Hall of the Mountain King

Ghost Riders of Geoff

2022-09-20T15:00:38-04:00June 25th, 2020|

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=75200&sid=00c143114e4349c0351533c72b14bd6c#75200Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches – The Crowned Beast of Stone

2022-09-20T15:00:39-04:00June 9th, 2020|

Backmoor Land of a Thousand Witches - The Crowned Beast of Stone The Crowned Beast of Stone At south-east of the Burneal Forest can be found a statue of some great beast crowned with a rusting ironband whose spiked ends, now snapped off into jagged spears, suggest gems or valuable crystals once ran astride the crown. The weed-choked creature now stares forlornly into the stream which begins life as spring whose waters pour from its open mouth and which rushes by its front paws before disappearing in the thick forest and eventually emptying into the great swamp and mire of the Cold Marshes to the south. Few know of this crowned beast of stone for its waters are sovereign and potent and the Sisterhood and centaur shaman strive to keep its existence and location a secret. To this end they have set traps and guards within the forest, druids charm creatures and enchant plants, illusionists hide the spring, centaurs set guards that neither sleep nor rest nor tell tales, as well as magicians and witches that cast dire spells to protect this source of so many of their potions, solutions and balms. The power of these waters is quickly diluted after it spills from the mouth of the crowned beast but within certain distances the waters have differing effects. The water at the mouth of the statue pours forth a deadly acid on one side and a supremely potent base from the other. As the water touches the earth it becomes useful for all manner of transmutation elixirs but a dozen feet further and it is sovereign remedy for curses and a foundation for healing potions, ... read more!

NPC – Redface – Chieftain Scalded Hand Orcs – Spinecastle

2022-09-20T15:00:39-04:00June 4th, 2020|

NPC - Redface - Chieftain Scalded Hand Orcs - Spinecastle The Scalded Hand orcs refuse to live inside the walls of Spinecastle and instead have a permanent camp on the Parlous Plain. They are perhaps the most dangerous of the humanoid forces on the Plain but camp toward its edge near a large barrow formed from a charnel pit used to bury Fruztii dead from the old Battle of Shamblefield. The orcs have dug into this barrow, which now houses a temple to Gruumsh, and the bones have been used to frame the tent-dwellings of the Scalded Hand. Only around 400 orcs dwell here, but that number changes continually as the Scalded Hand uses Spinecastle as a gathering places for their allied tribes to meet and plan before launching raids and attacks on humans, demi-humans and humanoids alike.  They only go into Spinecastle to sell loot or visit the Pit, which is immensely popular and look down their noses at the Bloody Eye orcs who they feel have been tainted by the human city. Redface is an old Orc and participated in the Siege of Spinecastle. He shares the views of the Black Moon gnoll elders and would like to raze the city and finish the slaughter but is not in alliance with the gnolls.  Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

City – Verbobonc City Gates

2022-09-20T15:00:40-04:00June 2nd, 2020|

City - Verbobonc City Gates The city of Verbobonc has a well-maintained city wall with professional guardsmen who watch and patrol its length, but the city has not been attacked in a very long time and some laxity has crept into the prime realestate outside of the walls. In the city's recent history no giants, dragons, elementals or powerful spell-casters have attacked, nor the most recent developments in siege machinery been brought against them. The single wall is strong and well constructed, generally 40 feet high to its walkway with another 10 feet of merlons alternating with spaces for archers to fire at any attackers. No pit or moat helps to protect the wall. The city gates are constructed as small fortifications. Each gateway possess an inner and outer set of large and thick doorways separated by a 60 foot passageway whose roof is lined with murder holes where tar or burning oil can be poured down from specially constructed guard rooms above. A set of portcullis' can split the passage and two others can bar the front and inner gates from direct attack.  Inside these gate fortifications is a 30 guard garrison who are responsible for wall patrols as well as watching over the gateways. At dark the gates are shut and opened only upon orders or at first light. The city collects a small toll at these gates for incoming non-residents and all merchandise. All weapons are peace-bonded except for daggers. Flags atop the gate-house signal any trouble and can draw a quick reaction force of cavalry who are stabled near to each gate house. Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus Index

