The Old Orc Temple

I thought I would try something new. Like posting finished adventures, in case whomever is reading this could use it either as-is, or as inspiration for their own scenario. It could probably use a bit of reorganizing, but it works as is, and I have other things I need to work on. But, if there is interest, I might be persuaded to look into it. As of 2/28/2022, we just finished this adventure. How the events unfolded can be found in the Adventure Logs, specifically Sessions 4-10. There are references in the text regarding the three characters who went through the events of this scenario. Elitheris is an Elf, an archer, and skilled at woodcraft and survival. Eykit is a Goblin, who grew up in the streets of a large city, a member of one of the many thieves' guilds, and skilled in social interactions. Taid is a Dwarf, whose primary training was from religious warrior monks and the Tondene Imperial Army. He is skilled in combat, has several magic spells, and considers himself to be the champion of his god, Mithras.

The Threat From The Past

Overview

Modern day Port Karn environs

Player Info

A Priest of Mithras, Kylen Pelorus comes to party desperate for some help. The priest will approach Taid, as they share a patron deity. No one believes him when he tells them about some abductions and sacrifices. The authorities won’t help because the victims are peasants in outlying areas, and there is no manpower for it. The shrines won’t help because its too minor and it isn’t their concern. The Rural Watch won’t help because they are stretched thin already, and they say that there has been an increase in “dangerous incidents”, but they will keep an eye out in case they might see some sacrifices. When asked what evidence he has, all he can say is that he has been dreaming it; Mithras has been showing him what has been going on. Of course, no one in authority truly believes him, thinking he is insane. Besides, there haven’t been a lot of reports about missing people. At least, no more than usual. There are also no reports of any weird cultist activities, either. But then, the world is polytheistic, so a group of people worshiping a lesser known deity is an everyday occurrence. After all, there are gods for everything. Even fingernails (Flojick) and body hair (Mensalaithum). Slavery is ostensibly illegal in the Empire. But they are pretty lax about enforcing it. So, as long as slavers keep a low profile, they can usually get away with grabbing peasants whenever they want. Not so much where “important” people are concerned (that is, the rich and powerful), but few people care about the poor. If asked about his dreams, Kylen will relate the following: 1) “The dream started out normal. I was walking alone in some woods. Everything was green, even the tree trunks, except for some bushes that had blossoms of red that had five petals, and seemed to be grasping at something. It got dark, although the sky was as bright as ever. It seemed as if the trees themselves drank up the light, not letting it get shed properly. There was a distinct sense of foreboding. It was like Mithras himself was being kept from shining.” 2) “I was walking in a town; it’s a normal town, during a normal day, filled with normal people. They were all Orcs, all doing normal things. Then I started noticing dead and bloody people through the windows of their homes, so I started running towards the outskirts of town. By the time I got there, people were dropping all around me, bleeding out through their mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. I could hear my footsteps splashing in the blood that threatened to rise above my ankles like a red flood.” 3) “I was flying, like a bird, over the jungle, in the morning, the sun hot on my left side. I think I had feathers, at least, that’s the impression I had. I bank and turn, and I fly over a town, along a river, dominated by a large ziggurat-like shrine, sixty or seventy feet tall. I think there were carvings on it, but I couldn’t make out details. I flew into the doorway in the building at the top, and everything went black.” 4) “I was on a horse, riding along a trail in the jungle. All of a sudden, out of the underbrush, an Orc tackles me off of my horse, and we both slam into the ground. The Orc is shouting something, over and over: “Crew”, or “Rouge”, or “Rogue”, or “Toogah”, or “Cruise”, or some such. I don’t know Lurkash, the Orcish tongue, and the dream was unclear and vague anyway. The Orc is shaking my shoulders, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt me. I don’t know what he wanted. Maybe to get my attention? Believe me, if I had been tackled by an Orc, he’d have my attention! I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, which made it seem as if the Orc shaking me was muffled and far away. Then the dream ended, fading away like dreams do.” 5) “Darkness, and darkness within darkness, but moving. All over, it’s moving. Shadows engulfed everything, and I could hear screams of abject terror, from unseen and unknown throats. The kind of screams that hint at utter despair and hopelessness. The kind that seem to be a mix of screams and weeping and choked up throats. Whatever was happening to those people must have been absolutely horrible. But worse was the sudden way in which some of those screams stopped. They ended with gurgles, as if they had lost the ability to scream properly.” A few minutes of conversation, and it will become evident that Kylen is an abolitionist, and hates slavery. If asked about it, he will admit that he has contacts in the Abolitionist movement (low key that it is), and they have found out about a private slave transaction. He knows that there is a ship full of slaves coming in to port in two days. What he doesn’t know is who the buyer is. He knows that the slavers will use one of the more “shady” docks, likely one of the private ones that don’t get as much oversight. There are a few ways to go from here, to try and discover where these slaves are being held.

Option 1) Following a band of cultists….

The cultists get their abductees via slavers. Some of these slaves are purchased, especially if they are cheap (old, infirm, weak). But the slavers are also told to “get me a dozen slaves”. At which point they will go hunting for likely…uh, recruits. The slavers bring the slaves to previously arranged locations, where they are paid for by the cultists and taken away. The slavers don’t ask where. So, how to have the PCs find out where they meet? The only place they can really pull this kind of thing off is in the bustle of the city itself. All of the outlying settlements are too small, and everyone knows each other, so it wouldn’t be secret enough. The cultists don’t own anything in the city, so they have to either rent a space to make the deal, or find some place and surreptitiously meet. But they wouldn’t want to leave a paper trail, so they will likely choose some industrial/commercial area that doesn’t have a lot of traffic, and they would likely do it at night to lessen the chance they could be seen. Some warehouse area, perhaps on the docks (which is likely, since the slavers would likely be bringing the slaves in by boat). The cultists then load the slaves (chained together) into an enclosed wagon, and they ride off, heading south. They pass through Avondale, then follow the road to Sunmill until they get to the Mubullatana River (“Dark river River”) where they then leave the wagon and pile into a boat, going upriver southward. After about 25 miles, the river becomes unnavigable, and they have to go on foot. It’s a distance of 10-15 miles, in dense jungle, with no maintained trails. Overland. It’s considered “bad” terrain, so a normal walking pace will net about 5 miles/day. It’s another two to three day’s march from where they leave the boat to Gijak Balorat. Also note that there will be a cultist priest leading the group, along with six guards. The typical slave group size is around 20 or so. They are kept chained together the whole time (which is also why they just don’t jump off the boat; they would sink). The guards are there primarily to defend against wild animals, with a side order of slave intimidation. Because of the group’s size, however, most animals will avoid them. There will be wilderness encounters it the PCs are following the slave train. Oh yes. Several should be pre-rolled to make things easier for the GM. Still need a way for the PCs to find out about the slave deal. Kylen hates slavery. He is an abolitionist. He has contacts in the Abolitionist movement (low key that it is), and they have found out about a private slave transaction. He knows that there is a ship full of slaves coming in to port in two days. What he doesn’t know is who the buyer is. He knows that the slavers will use one of the more “shady” docks, likely one of the private ones that don’t get as much oversight. Like the stretch of pier at the eastern end of Old Town (see WD Port Karn Map, the boardwalk area with the small boats). Emergency last minute reason: Kylen was given a vision that this transaction was slavers and cultists. Let’s hope I can come up with something better. Okay, so the PCs show up, Kylen will want to go with them. Assuming they don’t do anything to screw up the deal (like trying to free the slaves, attack the cultists and/or slavers, make stupid amounts of noise, etc), they will see two guys dressed in dark clothes trade a bag of (presumably) money, in exchange for 20 slaves. These slaves are not the fittest; in fact, they look pretty weak and hopeless. Once purchased, one of the guys will go around a corner, and come back leading a wagon: it’s basically a windowless box with a door in the back. Much like a paddy wagon, actually, used by the City Guard when quelling disturbances. The slaves are forced into the wagon, the door closed, and locked by a strong looking lock. Eykit’s fingers start twitching as he gets this urge to pick that lock. It’s not one he recognizes, so it’s likely a challenge! The wagon is driven by a driver and pulled by two horses; the two figures who bought the slaves climb up with him, and they move off. If unmolested, they will travel southeast, out of the city by the Raven Tower Gate, then south, pass by Avondale, then onward following the Sunmill Road, which heads east. At the edge of the jungle they will pick up six more people, guards by the look of them. The wagon can make about 3 miles an hour, faster if they have to for short bursts. It’s about 6 miles from the city to the edge of the jungle, so the trip takes about 2 hours. It’s another 7 miles or so to the Mubullatana river. So another two, two and half hours. Once they reach the river, the slaves are let out, and they all get into a waiting boat. One of the buyers turns the wagon around, and heads back to the city. The boat is a pole boat, six guards, three on each side, use poles to push the boat upriver. The slaves are huddled in the middle of the boat; the buyer is at the tiller at the back. The slaves are covered with a tarp, and whacked with a pole if they aren’t quiet. After about 22 miles (the boat can be poled upstream at a speed of about 2 miles an hour) the river forks has too many rocks and waterfalls to be navigable. Everyone gets out of the boat. The boat ride is about 12 hours long. The slaves are each given a bag, with 3 days worth of food in it. It’s all they have to eat; if they lose it, they go hungry. The slaves are at an Encumbrance level of None. They also aren’t being moved very fast (much to the chagrin of the guards and the priest), so they lose only 1 or 2 Exhaustion. There are two guards up front, with falchions, using them like machetes, as well as the buyer. There are four guards at the rear. Between them are the 20 slaves, chained together, stumbling along in the dark. Following the boat will be the tricky part. At a fast pace, they can move 0.8 miles an hour. The boat will easily out run them. Using some Land Navigation skills (and climbing up into a tree for a better view of the landscape) they might be able to cut some corners and take some short cuts to lessen their travel distance. The better the MOS, the shorter the trip, with the possibility of reducing the travel distance by up to 5 miles. So they will only have to travel 17 miles instead of 22 (taking 22 hours, vs the 12 hours by boat). Possibly. Due to Exhaustion, they will need to camp at least once. Hiking helps. At the end of the period of hiking, roll vs. Hiking. If successful, choose between accumulating Exhaustion at one encumbrance level lighter or increase mileage by 20%. A critical success gives both benefits. Failure is normal Fatigue and mileage. A critical failure results in damage, see Wilderness Survival and Travel. For the first 8 hours of hiking in the jungle, each person loses 5 (Lt enc), 6 (med enc), or 7 (hvy enc). For every 2 hours marching on top of that, lose another point of Exhaustion. If the Fatigue pool gets down to 3 or less, lose HP instead of Exhaustion. Fatigue (regular huffing and puffing fatigue) can drop lower; once it gets to 0, HP is lost in addition to further Fatigue. Doing anything in this state takes a Will roll; failure means you fall unconscious. If you get to -Fatigue, you fall unconscious. There is no way to stay conscious at this point, assuming you had the HP to survive it. But resting for 10 minutes every hour will help mitigate this; standard recovery rate is 1 FP every 10 min. Fit halves this. Elitheris is hiking at Heavy Encumbrance (30 lbs on her, 40 in her pack, and about 30 in her sack). After 8 hours of hiking at speed, she will take damage after 8 hours. Eykit is carrying almost 50lbs, that puts him at Medium Encumbrance, so that costs him 6 Exhaustion. He can go another 2 hours before taking damage. Taid is carrying about 90lbs of gear, so he is at Light Encumbrance. 8 hours of hiking does 5 Exhaustion, so he can force march another 6 hours before things start to hurt. Using a pack animal or having Taid carry things would help. If they have used Kylen’s mule, Clyde, this becomes a lot easier. Elitheris is the limiting factor here. If she offloads enough stuff to get to No Encumbrance, she can force march for 3 hours without trouble. That’s enough to only have to camp once before getting to the fork in the river, with two 11 hour days. Camping takes 12 hours: 2 hours set up and eat, 8 hours sleep, 2 hours to eat and break down the camp. To get to the fork, it will take at least 34 hours. Eventually, they will see the boat, tied up at the fork of the river, unable to go any farther. A Tracking roll (or Vision-3) will allow someone to notice the beaten trail that the slave train took into the jungle. The slave train had a 22 hour (or more) head start. On foot, it’s a 13 mile trip from the fork to Gijak Balorat. The slave train is moving at a pace of 0.6 mph. It will take a total of 22 walking hours to make the trip. They will camp after 6 miles (10 hours). They can’t move the slaves any faster or farther. The next day they will travel for 10 hours, then camp again. The last day is an 2 hour day, at which point they arrive at the temple, at about 10am. The PCs are going almost half again that speed; they will reach where the slaves camped in 7.5 hours. But they won’t catch up; the slaves will reach the temple at about the time the PCs reach the river fork. The camp is simply a beaten-down area, with a circle of stones that had a small fire in it. The slaves were still chained together, with the chains secured to a tree with a pair of large nails. Two guards will be alert at all times, rotating for sleep purposes. They are watching both the slaves, to make sure those wretches don’t try anything, and to guard from external threats. The guards are armed with hooked spears, arming swords, knives, and medium sized kite shields. Their armor is gambeson, with linothorax over it, and kettle helms. The sleeping guards are clustered around the guiding priest. Watches are staggered, with one guard rotating out at about the middle of the other guards’ shift. Assuming that the PCs are following stealthily, far enough back to not attract attention, Elitheris can easily follow their machete trail (+4 to skill). After all, it’s 27 people in more or less single file, beating out a trail. Heck, Taid could follow this trail, as could Eykit. If they start to get close, the guards may be alerted. This could be bad, because they would rather slit the throats of every single slave than have their base of operations located. A Land Navigation (Orienteering) roll will determine that the slave train is staying within earshot of the river, and if they need to veer away from it due to terrain, they quickly come back to it. It’s obviously their navigation aid. Eventually the slave train will veer off from the river, traveling uphill and arriving at Gijak Balorat. What the PCs see at this point is determined by how close they are following. If it’s daylight, it’s possible to see that there are some artificial structures, albeit covered with vegetation. At night, it will just look like a hill. They are now at Gijak Balorat.

