A Useful concoction

A preventative elixir 

Designed for the Company of Fools game but of wider use I would think

 

This is a mundane potion prepared by the herbalists’ at large temples of the Caregiver such as the Great Hospital in Vayham. These herbalists, who are mostly ether junior priests of the care giver or anointed experts produce the potion in some quantity as it is useful in their work and can be made from relatively common herbs. There are reputed to be more powerful versions made with more exotic ingredients or ones which are specific rather than general.  Beyond the cult of the care giver similar potions are made in many places as making of them is not uncommon knowledge to the wider community of herbalists beyond those associated with the caregivers cult. It should be noted that independent herbalists who make these potions attract the special ire of the servants of the rot lord and being outside the protection of the care givers cult they are especially vulnerable.

It can be used as a preventative, and is often taken by Care givers working with infected patients to protect them selves, and as a treatment thought it is not that good a treatment and only works to aid at the point of crisis of the disease but it will work for all diseases.

As a preventative it adds +1d6 to the takers disease resistance for at least twelve hours after consumption, with the die being rolled individually for each potential infection. As a curative the potion ads +1 to any one roll made to determine the result of the crisis point of a disease. The potion tends to be dispensed freely as needed by the followers of the Caregiver but where it is for sale it would cost 10-20 silver per dose  and a dose is a sixth of a pint in a sturdy stone ware flask sealed with wax.. Multiple doses dont stack but may cause some transitory nausea,

As a campaign note it was used to dose all the party entering the Rot Lords temple under Vayham with the intent to exterminate the cult and destroy its foul works and was given free as it was to do the Caregivers work. 

The centre of Vaham a work in progress

The Market area 

This is the start any way of the promised additional urban map set. I am doing it in the same style as the previous ones of Vayham and on an A3 canvas as they where I am however not doing every thing entirely freehand as I did before, as I have picked up a few more tricks I can use with GIMP since then and this is speeding matters up quite a bit. Even so compared with the rural maps its still slow which is why I am posting what I will admit its an early work in progress. 

More will follow but I also have work to do an will be running a game tomorrow night on Roll20

A bit more progress is made  and the yellow area is the Temple of the Coin lord ant the in  next door I am still debating where to put the market administration building where Quiril used to work before he got sacked for revealing the coin lords smuggling tunnels. The Guild hall also needs to be located on the square as well.

Assorted Urban Maps

I did these for write ups of the urban interlude for a Company of Fools but I am quite proud of them especially as they where frankly a swine to do and stretched my small talent at such things

First the basic lay out of the town a sketch map the sort a character might draw in the field

Then a couple of Street Maps showing the different sections of the town in more detail. I do intend to do more but I am rather pout off by the complexity of the urban map as opposed to the rural one.

Its a rat the size of a Shetland Pony!!

Aeltreds Rat 

Its final form well one I am happy with all done with GIMP as a image manipulation of an existing clip art image of a rat  I found lying about on the internet some time ago and I cant quite remember where form.

An Improved Unexpected Sewer explored so far

done some more work on this map to go with the write ups for episodes twenty three and four so that  it tells the story of the two sessions

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part IV)

Back in the square the guards at the keep slowly recovered form there terror and snuck out to investigate now it was all over and shortly they where joined by the Count and his body guards the chief priest of the Founder and his remaining knight in full armour and the senior priests of the true and the handful of their men who where on the day watch. The leaders of the town who had not long retired after a night on the walls having been roused when the eruption of fire occurred. The market guards who had fled at the demons first terrifying war cry and some of the braver traders returned to join them. All looked at the fresh spilt blood on the stones the gauge the demons sword had left on the ground and the spilt ichor. Finally congregating around the hole which was where the flame had erupted from, finding a seemingly bottomless pit some fifteen feet across and which was beyond the first few feet lined with worked stone.  It looked for all the world like a well, the count looked at the founder’s priest on his right hand and asked was there ever a well in the market square. The priest scratched his head and thought no my lord that I know of but I may have forgotten something in the temple achieves, I will need to check.  With that he bustled off to do just that. Every one else stood and looked those who could see and those who could not tried to over hear what was being said by those who could, or speculated wildly whilst other just tried to catch a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.

to be continued......

