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June 3, 2021

d12 Desert Plants & Miscellany

d12 Description Notes
1 Flowering, fleshy, purple cacti. Tangled “blisters” of fat, short needles. Delicious once needles are removed.
2 Narrow, tall cacti. Hair-like needles cause irritation. Ghost-white roots. Bitter sap can be cooked, albeit unappetising. Makes decent herbivore bait.
3 Gnarled tree with thin, waxy, dark green leaves. Small red berries hide amongst the leaves. Wood burns well. Berries are tasty, but picking a tree clear would feed one person.
4 Low, small leafy plant. Tongue-shaped leaves surround a central stem with a caustic-yellow flower. Sap is fantastic protection against the sun. Can be dried into a glue.
5 Small, dense shrub. Fat leaves, slightly cupped. The branches within are thick with spiders. Horses grazing on this have a 4-in-6 chance of a fatal spider-bite.
6 Brown-red leaves densely curl around spidery branches during the day. At night, they unfurl. Can be smoked or brewed to alleviate pain. Smoking has mild hallucinogenic effects.
7 Low, creeping vines with heart-shaped leaves. The vines spread themselves wide. Beneath the soil, a fat tuber with creamy, succulent flesh.
8 Long, hard dagger-like leaves defending a tall, mottled stalk topped by many smaller bell-shaped flowers of varying colour. Smells incredibly sweet. Flowers are always full of burrowing bees. Their hive is never far.
9 Tall, thin tree with coiled funnel-leaves. Bark is incredibly thick. Can be tapped for water, although this kills the tree. Bark floats and is easy to harvest. Burns poorly.
10 Human-height plant made almost entirely of needles. Limbs reach skyward like a man who has lost everything. The needles forming the trunk fuse together, the result something like wood. If trunk fibres are separated and dried, can be woven in lightweight and durable material.
11 Squat tree with dark wood and leathery leaves. Wood outputs incredible amounts of smoke if burnt.
12 Coiled, dense branches with inwards-facing thorns. Succulent fruit hidden amongst the coils. Decaying bats, birds and straggles of fur mark the plant, hiding small, globular leaves. Fruit is incredibly nutritious. Acts as ready-made bait for patient hunters.

Feral Horse Canyon

A feral horse lives here. A feral animal is not wild. It knows about people, and trusts them even less. There is a splinter of hate in the heart of a feral animal.

The horse is emaciated, and one eye has been put out. Flies do not touch it. It moves as little as possible, but will bite and kick any trying to touch it. In health, it was a giant.

It will scream if it hears people approaching, the noise echoing from the canyon walls.

It knows where the most vicious plants are, and will try and shove potential captors into them.

Cave System

Worming into the rock, polished smooth, strata exposed. Crystalline structures grow, breaking up the smoothness. If the rain comes, any within will be washed away and will never feel the sun again. In the upper levels, a series of holes have been bored into the walls. They correspond with the opposite wall, and are 2’ up. Spiders live in them now.

Cliff Dwellings I

A small doorway adjacent to windows, carved directly into the stone of the cliff-face. The shadowed space within is much cooler. Two rooms, one lit by the windows, the other engulfed in darkness. This second room is used as a den by a scarred puma. It returns as the sun falls, and will kill anyone invading it’s home.

May 31, 2021 treasure

Drowning Weights

To be married to the Sea is considered unseemly to these coastal people. The sea is like an animal, to be tamed and used, not loved.

Found in hidden, shameful places, these are dinner-plate sized iron disks with square holes in the centre. They are usually an inch thick, with no decorations or designs.

Before adulthood is obtained, one is expected to wear the weights and reject the Sea’s embrace. Those lost, it is hoped, sate the hungry waters. They act as a reminder for those who return.

The genuine, used articles are worth 100gp to collectors, removed enough to not fully grasp what such an item being for sale represents.

Those openly carrying them on the coast are shunned. They might wake up, pinned down and branded.

May 20, 2021 item magic treasure

Stone Knife

Found in the soil. Blunt, rounded. Has no guard - a loose grip ensures cut fingers. Carved into each is a face, mouth yawning open.
Drinks blood. Note damage done. This blood can be wrung out and drunk - healing the damage done.
Stores up to 15HP.

1d6-1 Damage.

The face is that of an Eater - a class of spirit in the local folkloric traditions. Whether the knife represents, contains, or is an Eater is unclear. Wielding it openly results in protective gestures, narrowed eyes and terse conversation. At night, the brave or desperate might steal into your camp to steal the knife.

May 8, 2021 western

Six Shooters

All of the below should be treated however you treat revolvers.

  1. Huge, pitted iron revolver. Pulling the trigger tires the finger. Roars when it fires - louder than a gun should be. Has marks on the grip that you did not make.
  2. Made of many different guns - a true jury-rig weapon. Sharp, snappy barks. Gets hot - like a frying pan left on the stove for too long. You could not identify the constituent elements if you tried.
  3. Sawn-off revolving rifle. Barely held together with twine, and has a modified chamber to down-size the calibre. Sounds like a cannon.
  4. Small, black-lacquer with the lightest pull. Hand-made, hand-carved, hand-weighted - and not for you. Pulls to the left ever so slightly. Hard, packed shots which hurt the ears more than most.
  5. Full of dirt. You can take it to pieces, wash it and put it back together again - but it will still be filthy. Muted report.
  6. Everything buttery smooth - almost to fault. You can barely feel the mechanical action. The sound leaves no questions however. Like an eager dog on the hunt, nostrils full of prey.
May 6, 2021

New Zine Release - Black Knights

A zine with my words and the incredible art of David Hoskins can be bought here now.

A UK release is forthcoming.

Get the UK release here

May 6, 2021 western place

A Home

Beyond the sun-bleached fence, cacti pulp steams. Spent rifle shells - six of them - sit in the recently disturbed dust. A lean-to stable has a thirsty mule and two ponies. The ponies spit and hiss. They are dusty, and still saddled up.

A mud-brick building with half-open wooden shutter-windows in every wall. The internals lie in shadow impenetrable whilst you are outside. Two men with rifles are within, watching you. They move slowly and quietly, stepping over gagged hostages and corpses alike. Each has a revolver stuck in their belt.

In the exposed rafters - like a wooden ribcage, hanging down low - is hidden a small jewellery box. It has a lock which does not work. Inside the box is a map, detailing where $1000 of stolen gold has been buried.

Of the family of eight, two are dead. Five have been tied up. One is unaccounted for. They hide in a water bucket with their fathers pistol. They are trying to muster what reserves eight years on this hard earth have given them.

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