OSR Class: Beetlefolk Defender (WIP)

Beetlefolk Defender*

Native to the Flowering Expanse, Beetlefolk tend to confine themselves to the territory of the Proletariat, rarely leaving its borders. Defenders can be found guarding larvae at the gigacacti root systems, patrolling the borders, or occasionally out on scouting missions. In the rarest of occurrences, a Beetle may leave and venture out into the world.

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Prime Attribute: Strength [13+]

HD: 1d8

AC (base): as Ringmail [13]

Armor/Shield Permitted: Any

Weapons Permitted: Any

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About The Class

Alignment: The vast majority of Beetlefolk are Lawful Good due to their eusocial nature as a species/race. However, occasionally some leave their clans for unknown reasons and venture out into the wider world seeking fortune, fame, or the like. These Beetles may be of any alignment. 

Magic Items: May use any magical items that fit their bodies. Use common sense. 

Charity: Beetles that retain contact with the Proletariat must send half of all earned treasure back to their clan as part of the public good. This restriction is never lifted. 

Armor: Due to their unique bodily proportions, Beetlefolk wishing to purchase armor from human or demi-human smiths will have to pay double or otherwise negotiate a fee. 

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Class Abilities

Natural Armor: A hard exoskeleton and fused wings lend Beetlefolk a natural armor that is 2 points better as starting AC than any other race.

Circularly Polarized Vision: Due to their unique ocular structure, Beetlefolk are highly resistant to illusions and blinding effects, granting them a 4 in 6 chance of either ignoring blinding magic or seeing through an illusion of any kind.

Insectoid Psyche: All Beetlefolk, and hence any Defender, have near-immunity to any attempts by another race to charm, mind control, or otherwise tamper with their minds. A Defender has a 5 in 6 chance of ignoring this completely at level 1, increasing by 5% per level. By 4th Level, a Defender is completely immune. 

Natural Shielding: On any turn, a Defender can take their action to turn their back to an opponent, granting  +1 AC vs. Missile Attacks. When in this position, a Beetlefolk Defender can not take a reaction. 

Beetle Horns (2nd): At 2nd Level, a Defender learns to use its horns more effectively in combat. On a successful horn attack, roll 1d6 damage. At base, 2 in 6 chance of goring an enemy, allowing a Defender to grapple and move with the opponent in any direction at 3/4 speed. This chance increases by 5% per level, capped at 90%. 

Many Arms, Many Weapons (5th): At 5th Level, a Defender becomes capable of holding two weapons of different types on one side of its body (i.e. a short bow and a sword), plus a shield on the other, negating the need to take a turn to switch weapons. 

Establish Brood-Clan (9th): At 9th Level, a Defender may return to the Proletariat and convene the political council and request to begin its own clan within a new Gigacactus. The new brood will start small with 1d12 new larvae and 1d6 Defenders. Each level after 9th, roll 1d20 to see how many new clan members have been born. Of this new number, 1 in 4 will be a Defender, rounded up. 

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Class Advancement Table

Level	Experience Points Required for Level	Hit Dice (d8)*	Saving Throw
1	0	1	13
2	2,000	2	12
3	4,000	3	11
4	8,000	4	10
5	16,000	5	9
6	32,000	6	8
7	64,000	7	7
8	128,000	8	6
9	256,000	9	5
10	350,000	9+2 hp	4
11	450,000	9+4 hp	3
12	550,000	9+6 hp	3
13	650,000	9+8 hp	3
14	750,000	9+10 hp	3
15	850,000	9+12 hp	2
16	950,000	9+14 hp	2
17	1,050,000	9+16 hp	2
18	1,150,000	9+18 hp	2
19	1,250,000	9+20 hp	2
20	1,350,000	9+22 hp	2
21+	+100,000 per level	+2 hp/level	2

*Advancement table uses the S&W Complete Paladin table

Social Ecology: The Beetlefolk Proletariat of the Flowering Expanse

Far to the Northwest of Vymrrys, as the rolling dunes of the Stone-Crushed Sea level off into an arid and rocky wasteland, a lost traveller might happen upon the Flowering Expanse, and potentially the always aloof brood-clans of the Beetlefolk Proletariat. 

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Social Structure

The eusocial Beetlefolk Proletariat makes its home among the flowering giga-cacti that grow out of the cracked and desiccated scrublands, with each individual brood-clan occupying a single cactus. As a cactus grows, so too does the clan - slowly - able to hatch more larvae within the root system under the arid soil. As the larvae grow into adult Beetlefolk, they are given roles within the brood, and though some might seem more important than others to a traveller, all roles within the Proletariat are treated with equal dignity and respect. These roles fall into one of two castes within the brood: the reproductive caste, and the sterile caste. Among the sterile Beetlefolk, roles include defense, foraging, larval care, mercantile, and architecture/construction. The reproductive caste are mainly preoccupied with making sure the intra- and inter-clan economy is running smoothly, that all roles are filled, and that each mature member has a role. 

Each clan (and thus the Proletariat as a whole) maintains a standard ratio of 1:3 reproductive to sterile Beetlefolk, with the reproductive members of the brood living near the heart of the cactus. Political representation is afforded at this ratio as well. Every few years, a meeting of all clan representatives occurs and discusses when the next clan should be formed, and which clans will need to donate reproductive members. All decisions are made based on the best interests of the Proletariat in terms of long-term survivability. 

View from the base of a mature Gigacactus.
A clan of about 600 could live here with room to expand.

Defense

The Proletariat is aloof and fiercely defensive of their borders, and the clans which occupy gigacacti closest to the edge of the Proletariat's territory usually produce the strongest and most capable Defenders. Attempts by other civilizations to obtain nectar from the cactus flowers have made the Proletariat intensely wary of all outsiders, regardless of their intentions. In a typical clan 1/3 of all sterile caste members will be assigned to roles in defense, though in the border clans, this fraction can rise as high as 2/3. Within clan defense units, specialization occurs, as some Beetlefolk will be assigned positions in flower defense, larval and root defense, scouting parties, or warbands (in times of conflict). The clans never fight amongst themselves, though there are occasionally disagreements which need political intervention, and all fighting units are preoccupied with outside threats. 

Traditional Enemies

Longtime enemies of the Proletariat include raiding parties of Arakokra from the mountain range to the North - The Weeping Children - as well as Bullywugs from the Vexatious Chlorine Marshes to the East. 

Vat-Brain Part 2: Map and Details

Here's the map I sketched up before my Monday night group made their way to the Pillar. I decided to (poorly) ape Zak S' style from Vornheim, since it was easy and didn't require the time I normally need to make a standard top-down or isometric map. I looks better in my notebook, but it scanned in alright. 

I didn't key the map with numbers, so I'll go room-by-room for the descriptions. You can add your own enemies, traps, and items, but I'll put in what I went with. As your party adventures throughout the structure, have them experience frequent visual and auditory hallucinations (tests, if you will, from the Vat Brain to test their mental fortitude). When you do so, utilize some form of insanity table, calm stat, etc. Remember, the Vat Brain is looking for only the strongest potential hosts for its intelligence, and will test those it's pulled to the Pillar both physically and mentally.

GROUND FLOOR

Entrance Hall

• The entrance hall looks as if it were carefully carved from inside the monolith of stone, its walls curving upward with strange and intricate designs. Those entering would notice that the old cloth draped from the walls and ceiling are decaying and dusty, but light sources are still kept burning. Strange crystals have begun to erupt from the stonework, slowly growing to cover other nearby surfaces. The crystals are a grey-blue and emit a faint light, and if broken, turn completely into dust. 
• There are no enemies present in the entrance hall, though there are corpses and various states of decay. If they are examined, patterns emerge: joints twisted at odd angles, eyes which have completely bulged out of their sockets, dried blood in ears, and several self-inflicted wounds. 
• Against the far wall stand several motionless figures. They look alive, but sickly and twisted: tongues hanging out, eyes bulging and unblinking. They will not defend themselves if attacked. 
• Doors lead East and West.

Botanical Room

• The crystals grow here too, having consumed some of the many plants. The room has several long tables covered in various plant species as well as hanging hydroponics and wall-mounted drip systems. One or two figures move jerkily around the room tending to the plants and look similar to the figures in the previous room. They can not speak or defend themselves.
• Feel free to include a variety of plants from your campaign setting here which could be harvested and used as ingredients in potions or magic rituals. 
• This room has a Southern door that links to the Library on the floor above.

Storage Room

• The storage room is dark and mostly empty save for boxes of completely decayed goods. Thorough searches might yield useful and old items that could be sold for a decent profit to the right merchants or collectors. This room has a Southern door that links to the Assistant's Quarters on the floor above. 

