Oakhurst: Deeper and Deeper

After a pact with a Hag, our Cleric, Druid, Rogue, and Monk returned to the village via a teleportation spell. The Cleric found a halfling volunteer for a cure from the Hag and the Rogue volunteered himself. 

The Hag was angry. She wanted a halfling, not a human.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group quickly headed to Oakhurst through the Hag's territory, the Bone Thieves Orc territory (and the massive smoke to the southwest) and plains during bulette mating season and the hill giants who hunt them.

The Monk headed to the nearest bar, Frye's, while Corkie, servant of Pelor questioned the Cleric about the halfling Hugh (a father with 3 living children), who had gone missing (their volunteer).

Then the Hag contacted the Cleric, Druid, and Monk telepathically. The Cleric and Druid were so shocked by the mental intrusion they vomited (and gained 2 levels of exhaustion) while the Monk became sober. The Hag was FURIOUS. She wanted halflings, not humans. She demanded an offering (and the geas they were under enforced it). She teleported a fetish to the Monk who found a short young human woman and sent her to the Hag. Which only made the Hag MORE furious. She sent another fetish to the Cleric, who found Hugh's oldest daughter, Rona and offered for her to see her father again, she agreed and POOF.

Corkie found the Cleric with witnesses saying that he had been around Rona before she disappeared, but he talked his way out of trouble and took the Druid looking for the Monk at the nearest tavern.

Meanwhile, the barkeep told the Monk that he need to pay up some hush money because he had seen the whole exchange with the young woman. The Monk paid up and got drunk again.

When the Cleric and Druid found the Monk, they learned what he had done. Meanwhile, the barkeep, who said he didn't see anything, mentioned that whatever didn't happen, it didn't happen to the Mayor's daughter, Myrtle.

They panicked and waited outside of the village for the rest of the group.

Once everyone was reunited all hell broke loose. The Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard wanted to turn the others, prompting the Monk to swing at the Paladin. As the Mayor and two guards arrived they witness the brawl and as the Monk lay unconscious learned about Myrtle.

The Mayor had the Monk locked in jail and took everyone else to his office, while having more guards arrive, as well.

The Cleric told their story, all of it.

The Mayor was shocked, he sent for Corkie, and the Cleric told it again.

The Mayor and Corkie asked for time to discuss things privately, but the Wizard, who was invisible remained to eavesdrop. As the Mayor and Corkie had concluded that while the situation with the Hag searching wasn't ideal, they had no other solutions, but Myrtle had to be rescued, the Wizard appeared to agree with Corkie (they are both gnomes). The Mayor was furious at his spying and had everyone locked up, while Corkie talked some sense into him.

A few hours later, she arrived to tell them that they needed to go to the Hag's hut, retrieve Corkie's body dead or alive and bring back the cure. However, the Monk would remain in jail and his sentence would not be determined until Myrtle's fate was known.

The group rested for a few hours and headed out at first light (again). In the early afternoon, they came upon a dilapidated mill and sensed the presence of zombies. They learned that a dozen orc zombies were being led by an orc shaman. A back and forth battle ensued, but the group prevailed, shaken but resolute.

Blast From the Past: Omegalith for D&D 5th Edition

Ogremoch, jealous that Cryonax has gain an upper hand in the Apocalypse, hatched a plan to bolster his own presence on the fields of Armageddon.  The Prince of Elemental Earth enlisted the medusa Stonecaller, Zhwaa Lo'Sel, to use her dark gifts to transform his enemies into faithful agents of Elemental Earth and so the omegalith were wrought.

OMEGALITH                                                                   
Medium elemental, neutral evil                                        ________________________________________________

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 20 (3d8+6) 

Speed 25 ft.
___________________________________________

   Str            Dex         Con           Int         Wis         Cha
14 (+2)     10 (+0)     16 (+3)     11 (+0)    10 (+0)     10 (+0)

___________________________________________

Condition Immunities petrified

Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 30 ft; 
passive Perception 10

Languages Primordial, Terran
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

___________________________________________

Made of Stone. Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that the omegalith takes from non-magical weapons is reduced by 3.

