- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond. Reckless.
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A vagabond as well, but more measured.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - Dabbler in the arcane. This time, he dabbles!
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - Scruffy teamster with a blunderbuss and a willingness to use it.
Friday, March 29, 2024
The Shreev Comes to Thono Inn
Friday, March 15, 2024
The Uninvited Worm
Our Gnydrion game in Grok?! continued last Sunday. The group:
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond with a stun wand--and reckless is his middle name!
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A vagabond, as well. A man who enjoys a good meal.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - Dabbler in the arcane. When a spell is cast, he does it.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - Teamster with a blunderbuss.
The group sends a message by courier to the Shreev Molok and the Eminent Compulsor. They don't expect back up to arrive for hours, so they must prepare for the rendezvous with the mysterious Wol Zunderbast themselves.
As anyone faced with nothing to do but wait and the ability to expense luxuries, they order room service: grilled velocipede haunch with a side of turnips. Antor requests his well done to the scandalized reaction of the staff. When Nortin opens the dome on his dish he finds a large, fat worm-caterpillar thing with glowing, strobing eyes.
The creature was attacking them psychically! They had to struggle to avoid its soporific effect. They attacked the creature, and Jerfus finally knocked it to the ground, smothering with his bulk.
At that point, the man calling himself Wol Zunderbast revealed himself. He was then wearing the traditional garb of a professional assassin. He had an organic-looking ieldri style needle gun pointed at them.
The group firmly declined his offer to politely allow him to kill them. A combat ensued, a mix of successful moves and almost slapstick failures. Despite Zunderbast's superior skills, he was out-numbered, and Antor and Yzma had distance weapons.
Friday, March 1, 2024
Encounters at Thono; Our Heroes Don't Get Baths
Bao dwek Thabub (art by Steven de Waele) |
Our Gnydrion game in Grok?! continued last Sunday. The group was all there:
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond on holiday. He wants to use that stun wand.
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - Also a vagabond. Here, a large man at spycraft.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - Dabbler in the arcane. He wears a star in the center of his tunic.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - Teamster out of her element.
Ensconced in a suite in the Thono Inn, expensed to the Eminent Compulsor, the group enjoys a nice dinner and a bit of rest. The next morning finds them beginning their investigations to uncover the identity of Wol Zunderbast. In doing so they encounter (and are distracted by) some of the other guests: Bao dwek Thabub, typically pungent hwaopt scholar studying something called "fey vortices" in the area; Sula Av and Tharom Welk an overly friendly couple on holiday from Ascolanth.
Finally, after leaving a message at the desk in a failed stratagem to find Zunderbast's room, they encounter the man himself:
He's intense and no nonsense but arranges a meeting later that evening with Nortin to discuss the "item" further. He also invites in the game in the casino (five frond hokus or thari or even quorn lancets) but Nortin declines.
With the meeting set, the group decides to take advantage of the famous gas bathes fed by the eldritch substance of the Lake of Vermilion Mists. They head to the bathhouse, but they are told its out of order by the inebriated engineer, Ormuz Halx, who raves at them briefly about something in caves that wants to kill everyone. Before they can dig into these remarkable claims, Gris Samber shows up to usher Halx away apologetically, citing his drunkenness as the source of his odd behavior.
Monday, February 12, 2024
At Last, Thono Inn
After a bit of a hiatus, or Gnydrion game using Grok?! continued. The party was complete:
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond, now with the air of authority.
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A Gentleman of the Road, high on patent medicine.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - An arcane dabbler whose quality is underappreciated.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - Just along for the ride.
Inside the mysterious chest in the wagon was a device of the Ancients that the group surmised was the peddler's means of making his patent medicines. It seemed to be missing any substrate for manufacture at present. The group loaded up the chest with the device and personal supplies of the medications, which Antor and Jerfus wasted no time indulging in.
Back on the road, they soon were in sight of the resort on the banks of the Lake of Vermilion Mists. They turned over their caloot and hostler with a suitable tip. They also chose to confide in the make regarding their special mission, but then they swore him to secrecy.
