A Dragon's Horde & an Ancient Vault!! (aka Under Umber Skies pt 2)

This is the one where I slowly but surely piece an adventure together via blog posts. I wrote an intro to Under Umber Skies previously, and below, you'll find some hooks and a description of two main rooms. If you've got any feedback, I'd love to hear it!

Far in the north of the Rhivian wastes, nestled in blackstone cliffs overlooking arctic waters, lies an ancient, ruined prison called STUNMARS surrounded even in daytime by a vibrant, umber aurora. As adventurers have returned from this location with crystals and jewels the size of their fist, powerful magical artifacts, and more gold than anyone can expect from anywhere else, its legend has grown. Now, your group approaches UNDER UMBER SKIES.

Hooks

1 Adventurer showing off a jewel the size of their fist, found at Stunmars.

2 An ancient text; the mage Anja Helminnen treks into the wilds, finds a dragon sleeping on its horde, and binds it all in amber, on which she builds a prison.

3 A painter; will pay the party escort him to paint the Auroras around Stunmars.

4 “Help Wanted: Adventuring Party to Exterminate Mild Skeleton Infestation. xx coins per skeleton” Posted by Veera the Red in towns throughout Rhivian.

5 Old Empire bill of lading. “One Helm of Dragonkin” transported to Stunmars.

6 Mental projection from Sthuthinias showing the path to Stunmars and treasure within.

1 Prison Chamber (towering cavern, Vents, THE PRIZE)

The Prize: A cosmic dragon, 120 ft from tip to tail, wrapped around and over a roughly circular, 40 ft diameter horde submerged in hardened amber. The dragon visibly shimmers even under the amber. Surrounded by an umber aurora, visibly being drawn into the vents above. Each dungeon turn spent mining Sthuthinias incurs a corruption.

Sthuthinias the Morose (umber scales, strategic, bit of a bummer): Eeore’s vibes with John “Hannibal” Smith’s planning ability. Can sense what is going on throughout the prison. Fears: Being freed from the amber only to be controlled by Marko Ralchek. Wants: To be free. To burn Anja’s home city of Rend to the ground. To regain all the treasure he lost. To destroy the helm of dragonkin. Jobs: Sabotage Marko’s blast doors so the maintainers destroy Marko; promises that while the maintainers go after Marko, the PC’s can destroy the Maintainers home to a. get the crystal they have and b. harvest enough quicklime to accidentally set him free get part of his horde.

The Amber: It takes 20 minutes to excavate a 1 ft cube. However, 1 vial of Quicklime, when mixed with water, is sufficient to dissolve 1 cubic foot of amber.

The horde beneath Sthuthinias contains 50,000 gold coins and a variety of other artifacts, detailed below.

Dragon’s Horde Mining (d6):

1: Bummer. Nothing in this segment.

2-4: Just Cash. Roll 5d20; get that much copper.

5-6: Item! Roll d20 on the table below.

1. Vorpal Rapier: As normal rapier, but this fine mercury infused blade can cut through non-magical wood, mud, and stone with ease. On a nat 20, decapitates target. On a nat 18-19, severs a limb.

2. Black & Pearlescent Orb the size of...well, a dragon's egg. It's a cosmic dragon egg. GM, I’m going to let you sort out how you want to run this one.

3. Storm-Soul Caftan: A heavy, blue fur-lined robe that crackles with static electricity and smells of ozone. Grants 30 ft fly speed. Further, magical damage dice explode while wearing this Caftan. Finally, this robe is a magical lightning rod. Whenever another creature casts a ranged spell within 200 feet of it, there is a 1-in-6 chance that the person wearing it becomes the target instead.

4. Dream Reader: place this jewel encrusted headset on a person's head. It extracts their mind over 1 minute, and kills them if they weren't already dead. The user chooses a skill that person would have had, and gains an appropriate bonus to that skill. Disassemble for components worth 1000cp.

5. Three Marble Steins: White engraved with a dove neutralizes poison. Gray engraved with a wolf makes liquids taste incredible, but induces vomiting. Black engraved with a crow turns liquids into poison.

6. Fighting Rock: Rock-sized. Labeled.

7. Birdcage: Inside, a chain-link bird collar with “Pickles” on the nametag.

8. Stürmundrang: Spear of solid metal. While wielding this spear, can’t be stopped while running, but take d12 damage for each thing run through. When hitting an object or person, can choose to knock it/them up to 20 feet, regardless of size.