Enduring. The omegalith has advantage on Constitution saving throws.

Reinforced. When a creature targeting the omegalith rolls a 1 on their attack roll, their weapon breaks.

___________________________________________

ACTIONS

___________________________________________

Slam. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. one target.
Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft. or 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

D&D 5E: The Chthonic Verses

The Chthonic Verses by Eldridge Plinth is a slim book of about 100 pages with a cover that is worn and stained. The cover is made from a dark redwood and has thin spikes of brass forming an unpleasant glyph that causes a ringing in the ears of anyone who looks at it for more than a few seconds (at least a turn) The pages are a heavy paper made from the Pyre Lotus. The Verses are in neatly printed Dwarfish and were penned with a water based, brown ink from the Drome River, in the Underdark. Plinth's tome is free of illustrations of any kind and is infamous for the author’s screed against Dhalripple Ferrodrang for his improper techniques at crafting aqueducts in Appendix V.
   Anyone who attempts to open the book must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw.  On a failure, the reader contracts Cackle Fever (in the DMG).

CHTHONIC VERSES
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)

• While the Chthonic Verses is in your possession you may cast the 
conjure elemental spell (an earth elemental only) as a ritual. 

• You learn the acid splash cantrip and if you are a Sorcerer or Wizard, the damage of the cantrip increases from a d6 to a d8.

• You gain a +2 to Constitution saving throws.

• You gain resistance to acid damage.

Index Card RPG: Deep One

DEEP ONE for the Index Card RPG Core
Rolls: +2 Str, Con, +3 Int, -2 Char

2 Hearts

ACTIONS

ATTACK - BITE: Weapon Effort with their teeth.

ATTACK-GRAPPLE: Overpowers a single victim in it's sinewy grip requiring competing STR rolls. Those overcome are grappled and must check with CON or be winded, losing their next turn.

ABDUCT: Grappled victims are pulled into the watery depths. 

  "I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design - living and horrible."


AMPHIBIANS: Deep ones live in cyclopean undersea cities, often close to the coast, where they spy on humanity.

THE LOOK: Deep ones visit lonely fishing villages, insinuating themselves and their blasphemous worship Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, finding broken souls to mate with, producing hybrid spies to live amongst humanity, preparing the stars to be right.

IMMORTAL: Many are drawn to these loathsome creatures due their immortality. Like the tide, time is on their side.

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1,000 Faces: Lutfullah Haik

Lutfullah is a Sorcerer (8th Level Human Storm Sorcerer), Alchemist, and former member of the Circle of the Wyvern adventuring company. Lutfullah or Lu to his friends is in his early 30s and owns the tallest building in town. He uses the top floor as his laboratory and has contracts with numerous patrons throughout the region, including several nobles. His work is exemplary, his discoveries exciting, and he is always discrete. 

Lutfullah is very careful to keep his friendships and business associations separate. He is calculating and cautious, which has kept him alive on numerous occasions, as well as a keen listener and his eyes are always watching those he speaks with. He has a passion for the violin and makes time twice a day to practice it, preferring to play for only his closest friends and family.

Unfortunately, Lu has a gambling problem and after working up a hefty debt to the local thieves' guild, he's begun working it off by providing Alchemical admixtures, including poisons. While he hasn't gambled in 3 months, it's always tempting him and he still has plenty of debt to work off.

Lu is 5' 11" stands with a rigid posture, his movements precise and designed to waste the least amount of energy. He is missing two fingers on his left hand, due to an accident on his final outing with the Circle. He speaks 5 languages fluently and most people he meets are suprised at his lack of an accent. 

He coldly holds little regard for the Gods, feeling that they treat mortals as mere pawns on some celestial gameboard. His mind understands the strict rules of magic and alchemy and he finds comfort in those things. He only sees customers by appointment, which must be arranged by his secretary, Willem Dowd.

He married a local, Katarine, and they have two children, a 2 year old daughter, Nuha, and a newborn son, Jon (named after Katarine's father).