SECOND FLOOR

Library

• The Library is extensive, with long shelves of books covering the floor as well as  the walls along the balcony tier above. Two ladders on swivels/wheels can get PCs and NPCs from the floor to the balcony and vice-versa. The room can be searched like any other, but if looking for books, use whatever library-searching rules you employ. 
• Several more mindless husks roam the stacks here, the Vat Brain searching for even the smallest bits of usable information hidden among the tomes. 
• The grey-blue crystals jut out from the ceiling, but it seems as if they have been kept from overtaking the books. 
• I tested my party often if they spent time here, one of them suffering a potentially permanent insanity. 
• The room was also patrolled by an mentally enslaved Knight of the Karxican Isles (7 HD, 16 AC, +3 to hit, 2d6+3 damage with a massive Bastard sword), a wild Kirre (5 HD, +3 to hit, 12 AC, 1d8+3 damage with claws), and a bowman (3 HD, 13 AC, +4 to hit, 1d8+2 damage with longbow).  All are controlled by the Vat Brain, though the Karxican Knight has retained enough of himself to rasp out apologies to the party as he attacks. He will weep when killed. 
• The Library has a Western door to the Dining Area, and a secret Southern door to the old Wizard's Quarters. 

Dining Room

• The Dining Area is old and decrepit, with not much left of use. Corpses are scattered about in various states of decomposition. Crystals have overtaken much of the room, but if thoroughly searched, an adventuring party might find dining utensils of strange metals that could be sold. 

Assistant's Quarters

• The old Assistant's Quarters contains a variety of old tomes (including several on low-level psionics and necromancy) as well as a few on geology, alchemy, and botany. There is also an expansive alchemy/chemistry set which has been disassembled and has some essential parts removed. If the party could find the necessary parts elsewhere, they could make a very useful potion-brewing set. 
• 3d4 mindless husks occupy this room, seemly awaiting orders. Per usual, they will not defend themselves if attacked. 

THIRD FLOOR

Wizard's Quarters

• The magic door from the Library leads directly to the Sick Wizard Hagai's old living quarters. This area has been kept in meticulous condition, as the future living quarters for the Vat-Brain's future host body. As such, it is also guarded well by any enemies of your choosing. Keep in mind that any enemies within the Pillar are psionically enslaved by the Vat-Brain, and would move as if controlled by a puppeteer's strings: jerkily and painfully. 
• The Sick Wizard's quarters contain old tomes on advanced psionics and necromancy, and potentially suitable magic items and artifacts of great value. 

Study

• The old Study is a large and airy space where the Sick Wizard and his assistants worked on experiments, rituals, and compared notes from the assembled literature. Here they had space to think and act. Within, Husks measure and mix ingredients into large glass containers, alchemical steam forming a haze within the room. The sickly blueish mixture is sucked via a sort-of siphon tube system up through the ceiling into the room directly above.
• If the party has made it this far, the Vat-Brain should attempt to hijack their bodies. Players must save vs. intelligence.
• On a Natural 1 - the PC becomes enslaved to the Vat-Brain's inhuman intellect. They will attempt to fight the party. To free them the Vat-Brain must be destroyed or reasoned with.
• On any other unsuccessful save - the PC will take 2d6 points of psionic damage and may also have to roll on an insanity table or something similar. 
• On a successful save - the PC is able to resist the psionic pressure of the Vat-Brain and remains themselves. 
• On a Natural 20 - the PC is able, through sheer force of will, redirect some of the psionic pressure back at the Vat-Brain, doing 2d6 points of damage.
• The Study links directly to the Vat Room on the floor above.

Collapse

• The magical door opens directly into a rock collapse. Anyone walking through the door without paying attention will have to roll a dex save or fall and take 30 feet of falling damage. Without another way back in, they can either climb back up to the doorway, or scale down the side of the Pillar back to the entryway. If they fail to scale the side of the Pillar and fall, they will take falling damage in addition to piercing damage if they land on a crystal formation. 

