Friday 21 February 2020

Vulture Ruins of the Age of Night



































Vulture Ruins
These ruins are remnants of the Vulture People who worshipped cruel demons and led all manner of bird folk beast people tribes. In the age of night, they were one of the later seven monster kingdoms and left outposts everywhere,

Vultures competed with vampire bats for a position as they were the last new kingdoms at the end of the age. Vulture minions included hyena, weasel, jackals, rats, crows and other beast folks. Humans and orcs by the end of the civilisation became common in all the armies of the monster empires. So sometimes you see sighs of this in artwork in ruins, or documents or even still dwelling nearby.

Vulture folk prefer scimitars and round shields and often used curved or wavy blades and cruel maces and flails. Obsidian bladed cubs were popular too. Vultures prohibited all bows and prefered spears, javelins and darts sometimes with an atlatl (only for military). Some black powder was used in cannons and siege mines and they enjoyed alchemy but only leaders might carry several flintlocks.

Vultures like necromancy as you can make your food walk home and be your slave while you snack on them. Demonology was popular too and air elementalism was popular with some sects.

In a pinch, i use gnolls stats for all beast folk

d12 Type of ruin
1 Tower outpost d4 1=basement under rubble mound 2 =intact ground floor lair 3=d4+1 floors of wizards home 4=rooftop shrine and signal bonfire pit and the great horn

2 Trading post d4 1=wooden stockade fort 2=caravan trading post with outer wall and inn 3=Slave market with pillars and auction blocks 4=aboitoir for humans slaves to be butchered  
3 Shrine d4 1=vulture demon 2=night goddess 3=moon god 4=nightmare demon 
4 Monument d4 1=vandalizes vulture king statue 3=relief cock art of peoples bringing tributes to vulture king 3=black monolith with vulture folk runes, lawful evil diabolic language of hell and the alien script of the outer void 4=great black tone vulture headed sphinx
5 Temple d4 1=Uniting Demonic Temple with hundreds of ancient crude stone idols many broken 2=cave temple with paintings and a sacrifice pit to the ancestors 2=3 pile of rubble with broken demon idols 4=sunken grotto with painted plaster and demon and monster skulls
6 Tomb d4 1=ziggurat where bodies flayed for vultures to eat with giant vault of bones 2=small pointy pyramid 3=hill mound with tomb entrance 4=stone vault where undead live
7 Fortified home d4 1=outer walls intact, building rubble but cellar lair 2=Intact several story house with intact room and inhabitable 3=rubble with bones and charcoal 4=collapsed building with some intact rooms usable as shelter8 Prison d4 Small lock up with goalers office cell and small yard, 2=ruined castle with basement dungeon, torture chamber and cells 3=grim walled building with gatehouse and several courtyards and buildings 4=underground mine often salt or lead or coal 
9 Sacrificial place Ziggarutt with bloody altar and skull rack on top 2=pit with hundreds of skeletons 3=gladiator fighting pit 4=executioners block
10 Fort d4 1=small stone wall with barracks building 2=ruined watchtower and walled area 3=remains of small stone fort with intact walls, towers and cellar 4=small but tall stone citadel built on rock formation and hard to reach door
11 Plantation house d4 1=crumbling manor mostly ruined with slave shacks and former fields 2=stone barn also used as dairy and shearing shed 3=burned ruin of building with hidden cellar interest 4=grannery of ancients often used as a lair
12 Wall d4 1=remains or rubble dry stone wall waste high 2=twenty foot tall broken wall section d4 hundred yards 3=broken remains of an aqueduct 4=section of broken wall d4x 100 yards and an intact watchtower

d12 Common Encounters Outdoors

1 Terror Birds hunting d4
2 Nomad hunters 2d4
3 Nomads 2d4 with shaman 
4 Wolves 2d4
5 Deer 3d10
6 Bugbear head hunter
7 Beast folk hunters d4 1=vulture 2=raven 3=rat 4=worm
8 Wild bear or mountain lion 

9 A flock of huge circling vultures 4d4
10 Vulture headed lions d4
11 Wild dogs 4d4
12 Bandit outlaws 4d4 or rare encounter

d12 Rare Encounters Outdoors

1 Giant vulture with d4+1 heads
2 Air elemental 8HD
3 Wyvern d2
4 Peryton d4
5 Unicorn (some evil level draining black unicorns)
6 Vulture headed sphynx
7 Lost adventurers 2d4
8 Trolls d3

9 Ogres 2d4
10 Giant fire lizard
11 Pteradactyls 2d4
12 Giant scorpion


d12 Common Encounters In Ruin
1 Ghouls mostly were formerly vulture folk 3d4
2 Vulture headed mummy d4
3 Vulture headed lions 2d4
4 Living Statue with vulture head-on guard
5 Vulture headed Zombies 3d4
6 Vulture headed Shadows 2d4
7 Vulture folk 2d4 with a 5th level vulture wizard boss
8 Human cultists seeking lore

9 Barbarian beserkers here to die killing chaos 
10 Human grave robbers looking for treasure
11 Witches and goat folk going to a secret meeting
12 Bandits dwell inside or rare encounter

d12 Rare Encounters in Ruins
1 Vulture-Sphinx, remembers glory days here
2 Giant spiders d4
3 Chaos mutants former slaves from long ago 2d4 
4 Crazed old vulture person  will chat to anyone  
5 Bird haded gargoyles 2d4
6 Spectral minions of vulture folk in rich robes waving to long gone slaves
7 Vulture headed wights d4
8 Vulture headed wraith

9 Party of mostly priests on the hunt for ancient evils and cultists 
10 Stone golem with vulture head
11 Lesser vulture demon12 Greater vulture demon

1 comment:

  1. Oh sweet. Is this the start of a series on the Monster Lords and their ruins?

    ReplyDelete

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