Option 2: Become Slaves and Infiltrate the Cult

Not really a good option, but here goes…. Couple of possibilities here. One is that all three become slaves. This would take some mighty faith that they will be able to escape. They aren’t that superhuman. It’s more likely they will have a single person be a slave, with the other two following, hoping to eventually rescue the slave PC. And I think I know which PC would have to be the slave. It would have to be someone “weak”, with escape and lock picking skills, and the ability to play the part of a docile slave long enough to get where they are going. In order to follow the slaves, they will need someone with woodcraft, and Taid is the most likely person to do the rescuing. So if they go this route it will have to be Eykit. So, how to get him in the hands of a slaver who is going to sell him to the cultists? Kylen knows when a slaver boat will dock. If Eykit dresses as a street waif, the slavers may take him as an opportunity. He’ll need to sell it, though; he can’t just let them take him, he will have to try to run, but not too fast or too long. These guys have a short time frame. Perhaps he can pretend to be sleeping or something? Once Eykit is chained to the other 20 slaves, this plays out similarly to the above scenario, except that Eykit gets abused along the way. With luck, Eykit can survive and not be sacrificed. Escape isn’t the plan, at least until the temple is found. After that, Eykit can make a break for it, and hopefully stay far enough away from the cultists to not get captured again. His woodcraft is slim, though, so it’s unlikely he would find his way back to Elitheris and Taid, who are about a day behind, perhaps more.

Option 3: Research the Temple

Kylen is very willing to tell the PCs of his dreams. His dreams have been as follows: 1) “The dream started out normal. I was walking alone in some woods. Everything was green, even the tree trunks, except for some bushes that had blossoms of red that had five petals, and seemed to be grasping at something. It got dark, although the sky was as bright as ever. It seemed as if the trees themselves drank up the light, not letting it get shed properly. There was a distinct sense of foreboding. It was like Mithras himself was being kept from shining.” 2) “I was walking in a town; it’s a normal Orcish town, during a normal day, filled with normal people. They were all Orcs, all doing normal things. Then I started noticing dead and bloody people through the windows of their homes, so I started running towards the outskirts of town. By the time I got there, people were dropping all around me, bleeding out through their mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. I could hear my footsteps splashing in the blood that threatened to rise above my ankles like a red flood.” 3) “I was flying, like a bird, over the jungle, in the morning, the sun hot on my left side. I think I had feathers, at least, that’s the impression I had. I bank and turn, and I fly over a town, along a river, dominated by a large ziggurat-like shrine, sixty or seventy feet tall. I think there were carvings on it, but I couldn’t make out details. I flew into the doorway in the building at the top, and everything went black.” 4) “I was on a horse, riding along a trail in the jungle. All of a sudden, out of the underbrush, an Orc tackles me off of my horse, and we both slam into the ground. The Orc is shouting something, over and over: “Crew”, or “Rouge”, or “Rogue”, or “Toogah”, or “Cruise”, or some such. I don’t know Lurkash, the Orcish tongue, and the dream was unclear and vague anyway. The Orc is shaking my shoulders, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt me. I don’t know what he wanted. Maybe to get my attention? Believe me, if I had been tackled by an Orc, he’d have my attention! I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, which made it seem as if the Orc shaking me was muffled and far away. Then the dream ended, fading away like dreams do.” 5) “Darkness, and darkness within darkness, but moving. All over, it’s moving. Shadows engulfed everything, and I could hear screams of abject terror, from unseen and unknown throats. The kind of screams that hint at utter despair and hopelessness. The kind that seem to be a mix of screams and weeping and choked up throats. Whatever was happening to those people must have been absolutely horrible. But worse was the sudden way in which some of those screams stopped. They ended with gurgles, as if they had lost the ability to scream properly.” Summarizing, he will add, “I just know that many people are being sacrificed in that old Orc temple.” No temple matching that description is anywhere in the area, yet Kylen is sure it’s close. Researching the temple will require decoding the dreams. Dream 1 supplies the hint that the woods are important, that “green” might be important, and then there are the red hand-like flower blossoms. Dream 2 shows that there is a town, or was one, anyway, and that blood might be involved. Dream 3 supplies the ziggurat that is the only thing left in the town, and that it is to the south. Dream 4 is a clue about the god, Kruge. Dream 5 is just letting them know things could be bad and hints at the form of the creature, and alludes to the sacrifices. IQ rolls might be able to tease out the concept that keywords are important; “Green”, “Blood”, “Town”, “Temple”, “Orcs”, “Woods”, “Hands”, “Red”, if the players haven’t figured out these keywords by themselves. Eykit will remember, with an IQ+3 roll, that Port Karn is the province capital. As such, it has a lot of governmental buildings and offices: Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Road Maintenance, Government Housing, Ministry of Traffic Control, the City Guard, Prisons, madhouses, Ministry of Fire Suppression, Ministry of the Sewers, Ministry of Water Services, the Library (actually a Shrine to Seshat), Ministry of Records (births, deaths, real estate transactions, immigration, local history, surveying), Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Diplomacy. They will need to investigate some local history. An Area Knowledge (Port Karn, the City) roll will let them remember that Port Karn used to be an Orc city, and that there are neighborhoods in it that have Orcish names—names of old Orc tribes. Another Area Knowledge (City) roll will let them realize that the city might have some records laying around somewhere. The city admin buildings have city records and other local records going back to the beginning of the Empire (Port Karn was actually conquered 7 years before the Empire officially was founded). There is also a library (it’s actually a shrine to the goddess of knowledge). It’s open to the public, for a fee, and books may be read there but not taken from the premises. At the Ministry of Records: Search roll will get them basic history of the area, and the note about footnotes. At the Surveying Office, a Search roll will get them the maps with the old Orc towns on them. At the Library (Shrine of Seshat), a Search roll will get more detailed histories of the Orc towns, and (if the librarians are asked) their translations. A second Search roll (or a Soldier-2 roll) will get them the names and (again, if the librarians are asked) translations of the Orc Tribes of the area. Going to the Port Karn city administration buildings can get them the following information. The city of Port Karn was originally Pias Ukaduikm, which translates to Port Kharneth, back in the day. (Hearavgizan translates to “Heart Cup”; Kresh translates to “Marsh”, and Dhogash translates to “Slope Shadow”.) The whole area used to be Orcish lands, a loose federation of independent tribes, conquered by King Gishi Tondene in 7 BFE. Their weapons were better, their armor was better, and they only fought the Orcs during the day, fortifying their camp at night. The Orcs were almost always outnumbered, and the tribes were conquered in about half a year. Some of the records have footnotes that reference other books. (These other books can be found in the library, aka the Shrine of Seshat. This information will come from the clerks there, along the lines of “well, there are lots of books at the Shrine of Seshat”) The whole area back then was jungle; the carving out of the farmlands that now surround Port Karn hadn’t happened yet. At that time, the fields only extended out a mile or two from what had been a town at the time. A set of old maps can be found with a successful Search roll. These maps will show what the land was like back in the day. The rivers are in slightly different areas. There are several Orc settlements listed on the map. Some still exist: Hearavgizan, Kresh, Dhogash, and of course, Port Karn. Some no longer seem to be there any more: Pulgoruzana, Gijak Balorat, Gultur Votar, and Ukavrong Krah. Each of these places seem to be several days out in the jungle.

Pre-Empire Port Karn environs Going to the Shrine of Seshat and paying the fee ($20/person) will give them access to the stacks. It will take several hours to find relevant information (the books aren’t organized very well, and there are few, if any, publishing standards or “industry standards” with regards to writing prose. While the players are there, Temple Guards will be hovering around in the background. These guards are also librarians, who sort, replace, and repair the books. They are quite protective about them. There are a couple of Orcish guard-clerks that would be willing to help with translations, if asked. Most of the Temple Guards/Librarians are ex-military. Information the players can get from the library: Old history books, especially ones focusing on the wars and battles that happened in the area, will make references to several old Orcish tribes and the cities that they inhabited. Pulgoruzana (Forest Stream), Gijak Balorat (Blood Green), Gultur Votar (Boar Home), and Ukavrong Krah (Strong Arm). This info can be found with a successful Search skill roll. The following information requires a separate Search skill roll (Soldier could be used as well, at -2, to represent basic military history that was taught in the Army): The four now-defunct cities were the capitals of four Orc Tribes: Pulgoruzana was the capital of the Marzgi Kokasht tribe (translates to Crushed Skull tribe Gijak Balorat was the capital of the Ak Doram Tribe (“Red Hand” Gultur Votar was the capital of the Gulturkluz tribe (“Boar Riders” and Ukavrong Krah was the capital of the Vagun Sapat tribe (“Giant Axe”).

