Luke Gearing
28.16 Dead Godling
The trees on Hlesey grow perversely thick, forming corded walls of bark and wood. Fleshy leaves droop, eager to stroke exposed heads. Without a map, entrance deeper into the isle is impossible, the passages hidden as if by cunning cultivation. The beaches are lifeless.
Armed with a map, a single winding corridor of wood leads to a decaying garden. Rotted flower heads, swollen to the size of watermelons, lie upon the floor, contorting the too-delicate stems. Thorned plants coil and grip one another, locked in battle. Stone paths are barely visible.
For every Turn spent exploring the gardens, consult the following chart for an encounter. The geography is nonsensical - the area should be easily searchable in 30 minutes, but somehow loops back upon itself.
| 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Husky mewlings from the undergrowth. Add 1d6 Unmade to next encounter. |
| 2 | A thorned plant, tendrils prehensile, tears apart a greyish creature resembling a puddle. Those straying too close are attacked as if by a 4HD creature. |
| 3-4 | 1d6 Unmade are encountered upon the path. Roll surprise, reaction & distance as usual. If positive reaction, they crawl away into the brush. Negative reactions indicate hunger. |
| 5 | A skeleton, bedecked in uncorrupted Heavy bronze armour of archaic design. A spear, short-sword and shield are adjacent. Emblazoned upon the shield is a fanged dolphin. Count as 6 if rolled again. |
| 6 | A path to the central structure is discovered. |
A warty structure of black and green glass sits at the centre of the garden. A 20’ lifeless zone surrounds it, the barren earth worn by wind. In front of the structure, on the stone patio, a corpse. Something like a rigid, upright squid, hacked apart with three blows. It has not rotted, and it’s black-green ichor contains flecks of gold. Behind it, an open passage into the structure. Touching the ichor is fatal, causing flesh to lose coherency - those passing a Reflex Save are able to cut off the body part touching the ichor before they are lost forever.
Within, light warps and becomes burnt umber, emerging like blood from the glass no matter the time of day. It illuminates low furniture built of strange geometries. Amongst these, pedestals display the hoard of a divine pretender (Magic User IV):
- 329 Atlantean Coins, worth 20sp each. Designs feature formulae and bearded figures, unlabelled.
- A stockpile of vellum scrolls, all written in Atlantean. They detail how to find Atlantis, and warn of the sorcery of Dread Lemuria. Worth 50000sp, to one who could pay. They are more likely to kill you for it.
- A Fragment of Chaos, frozen in glacier-heart ice.
- The gnarled, bitter horn of a 8HD demon.
- A tiny fragment of the Outer Dark in a velvet-lined jar.
- 3 Salamander Hearts in cooking oil.
- 3 Fingers-worth of Cloud Giant ash.
- A charm made of Golden Arrowheads.
- 3 Wisdom Teeth (&T)
- A Mirror of Negation (&T)
- Hugo (&T)
- 6 applications of The Sculptors Medium (&T)
- 1 application of the Reviled Ointment (&T)
- 30 draughts of the Batrachians Prize (&T)
- 3 ink-bottles of Inviolability (&T)
- A Seeking Dark (&T)
- Tooth of Hunger (&T)
The Unmade
Unable to live or die, the failed apotheosis of failed divinity forced. Half-dissolved humans, animals and plants, often fused into amalgams of miserable flesh. If any is slain in combat, they reform in 1d6 Rounds. They will not enter the structure at the centre of the island - but will lay in ambush nearby. There are 269 on the island.
1HD (Supernatural HP) / AC as Unarmoured / Damage 1d6
This is just a snippet from the upcoming update to Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign.