Azurthite Bestiary: Heap

Heaps are lumbering creatures most commonly found in the bottomland swamps along the Yellow River in the Country of Yanth, particular in the environs of Lardafa, the Beggar City. They appear as anthropomorphic mounds of plant material, sometimes mixed in garbage.

Though only a few in the Land of Azurth are aware of their origins, Heaps are made when the process of generating a Green Man goes awry, leaving them unconnected to the spirits of nature, and dumb brutes, in the main. Heaps are nevertheless dimly aware of what their mission would have been and at least seem to intend to protect the forests where they dwell, though their means of doing so is not always effective.

Heaps are feared by most folk (and not without some reason),  but Lardafans view them with reverence and augur meaning from their mysterious comings and goings.

HEAP
large plant, neutral
AC 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 128 (15d10+45)
Speed: 20 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 8(-1) CON 16(+3) INT 8(-1) WIS 11(+0) CHA 7(-2)
Skills  Stealth +2
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing
Condition Immunities blinded, deafened
Senses passive Perception 10.

False Appearance. A heap looks a mound of vegetation if it lies motionless.

Actions:
Multiattack. A heap makes two slam attacks per round.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 13(2d8+4) bludgeoning damage.

Wednesday Comics: The Spire

The Spire #1(July 2015); Written by Simon Spurrier, Art by Jeff Stokely

The Spire is a massive tower city in the middle of the desert of the Nothinglands. It's plagued by ethnic and class divisions and enemies on the outside. It's Baron has just passed away, and on the eve of it's new Baroness's coronation, a series of strange and grisly murders has occurred. There just may be a conspiracy afoot, and Commader Shå of the Watch, a "skew" (a slur for a nonhuman), has to deal with the prejudices of the people around her while trying to catch the murder and reveal the bigger picture.

The Spire (at least the first issue) has a bit of a manga/anime feel (mostly through the art) but the world itself, particularly the ramshackle Spire, its faux-Shakespearean street punks (antiki), and various nonhuman species, reminds me most of works of the New Weird, particularly Mieville's Bas-Lag novels and the Deepgate Codex by Alan Campbell.

It's only the first issue, so it's hard to say where it's going, but it seems like it's going to be well worth finding out.

The Beggar City

art by SkavenZverov

Lardafa, the Shanty City, the Beggar City, lies in the bottomland swamp along the Yellow River in the Country of Yanth. Its sobriquets are mostly accurate. It's buildings, plank and rope thoroughfares, and pubic monuments, are almost are of ramshackle design and built with salvaged or scrounged materials. It's people beg as a vocation, supplemented with "coney-catching," meaning thievery or small confidence games. These activities they practice outside their city, up and down the River.

Lardafans ape the political bureaucracy of other towns and cities, but in truth, this is mainly for propriety's sake. Lardafans look to their families (loose gangs where blood kinship is not required) and informal alliances between them for order and the mediation of disagreements.

This has not always been the case. In the past, Hobo Kings (perhaps Shagrick I the greatest among them) have arisen and set their people on campaigns of mass panhandling and cadging on the roadways around the swamplands, and even on the River itself, causing a great deal of bother to travelers. Such kingships seldom last long, the Lardafans being a people adverse to authority.

Lardafans are masters finding items of value, sometimes very unusual ones in the backwaters of their swamplands. Their stories say that those waters were once a dumping groups for failed experiments by Mirabilis Lum and his associates, but no one knows for sure. It is not advisable to attempt to search the Lardafan's lands without their permission.

The other strange thing found in the swamps are the Heaps, large creatures the Lardafans view with a certain reverence. These beasts or fae-creatures resemble roughly man-shaped, shambling masses of vegetation and detritus. Many stories are told by the folk along the Yellow River about the Heaps: that they've saved lost children, left flowers for pretty maidens, but also that they've drowned hunters, and over-turned skiffs and consumed the occupants. Despite these tales, Lardafans do not hold them to be creatures of menace, if left alone--though they superstitiously view the appearance and activities of Heaps as prophetic. Usually only one is seen at a time and they are seldom heard to make any sound. Lardafans believe they sometimes gather perhaps as many as a half dozen and hold primitive conclaves where they're low howls travel throughout the bottomland.

The Return of Hawk the Slayer

Long time readers of this blog are aware of my affection for the 1980s fantasy film Hawk the Slayer. Looks like the long-anticipated sequel, Hawk the Hunter, may come to pass via a Kickstarter campaign launching this August after a special screening of the first film at FrightFest in London. Writer/director Terry Marcel has cut a deal with Rebellion (game maker and publisher of 2000 AD) getting Kickstarter assistance and giving Rebellion game and publishing rights. Could Hawk be going multi-media in the future?

Anyway, a bit more information here.

Also, Hawk the Slayer is dropping on blu-ray tomorrow in the UK! I suspect this means a region B release, but hopefully a region A version for us in the Americas is in the works.

Forces are Joined

The Armchair Planet storefront on drivethrurpg and rpgnow are no more, but Armchair Planet lives on as an imprint in the Hydra Cooperative. Here's where you can find Weird Adventures, Strange Stars, and my upcoming projects. While I'm excited about the future or pooling capabilities and resources with the Hydra guys, there was a little sadness in giving up Armchair Planet's spot, still having everything under one umbrella is the best thing in the long run--synergy as the kids say, and all that.

So if you have a link on your site to one of my books, please update it, or let someone else know if you visit a page that does.

The Strange Stars game system books are the next things from Hydra from me. The Fate book is in the editing stage, so hopefully not too much longer, and the old school book is being written. Robert "The Savage World of Krul" Parker is lending me a hand on that one, which should speed up the process.

Hydra overall has a lot of cool stuff coming: Anthony's California Dunes (a weird, mythic California recasting of Slumbering Ursine Dunes), Chris unveils The Misty Isles with mo' Eld and mo' problems, Mike is working on the second edition of his Japanese-flavored old school Ruins & Ronin, and just over the horizon is Jason "Dungeon Dozen" Sholtis's weird underworld epic campaign setting Operation Unfathomable.

Wednesday Comics: Rann Mapped

Rann, as originally appearing in Showcase #17 (1958) is in the Alpha Centauri system. It's home to an advanced civilization reminiscent of advanced civilizations throughout planetary romance--which is to say advanced in some ways but without a lot of infrastructure to get in the way of adventuring. The person doing the adventuring in this case is Adam Strange, archaeologist from Earth who is brought to Rann by the Zeta Beam, ostensibly an attempt at communication (though Alan Moore suggests its creator had teleportation in mind all along).

Though Adam Strange had a good run in his early adventures and has been brought back for later series, all this traversing of Rannian geography has never been accompanied by a map. Jack C. Harris addressed that lack in The Amazing World of DC Comics #8 (1974):

Harris scoured Adam Strange's appearances to get all the details:

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand, Leprous

Deodands are a horrible danger in the darkness of Subazurth, and the Leprous Deodand is perhaps the most feared of the lot. Not only do they favor humankind in preference to all other meals, but they spread a wasting disease to many who are lucky enough to escape their clutches. The no doubt terror-tinged recollections of their appearance agree on most points: They are giantish, like other deodands, but with an emaciated look. Their sore-marked and flaking skin hangs in loose folds as if they are wasting away within it. Their lips are receded back from their mouths lending them a permanent rictus. Their eyes are wide and vacant. The only sound they make is a desiccated wheeze or sigh, or a corpse-moan.

DEODAND, LEPROUS
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 126 (12d10+60)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 18(+4) CON 20(+5) INT 12(+1) WIS 12(+1) CHA 17(+3)
Saving Throws  Dex +8 Con +9 Wis +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 11.

Magic Resistance. A leprous deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Contagion. A creature that touches a leprous deodand or is touched or hit by it must make a DC 15 Constitution save or become infected. One day later the individual develops a flesh rotting which gives a vulnerability to all damage. At the end of each long rest, the infected must make a DC 15 Constitution save or the disease progresses. At the end of the next long rest the disease has spread so that they have a disadvantage to Charisma checks. At the end of the second long rest they can a disadvantage on Constitution checks. Three successful saves cause the disease's progression to halt and healing to begin. Three failures mean the effects become permanent.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, a deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A leprous deodand may make two claw attacks.
Rotting Claw. +8 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 10 (1d6+7) plus 1d6 necrotic damage.