Library/Shrine Staff

High Priest, three lesser priests, eight Librarian-Guards. The high priest will be off doing his thing. One of the lesser priests will help the PCs. The Librarian-Guards will just be doing their jobs, often with scowling faces. They treat their books the same way as Urag gro-Shub: they get very, very mad if someone messes them up. They are to be treated with respect. Priest of Wapeya, Gheen the Grim, Orc (F) ST 13, DX 10, IQ 12, HT 11. There are three Humans, two Orcs, a Hobbit, and a Goblin. Human Librarians of Seshat: ST 11, DX 11, IQ 12, HT 10. One has Cbt Ref, the other two don’t. Weapon skills 13-14 range. Brawling, Wrestling. Their primary weapons are staffs, with long knives as sidearms. The staffs have a 2” metal ball on one end, with Continual Light cast on it. It’s normally covered with a leather drawstring bag when the light isn’t necessary. They wear Light Gambeson (DR 1), in the colors of Seshat (Black, White, and Grey). Nirdenu Lissaza (M) knows Imperial, Lurkash, Khuzdul. Shanne Lyrnas (F) knows Imperial, Quenya, and Khuzdul. Laurenz Rohr (M) knows Imperial, Lurkash, and Mekiitagi, and a little Quenya. Staff 14 Orc Librarians of Azaka Medeh: ST 14, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 12, HP 16, FT 15, DR 2, Cbt Ref, Fit, HPT, etc for Orcs. Weapon skills 14-15, armed with the staffs; Brudgokk Heel Skinner (M) has an arming sword as a sidearm, Drogruk The Mad (M) has an axe. Brudgokk knows Imperial, Lurkash, and a smattering of Mekiitagi. Drogruk knows Imperial and Lurkash. Hobbit Librarian of Seshat, Shaeri Stoutbeam (F): ST 9, DX 12, IQ 13, HT 11, Fit, Language Talent; knows Imperial, Lurkash, Khuzdul, some Quenya, Mekiitagi, and three other languages not spoken much in the Empire. Weapon skills in the 12-14 range, Brawling 12, Wrestling 13. Staff 14. Goblin Librarian of Tenjiin, Rakkad Mujir (M): ST 9, DX 13, IQ 12, HT 10, overweight, knows Imperial, Mekiitagi, and a smattering of Khuzdul (mostly swear words learned from one of the humans). Weapon skills 13-14, Staff 15. Wrestling and Brawling are only at 12 though. With any luck, a fight will NOT break out, causing all kinds of harm.

GM info

The temple was originally consecrated to Kruge, or Grome (well, Haethelas/Khuz’dun/Pagiili Taavirl, since there are no humans in the group). It had been part of a town, but Something got loose, killed most of the people, and the remainder of the folks managed, with Khuz’dun’s help) to trap the entity in the crystal altar, after luring it into the temple. Now the High Priest wants to free it. The town was originally called Gijak Balorat (Blood Green), used to have a population of about 1000, and used to be situated on a river, which has since changed it’s course long enough ago that the jungle has nearly completely obliterated any evidence of it. (Naturalist will be able to tell that a river bed was hereabouts, if someone thinks to look for it.) All that is left of most of the buildings are the foundation stones, almost all of which are engulfed by undergrowth. Someone might stumble over them, however. The only building left standing (although also engulfed by the jungle) is the temple. From a distance, it looks like a hill. Getting closer, it will be noticed that there is some regular features that are discernable. Cutting away the undergrowth, vines, stalks, etc will reveal that the walls are covered in bas relief carvings, mostly of abstracted mountains, trees, water features, and animals, both natural and fanciful. The original inhabitants (the Orcs) used to give sacrifices to the Kruge, to ensure good harvests, good hunting, good weather, and to keep sleeping (that is, no earthquakes). This was before the area was conquered by the Tondene Army. It’s entirely possible that the town had been sacked by the Empire’s forces, razed to the ground, or burned. In any case, little remains of it now. The Servitor had attacked neighboring Orc towns. No one in Gijak Balorat knew where it came from; they assumed it had been summoned by some rival or enemy. Orcs are naturally magic resistant, so they didn’t have mages of their own to combat this thing. But they did have Kruge, who they had been sacrificing to for centuries. So they were on pretty good terms with him. And he helped them develop a plan to trap it in the crystal altar in the temple. It required the sacrifice of several townsfolk, just to lure it into the ceremonial chamber. Once there, the priests of Kruge used some of Kruge’s power to embed the critter in the crystal. Where it remains to this day, at least until it gets released by the High Priest, that is. The cultists have a high priest, and seven priests. They also have 40 followers, mostly normal folk, but a few have been elevated to “Protector” status (guards). These number a total of 14. 6 go out to guard the slave trains, the remaining 8 guard the slaves at the temple and the temple grounds. (Priestess Roberta Weaver and her six Protectors are not at the Temple, and could show up later, looking for revenge.) They have an old Orcish book that they think has a summoning spell in it. They aren’t totally wrong, although it’s in an older dialect so they haven’t translated the meaning of the words quite right. No, it won’t summon something, but it will free something. But it’s not Ghebbiloth. It will free a Servitor of Ghebbiloth; a “lesser Ghebbiloth”, if you will. An easy mistake to make; they look similar, and although the Servitor is smaller/weaker, there would be no way to discern that from any information written or illustrated. The “summoning” ceremony: takes , requires six sacrifices (one each symbolizing body, mind, spirit, will, senses, and mana). The summoning room is dominated by a large reddish crystal altar. Inside the crystal is a dark shape, indistinct due to the cloudiness of the crystal, but fairly large in size. The top of the crystal looks pitted, worn, and almost melted. Around the crystal in the center are six columns of basalt, hexagonal in cross section, and about 7-10 feet in height. They are about 12” to 18” in diameter. Manacles are attached at the top and bottom, for wrists and ankles. The six sacrifices listed above are chained to these pillars. At the time the PCs see the main chamber and the altar, parts of the trapped thing are visible, as dark, ropy loops, bathed in pinkish liquid (the remains of the acidified sacrifices). Other sacrifices will be brought out, one by one, to the central altar, chained to it, and sacrificed. This is done by a spell known only to the High Priest; it might as well be called “Transmute Blood to Acid”. Which is what it does. The victim starts screaming and writhing as their bloods turns to acid, starts to flow out of their mucus membranes, then the rest of their body as it gets eaten away. It then flows over the crystal, eating away a small portion of it. Considering the proportions of the crystal, it seems as if this has been going on for a while. Prior to each sacrifice, a priest will make a cut on the 6 manacled victims. It’s part of the necromantic ritual that feeds power to the High Priest, allowing him to make more sacrifices, because the Blood to Acid spell isn’t cheap, and it needs to be done a lot to wear the crystal down far enough to allow the Servitor to escape. Group will come (sneaking?) into the temple. They will be attacked by the protectors, and some of the cultists who aren’t in the summoning chamber. The sacrifices will be brought, one by one, to the summoning chamber and sacrificed. So there will be a constant stream of people moving between the chamber and the cells where the sacrifices are being held. With any luck, the sacrifices will be freed before they can be used, and thus the summoning can be halted. There are, unfortunately, more sacrifices than needed, so the summoning may be successful anyway. Servitor: ST 24, DX 12, IQ 7, HT 12, HP 28, FT 12, MV 12, SPD 7, DR 4, Reach: C, 1, 2; 2-6 limbs (the number of limbs is variable, and it can attack with any 2 per round), consider it a 3 hex creature, with its body the size of a pony, plus all the tentacles. The tentacles look like they are made of chunks of obsidian, with the more central part of the body looking more like amber chunks. The head area is the only non-tentacle bit, and it’s a toothy maw that glows with an amber light when open. Its eyes, just above the mouth, are bright amber, and glow. Throughout its entire body is a glow that seems to flow out from its center and down the tentacles. It glows more when it’s pissed off, or feeling any emotion, really. It moves very, very fast, with an almost unearthly reaction speed. It has a BL of 115, and can throw anything up to 2xBL, or 230 lbs with one limb (up to 8 yards distance). It can fling up to 8xBL (920 lbs) using 2 limbs, out to a distance of 29 yards. So it can fling anyone around, if it wants. It can attack with a limb slam (2d+3 cr), a bash attack that can hurl foes to the ground, or the ropy tendrils that make up the limb can grasp/entangle a foe, doing thr (2d+1) damage and pinning/capturing the foe. Foe must then make a ST contest against ST 16 to break free. Alternatively, 12 points of damage to that limb will sever enough tendrils to free the captive. If a foe is caught, it will be brought to the mouth to be chewed on the next turn, or just hurled away. The bite does 2d+1 cutting. Upon first seeing this thing move (usually to attack someone) roll a Fright Check: modifiers include -4 for the beastie, +2 for Cbt Ref, -1 for Eykit’s Cowardice, -3 for the grisly way the bodies were killed (acid melting), -1 if you are the target of its attack. Every once in a while, it has a shrieking cry that causes another Fright Check, although in this case the grisly bodies don’t count, and the -1 for being attacked doesn’t count either.

The Servitor of Ghebbiloth

The Cultists

High Priest Narghest Ratchool, Orc, ST 15 DX 11 IQ 9 HT 13 WL 12 HP 17 FT 16. Infravision, Cbt Ref, DR 3, Fit, MR 3 Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 12-), Callous, Intolerance of “civilized people”, Overconfidence (CR 12-) Uses a hooked spear in combat, has an axe as a sidearm. He wears a gold chain necklace with the teeth of some carnivore on them (a Naturalist-2 roll will be able to tell they are panther fangs; 18 of them). It’s worth $200. In his purse is $120 in various coin denominations. In a pouch under his shirt are six Shards, two of which are fused together. Like all of the shards held by the priests, none of them connect with each other (they have already tried).

Priest Kargh Knotbinder, Orc ST 16, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 13, HP 18, FT 16. Infravision, Cbt ref, DR 2, Fit, MR 3, Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 15-) Callous, Overconfident (CR 9-). Armed with a staff and knife. His staff is hickory, with a bluish quartz orb the size of a baseball on the end of it, polished smooth, worth $180 to people on the street, but closer to $600 to a mage (who would use the orb as a potential powerstone at 50 carats). His purse has $210 in it, in coins of various denominations, and two Shards.

Priest Severin Hawthorn, Human ST 11, DX 10, IQ 11, HT 10, Combat skills in the 12-13 range. Armed with a staff and arming sword. His sword has some gold decorations on the hilt, worth $500. He has a purse with $55 in it. In a pouch in his left boot are three Shards.

Priestess Jorna Doon, Human ST 10, DX 11, IQ 11, HT 11, Combat skills in the 11-12 range. She has a purse with $48 in it.

Priestess Grimma One-Eye, Orc ST 13 DX 11, IQ 10, HT 12, HP 15, FT 15 Infravision, Cbt ref, DR 2, Fit, MR 3, Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 12-) Callous, Overconfident (CR12-). Combat skills 11-13. She has a belt pouch with a dozen holy symbols in it, all from different gods, all jumbled together. Most are street vendor trash, worth about $10 each. Two are silver, worth $60 each, and one is gold, worth $150. One is gold with rubies, worth $300. She carries a leather “wallet” that has four Shards, each one held in place by a loop. There are six more loops, currently empty.

