Azurthite Bestiary: Manhound

Art by Jeremy Duncan

There are archfey that resent the so-called civilization of Man and desire the return to a more natural state. These beings sometimes gift their cultists with a ritual which can transform humans into a bestial form and brings their bloodlust to the fore.

The manhound looks human twisted into an approximation of a cannine shape, becoming only a little more hirsute in the process. The may be distinguished from lycanthropes in that they only have one form (a mostly quadrepal hybrid) and only vaguely resemble in specific species of animal. Their "curse" is not contagious nor are they gifted with any of the immunities or weaknesses of the lycanthrope.

MANHOUND
medium humanoid (shapechanger), chaotic or neutral evil
AC 10 in human form, 12 (natural armor) in hound form
Hit Points: 30 (7d6+6)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 14(+2) DEX 13(+1) CON 12(+1) INT 10(+0) WIS 12(+1) CHA10(+0)
Skills: Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13.
Languages Common (unable to speak in manhound form)

Animal-Like Hearing and Smell. Has an advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on hearing or smell.
Shapechanger. Under the influence of an ancient spell, normal humans are turned into humanoid quadrapeds for the duration of the spell (typically 2-8 hours). Their abilities scores remain unchanged in human form.

Actions:
Bite. +3 to hit, reach 5 ft.,one target. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) piercing damage. A creature must succeed on a DC 11 Strength check on be knocked prone.

Trouble in the Enchanted Wood

Rumors of poachers in the Enchanted Wood north of Castle Machine in the Country of Yanth have lured a band of adventurers (my 5e game's PCs) to investigate--and to hopefully gain some reward money. Hunting has been prohibited in the Wood since the time of King Smalt I, the Nigh Great, of Azurth, owing to the peculiarity of much of its plant and animal life having the capacity for speech. It is supposed that this is exactly the reason the current hunters are in the Wood: they are (or they serve) a cabal of jaded gourmands seeking to dine on meals they can converse with beforehand.

This strange property of the flora and fauna arises from the magical waters of the Babbling Brook that meanders through the wood and its source, the Spouting Spring. The brook itself (as the name suggests) is vocal, and even at its susurrating volume, it can impair the concentration of spellcasters and unnerve those who are around it for long periods. The spring is even worse. Its ceaseless chorus of nonsensical orations are taken as oracular glossolalia by some and tormenting, demonic cacophony by others.

The waters enhance the linguistic abilities of any who drink from it. For adults, the effect in temporary, lasting at most a day and most likely only a few hours, without repeated ingestion (1d4 x 1d6 hrs.). Immature creatures raised on it retain the enhancement indefinitely.

Few members of mannish races live in the Wood, though their may be a few hermits. Fulvus, the eremite whose teachings touched off the War of the Purpure and Or. lived near the brook. There is said to be a somewhat eccentric druid that makes his home somewhere in the forest, but if so he has been unable to stop the poachers.

Travelers and those living nearby report strange sounds coming from the wood at night. It is a sound all to exultant and cruel to be the baying of wild dogs, yet all too guttural and animalistic to be the laughter of men.

D&D in Stop Motion

I ran across the deviantart page of Richard "Loneanimator" Svenssen. He designs stopmotion models and has done some short films in the fantasy vein. Of particular interest to readers here are his D&D inspired models. Check out this fight with a beholder:

Here's multiple angles on an owlbear.

Makes you wish Harryhausen had done a D&D movie circa 1981, doesn't it?

Wednesday Comics: The Lion, The Witch & Her Wardrobe

"The Lion, The Witch & Her Wardrobe"

Artesia #5 (May 1999) Story & Art by Mark Smylie

Synopsis: Artesia is weary. Her army has been pushing forward without rest. Her crow (really the war-spirit Demidice) returns to show her visions of what transpires in the wider world: She sees the Thessid forces breaching falls and destroying the watchtowers. The Empire's armies are triumphant thanks a a traitor.

Then she sees what will transpire in the future:

She "dreams of the death of the world" and her "heart sings with joy."

She awakens, unsure of what she has seen, though her lieutenant Ferris recognizes the mark of the lionheaded goddess Hathnalla upon her. Coincidentally (or not) her bannerman Hueylin has returned from treatment by the surgeon's of Hathnalla's cult. Artesia instructs Hueylin and a group of men to stay behind to speak for her army--and make sure the food, supplies, and coin keep flowing to keep them in the field, whether King Bran joins them or not.

