. In hindsight that was probably for the best, since Sephia does not have a demon holding bottle either. If this particular Duo can manage to receive no orders from the remaining Monarch of the Hell Herd, maybe they can stick to fighting plant monsters until someone can rescue them the rest of the way?
(Oh, and judging by what little can be seen of his head, this "barn cat" is about the size of a jaguar!)
The two Rangers have a lot of notes to trade one another -- it has been hours since they were last together!
Miro Teague has plans regarding Gate 1, now that the number of active hazards has been reduced.
We'll be starting with initiatives for Combat Round 17!
In which:
Now with less technological difficulty!
I do believe this here is the chapter y'all been looking for!
It ain't a great idea to go haring off into the night. That still leaves the question of what will be done come daybreak! I reckon a hefty chunk of the answer to that question has to do with the lead-up. Who's gonna see to security? Who is, in actuality, expecting to sleep? Shut off a Stormborn's magic vision for a while and you still don't shut off his natural inquisitiveness. There's stuff what he has yet to prod! And unless Jesse Devonshire uses Wild Shape to make himself more compact, Miro has only himself to do the prodding. Unless one of the taller folk want to try standing on that fancy stone platform in the green room? One quick question from the GM: The Hesters led their 2 horses into that root cellar under the front porch. Did anyone do aught with the cart and the other draft animals? It for sure is dark outside -- I can hear that mournful lowing call as it rolls over the hills.
Y'all have breaktast at Juniper Flail Ranch with a plentiful stack o' flapjacks and molasses, a dish Brawn calls "Hen-Fruit Stir". (Lee Chung and Miro Teague both would agree that it's just your basic pancake batter with extra rolled oats mixed into the batter. Nothing remarkable.) There's no butter on the table. Instead you have this odd, awful-tasting concoction of sorghum mixed with fat. Most folks skip that in favor of more molasses. Outside, near the barn that the residents want no visitors to enter, Topiary Rex munches down on a mildew-laden hay bale. Today's the day that some of you are planning to head for Sarsparilla Barn, no? 1) What do you do about all these folks you rescued? 2) How you fixin' to get where you're going? 3) What are you a-gonna do about the Hesters, and Princess Alfredo-Alston, and for that matter her sister-in-law Lucky Alston? 4) How's your health? 5) How does the SNAFU Posse plan to take on an enemy force likely to include 5a) Hell Bovines 5b) Hell Woolies 5c) at least one duo of Hell Hands 5d) that one young steer Bruthasmus, Lee, and Chef saw with the crown mark on his head? Oh that reminds me: Before we get to lunch, maybe we better look around that north slope for Bruthasmus!
It's a Hell Hand Duet versus all comers in the main chamber of the Oatman Cavate!
We continue Chapter 12 as the party has a showdown at the plant controller's heart of power!
Now to be entirely fair: Miss Sephia did hear some clicketyclack noises which she mentioned to fellow Posse members. But those sounds came from inside the cavate! So how in tarnation did SIXTY of them varmints manage to all sneak up and surround the SNAFU Posse?!
It's time for the party to decide which of those two brandin' irons they're going to be claim. When the SNAFU Posse pulls up to Arjory Pond, smog drips like wax over features of the landscape. It turns everything a tarnished gold color in the fading light of Grolm ninth. The plants on the shores of the pond toss about as if caught in a wind y'all cannot sense. Is this because you are bringing a Will-Bound druid into a dryad's terrain? Are the reeds and shrubs here particularly reactive to some kind of power struggle going on inside Jesse Devonshire?
A woman engages five strangers to save her spouse, but vanishingly little is as it seems!
Miss Melinda Naknirore gets to pontificating when she is nervous. And, boy oh boy! is she nervous!
At the SNAFU Posse's instruction, she packs her Pisky Duffel Bag as swiftly as she is able. She keeps in mind that no one is likely to carry anything for her, and that her career in this region probably burned down with her shop. She can't bring the potbelly stove or the boiler. She might not even bother to pack the Device! Books, journals, records, and hard-to-replace components, that's it. Not even a change of clothes.The SNAFU Posse prepares to confront the sheep hooves they hear coming up the stairs from the Alfredo House upper floor.