They make their way into the main building of the Inn, where they are greeted by Yrleen Thono, the 25th generation of her family to operate the resort, and her husband, Gris Samber. They confide in the couple regarding their mission from the Compulsor. After overcoming Samber's qualms, they are allowed a look in the guest book. There is indeed a "W. Zunderbast" who has been there 5 days. Probably the malefactor they are looking for!
Yrleen has Merva, one of the servants, lead them to their suite. They have their luggage (mainly their appropriated chest) brought up to the room. They look forward to a dinner of lake gas steamed land crab and seasonal vegetables.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Strange Things Along the Road to Thono Inn
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A Vagabond, possibly coming up in the world.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - An arcane dabbler in need a good, stout staff.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - A teamster once more.
Monday, December 18, 2023
A Meeting with the Compulsor
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A Vagabond with the item everyone wants, but no clear idea how to make it pay.
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - An arcane dabbler who doesn't want to be tracked by telesthetic hounds.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - A grubby teamster who wonders how she got into this mess.
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Gnydrion Chargen Tables for Grok?!
The lite rpg Grok?! uses random tables for character generation, but the standard ones weren't entirely suitable to my Gnydrion setting. I made my own for the columns where I thought it mattered. These were done quick to have something to use in play but if I ever were to publish them, they would probably get a more thoughtful review.
Background and an Asset
- Fringe Theorist - a map detailing the location of fae vortices
- Wastrel - a pillbox with an assortment of calmatives, excitants, analeptics, and euphoriants
- Gambler - a deck of marked cards
- Civil Servant - impenetrable but official looking documents
- Academician - reference works
- Rogue - dagger
- Fugitive - shiv
- Itinerant Mystic - worn mat for meditation and begging bowl
- Dilettante - servant
- Veteran - scars, each with a colorful story
- Freelance Scrutinizer - sap
- Mountebank - traveling case of tonic elixirs
- Rhabdomancer - crystalline rod carried in a velvet-lined case
- Vagabond - tinder pouch and firestone
- Teamster - blunderbuss
- Traveling Merchant - case full of wares
- Entertainer - essential implement for your act
- Arcane Dabbler - talisman with one spell
- Artisan - trade tools
- Mercenary - a good sword
- outlandish hat
- cape of shifting colors
- muff pistol
- nonnig
- armor
- throwing dagger
- cracked eidolon crystal showing the image of a beautiful, desperate seeming woman
- round trip first class airship ticket
- magic spyglass
- portable writing desk with pen, ink, and stationary
- stylish rapier
- vial of hwaopt intoxicant scent, malodorous to humans
- letter of credit from a hohmmkudhuk craftsman
- cage with fighting zegej
- pouch of cured meat
- invigorating elixir
- 25 feet of rope
- lantern
- pouch of dried mushrooms
- stun wand
- small jar of cured glount roe, sealed
- guardsman's baton
- velvet-lined case of military medals
- punch dagger
- voice altering oral lozenge stone
- leather case with two syringes of thrall slime
- Wurvulb's Primer on Ieldri Language
- jar of analgesic linament
- broad-brimmed hat concealing steal skullcap
- signet ring with enigmatic but portentous engraving
- brass knuckles
- sedative powder (2 beast of burden calibrated doses)
- hatchet
- box of cheep cheroots
- medallion authorizing operation of a commercial paddle boat in Whulggan Sound
- basket of two candy manikins
- Offical pardon for a Jeng Turly signed by the Provincal Governor
- toiletry kit with mirror, tweezers, straight razor, and coagulating powder
- pistol ballester
- scratch and smell pamphlet map of the library of Ao-Dweb
- Nurila Tambrol
- Tobrana Velth
- An Morold
- Inerva Alanx
- Fanora Zriol
- Pema Rheest
- Nima Ermot
- Yzma Vekna
- Alux Vrys
- Raiga Mehtaloon
- Syara Wanzor
- Irallene Tark
- Glismo Nadok
- Reet Ulam
- Antor Hogus
- Ger Vortin
- Zamo Thrase
- Druf Ombry
- Nortin Tauss
- Grevan Calo
- Trane Durnur
- Mulz Thomber
- Jerfus Grek
- Sy Kamor
Monday, December 4, 2023
Under Compulsion in Phaelorn Gap
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond with a stun gun and a dislike of authority, worse now than ever!
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - An arcane dabbler just trying to get by.
