Gof Annish - Tower of the Necromancer

There is a nearly barren heath, on the southeast border of the Craggy Hills, in the rough triangle formed by the Craggy Hills, the slopes of Fire Mountian, and the City of Botts, in the region of the Sildur Reaches.  The heath is often referred to as Gof Annish, although the title refers, properly. to the strange, ancient tower at the center of the 10 mile heath.

The tower is ancient, built no doubt by the Old Ones.  Today it is home to a mysterious figure known only as The Necromancer.  The tower is peopled with all sorts of undead constructs and creations, and the immediate country side is not contested by anyone.

There is a nearby town (maybe half a day's walk) to the tower, but it is outside of the barren heath.  The town is home to a small number of farming peasants who not only tend to their own needs, but also support the nearby monastery known as the Hove of Enlightenment.  It is a place of meditation, study and reflection for a community of Kyclos, the consort of Nadene, the Goddess of Fertility.  It seems that the Brothers of the order are quite fascinated with the difference between living and dead, and so have made a study of the undead creatures of Gof Annish.  The inhabitants of the town know some of the following goings-on at the heath.

The heath itself is kept cursed and freed from most life (no animals live there, and very few plants, other than the Annish vine).  This is done by the hand of the Necromancer and his serving hordes of undead.  Twice a year, a massive procession of skeletons, led by 12 bone devils, lead the Bell of the Damned in a circle around the edge of the heath, three times, starting at midnight on the Equinox, and taking  over three days.  The circuit around the edge of the heath is over 30 miles, and the Bell itself is huge.  It is a massively large bell, weighting thousands of pounds, and mounted in a tall (25') wooden scaffold, on wheels.  Hundreds of skeletons, pulling on ropes and chains, heave the scaffolding out of the Tower of Gof Annish, out to the edge of the heath, and then begin their thrice encirclement of the lifeless land.  During this parade of death, the bell is rung continually, and a faint unearthly moaning rises up from the skeletal mouths.  The 12 bone devils at the head of the procession are shouting loud shrill blasphemies against life and the three Goddesses and will attack anything living in the path of the procession.

Procession of the Damned from Gof Annish, around the cursed heath

The only thing, above the level of lichens and short scrubby grass, that lives on the heath are the Annish vines.  These are curious plants, appearing basically as large clumps of massive radial tubers, growing out of a common thick root.  The tubers are some 30-40 feet long, and at their base some 8-10 inches around, tapering to only an inch or so across at the end.  They react to the presence of life, and if encountered at any time during the year, may attack whatever creature comes near them (these are located, not thickly, but placed fairly randomly all across the heath.  Since they tend to lay down, limp, in a radial splayed out pattern when they are not active, they are hard to spot until a traveler is somewhat close).  During the procession of the Bell of the Damned, however, they come to life.  The Annish Vines wave their horrid tubers in the air, violently and randomly, and unroot themselves.  Somehow they can drag their root ball out across the surface of the ground, and will attempt to fall into place behind the procession, before settling down again.  An active Annish Vine does not travel too fast, but then again neither does a horde of thousands of undead hauling on a bell that weighs thousands of pounds.  The Vines, after following the procession for a short time, will return to a random spot on the heath, and take up root again.

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Name: Annish Vines
No. Encountered: 1-3
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Movement: 30'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 10 (65hp)
Attacks: Up to 16 (no more than 4 against any one man sized foe).
Damage: 1-12+2
Save: F10
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: VI
XP: 850

The Annish Vine has many fibrous tubers to attack with, but can not bring any more than 4 at a time against any one foe.  It can, however, attack any foes within 30' of its base.  The Treasure Hoard that it might have are items that are to be found in the ground, at the base of the root ball that the vines grow out of.  These are the remains of any victims that have been slain and eaten previously.

The Annish Vine is immune to normal missile fire, but takes normal damage from fire and acid based attacks.  Against magic, it has a 25% magic resistance, but has not concentrated mind so is immune to spells such as Sleep and Charm.