FOURTH FLOOR

The Vat Room

• The Vat Room is massive, and takes up nearly the entire top floor of the Pillar. The floor is soaked in dank, blue, viscous liquid (the same that was seen in the Study) and blue crystals erupt from the floor, ceiling, and walls. At the center of the room sits a large reinforced glass vat, roughly 50 feet by 50 feet (3 HD, 16 AC). Tubes snake up through the floor and connect into the top surface of the vat, continuously pumping in fresh feeding liquid. The Vat-Brain (10 HD, 6 AC, uses psionic attacks, hyper-intelligent) floats within, taking up the majority of the space, its grey matter hideous and pulsating. 
• 4d4 Husks tend to the Vat-Brain, making sure the feeding tubes are working and the slave pens in the adjacent room are watched over. 
• The Vat-Brain can be reasoned with and will not immediately attack; remember its main goal is to find a body and mind strong enough to become the host for its intelligence so it can finally leave the Pillar. 
• If combat ensues, the Vat-Brain will attack the party psionically, and enslaved guards will protect the feeding tubes and the vat itself. In my campaign, an NPC named Tomak was the main foe here. 
• If the feeding tubes are disconnected or the vat itself is destroyed, the Vat-Brain will begin loosing HP each round. 

Slave Pens

• The Vat-Brain keeps still-unenslaved travelers in the slave pens, ready to serve as husks once older ones die. These people can be freed after the Vat-Brain is killed or reasoned with. Some have been there a very long time.

Aviary

• Strangely enough, the old aviary in the tower was kept in good shape, with a variety of desert birds still living there. The opening through which the birds come and go is the only other opening besides the front entrance and the magical door near the collapse. 
• If searched, old notes to and from other wizards can be found. These notes seem to indicate similar experiments were taking place elsewhere in the world...

Enter the Blood Ring (WIP)

Somewhere among the vast sandstone sprawl of Vymrrys, by moon and candle-light, the always-moving Blood Ring is constructed from wooden boards and packed sand. A crowd gathers around the edges, awaiting the first fight of the night. As word of the event spreads through the slum, more spectators gather on nearby roofs, balconies, and bridges, looking down through the clotheslines to see the ring. Stars glimmer in the night above, the crowd grows restless, and some minor drug-fueled scuffles break out. Finally, the first two combatants are led to the circular fighting pit by their trainers, already grunting and sweating in the nighttime heat. A hush falls over the assembled audience as the two half-orcs enter, staring intensely at each other. Each bends down and scatters a fist-full of sand into the hot breeze – a sign of respect before the bout. The elven referee paces the ring, reminding the fighters of the rules that must be observed: no weapons, no eye pokes, no strikes below the belt. When both men agree, he rings the bell and the fighters charge towards each other. The crowd roars as the combatants rain blows upon each other, and dark orcish blood splatters the earth. As the night goes on, many fighters enter the ring, and some even manage to leave relatively unscathed. By first sunlight, the ring is destroyed, and the audience disperses, the location for next weeks’ bouts having been decided. The Blood Ring never stays in one district for long, but the records of its fighters are kept and tallied by many, and its great champions are known far and wide.

If the party stumbles upon the Blood Ring, or seeks it out using gathered information, here are some things that might happen:

Roll 1d20 on the following random table

1. The party encounters a fighter preparing in a nearby alleyway, but he looks weak and weary. He thinks he’s been poisoned by his opponent ahead of the fight!
2. A brawl breaks out between 2d4 attendees. 
3. A bookie approaches the party and offers them inside information for betting on the next fight, in exchange for a favor the following day: she needs them to collect payment from someone who’s overdue.
4. 3d4 city guards approach the crowd and attempt to arrest anyone who doesn’t run!
5. A coach approaches the party, recognizing their potential, and offers to train them to fight in the Blood Ring, for a price. 
6. A fighter challenges the weakest party member to a match in the ring, and the crowd nearby erupts into applause! 
7. 1d4 shady aristocrats sit on private palanquins near the ring, surrounded by their bodyguards. The party overhears them discussing sending hitmen after a fighter who wasn’t supposed to win…
8. The party finds a dejected fighter under a nearby building canopy. He tells them that he needs to fight to feed his family, but can’t handle another loss in the ring.
9. A former adversary of the party is also at the Blood Ring! He/she calls them out for a group brawl to settle their beef once and for all. 
10. The party hears screaming as one of the combatants pulls a knife and charges his opponent!
11. Final fight of the night! A party member accidentally spills their drink as a challenger walks up to the Blood Ring through the crowd. He slips and knocks himself out on a misplaced stone. The promoter coerces him/her to enter in his laid out fighter’s stead against the reigning champ Dooran of the Stone.
12. As the party observes the fights, a group of cloaked thieves are stealing money from distracted audience members. 

