Ring of Gushar | Greystone | Cadevar Bridge | Prior's Walk | The Bejewelled Giant
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: Spawn Pits of the Alchemancer at a Glance
Beneath the foul corruption of the Wrecks lurks an even greater and more terrible danger—the Spawn Pits of the Alchemancer. Within, the mad Alchemancer creates Blasphemous Horrors That Should Not Be in veneration of his patron, Bibeldoop the Amorphous One. Soon, when the shapeless legion is complete, he will unleash them on the unsuspecting city above…
This At a Glance provides a flavoursome overview of the Spawn Pits of the Alchemancer. The dungeon is perfect for the liberal inclusion of ooze and tentacles. They are thematically mandatory. I have engaged an international secret society of GMs to ensure that this dictum is carried out; ignore it at your peril.
02: Ring of Gushar
Ashlarian Legendry (Cursed Magic Ring)
This platinum band holds a translucent, glimmering ruby of startling size and clarity. Close observation of the gorgeous gem reveals that its luscious hue seems to throb subtly. An even closer observation made by the wearer reveals that the gem pulsates in time with their heart rate.
The Ring of Gushar is a legendary, cursed magic item that is nevertheless much sought after by warriors and heroes. Once placed on a wearer’s finger, the Ring of Gushar cannot be removed, and the wearer cannot benefit from healing magic of any kind. In addition, the wearer loses one hit point a day to the ring. (If remove curse is cast on the wearer, they can remove the ring, but they can never again gain its benefits.) Some wearers also report being plagued by terrible, strange dreams, an insatiable hunger and, sometimes, even an aversion to bright lights.
However, great power—that many heroes have deemed worthy of these drawbacks—lurks in the ring for the Ring of Gushar is a fabulously rare ring of vampiric regeneration. The ring bestows healing equal to one-half the damage the wearer deals in hand-to-hand to their foes. This damage must be dealt with a piercing or slashing weapon.
The Ring of Gushar also holds a terrible secret: its flawless ruby holds the soul of the master vampire Gushar Krav. Gushar’s soul—sentient and aware—powers the ring and ever-hungers for release. Gushar feeds on the wearer—the daily hit point loss is a mark of Gushar’s feeding. If the vampire’s feeding reduces the wearer’s hit point total to zero, Gushar is free to reenter the world and possess the wearer’s body.
03: Greystone
Ashlarian Lore (Ruined Village)
Civilisation’s creeping tendrils did not linger long upon the vertiginous bulk of the Mottled Spire. A century ago, settlers from Languard, led by the newly ennobled Alanen family, founded Greystone as a fishing village and rebuilt the shattered ruin of the Shard as a lighthouse and watchtower.
However, the harsh weather, isolation and events of a certain terror-filled night almost 80 years ago doomed their efforts to failure. A nameless aura of fear and decay now hangs over the crumbling, wind-blasted ruins. Seemingly perpetually shrouded in shadow, dark legends cluster thickly about the village. Stories of ghoulish hauntings, an invisible miasma hanging over the village, a sinister cult and myths of the degenerate, inbred survivors of the original settlers lurking amid the ruins, along with the village’s isolated position, conspire to keep decent folk away.
The decayed ruins of Greystone, overlooked by the infamous Shard, yet cling to the vertiginous, landward flank of the Mottled Spire and—on a clear day—are still visible from Languard’s ramparts. Most of the buildings are little more than crumbling facades built over the mouths of the numerous caves riddling the rock.
Linked by steep and narrow paths hacked from the Spire’s living rock, these homes once sheltered almost 200 souls. Sickly briars and the leavings of countless winter storms now choke many of these paths, rendering them all but impassable—only the nimblest or strongest travellers find the going easy.
But, civilised folk are not yet done with Greystone. Adventurers sometimes sail across Hard Bay to explore the ruins, and every few years, someone bearing the name Alanen tries to claim the village and the family’s place among Ashlar’s nobility as their own.