The Unexpected Sewer so far explored

for the eventual write up but here it is for now

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part III)

It left with the same soft pop and a whoosh of air as it had arrived and Fawlit was so surprised that he nearly fell over as he was in mid reverse swing and the momentum of the strike that would never land carried him of balance for an instant, there was silence in the square and the fountain of flame guttered like a candle flame drowning in its own wax and went out.

A short time latter Nyasse came round from her swoon in the arms of the stupidly grinning Half Ork, yea gawds he was ugly but Violet always said not to judge a man by his visage for much that seems fair is in truth foul and vice versa, and it meant that she was still alive as did the dull throb where her left fore arm should have been, she wondered what had happened to the creature had Fawlit slain it, had she. That Fawlit said looking at the bloody mess which was her left fore arm needs to go to the hospital. Nyasse found she could not disagree, but paused to pick up her sword and ask what had happened to the creature and did not understand Fawlit’s reply that it had just gone, adding just before he slammed his axe into it again. Then the pair walked side by side through the town where it was a hanging offence even to be a Half Ork as if they had not a care in the world, despite her gashed and still bleeding arm and his torn surcoat and shouldered axe still stained with ichor and on that morning none challenged them from the few they passed on the street going towards the great hospital.

to be continued......

An Oliphant Rat WIP

Something I am working on

Not an original drawing but a piece of random clip art I am reworking using it as a guide as I cant draw animals half that well from scratch. Its still im the process of being cleaned up and sharpened up as its an image I expanded to A4 from much smaller which caused some pixilation I am in process of removing. I am also almost certainly going to flip the image so it faces right to left before its done.

A bit more done on this but its rather slow progress as I am rather tired and having some difficulty concentrating

almost done now just considering the finishing touches to be honest but I think that works.

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part II)

The Demon unleashed its ululating cry again as it and the Half Ork clashed, which would have surprised the on lookers had there been any for fear of the demon had made all else flee or cringe in cover praying to the very gods that it not notice them. The Ork let out its on battle cry "for the True" as its axe and the demons massive sword began a deadly dance. In the living quarters of the temple of the True and the Temple of the Founder inside the keep their respective priests and knights where roused from their sleep by terrified guards in the Manor the Count called for his squire. The demon did not notice the girl sneaking up on it from behind her short swords blade glittering dully in the dying light of the fountain of flame.

Fawlit dodged the heavy sword for all he was worth but even so it the tip caught him and tore his golden yellow surcoat and struck sparks from his new scale armour. However he noticed the demon could not fight it swung its sword in wild arcs and quite predictable sweeps like a farmer reaping wheat or scything down long grass not like a warrior it also seemed to give little thought to its own protection. Fawlit watched and toyed with it giving ground and moving seeming to give way to the creature biding his time as it hewed at him before spinning his great axe “questions will be axed” in to an opening the beast left smashing the heavy axe into its knee with a force that would have take the leg off a lesser creature. Black stinking ichor exploded from the wound but the creature took it resolutely as if it was a mere tap and essayed a reply but being unable to brig its great blade to bear it lashed out with its great clawed foot. The move caught Fawlit who was moving to a second swing himself a bit by surprise but even so most to the not inconsiderable force of the blow was taken on his axes shaft even so it sent him sprawling back towards the gate way a good ten feet and winded him even if he did have the presence of mind to hang on to the axe. The demon let out its war cry again and raising its sword above its head followed up to finish the prone Half Ork. Inside the keep all those who heard cringed deeper in their hiding places and prayed all the harder.

Then Nyasse struck with a balletic leap she threw herself at the creature sword forward in a movement more suited to the climax of a Basirian sword dance than a fight, but the blade struck home in the small of the foul things back and cut a deep wound which caused it to cry out in pain and its stroke at Fawlit missed striking sparks off the stones of the market square instead. Nyasse completed the move with a back flip. The creature turned looking for its new assailant as the girl landed and Fawlit recovered and got back to his feet.