9. Six Crucifixion Nails: Self-hammering, blood-powered.

10. 1 emerald gemstone worth 5000 cp.

11. 6 pearls worth 10000cp each.

12. Platinum bracelet set with three emeralds worth 15000cp.

13. A set of polyhedral dice (d4, d8, d10, d12 and d20).

14. The skull of a humanoid with four eyes.

15. Exactly half of a spellbook of Catherine. You decide which half.

16. Seven-headed candlesticks, with each candle bearing the seven stars of Eldraeth. Candles last twice as long as normal.

17. Wand of polymorph.

18. Copper Broom: Can fly. Inscription: “Gilda will get you if you steal this broom!”

19. 10000 fools gold coins

20. Uranium Ingot: Weirdly enough, the magical properties of this place warped an ingot of Iron into Uranium. It’s highly radioactive. Handling it causes radiation burns within a short period, and long term exposure causes cancer.

This is meant to be the horde of a dragon, so really go nuts if you want to add to this.

Fragility: attempts to remove valuables from the amber increases the cumulative chance the whole structure is weakened enough that Sthuthinias can escape. The fragility begins at 12, with a few patches where previous adventurers have removed treasure. Any time the party removes part of the Prize, add d4 to the fragility, and roll d100. If the result is under the fragility, roll a breakout.

Breakout (d10)

1-4 Loud groaning & cracking. Add d20 fragility.

5-8 A limb is freed, and begins to flail wildly.

9-10 Sthuthinias is fully freed.

Vent: Massive exposed stone vent extending from the ceiling approaching the prize from above. Mini-Cooper sized crystal suspended in the center of the vent, drawing the Umber aurora into itself. Worth 10,000 cp if sold.

2 The Vault (smells of singed ozone, perfectly whitewashed stone, broken vent, stainless steel vault set in floor)

In addition to keeping Sthuthinias prisoner, Stunmars played host to a vault designed to keep safe the many magical artifacts that passed through this ancient research station.

upon entry, all PC’s gain 1 corruption, and 1 more for each turn in this room.

Circular room, blemish-less whitewashed walls.

Broken Vent: A caved in section of the ceiling opened this room to the vent system channeling corruption away from the prison chamber. Standing under it (within the circle of the floor vault) incurs 1d20 corruption per turn.

Floor Vault: 15 foot stainless steel circle inset in stone floor. Dial lock, correct code already input by one of Marko’s skeletons. Requires 15 turns spent turning a wheellock to open, and another 2 turns to open the vault door. Contents below.

VAULT:

Helm of Dragonkin: When you see a dragon, you can attempt to dominate it's mind (I treat this as a cha roll opposed by the dragon but whatever floats your goat). On a significant failure (by more than 5?), the dragon enthralls you.

Whitelance: Appears as vibrating, humming liquid light vaguely in the shape of a lance. Against a single target, hurl the Whitelance to deal 10d20 blast damage. The whitelance is consumed in use.

Banner of Rallying: shake this banner to summon a horde of 4d100 ghostly Iron Guard warriors clad in plate and wielding greatswords. They will serve until the completion of the task you state, at which point the banner disappears along with the horde. If you name a task contrary to the spirit of the Iron Emperors, they will turn on you.

Things that I'm working on... 

 - bases for the factions in the dungeon (the magico-mechanical maintainers, the cursed knight Marko Ralchek and his skeletons, and Veera the Red's Red cultists.

- the "minor" rooms that will fill Stunmars (the dungeon) out to more like 22 rooms total

- a pointcrawl of ~12 locations, including a nearby tavern / jumping off point, a haunted forest, an aquatic entrance to Stunmars and more!!

- finalizing / formalizing / committing to a single system. Cairn? Shadowdark? All of the above?

I'll probably seek to post another one of these at....some point? Idk. Let me know what you like or don't!

The Character Card (50+ NPC's from my game to yours)

My players LOVE a social situation. At the end of a recent session, they found out that they needed to get three votes out of five on a council governing a space cult that worships the stars, and they already were discussing the various combinations of bribery, assassination, blackmail and horse trading that they would string together to get those votes.

However, I've found they can really struggle if I just narrate a few character descriptions, as they often forget who is who, and then I spend the session reminding them.

That's where the Character Card comes in!

Their patron (Bellerophon) plus the five members of the Father's Council that my PC's have to convince.