2022-09-20T15:00:40-04:00June 1st, 2020|

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus IndexAcolyte [CLS]12  Adventurer [CLS]4, 6, 13 Alchemist [CLS]7 Amev (Merchant) [NPC]15 Anders [NPC]17 Ape [MON]10-12 Arcane Lock [SPL]5, 6 Azure Sea [RVR]16 Bandit [CLS]4, 8, 13, 14 Bed [ITM]5 Belt [ITM]6 Belt, Jeweled [ITM]6 Bench [ITM]5 Bless [SPL]5Bone [ITM]6 Book [ITM]10 Bottle [ITM]4, 13 Brazen Head of Zenopus, The (Mask)[ITM]7, 16 Bruno the Battler [NPC]18 Cage, Iron [ITM]10, 12 Caravan [ORG]3, 13, 14 Catacomb [PLC]13 Cave [PLC]7, 8 Cave, Sea [PLC]3, 12, 13 Cemetary [PLC]3, 9, 15 Centipede, Giant [MON]4 Chair [ITM]10 Charm Person [SPL]6 Chemicals [ITM]10 Chest [ITM]5, 7, 8Clarissa [NPC]18 Cleaning Cube [MON]4, 6 Cliff, Sea [MT]3, 11, 13 Cloak [ITM]5 Coffin [ITM]9, 13, 15 Common [LNG]6, 7 Coronet [ITM]9 Crab, Giant [MON]4 Crab, Monstrous Sand [MON]8, 12 Crate [ITM]4 Cultist [CLS]4, 9, 12, 15 Cutlass [ITM]6 Dagger [ITM]6, 8 Dagger +1 [ITM]7 Dagger, Flying [ITM]9 Dagger, Silver [ITM]6 Desk [ITM]10 Drego the Thief [NPC]18 Dungeon [PLC]4, 5 Earring [ITM]4 Eliander Fireborn [NPC]16 Ethbran (Sage) [NPC]13 Fisher [CLS]13 Foxfire [ITM]8 Gas, Noxious [ITM]9 Gas, Sleep [ITM]5 Gellan Primewater [NPC]17 Gem [ITM]4, 9 Ghoul [MON]3, 4, 9, 12, 15 Goblin [LNG]6Goblin [MON]4, 5, 12, 14, 16, 17 Gozef [NPC]15 Graveyard [PLC]3 Green Dragon Inn (Portown) [INN]3, 13, 16 Guard [CLS]13, 14 Harbor [PLC]3, 13 Haunted House (Saltmarsh) [PLC]16 Hill [MT]3 Holy Water [ITM]5 Hoolwatch Tower [CTL]16 Idol [ITM]9 Jeweler [CLS]10 Keledek [NPC]12, 16, 17 Key [ITM]10 Knock [SPL]4, 5, 16 Kraddock [NPC]17 Lamp [ITM]10 Lemund (Lord) [NPC]13 Lemunda [NPC]8, 12, 13, 17 Levitate [SPL]6 Light [SPL]6 Longsword, Verminslayer [ITM]9 Mage Hand [SPL]6 Magic Missile [SPL]6Magician [CLS]13Malchor the Magic-User [NPC]18 Man-at-Arms [CLS]13, 14 Mask, Silver Skull [ITM]4, 9 Merchant [CLS]15 ... read more!

NPC – Huntmaster – Leader Howling Night Flinds – Spinecastle

2022-09-20T15:00:41-04:00May 29th, 2020|

NPC - Huntmaster - Leader Howling Night Flinds - Spinecastle Two hundred flinds. Anywhere but Spinecastle that might be a number to strike horror into the hearts of their enemies, but Spinecastle is a  nexus of horror, a metropolis of evil, and the heart of a growing kingdom of humanoids not seen since the days of the Suel Imperium. That these flinds should be the driving hand behind a force of over a thousand gnolls should come as no surprise. To most outsiders, human, demi-huuman, or humanoid these flinds   are lost among the Black Moon gnolls, though to other gnolls flinds stand out larger, stronger, statelier, with a commanding bearing. Huntmaster is larger and stronger than most flinds, instantly vicious with a consuming rage only his titanic will can keep in check. He is unfortunately not the smartest of flinds, and many of his tribe think he has been among the gnolls too long, or worse, that he is a throwback to their gnollish heritage. While he is not blamed for the gnolls loss of power after the famine of 576cy, that flind was deposed and eaten after the council of chiefs awarded leadership of Spinecastle back to the orcs, Huntmaster is near to losing control of the Howling Night. Under his leadership the gnolls have seen a faction of rebels appear in their ranks, the Young Blood gnolls, and they truly have only a small fraction of the aging warriors of the original Black Moon pack as loyal followers. The grandiose and impractical plans to seize power from Bloody Eye orcs become more untenable every moon while the day approaches when either Huntmaster's fellow flinds ... read more!