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Occasionally, some group or another, typically Knights from the City of Air (Botts), or an order of Errant Paladins (such as the Paladins of the White Lady), will want to take up arms against the Procession, or even against the seat of power at Gof Annish tower itself.  They have always been stopped in the past by both the Priests and Monks of Kyclos from the Hove of Enlightenment, or by members of the Silver order of Druids.  Occasionally, in recent history, this has been by the Master of the Silver Order himself, from the Star Tower in the Aghanz Hills.

Developments

The past month have been a quiet one here at the Valley of the Old Ones blog, this is with good reason, however creative work on my game setting has not stopped.

First, the reason for the slow down - I have started a new position as an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science, at Columbus State University, in Columbus Georgia.  This involved not only a change in job locations, but also a major move (across 4 states) for my family.  But the move is done, and we are slowly getting things in our new (great) house settled.

Second, the creative work HAS been continuing, and I will begin posting again this week.  This has been in four areas.

• First, I have finished out rooms 11-41 of the Web of Ostigaar dungeon.  Some great surprises there, and once I am finished I plan to gather the whole adventure into a pdf and post it as a downloadable product.  

• Second, I have been gathering up the materials for the Cult of the White Shadow adventure, and am planning to enhance it somewhat (including the map and key to the estate that the dungeon is attached to, and some NPS stats), and also package it as a pdf file.  

• Third, I have been working on wilderness encounters for the whole Darkearth Plains region of the Valley, where these adventures are located.  The far eastern portion of the Darkearth Plains were developed when I discussed the various settlements of the Storm King Barbarians and their holdings, but the rest of the region have a very distinctive feel.  It is a cold region (more-so in the north, but true throughout), and the local flora are very similar to the last major ice age on Earth, especially in North America.  There are not only the typical late-Pleistocene era animals (megatherium, wooly mammoth, saber cats, wooly rhino, etc), but also some distinctive fantasy variations of these (dire sloth, frost rhinos, etc), and an approximation of fantasy neanderthals (the Shagmen of the Aghanz Hills).

• Fourth, I have resurrected an old dungeon that I wrote up a very long time ago, the Bear Caves of the Mad Dwarf.  It features, among other things, some most excellent undead bears, a crazed dwarf jongleur, and a shrieking gargoyle.  I am writing this up, and setting it in the Valley of the Old Ones setting, and also to submit it to an online project collecting content featuring interesting skeleton encounters.  Skeletal Cave Bears will count for that, I hope.  Especially when they have the ability to phase through walls.

Bright Iron Fastness - River Jarl Steading (3)

The current Jarl of Bright Iron is called Garret Fingolsson.  His name is a curious one for a Storm King barbarian - since it includes a Westroner first name, but it was the name his father (Fingol the Just) gave him.

Old Fingol Olavson (called Trollbane in his youth) was visited by wandering priests of the Order of Brother Rudiger.  It was in his youth, shortly after his father, Olav, died.  In order to secure the Steading, young Fingol had to fight and kill his father's brothers (one of which was nicknamed Ymir the Troll, which is where Fingol's nickname of Trollbane came from).

After this family feud was over, however, a traveling Brother of the Order of Brother Rudiger had come out of the Shadow Woods to the east.  Single handedly, the traveling priest had crossed the Blood Veldt, surviving the Sword People, and had come to Bright Iron to preach the virtues of hearth safety and home protection for the poor and down trodden.  The message resonated with Fingol, and he converted from the faith of his fathers (reverence for the Storm King), to this new strange religion of the Three Goddesses.  In so doing, he also began to mimic Westroner culture and Westroner ways.

Fingol waged war on his neighbors who sought to wipe out his ways, and his people that abandoned the old culture.  In this he was not only relentless, but also quite successful.  His smaller but persistent fleet had waged war on the many trading vessels from Seawyrm, an he also raided the Orc Clans to the south east of Bright Iron.  He held an uneasy peace for many years with the woman warriors from the steading of the River Raven.  The money and treasure that his successful campaigns won him were spent on building a large, fine castle of pure white stone, brought from far south on barges up the Greywater river.  This castle, in stone, is unlike the steadings of the other River Jarls, and more closely resembles a fine stone castle of a wealthy Westroner barony.  Naming it Bright Iron Fastness, it his spiry towers toped with sharp peaks made of the curious Bright Iron, or star metal, that is found in some of the quarries in the area.