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - A grubby teamster watching things spiral out of control.
Monday, November 20, 2023
Occurrences in the Night in and Around Phaelorn Gap
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond with a stun gun and now a chatty quaklu
- Nortin Tauss (Aaron) - An arcane dabbler, skeptical of Hogus' decisions
- Yzma Vekna (Andrea) - A grubby teamster trying to be the voice of reason
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A vagabond, but fat where Hogus is lean, and possessed of a kaleidoscopic cloak
Monday, November 6, 2023
The Gagged Quaklu
We did some in my Gnydrion setting this weekend in the area of the Lake of Vermilion Mists using the rules lite game Grok?! Most of the players had the game, but none of us had ever played it, so it was a good excuse to take it for a spin.
I quickly put together new Background and Asset tables, but it was a rush job, and something I'm probably revisit over time. Anyway, the players were:
Andrea - Yzma Vekna, teamster with poor hygiene and a blunderbuss.
Paul - Antor Hogus, skinny vagrant with a stun wand.
Friday, November 3, 2023
Medioxumate Devils
Art by Ske Bozic |
Zeniba Goll, called Zeniba the Shrewd, self-anointed Mayor-Prefect of Wollusk is the leader of gang known as the Medioxumate Devils. It is through this group of cutthroats that she maintains her hold on the town and resists overthrow by the faction led by Sodmos Thalur the Vitner.
Pictured here: Kro, Skeesik Two-Knives, Zeniba, Chult Angmox, and Olma "Silence" Mondark.
I've been reading the rules lite rpg Grok?! recently, so here are Zeniba's stats in that:
ZENIBA
Traits: Aging, former bodyguard, gang boss, "The Shrewd", wants to run Wollusk
Assets: Power Rod, leather armor, goon entourage, [+4 slots]
Monday, October 30, 2023
Scintilla
Scintilla are the common currency of civilized Gyndrion. They are naturally occurring shield-shaped crystals of various colors, with the most common known as opaline. The are typically harvested from areas with a history of volcanic activity, but their generation also relates in poorly understood ways to the flows or lines of fae, the energy which is harnessed to work magic.
Pre-scintilla crystals form within cysts occurring underground with have the appearance of geodes. The crystals within fracture into scintilla upon exposure to air. Scintilla are harvested from ruptured nodules, though the nodules themselves may be excavated and carefully ruptured by hand, a process called "cracking." Cracking tends to yield more scintilla, but over lower value.
Despite claims by montebanks, no sophont of Gnydrion has every been proven to be able to detect pre-scintilla nodules. So-called scintilla-sniffing nonnigs however are able to do so, though how they do this is mysterious.
In addition to their pleasing, crystalline appearance, scintilla are favored as currency because they are impossible to counterfeit, even through use of magic. In fact, scintilla are minor magical insulators, absorbing and dissipating fae energy directed specifically upon them, turning black and cracking in the process.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
The Island and the Censor
Pohjal or in older texts Cinis Pohjal is a large island of volcanic origin within the Lake of Vermilion Mists. It is a desolate place of ash and pumice, dotted with hot springs and smoking holes, and attracting an inordinate number of noisome gas flies. In summary, there is little to recommend it, except that is also a place where scintilla may be gathered without diving and the attendant risk of angry urulu.
Scintilla cysts burst in the warmth of the hotsprings, and sifting the loose sand from their bottoms can yield imperfect--but perfectly spendable--scintilla of opaline and citrine colors with the rare sanguine. By some oversight of Panarchic edict, the ownership of scintilla gathered naturally above the lake's surface is an open question, allowing a legal opportunity for others to lay a claim so long as they can avoid disputation with the Eminent Compulsor or his agents.
Besides the inconvenience of reaching the island and retrieving the scintilla there is another factor discouraging their acquisition. The island is the home of a baleful Visitant known as the Censor. This being is said to appear as a slender automaton with feminine form and four arms, two of which have dexterous hands and two large, scalpel-blades. The Censor lies dormant much of the time, but when she awakens, she seeks sophonts to improve upon in the direction of her moral sensibilities. There are cases of individuals emerging her editing free of their previous vices and deficits of character to go on to lives of distinction, but they are rare.