Two captains approach with word from Pavel, the emissary. Bran will not parley. The citadel is sealed and none enter or leave. Artesia had a bad feeling. She sends the two captains to watch Dara Dess and she rides out to a shrine to Djara.

She's joined at the shrine by a pale woman, Urgrayne, Witch-Queen of the Harath-Eduins. She knew Artesia's mother and what she could have been--what she could have made Artesia, instead of the soldier she has become. Now she goes to fight for the Middle Kingdom that turned her king against her--and killed her loved ones:

They were all murdered because they laughed at the Agallite's defeat at Artesia's hands. The Agallites had killed Lysia the night before, even though Bran wished her spared as his seer. The priests cursed them as they died so the death guides couldn't find them. At the urging of Lysia's spirit, Urgrayne searched and found these others as the Wild Hunt rode the night. Some were lost though.

Artesia thanks Urgrayne for saving them, but she has not:

Artesia must bind them, but she only knows how to do minor charms or make war spirits her servant. The ghost of Lysia says there are other ways, and she will show her. Artesia strips her armor and draws sigils on her skin. She performs the ritual and binds them to her body, makes them part of her.

Things to Notice:

• We see the goddess Hathnalla for the first time
• And the Isklids--more on them in later issues.

Commentary: 
The title is a bit jokey for the heaviness of the issue, but it's an accurate one.

Hathnalla, Ferris's leoncephalic goddess, was likely inspired by Sekhmet and equally leonine Egyptian goddess whose purview was also war and healing. Her name suggests both Anath (a Semitic war goddess) and Valhalla (the Hall of the Slain in Norse myth).

Djara as a goddess of crossroads, resembles the Greek goddess Hecate. Her idol is depicted as three faced, just like Hecate's. Urgrayne, who is (perhaps poetically, perhaps not) is a variant on Ygraine or Igraine, ultimately derived to Eigyr, the mother of King Arthur.

Grimmer Fairy Tales

So for oh, a century or so, genre writers have been trying to "rehabilitate" fairies and put the scary back in them. The fact that Guillermo del Toro has still got to talk about that on director's commentaries for films like Hellboy II and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark suggests Machen and Blackwood, et al. just didn't get through to the masses. So I'm not going to convince you fairies can or should be scary, I'm going to suggest some different campaigns you can use them in if they are.

Unseelie Apocalypse
Malign fairies associated with death stalk the world and humanity is in danger of extinction. I've pitched the Faerie Apocalypse before, but that version was more analogous to the alien invasion plot or perhaps something like Planet of the Apes. This is the Faerie Apocalypse as more akin to zombie apocalypse films. It's more Walking Dead than Falling Skies, which mostly comes down to tone and some small details. Get read of the shining courts and anyway to negotiate with the Folk and play up their relentless murderousness. Fairies have a connection with the dead--take a look at the slaugh--so they're already something like zombies.

Rock City is scary, but probably not scary enough

Goblin Market
Roadside Picnic isn't genre horror, but it has some horrific elements to it. What if, instead of aliens, the Visitation had been fairies. What if there were zones of fairies? Neil Gaiman's Stardust sort of depicts a Fairy Zone, as does the urban fantasy series Borderland. (Both of those were borders rather than circumscribed zones, true, but close enough!) Neither of them are particularly horrific, though. But if you played up the alien weirdness of the Fae Zones (think Wackyland except terrifying lethal and just plan hostile to human life), you can probably get there. This would play pretty close to the "dungeon as horror" thing except all the creatures would be of the Fae.

Four Flavors of Fantasy in Azurth

I've written a number of posts now about the Land of Azurth, my new 5e setting, but I've only done a couple where I "pull back the curtain" and discuss my thought process about the setting as a whole. So here goes.

My initial statement of influences was essentially sword & sorcery comics of the 70s, Oz, Scott Driver's Dwarf-Land, and Adventure Time. As happens, those have gotten refined a bit over time, and perhaps more focused in terms of what I'm taking from them. It occurred to me that the touchstone for Azurth are fairytales and the earliest works of fantasy literature.