Bright Iron Fastness - with its towers skytopped in star metal.

This is the world that Garret Fingolsson was born into, and now rules over.  His is a curious mix of traditional Storm King culture, with some of the behaviors, values, and trappings of more typical Westroner culture.  Officially, his "court" speaks Westron, and writes all official documents in Westschrift.  Unofficially, many of the common people (and some higher up on the social scale) speak Destrikking.  Few remain, however, who can read and write the Ainark Runes.

Garret actually tries to foster the home and hearth life style that is common to the Order of Brother Rudiger, which means supporting agriculture and homesteading more than blood feuds and viking raids.  He has a strong fyrd, however, with a loyal corps of huscarls, that are constantly engaged in warfare against the Orc Clans, and occasional freebooters from the other Storm King steadings.

Immediately southeast of Bright Iron, just on the outskirts of the tended agricultural lands under the protection of Jarl Garret's fyrdmen, lay the lands of the Stone Houses.  The Stone Houses are curious round structures, long since out of use by their original inhuman builders, made of stacked stones.  The are similar to a Broch, or round house, that is built by some of the distant Storm King barbarians, however the roofs are all long since rotted off, and some of the stone walls are crumbling. What is curious about the structures, is that they are built for giant beings.  Larger than an ogre, whomever it was that first peopled these stone houses must have been of a great stature, perhaps 15 feet tall?  The typical stone house (as pictured below) has a first story that is partially underground, and then usually two more stories above that, and a peaked roof.  Sometimes the roofs are present (when they were made out of slate or other stone) and sometimes they are long gone (when they were made out of material that would have rotted with age, such as wood or thatch).  The typical structure is approximately 70 tall (at the peak of the roof), and about 80' across the base, at ground level.  Of course, there is variation, so some exist that are taller or shorter, and either bigger or smaller around.

For a long time, back before the Elves retreated to the Seely realms, the early humans in this region would commune with the spirits that haunt the stone houses, learning much from them.  Then they began using the stone houses as hallowed places of the honored dead - depositing chieftains, warriors and shamans among the stone buildings, and decorating them with fine implements and ornaments made of all types of fine metals.  The number of ghosts and spirits in the area grew and grew.  For generations, however, it has been avoided by most people, reputed to be a place of horrible fetches and liches, and other undead beings.

Cutaway of a Stone House - for scale, consider the inhabitants to be 15' feet tall.

During the reign of Fingol, those in the steading that were stubborn about giving up the reverence of the Storm King and his court were slowly identified and either forced to adopt the religion of the Church (of the Three Goddesses), or they were driving out of the steading.  A large number of traditional skalds (bards) and priests of the Storm King (even joined by worshipers of Helgor, the Black Chieftain) sought refuge and shelter among the Stone Houses.  Some of these were infected by the otherworldly beings living there, and became a particularly ghastly type of undead being known as a Helgorfiend. These beings are enraged when confronted by living people (human or otherwise), and will attack viciously (even suicidally) on sight.  They will attempt to bite the poor victims, and in so doing have a chance to convert them to Helgorfiend as well.  Stats will come in a future posting.

This Steading is very close to the area, in the Sildur Reaches, known as The Scorch, and it has some ties to the men of this holding.  Very important ties.

Week of Encounters Day 2: The Fell-Beast of Riven Moor

This encounter takes place in the Sildur Reaches region of the valley.  It is near the Greywater River, up where it rolls south out of the Destriel Mountains.  This is Stormking Barbarian country, and this encounter features elements of the Stormking mythology.