NPC – Oldbone – Chief Weeping Dark Goblins – Spinecastle

2022-09-20T15:00:41-04:00May 26th, 2020|

NPC - Oldbone - Chief Weeping Dark Goblins - Spinecastle The 300 or so goblins of the Weeping Dark are a small fraction of the thousands used as sword-fodder during the taking of the city. Since that time many have left the city and many have been eaten by their larger and stronger monstrous allies. Now they lair in the sewer system of the High Ward and act as servants to the Bloody Eye orcs. Oldbone was a goblin warrior when the city fell and now he is the oldest survivor of the vast clan of goblins who swarmed over the walls during the siege. His resentment of the gnolls and orcs knows no bounds and he is a willing ally of the hobgoblins who ruled the city during the first few years after its fall. He is aware of the many factions within the city, including the Young Blood gnolls but unknown to any he is in touch with several large goblin clans who dwell beneath the Rakers and seeks to raise another vast goblin army to betray all his masters and allies. Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

NPC – Hoghead – Butcher — Spinecastle

2022-09-20T15:00:42-04:00May 23rd, 2020|

NPC - Hoghead - Butcher -- Spinecastle Even more active than The Pit where the gladiatorial games are run is The Slaughterhouse where the food is divided among the humanoid tribes of the city.  All of the tribes in Spinecastle except the ogre's Thundering Club maintain groups of hunters who scour the surrounding land for food. After sixteen years these hunters go far afield and the food brought into the city by merchants has become critical. Food and hunger, it is an underlying force within Spinecastle. Almost it has forced an abandonment of the city when the tribes grew greater than could be fed. Certainly it caused much strife and a change of power from the flinds and gnolls whose over population nearly stripped the city bare three winter's past. Now the orcs run the city and through The Slaughterhouse keep a tight leash around the belly of the gnolls and other humanoids (except the ogres who are kept well-fed and happy or they just start eating anyone within reach). An old flind, Quer'enz, manages The Slaughterhouse, but Hoghead is the chief of butchers and handles the actually slaughtering, butchering and dividing of the meat. He is a vicious old orc from an ancient tribe said to have sailed to the Flanaess from some eastern island and plagued the coastal lands.  Hoghead has plans to add Quer'enz to the stewpot one day and if approached with an offer to rid him of the old flind he is very amenable. Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

On the Ratik That Was, Wasn’t, Then Was Again

2022-09-20T15:00:42-04:00May 23rd, 2020|

On the Ratik That Was, Wasn’t, Then Was Again"Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist A rumination on Ratik: Ratik is a small but prosperous nation located in the northeastern corner of the Flanaess. It is seated in a cultural crossroads between the otherwise civilized south of the former Aerdi Great Kingdom and the barbaric north of the Suel on the Thillonrian Peninsula. Ratik stretches between the Rakers and the Solnor Coast, where the modest city of Marner, the capital, is its only major port. Its southern border is marked by the fortified hills separating Ratik from Bone March. These extend east all the way out to the Loftwood, where the hearty woodsmen are allied with the archbarony. Ratik's northern border divides the Timberway between itself and the Frost Barbarians, a long-standing informal boundary that has been respected by both sides for centuries and only recently was acknowledged by formal treaty. While these barriers have profoundly isolated Ratik from the rest of the Flanaess, they also have served to protect it from invaders for centuries. [LGG] The last “civilized” land, clinging to a narrow patch of land between towering mountains and an “endless,” mysterious, deep blue sea? Barbarians to the north, hordes of orcs and gnolls to the south? What’s not to like? As to the Timberway being split between the Fruztii and Ratik, I pushed the border north, to the widest river in the region, the likely most defensible border. Canon? No, but the border ... read more!

NPC – Vassliss Priestess of Iuz – Spinecastle

2022-09-20T15:00:43-04:00May 22nd, 2020|

NPC - Vassliss Priestess of Iuz - Spinecastle During the Siege of Spinecastle a secret cabal worked against the cities defenders. Unbeknownst to the great and good within the city a cult of Iuz worshipers festered amid their ranks. What their ultimate plans had been none can say. Deep in the sub-basement of a manor in the High Ward the cult had its shrine and when the High Ward fell at last the manor had been destroyed and all within slain. Years later Vassliss, secret priestess of Iuz, entered Spinecastle with a powerful retinue disguised as merchants supplying the always voracious inhabitants with meat and slaves. Few of the Iuzian cultists had survived and those few were slaves to the Bloody Eye orcs. Vassliss purchased those she could and slew all those she could not to silence tongues possibly loosened in their bestial servitude. In the intervening years she has found the hidden shrine, reconsecrated in the service of her master, and reformed the cult. She has not found out who betrayed the cult, but she suspects the hand of another evil at odds with her own. Originally published on the Hall of the Mountain King blog.

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