I wanted Azurth to sort of resemble Oz--and so it does. A land divided into quadrants. In Oz, the different lands are pretty similar. There inhabitants vary, true, but they aren't as differentiated as say Aquilonia and Cimmeria in Conan's Hyborian Age or Darokin and the Minrothad Guilds in Mystara. Thinking of the Mystara Gazeteers in general got me thinking about each country as a mini-setting unto itself.

Unlike Mystara, though, I wanted the countries to work within the boundaries of "fairytales and earliest works of fantasy literature," and mostly, I think I was able to do that.  Here's what we've got:

Noxia; A farytale land where the Evil Queen has won and taken over.
Yanth: A Oz-like, fantasy Americana/American fairytale sort of land, in the main.
Sang: Planetary Romance/boy's fantasy adventure.
Virid: Girl's fantasy adventure. She-Ra or Golden Girl sort with a bit of Golden Age Wonder Woman and Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld and perhaps a little Disney Princess.

All of those have the common element of owing as much to fairytales as to Tolkien (indeed, the clearest antecedents of two of them are pre-Tolkien). All of them (from fairy tale kingdoms to Barsoom to She-Ra's Etheria) share the motif of a larger realm with odd wainscots within it. Most of them engage in quite of a number of hoary tropes/cliches that mainstream fantasy lit and most fantasy rpgs find too cheesy/twee/juvenile to engage in (so instead they engage in modern tropes/cliches far more overused currently, potentially making them boring and samey).

Conceptually, all the countries fit together, but it will be interesting to see how it works in the game. Noxia connects to Yanth by way of their fairy tale underpinnings and things like Wicked, but Yanth to Sang might be a little harder, though some 70s comic fantasy, and things like Lt. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation might prove informative. We'll see.

Campaign Rumors

I wanted to run my new Land of Azurth campaign as more of a sandbox than my Weird Adventurs campaign (which tended to be more "mission style" as it was mystery oriented). I still intend for their to be mysteries in the current campaign, but they be more of an "easter egg" variety, by which I mean something cool if the players figure it out, but probably never essential to an adventure.

To this end, I borrowed a technique from Chris Kutalik over at the Hill Cantons, who runs the best sandbox campaign I've had the pleasure to play in: use of rumors, both as an adventure menu for players and to provide a window into ongoing background events in the setting. (Chris has a lot of other useful and stealable ideas of running this sort of campaign. Just check out this recent post.)

Anyway, here's the first set of rumors I gave the players at the end of the first session. This establishes the existence of the Publick Observator, which can serve both an in-game and metagame purpose:

In games where I have the time, I like to have the characters meet. It gives them a chance to get warmed up for roleplaying (and shows me how much they want to roleplay--which has implications for how I handle later sessions) and it gives them a chance to make up some background material that may be good grist for future adventures. I had asked each player prior to the first session to come up with a reason (or what they would give to others as the reason) they might be coming to Rivertown to seek an audience with Clockwork Princess Viola. One of the players suggest her ranger was coming to discuss a poaching problem--dovetailing nicely with one of the rumors I had thought of but not yet told the PCs about, of course!


This gave the them a good reason to select what they wanted to do next session. Of course, the other goings-on they chose not to investigate may not just go away. Some will have longterm consequences or will show up again, maybe with more dire connotations, next week. Over time, of course, these pre-session rumors will compete with goals and plans completely generated by the players.

Over the Garden Wall

Over the Garden Wall is a mini-series on Cartoon Network, running in 2 parts a night, every night this week, but I'm sure it will be repeated. Created by Patrick McHale (previously of Adventure Time), the series tells the story of two brothers lost in the woods--a magical forest, called the Unknown. There they meet talking animals, undead townsfolk, and avoid a dark Beast that people say roams the woods.

It's part Grimms' fairy tales, part Wizard of Oz (and maybe a bit Sandberg's Rootabaga Stories), imbued with great deal of folksiness. Where Adventure Time has rap and chiptunes, OtGW has parlor music and ragtime. Where Adventure Time has non sequiturs and weirdness, Over the Garden Wall has whimsy (not that it isn't weird at times).

Whimsy like a possum playing a dobro, which is just the right kind, I think.

If you like stuff like my Land of Azurth posts or Wampus Country, then you will probably like Over the Garden Wall. Even if you don't like those things, you probably should check it out just to see. Here's the first episode on Youtube.