Priest Nopozu Ipiir, Goblin, mage (primarily fire) ST 9, DX 12, IQ 14, HT 12, FT 15, Parabolic Hearing, Silence +4, Impulsive (12-) Pyromania (CR 15- He likes it, but has control of it) Magery 1 Spells: Ignite Fire 13, Shape Fire 13, Create Fire 13, Fireball 15, Explosive Fireball 13, Flame Jet 15, Heat 13, Seek Fire 13, Resist Fire 13, Extinguish Fire 13, Fireproof 13. Innate Attack (Jet) 14, Innate Attack (Missile)-13. Favorite spell is Flame Jet, usually in both hands if possible. He will also cast Resist Fire on himself, then cast a Create Fire spell on an area with lots of fuel; the area goes up in flames, and he is in the middle of it, protected. Anyone wanting to get to him will have to go through the flames to get him. He carries a couple flasks of oil, which he likes to either throw on people, or around them, then ignite it. He also has three healing potions, which he doesn’t mind using to get FT back. He has $70 in a purse under his clothes, which also has eight Shards in it. Priest Drenn Bakerson, Human, ST 10, DX 12, IQ 11, HT 10. Combat skills 12-13. Armed with a pair of knives (rondel daggers, Fine, +1 dmg). Brawling 14, Arm Lock 15, Disarming (brawling) 15, Elbow strike (brawling) 13, Ground Fighting (Brawling 11), Kicking 13, Knee Strike (brawling) 14, knife-14, Counterattack(knife) 10, Disarming (knife)-15, Feint (knife)-15, Ground Fighting (knife)-11, Off hand Weapon training (knife)-13, Retain Weapon (knife)-15, Wrestling-12, Choke hold-10, Scissors Hold-11. He does 1d-1 imp damage with the daggers, and they reduce the penalty to hit chinks in armor by 2. He does 1d-2 cr with natural attacks (punch, elbow strike, knee strike), and 1d for kicks. He has a purse with $60 in it. The daggers are worth $160 each. He will attempt to get into close combat, grapple, takedown, then stabstabstab. Stabby stab.

Priest Fellgog the Mad, Orc ST 14, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 12, HP 16, FT 15, Infravision, Cbt ref, DR 2, Fit, MR 3, Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 9-) Callous, Overconfident (CR 9-). Wields an oversized two handed cudgel that requires readying every time he attacks. It does 2d+2 cr damage if it hits. Cudgel 10, Knife 11, Brawling 9, Wrestling 10. When attacking, he will often chant “Smash head…smash head!” He has $8 in his pockets.

There is one other priest, but she is in Port Karn, arranging for more slaves (she’s the one who drives the wagon). Priestess Roberta Weaver, Human. If/when the temple is assaulted by the PCs (and assuming they win and survive), she will go to ground. Then she will use her contacts and resources to harass the PCs in the future, to get revenge. She shouldn’t need to ever be in combat, but her stats are: ST 10, DX 11, IQ 11, HT 10, Combat skills in the 11-12 range. She’s not much of a fighter, and will avoid combat if possible. Her skills are more social (well, to the limit of her mental issues…after all, she follows a chaos god). She typically has $300 on her, usually for slave buying purposes. Her cloak has secret pouches sewn into it. Hidden in them are five Shards.

Temple Protectors

Orcs (6), Humans (5), Dwarves (1), Goblins (2). Of those, 3 Orcs, 2 Humans, and a Goblin were with the slave train. The rest were guarding the temple and the slaves that were already there. While camping, one of the Orcs was always on watch. Priestess Roberta Weaving has left to go back to Port Karn to take care of some business. She has taken an Orc Protector and a Human Protector with her.

Orc Protectors (5): ST 14, DX 11, IQ 8, HT 11, HP 16, FP 14, Infravision, Cbt ref, DR 2, Fit, MR 3, Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 9-) Callous, Overconfident (CR 9-), combat skills in the 12-13 range. They are armed with hooked spears, arming sword or axe, and a knife. Three of them have crossbows, the other three have short bows. Wearing gambeson with a chain shirt over it. DR 5, DR 9 torso/groin. Each Orc guard has $3dx3 in small change. Orc Protectors 3, 4, 5 were with the slave train, 5 has returned to Port Karn with Roberta. Orc Protector 2 was stationed in the topmost structure of the tower; he was killed. There are three Orc Protectors left in the Temple, located in Room 6, 7, and 8.

Chief Protector: One of the Orcs. ST 16, DX 12, IQ 10, HT 11, HP 18, FP 14, Infravision, Cbt ref, DR 2, Fit, MR 3, Rapid Healing, Bad Temper (CR 9-) Callous, Overconfident (CR 9-), combat skills in the 13-14 range. Is armed with a hooked spear, axe, and a knife. He also has a ST 16 crossbow. He wears gambeson and a brig vest. DR 5 all over, DR 10 torso/groin. Pot helm, DR 10 for head (6 for helm, 2 for DR, 2 for skull). His rondel dagger has a gold (plated) hilt, with an emerald in the pommel. It’s worth $400. He will be found in the Main Chamber or the hallways leading to the slave cells, as he retrieves sacrifices for the priests.
Human Protectors (5): ST 11, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 11, Combat skills 12-13. Armed with hooked spears, arming swords, knives. 3 have short bows, 2 have crossbows. Armored in gambeson, with linothorax. DR 3 all over, DR 7 for torso/groin. Pot helms DR 6. Each Human guard has $3dx3 in their purses. Human Protectors 4 and 5 were with the slave train. Human Protector 3 was stationed in the topmost structure of the tower; he was killed. Human Protector 2 was stationed on the second floor, and was killed in the kitchen. There are 2 Human Protectors left in the Temple, located outside of Room 7, at the corner of the hallway, and in Room 6.

Dwarf Protector: ST 14, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 12, FT 15, DR 1, Combat skills 13-14, Armed with a hooked spear, axe, knife, ST 16 crossbow (takes 6 seconds to cock, +1 to grab a bolt, +1 to load, for a RoF 8). Armored in gambeson and steel corselet, with great helm. DR 4 all over; DR 10 torso/groin, DR 10 to head/face/neck. DR 3 hands/feet (leather gloves, leather boots). Has jack chains on arms and legs (giving +1 DR vs cutting). He has $80 in his purse. The Dwarf Protector had been stationed on the second floor, but he was killed in the kitchen.
Goblin Protectors (2): ST 10, DX 13, IQ 10, HT 11. Combat skills at 14-15. Armed with hooked spears, short swords, knives. One has three throwing knives as well. Equipped with gambeson. DR 3 all over. Pot helm, DR 6. Each Goblin guard has $3dx3 in their purses. Goblin Protector 2 was with the slave train. Goblin Protector 1 is in the Main Chamber, guarding the hallway entrance on the east side. Goblin 2 in in Room 8. Believers (18): These are normal folk, who for whatever reason are now cult members. It would take nearly a miracle to turn any of them away from the Path of Ghebbiloth, but it’s possible. Most will be spectating at the ceremony, but there are several that haven’t been elevated to Protector, but who want to be; these are called Acolytes. Many Believers act as servants to the priests and protectors. Acolytes (8): Acolytes are those Believers who aren’t interested in fighting, but want to contribute more to the cause than just belief. They are watchers, observers, couriers, wait staff supervisors. 6 were killed outside of the Temple; they had been sentries.

Ally

Kylen Pelorus, Priest of Mithras. Human, age 54. ST 10, DX 11, IQ 12, HT 11. Speaks several languages: Imperial, broken Mekiitagi, broken Lurkash, a bit of Northern Khuzdul, and about six words of Quenya. He has decent social skills appropriate for a priest (in the 12-14 range, although his Public Speaking is 15). Not feeble, yet, but not strong, either. Driven; has a firm sense of justice and fairness. Hates slavers, which is how he found out about the abductions. He will want to come along to witness the slaver transaction, but he is in no shape to go traipsing off into the jungle. He wouldn’t be able to keep up, and he wouldn’t be of much help, being a city slicker. Kylen does have a pack mule, however. He is willing to let the PCs borrow him, with the caveat that they bring Clyde back unharmed (if Clyde is injured/killed/lost, he will cost $2000 to replace, and Kylen will be very sad that he lost his companion). Clyde: ST 22, DX 10, IQ 5, HT 12, Will 12, Per 12, SPD 5.5, Dodge 8, Move 6 (9 when hurrying). He can carry 96.3lbs and remain unencumbered; 193 Lt Enc; 289 Med Enc; 578 Hvy Enc; 963 Xhvy Enc.