If they can take this one out without raising an alarm, MAYBE they can go back down to the door which once opened onto a "north porch".
Maybe!
If!
Otherwise, Bruthazmus at minimum will die in this ranch house. He can't fit into the unfinished half of the attic. He can't break through the stone walls of Alfredo House without bringing tons of stone down on himself. The SNAFU Posse sounded to Miss Melinda like that was a tolerable risk -- perhaps they have faith in the ranger to get himself out alive against a rushing flock of demon-possessed sheep -- but on the other hand, few people of the lands near Sog's Lake would refuse to spend the life of one bugbear.
It's going to be a dangerous scene at the start of this session, either way!
Note from GM: If you have posted to the Elohey World Gazeteer forum on Discord as to what you and your NPC associate are doing *by the time I wake up on Sunday the 20th*, I will assign advantages to position and preparation accordingly. I've got a Rules Lawyer on call who probably knows some neat things I can pass to you!
Otherwise, I am equally happy to give a PC and their buddy the same "surprise" penalty as the Hell Woolie gets!
Also important to note: Ben pointed out that Dimitris's version of the 1e character sheet is not calculating your CMD correctly and possibly not your CMB. Chris and I asked Donald to apply his Rules Lawyer Powers to all of the character sheets and find out whether any of you deserve more than you're getting. If he does find anything, you'll get a direct message from Jennie and Chris about it!
Miss Chica Alston, wanting to rescue her spouse from the heart of trouble, says she knows how to slip into the root cellar below Alfredo House in order to get at the truth. Scaevola Aemula, lurking in the doorway of the Oat Livery stable, says **SHE** knows how to do that too! Who do you trust? What do you do?
(see also: the article on the Elohey World Anvil about the language of the pisky settlements! ) Twenty-three rescued citizens of the Oatman Canyon area and five members of the SNAFU Posse (six, if Miss Zhang decides to rest her wings) ride south from the Agoseris Barn on a beer wagon pulled by
To the east, the sun peeks over the ridge of the Canyon. To the north, an ash cloud grows at an unnatural rate. Under the wheels, a steady rumble vibrates the grass. The Posse compares notes about their plans for the rest of the day, and their current well-being. The Nightmare Cow Level has not been completed yet!It's time to do something about those Hell Bovines!
As the sun sets behind Oatman Canyon at the end of Grolm 8th, the Snafu Posse see a green pointy flash of light for just a couple of seconds. It could be a good omen from Rhea Lightgiver! It could be an ominous portent as the plant-mutating villain prepares for another night of tyranny. Either way, our heroes ride down the last sloping hill westward into Purgatory Gulch. Their purpose: to acquire supplies quickly. They send Wrong Way back to Yiara the Naiad of Arjory Pond, carrying citrus-laden supplies for the three stricken caravan members. They need to keep moving at an efficient pace if they are going to reach a promising location and set up a fiend-trap before midnight!
The Snafu Posse goes to Tarntaise Farm around one thirty in the morning on Grolm 8th.
The sun set in Purgatory Gulch afore the Snafu Posse put their defensive plans into action. Sunset glimmers off the grass on the distant southern horizon, but darkness has set in here on the main street of town. Three squads of Hell Bovine hunters move across the badlands, gaining and losing and gaining again the escape paths of 'Ranger' Horn. By now the foremost of them has passed the point where Ranger collapsed this morning. Instead of heading straight toward Ore Else, they have angled toward the main street of Purgatory Gulch. Jesse, Lee, and Bruthazmus go on the shoot south of the Purgatory General Store and westward, hoping to intercept the scent trail. Meanwhile, Scorpion settles down in the apartment above the General Store for a power nap while Miro and Chef rearrange Mayor Blaze's front balcony to their liking. Sephia finalizes her own arrangements for the Purgatory Schoolhouse while the recent customers of the saloon pack into the main school room -- Miss Roselli won't permit the adults into the subterranean chamber where the children sleep, not even those as may be parents to her students. Not unless enemies seem likely to bust through the closed shutters on the windows. Dusty and Sundown drift past the back entrance to the schoolhouse's chambers. They pause in case Miss Sephia cares to have a word....
