Mead Hollow | Old Coach House | Sigarax | Tulis Keep | More
Welcome to the GM’s Sunday Supplement! Behold four campaign components and a handy d6 list to add to your campaign and GM’s toolbox.
Want the Markdown Files? Every member of our Patreon campaign gets the markdown files for the new-look Sunday Supplements to make it even easier to add them to their campaign.
Mead Hollow
Campaign Component | Druid
A small, sheltered wood fills the hollow at the centre of broad heath swathed in wildflowers. Druids, elves and rangers gazing upon the place can tell from the profusion of wildflowers and the vast number of bees buzzing about that it is far from normal; it is a special, magical place.
A powerful druid, the rotund Severina Miela, dwells within, and she can take bee form to commune with the hives under her protection. She uses the honey produced by the many beehives dotted throughout her woodland home to brew scrumptious mead. Thus, unsurprisingly, Mead Hollow draws a steady stream of visitors from the nearby villages and hamlets.
Severina welcomes all who visit her home with peace in their hearts, but she does not tolerate bears in her domain—they invariably attempt to break into the hives. Friendly and perpetually slightly sozzled, she happily barters for things that she needs, but has no need for gold, silver or other shiny items.
Adventurers also sometimes visit Mead Hollow, but not for Severina’s standard mead—lovely though it is. Severina is powerful and can lace her mead with various druidic charms and enchantments, and the potent combination of magic and alcohol is attractive to a certain kind of adventurer.
The Old Coach House
Campaign Component | Inn
Set in a rough square around an inner courtyard, the Old Coach House Inn stands on the cusp of the slum district. A faded, lopsided sign marks the place whose business and standing have ebbed as the slum district’s bounds creep ever closer. Wealthy folk are never seen here now, and it has been years since a coach last called at the inn.
Now the inn is the haunt and home of poets, singers, painters, sculptors, philosophers and other artistic, sensitive types. During the day, the various artists living here rest and recover from their nightly revels, seek inspiration for their art or work in the stable block, which has been transformed into a communal workshop.
In the evenings, the common room is a hotbed of debate; a radical element of the artists is opposed to the local ruler and argues for their overthrow. They want to foment rebellion in the locality and believe that government by the people for the people is far preferable to the outdated idea of hereditary rule. At some point in the future, the inn will likely become a flashpoint of tension.
Sigarax, Elder Red Wyrm
Campaign Component | Dragon
The elder red wyrm Sigarax died five centuries ago, but his legacy—and some say his spirit—endure, and when the time is right, he will be born anew.
Evil, implacable and cunning, during his long life, Sigarax never knew the bitter sting and pain of defeat. Large did his reputation grow, and yet larger did grow his hoard. Dragons live for centuries, and Sigarax was exceptionally long-lived, even for one of his kind. But as old age began to rob him of his once boundless vitality and virility, he grew increasingly obsessed with immortality and cheating the Final Enemy—death.
For a century, he sought a means to cheat death, but all his efforts were for nought. Eventually, he felt the Final Enemy’s approach. Using the last of his prodigious arcane powers, he poured his vital essence—his life force—into his glimmering hoard, imbuing certain items with fragments of his power and sentience.
In the long years since Sigarax’s death, his hoard has been dispersed to the far corners of the world, but the fragments of his consciousness and power “live” on; lurking, waiting, sleepless, indefatigable. They ever search for a suitable host—one that can continue Sigarax’s search for that which eluded him in life—a means to cheat death and to live forever.
Some of Sigarax’s fragments have the power to awaken or enhance a dragon-kin’s abilities. Some such trinkets have passed down through generations of the same sorcerous families —gifted from father to son and mother to daughter—tokens of love and the family’s eldritch bloodline. Such items have become treasured family heirlooms. Other items have travelled as fate willed it; some even lie in other dragons’ hoards waiting for the dragon to mature enough to be of use to Sigarax’s spirit or for a powerful, but weak-willed wizard to slay the dragon and claim the soul-fragmented haunted item as their own.
Ruin of Tulis Keep
Campaign Component | Borderland Keep
The ruin of Tulis Keep lies between the Duchy of Ashlar and the fallen lands of Yex, amid the barbarous and orc-infested Dargoth hills. Standing atop a high hill overlooking a broken pass that connects the duchy to the fortified town of Ilsham, the once formidable keep’s ruin enjoys commanding views over its surrounds.
Tulis Keep was abandoned a century ago after its last lord, Argalis Tulis, disappeared. Wild rumours of terrible doings and hideous devilry presaged his disappearance, and few wept for him or his doubtless terrible fate. With their lord gone and Yex wracked by civil war and invading orcs, the garrison promptly looted the place and fled west to Ashlar. Since then, the borderland keep has passed through a dozen or more hands. Orc warlords, aspiring free lords, bandit chieftains and more have all claimed the place, but none could hold it for long.
War has scarred the fortress, and the stout keep, and its curtain wall are now in serious disrepair. But for all that, Tulis Keep is still a prize worth fighting for. The fortress lies beyond the borders of any nearby state, and a strong lord with deep pockets could use it as the foundation of a new kingdom—if they can withstand rampaging orcs, rapacious bandits and worse that will likely try to take the place as their own.
Six Odd Things in the Cellar
Campaign Component | Six Things
A hideous suggestion of damp mars one corner of the wall; the damp patch has spread into a shape suggestive of a human contorted in soul-wracking agony.
Mould and fungi grow voraciously along one damp wall. The fungi grow outwards in a rough semi-circle from the wall; the mould grows within the half-circle and, from certain angles, could look like certain sigils or glyphs.
Thick, dust-laden cobwebs cover a wooden half-door set into one of the walls; an old, lidless, empty and dusty chest conceals the half-door.
What looks like white gravel covers the floor to a depth of about six inches. The gravel—apparently laid here for “drainage”—crunches underfoot, making quieter movement near-impossible. A close examination of the gravel reveals it is actually ground-up bone fragments.
An old well shaft, capped with a thick oak cover black with age and grime, pierces the cellar floor. The heavy wooden cover is secured in place with two large iron padlocks.
Perceptive characters detect a faint breeze in one part of the cellar. Investigation might reveal an old secret door that leads to a very long and narrow escape tunnel.
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 this week’s Campaign Components make it into your game or sparks your creativity.
Want the Markdown Files? Every member of our Patreon campaign gets the markdown files for the new-look Sunday Supplements to make it even easier to add them to their campaign.
Remember, Everything is Better with Tentacles!