When I introduce a new NPC that the players need to remember while doing other things, I slap down one of these. I don't typically do this for every NPC, but when they are plotting, or (in one particularly memorable session) making up a three pronged argument in a speech given before a council of nobles, it is invaluable to be able to simply consult these papers. 

They're always fairly short, and focused on either established lore or obvious components of the person's appearance / character. Often, characters remember, "the guy with the purple cloaks" or "the dude we started calling Greggy," but they may not remember that those people are the same person. This shortcuts that process by letting them figure that out without asking me, which just keeps the action moving.

I've also tried out different formats, but the above works best for me.

If you need an NPC, feel free to throw one of the following into your game!!

The Rise of Rend (5e, fantasy, long-running):

1. Coel Redbeard, Lead Detective, Rend City Watch: Dwarf with a red beard, long overcoat with badge. Straightforward. Killed by the man with blue eyes.
2. Weston Briarwood Sr.: Tone’s Daddy. Currently in a coma (but not dead!!).
3. Halfdan One-Ear, president of the Dockworker’s Union: Looks exactly like Tony Soprano. Leads the One-Ear crime family in Rend. Member of the King’s Council.
4. Gregarious (Greggy) Grizzard, Dean of the School of Arcane Wisdom: Blue dragonborn, always wearing too many purple cloaks. Member of King’s council.
5. Alaric Steelborne, Superior of Rend’s Iron Guard Chapter: Human Paladin. Tall, weathered. Silver armor. Killed by the man with blue eyes.
6. Llewyn “Lee” The Last: Tall, close cropped black hair. Muscled, quick on his feet. Short on words. Left town after being attacked.
7. Cadabras the Good, King of Rend: Tall distinguished human sorcerer with white hair and a prodigious moustache. Gravelly voice. Talented diplomat and the most powerful sorcerer in the world.
8. Lady Aravella the White: Noblewoman, known for her help of the poor and the suffering in Rend, and for her opposition to Cadabras the Good. Member of the Kings Council.
9. Margrave Jamon Windshale: Tall, half-elf with a blue cloak and a circlet of bone in his hair. A noble & sorcerer with a significant estate just outside the city walls.
10. Maximillian Darrow, Owner of the Ember Affair: Fire genasi. Burning red skin. Bit of an alcoholic.
11. Darius “The Eel” Esker: Voldemort Face. Slippery personality. Works for the Jimmies Crime Family.
12. Arno: Whip thin man that has spent too many days under the sun on the sea. Addicted to Dragon’s Powder. 
13. Duke Cornelius Ray: Montius' dad, member of the kings council. Old school rigorist conservative; loves to talk about “Protecting the Moral Quality of the City”.
14. Jimmy “the Nose” Alighieri: Early 30’s, skinny, slicked back black hair. Above average sized nose. Head of the Jimmies crime syndicate.
15. Lieutenant Antiers Mueller: Pretty-boy. Honor, thrills, women. Is in debt 100 gp, gambles most nights at the DeNiro.
16. Coxswain Eon Pretorious: Beefy, alcoholic nose. Hates Mueller’s guts.
17. Siriman Barro: Tall, lean, weathered brown skin. Flowing red robes and a turban. Pipe.
18. Rothnest the Fool: Ugly halfling with the personality of a particularly mean orc.
19. Admiral Ike Kord: Human, immaculately pressed naval uniform. Made admiral because he always gets it right.
20. Marshal Reginald Odilion: Decorated army uniform. Made marshal because he always looked the best. 
21. Duke Harlan Falkenberg of West Lyne, Green cavalry jacket; prodigious moustache with a few gray hairs.
22. Crown Prince Valerian IV of the Iron Empire (Erdale): Tall, blond, looks the part of a hero. Well armed and armored.
23. Flamekeeper Pallas Calum of Rhuv: Male elf with golden skin, wearing gold garments. 
24. Ambassador Todo Motokiyo of Tsuri: human, blind, black rag tied around his eyes, white cloak. Powerful diviner.
25. Speaker Awate Al’zari of Droth: one of the Harq Alriyah; red robes wrap his body, arm, head and one side of his face.
26. Ambassador Richmer Vex of Vale; Green dragonborn with deepest emerald garb, wears the sigil of Akanji.
27. Meaux Ningel: Beaux’s father. Member of the Kings Council. Owns a controlling interest in the Rend Shipping Company, with ties to Nykma.
28. Jeaux Ningel: Beaux’s brother. Works for Rend Shipping Company, and interns with Aravella the White.