Dungeons and Dragons and Boxing

Some would call me a nerd. Others might use the term geek. A few might even venture into dork territory. But regardless of the terminology, one thing is clear: I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and I watch (and used to do) a lot of boxing. 

'How do these two interests come together?' you might ask. If that was your question, here's your answer. 

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D&D 

I've been a bit of a geek/nerd/dork my whole life, starting (and continuing) with video games before moving on to comic books. I picked up tabletop RPGs (role playing games) during high school, but fell out of habit while studying for my undergraduate degree. I joined a new group about a year and a half ago while I was finishing up my MPH and haven't looked back, participating as a character or leading as the Dungeon Master (DM) anywhere from one to three games per week. I spend a great deal of my free time thinking about this hobby; where to take my character in his development as a person, and how to build my worlds so that my players have maximal opportunities for adventure and creativity and genuine moments. As a player character (a 7th level Ranger - Kalder Ossun, Mystic Beastmaster of the Ringing Mountains - if you must know) the game forces me to think strategically both in combat and social situations: 'how do I fight this Wizard?' 'how would our party's Paladin react to this act of wrongdoing?' 'which of these decisions will produce the outcome our party wants?'. As the DM for my two groups, I'm forced to expand my creative horizons, reading, watching, and listening to a wide array of media to draw on as influences for creativity and world-building. One of my high-points of every week is getting to engage creatively and emotionally with both friends and strangers in a shared, fictional world. 

Boxing 

Despite my often dorky, pacifistic, (all of my D&D characters have been goody-goody pacifists until they're forced to fight) and emotionally sensitive nature, I've always had an energy inside of me that I needed to get out, something that I didn't like. My parents had me try every sport under the sun as a little kid, and I hated them all: I was uncoordinated, not energetic, and didn't have any sort of natural talent. Eventually, at about 5 years old, my pops signed me up at a local karate school and told me that I'd be going every week, rain or shine, until I was old and smart enough to decide for myself whether or not I wanted to keep going. Ten years later I got my first black belt, and three years after that right before I left for college, I achieved my 2nd Dan rank. I'd found the outlet for my deeper, aggressive nature in a way that was structured, strictly disciplined, and mentored. By that point I had become a senior instructor at our dojo, though the number of students was dwindling and I knew inside that once I left, my Sensei would close the school. In the 3 years leading up to the day I left, one of our senior students, an amateur boxer of accomplishment at the university level, taught me how to box. One or two nights a week we left the dojo open late at night for boxing classes, and I became a glorified punching bag for guys that were often bigger, stronger, and far more skilled than I. But I learned a lot. I learned - through sparring guys half a foot and 40 to 60 pounds heavier than me - that I could face anybody. I became a boxing nerd, compulsively watching fight films online, on DVR, and on live cards. I was never a great, or even very good, boxer in the dojo, but I forced myself to think creatively and strategically to fight these guys who were 6' to my 5'7, 180 lbs to my (at the time) 140. I continued through most of university, helping form a club for all different martial artists to spar each other and think creatively. In conjunction with my more meditative karate training, I learned that I could channel my aggression and fear and anxiety and emotion into a pursuit that ultimately helped build me into a more complete person. 

Harmony 

Together, my two very divergent interests have helped me to become the most complete person that I know how to be. Both pursuits, martial arts training and D&D, help me to channel my creativity, passion, emotion, and aggression, into productive endeavors that challenge me to reach higher and further. Both have allowed me the great privilege to form deep and lasting bonds with others, and share in a unified geekery around shared passions. In the end, though my two passions don't overlap or intersect, they've helped me mold myself into someone that I can be content with, and that I hope is able to bring joy to others.

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I wrote this earlier today as a FanPost over at Bad Left Hook, but wanted to post it here as well.  

Vymrrys Building Generator (WIP)

The following table can be used to quickly generate the vertical structure and connectivity of any building for which the DM might need more information. Individual floor layouts would have to be created separately. This is a work in progress and will be updated on and off. 

