Aleksandra’s Monocle of Seeing | Vampiric Fungus | The Veiled One | The Lake of Starry Depths | Six Odd Evil Altars
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.
Aleksandra’s Monocle of Seeing
Ashlar | Magic Item
Aleksandra’s Monocle of Seeing comprises an enchanted and toughened lens of magical glass held in a thin gold band. A tiny loop welded to the band enables the wearer to add the chain of their choice. It enables the wearer to cast detect magic and comprehend languages a total of three times a day. It also enables the wearer to quickly assess and understand any spell scroll they peruse. Some also believe the monocle has additional hidden powers that can only be unlocked in some unknown fashion.
Aleksandra Ihalempi was a powerful wizard who disappeared about 50 years ago. Unknown assailants attacked her tower, slew her servants and—presumably—bore the wizard away to some soul-shriving, terrible fate. Her body was not found amid the ruins. Since Aleksandra’s (assumed) death, her tower—now a crumbling, decrepit ruin in the woods growing across the Ochel’s southern tip—has been sporadically fought over by disparate groups; sometimes bandits camp in the tower while other times adventurers come to poke around the ruin in hopes of finding overlooked treasures. Her old tower has been repeatedly looted, but adventurers yet return to the place in hopes of finding some hidden cache of spellbooks or enchanted items.
Vampiric Fungus
Plant
Quasi-sentient and part-mobile, this mottled scarlet and black fungus lurks in the grim, gloomy depths of the world’s primal, untouched forests.
Vampiric fungus is aptly named. An infinitely patient, ambush predator, it is all but indistinguishable from ordinary fungus. It waits until its prey falls asleep and then, slowly, it creeps forth to envelop its victim. Its questing, straw-like roots pierce its prey’s skin and paralyse them before sucking the helpless victim dry—while they remain conscious—of their life’s blood and other vital fluids. All vampiric fungus leaves in its wake is a shrivelled corpse-husk pierced with hundreds of tiny holes.
The Veiled One
Mountain
Perpetually snow-covered and shrouded in clouds, the Veiled One is one of the tallest peaks in a mighty mountain range. Locals believe the gods dwell atop the Veiled One and that they look down upon the world from their frigid home. As proof of their beliefs, they point to the glimmering lights sometimes seen upon the mountain’s upper slopes when the perpetual clouds briefly clear.
In times past, local villagers have scaled the mountain to explore the gods’ home, but no one has ever returned from such a trek. Such folk are presumed dead—likely killed by the harsh weather, avalanches, a climbing accident or the gods’ displeasure. Now the villagers are content to leave the gods in peace and counsel against any attempt to summit the Veiled One.
In truth, it is not gods that dwell upon the mountain but a small clan of giant eagle-headed rakshasas—evil spirits clad in mortal form. The rakshasas have grown very old, very large and very evil in their lofty and unassailable home. Sometimes they descend to the lowlands to feed upon the souls of lone travellers, shepherds and travellers, and they delight in tormenting any souls that fall into their clutches.
The Lake of Starry Depths
Caves & Caverns | Subterranean
Buried deep underground in the bowels of the Underlands, the Lake of Starry Depths is a curious, unique place. Explorers report glimpsing constellations of shimmering lights seemingly deep underwater. Some brave folk have even dived into the lake’s frigid, unknowably deep waters so determined were they to solve the mystery of the lights.
Maddeningly, the lights always remain out of reach, and their mystery remains unsolved. Unsurprisingly, a myriad of theories hover about the lights. Some say the lights come from a sunken city of ancient origin, while others believe they are the glimmering souls of all those who have drowned in the lake. Still others believe that the shimmering lights are great clusters of gemstones that reflect explorers’ lights. Such wild stories keep a trickle of explorers daring the confused jumble of monster-haunted passageways around the Lake of Starry Depths.
Six Odd Evil Altars
Six Things | Cults
Iridescent Black Stone: Hewn from a chunk of black stone of an alien type, this altar has a slight iridescent quality when bathed in the lurid yellow and purple light of the many foul-smelling candles set about its base.
Blood-Drenched Skulls: Comprising a flat-topped mound of blood-drenched, ichor-splattered skulls bound together in some unspeakable fashion, this altar is vaguely circular in shape.
Writhing Bound Smoke: A cloud of billowing black and grey magically constrained smoke lurks at the top of a set of steep steps. The smoke writhes and twists as if caught in a terrible windstorm, but the altar does not change its irregular cloud-like shape.
Bloody Open Hand: Carefully crafted from dozens of cunningly interlinked stone blocks, this altar resembles a palm-up open hand. It is big enough to hold a human or similar creature. Rivulets of dried blood stain the floor between the hand’s parted fingers.
Hoary Devil Tree: Hewn from a tree that once grew in Hell, this altar is long, slender and slightly concave. Drenched in blood, ichor and some unholy form of sap, the thing has a mottled, haggard appearance. Deep striations in the tree’s blackish-brown bark further add to its aged, almost withered look.
Magic Grey Crystal: Part-transparent, this jagged chunk of greyish crystal casts weird and disturbing shadows on the wall behind it. Pools of dried blood fill hollows and dips atop the altar, and streaks of the same run down its flanks. Close examination of the altar reveals a hunched-up humanoid shape at the crystal’s centre.
Campaign (noun): a connected series of adventures; Component (noun): a constituent part
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!