Sceptre of the Lost Isles | Pillars of Creation | Ilsham | Labyrinth of Dancing Steel | Rotting Priest
Welcome to the Sunday Supplement, Raging Swan Press’s weekly email for GMs. This week, we have one free download, one piece of legendry, one piece of lore and three miscellaneous campaign components for your game.
Should we develop any of these idea further? Comment below.
01: Languard: City of Adventure Player’s Guide
Download
Come explore Languard, the capital city of the Duchy of Ashlar. This free download is designed so that you can simply hand it to your players when they arrive at the city. It contains nothing they couldn’t find out after a day or two exploring the city.
02: Sceptre of the Lost Isles
Ashlarian Legendry
Wrought of an unknown metal and studded with diamonds, rubies and sapphires of unsurpassed luster and size, this legendary sceptre was part of the ancient Lords of Varakar’s regalia. Saved from that kingdoms destruction, it was carried away by the archmage Amare Sirara who, through mighty magics, wrenched her citadel free of the ground to escape the earthquakes and floods consuming the kingdom.
Mighty were Amare’s deeds, potent were her magics, and long was her life, but when she eventually died, the sceptre began its long, unending journey through many hands.
Down through the centuries, it has come. Unchanging. Eternal.
The sceptre, protected by and imbued with powerful magic, resists all damage. During its long history, it has been part of many kingdoms’ royal regalia and has served many archwizards as a potent augmentation to their powers. In skilled hands, and directed by an iron will, the sceptre can call forth great powers. In unskilled, neophyte hands, or when directed by a weak mind, however, disaster follows in its wake.
The sceptre was last seen in Yex as part of that kingdom’s crown jewels. Where it now lies is a matter hotly debated by treasure hunters, wizards and those claiming descent from Yex’s last, fated king.
Related: Read about Varakar here.
Related: Read about the Grim Lands and fallen Yex here.
03: The Pillars of Creation
Ashlarian Lore
This ancient constellation of stars comprises eight lesser stars arrayed around a ninth, brighter star. Wizards believe that the lesser stars represent the eight schools of magic and that the brightest star is Morden, the god of knowledge and magic. Elder texts penned millennia ago by long-dead sages and wizards show the lesser stars in slightly different positions to their present day alignments.
Tradition has it that when one of the lesser stars glows brighter, the corresponding school of magic is in the ascendancy. Powerful rituals and spells drawing upon that school of magic are thought to be particularly efficacious and potent during that time.
Throughout history, the Pillars of Creation have been known by many different names and studied by countless astronomers, astrologers, and sages. The elves know the constellation as Angruauth (Ang-ru-A-uth; the glittering wizard stars), while the dragons, the longest-lived of all mortal creatures, call it Quirinontor (Qrin-ONTOR; the eternal stars of magic).
04: Ilsham
Campaign Component (Borderland Town)
The fortified borderland town of Ilsham stands on the very cusp of the Grim Lands. Ilsham blocks the mouth of Snake Pass, which cuts through a rugged range of hills and tenuously connects the Duchy of Ashlar with the chaos and horrors of the Grim Lands.
Adventurers, mercenaries and treasure seekers—and their hangers-on—flock to Ilsham. Here they rub shoulders with savage orcs come to taste “civilisation’s” delights, drink in the town’s innumerable taverns and plot their expeditions into the Grim Lands. Ilsham is a neutral town; all are welcome here if they pay the baron’s taxes and respect his peace. Ilsham is a busy and loud place—a haven and sanctuary from the lawlessness and chaos of the Grim Lands. Or at least, that’s what its lord claims. The truth of the matter is somewhat different. Murder and “accidental” death are not infrequent events on Ilsham’s streets, tavern brawls are common and wise visitors keep their weapons handy.
When the wandering adventurer/conman/mercenary captain I’llaran Aralon stumbled upon what would become Ilsham 50 years ago, it was nothing but a war-ravaged ruin. I’llaran, opportunistic, charismatic and lucky, claimed the war-scarred and fire-blackened keep as his own. He promptly raised himself to the nobility, styling himself Baron Aralon, and set about rebuilding the town. To do this, he needed people, but it quickly became evident that no one wanted to live in the newly renamed town of Sanctuary.
