Showing posts with label alignment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alignment. Show all posts

Tuesday, 7 July 2020

War Against The Dark Lord 2: Dark Lords Encounters & Wonders





































War Against The Dark Lord 2: Dark Lords Encounters & Wonders
So these are to be used as usual as the war is breaking out. Just used a d10 early on and higher dice for increasingly bad stuff. Encounters are the things you meet travelling or camping as war starts. Wonders are things you might witness and not get involved in. Some are just memorable sights to witness, some are opportunities to learn or fight evil. Lots of confused people don't know what is going on at first so characters could easily help out.

I would probably hit a party with a war from 4th level especially when just returning with lots of loot. During the war travel gets worse and fate nudges you into helping. The dark lord targets those who stand out in his great scrying halls where wizards spy on the world with magic. So as you stand out you get more supernatural surveillance and more encounters as enemy sent after the party.

Next will be loot and gossip. Lots of the gossip is dark lord propaganda. Lots of items are cursed or require evil people to use them.

Why does this random mook support the Dark Lord?
01 You get stability with the dark lord, he is just what we need right now  
02 Well one day one of these dark lords is gonna win and 
03 I have a lucky feeling this time, I can just feel this time he will win
04 All these pretty people will all be brought down low with fire and iron
05 Well its always been the same dark lord and he always comes back 
06 My ancestors made a pact to serve the dark lord and I got the call
07 The dark lord really looks out for the little guy, he understands us
08 All that dark lord stuff, its jus to scare the enemies into eternal subjugation
09 All those rich and pretty people stop the dark lords chosen getting what they deserve
10 The dark lord wants you to be free, to kill who you like when you like 
11 The Dark lord says remorse is for the weak while the strong take what they want
12 All this plotting and corruption is weak and slow, the dark lord simplifies everything

Why does this evil hero support the Dark Lord?
01 Was tainted by evil oaths for corrupt unholy weapons
02 Wanted to try and save family ended up killing them all
03 Was granted power in return for an immortal soul
04 Promised immortality among the dark lords chosen
05 Rivals killed by dark lord agents who occasionally show up
06 Once you get on board with the power you learn to stop caring
07 We must reduce the weak with trials of blood and fire every generation
08 Dark lords taint runs in your bloodline and they dream of the lords dark gaze
09 The dark lord represents how the universe works, the strong eat the weak
10 Nobody can defeat the darklord, sooner you join us the better
11 When did the forces of good do anything lately? Made universe then abandoned us 
12 The dark lord draws on unstoppable powers from the void before the universe