Overland Travel Encounters

See Wilderness Survival and Travel and Encounter Tables for context (the encounters were prerolled; usually they are rolled on the fly, but a little extra prep time never hurts). Day 1: Morning, Noon
Day 2: Midnight
Day 3: Evening, Predawn
Day 4: Afternoon
Day 5: Noon, Evening, Predawn
Day 6: Afternoon, Evening, Midnight
Day 7: Noon, Evening
Day 8: Morning
Day 9: Morning, Predawn
Day 10: Noon, Midnight, Predawn Day 1: 335. Wounded traveler, recently attacked by brigands. Felsin Honeybread (male Hobbit, mature adult around 50 years old or so) had been part of a small caravan, a baker moving from Sunmill to Port Karn. They had been attacked, and he had tried to defend himself with his walking staff, but the brigand had just laughed and stabbed him in the shoulder. So he ran into the jungle, bleeding. The brigands, apparently more interested in the caravan’s goods rather than a poor baker, didn’t follow. Alternatively, it could be a slave that had been left for dead by the guards, since an already dead sacrifice is useless to them. Helena Norbett (female human, age 15, emaciated, lacerated, bleeding, bruised) was taken by slavers in the night an eightday or more ago. She wasn’t able to keep up with the rest of of the slaves, as she kept falling unconscious and being dragged through the undergrowth. Apparently, she passed out and they thought she had finally died, cut her loose, and went on. Waking up in the jungle, she tried to find her way to civilization, but is now lost, hungry, weak from exposure, starvation, and dehydration, and in basically a bad way. If the PCs are blazing their own trail based upon research into the Orc town, then it’s a wounded traveler. If they are following the slave train, then it’s a slave, left for dead. In either case, they will need medical attention. Fortunately, they aren’t too far from the road; given directions (and the aforementioned medical treatment) they will be able to make it back to town. 522. There is a fork in the trail, unmarked on any map. If the PCs are following the slave train, it may cause a detour until they realize they aren’t following the slaves any more, leading to a delay. If they are striking out into the jungle on the way to the city (via research), it likely won’t result in them taking much more time. Just a different route, since they are making their own trail. Day 2: 656. Someone steps on a Reek, which then attacks. See FB58. Since this happens at midnight, it’s likely that they are camped, and someone had to get up in the middle of the night to relieve themself. Surprise! Day 3: 416: A dog wanders into camp. It stops at the edge, keeping its distance. Its tail is not wagging, but it’s also not tucked low, either. It looks gaunt, not quite starving, but hungry. A Vision roll will catch a glint at its neck: a buckle of a collar, mostly hidden in ragged, messy fur. It appears to be about 50 lbs (well, not at the moment), and a mix of Bearded Collie and American Staffordshire Terrier. So it looks like a long haired bully breed. How the PCs react to the dog will determine what happens. If they scare it away, it will run off into the jungle. If they coax it closer (say, by offering it food), it will come closer, cautiously. If they toss it some food, it will sniff at it, and if it isn’t bad/poisoned, will eat it, tail wagging. If the PCs are friendly to it, it will become a companion animal to whomever gives it the most affection. It has a tattered collar, but no name tag. 433. A group of 11 trihorns run through the camp. If the dog is there, it will start barking just before the antelope pass through the camp. Day 4: 543. Someone in the party gets severe blisters, slowing the party down. -20% distance traveled. Day 5: 115. Party stumbles upon a patch of healing herbs. It results in $200 worth of potion ingredients, assuming they sell it to an alchemist (it will be enough to supply 12 potions). 321. Just before making camp, the party stumbles across an immense statue, lying at an angle, half buried. It’s made of stone, and looks Orcish in design. The whole statue is likely over 40 feet tall (if it were standing up, not fallen over). It’s big enough to act as a shelter, and would make a decent spot to camp. 112. Some useful gear is found tucked under the other side of the statue; it hadn’t been noticed the night before, as it was mostly hidden by vegetation. It’s a large backpack (carry capacity 70 lbs) with a two person tent, a bedroll, some clothes (for a male 5’4”-6’, about 180-220 lbs), several bundles of twine, a hatchet, several tent stakes (wood), a tin pot, a spoon, fork, and knife, two leather pouches (capacity 5 lbs each; one with bundles of dead herbs, one with three empty potion vials, and a Morpheus pastille), metal canteen, half full of stale water. There is also a bundle of cheesecloth, wrapped around waxed paper covered food. It’s old and dry and useless now. Day 6: 444. In a clearing (undergrowth clearing, there is still jungle canopy above) are bones, scattered all over. There are several skulls, some humanoid, some animal, painted in vibrant colors and arranged in some kind of pattern (examination, or looking at it from above will determine that it’s geometric, and a Thaumatology or Occult or Magical Ritual roll will allow them to know that this was part of some kind of necromantic ritual). 133: Just before making camp, the PCs come across a horse, tied up to a tree. No one is around; the area within reach of the reins has been completely eaten, and the horse is starving. Conclusion: the horse was abandoned, and it’s now yours. 546: Someone, while attending to personal business in the middle of the night, sprains an ankle when their foot turns under them. Day 7: 624. Large branch falls in the path ahead. DX roll to avoid being hit. If hit, take 1d cr damage. 521. A fallen tree blocks the trail. Some time will need to be taken to get around it (albeit, not much.) Day 8: 654. Someone is attacked by a giant centipede. Day 9: 351. A bear and a pack of wolves stand off over a dead deer. 664. Tendrils from a Man-Trap plant grab someone's ankle. It wants dinner, and dinner is you. Day 10: 453. You walk into an area marked with red ribbons (perhapsthey are marked for lumber?) 433. A group/herd of 3d animals move through the nearby wood. 516. Weather changes for the worse.

The Old Orc Temple

Guard Tower

(ceilings are 10’ high) Ground floor. Entry vestibule to the rest of the temple. There are two small rooms, 10x10 or so, behind some curtains. One has a ladder going up. One has a ladder going down, into the space under the stairways. Middle floor: Used to be an observation room, where the priests could look out over the city. There is a ladder going up to the top floor. There is an Acolyte here, walking around, looking out the windows, and keeping an eye on things. There are two small rooms. Both are filled with debris and overgrowth. Top floor: There used to be some large hanging chimes in here, which would be rung at appropriate times, sort of like a bell tower. Now it’s used as an observation tower. There will be two Acolytes in here, keeping an eye on the area. Plaza. The plaza is the area immediately behind the Guard Tower, and is made up of the roofs of Levels 1 and 2. There are obelisks are the four corners, basaltic stone, and carved with stories in Lurkash about Kruge. They are almost completely covered in vines and roots, much like the rest of the building. There are some cleared areas: between the Guard Tower and the second floor, pathways to the two stairs. The rest of the structure has roots, dirt, and plants growing all over it, making footing a bit tricky. There are three Acolytes wandering around, being paranoid while the high mucky mucks do their sacrificin’.

Under the Stairs

Room 1. Vestibule. This room has seen about 900 years of neglect. The cultists haven’t done much with any of these rooms down here; they haven’t needed to. The ceiling used to be 12’ high, but there is an uneven pile of debris burying the floor; it ranges from 3’ to 8’ high. Most of the debris is organic, plant material that got in here. There are mushrooms growing all over down here, and you can tell there are spores in the air. Some of the mushrooms glow softly, all are oversized. Some are edible (Naturalist -2 roll; there are enough mushrooms down here to produce 6 meals). Room 2. The doorway is almost completely buried by a hillock of debris. It has an uneven floor, also due to debris, but the pile is only 1’ to 3’ high in here, and mostly at the doorway. There are more mushrooms in here, as well as three giant centipedes. Giant Centipede SM -3 Vermiform, Wild Animal, Adult: 8 lbs.
ST 4; DX 12; IQ 1; HT 10 HP 4; FP 10; Will 10; Per 10 Speed 5.5; Move G5-W1; Dodge 8 DR 2 (Tough skin)
Attacks: Bite 1d-5 cut with Poison
Physical Traits: Dark Vision; High Pain Threshold; Lifting ST +2; Striking ST +1 (Bite only)
Skills: Brawling-12
•Poison (F): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Extended Duration, x30; Follow-Up, bite; Moderate Pain; Secondary, Paralysis)

Description: Giant Centipedes are about 2 feet long and can be found in both subterranean and dark, damp forest environments, mainly in the jungles. They attack anything that they think might be food. Their bite won’t penetrate armor but if they bite flesh, they will inject a painful venom that can cause paralysis using their toxicognaths. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMYxRIByCQE for some squicky but cool stuff on centipedes. Mostly buried by debris and covered in mushrooms is a chest. It looks undisturbed. It’s metal, and locked, but the lock has since rusted into a lump. A sharp, strong blow or two should break it open. Inside are the following: some rotted cloth, a silver mace head (there is a shaft, but as soon as anyone touches it, they realize it’s completely rotted through), a pair of throwing axe heads (steel, but rusty, but it can be cleaned up to become Fine, again, the wooden hafts are gone), coinage (Araterre Crowns, Various old Orcish coins no longer in circulation, and a stack of square Dwarven coins, with a thread tied through the center holes) worth a total of $950 (or $800 without the Araterre Crowns). The Araterre Crowns could be worth $200-300 each to a collector, if one can be found. There are a total of 18 of them. Dexon doesn’t know any collectors, but he will keep an eye out for 20% of the proceeds. Otherwise, they are worth the weight of the metal, like the other obsolete coinage. There is also a raccoon skull in there (those with Magery get a roll to see if they realize it’s magic). It’s an 8 pt powerstone. Note that it’s a skull, not a fossil, and it’s old bone at that, so it’s relatively fragile. They will have to be careful with it. This is a room with a breached wall, completely filled with roots. There is barely enough room for the centipedes to get in and out, so there is no way a humanoid can. This breach is barely noticeable, but the air smells very slightly fresher in here (Smell roll to find this out.) Room 3. This room is almost as full of debris as the vestibule. More mushrooms, of various kinds. If a Search roll succeeds, a Rondel Dagger in need of proper care and attention can be found in the far corner. It is magic, Fine (once cleaned up), and has Puissance +1 and Penetrating Weapon (2) on it. The blade is etched with Tengwar; the make is Elven. With a Soldier roll, Taid will be able to tell it was likely a weapon to use on heavily armored opponents. (Rondel Daggers get +2 vs Chinks in armor, and the Penetrating Weapon halves DR, and the +1 damage is there to make it more effective.) Room 4. This room has only a small amount of debris, mostly in the hallway area. The debris in here is only inches thick, not feet. This room was likely a storeroom; there are piles of what might have been cabinets, crates, boxes, or barrels against the walls. Whatever was in them is long gone or destroyed by time. There is a metal box, locked (the lock is a tough lock, at -3 to pick). Inside is a pair of 2” diameter glass spheres, enchanted with Continual Light, and each has 2 points of Self Power. So they are always glowing at the level of moonlight. There are two more giant centipedes in here.

Top floor

It is the only floor with windows (openings, no glass). The ceiling is 15’ high. The main room is 20x20, with a pair of doorways. There are two Protectors in here. There is a stone altar in the center of the room, with dark stains on it. It was here where the sacrifices were made to Kruge. Room 1: There are some tables and chairs in here. It would appear that administrative work is done here. Room 2: Storeroom; on the wall is an array of hooks, most with manacles and chains hanging from them. There is a water barrel in here, as well as a brazier. A crate holds some potatoes and other root vegetables, along with some jars of tea leaves. likely snacks for whomever is on guard duty. There is a staircase, going down, to the 2nd floor.