It took a swing at Nyasse who was perhaps a bit too elated at her beginners luck to pay attention to defending herself catching her unarmoured left arm  and cleaving it to the bone. For a moment the young dancers vision greyed and she thought she was going to faint. So did the demon who let out an exultant cry and prepared to strike his hapless and soon to be helpless foe. Fawlit struck smashing “questions will be axed” into the demons unarmoured thigh, he had been aiming for the already wounded knee but the stroke went high. Once again the stroke did remarkably little damage for all it was delivered with full force and would have felled an ox. Nyasse vision cleared and despite the pain she forward rolled in under the demons swing driving her sword into the malformed muscle of its calf the sword went right through and Nyasse tore it out not that she had quite intended to but she had rolled on her gashed arm and this time the pain was too much for the girl. Fawlit laughed a strange and rather inappropriate laugh. He could see his death and it did not scare him because he knew that he would be as welcome as any in the afterlife of the true. He caught the demons uneven glowing eyes and the demon saw its own end in the Orks an end to millennia of slaughtering the defenceless and innocent of a myriad worlds an end to every thing to oblivion for no after life awaits demons and it decided it had had enough, it was gone in an instant

To be Continued.......

The Demon in the Square

The Demon of the Sword - Vaesehanesresics (that which delights in the slaughter of the
unresisting and  the terrified)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: -2
Speed: 9
Reach:+2 feet ( 8 feet with sword)
Attack: +8
Damage: 2d12p + 5 Sword
2d3p + 5 with claws on hands or feet or 3d3p+ 5 bite
Special Attack:  Demonic battle cry (same as Grell war cry) Sweep attack can strike all in a 180 degree ark on an aggressive attack ,and causes +1d3p damage to helpless targets.
Weakness: takes +5 damage form good aligned items and +5 damage from lawful ones the effects are cumulative and may be turned as undead.by any good or lawful priest regardless of them having the ability to turn undead
Defence: +2
Special Defence: Teleports if on half damage or more less instantly (takes one second) but can only do this once per day
Damage Reduction: 12 - 4 weapons of legend
Hit Points: 30+4d8
ToP Save: n/a
Will Factor: 10
Size: large
Move: 15 feet/second at a walk and can Teloport at will over long distances as many times as it likes in a day but the ritual to do so takes 3d6p minutes during which it is unable to defend itself without aborting the process and beginning again the maxumum range on such a teleport is eight days march
EPV: 1200 (Nb never counts as half for there only being one opponent as its well able to deal with multiple foes)

Notable skills  Intimidate 50 torture 30

Description

This demon or may be type of demon for they are commonly found during the initial phases of any abyssal invasion and this may indicate that there are some numbers of the foul things. However given its ability to teleport freely over long distances and that in every reported case only one has been encountered at a time may mean that is is indeed a unique monster.

This demon ranges ahead of the abyssal horde and is drawn to accumulations of unarmed or poorly armed largely non-combatants who it delights in terrifying with its abyssal war cry and then slaughtering wholes sale. Unlike many demons it is not one for property damage for its own sake however it will do so to further terrify its victims and to get to those who might be hiding in buildings etc.

As a demon it does not need to eat however it will often consume victims messily in order to further terrify its other victims

General Info

Activity cycle - none preferred appears not to need sleep
No Appearing - only ever one
In Lair - never
Frequency - Very rare as it only occurs in the proximity of an abyssal break through usually within 1-3 teleprts distance or a similar distance ahead of  an abyssal army
Alignment - Chaotic Evil
Vision - Dark vision to 180 feet
Awareness senses - +20 on listening or observation rolls & can automatically detect any thing cosmicly good or lawful within its range of vision and more common good or lawful within thirty feet.
Habitat - any
Diet - only eats for effect mostly to enhance its intimidating effect on its victims may subsist of the emotions of its soon to be victims
Organization - Solitary
Climate terrain - any 

Yield

Medical - none
Spell components - none but any demonic blood can be used to enhance harm spells cast by chaotic evil priests by 1d3p points per ounce killing this demon would give 2d4p ounces of such blood but there are easier sources
Hide trophy  - demonic material decays far to fast to be preserved without magic
Edible - yes but like all demons no good will flow form eating their flesh however quite what ill flows form eating the flesh of this one is no where reported
Treasure -  none but a +3 magical two handed sword of unusual size may be recovered but this is probably of  no use except as a trophy and is almost certainly cursed
Other - Nil
Experience point Value  1200 (Nb never counts as half for there only being one opponent as its well able to deal with multiple foes)

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part I)

another drama unfolds.