The Thousand Stars (western sci-fi, 10ish session campaign):

1. Makuta Terridax: Tall, bald, black. Bounty Hunter in the employ of Rend Secure Shipping.
2. Bellerophon Thrax: Austere, luxurious, harsh. Fringe religious leader kidnapped by Makuta.
3. Spirit Drinker: Red eyes, hooked nose. Six armed, black cloaked, smoking. Smells of coal and garlic. Brother of the Mechanist.
4. SGT Jaco DerHammer: Bald, clipped voice, Asian features. Works for RSSC(NA)
5. CPT Piet Joubert: Reluctant. In charge. "There's no other way." Works for RSSC(NA).
6. Kal’bandi Southremem: Indian Features. Coveralls covered in tools. Out of his depth. The Rekeyer.
7. Warden Typhon: Dreads. Headache. Something wrong with his back. Is too old for this sh*t. Security for Mechanist Station.
8. Abaddon Thrax: Like Bellerophon, but subtler. Shorter, but no less clever. Younger brother.
9. Harriet Daylight: bald, muscled, tweaker. Head of agriculture. Seat on the father's council.
10. Zayn “Z” Photon (yelling). Blockish, brutish, dangerously pragmatic. Head of security. Seat on the father's council.
11. Liam Star: bearded, grizzled, empathetic. Chief engineer. Seat on the father's council.
12. Niall Dawn: tall, stocky, anxious. Chief priest of the light father. Seat on the Father's council.
13. Captain Calcin: Star Confederacy Navy special forces. Skin gone blue and transparent. Mouth movements don't match the words coming out of his mouth.
14. Tech Sergeant Decker: Star Confederacy Navy. Skin gone blue and transparent. Mouth movements don't match the words coming out of his mouth.
15. Nichi Jove: Works for the Mechanist. LED coveralls. Injured leg. Scared out of his mind.
16. Jules Marks: Bright yellow coveralls. Female. Facial Scars. Lean. Cats eyes.

Beartide (fantasy / horror, one-shot)

sëisr pyotr thulerin

APPEARANCE: Tall, long silver hair, simple gray robes. Kind blue eyes.

SEISR: read: priest.

JUDGE: one of three judges for the competition. Offers a blessing as a prize.

elder willow

APPEARANCE: ??? Hasn’t left her house in ten years.

ELDER: Last of the noble family that is meant to control this village.

JUDGE: one of three judges for the competition. Offers 50gp as a prize

droth ven droth

APPEARANCE: Dark Elf. Broad shoulders. The guy to ask for beer and rumors.

VEN: “son of”.

DREAD WOODSMEN: runs the only inn in town. Special pop-up for Beartide.

carver oakheart

APPEARANCE: Long white beard, red jumpsuit bulging at the waist.

CARVER: Carver carves beartide ornaments.

JUDGE: one judge for competition. Offers one time 50% off his carvings.

the sigenoths

APPEARANCE: Silver, high cheekbones, the smell of mistletoe.

SG FARMS: Sell Beartide trees of varying size & shape. They took the biggest one for themselves, of course.

elara sigenoth: Matriarch. Maybe she's 28. Maybe she’s 42. Tightly coifed silver hair. Perfectly set dress.

shuth sigenoth: Teenage boy. Golden child dressed in silver. Slicked hair.

the whelps: 3 children. Constantly looking down their nose at everyone else.

the tyrfings

APPEARANCE: Dark skin, dirty hands, smell of lavender and moss.

WAGONS: Traveled to Hafr recently. Live out of two wagons with a pen of goats in the middle. Sell magical ornaments made by Shannara.

tor tyrfing: Father. Very sick.

shannara tyrfing: Mother. Always watching. Rarely speaks. Brims with magic.

tyrn & byrn: 12 year old redhead twins. Two sides of the same coin. Both sides are chaos.

cudgel & grist

APPEARANCE: Armed to the teeth, but it didn’t help. Both have mild injuries.

P2K: Pay to Kill. Commonly referred to as mercenaries.

cudgel: Dwarf. Shortsword. Long bow. Longer beard.

grist: Humanoid with orange skin, beady eyes and pointed ears. Heavy armor & glaive.

Sword-Person (A Background of Evocative Alternatives to +1 Weapons)

I've been toying around with a weapon-focused background for my fantasy / western / sci-fi heartbreaker. The idea is you're a fairly normal person who was gifted a special weapon, and that's about all you have; it's got two(ish) boons and one drawback. The idea is it helps them in combat, but also gives them something interesting to do outside of it too.

