Horn of the Dead | Dungeon of the Endless Stair | Rock End Road | Elsa Janakka | Six Dockside Taverns
Horn of the Dead
Magic Item | Necromancers
Much prized by necromancers, evil high priests and insane cultists, the horn of the dead contains potent necrotic magics. Carved from the bone of some long-dead, terrible creature and studded with black, purple and red gemstones that glimmer sinisterly in the light, the horn of the dead is a thing of blasphemous, evil power.
If sounded in a graveyard, near a barrow mound, on an old battlefield or in a similar locale, its wavering, doom-drenched sound compels the dead to rise from their graves to serve whosoever sounds the horn. Undead created by the horn have maximum hit points and are under the control of the horn’s owner as if they had cast animate dead.
The horn of the dead has another terrible power. If winded directly at a dead creature, it compels the target to answer questions as if the horn’s owner had cast speak with dead.
The horn uses the blower’s character level as the spell’s caster level or its own (12th-level), whichever is greater.
Each of the horn of the dead’s powers can be used once every seven days.
Dungeon of the Endless Stair
Dungeon | Dwarves
The dwarves of clan Dwojyr built the upper reaches of this massive dungeon complex of unknown depth centuries ago.
Driven by an irresistible, nameless compulsion, the dwarves delved deep—far deeper than normal—in their clan hold of Jarbek. Single-minded even for dwarves, they crafted a stair of immense depth and complexity that cut through and connected their delvings until it eventually broke through into a massive cavern far from the sunlit surface world.
Strange idols and altars, cut into the floor and walls to venerate unknown or forgotten powers, bounded this vast cavern. Another stair of ancient, unknown artifice pierced the floor of this deep cave, plunging even deeper into the unknown depths of the Ebon Realm. The few explorers to dare this elder stair report that as it plunges downwards, its artifice grows cruder as it narrows until it becomes little more than a rudely fashioned slope or ramp. Faint tool marks on the walls, blurred by time, suggest that this deeper stair was cut upwards from below.
Stories of clan Dwojyr’s fate remain curiously vague and contradictory. The Dwojyr disappear from the dwarves’ collective clan records three centuries ago, and few dwarves will speak of them.
Rock End Road
Urban
Rock End Road is aptly named. Running through the lower part of the town close to the waterside, Rock End Road ends abruptly at a large and craggy outcropping of rock. The outcrop rears skywards like some ancient monument raised to a forgotten god and many lurid and fanciful tales cluster thickly about it.
The rock has resisted all attempts to mine or remove it, and the town authorities have largely given up on the task. Vague plans were mooted decades ago to build a watchtower upon its uneven sky-thrust zenith, but the project proved too expensive and was likewise abandoned.
Persistent rumours speak of a magic secret door that only opens every nine years, hidden somewhere in the rock. Local children play on the rock in all weathers, and their stories of the rock are even more fanciful and outlandish than their parents’. The rock has been the site of uncountable epic childhood adventures, scrapes and escapades. Besides playing on the rock, the children wedge small effigies and toys into the rock’s many nooks and crannies to placate the spirit people they believe dwell within.
Elsa Janakka
NPC
Misery wrapped in decaying flesh, Elsa Janakka is waiting to die. With a body wracked with leprosy and a family dead or fled, suffering and pain fill Elsa’s life. Driven to destitution by her condition, she lives on the periphery of society in a ramshackle, isolated shack near a river. Her home is one strong wind away from collapse.
Elsa’s one solace—and lifeline—is fishing. She loves to fish, and she is good at it. Fishing has kept the meagre, stretched flesh on her bones and given her solace as she awaits the inevitable. She spends much time watching and listening to the river and the birds. She sees much of what goes on in the locality and knows the secret ways of the deep woodlands. She knows where the bandits lurk and where the fey revel at night. She knows where the hunting is good and where the bears dwell. And she also knows where the river has gnawed away at its own bank to reveal an old stone door part-buried in the mud…
Six Dockside Taverns
Six Things | Taverns | Urban
The Albatros: This little-visited tavern is on its last legs. Bad luck bedevils the owner, Inkeri Leino, who is bitter and desperate. Would the adventurers like to invest in—or buy—the Albatros?
The Lusty Mermaid: This boarded-up tavern has closed down. It is rat-infested; thieves use it as a lair to watch the docks for easy marks and easily stolen cargo.
The Rusty Anchor: A rusty anchor hangs above the door of this two-storey building. The bumbling landlord—Juho Panu—lives above the tavern with his latest “friend”. She—Lyyti Rauma—is arrogant, and the regulars do not like her.
The Pirate’s Head: Run by the one-armed Jegor Susi, a seaman who fought pirates in his youth, this is a place for hard drinking. The clannish regulars are tough, no-nonsense folk. The portly, gregarious owner is perpetually unshaven and red-eyed.
The Anchor & Parrot: The once jaunty, now faded sign of a parrot perching atop an anchor swings over the door of this dilapidated one-storey tavern. The common room is gloomy and grimy. Isto Arpia owns the tavern, which is only open at night. Stuffed parrots fill a shelf above the tavern’s bar.
The Jolly Sailor: Only open in the evenings, the Jolly Sailor offers cheap drinks and rowdy entertainment. Grimy murals cover the taproom’s walls, and a simple low wooden stage runs along the wall opposite the bar.
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The Miscellany of Many Things comprises almost 200 Campaign Components—personalities, items, adventure locations and more—taken from Raging Swan Press’s Sunday Supplement.
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