War Against The Dark Lord 2: Encounters
01 Goblin bat riders scouting area possibly skirmish but mostly seek food and info
02 Wolf riders scouting area possibly skirmish but mostly seek food and info
03 Area cloaked in webbing  and giant spiders wait in ambush
04 Pack of savage wild dogs menacing area for food
05 Goblin foot scouts with bows mostly want food and targets for other troops
06 Gang of bandits bear the dark lords mark having joined him
07 Gang of thieves in service of dark one ambushing and killing travellers
08 Swarm of rats - breeding and feeding from dead 5% chance carry plague
09 Swarm of bats 5% of them has rabies
10 Swarm of ravens - will mutter about dark lord and say his name "darklord!"
11 Shifty looking robed man watching area from afar, is really an orc scout
12 Squad of hobgoblins out to massacre commoners to spread terror
13 Evil priest raising some people they murdered as zombies to block the area
14 Robed cultists dedicated to the dark lord in robes, led by a wizard many apprentices
15 Dark robed weasly man convincing people to surrender and prepare for the master 
16 An evil bard is spreading gossip and propaganda supporting the evil one in war
17 Wandering mob of zombie peasants on a killing spree
18 A lycanthrope in human form seeks company on the road
19 Doppelganger spy of the evil master friendly to travellers seeks information
20 An ogre with clever sitting on path preparing a serf stuffed with rats for a meal
21 A shadow coalesces as an evil shadow hungry for the strength of the living
22 A group of ghouls bold enough to hide in shadows and overcast hungry for flesh
23 Wight warrior with an ancient black blade of the evil lords forge seeks something
24 A frightful wight knight on a bone golem horse harrases travellers and messengers
25 A dozen goblin archers with a d4 wolf riders an army scout group seeking intelligence
26 Six wolf riding goblins chasing common travellers with a wagon
27 Swarms of evil bats roam the land spawned by the dark lords blood
28 Hobgoblin squad crucifying some caravan guards who resisted led by cruel officer
29 Orc barbarian mob of dozen warriors and d4 berserkers have run ahead of plan to loot
30 Wild hairy naked gang of abhumans from the woods have been duped to unrest
31 Band of feral goatmen from the dark mountain want to harry the ruination of humankind
32 A lone ogre was ditched by his orc handlers and is lost and hungry 
33 Four orc warg riders scouting for local orc commander, will flee and get help
34 A ferocious insane troll from the deep has come to see the sun fall from the sky
35 A lone wounded orc sees trouble coming and with last gasp blows hor for aid roll again
36 Six giant bats each with a goblin archer harry travellers who can't fight back
37 A young 4th level necromancer and his dozen skeletonised serf with farm tools, seeks corpses can carry back to master to make undead, carry a d6 bodies
38 A dozed dark templars led by a 4th level priest of darkness stirring up terror
39 Four orcs commanding a dozen cowardly ill-equipped goblins
40 Hood wearing cultists with burning torches and swords killing anyone not in a hood
41 Hooded cultists mugging a country priest or friar while a d4 scared commoners watch
42 Galloping frightened horse with unconscious cavalry trooper hanging from the saddle
43 The child cries for help, tells of a dozen orc archers attacking homestead near
44 An invisible imp has a mission to molest travellers and keep eye out for heroes 
45 An invisible dark elf follows travellers intending to murder them by night when helpless
46 A robed hidden hobgoblin will fire a single poison arrow then flee to report to command
47 A goblin bat rider flies by if not stopped a turn later hear goblins coming. A d4 wolf riding goblins archers will track party first and retreat if hurt to join dozen goblin skirmishers who hunt the party
48 Hill giant sitting by road with a dead cow and a d4 probably dead farmers busy eating
49 A band of armoured dwarves 3d4 fled underland tunnels to avoid two squads of orcs chasing them each led by rival commander, dwarves seek travelling companions
50 A young elf is being chased by a squad of orcs, has spent spells already and unarmed. Carries a message warning of orcs siege on hidden elf stronghold to elf king
51 Dead man caries a d3 cursed items left here by a giant bat as a trap
52 Halfling in hiding warns of upcoming encounter up road (roll again)
53 Unburied bodies lay by the road and a d4+1 shadows arise to attack
54 A dozen rambling zombies travel in line to nearest settlement and attack everyone they meet on way
55 Wagon of refugees with belongings and wagon struggling to move cart, two squads of orcs are on the way here in ten minutes
56 Lone ranger on horse chased by dozen goblin wolf riders
57 Squad of orc pikemen burning a house while family trapped inside
58 Cult leader priest with a dozen hooded fanatics a chaos flagellant and six 1st level templar priests have captured a local leaders family and taking them to the dark lord 
59 A dozen chaos berserker mutant flagelant monks with war flails on killing frenzy
60 A dozen orc riding giant lizards gallop down road raiding the area
61 four wight warriors leading a dozen skeletons have awoken at the masters bidding
62 Six wight knights riding bone golem horses hunt adventurers the master wants
63 Pack of wolves d8+8 have chased a local person up a tree 