Wednesday Comics: Artesia's Homeland

We'll pause in our story to get a little bit more of Smylie's great world-building. These two pages come from Artesia Annual #2, and give background on Daradja, the land in which the story began.

Warning: The text contains some spoilers for the series (though mild ones, I think). Read at your own risk.

Azurthite Bestiary: Hobgoblin

Art by Filip Cerovecki

In the Land of Azurth, hobgoblins are what comes from small folk or goblin warlocks who give themselves wholly over to some dark power. Exhorted to ever greater infamies in the name of arcane power, they barter their souls all at once or piecemeal, until they are dragged from this world to be fashioned into something more—and less—than what they had been. All hobgoblins are driven mad to one degree or another by their ordeal, but this only serves to increase their unpredictability and capacity for evil.

Hobgoblins have lairs in creepy locales, dark plots and sinister henchmen (villainous elves or dwarves, beast folk, clockwork monstrosities, minor demons or umber hulks are possibilities).

HOBGOBLIN
Small fiend, chaotic or neutral evil
AC 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 30 (7d6+6)
Speed: 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR 10(+0) DEX 14(+2) CON 12(+1) INT 14(+2) WIS 14(+2) CHA 16(+3)
Skills: Arcana +9, Intimidation +10
Damage Resistances cold, fire, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities poison
Conditioned Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft.
Languages Common, Goblinic, Infernal

Chilling Laugh. The cackle of the hobgoblin causes any creature within 300 ft. and able to hear it must succeed at a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute.
Spellcasting. The hobgoblin is (at least) a 7th level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (DC 18). It has a number of spells like a 7th level warlock.
Exploding Death. If reduced to 0 hit points, a hobgoblin explodes--messily. Any creature within 20 ft. must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or get slimed with hobgoblin ichor or be stunned for 1 turn.
Respawning. A destroyed hobgoblin will reform with full hit points by the next new moon unless their soul is found and destroyed.  Their souls are always kept hidden but generally are close by.  They have the appearance of insects or other crawling things molded from congealed shadow--inky black, confection-sticky,and unpleasant in texture. These souls can be destroyed by fire or magic, but possessing one affords a means to leverage a hobgoblin to do the possessors bidding.

Actions:
Claws. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 6 (2d4+1) slashing damage.

Night of Souls

An Allsoulstide Melaina charm

Melaina, the Faerie Lady of Souls, is most in the minds of the people of the Land of Azurth during the Allsoulstide celebration at the end of the harvest. Children go a-guising and receive treats in the form of skull-shaped cakes or candies. The nuns of Melaina paint their faces and perhaps dye their hair in honor of their goddess.

The Sisters of the Lady of Souls sometimes bestow skull cakes, as well, but theirs are of a magical sort and only doled as they divine the goddess wills. Ingesting one of these special cakes imparts the ability to speak with the departed, provided they are near an item or location tied to the soul, and the soul wishes to talk (reaction roll). The willingness of the one who ate the cake is not required.

On these nights, flickering will o' wisps abandon their usual places and appear in the streets of cities and towns and punctuate the darkness with their eerie, variegated glow. While not as overtly malevolent as the mad ones that haunt the wild or forgotten places, their purposes are inscrutable, though legends say they sometimes urge the living to discovery of old secrets.

Universal Monsters

I didn't really do any Halloween posts this year, so in grand tv tradition I'm going to rerun some Halloween specials of the past. Enjoy these monster meditations:

Frankenstein the gift of life keeps on giving.
The Mummy wrapped like candy, but not sweet.
Gill Man vs. Wolf Man head to head monster battle

Wednesday Comics: The Bearer of Bad Tidings

"Strangers in the Night"

Artesia #4 (April 1999) Story & Art by Mark Smylie

Synopsis: The troops give thanks to gods for the new day and the passing of the black sun. Stjepan, Atresia's brother, and his companions bring startling news from the south: The Thessid Empire has invaded the Middle Kingdoms.

We get a lot of background on the conflict:

The Middle Kingdoms have few allies. The League is holding back and Palatia, though a sworn enemy of the Empire, is mistrusted in the Middle Kingdom.

Artesia wonders if the Black Sun marked a defeat for the Thessids as it had before. Stjepan believes quite the opposite. Newly added to the Empire are the Isklids who worship Irre as the father of Islik from whom they claim descent.