To start:

1. Roll a D4+1 (for a regular building) or D10 (for a tall tower, taking only results over 5) to determine how many floors tall the building will be. 
2. Roll a D6-1 to determine how many connections this building will have to nearby buildings via bridges. 
3. Roll on the below tables to determine what occupies the floors of the building, the shape of the building, and any interesting features. 

or

1. Pick and choose to suit your tastes or the where in the city the building is constructed.

D100

What’s On That Level

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46-50 51 - 100

Tavern Tannery Armorer Weaponsmith Alchemist General Store Jeweler Baker Butcher Hidden Brewery Weaver Schoolhouse Furrier Bookbinder Printer Tailor Orphanage Drug Den Hidden Winery Locksmith Stone-carver Mason Curiosity Shop Gambling Hall Brothel Theater Lawyer Barber Candle-maker Produce Store Sign-maker Bookstore Exotic Animal Bazaar Minor Church Major Church Woodworker Granary Architect Painter Aviary Observatory Fortune Teller Library Botanist Cult meeting place Wealthy Residence Residence

D6	Building Shape
1 2 3 4 5 6	Building is narrow but deep, has entrances on 2 parallel streets. Building is wide but shallow, takes up half of the current street. Building is identically wide and deep. Building twists, with each floor offset, doesn’t seem stable but is. Building has a flat backside, but rounded front. Building is wide and deep, but an interior courtyard takes up most of the space.

D8

Architectural Feature

1-4 5 6 7 8

Building is made from sandstone blocks without any real flourishes. Building is made from sandstone blocks, but includes twisting veins of orbicular diorite. Building is made from interlocking sandstone and lapis lazuli bricks. Building is made from sandstone blocks, but with wooden pegs driven partway into the walls for ivy to grow up. Building is made from sunbaked bricks that are slowly crumbling.

Kalder Ossun, Mystic Beastmaster of the Ringing Mountains, Retires

Kalder Ossun, at current the last of his line, has retired as an adventurer under the Dark Sun. His adventures with Iolrath, Tomak, Lor, and Bird-Person, have come to an end (for now).

He wandered far and wide across the Tablelands of Athas, hunting game and men alike. Gifted with a half-elven endurance, Kalder, along with his various beastly companions, journeyed from the Tablelands to the Great Ivory Plain to the Silt Sea and beyond. With his hand-carved bow and razor-sharp bone arrows, Kalder slew all manner of foul beast and wicked men: slavers, defilers, and any who would take advantage of the wandering desert tribes for their own gain. 

He was the first of his kin to cross the looming Ringing Mountains near Tyr into the forests of the cannibal halflings. He was the first to slay both halves of a Killipede with his companions, his poisoned arrows riddling its soft underside while Tomak's greatstaff shattered its hard shell. Kalder was key to the Great Truce of the halfling tribes, and from them learned about the mystical properties of the dried purple mushroom common to the forest. 

A cluster of mushrooms. The smallest is about 2 feet tall.

His mystical insights led him to powerful revelations and all manner of changes. No longer was he the brooding and cloaked Ranger of the Wastes - now, clad in the brightly hued lizard-skin armor and pearlescent insect-carapace helmet, he became the Mystic Ranger of the Ringing Mountains. With his party of fellow outcasts he befriended and took on as his apprentice Moto, the Last Gnome. He trained her in the ways of the Beastmaster and together they slew the twisted and gibbering many-eyed beast of the Deep Caves, and helped Bird-Person retrieve the Sunlight Staff of the Deep Temple, cleansing the defiling corruption from its halls. In the process however, he was forced to mourn the death of his first beast companion, Pearl the Pterrax Youngling, who had accompanied him and grown so much throughout his travels.

Kalder's pearlescent insectoid helmet, Crawling Chaos. 

Kalder was also instrumental in defending the refugees during the siege of the Fort of Many Winds, helping his party wipe out the elven defilers of the Blood Moon Tribe with their allied Thri-Kreen army. He led them back across the mountains, to settle in the cleansed ruins of the Deep Temple and the surrounding forest. Here, he established the Mystical Hunters, a ranger school to teach any and all the mystical ways of the Beastmaster. 

Here, in the lush forests east of the Ringing Mountains, Kalder Ossun still resides, surrounded by his pupils and his dear friend Moto. He retired at Level 7.