64 Orc barbarians on horseback, six with mounts here to kill minions of the dark lord who does nothing but fail them and lie, tribe dedicated to killing dark lord and his wizards and cults. Stop to ask directions where enemy orcs might be
65 Gang of youths with clubs eager to meet the invaders sure that being human alone will make them win, friendly to strangers and boast of future heroic deeds
66 Bard rider on horseback (dark lord cultist) telling all to flee coming evil armies
67 A dozen bandits of the area unconvinced the Dark Lord offer more justice or prosperity than current regime is helping refugees and wounded soldiers by holding off some goblin archers
68 A dozen barbarian riders here to kill minions of evil, normally they're kind unwelcome 
69 Elves helping some humans on the road with food and blankets (1in6 are dark elves in disguise and blankets carry plague and food is poison)
70 Distant horns and shaking earth as hundreds of orc heavy infantry and a dozen armoured war ogres. A dozen warg riders scout ahead and skirmish with enemies
71 An old knight leading 3 dozen militia hunting monsters, no idea how bad things are yet
72 Nuns with a wagon have heard needy folk need help. Not really helpless as they all carry maces, wear chain under robes and leader is 4th level priestess
73 Knight with his squire and several extra pack horses travelling and no idea of what's happening
74 A dozen knights led by a paladin and her priestess follower on a horse on a mission against a weapon of the enemy
75 A bandit gang of two dozen have been court off guard and escaping area with all their goods and a d6 harmless followers. Could be convinced to fight and earn a pardon but they plant to hide in a distant cave they have heard of
76 A merchant wagon train of fleeing rich with four dozen men at arms. A d3 merchant families and servants are fleeing to a ship to leave the continent
77 Local lord with seventy-five spearmen and six knights and forty archers on the hunt for evil
78 Amazons on horseback, dozen from beyond the frontier here to kill orcs or goblins, possibly meet some women to take home
79 Goblins mostly archers, two dozen killing a wounded d4 1=treeant 2=giant 3=hippogriff 4=cave bear
80 Wyvern is ridden by d4 1=orc hero 2=evil 5th level wizard 3=evil 4th level priest 5th=evil cultist knight
81 A dozen hill giants drunkenly lumbering about commanded by an orc hero and an orc squad of pikemen
82 A dozen orc heavy troops with composite bows, poison arrows, scimitars in chainmail, led by a hero with cursed evil blade and pet warg
83 A dozen lizardfolk warriors serving the dark lord against humans, these use obsidian war clubs and javelins and blowpipes with poison, led by a hero on riding giant lizard 
84 A dozen trolls marching to an orc drummer with a dozen orc pikemen and an orc hero behind them 
85 Goblin skirmishers are busy setting fire to forest or houses or something unwelcome
86 Dozen orcs riding giant boars from distant land led by a hero and druid companion here to kill those serving the dark lord, mostly avoid locals but enemy orcs fear them
87 Evil wizard with succubus or incubus lover trying to get back to dark lords side with espionage documents, if cant avoid others will pretend to be agents of the kind on a mission and if that work might try and lead the party to a command outpost to kill. Outpost will have at least four dozen words, a d4 wards and a 4th level evil orc priest
88 A wraith roaming the woods spies for the dark lord and reports adventurers location to the dark lord who sends six wyverns ridden by 4th level evil priests 
89 A wraith riding a zombie wyvern attacks non-allied adventurers
90 Chaos warband of thirty mongrel monster maniacs not affiliated with dark lord but up for raiding and looting and fighting. Goatman hero leader has harem of d6 chaos shoggoth lovers
91 Drums indicate hundreds of goblins running through area eating everything, most animals hide or flee
92 A dragon flies overhead and will ignore most travellers unless it is tempted by treasure, then it will breathe from the air than land to mell
93 A hundred orc heavy infantry marching and charting war chants led by an orc hero and evil priest adviser
94 A hundred skeletons marching with necromancer lord 9th Lv wizard, some of them play jaunty marching tunes on bone flutes and human skin drums 
95 A hundred corrupted human cultists 
96 A great demon of shadow and fire, flies overhead unseen for an age, a fallen demon angel serving the dark lord and thought all on earth killed by gods long ago
97 A great gaggle of over a hundred chaos tainted mutants shunned by the good and pretty relish the dark lord coming and have started murdering up to demonstrate their support
98 A spectral army of damned souls sworn to serve the dark lord long ago, now a hundred of these spirit warriors march as if they still lived
99 Army of 100 orc pikemen 100 orc heavy infantry 100 goblin archers 40 orc warg riders, 6 Hill giants, 4 megaceratops with cannon platforms on their backs and 80 goblin baggage handlers carry supplies in read and strip land of anything useful or of value. Each group is led by own hero and force is led by a demon who rides a shadow dragon
100 A colossal vessel of the dark lord has arisen, a terrible burning giant that lays waste to all in path with a hundred cultists following all chanting and sacrificing victims to him