2nd Floor

(ceilings are 15’ high) Room 1. Chief Protector’s Room. There is a bed, a pair of nightstands, and a chest at the foot of the bed. There is also a table and three chairs set against one wall. There is an oil lamp on the table, and a pair of oil lamps hanging from hooks on the walls. In the left nightstand drawer are some combs, a brush, a book (looks like Orcish poetry). In the right nightstand drawer is a purse with $250, a silver ring ($50), a gold ring with a sapphire in it ($130), and an embroidered handkerchief. There is a faint trace of perfume on it (Smell roll -2 to discover this). In the chest are his extra clothes, a folded blanket, and an extra pair of shoes. At the foot of the bed, next to the chest, is an extra pair of boots. Room 2. Kargh Knotbinder and Grimma OneEye’s Room. Double bed, nightstands on either side. Two chests at the foot of the bed, side by side. There is a table and two chairs on one wall, and a wardrobe with mirror on the other. Two oil lamps hang from hooks on the wall. The bed is a mess. Two large brimmed hats hang on a coat rack in one corner. The wardrobe has mostly Grimma’s clothes in it, although a few appear to be Kargh’s. The two chests have smallclothes, towels, and blankets in them. In Grimma’s, there is a purse in a pocket of a pair of riding pants. The purse contains several small gems, 2 rubies ($30, $40), 2 sapphires ($25, $45), 4 emeralds ($10, $20, $35, $40), a topaz ($15), and a diamond ($40). They are all smaller than a half carat. In the left nightstand drawer is a small knife, a necklace of colored beads and feathers ($15), and a bone comb, which is missing a few teeth. In the right nightstand drawer is an eyepatch, a fist-sized piece of wood carved into a sitting bird, a purse with $40 in it, and a plain, unadorned dagger. Room 3. Severin Hawthorn’s room. Double bed, one nightstand. A desk with a chair is against one wall. There are four hooks around the room, each with an oil lamp. Two are above the desk. There is a dresser next to the desk, with several drawers. This holds Severin’s clothes. The nightstand has a dagger in it, and a book (written in Imperial, a fiction book about a world filled with magical carriages, cities full of castles, and a traveling merchant who contemplates suicide). The desk drawers hold quills, ink bottles, and several dozen sheets of paper. One of the sheets, turned over on his desk, seems to have metamagical formula written all over it, along with notes that say things like “NO! Not like this!” and “Kharne? Or Nurgleth?” and “Ratchool will know.” Room 4. Jorna Doon’s room. Single bed, one nightstand. Chest at the foot of the bed. A table with a single chair sits up against a wall. On the floor is a throw rug, mostly blue with lavender and pale green. In the nightstand’s drawer is a journal. It’s blank, except for the words, written in a careful hand, “Heatdaze 15, 879 AFE. I don’t know what to write in this thing.” In the chest are her clothes, as well as a folded blanket, a folded oiled tarp, and a pair of very nice lady’s shoes, slightly used. Room 5. Protector barracks 1. Has enough bunks for 12 people. There are four sets of bunks against the north wall, and 2 sets on the south wall. There are seven chests in here, one for each of the protectors that sleep here. These chests hold their personal items, mostly clothing, but there are a couple of extra knives, a buckler, and about $200 spread out amongst the chests. Against one corner are a pair of hooked spears, and a quarterstaff. There are a total of four oil lamps in the room, hanging from hooks on the walls. Room 6. Nopuzu Ipiir’s room. Single bed. The northeast corner is bare, but it’s black with soot for 4’ radius, and 8’ tall. It’s where Nopozu likes to play with his fires. There is a dresser, and a nightstand. There is a row of tables, with various kinds of glassware all over them; it looks like alchemy tools. He’s not an alchemist, although he is trying to optimize his oil flasks. He just lacks the chemistry knowledge to actually pull it off. The dresser holds his clothes, although there is a knife hidden in his underwear drawer and a dagger hidden in a bottom drawer, hidden in the folds of a cloak. In the drawer of the night stand are two bottles of oil, a fire striker, a whetstone, and a piece of amber with a fly in it (worth maybe $20). On the table, under a messy pile of papers with chemical formulae on them is a stack of four books. They are spell books, written in Mekiitagi, filled with scribbled notes on the margins, with the following spells: Ignite Fire, Create Fire, Shape Fire, and Fireball. Perfectly useable to learn spells from, assuming you know Mekiitagi. Or they can be sold for $504, $480, $516, and $1352, respectively (+/- any Merchant modifiers) at most mage guilds; book sellers might be a good option as well, although they are unlikely to have that much money lying around. Room 7. Drenn Bakerson’s room. Single bed, nightstand, chest. There is a practice dummy in one corner; it is wood, with a mass of cuts in it. It looks like it gets a lot of use, with most of the cuts in the “soft bits” or where chinks are in armor. The nightstand holds a couple of candles, a flask of lamp oil, a brush, a comb, and a small paring knife, likely used for fingernails. The chest holds his clothes and a blanket, and a pair of plain rondel daggers. They are fairly dull; he either doesn’t use them much, and thus they are neglected, or these are the ones that he uses on the wooden dummy. Room 8. Fellgog the Mad’s room. First thing anyone notices when the door is opened is the smell. The room smells musky, like an Orc that hasn’t bathed in weeks. In fact, it doesn’t just assault the nose; it makes the eyes water and you can almost hear your nasal passages contracting in disgust. Messy single bed. Clothes are strewn around the room. There is no nightstand. There is a chest at the foot of the bed; it has some dirty clothes in it, along with a tattered blanket that feels dusty just from looking at it. There is a table, and a chair. On the table is the remains of a meal, meat, by the look of it. It’s been sitting there for a few days, and you can see the maggots writhing on it. Room 9. Roberta Weaver’s room. Clean, hardly looks slept in. Which it hasn’t, since Roberta is almost always in town arranging for more slaves. Single bed, made. Nightstand, with nothing in it except a comb. There is a desk and chair. In the desk drawers are ink, quills, and some paper. In a drawer are some maps of the Port Karn area. Some are very old, and don’t show most of the farming towns, but do show the old Orc towns of which Gijak Balorat is one. Room 10. Protector Barracks 2. Has enough bunks for 12 people. See the description of Room 5, above, except there are only 6 chests, and 6 beds that look occupied. There is a total of $140 in small change scattered about the chests. There are also a few extra knives, a short sword, a quiver of broadhead arrows (20), and two hooked spears. Room 11. There is a large conference table and some chairs put in here. This is the war room, where the priests get together to talk about their plans. There is a washbasin in one corner, along with a small table with folded towels. There are a total of 12 chairs around the table. Room 12. Larder, pantry, kitchen, dining area. There is a stove and fire pit set up in here, this has resulted in a sooty stain on the ceiling above it. There is plenty of counter space, and cupboards for eating utensils and cooking gear. There are also shelves, upon which are plenty of ingredients, such as flour, salt, spices, a barrel of pickles, a barrel of salt pork, and several bins of various kinds of vegetables and fruit. There are several tables set up along with benches. There is a barrel of ale, and one of cider. There is also one with fresh water in it, taken from a nearby stream. There is a section of the counter space that has been used as a butchering station. Room 13. High Priest Narghest Ratchool’s room. He has set up partitions to give him a bedroom and study/meeting area. The front of the room is the sitting area. There are four comfortable chairs there, and another six chairs placed in a row along one wall. There is a liquor cabinet, with a selection of alcohols in various states of consumption. There is a desk with a chair. The top of the desk is clean, except for a stand for quill pens and a bottle of ink. In the left drawer is a stack of paper, along with some charcoal pencils. In the right drawer are two books, both written in Lurkash. The first is “Orcish Deities and Their Celestial Spheres”; the second is an old journal, falling apart with age. It is untitled, and written in a shaky, spidery hand. Obviously an amateurish work, hardly the work of even the lowliest apprentice scrivener. There are many pages missing, and a lot of the text has been effaced. But with a few weeks’ study and effort, some things can be discovered. It was written by an Orcish under priest of Kruge, who lived in Gijak Balorat. In several places, he casually mentions sacrificing people to Kruge to stave off earthquakes, ensure a good harvest, or keep the storms at bay (it is implied that in this case, Kruge was to bargain with other gods on Gijak Balorat’s behalf). In the latter half, he goes into some detail about something killing/abducting/making disappear several neighboring townsfolk. As it’s happening to another tribe, it isn’t really his concern, and he goes back to more mundane matters. A bit later, it comes up again, this time it’s happening in Gijak Balorat. People disappearing, blood left behind, etc. Later still, there is a description: “All made of ropes, glowing like, pulsing, like a mass of rocky, squirming intestines, spastically moving.” And “…the worm-thing screamed, and was on him in an instant. One moment it was up on the roof, the next it was gnawing on his head.” And “Fast, oh Kruge so fast. Faster than the boars in fright! And how far it can reach….” Behind the partition (painted in reds and golds, with a bamboo theme), is the bedroom area. There is a large, triple wide bed, with nice treesilk sheets and a lightweight wool blanket. There is a night stand, with a large knife in the drawer, along with a hairbrush and a copper athame. It looks Elven in design. A chest sits at the foot of the bed, holding his clothes, including a second set of priestly robes. There is also a leather belt, tooled in fine leather, with a motif of intertwined claws ($70). It has a gold belt buckle; it’s heavy, so it might be solid gold ($350). Room 14. Landing. Now used as a common lounge area. There are several tables and chairs around the area. There is a chest with some common gear; this is used by those protectors who need it. Some extra gambesons in sizes for goblins, humans, and orcs. There are three sheathed daggers, a short sword, a small collection of belts, baldrics, and frogs, a dented half helm, and a pair of worn but serviceable gloves, sized for human or small orc hands. There will be two guards in here.