Vat-brain in a Wizard Tower in a Field of Desert Roses

Tens of miles out into the Stone-crushed Sea, occasionally visible on the edge of the horizon through the heat haze, stands the Pillar. Few travelers through the vast desert east of Vymrrys even believe it to be real, merely the result of a mirage in 120° heat. However, those who have gotten close enough to feel its pull, its almost hypnotic beckoning, have learned at least the first layer of its true nature before they were lost: it is real, it is beautiful, it is your end. 

The Pillar

Originally a construct of infamous Vymrrysian wizard Abarron Hagai, the Pillar now sits masterless in a sea of sand. It rises from a salt flat, its massive sandstone blocks laced with deep and twisting Ilmenite veins. Over the years, invasive desert rose crystal clusters have crept from the flats, forming a field of shimmering orange and razor sharp formations from knee-height to over 20 feet tall that surround the Pillar in a radius of about a mile. Some of these crystal vines, with their fanned and flattened sandy blades, have begun to snake up the sides of the Pillar, each year growing a few more inches upwards, carefully avoiding the grey and wormlike Ilmenite. 

During his life, Abarron was consumed in his passion for the psionic magics. His studies of the powers contained within the mind led him to build his tower in the desert, close enough to trade routes to occasionally lure lone travelers, but far enough to remain concealed in the heat haze from those who might prove dangerous. After years of experimentation and sacrifices, he achieved his ultimate creation: the growth of a psychic brain independent of body, encased in a vat of pure psionic energy. As with any creation born into an unfamiliar and cruel world, the magically grown and sustained psionic entity grew resentful and desperate. In a fit of rage, the vat-brain lashed out at Abarron, killing him and leaving itself alone in the tower. 

Over the next decades and eventually centuries, the psionic vat-brain has drawn hundreds of travelers to the Pillar, searching for a suitable vessel: none have proved hearty enough to become vehicles for its intellect and ability, and most have had their brains emulsified by even the subtlest beginnings of a permanent mind-swap. The Pillar is now littered with bodies, some still fresh, others already crumbling skeletons.

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A future post will detail a layout for the Pillar, how to run a party's adventure there, and combat with the Vat-brain and its psionically controlled minions. 

Session Report III - The Gang Screws Up a Heist

The party response to a "job board" request, potentially lift a curse, and extort a man for his apartment. 

The Adventuring Party

Jerm (of Perm) - Halfling bard, plays a bone flute, enjoys eviscerating the psyches of his foes with shitty songs.

Reika - Half-elf druid, anarcho-communist, enjoys thrashing foes with thorns and nature magic.

Gerg - Half-orc rogue (with a whip), large yet sneaky, mostly silent but makes exceptions to grab things with his whip.

Halisstra - Drow rogue, puts up with her "friends" long enough to get what she wants, stabs backs happily. 

Harold Flesh-eater - a small psychic kangaroo/dog hybrid thing that they picked up on a prior adventure (LVL 1-3). He doesn't do much but complain about being hungry, but is happy to eat bodies if given enough time.

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Having received the crow-borne message from Jerm, Reika rejoined the group at their new apartment. A long discussion was had, but ultimately they decided on two things: 1) they definitely needed to steal this artifact from the White Web, and 2) after extorting Gor, they couldn't trust him not to send his associates after them. After resting, the group decided to track down Gor again, and make sure he hadn't snitched on them to Krawl and Vasken. Despite an incoming sandstorm, and several carnivorous reptiles in the streets, the group asked Harold to pick up his scent and lead them to him. A great deal of successful rolls later, and the group managed to track him to Drunkard's Bottom, a slumlike neighborhood nearby, utilizing the network of above-ground bridges that span the city. 

Gerg, utilizing the noise of the storm and shadows to his advantage, snuck up to the top level of the building Gor had visited. Inside, he noticed a group of White Web thieves (including Gor) plotting some sort of heist. After informing the group of this strange turn of events, Halisstra persuaded them that this was fortuitous - what better way to practice for their planned theft of the White Web artifact, than by stealing these heist plans? After some debate, the group assented. 

Jerm planned a distraction - he would pose as an orphan collecting donations for his orphanage - while Gerg and Halisstra would sneak in and steal the plans. 

Initially, their plan worked flawlessly: Jerm drew the theives' leader to the front door, while Gerg slipped in through a window and took the plans. However, on the way out Gerg was spotted and Jerm's disguise was seen through. The theives' leader sounded an alarm and within moments, several other White Web initiates had appeared on the nearby rooftops, ready to strike! 