War Against The Dark Lord 2: Wonders
01 The day grows shorter as twilight and sunset become several hours shorter
02 A great distant forest fire rains ash and sparks and smoke over a huge area for days. Chokes the air and reduces visibility and local spot fires startup
03 An eclipse long prophecized strikes panicking many peoples and paralysing both sides for a day
04 A great and terrible storm with gale-force winds sweeps over land destroying crops, damaging buildings and terrifying everyone. No forces move a d4 days
05 A volcano erupts surprising many, mostly darkens sky with smoke and makes sunsets more red and orange, but locals report damage and fire creatures spewing from the crater
06 A quake strikes the kingdom seemingly targeting many fortifications 
07 Heavy rain causes flash floods in lowlands and some people lose everything and even lives. Spreads chaos and hardship till giant beavers arrive to save the day
08 Bats swarm over the whole sky, millions upon millions like dark clouds
09 Coastal tsunami damages ports and fishing villages and many ships are lost
10 A plague breaks out in some cities as they prepare defences for war
11  A priest leading hundreds of singing peasants with flowers who are going to prey the evil one away with their love. The priest is mad as his secretly a doppelganger assistant has been poisoning him with madness drugs and mercury. The doppelganger really wants this scam to work and get promoted by the dark lord
12 An evil priest promises listeners life if they serve the dark lord and offers to take those willing to service and life behind enemy lines. Many desperate people are convinced by the promise of food and freedom. "Don't believe the lies, serving the dark lord is great!"
13 Baggage train of supplies in oxcarts heading to troops and needy is held up. An evil bard is trying to convince the quartermaster to take it all to the dark lord for gold and a title
14 A hundred orc spearmen and 40 goblin archers are leading the whole population of a village and several wagons of goods to the dark lord
15 A force of 100 barbarian horsemen from the frontier and a force of 100 knights have met on the road and the leaders are busy fighting about who should command and follow who and where the enemy is, this will continue for hours 
16 A sprawling force of a few dozen militia and several hundred irregular commoners with slings, bows and farm tools has united under the command of a naive young priest who marches to the enemy
17 Thousands of refugees swarm, abandoning heavy goods and broken wagons, some lost children and injured elderly crying for help
18 A wounded demoralised army retreating without any leadership fleeing and abandoning equipment, hundreds of men mostly wounded. Howls of wolves, drums and trumpets are behind them 
19 A priest driven mad by dark lord agents with drugs has assembled a children's crusade of three hundred city urchins with sticks and stones to fight the dark lord. All are hungry and cold
20 A recruitment station ahead has received two hundreds of recruits of all walks of life. Another hundred camp followers and refugees gather here also. Bard criers inform regularly new war and mobilisation news, people seem optimistic
21 A massive orc and goblin force is attacked by a third force of foreign orcs who set the orcs and goblins of the dark lord fighting while they flee. The force breaks up and scatters 
22 A marching army of undead is attacked by a fighting force of priests who route the undead scattering thousands of skeletons over the land all confused without orders
23 A halfling ventriloquist causes a dozen ettins to fight each other leaving several dead and most hurt. Then he starts taunting them again. 
24 Treants and tree spirit folk pour from the woods and route a goblin army 
25 A marching army of orcs halts. A wizard leader receives a message from the master and the whole force change direction to some distant cause
26 A marching army of orcs are repelled by halfling militia in trees throwing rocks
27 A great mighty wizard appears and routes an army of orcs and goblins
28 A hoarde of wildwood folk all hairy and naked and serving the dark lord are met by druids who convince them to change sides
29 An army of works is routed by mostly spells from elvish force who move in to finish off survivors 
30 A barbarian horde on horseback rout an army of orc infantry unprepared 
31 Forests are being infested with webs of giant spiders, some whole woodlands have been consumed
32 A migrating clan of ogres have set up a camp, more than  anyone in this land have ever seen
33 Thick black thorn bushes have sprung up in many places, blocking roads and forming huge hedge mazes meters wide sometimes, small races like goblins find it easier going than humans to cross
34 Millions of black rats swarm over the country spreading plague, eating stored grain and flowing into cities
35 A dark taint has overtaken local nature, evil squirrels and forest animals are hostile and tree spirits are evil unless someone can purify the heart of the forest in a secret druid cave
36 Hundreds of petrified fleeing human statues caught by a basilisk sent by the evil one. The beast still lurks awaiting orders
37 Squadrons of giant bats with goblin archers are attacked by giant eagles, clouds of ordinary bats and tiny birds fight around them darkening the sky, blood and feathers and bodies rain down
38 An abandoned army encampment with a few men hiding some wounded. The camp has been destroyed by werewolves spreading in the barracks now finally they have shed uniforms and destroyed most witnesses they have fled 
39 A wizard of the dark lord with hundred orc pikemen meets a cyclops leader to negotiate unity. Any interference now might ruin the meeting and possibility of the cyclops tribe joining. A dozen fighting cyclops are ready. It might be possible to get cyclops to help humans but this is harder
40 A colossal giant black undead wolf Carnix walks the land with a two dozen zombie wolves. The beast was released from the underworld by the dark lord and it longs to feast on humans
41 An army of orcs moving siege equipment, one of the weapons is worshipped as a minor god with a priesthood who care for it and it is pulled by a team of six megatheriums. The orc army includes 100 siege engineers 100 pikemen and 100 crossbowmen. The cult weapon is d4 1=Ullzauel the god cannon 2=Luran the violet ray apparatus 3=Gorizol a machine with lense to amplify a basilisk gaze 4=Hellspitter a machine that shoots a 20d6 fireball using gems as ammo 
42 Orc sappers have been digging and using black powder to divert a river that could flood all the lowlands. The massive earthworks are visible for miles. Once close see they are using human slave labour and have built a camp where the river diverging will destroy
43 Wizards have made vast black stone walls blocking roads and waterways causing chaos
44 A great string dust cloud is moving among it thousands of zombies moving in a herd to the dark lord's design. This control is based on a relic that might be damaged