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Telesthetic Hound
The telesthetic hounds of Gnydrion are a domestic animal of obscure origins. As their name suggests, they are superficially similar to the canines brought from Earth in ancient times, but they possess a number of anatomic and physiologic differences, most obviously the extended and flexible snout ending in a star-shaped sensory organ. The protuberances radiating from the nose are sensitive to magic and allow the hound to track the aura of creatures and in some cases predict their future whereabouts.
The hounds are commonly bred within the Doar Obdurate where they are used not only to track criminals, but to predict dissident behavior via their sensitivity to human emotion. Scholars are divided on whether the hounds' capabilities actually allow this, but the Obdurs have never been zealous to let mere proof get in the way of legal certainty.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Phaelorn Gap
Shreev Seg Molok (art by Jason Sholtis) |
Phaelorn Gap is a town near the Lake of Vermilion Mists along the Panarch's roadway heading east away from the great cities and across the mountains. It is the center of the scintilla harvesting industry with the Lake. The wealth harvested from the Lake belongs by law to the Panarch and flows to his coffers save that which is paid in renumeration or lost to corruption.
The divers, young, unmarried women by tradition, receive little in the way of wages for their efforts, but do receive a state pension upon retirement. Some former divers become matrons, responsible for wrangling and discipline of the divers and insuring they do not skim from harvest unduly. The matrons, of course, take their gratuity before the Panarch gets his.
Operations in Phaelorn Gap are overseen by the Eminent Compulsor. The current holder of that position is Briszm Wungar. Officially his only function is to ensure the scintilla are transported West and the Panarch receives his due. In practice, he is the overseer of the entire operation, enriched by his own peculation.
Wungar is not personally an opposing man, so he must rely on the dignity of his office and the strong arms of his local enforcers to assure his will is done. Chief among these enforcers is the Shreev, Seg Molok, and his subalterns. Molok is a veteran of minor conflicts in the region and is said to have survived (after sufficient brave resistance, certainly) the Whelming of Fort Olmovar by the Great M'Gog Horde. He is a man respected by the townsfolk of Phaelorn Gap for his pragmatism and evenhandedness. His sense of honor and appreciation of duty is such that the size of the inducement proffered sways him less than his reckoning of the ethical questions involved.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Thono Inn
The Thono Inn and Baths are a famed, but aging attraction near the Lake of Vermilion Mists, which offer "gas baths" of the peculiar substance of the Lake itself in addition to more traditional bathing. Yrming is the eleventh generation of Thonos to run the baths, though in truth she leaves the day-to-day management to her husband, Gris Samber, while she manages the special activities for the inn's extensive festival schedule that borrows holidays liberally from diverse civic and religious calendars. So large are the baths that Thono Village has arisen nearby to support it.
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Witchmire Rumors
A few rumors regarding the Witchmire on Gnydrion:
- “Does the Witchmire seem forlorn in aspect? Well, so it is. But it is also locale of historic importance as the site of the Landfall, which is to say, the place of humankin’s advent on Gnydrion.”
- “I take you for experienced travelers, inured to the variegated configurations human appetite and proclivity may take, so I will speak with candor unadorned by circumlocution: The prominent families of Gamory are perverse. Their cult seeks congress of a carnal nature with ieldra.”
- “The witch Heth has come to live on an island surrounded by treacherous quag. She wears the semblance of a crone, but in her true form she is youthful and very beautiful. She holds a treasure of jewels and fine trinkets lavished upon her by wealthy suitors in her homeland.”
- “Last winter, a mushroom-hunter of Draum made it known he had happened by a Black Obelisk with an aperture where before there had been scatheless stone. Word perhaps traveled as far south as Ascolanth, for scant months ago a party led by a trio of sorcerers arrived. They hired a guide and undertook to find the Obelisk. None of that expedition returned.”
- “Are you familiar with the ditty? It speaks of the disappearance and looked-for triumphant return of Prince Wanaxandor. He found it expedient to flee more civilized regions after his ill-planned efforts to overthrow the rule of his uncle, the Panarch. He is popularly supposed by rustics and simpletons to be in hiding, gathering a force armed with dire alien armaments, plundered from the Black Obelisks for a repeated attempt.”