Most can probably tell that I've been inspired by Gus L's list on Dungeon of Signs. The fantasy version of this background began with a weapon list identical to his (except it was spears, not swords), and a few of his ideas have stayed exactly the same. I've also adapted some and written a few of my own; keen eyed readers may note inspiration from one of the knights in Mythic Bastionland. Below, you'll find the Fantasy & Western versions of this background; I'll follow up with the Sci-Fi version in a further post!!

FANTASY

JANISSARY (Weapon-focused Fighter): The Yellow Princes of Erdale send warbands far and wide, filling their ranks with slave soldiers, or Janissaries. You were conscripted, trained, and issued a magic weapon, tied to your prince. Though your prince was killed and your warband scattered at the disastrous battle of the Fingers, your weapon never stopped working.

1 Stürmundrang: made of solid metal. While wielding this spear, you can’t be stopped while running, but take d12 damage for each thing you run through. When hitting an object or person, can choose to knock it/them to there distance.

2 ThunderSpear: Otherwise plain spear covered in runes. When thrown, deals d6 damage and returns to your hand unless the damage roll is a 1. Range is Over There. When shaken, summons a thunderstorm.

3 Volcanic Pike: Redwood shaft with barbed obsidian head. On hit, opponents can be impaled and stuck on the pike. You can cause the head of the spear to heat up by as much as 100° per round, though on a failed magic roll, all the heat is vented back into the shaft.

4 Cold Iron Glaive: Unfinished ash shaft, heavy, almost dull head made of cold forged meteorite. Extraplanar entities hate it, and it hums in their presence. Crits on max damage, crit banishes extraplanar entities.

5 Glass Lance: Ornate white wood topped with a narrow glass point. Touch an opaque surface to make it transparent and vice versa. Ignores armor, but spear point shatters on a 1 on the damage dice. Repairs itself in 48 hours.

6 Vorpal Swordspear: This fine oak shaft topped with a sword blade cuts through non-magical wood, mud, and stone with ease, but mostly loves flesh. On a nat 20, decapitates target. On a nat 18-19, severs a limb. If you wield it without drawing someone else’s blood, d20+wis DC13 or keep using it until you do.

7 Medusa Spear: On a hit, calcifies organic tissue. On a nat 1 on the to-hit roll, calcifies part of you.  Tap against the ground twice and the spear softens into a whip that can wrap around people and things.

8 Counter-Spear: A plain spear, possessed by an angry pacifist spirit. Touch the spear to a person. If they have been killed by a weapon recently, the spirit can give you directions to that weapon. If the person has a weapon on them and you succeed on a to-hit roll, that weapon explodes, dealing d4 damage. If they have no weapons and are not dead, nothing happens. When used as a spear, -2 to hit.

WESTERN

76TH IMPERIAL REGIMENT (aka Fighter): The Princes of Yellow were named for their weapons. Montius had his cold-forged mace. Valens II his crossed swords. Countless other great heroes were defined by the weapons they bore, and to this day, the legions of the Iron Empire bear arms that define them, and you made off with yours.

1 SmokePowder Repeater: In addition to shooting them, on a 15 or above, target is shrouded in choking black smoke. They’re still visible, but they can’t see until they move, and take damage if they stay in the smoke. On a 5 or below, you get hit with the smoke. Take an action to intentionally create a smokescreen in close range. 

2 Stilker’s Self-Converting-Cylinder Revolver! Load basically anything handy into the cylinder and it’ll still shoot. Weirdly, it can also convert mundane material into a ration of food overnight. Tastes like garbage though; save con DC13 or throw it up, and add 1 to reload/jam range the next time you use it.

3 The Stranger’s Revolver: Revolver possessed by a pacifist spirit. Point this revolver at a person to… a. Find out what killed them and where it is (if they are dead) or b. Cause a firearm on their person to explode (if they have a firearm). If neither is true, nothing happens. When used as a gun, -2 to hit because the spirit doesn’t like hurting people.

4 Railgun: Rifle that magnetically accelerates sabots of iron. They become electrically charged; can disable electronic equipment or be tuned to a lower speed to nonlethally disable opponents.

5 Singularity: Pull the trigger. Roll the dice. Don’t ask questions. Consequences may vary. 

6 Nykma Coil: Coils and a steam generator. Tendrils of lightning leap to damage everyone within the cone of range. Can also be used to jumpstart depowered tech. On a 1-3, shocks you for d4 damage.