Just as the market was setting up for the day in the great market square of the town, not that it was going to be all that great a market considering the town had been under close siege for three weeks now and things to sell, especially food, where getting increasingly scarce and what there was to be had increasingly expensive as they became scarcer. There was always something to be had that was needed and the social function of the market had not subsided and there was always time for a moan about the town situation or same tale to tell about that nights fighting. Thought the chief topic this morning was that the Acolytes of the Great Hospital had cordoned off the shambles in the Newtown on account of some vile plague having broken out there and that a great crowd of acolytes had gone in to set up a fever hospital in its midst.

Then there was the tale of the heroes of the major attack on the Northgate of a couple of nights ago to talk, including the strange elf and his lieutenant who had lead the counter attack,  about and some wondering what the company of adventurers variously called Telec’s or Dvorn’s company where going to do to lift the siege after all the tale was all around that two weeks ago they had cut there way through the goblin siege lines with great slaughter amongst the goblins and those who manned the walls told that the goblins had greatly reinforced their works to defend against a second occurrence. Finally the Kalamarian lass who had been doing performance poetry was a always worth a watch even if no one here could understand a word of it, one could not but like the lilt and style of it, not to mention that the poetess was an uncommon pretty girl and that drew enough interest form the young apprentices who had precious little else to do these days.

Then it happened, there was a massive explosion quickly followed by a fountain of flame which rose higher than the walls of the keep and hurled gobbets flame far out over the north of the town falling into thatch and starting fires. The bystanders stood stunned for a few instants and then the alarms went off at the keep,the war drum and the great gold horn of the true sounded, and Militia men tired for a nights patrolling ad skirmishing with goblins along the walls where rousted out to act as a fire brigade lest the town burn. Around the market they where joined by the market guard and even some of the traders and their customers and some amongst the counts guard and the soldiers of the true also joined in though the strange Half Ork who had been rumoured to be hiding in the temple of the true and pretending to be one of their guards was no where to be seen.

Then the demon appeared not far form the now faltering fountain of flame. It appeared with a soft pop and a whoosh of air and no one who was not looking towards the flame would have noticed it until its war cry rent the air sending a shock wave of fear through all who heard its terrifying yet inchoate howl only two did not flee the Kalamarian lass who drew her sword, a blade every one thought little more than a prop to her troubadour act and charged it out of the arch of the keep the Half Ork appeared still aping a guard of the true and ran towards the monster.

Picture from here

The monster was a the form of a twisted red skinned humanoid of gigantic proportions wielding a sword of prodigious size for a moment it stood and surveyed the scene before moving towards the gate of the keep sweeping abandoned market stalls before it with its great blade. The blows smashing them and scattering the goods form them to be crunched under its cloven hooves

A couple of the counts guards on the gate recovered enough from the effect of its cry and had the presence of mind to shot it with the large siege bows from the gate house the bolts shattered on its flesh like hurled icicles on granite. It ignored the two figures approaching it sniffing the air intent on the gate to the keep and beyond.

to be continued....

A Company of Fools Episode Twenty Four - in brief

The battle continues 

The action this session was compacted into a brief sliced of time and encompassed the fight with the Acolyte of the Rot Lord and his Guardian Oliphant rats and its immediate aftermath.

A furious Aeltred and the Rot Lords acolyte continued to trade blows. The Acolyte is unable to land a telling blow on the half elf thwarted either by the rangers quickness on his feet or his skill fully used shield. The Ranger in his turn was thwarted by the strange mystic force which absorbed the blows from his sword in a shower of arcane sparks.  Most of the rest of the company either held back in the passage way or fought the Acolytes trained attack Oliphant rats huge mangy disease ridden beasts which fought with increasing fury as the fight continued. Around the edges of the fight the young halfing Lalia lurked plying her sling with skill for the most part and darting in to apply her dagger to any rats which where temporarily out of the fight, rendering such a state permanent.  

Siskin raised risks power and sent one of the rats fleeing with a prayer and a hand full of bone shards and it fled squeaking in fear. The young warrior Olivier was briefly taken down by a ferocious bite from the rat he was fighting but fortunately the rat was drawn to attack Telec who was playing his usual role of armoured shield to the whole company whilst groin seeker learned what to seek on the rats and he was rescued again by his friend of the journey the young healer from Neffaria, with a prayer to the care giver. At which point their other companion from the same journey the young gnome Coradog who had made his way around the fight and joined in with Aeltred and struck the Acolyte such a mighty blow that his flail struck sparks like a shooting star in the night from the Acolytes mysterious shield