Eripleran’s Bow | Tumblestone Inn | Deception Valley | Below & Beyond | Six Foul Humanoid Tribes
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.
Eripleran’s Bow
Magic Item
This highly polished yew bow is a +1 longbow. Eripleran was an Ilathyelian hero of old who died countless centuries ago. His bow has been lost since his death, and it was thought broken during the battle in which the elven hero fell defending the city of Evenstar from the terrible and ancient vampiric balor Gahlgax Atarrith.
Three tiny stars are etched into the inner edge of the weapon’s upper limb. Using a bonus action to touch a star imbues a notched arrow with magic energy. The arrow crackles and glimmers with this energy, and when shot, traces a faint line of light in its wake, which quickly fades into nothingness.
Touching the uppermost star imbues the arrow with cold damage; the arrow crackles with blue energy and deals an extra 1d6 cold damage.
Touching the middle star imbues the arrow with fire damage; the arrow crackles with red energy and deals an extra 1d6 fire damage.
Touching the lowest star imbues the arrow with lightning damage; the arrow crackles with white energy and deals an extra 1d6 lightning damage.
An arrow can only be imbued with one energy type. If an arrow is not loosed once imbued, the bow’s wielder can concentrate to maintain the arrow’s imbued state.
Eripleran’s Bow has five charges and regains 1d3 charges every dawn. If the bow’s last charge is expended, roll a d20. On a 1, the weapon’s power is expended, and it disappears.
See Also: Ilathyel, the Shining Kingdom
Tumblestone Inn
Inn | Mercenary Marketplace
Built atop the ruin of a fallen borderland keep, Tumblestone Inn stands amid the wilderlands, far from civilisation’s glimmering, alluring comforts. Within its stout, ivy-laden walls can be found warmth, good cheer and a hearty welcome; without lies little but howling wilderness, marauding orcs and other lurking dangers.
Here, gather mercenaries, sellswords and the like, eager to sell their unique services to prospective employers who also flock here to shop in a most unusual marketplace. Often, the place resembles an armed camp—which is fortunate—for the vicious Jagged Fang orcs lurk nearby and gaze upon the inn and its surrounds with covetous eyes.
However, the inn is not without powerful defenders of its own. Here dwells the war captain Aelliah Wilmaytn—so-called Lady Tumblestone—and the veterans of her Crimson Shield mercenary company who crushed the Jagged Fang at the Battle of Tumblestone years ago; these skilled warriors yet skirmish with the resurgent orcs and watch over the inn.
Deception Valley
Hills | Mountains
The site of a great betrayal, Deception Valley is now little-visited by those who would pass through the hills. A broad and shallow valley of tumbled and jumbled stone and boggy ground, Deception Valley is prone to landslides in the spring when the ground thaws. Caves pockmark the valley’s flanks.
In the old days, Deception Valley was a literal thoroughfare through the hills, but centuries ago, it was the site of a parley between two rival warlords who sought to end a long, interminable war. The parley was a trap, and one warlord annihilated the soldiery and family of the other in a bloody nighttime betrayal. The restless shades of the slain are said to still haunt Deception Valley, emerging from their shallow, boggy graves when night fills the valley to lament their deaths and the great betrayal that led to their family’s fall. When the vengeful ghosts are abroad, no living things are safe in Deception Valley.
Below & Beyond
Caves & Caverns | Inn | Shop | Subterranean
Part-shop, part-stable and part-tavern, Below & Beyond is the place to go before setting out to explore and traverse the Starless River, its tributaries and surrounds. Here can be found all manner of gear and equipment, specialised and generic, suitable for extended underground explorations. The shopkeeper, Davor Torgan (LN middle-aged male half-orc fighter 7), a retired adventurer himself, also sells mules and ponies bred to be comfortable in the dark and suitable for extended underground sojourns.
Many explorers, delvers and adventurers visit Below & Beyond not only to shop but also to meet and speak with those who have gone before. Adventuresome individuals seeking a group to join and mercenaries looking for employment also come to Below & Beyond to share an ale and make new contacts and friends. Davor has many friends and is widely seen as a pillar of the local community. With such an enviable reputation, he is well positioned to deal in that most lucrative (and dangerous) of markets—the buying and selling of magic items. Davor does not possess many items himself, but his unique position enables him to discreetly and safely act as a trusted go-between for buyers and sellers. He handles the transaction and delivery of the items in question and takes a small percentage for himself. Often, the buyer and seller do not even meet or know each other’s names.
See Also: Starless River, the
Six Foul Humanoid Tribes
Six Things | Humanoids
Goblins of the Screaming Caves: Dwelling in a deep and extensive cave network, the Goblins of the Screaming Caves delight in torturing over many days those falling into their clutches. Their victims’ frenzied screaming is music to the goblins’ ears. The goblins worship a foul demonic power; some of the tribe’s heroes and priests have atypical powers.
Kobolds of the Scarlet Eyes: With reddish scales and scarlet eyes, these kobolds believe they are descended from some great red wyrm of old. They delight in using fire in their traps, and they immolate their captives. Some of the kobolds possess sorcererous powers, which lend weight to the tribe’s belief.
Bugbears of the Twisted Hollows: Humans have never trodden the deepest parts of a wild wood, for this is the domain of the Bugbears of the Twisted Hollows. The bugbears dwell in the treetops amid the boughs of vast and hoary trees. The bugbears are accomplished climbers and ambush their foes from above.
Ogres of the Broken Fane: This small band of degenerate ogres dwells amid the ruin of a fane buried deep in the mountains. A forgotten god was once worshipped at the fane, but the ogres’ presence has wiped away any trace of goodness.
Orcs of the Blood Banner: Depraved, bloodthirsty and wholly without mercy, the Orcs of the Blood Banner ritualistically paint themselves with their victims’ blood and take prisoners so they may exanguinate them in the tribe’s Blood Pit.
Minotaurs of the Cursed Labyrinth: Centuries ago, a wealthy noble built an isolated and discrete pleasure palace amid the boughs of a dark wood. The noble died mysteriously, and the forest reclaimed his palace. The Minotaurs of the Cursed Labyrinth now lurk in the perpetual gloom of the palace’s shattered ruins.
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!