It's a lot to take in. Their backwater homeland may be soon drawn into a war of great powers. Of course, Artesia and her lieutenants recognize Stjepan is a spy--they just don't know who he might be working for, as yet. It doesn't matter that he is Artesia's brother. The only blood that matters to her, she says, is blood that has been spilled. Her comrades are her kin, as far as she is concerned.

 The news has made their current conflict seem small. Some urge Artesia to take Dara Dess and depose Bran, others say she should march South. Artesia makes her decision:

She will parley with Bran. "The storm breaks and the wider world calls."

Things to Notice:

• Smylie gives us quite a geopolitical tour of the Known World (and a lot of hints at its history) in the guise of current events.

Commentary: 
Though events (and reputtation) have linked Artesia to war, this issue shows she's pragmatic. Despite Bran's betrayal, she intends to make peace to support the other Middle Kingdoms against Thessid-Gola.

Artesia's brother gets the spotlight in Smylie's novel The Barrow.

Halloween Treat

Weird Adventures pdfs and bundles with the pdf are now on sale at 33% off as part of Drivethrurpg/Rpgnow's Halloween Sale.

If you've never picked up a copy, now is a good time.!

Welcome to the (Castle) Machine

Art by Jeremy Duncan

Castle Machina is the palace and workshop of Viola, the Clockwork Princess of the Country of Yanth. It sits at the center of a walled compound of laboratories, workshops, and barracks accommodating the Princess's gnomic associates.

The castle was built from the legendary Walking Castle of Mirabilis Lum. The old artificer reportedly chose the location because of the caves beneath. Using automaton workers, Lum turned the upper cave levels in laboratories--then disappeared into them, never to be seen again. His castle sat empty for a time, them artificers, tinkerers, and would-be treasure hunters descended upon it to scavenge Lum's secrets. Some fell to cunning traps Lum had left behind, but most lost their lives to simple heedlessness regarding the castle's dangers.

Over time, a tribe of gnomes was able to make a home in the castle and even began remodeling it to their needs. Their triumph only lasted a handful of years before they accidentally released a creature part-machine, part-ogre, Clanking Borgo, that made himself the castle's ruler. He enslaved the gnomes and exacted tribute from passing river traffic. This state of affairs lasted until the Princess arrived from places unknown to vanquish the ogre and very shortly thereafter be declared ruler of the whole country by the Wizard.

Despite being the center of the Princess's government, the castle has not being completely tamed. Oozes and slimes--the results of failed experiments and alchemical wastes--seep through the depths beneath. Dangerous automata and magical curiosities from all of Lum's travels lurk in forgotten rooms, waiting to be re-activated. There are even rumored to be unguarded portals to other worlds.

The Art of Inspiration

The number of art books related to movies, computer games, and tv shows seem to have been increasing within the past few years. I just go the Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo this week, and Amazon helpfully tells me that art book for the charming animated film The Book of Life is now available. Though they can sometimes be a little pricey, I a good art book is great gaming inspiration.

The various Art of Star Wars books are pretty good--particularly for the prequel trilogy, where you get more concept art and discarded designs. For instance, early designs of for the character that became Darth Maul was a female Sith. This design later became the basis for Asaj Ventress. Unfortunately, these are out of print, though you can still find them.

The Avatar: The Last Airbender art book is a great one in terms of inspring production art and world detail. For The Legend of Korra, we've an art book for each season, so far. They are similar to the one for the original series, though individually not quite as good, probably because they aren't as concetrated. Still, they're well worth checking out.

The aboslute best ones are when the art book casts itself in a fictional context. The World of King Kong purports to be a history of Skull Island, but it's actually a fantastic guide to all the creatures created for the 2005 film.

Not all art books are created equal, alas. I found the Adventure Time book a bit disappointing as inspiration (better is The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia). Some of the movie related ones have beautiful art, but are low on concept art or hints of world detail where the real inspirational gold is to be found.

Rabbit Folk in 5e

Art by Jerome Jacinto

The Hara or Rabbit Folk have their own subkingdom within the Country of Yanth, though wandering swords-rabbits and minstrels of their kind may be encountered all over Azurth.

The Rabbit Folk live in underground warrens they call commots, where the peace is kept by knights led by a reeve. All the warrens are ruled by a king, currently one Lapin XXII who spends his days at leisure in the opulent burrow he shares with his harem.