04: Cadevar Bridge
Campaign Component (Haunted Bridge)
Cadaver Bridge has a foul reputation, and it has ever been thus since the local lord hung five bandits from its central span a half-century ago. He left their bodies to hang and rot as a warning to other bandits, brigands and thieves, but his actions had unintended consequences.
Cadaver Bridge spans the Cleft, a ragged and deep river-cut gorge that runs through a wild range of wind-blasted hills. Fifty years ago, Cadaver Bridge—then High Bridge—was often used by travellers and merchants, but after the hangings, rumours of ghostly doings—the sounds of creaking rope and choking—put paid to most traffic. Such stories are enough to send shivers down all but the stoutest of spines, but a few lone travellers report far more terrifying experiences—unseen, malevolent forces trying to push them over the bridge’s lofty parapet.
No one who knows Cadaver Bridge’s history uses the old stone span anymore. Knowledgeable travellers go miles out of their way to avoid the haunted and cursed bridge. Still, every now and then, travellers go missing in the hills, and such disappearances are usually blamed on the ghosts of Cadaver Bridge.
05: Prior’s Walk
Campaign Component (Adventure Site)
Built for the prior of Saltern Priory, this rugged path meanders for about five miles along wind-ravaged cliffs and down to shingle-choked isolated coves before petering out in a dense stand of wind-sculpted trees. Beyond lies the sleepy village and castle of Sandford.
Several drystone huts—in varying states of repair—stud the path. Basic in the extreme, they were built for the prior’s convenience—as somewhere for quiet contemplation or shelter from the savage storms that battered the coast. Rarely used in the priory’s heyday, they now stand mostly empty and abandoned—occasionally used by travellers and the like as temporary shelter from harsh weather.
A wild-haired, dishevelled hermit dwells in one of the huts, however. His hut fronts a small natural cave system; within it is a charnel, nightmarish horror. Driven mad by some terrible event in his past, he is a cannibal and enthusiastically worships Ukre’kon’ala (CE god of cannibalism, gluttony and greed). He preys on lone travellers and the occasional shipwreck survivor using the path. Sometimes he lights fires in the dead of night to entice ships onto hidden reefs and jagged rocks. Thus far, he has failed to wreck any ship, but it is only a matter of time before his efforts are rewarded.
Locals have not yet connected his depredations with the stories of missing travellers, but there is a growing realisation that a predator or blackguard—perhaps a gang of wreckers or bandits—lurks somewhere in the path’s environs.
See Also: Ruin of Saltern Prior
06: The Bejewelled Giant
Campaign Component (Marvel)
Long ago, a great calamity beset an isolated monastery—rampaging orcs led by the foul necromancer Grul Karak—were without the walls, and all seemed lost. It was then that the goodly cloud giant Zimul Pravar, sworn enemy of Grul Karak, came to the clergy’s rescue. With her mighty aid, the orcs were repulsed, and the monastery was saved.
Tragically, however, Zimul did not survive the pitched battle—slain by the foul magics of the orcs’ necromancer-lord. Her death was particularly gruesome—the necromancer had blasted the very flesh and sinew from her body with a pernicious and unstoppable curse—but before she died, she slew her tormentor.
The clergy were grateful beyond words for her sacrifice and entombed her skeletal remains in a specially crafted glass-sided sarcophagus in the monastery’s hall of worship. In thanks, they coated her skeleton with gold and silver taken from the orcs and embellished the result with jewels and gems. Every year, on the battle’s anniversary, they gather to give thanks and to add yet more decoration to Zimul’s remains. A steady stream of visitors comes to the monastery to gaze in awe and wonder at the Bejewelled Giant and to learn of her heroic sacrifice. Such folk are carefully watched by the clergy, for they well know the glimmering skeleton is temptation writ large.
07: The Dread Laironomicon + Bundle of Holding = Epic Deal
For a limited time only, pay just $7.95 for the System Neutral Dread Laironomicon over at the Bundle of Holding.
The Dread Laironomicon normally retails for $21.50, so this is an epic-level bargain not to be missed!
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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