45 A vast lake of mud has been created by wizards to block certain road routes and supply lines of the king's army. King's wizards hope to make a path through it by turning mud back to stone but mostly the land is ruined
46 A dark lord wizard unleashed a wind of death causing every 1HD or less humanoid to save or die as spectral death spirits slay those who fail with scythes and carry souls away. Survivors are horrifies 
47 Water is tainted with chaos in the area, strange plants, animals and mutant locals turn evil until taint is stopped
48 A great tribe of forest orcs unwilling to get involved in this age of strife using their druidic relics to all turn into trees for a few hundred years to the dark lord has gone or someone can find a way to revive them or convince them humans would cooperate against other orcs
49 A great barbarian prince with his burning spear Bloodbrand leads his army to attack an orc camp and personally slays a death knight hero of the dark lord
50 A great gathering of naked orcs standing about aimlessly. In the middle in a great muddy pit wizards make new orcs from the mud. Apprentices try to encourage orcs to try weapons and learn evil language commands. In a few days, they will be ready to fight 
51 A comet passes overnight, next day plague has broken out across the world
52 A shooting star crashes actually a greater demon entering the world released by the dark one 
53 A great burning light of the dark lord is seen blazing over the horizon shooting bolts of power into a great dark hole in the clouds above
54 A great spectral projection of the dark lord appears in the sky a supposed portent of his divinity according to the cult
55 A river turns red with blood, choked with corpses and body parts
56 Sixty orcs are digging up a graveyard and assembling skeletons on tables for a necromancer to make into skeletons. Have about 70 so far make a dozen a day, plan to be here a week
57 A giant cyclops orc hero leading a horde of a hundred irregular wild orcs with his great spear Grimsplinter a poison evil weapon used in the dawn age to kill an elf king. Has a personal guard of ogrillion orc-ogre hybrids
58 Great colossal drake Gloomfang unseen for an age plunges from the sky and destroys a town with fire and rages in the flames screaming
59 A vast dark shadow covers the land as armies of darkness advance allowing them more freedom in daylight for many cave born orcs and undead. As the armies advance dark priests plant monoliths that expand the effect, A temple in the dark lord's realm controls this effect with an artefact called the Cradle of Darkness
60 An ice lich riding an undead woolly rhino leads an army of a thousand frost covered zombies, spreading winter like conditions as they advance. The lich carries an artefact brings winter with it and has six living dark elf luitwnants riding winterwolves
61 Evil dwarves explode a cliff face revealing their great garage magical war juggernauts and a few iron golems to roll out over the land and crush humanity for the evil one
62 Dark elves call the great gnawing underworld dragon Nidhog to kill all the crops and fruit with blight overnight. Each night the dark elves affect a new district riding on wolves
63 Goblins call on their great worm god to spawn a plague of maggots that eat any food or crops on the plant then gnaw on wood or animals. Takes a few years to die off
64 Spiders have woven great cables over vast distances they can use like a telegraph system to send messages. The cables can be followed to spider operated stations and a hub connected to the dark lords command
65 A colossal spider monster bursts from the earth with her army of giant spiders
66 Tarrasque has been awoken by the dark lord and is being directed by a gold torc that hurts the beast. If freed it goes for the local dark lord HQ to destroy it
67 A great insect hive of evil tainted termite folk grows towering over area as trees stripped and earth scoured for construction. If the evil tainted queen is killed the colony die
68 Orcs are razing all the trees in a valley to build a gargantuan construct to house the essence of the dark lord if his current body fails
69 Goblinoids are digging a vast pit with slave human labour digging up a giant armoured corpse of a past form of the dark lord they hope to revive (you cant have 2 dark lords right?)
70 A local leader has camp with four hundred refugees, 100 spearmen, 100 archers and 100 horsemen. The king has been confused by his evil bard and is paralysed with indecision and has locked up their heir who dared disagree in a bout of paranoia. Orc scouts know of their plight and dark forces gather
71 Hundreds of forest animals and faerie folk and tree spirits pour from the woods and send a army of monsters fleeing
72 An orc force is under siege by a larger horde of beastfolk united against the dark lord and his wizard scum who tortured and enslaved beast folk in the past
73 A river or stream is polluted and banks fouled. Following upstream is a basilisk lair where the dark lord left an egg to hatch under a toad to poison the area. Stone statues of adventurers and goblins are scattered in the area
74 A sinkhole collapses getting bigger and bigger changing area with a rubble-filled flooded depression. Strange creatures of the deep scuttle out like giant bugs and worms later weird giant fungus sprouts everywhere around the area
75 The giant fungus is growing everywhere rapidly and spore spots develop on trees and plants. This fungus attracts giant bugs and worms and flies to the area and goblins love to forage here
76 An orc hero druid priestess riding a giant stag leads orc barbarians and hopes to liberate deluded orcs from evil and reconnect them with their spirit ancestors. The orc army will grow and the dark lord will send assassins and monsters to destroy her. Eventually leading orcs against the dark lords HQ
77 A black strange castle fades into reality like some phantom, undead winged apes in service of the dark lord swarm out to kidnap victims for the castle. The alien tentacle faced ultraterestrial  wizards from beyond inside drain victims souls to power the castle jumps and the bodies are encased in armour as undead troops. The dark lord only called them out of desperation as they will always betray him eventually
78 A great web structure over hundreds of yards part of a huge cable goes into the sky out of sight. Spiders guard the base and keep a look out for fire they will try to smother out with fresh webbing. The dpiders have tethered a star to the earth and agents of the darklord have invaded a celestial palace of a star spirit and her elf courtiers. The dark lord caught one of her spies and struck first fearing she might gather the stars themselves against him. An evil wizard advises the orc hero with a famous scimitar Moonrazor. The star eas sitting on the fence as stars do but now if freed will reward rescuers and send owls to the other stars and the celestial bureaucracy to get the gods acting. Her influence sheers decades off process. She offers advice on the dark lords artifact locations and weapons that could be used against him 