Rabbit Folk balladeers tell of the tragic fall of a sister Hara kingdom whose warrens were invaded by a giant rattlesnake. In the tales, the undying king, maimed by the snake's vemon, roams the land in disguise, searching for a noble Hara (or any other hero, really) to restore his kingdom.

Hara are shorter than humans and thinner of limb, but sometimes plump in body. Their fur may be any color from white to black, with some shade of brown being the most common.

Art by Tony DiTerlizzi

Hara Traits
Ability Score Increase. Dexterity increased by 2 and Charisma by 1.
Age. Rabbit Folk live shorter lifespans than humans on average with only a few living beyond their 70. They are mature by their early teens.
Alignment. Hara tend toward good but can lean toward Law or Chaos.
Size. Hara are between 3 and 4 feet tall. Small.
Speed. Rabbit Folk are fleet of foot and have a base walking speed of 30 feet, despite their size.
Leaper. Rabbit Folk can make a running high jump or long jump after moving only 5 feet on foot.
Lucky. A Hara can reroll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
Nimbleness. A Hara can move through the space of any creature of larger size.
Languages. Rabbit Folk can speak and read Common. They also speak their on tongue, which they write in the standard Azurthite script.

Strange Stars: Welcome to the Outer Rim

There aren't too many more updates before we'll be done with the Strange Stars Setting Book. Here's the rough layout for the Outer Rim:

There are a couple of typos there, but it looks great overall. I worry a bit about the type size. It's always a struggle between cramming as much info in and the aesthetics.

Wednesday Comics: Artesia

My Artesia review will return next week. For now, here's a few illustrations from Artesia Annual #1.

Here are some bannermen.

And the King's Guard.

New to Rivertown

Yesterday was the inaugural session of my 5th edition Land of Azurth campaign. Kully Keenstep (Jim, bard), Kairon (Eric, tiefling sorcerer), Waylon (Tug, frox thief), Dagmar (Andrea, dwarf cleric), and Berekose (Bob, fighter) all happen to arrive on the same keelboat, Berta Mae. After stopping an extortion attempt by river rats (the mostly human kind), the five draw the attention of Mayor Yrrol Gladhand.

Gladhand gets them put at the top of the list of audiences with the Clockwork Princess, Viola, and also gets them rooms at the Dove Inn. He wants them to get in the Princess's good graces, and then report to him and the City Council on things that might be of financial interest. Not knowing what else to do, the group agrees.

The next morning, they take the ferry over to Mechanicstown, the collection of laboratories around Castle Machina. The gnome guards usher them into the audience chamber, where a pre-occupied Princess soon enters. She agrees to help them with their various requests, but asks them to perform a simple task for her first: take a small velvet bag to a man in the third level beneath the castle. She shows them on a map where to go but warns them against going any place else, lest they run afoul of the tribes of Looms. None of them known what Looms are, but they are assumed to be quite dangerous based on the context.

After perform the ritual they are given, the Lift rumbles downward to "L3." They make their way down the hallway, but right before the doorway, Waylon and Erekose notice a glistening: a gelatinous cube blocks the way! The group goes around to another entrance. This one is blocked by old furniture, but it's easily movable. All the while, they hear the sounds of chanting and ritual, but they never see what they assume to be the Looms.

Through the grimy window of the laboratory, they can see a pale, flickering light. They enter and find a path amid the old laboratory and alchemical equipment. They can hear strange, distorted voices. They come upon the source of the light: an odd large, magnifying glass-like lens, and a man-shaped thing of metal looking into it. The metal shape turns toward them.

A voice emerges from a grating in its chest, and it asks if the group brought "them." They hand the bag over, and it dumps the contents on the table--tiny, metal pieces. It turns back to the lens and says: "we can renew our game."

Dagmar sees inside the round, glass opening in the thing's body to see a motionless old man with tubes stuck in him.

The group returns to the surface, where the Princess agrees to look into the things they asked about, and gives them a few leads.

Tales of the Weird and Fantastic

Just in time for Halloween, Pulp Mill Press has released a second volume of Libram Mysterium edited by Sean Robson, this one subtitled Tales of the Weird and Fantastic. While the first volume was Sword and Sorcery tales, this one focuses on horror and macabre in the pulp vein. I haven't read this one yet, but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

It's available for the Kindle and most other electronic formats.