- “Wollusk is no more in the grip of rogues meager of scruple than most habitations similarly situated far from civilization, but Zeniba and her Devils have a zeal in the application of violence that borders on obsessive. My admonition: watch yourselves and do not attract undue notice!”
- “A famed medium from the South has recently arrived. She offers intercession for the folk of the region with the wrathful presences of the Mire. She asks no compensation at present for her services. Popular opinion is divided between those that regard her as a fool and those that judge her insane. I am broader of imagination than most and accord both concepts a measure of validity. Be that as it may, I suppose she will need escorts in her endeavors.”
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Beetles & Birds
Beetle Milk Mead
A beverage favored in the west of Gnydrion, beetle milk mead is made from the fermentation of a sugary liquid ("the milk") produced by a species of beetle native to the titanic trees of the coastal forests. These colonials insects have members of their community who function as living casks for their hive. They gorge themselves on food and store the liquid they produce in their abdomens so they distend to an incredible degree, having the appearance when full of plump fruit with a diameter as wide as the length of the first digit of a man's thumb. The milk is harvested from the engorged beetles and fermented. The resulting liquid is sometimes added to beer to sweeten it but can also be mixed with the local liquor to render that more enjoyable, as well.
The beetles are farmed by placing thick slices of the bark of their favored trees into beetlehouses. This practiced has allowed the production and enjoyment of beetle milk mead to spread to places where the trees do not grow.
Quaklu
Quaklus are the ubiquitous saddle birds of the Northwest region. It is assumed by most learned folk of the modern age, that the birds are a result of the puissant science of the ancients, though the pedants of the hwaopt have alleged that the quaklus are a distinct lineage from the creatures of humankin's homeworld and so must have been taken from some other world in the past.
Whatever their origins some quaklu, considered atavistic in the modern parlance, are more than just cunning animals and are capable of speech. The accidental acquisition of such a gifted fowl is considered an unlucky turn due to their willingness to make their thoughts and wishes known--and unwelcome trait in a riding beast.
Friday, March 24, 2023
The Library, Ao-Dweb
What follows is excerpted from the journal publications of the scholar Nura Glismod who was sent by one minster or another of Ascolanth (the writ, in the manner of all standard Imperial bureaucrat text, is unclear on its specific authorities) as part of an "exchange" with the hwaopt at the Library of Ao-Dweb.
First, I should address the less pleasant aspects of interaction with hwaopt, namely the odor. My associates and I utilized olfaction dampeners to make it bearable, but I found it necessary to burn my clothes afterwards.
What has generally been said about the Library is true: It is undoubtedly the greatest repository of knowledge currently in existence and a center for the most advanced scholarship in the world. It sprawls over numerous subterranean chambers, some of which must be natural, if modified, others some entirely constructed.
The humidity of caves would generally be a barrier to their use as an archive, but the hwaopt have enacted some sort of magical shield (one can feel it when entering the structure) that keeps the air dry. I was told by another visitor (a suspicious voluble An-Woon Thuan of the Mountain of Wizards) that the hwaopt have wards to dampen magics within the Library for fear of eroding their controlled encompassment.
The hwaopt organizational system is arcane. I was told that librarians only those you can passed rigorous examinations in the hwaopt classification of knowledge. The dangers to any would-be browser are more than merely not finding the volume one was looking for. I was told by our guide in what I assume are sober tones for a hwaopt that persons have become lost in the library for days when they wondered off to more esoteric collection areas. Apparently, scent plays some part in the hwaopt system, but the details are closely guarded.
One unusual danger in the Library: the occasional incursion by troglodytes from some neighboring caves. This occurred in a part of the structure why we were there. It is puzzling as to why the hwaopt allow this, when presumably they could prevent it. Instead, they merely close areas of the library to the public until the brutish creatures have moved on.
Perhaps related to this mystery, I happened to observe at a distance an interaction between a troglodyte and a hwaopt while we were being ushered to a different location due to the incursion. The hwaopt seemed in some sort of stupor, perhaps even paralzyed. The troglodyte approached very close with a demeanor of hostility, but the hwaopt remained rooted to the spot with an expression I would call vacant, while acknowledging the difficulty of diving meaning from their alien countenances. What became of the hwaopt, I do not know, and I thought it best not to question our guides on it.