D&D 5th Edition: Frostrazor, A Magic Longsword

"A nameless archmage crafted the blade by impaling an ancient wyrm of a white dragon with an enormous icicle stalactite, knocking it from the roof and impaling the beast through the heart before using its blood and magic to shape the icicle into a massive, crystaline blade of never-melting ice. He did this to create a superior weapon that could be used in his war against an efreet pasha. Unfortunately for him, his trusted general was actually working for the pasha, and promptly stabbed him in the back with the newly forged longsword."

FROSTRAZOR

Magic weapon (longsword), legendary (requires attunement)

• You gain a +3 on attack rolls and damage rolls with this longsword.

• Frostrazor deals 1d10 cold damage and has the Finesse property.

• When you score a critical hit with Frostrazor, a 6 inch long shard of ice breaks off in the target's wound. A creature wounded in this way takes 1d8 cold damage at the beginning of their turn and you gain that many temporary hit points. They may use their action to make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw to dig the shard out of their wound wounded in this way, 

• When you kill a creature with Frostrazor it turns to ice.

• You gain resistance to cold damage and do not gain levels of exhaustion from freezing temperatures.

Oakhurst: Duty and Sacrifice

My Oakhurst game is designed to be a sandbox, so I'm attempting to have some plot threads available to sew together and simply let the player's drive the story.

The group, along with three mules and five hirelings, set out north toward the home of the hag, Angelika, just after first light. After over two hours of travel along the plains on a sunny and breezy day, Willen the Ranger, noticed the trails of multiple large burrowing animals about forty yards to the east. Then the group heard a loud humanoid voice and some crunching and tearing noises over some hills in the same direction.

Willen realized that it was currently the mating season of bulettes and figured thats why there were so many trails.

Willen and Alvin the Wizard then snuck over the area and spied three hill giants who had been plucking the passionate bulettes out of the earth and eating them. One of them, a nasty sort with one milky eye, saw then and chase them off with rocks (that did a massive amount of damage to the Ranger), more concerned with their current meal than the two characters. Ander the Rogue raced toward them for aid.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group and the mules were attacked by a bulette. It took the whole group reuniting to finish it off.

After discussing how to proceed, the group continued north, moving from the plains to light forest. Willen and Alvin both spied two orc scouts on wargs, members of the Bone Thieves tribe, who simply stared at them, almost timidly from a safe distance. In fact, twice more the came upon orcs who merely kept their distance. The Ranger, who spoke orc, finally decided to speak to a sentinel in a tree, who revealed that the tribe was expecting emissaries of Zeos and were glad they were finally on hand.

Of course, no one knew who Zeos was, but they played along, glad to have safe travel through hostile territory.

Finally the forest turned thicker and less light from the middday sun shone through the older trees around them.

Alvin noticed a tree with the skull of a troll in it's bough and a second tree with a fetish, a few yards from the first. He realized these were magical wards and called for a halt. Ander the Rogue tossed a rock at the troll's skull and immediately a flock of large ravens burst upon them. Additionally, the sounds of wailing and frightened children could be heard all about them. Gulag drove off the ravens with magic and their group was fired upon by four kenku, the source of the childlike voices. 

The group quickly dispatched the kenku, while one of the hirelings approached the fetish in the second tree and the necromantic magic within the fetish assaulted him.

Once the group helped the hireling, a smoky image erupted from the troll's skull and introduced itself as Angelika and demanded to know why the group was tresspassing.

They learned that she had not created the Yellow Plague and sent a ransom note, that the chief of the Bone Thieves, whom she had aided in the past, approached her seeking magic to allow him to unite the goblinoids in the region and she had refused. They also learned that she knew of Zeos as a simple grave robber until he discovered an powerful tome filled with necromantic magic.

She did offer to find a cure for the halflings (she found them delicious and couldn't imagine anyone wasting such delicious meat) in exchange for being able to eat her test subject afterward. The group agreed to this and Gulag the Cleric bartered for teleportation back to Oakhurst in exchange for a second halfling.

However, only half the group took that offer and they began hiking back to the village.

When the other half arrived at the village, they immediately found a volunteer halfling willing to sacrifice themselves and when Gulag learned the magic the hag had given them wouldn't allow them to send a halfling cadaver, Ander the Rogue used her magic to transport himself to Angelika.