Azurthite Bestiary: Death Dwarf

Death Dwarfs are repulsive creatures inimical to all other life. When the Anti-Sun was invoked by the Gloom Elves' ancient spell, the Death Dwarfs followed it into Azurth and made their home in the subazurthian depths. They hate all life, but respect power, after a fashion. The have no allies; only enemies and masters.

Death Dwarfs speak a strange, backwards sounding language, which can be crudely interpreted if a Subazurthian listener views the Death Dwarf in a mirror as they are speaking. Death Dwarfs can understand Undercommon fully well. Their eyes glow in darkness, but are blackest voids in even dim light. Their blood is equally black and mildly caustic. They subsist on a diet of corrosive minerals and poisonous ore.

In a rage, Death Dwarfs can release their anti-energy and swell to a monstrous size, like some funhouse mirror negative image.

Death Dwarfs are the Land of Azurth version of Duergar. They are statted the same, but have the following regional effects around their lairs:

• Plant life sickens and dies, adult animals weaken, and their progeny are born deformed within 1000 ft.
• Food brought into a liar becomes rancid within a day and water becomes poisoned.

Three Rivertown Criminals

Honest Jon
If you need something illegal, not quite legal, or just not something to be inquired about in polite company, then Honest Jon may well be of assistance to you. He also specializes in finding a buyers for items of complicated provenance. All for a fee, naturally.

Calico Bonny
She is the Queen of the Floating World, and her palace is the only true ship among it's ramshackle flotilla, the Queen Azura. Bonny is never seen (though she is rumored to have met the Princess), but conducts her business through a succession of lissome girls all called "Fleur." No new gambling barge or pleasure boat opens without her approval. And the Queen always gets her tithe.

Art by Dan Norton

Mapache "Cleanhands" Took 
There is no "raccoon thieves' guild" in Rivertown. The very notion is absurd. Even if there were (which of course, there most certainly is not), it's ringleader and mastermind wouldn't be a shabby, gentleman of the road like our Mapache Took. Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.

Wednesday Comics: Strangers in the Night

"Strangers in the Night"

Artesia #3 (March 1999) Story & Art by Mark Smylie

Synopsis: Night falls over the battlefield and something strange is in the air. Artesia tells her troops that the door to the underworld has been opened; it is not their goddess Djara and her companions, but the Wild Hunt that roams this night. She tells the warriors to stay close to the ghost heads--heads of the fallen placed on stakes--tonight: One ghost will ward against another.

Artesia rides out to warn the scavengers they've seen among the fallen.

She finds they are not human but hathaz-ghul. They can't be harmed by mere iron, but Artesia's rune-inscribed sword is something different. She's only just defeated them and finished off her dying horse, when she feels it coming. She runs for the ghost wards, but:

She boldly tells the master of the Wild Hunt that he has one night given to him by Yhera, and this is not it.

But Artesia has already chosen sides.

Her spirits rebuke the Master of the Hunt to be gone. Artesia has been claimed by another. "Ah, the heart of war, After so long." the huntsman says. "I am glad."

He departs, leaving Artesia to wonder who it is that can banish the Wild Hunt. Then, she's distracted by the cry of the dying Dymas. He explains that he had to change sides because his king told him to. He would never side with the Knights of Agall and the other outlanders, though. He worries that the death guides have not come, that the souls of he and his men will be lost.

Artesia reassures when that they will keep the vigil for his journey. Their prayers will give his soul 7 days to find their way. Then, they come. And Dymas sees them.

Artesia says her prayers to Geniche, goddess of the Underworld. Though she is afraid, she looks the goddess in the face:

Artesia flinches from the bright light, and then the goddess is gone--along with the souls of the dying.

Her troops find her their in the morning. They tell her three outlanders slipped by the pickets last night. Artesia sees the ones they speak of approaching. They say they have come to the highlands to find a woman: a woman captain, once a king's concubine. A woman born in the lowlands, but come to the Highlands. A witch like her mother.

Artesia embraces her brother, Stjepan.

Things to Notice:

• With his recitation of the rumors about her, Stjepan relates a lot of Artesia's backstory.

Commentary: 
The Wild Hunt, which appears in this issue, is a well-known European myth, with the Master of the Hutn varying, depending on the culture. The corpse-consuming hathaz-ghul are inspired by the Arabic ghul (ghoul).