Just north of the Shadow Woods, but south of the Greywater is an area known as the Riven Moor.  The area is home to many of the crypts and barrows of the Storm King tribes. It is a high flat place, nearly 100 miles wide, and approximately 30 miles north to south, with the Greywater along the northern edge, and clumps of forest marking the beginning of the Shadow Woods along the southern edge.  There are no permanent habitations up here, but occasionally bands of traveling Storm King tribesmen will be encountered.  They almost always travel through the area well armed, and in groups consisting mainly of fighting men, because of the number of Fell-Beasts in the area.

The Fell-Beast appears as a very large wolf (approximately the size of a forest elephant), but is much more dangerous.  The beings are supernatural in origin, and come from the underworld realm of the Black Chieftain.  In the pantheon of the Storm King, the enemy of the Storm King himself is their barbarian god of death and the underworld, known as the Black Chieftain.  He dwells in a domain known as the Dark Shore, and it is pictured to be a cold, forested island, in the middle of a bleak icy sea, under a sunless sky.  The island is populated by foul beasts of all sorts, who hunt the lost souls through the forest night after night.  One of the types of creatures are the Fell-Beasts.

One of the reasons there are so many Fell-Beasts in our realm, especially on the Riven Moor, is because of the magical protections put on the barrows there, and the fact that so many barrows become plundered and robbed.  Many of the protections and curses used by priests of the Storm King tribes consist of curses based on beings and magic from the Dark Shore, so when a barrow is violated, the arrival of a being from the cursed realm is the result.  This being then usually hunts down the offending party, and exacts revenge.  The number of barrows, and the strength of the magic on the Riven Moor means that some of these beings remain in our world, savagely and viciously hunting the living.

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Fell-Beast
Num Appearing: 1-2
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8d (48h.p.)
Attacks: 3 (claw, claw, bite) plus special (if bite is successful)
Damage: 1d4+1; 1d4+1; 2d8
Save: F8
Morale:8
Special Attack: Level Draining Bite - whenever a Fell Beast makes a successful Bite attack, there is also a 20% chance that the Fell-Beast will attempt to drain a level from the character that was bitten.  This can be avoided by a successful save vs. Petrification.

The Fell-Beast is an undead being, and so a cleric would have a chance to turn one.  It appears as a large, black wolf (the size of a small elephant), with hollow ghostly eyes and blood and ichor matting its fur around its horribly large fanged mouth.  The Fell-Beast can howl a dreadful howl that will cause all beings below 3rd level within 100' to save vs. magic, or flee in terror.

If encountered (or worse, if one is cursed to be hunted by a Fell-Beast) other than fighting the creature with means both physical and magical, one would have to worry about the ability of the Fell-Beast to be able to summon to its side death birds from the Dark Shore.  These death birds are described below, but the Fell-Beast can summon 1d12 of these beings, twice a day.

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Death Birds
Num Appearing 1-12
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 120'
Armor Class:6
Hit Dice: 2d (9h.p.)
Attacks:1, plus shriek
Damage: 1d4
Save: F2
Morale:9

The Death-Birds are also undead beings, so a cleric would have a chance of turning them (2HD undead beings).  These appear as undead ravens, with red eyes and blood stained beaks and talons.  They appear to be quite dead, with feathers missing here and there, and sometimes chunks of flesh torn from their bodies.  They exude a horrid stench of decaying flesh.

Whenever one is in combat with death birds (whether 1 or a dozen), the constant shrieking (the Storm King tribesmen call it "crying for the dead") of the birds will cause one to make a saving throw vs. magic at the beginning of the combat round.  If the save is failed, then the character may not move during that round - it may still attack or defend, but it may not move.  Magic User spells are also not allowed if this saving throw is failed, however Clerics of a good alignment may still cast spells.

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Encounter: The players are moving across the Riven Moor for some reason, when they hear the horribly howl of a Fell-Beast in the distance.  Should they move to see what is afoot, they will encounter the Fell-Beast and a cloud of Death Birds feasting on the remains of a (now) deceased grave robber.  The nearby open barrow mound attests to the reason for the attack, and there are bags of treasure spilled about on the ground near the body.  If they Fell-Beast or the Barrow Mound is approached in any way, then both the great undead wolf and the flock of birds (eleven) will attack the players instantly.