79 A great tree has been felled and partly burned. Aparently some faerie folk lived inside and in the roots blow. Various local talking animals, spirit folk and faries have gathered to bury friends. Nice cottage decor has been smashed and charred. A good opportunity to recruit a unusual follower. The critters might be motivated to fight or help
80 A winking star has appeared revealing the evil one has released a new great demon to the world and his cause. By day the demon appears in various battles where needed by the dark lord
81 The pole star shine bright larger than ever, a sign evil fears. Polestar sends spirits to the mortal world returning lost hero weapons from thousands of years ago that the dark lord fears. Across world heroes who have heard of the polestar myth look up and wonder if they will receive a gift
82 A great gateway opens in the mountain releasing shadows and zombies and skeletons. Distant chanting of cultists can be heard keeping the gate open. If slain the gate closes. The cult have a relic, special books and magical ingredients required to open this. The head priest of darkness is a famous evil hero and wanted criminal for killing royalty
83 Strange green and violet glows flicker and dance about in the northern sky. Some say this is god battling the darkness to weaken the dark one 
84 A strange luminous cloud passes over area inflicting many with mutations. Some locals are quick to shun or even kill mutants so many are forced to flee unless someone stops theses troublemakers. The condition might be cured with a rare lawful herb
85 An ancient wizard tower is under attack by a hundred orcs who have improvised siege weapons and await some black powder kegs or a cannon. The wizard guards a relic feared by the dark lord that could greatly aid the good forces. A spirit might inform the party of this but the wizard will be reluctant to use the weapon
86 A great crack in the earth opens releasing a d6 dragons and 3d6 wyverns who proceed to cause trouble. Twisting tunnels to the deep may release more monsters
87 A vast area covered in mold where people die from choking spores and the dead arise as fungal bloated undead. A fungus demon noble trapped in a apparatus at the centre held by the dark lords wizards. If freed the demon offers to send minions to aid when released it
88 An army of the darklord has human slaves digging up what seems to be a silver tower that fell and was buried long ago. Strange weapons of law are inside the wizard leader of the expedition hopes to claim
89 A great gathering of wild hairy naked wild folk with burning whicker man idols meeting at sacred stones. They are debating in their rare language which side to join. One who has served the dark lord as a dark hero offers death to the clothed folk and their stupid gods. An older king priest disagrees but is being burned tonight. Various candidates fight to be the next 7 year ruler including the dark lord agent who cheats with his priest and wizard followers. Humans mostly unwelcome but demihumans, beastfolk or halflings might get a say or chance to stop evil plots. Most humans don't know these wild folk exist or ever meet and would fear them
90 A serpant man wizard leading a lizard folk army with veloceraptor cavalry and a war trex. The wizard rides chariot pulled by a triceratops and has a dark elf chariot driver. He is doing a favor for the dark lord just this once an unpopular decision. If he dies the rest will likely return to their hibernation dungeon till the next apocalypse if given the chance
91 The moon changes colour to a strange eerie red and the whole night sky is filled with dim red light, a preview of what will happen if evil wins. Moon cultists determine a certain moon ziggarutt run by amazons in secret is under siege and is key to saving the moon. Inside is a gate to the moons celestial palace where evil has infiltrated
92 An evil star falls actually part of world left from creation demons have inhabited for aeons. The dark lord has brought them here to spread chaos but the demon prince of what is now a huge flaming crater seeks dominion over area. Demon cultists and chaos fanatics begin a pilgrimage here
93 Great burning evil eyes in the evening sky make everyone in world have lower saves by -2 each night until dark lord distracted or the aparatus used is broken. Experts know of the relic from previous use 
94 On the highest point in the land orcs are erecting an ancient design of a wizard defence tower that will be able to shoot burning rays to anything in its line of sight. A great crystal to power it is being moved to the gem in wagons with an escort
95 Ankheg giant burrowing bugs fill the area with hundreds of trenches, tunnels and pits intending it to be a future fortress. Once bugs hold strategic points as guards goblinoids from the deep pour out and man the bizarre fortification choking the area and expanding. Fungus thrives in tunnels with gobbo care and other giant bugs move in. Area will be prone to bugs and giant fungi for a long time
96 Magma pours from volcanic vent with lava forming a great basalt wall blocking a natural chokepoint blocking armies. If stopped quickly by killing salamanders chanting in the rift can be stopped 
97 One of the great dragons of evil is attacking a crumbling fortress with it's orc troops where an important future hero lives. Elves riding griffins appear and drive the beast away with lightning wands. Will anoint the chosen youth with gifts (and for family) and insist child goes to faerie land for training till right moment when needed (child returns as adult knight hero anytime)
98 Somewhere in the world a halfling messes up one of the dark lords infernal apparatus. Flickering lights in the sky alarm experst world wide and various evil relics and communications of the dark lord are crap for a d4 days till fixed. Perhaps the effect can be repeated at right time by good allies  
99 A gigantic dwarf golem the size of a small fort has a defensive force of 40 dwarf inside to shoot crossbows or guns from battlements in the titan. The giant lumbers to the nearest dark lord base to start smashing until eventually a greater demon or dragonfire destroys it. Once war over will march into a door in a mountain to be sealed till next time
100 A major force of the dark lord is camped ready to march. Someone somewhere lures away the wyverns patrollingthe sky away. Grey gnomish airships from a great door in a mountain come out and from extreme altitude drop poison gas, burning oil and black powder bombs on the army horribly burning and melting and blasting the army. Wyverns return confused and think they will get the blame. The next day survivor orcs come out in the plague and the area is diseased for a long time and taints the flesh of local animals for decades