So, he lied.
Sending out messengers, he proclaimed the town a safe haven and offered opportunity and land to those who would swear fealty to him. The first settlers quickly re-named it I’ls Sham after they discovered the breathtaking depth and breadth of his lies. Inevitably, this name was shortened to Ilsham, and the name stuck. Many of the first wave of settlers left, but enough stayed, perhaps because they sensed opportunity, liked life on the frontier or had nowhere else to go, that the town slowly began to regenerate.
Now, where once was rubble and ruin stands a fortified frontier town. A patchwork stone and wooden palisade, along with a shallow dry moat of sorts, encircles the town. Ilsham survives and perhaps even thrives because its clever, honey-tongued lord flatters, pays off or misdirects the local human and orc warchiefs. Much wealth flows through the town, and much of it ends up in I’llaran’s treasury. For all his (many) faults, I’llaran is a clever man and a good judge of character well schooled in the art of attracting coin.
Whatever the baron’s faults, Ilsham is the last friendly place for a hundred miles in any direction and is thus a popular destination for those travelling into or escaping from the Grim Lands.
Related: Read about the Grim Lands and fallen Yex here.
05 Labyrinth of Dancing Steel
Campaign Component (Dungeon)
Famed for its animate guardians and ever-shifting rooms and corridors, this mythic dungeon is said to hold the treasures of a forgotten and extinct people.
The location of the Labyrinth of Dancing Steel is well known, and the small village of Ridgeway has sprung up in the foothills below the labyrinth’s mighty iron portal. At Ridgeway can be found services and businesses catering to visiting adventurers and their hangers-on. Some adventuring parties stay in the village’s numerous inns and guest houses, while others establish camps in the nearby hills. A few such folk have even built fortified homes in the surrounds.
As well as adventurers, those who feed off such folk’s ambitions and achievements flock to Ridgeway. Merchants, priests, conmen, tricksters, sages and more throng the streets hawking their wares or looking to get rich from the village’s more adventurous guests.
A well-worn path leads from Ridgeway to the labyrinth. Over the centuries, many adventurers have taken the path and tried their luck amid the labyrinth’s rambling, ever-shifting rooms and corridors and its innumerable levels. Most do not survive their delve, while others return battered, bruised and confused. A lucky or skilled few, however, emerge with bulging sacks of strange coins, oddly cut gems and items that defy logical explanation. Despite over a century of expeditions and forays, the labyrinth’s true size and extent remain unknown.
06 The Rotting Priest
Campaign Component (Statue)
For almost two centuries, a village church has housed a disturbingly detailed statue of a horribly rotten, diseased and disfigured man. The man-statue, partly dressed in archaic priestly garb, stands behind the church’s rude and simple altar, his hands clasped together in front of him as if he is at prayer. A contradictory look of pain and peace mars his face.
Pilgrims come to the village church to gaze upon the Rotting Priest and pray to their lord. A complicated, and in many cases contradictory, myth cycle—perpetuated by the villagers—has grown up around the so-called Rotting Priest. The statue brings in much wealth to the village—the many pilgrims visiting must eat and rest—and the locals have grown protective of “their” Rotting Priest.
The villagers have long since forgotten the truth of the Rotting Priest. Most of them give the matter no thought—the Rotting Priest brings in much-needed gold to the village, so who cares about its origins or provenance?
But the truth of the Rotting Priest is stranger than even the villagers’ lies. The Rotting Priest was once Matias Kuura—a neophyte priest who meddled with dark powers. He fell foul of an evil warlock who cursed him with a tenacious and seemingly unbreakable curse—the curse of the “living death”. As the curse slowly destroyed Matias’s body, all remedies and spells failed to alleviate his suffering. Finally, a wandering wizard petrified the priest to stay the curse’s remorseless assault upon his person.
And thus does Matias linger on—eternal and unchanging, neither dead nor alive.
Ashlarian (proper noun) of Ashlar; Campaign (noun) a connected series of adventures; Component (noun) a constituent part; Legendry (noun) a collection or body of legends; Lore (noun) knowledge and stories about a subject
Thank you for reading the Sunday Supplement; I hope some of the above material makes it into your game or sparks your creativity.
Remember, Everything is Better with Tentacles!
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