1st floor

(ceilings are 15’ high in the corridors, 10’ high in the cells and rooms. Room 1. Large room, 20’ ceiling. There are square pillars supporting the upper structures. There are 6 basalt posts circling the crystal altar in the middle of the room. The altar appears as if it were partially melted. It’s cloudy reddish quartz, but something dark looks like it’s been trapped in it, as if in amber. Dark, ropy loops can be seen, exposed as the crystalline material has melted away. Along the back wall (the long wall) are a series of panels of bas reliefs. The one in the center is recessed about 4-6”, and appears to be of a slightly different style than the rest. See the Addendum for historical notes on this section of the bas relief. Depending upon how long it takes the PCs to get here, the Servitor could be at least partially freed. If from the time the PCs get from Room 6 to Room 1 is about an hour (ie, four sacrifices), the critter will have several limbs free. At least one of which it will use to hold onto whatever sacrifice is melting at the time. The others can strike anyone within Range 2 of the crystal. Two sacrifices after that, and it can pull itself out of the crystal, taking 10 turns to do so. It’s painful, and damaging, so it would rather not do that. It will stay in the crystal as long as it can, while sacrifices are being made. If the rituals stop for whatever reason, it will extricate itself and start killing. Each turn it can pull a limb loose, after 10 limbs, it is free enough to fully escape. It takes 1d-3 damage each time it pulls a limb free, potentially losing the ends of the limbs. There will be two guards here, guarding the two exits. Just in case a slave tries to make a break for it. One of these guards is the Chief Protector. There are also two Acolytes in here, as well as the remaining Believers. This is where the action happens. Well, the sacrificing, anyway. There are six slaves manacled to the basalt pillars, bleeding from a myriad of cuts. Other slaves are led, one by one, from the cells to the altar, where they are chained in place, and sacrificed. It’s not pretty, pleasant, or quick. There is a drain, hinged, that when opened, leads to the Bone Pit. It’s where the bodies are dumped. The floor slopes down to the grate on the floor, to aid in cleansing. There are two possibilities here: One is that the party is still secret, and no one has alerted the people in the chamber that there are intruders. The other is that the Cultists have been alerted, and they are taking steps to deal with the intrusion. Option 1. High Priest Narghest Ratchool will be at the altar, doing his ritual sacrificing, one victim after another. Priest Napozu Ipiir will be leaning agains the short wall just outside of the ring of pillars, watching the sacrifices melt. Narghest doesn’t trust him with the sacrifices; he knows he’s a pyromaniac, and may not be able to contain his enthusiasm for fire, thus ruining the sacrifices. So Napozu watches, occasionally handing ceremonial tools to Narghest when requested. Priests Kargh Knotbinder, Grimma OneEye, and Drenn Bakerson are on ceremonial pillar duty, and they each have two manacled slave-sacrifices to slice open, at the appropriate ritualistic times. Priestess Jorna Doon and Priest Severin Hawthorn are guiding the crowd of Believers, leading them in the ritual. Priest Fellgog the Mad, along with the Chief Protector or the Goblin Protector, are fetching sacrifices, one by one. As the PCs look around the corner, they see the High Priest, standing over a victim manacled to the half-melted crystal altar, as he does his ritualistic movements over the victim. He is chanting, and waving his arms over the victim. There are six basalt pillars, none of which go all the way up to the ceiling. Chained to each of these posts are slaves, covered in a myriad of small cuts. Priest Nopozu is leaning against a short wall, looking intently at the altar and what is happening. He holds a collection of objects in his hands, some of which he hands to the High Priest when the High Priest holds his hand out. In the southern section of the room, amongst the 10 square pillars, are 18 Believers, all dressed in robes, chanting responses to a pair of Priests who seem to be leading them, one male, one female. The High Priest starts screaming out his chants, the three column priests make a cut on the post-slaves, and the High Priest has a big inhale as his eyes seem to glow and his back arches, then he places both of his hands on the victim’s chest. The victim screams, and they start to twitch, then spastically struggle as their screams become louder and more desperate. Blood starts leaking from their mouth, then their nose and ears, and then their eyes. By this time, the choking, gurgling sound has replaced the screaming, and a Vision roll will determine that the blood is starting to bubble and smoke on the crystal, melting a small portion of it. Now the acidic blood is starting to burn through the skin, and the spastic movements cease. The remains of the body, now in multiple parts, falls out of the manacles, and any pieces still on the altar are swept off. The High Priest turns and looks at Fellgog: “Bring me the next one!” Fellgog disappears down the corridor of cells, motioning to a large Orcish warrior to follow. They come back, the Orc pulling a slave on a chain, Fellgog following, kicking the slave forward if they slow. The new slave is manacled to the altar, and the cycle repeats. How the ritual is working: The ritual is basically designed to turn the victim’s blood to acid, to melt apart the crystal. The spell needs to be cast on every sacrifice, until the crystal is completely melted, and the Servitor can escape. The Believers, led by the two priests, are spectators, giving power to rituals. The six victims at the posts are doing something similar, although in their case, every cut (one per victim) is linked to the victim and helps to transmute their blood to the meta-acid that is capable of magically melting crystal. Option 2: the Cult is alerted. As above, but Nopozu goes hunting for the PCs, as does Severin. Jorna Doon still leads the Believers, and the three priests on column duty do their thing. So it’s likely that Nopozu and Severin will meet up with the PCs on one of the upper levels. They will take the Protector from the ceremonial chamber with them, leaving the Chief Protector down there. They will also sweep up the two Protectors in the stairway lounge area. Nopozu will take one Protector, and go one way; Severin and two Protectors will go the other, and meet at the other stairwell. Assuming that the two priests and three Protectors are taken care of, the ceremony progresses as in Option 1, with the slight modifications. Nopozu and Severin were told to take care of the intruders, and they will do their utmost to accomplish the task. They may send a Protector to warn the others if the fight seems to be going against them, but they will wait until the last minute to admit failure. So it’s likely that the PCs will be able to stop them from alerting those in the ceremony. There are a lot of people in here. That many people will be able to completely overwhelm the three PCs. So they will have to be clever. They have “control” of the one stairway up and out. They might think to start breaking the slaves out of their cells. This is fine, but each sacrificial ritual takes 15 minutes, and Fellgog and Chief Protector will be coming to get a slave every 15 minutes. That’s their window. Fellgog alternates sides; he’s working his way down the hall, starting with the slaves closest to the altar. At the time when the PCs manage to get down here, he’s about halfway down the rows (at about where the number 9 is located on the map). Fortunately, the ceremony is pretty loud, so as long as the PCs are at least trying to be quiet, no one will hear them. The slaves are useless for fighting. Most haven’t eaten in days; many can barely walk. Some are so traumatized that they are nearly catatonic. There are more slaves than are actually necessary to free the Servitor. All it will take is 8 more slaves, which gives a time limit of two hours. The minimum required to complete the ritual is two, plus the sacrifices: the High Priest, and one other priest to make the cuts on the pillar slaves. Without the spectators, though, he’s going to have to get the power from himself and the pillar slaves. Room 2. Priest room. Used by the priests to get ready, much like a green room. There is a bookcase on one wall, with religious texts (mostly mundane, but there is a book that has a lock on it; the cover appears to be untanned hide, relatively hairless, but definitely humanoid, as there is a nipple off to one side. It would appear as if it had been harvested off of someone’s chest long ago.) Its title is a jumble of odd runes, and the text is a series of glyphs in a language no one could recognize. There are drawings, and the edges of most of the pages are illuminated with disturbing images of body parts, things that must be torture implements, and anatomical impossibilities. The text on the inside appears to be a continuous scribble, like cursive but without word breaks. The script is unknown. If the PCs do the research, it will eventually come out that it is a book called “Screaming Silences in the Order of the Gash”. Some more research will need to be done to find out about the Order of the Gash, a monastic order of people who try to extend the boundaries of experiences. They were apparently killed off by a raid by the Imperial Tondene Army 540 years ago. Room 3. Storeroom for paraphernalia, used by the priests to do their holy work. Cleaning supplies, buckets, mops, towels. There are also two shovels and a rake in here. There are also crates filled with candles, incense, censers, braziers, various butchering tools. On the wall are hung several leather aprons, all stained with blood. Room 4. In this room are some tables and chairs. Along the back wall are two barrels of wine, and a crate of miscellaneous alcohol, in various stages of emptiness. This would appear to be where the priests hang out to quench their thirsts. There is a cabinet with rows of pewter mugs, and a basket with fresh fruit in it. Room 5. There are several beds in here. They don’t look like they’ve been slept in. Room 6. Landing. The sound of drums and chanting can be heard coming up from the stairwell, even before going down the stairs (play voice memo, starting at about 0:30). The first thing one notices while coming down the stairs is the smell. It’s thick, cloying; the smell of dozens of unwashed bodies, mixed with the iron tang of blood and the sharp, acrid tang of…something else. There is a couch along the short wall, along with a coffee table and a pair of chairs. There are also two guards stationed here (Orc Protector, Human Protector), both seated initially at the table on the sofa, their feet up, nursing mugs of ale. The stairway is directly in their line of vision, so anyone coming down the stairs will be easily seen. When these two guards are dispatched, the slaves in the nearby cells will realize that there are “rescuers”, and will start clamoring for release. This shouting will spread, as the slaves down the line of cells start to realize what their compatriots are shouting. This will increase the amount of noise in the area (as if there weren’t enough already). It will also draw the ire of the four guards stationed to watch the slaves and the hallways, and they will want to do something about it, and see what is causing the ruckus. (Besides, they were told to keep the slaves relatively quiet as not to disturb the ritual). Room 7. Guard room. 2 guards here (Human Protector, Orc Protector). The two guard rooms act sort of as reserves, although they do keep tabs on the cell blocks. It is furnished with a table and a few chairs, along with a wash basin and barrel of water. The Human Protector is leaning up against the corner in the hallway, mostly paying attention to the racket coming from the main chamber. The Orc Protector is seated at the table, playing solitaire (his chair faces the door). Room 8. Guard room. 2 guards here (Orc Protector, Goblin Protector). The two guard rooms act sort of as reserves, although they do keep tabs on the cell blocks. It is furnished with a table and a few chairs, along with a wash basin and barrel of water. The Goblin will often walk the east blocks, as he’s too excited by the goings-on to sit still for long (he’s on walkabout on an 11-). The Orc Protector is seated at the table, sharpening his knife. Room 9. The cells. All are squalid, and can contain 0-4 slaves in them (1d: 1-2=0, 3=1, 4=2, 5=3, 6=4). All of the prisoners (slaves) are malnourished, emaciated, bruised, scraped, and generally wretched. Their clothes hang tattered and torn, stained with dirt, mud, slime, blood, and who knows what else. They stink to high heaven. Manacles dangle from the walls, some so old they are barely more than rust, held together by the sheer force of the iron’s will. Some are more recent, however. There are 56 cells altogether, and there are about 80 slaves held there now. Some of the cells have buckets for waste, many do not. The Bone Pit: 30 feet down a 5’ diameter shaft is a rough-hewn cavern some thirty feet on a side. It is filled 8’ deep with bones, most very, very old, but some a lot more recent. There are some still with gobbets of meat on them. They are all humanoid bones. There is an immense Reek at the base of the pile. It is 6 hexes in size, 90 HP, 350lbs, and does 6 HP of damage per turn due to pseudopods extruding out from its body (basically, one per hex). See Fantasy Beastiary, page 58. It is a mundane, not a magical reek. Anyone going into the bone pit will be attacked by it after about 5 seconds (it needs to climb up through the bones). There is an opening at the floor about 12” high, 4’ wide, and leads, through a winding, tight passage up to an opening further uphill, between some rocks. While it is possible for someone to get out that way, it wouldn’t be pleasant, easy, or quick. It is big enough to allow for some air movement. For someone to escape that way, they would have to be unarmored and not carrying anything, and they should be slender. 12” isn’t a lot of space, and breathing would be difficult. Of course, it’s irrelevant unless the reek is dead.

Kylen’s Dreams (Reprinted)

1) “The dream started out normal. I was walking alone in some woods. Everything was green, even the tree trunks, except for some bushes that had blossoms of red that had five petals, and seemed to be grasping at something. It got dark, although the sky was as bright as ever. It seemed as if the trees themselves drank up the light, not letting it get shed properly. There was a distinct sense of foreboding. It was like Mithras himself was being kept from shining.” 2) “I was walking in a town; it’s a normal town, during a normal day, filled with normal people. They were all Orcs, all doing normal things. Then I started noticing dead and bloody people through the windows of their homes, so I started running towards the outskirts of town. By the time I got there, people were dropping all around me, bleeding out through their mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. I could hear my footsteps splashing in the blood that threatened to rise above my ankles like a red flood.” 3) “I was flying, like a bird, over the jungle, in the morning, the sun hot on my left side. I think I had feathers, at least, that’s the impression I had. I bank and turn, and I fly over a town, along a river, dominated by a large ziggurat-like shrine, sixty or seventy feet tall. I think there were carvings on it, but I couldn’t make out details. I flew into the doorway in the building at the top, and everything went black.” 4) “I was on a horse, riding along a trail in the jungle. All of a sudden, out of the underbrush, an Orc tackles me off of my horse, and we both slam into the ground. The Orc is shouting something, over and over: “Crew”, or “Rouge”, or “Rogue”, or “Toogah”, or “Cruise”, or some such. I don’t know Lurkash, the Orcish tongue, and the dream was unclear and vague anyway. The Orc is shaking my shoulders, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt me. I don’t know what he wanted. Maybe to get my attention? Believe me, if I had been tackled by an Orc, he’d have my attention! I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, which made it seem as if the Orc shaking me was muffled and far away. Then the dream ended, fading away like dreams do.” 5) “Darkness, and darkness within darkness, but moving. All over, it’s moving. Shadows engulfed everything, and I could hear screams of abject terror, from unseen and unknown throats. The kind of screams that hint at utter despair and hopelessness. The kind that seem to be a mix of screams and weeping and choked up throats. Whatever was happening to those people must have been absolutely horrible. But worse was the sudden way in which some of those screams stopped. They ended with gurgles, as if they had lost the ability to scream properly.”

Addendum

The cultists in the temple are chanting, led by beating drums. It can’t be heard too far from the temple itself (as it’s happening in the lowest level), but it can be heard from just outside, on the stairways (and closer, of course). It sounds like Heilung’s Brutal Assault (at about 4:10) However, it can be felt from much farther away. A quarter of a mile out, Taid might notice (Perception Touch roll) that there is a vibration in the earth. He will crouch down, and place his hands on the ground. He will feel a rumbling. An IQ roll will allow him to discern that it isn’t a small earthquake (which was his first impression it’s too rhythmic for that, and he will thinks it could be drums. What’s really going on:
The cultists are using the drums/chanting as a focusing aid for the ritualistic magic being performed during the sacrifices. As a result of this, stealth will be a bit easier once inside the temple, as it will be relatively loud in there. But that also means that the guards won’t really be relying on hearing; they will be more visually focused. This also works for the guards outside of the temple, those patrolling and those in the tower. They will be very vigilant, so sneaking using cover is essential. The vigilance subsides once inside the temple, as the interior guards assume that the exterior guards will alert them if they are being raided or some such. They aren’t expecting an attack by a small number of people, as the exterior guards should be able to handle them. The main trick, then, is for the party to get inside without the exterior guards alerting those inside. If the interior guards are alerted, then they will sweep through the inside passages, looking for the intruders, and gang up on them. All of the non-guards will be busy doing the ritual, so they won’t stop doing that unless it’s desperate and the guards overwhelmed.