note i am infamous in my crew as not liking flying ships or balloons in anything but my deep gnomes are near victorian tech level scientific murder hobos. Princess ark was probably the best thing in Dragon mag for years but at the time i wanted spells and rules and was getting grittier history gaming. When Known world was Mystara it became unusable to me. 

Saturday, 4 July 2020

Higher Level Alighnment Oaths & Boons




























So I went to cut and paste something from this post and new Blogger settings said i had changed it, changed an old post to a draft and won't restore unless I change publishing date. I had to cut and delete a post I was working on because it accidentally published something to an older date which i can't do now even if I wanted. Buttons seem different hour to hour. Anyway, I'm thinking of putting this in my new rulebook and checking I have not judged other alignments by my LG privleges. 

Characters making oaths at name level and above use the more extreme loathe tables here.
Plus I revised the benefits table at the end.

As I have said before I like to make alignment to before of a feature but a bit different. I'm all for party meltdowns and TPK from alignment feuds. It's a system to shortcut who you fight or perhaps don't. Its very existence is contentious. Most people and animals in my game are neutral perhaps with a preference for some alignment. Higher up levels folk and monsters and clerics are fanatics who become increasingly incongruent with the world or society and even each other.  Any fighter or wizard could become a holy champion and would probably be unfun at a party.

Neutrals
-concerned with the protection of own kind and prosperity mostly
-many not really into change
-good and evil have their places
Balanced
-attempt to manage forces of law and chaos to live a good life

So as of 2nd Lv you put a point in an alignment box and pick a gift pls roll an oath. If you want to use any luck points in a session or roll the same one a second time choose one or invent one agreeable to the referee. The more points you have in a box the better rewards and now at name level plus you get new more severe oaths that make people think more from a boss experience and are more extreme. Neutrals start caring about larger groups, evil people become increasingly blatantly awful, most get more interested in recruitment.

Oaths For Characters Level 11-20
Made for kings, heroes, champions
Law
Punish unlawful spellcasters  
2 Support a rigid social hierarchy
3 Help spread literacy and schools
4 Record every detail possible
5 Abstain from love and relations
6 Obey your ruler in all matters
7 Preserve arts of your civilisation
8 Always remain calm and civilised
9 Prepare your people for future prosperity
10 Hunt and destroy chaos cults
11 Help spread public hygiene and cleanliness
12 Help spread the teachings of the law
Chaos
1 Start fires for fun 

2 Reproduce as much as possible
3 Vandalise property and culture
4 Only eat stolen or free food 
5 Give away what you cant use
6 Constantly speak in puns & riddles
7 Slander persons in power 
8 Keep no secrets
9 Spend all wealth on pleasure
10 Aid outlaws and heretics
11 Encourage revolution against order
12 Give aid to the plight of mutants
Good 
1 Eat only the humblest of food

2 Avoid harm to all living creatures
3 Fight for the cause of peace 
4 Build homes & hospices for the poor
5 Only fight in self-defence
6 Always help destroy the undead
7 Protect the good from harm
8 Call out evil in public to shame them
9 Hinder progress of evil when you can
10 Provide meaningful work for poor
11 Donate wealth to a church or charity
12 Help spread the cause of good
Evil
1 Consume flesh & blood of person daily
2 Torture victims whenever possible
3 Make public displays of cruelty and sadism
4 Murder often so servants fear you
5 Kill the weak and stragglers for fun
6 Always seek to seize leadership
7 All family are just deadly rivals
8 Spend your plunder on making more war
9 Murder is the best means to all ends
10 Encourage corruption and vice
11 Promote the institution of slavery
12 Trick others to serve evil ends
Balance
1 Follow
 the local laws of the land
2 Be gracious to those you defeat
3 Call for votes on any issue
4 Listen to both sides before choosing 
5 Defend wilderness from harm
6 Make offers of parley and negotiate
7 Hinder the eternal war of chaos vs law  
8 No longer feel bodily pleasures, mostly meditate
9 Fight any tyrant using force against ordinary people 
10 Help bring peace between conflicted parties
11 Support the wellbeing of the common people
12 Convince others to adopt balanced lives
Nuetral
1 Fight for your people against all outsiders