The sun set in Purgatory Gulch afore the Snafu Posse put their defensive plans into action. Sunset glimmers off the grass on the distant southern horizon, but darkness has set in here on the main street of town. Three squads of Hell Bovine hunters move across the badlands, gaining and losing and gaining again the escape paths of 'Ranger' Horn. By now the foremost of them has passed the point where Ranger collapsed this morning. Instead of heading straight toward Ore Else, they have angled toward the main street of Purgatory Gulch. Jesse, Lee, and Bruthazmus go on the shoot south of the Purgatory General Store and westward, hoping to intercept the scent trail. Meanwhile, Scorpion settles down in the apartment above the General Store for a power nap while Miro and Chef rearrange Mayor Blaze's front balcony to their liking. Sephia finalizes her own arrangements for the Purgatory Schoolhouse while the recent customers of the saloon pack into the main school room -- Miss Roselli won't permit the adults into the subterranean chamber where the children sleep, not even those as may be parents to her students. Not unless enemies seem likely to bust through the closed shutters on the windows. Dusty and Sundown drift past the back entrance to the schoolhouse's chambers. They pause in case Miss Sephia cares to have a word....
It's late afternoon here in the dryest place on the Longgrass Plains. Seventh of Grolm. Year Five seventy-eight. Bruthazmus and the SNAFU Guild have rescued the mail coach from not one, not two, but THREE herds of Hell Bovines on a coordinated stampede in the dead of the midday heat. Yes, indeedy, you beat the Secret Cow Level on Normal Mode! Why, I don't reckon that Nightmare Mode can be as terrible as legend claims.... You have got a number of possible enemies to consider, none of which have truly revealed themselves. Might want to come up with a list ahead of time as to what inquiries you will be makin' now that you are back in the heart of Purgatory Gulch. Also who you are going to ask. Seein' as how the Purgatory General Store has got its blinds drawn and its door locked, and there's no signs of the Mayor being upstairs in his residence. . . .
It's late afternoon here in the dryest place on the Longgrass Plains. Seventh of Grolm. Year Five seventy-eight. Bruthazmus and the SNAFU Guild have rescued the mail coach from not one, not two, but THREE herds of Hell Bovines on a coordinated stampede in the dead of the midday heat. Yes, indeedy, you beat the Secret Cow Level on Normal Mode! Why, I don't reckon that Nightmare Mode can be as terrible as legend claims.... You have got a number of possible enemies to consider, none of which have truly revealed themselves. Might want to come up with a list ahead of time as to what inquiries you will be makin' now that you are back in the heart of Purgatory Gulch. Also who you are going to ask. Seein' as how the Purgatory General Store has got its blinds drawn and its door locked, and there's no signs of the Mayor being upstairs in his residence. . . .
Gulch, that is. It's midmorning here in the dryest place on the Longgrass Plains. Seventh of Grolm. Year Five seventy-eight. The feller wielding the hayfork in the stable seemed amenable enough, if a bit reserved. Now that Jesse Devonshire and Miro Teague arranged for the wagons to be safely parked away, plus care for the animals hauling them, everyone splits up to investigate the town. Reckon the rest of the residents in this backcountry town will be just as amenable to new visitors?
The rain poured down so hard, so fast, for so long that days and nights blurred together. Survival was all. Now that the storm has broken, a thought can be spared for more abstract issues:
To celebrate the 2020 birthdays of Hruthgar and Kummer_Wolfe, Elohey enters its obligatory Cowboy Episode
starting in the aftermath of a miserable
Will there be herds of cattle?
Will there be farmers vs ranchers?
Will there be Clint Eastwood impressions?
You betcha!
Saddle up, Angel Eyes, we're going to