A Note on History

The Orcs of the town sacrificed a lot of their own people to trap the entity in the crystal. The crystal is made of blood, in effect. In fact, it is reddish in color to reflect that. That is also why it takes blood sacrifice to “melt” it away, a kind of sympathetic magic. The cultists figured this out using what amounts to a “journal” that they had found carved into the wall in the main temple room. This journal had taken the place of some other, now lost, tale; the new story had been carved in its place. This means that the new journal is “inset” about four inches deeper into the wall, forming a shallow alcove. The following can be figured out using History skill, modified by knowledge of Lurkash, or an IQ roll, also potentially modified by Lurkash. If using History, it will take about a half hour to decipher. If using simply IQ, it will take about 2 hours to piece the story together. In any case, it’s not something that can be done quickly. The bas reliefs describe how the Entity attacked neighboring Orc nations, slaughtering hundreds. Refugees flooded into neighboring towns and nations, including Gijak Balorat, fleeing the creature. The Entity was systematically destroying Orc town after Orc town. The citizens of Gijak Balorat prayed to Kruge, their god of the Earth and patron deity, to protect them. He did, by giving the priests a method to trap the creature. However, the only way to do that was to use the blood of sacrifices to form a lattice that would trap the creature. The creature soon got to Gijak Balorat, and started killing the townsfolk. The entrapment ceremony began, as did the bloodletting of the sacrifices. This also attracted the creature, and it made its way to the temple, killing anyone within reach on the way. It came to the lower chamber, where the ceremony encased it in the blood lattice crystal. This ends the bas relief. Some notes for future encounters in the Temple: Several of the Protectors will have missile weapons. They will use them.
Fortunately, the group managed to take care of the external guards without those inside finding out about it. Until one of them comes out, and finds everyone gone. So the group had better hurry…. The cult is alerted; most of the guards are dead. The head priest will send Nopozu, Drenn, and Severin (who also takes the remaining Goblin Protector with him) to keep the party from interfering with the ritual. There is still a guard (with wounded arms, who can’t really fight) at the corner near Guardroom 7, watching what the party is doing. He will relay their movements as appropriate. Nopozu will hang out here; Severin, Drenn, and the Goblin will go the other way, putting themselves at the corner near Guardroom 8. They are aware of the archer, and they know that one of them is a mage. Severin and Drenn’s tactics will be to have the Goblin fire crossbows, while the two priests reload, giving the Goblin the ability to fire every other turn. It will take someone 10 seconds to get to the end of the corridor, assuming they are sprinting. That gives the Goblin 5 shots, and he will be aiming for legs (mobility kill, leaving a potential sacrifice alive). If a PC makes it to the trio, it will devolve to hand to hand, with Drenn getting in close to go all stabby stab. Severin, less of a combatant, will try to sweep/knock over foes, so Drenn can go to town on them. The Goblin will be doing whatever he can, most likely with a short sword. Nopozu (and Armless Guard) have poured oil on the floor just north of the corner. It covers an area 8’ wide by about 12’ long (the whole width of the corridor). He will send Armless up the corridor towards the main room if the PCs start coming down the corridor. He will cast Resist Fire on himself, followed by an Explosive Fireball. He will reserve the Flame Jets for when the PCs get close. Flame Jet (right hand) and Flame Jet (left hand). He will power them up to 3 yards reach and 3d damage. When the PCs get close, he will retreat up the corridor, lighting off the oiled floor as he does, with the intent of catching the PCs in the flames. Then it’s just a matter of flamethrowering the party as he retreats ahead of them. Most likely, the PCs will not just charge him, especially when he powers up his flaming fists of fiery fwoosh. If they think they the three guys at the other end of the corridor are less of a threat, and go that way, Nopozu will turn off his flame jets and advance down the corridor, to attack them from the rear. Armless will wait at the corner, as a witness and lookout. Nopozu will then pull out his two flasks of oil, ready to throw them onto the ground. As he advances, he will keep about 30’ between himself and the party, using the alcoves formed by the doors as partial cover (-3 to hit…it’s not the best cover, but it’s what’s available). He is also a Goblin, SM-1, so that’s another -1 to hit. If he is threatened by anything the PCs do, he will toss the oil and ignite his flame jets, one then the other. He is aiming the oil at the floor between them and him. Nopozu is the greatest threat. Drenn is nasty, but Nopozu can lay out 3d flame damage with each hand. For a few seconds, anyway. He does have some healing potions (mostly used for FT recovery). After the first or second turn, he will turn off his left hand jet, and use that hand to drink potions in order to power the right hand jet. The two jets simultaneously are primarily for shock and awe purposes. But if it helps him defeat his foes, that is good too.

Combat Notes

Effects of injury: First, there is the actual damage, in HP. Basically, anything that gets past DR. Any damage that gets past DR causes Shock. Shock is a 1 Turn duration penalty to your IQ and DX, equal to the damage taken, maxing out at a -4 penalty. Since skills are reduced for a turn due to this (but NOT Active Defenses), most combatants will usually choose All-Out Defense as their action during their Shock Turn. After that single round, IQ and DX go back to normal. A Major Wound is a wound that does more damage than the victim’s HP/2. So for the average Human, that’s 6 damage that gets past DR. A wound that cripples a limb is also a Major Wound, even if it’s less than HP/2. A combatant getting a Major Wound rolls against HT to determine Knockdown and Stunning (it’s a single roll for both effects). Knockdown and Stunning is what happens if a combatant takes a Major Wound, or takes any damage at all to the Head (Face, Eyes, Skull) or to the Vitals. If the HT roll for Knockdown and Stunning succeeds, the combatant only suffers the normal Shock. Failing it, however, knocks the enemy prone, they drop whatever they are holding, and they are Stunned. Failing by 5 or more, or critical failing, and the combatant is unconscious. Stun: When Stunned, you must Do Nothing on your Turn. You can defend, but at -4, and you can’t retreat. Make a HT at the end of your turn; if successful, you are no longer Stunned. Otherwise, repeat. Crippling Injuries: While it’s possible to become permanently crippled, it’s not the default (usually). A crippled limb is crippled until the end of the fight (and perhaps a bit longer, depending upon the medical aid). An Arm or Leg is crippled if the damage is over HP/2. A Hand or Foot is crippled if it takes HP/3. Damage past that is ignored as “blow through.” The exception is that if that blow did 2x the damage necessary to cripple it, the limb is destroyed (mangled, severed, etc). At the end of the fight, make a HT roll. Success means it’s temporary, failure means it’s lasting, and critical failure means it’s permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent. Recovering from Crippling Injuries: For temporary crippling, once you are back to full HP the crippled limb functions normally again. Lasting crippling injuries last for 1d months (broken bones, torn tendons, or other severe damage). Permanent crippling is, of course, permanent. Mortal Wounds: If you fail a Death Check by 1 or 2, you don’t immediately die, but you might. You are incapacitated. You have to make a HT roll every half hour to avoid death. On a critical success, you miraculously pull through, and don’t need to keep making HT rolls every half hour. First Aid: in general, it takes a minute to apply bandages and stop bleeding (this will heal 1 HP). It takes 30 minutes of stabilizing the patient to get 1d-2 HP back (this includes the 1 HP from bandaging). I will also try to be more judicial in how the enemies attack. It’s not always about making an attack every turn, hoping to pound the foe into mush. It is fighting effectively. The Protectors were having a hard time hitting any of you (being debuffed didn’t help, either). They should have been doing Evaluations for a second or two to gain that +1 or +2 to hit, or perhaps gambling on an All Out Attack (two attacks or a strong attack) in desperation, since their defenses weren’t that great anyway. A failed defense is the same as no defense, so they would have fared better doing All Out Attacks. Having trouble hitting? Try Aiming, or Evaluate, to get a bonus to hit, up to a +3.
Not doing enough damage? Try All Out Attack, Strong (+2 damage), AOA (2 attacks), or Extra Effort (using up your fatigue to do +2 damage), or Rapid Strike (two attacks at -6 each).
Having trouble getting past the armor? Stop attacking the armor, and target lesser armored areas. “I was once an adventurer, like you. Until I took an arrow to the knee.” Failing that, attack chinks in the armor. Failing that, trip up the foe, do a take down, or wrestle that guy. Make his armor not relevant. Once he’s down, he’s easier to damage, even if you have to have someone else cut the armor off of him while you struggle to keep him still. Critical Hits
Standard critical is a roll of 3-4.
Skill 15, it’s 3-5.
Skill 16-19, it’s 3-6.
Skill 20-24 it’s 3-7.
Higher skill levels can get the critical hit range up to 3-10 (at skill 35+).
The most important effect of a crit is the fact that the enemy doesn’t get a defense. The blow hits. Hopefully, it get’s through armor, although even the most basic critical hit will at least Stun the enemy, in addition to any other effects of the damage. Some can outright kill the foe, others may do damage multiples, or cripple limbs, or max damage.
Arrows don’t do large wounds. They do small, deep ones. Armor piercing arrows do even less damage (-1 damage), although they halve DR. This applies to both bodkin (hard armor piercing) and needle bodkins (chainmail and gambeson armor piercing). Better armor penetration, at the expense of the wound channel. There were some historical “super broad heads” that were specifically designed for hunting, and caused a 3” wound channel that left an easily followed blood trail. Useless against armor, of course, since it would be like launching a garden trowel at someone. Waxing the arrowheads helps with penetration through flexible armors (Tod’s Workshop did a test: waxed arrowheads had an extra inch to inch and a half of penetration into chainmail-over-gambeson. I’m running it at a -1 DR to flexible armors, sort of like Armor Piercing Lite).

The Old Orc Temple

The Threat From The Past

Overview

Player Info

Option 1) Following a band of cultists….

Option 2: Become Slaves and Infiltrate the Cult

Option 3: Research the Temple

Library/Shrine Staff

GM info

The Cultists

Temple Protectors

Ally

Overland Travel Encounters

The Old Orc Temple

Guard Tower

Under the Stairs

Top floor

2nd Floor

1st floor

Kylen’s Dreams (Reprinted)

Addendum

A Note on History

Combat Notes

Comments

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Game Session Logs

The Old Orc Temple

The Threat From The Past

Overview

Player Info

Option 1) Following a band of cultists….

Option 2: Become Slaves and Infiltrate the Cult

Option 3: Research the Temple

Library/Shrine Staff

GM info

The Cultists

Temple Protectors

Ally

Overland Travel Encounters

The Old Orc Temple

Guard Tower

Under the Stairs

Top floor

2nd Floor

1st floor

Kylen’s Dreams (Reprinted)

Addendum

A Note on History

Combat Notes

Comments

Find your way!

Resources

WHO WE ARE

LEGAL

Get the news

Our Shop

Development

EVENTS

REACHING OUT

A BIG THANK YOU