Bacchanalia of the Otter-People

DIONYSUS: Would you like to see their revels on the mountains?
PENTHEUS: I would pay a great sum to see that sight.

-The Bacchae, Euripedes

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In the southwest of Vymrrys, near where the boiling sea flows in through the western gate-locks to cool, a small enclave of otter-people make their homes. Some live scattered throughout the city, but most choose to live among their own. 

While they have coexisted among the humans, elves, and dwarfs of the city for as long as most can remember, speculation as to their origins remains. Some believe they came to the city from an island in the Boiling Sea (before it was boiling, of course) while others believe they migrated down the rocky cost from the tidal pools of the Eucalyptine Graves. Regardless of their origins, the Otter-people of Vymrrys have become a part of the rich tapestry of culture woven between the city's walls. 

One of the most talked-about cultural practices of the Vymrrysian Otter-people are their twice-yearly bacchanalia, to which very few outsiders are ever allowed to attend. Rumors of what transpires can be heard across the city when word gets out that one is soon to occur, though many of these are unfounded. 

Below are some sights, sounds, and encounters that PCs might experience if they are able to attend the Bacchanalia of the Otter-People. 

D20 Bacchanalia Encounters

1. A small band of D10 Otter-people parade over a small bridge shouting in ecstasy, swinging fresh fish carcasses on poles.
2. D4 otter-people thrash around in an alleyway by torchlight, for purposes unknown. 
3. A burly otter-woman accosts the group, her face-fur painted in white designs. She writhes among them and disappears, leaving them smelling of fish. 
4. D20 otter-men splash around in a small tidal pool, chanting the names of Otter-gods under elaborate silken canopies. 
5. A gang of D6 otter-cultists in horned masks rushes a gathering of D12 ecstatic bacchic revelers with sharpened fish knives!
6. An otter-elder approaches the group and warns them of the dangers of the Bacchanalia, before shrieks and splashes can be heard from a nearby alley.
7. D6 (minimum of 2) otter-people carry a palanquin made of bone through a shallow tidal pool. It bears a juvenile otter-person wearing a fresh shark-maw mask. 
8. Fish blood bubbles and overflows from a cistern atop a rock in a courtyard as D20 otter-women twirl in circles. 
9. The group hears slapping noises from far off, as if a wet fish was being smacked against a rock. 
10. D4 unfortunate elves slumped against a wall in a drugged stupor. They smell of clams. Cracking and hammering sounds can be heard from nearby. If rescued and revived, they reveal themselves to be treasure hunters looking for the Labyrinth of Yal'Sin.
11. A shark carcass is gleefully carved into by D6 otter-people juveniles as they laugh joyously.
12. D8 otter-people dye silks in luminous colors, occasionally whipping the dye to splatter fellow bacchanalians. 
13. D4 nearby otter-people inhale whiffs of an etherial green substance, and offer some to the group as they pass by. (Drug is an opiate-like substance that grants D10 temporary HP for 2 hours, at a cost of -2 to hit)
14. D6 otter-thieves spring from a tidal pool wrapped in shark leathers, taking advantage of the revelry to strike at the interlopers!
15. An otter-priest in shark leathers challenges one of the party members to a duel with swordfish spears as revelers roll around on silk sheets near an altar piled high with fish.
16. A drunken dwarf slings fish guts at the party. If approached, in his drunken haze he reveals to the party that he is the son of a wealthy aristocrat waging a shadow war with the snake-man House of Zell. 
17. A parade of D100 otter-warriors in pufferfish helmets holding sea-anemone flails and swordfish lances stride down the street. Nearby bacchanalians shower them with luminescent dye and fresh clams. If approached, a soldier informs the group of their recent campaign against the Crab Men of the Seething Tidepools. 
18. Shouting and carousing can be heard from behind a nearby doorway. If opened, several otter-people are chasing each other around the room and smearing each other with golden paste. A subtle green haze fills the air. (Drug that if inhaled for more than a minute, acts as a stimulant. Affected PCs take D6 psychic damage but gain +1 to hit for 2 hours)
19. D4 otter-people sing joyously from a raised platform in a nearby pool as a crowd cheers and showers them with dried kelp. 
20. A crowd of D100 bacchanalians dance through a tightly packed alleyway as the sound of drums and horns can be heard. This group all have brightly painted fur, but are not wearing silks.