2 Buy your way out of conflict if possible
3 Leave a legacy for your clan for the future 
4 Employ as many of your clan or people as you can
5 Wealth and land are all that matter
6 Build an impressive monument glorifying yourself
7 Help your community prosper and thrive
8 Get revenge against those who wrong your kind
9 Don't respond to being provoked into violence
10 Maintain public commons and squares
11 Hunt shapeshifters & lycanthropes among us
12 Help neutral people first, rest are dangerous

Gifts Choosable Per Point in Alignment

Lv 1-4 in alignment box
One from +1 armour, shield, weapon, ring of protection or another basic item
4 common potions: protection, 2d4 healing, d4 Might or water breathing
One Lv 0 Spell cantrip once per day (choose list type and spell)
One extra zero Lv 0 follower
One Minor Mutation (Apotheosis warning)
One Language

Lv 5-8
 in alignment box
One from +2 armour, shield, weapon, a ring of protection or another basic item
4 potions from cure disease, cure poison, 2d8 healing or heroism
One Lv 1 Spell
One extra d3 Lv or HD follower
One Major Mutation (Apotheosis warning!)
One arms or arts skill
One luck point

Lv 9-12
 in alignment box
One from +3 armour, shield, weapon, ring of protection or another basic item
One Lv 2 Spell
One extra d4+1 Lv or HD follower


Lv 13-16 in alignment box
One from +4 armour, shield, weapon, ring of protection or another basic item
One Lv 3 Spell
One 
extra d6+3 Lv or HD follower 

Lv 17-20
 in alignment box
One from +5 armour, shield, weapon, ring of protection or another basic item
One Lv 4 Spell
One attribute point

Monday, 27 January 2020

Marine Folk Revised




































Revision of item I spat the dummy on so last few added here
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/01/return-of-beastfolk-marine-peoples.html

Marine Folk

1 Oyster 
2 Anemone 
3 Starfish 
4 Walrus
5 Urchin 
6 Dolphin 
7 Octopus 
8 Penguin
9 Pelican 
10 Stingray 
11 Seahorse 
12 Manatee

Oyster Folk

Are thick stone like shelled folk with squishy grey flesh and mucous within. While well armoured they peek from an opening in their shell but will seal themselves if threatened. They are kin with an array of sea mollusc folk like clam, muscle and others. Some have bristly hair like cilia that move tiny marine plankton into their mouths. While their bodies and faces are armoured while using their thick muscular limbs the have to extend them from their shells to act as a humanoid. Some have quite colourful flesh but most are green-grey. Shy and peaceful humans have killed them for millennium to eat, for pearls or shells. Oyster folk are wary and suspicious, especially of humans. Humans often kill and eat their children unaware they are in fact humanoid and intelligent. They often aided other marine races war against humans as they were easily convinced of the hairless ape menace. They often swell in reef villages living simple lives in coral huts, gathering small crustaceans and seaweed they require as they are larger than their tiny kin and need more substantial food. But they often wallow in rock pools filter feeding if they cant do better. They can be hard to see among marine rocks, many have barnacles and weed or algae growing on them. Occasionally some can get along with humans but they are melancholic curmudgeons. They often use shells of fallen kin as shields or to make weapons. These are brittle but sharp and might incorporate driftwood hafts. Such weapons also blend with the marine matter on coasts.

d12 Oyster Folk Troubles

1 An evil band of elderly retired scurvy sailors have been daily scrounging on the reef and have eaten many oyster children. If not stopped the oysters will raid the fishing villagers to steal their children warns a sea-druid
2 Oyster folk live in a shipwreck that greedy adventurers want to sack, little do they know there are more oysters than they expect, after a defeat and retreat they seek young gullible adventurers as cannon fodder to help them
3 A former fish folk sunken temple has been disturbed in a storm releasing a sea demon forcing oysters to move into a river mouth where human fishermen are horrified by them. If spoken too oysters will help adventurers destroy the demon and loot the temple
4 An evil wizard has oyster children kidnapped to make pearls which torments them. Oysters want their children back
5 A famous gourmet hires adventurers to catch young oysters for a royal feast. Some rich believe they are aphrodisiacs and demand them. Oysters want revenge
6 Walrus folk and Oyster folk have been battling on a stretch of coast and fishermen are now avoiding it and going hungry
7 Oyster folk pirates have been attacking ships on the rocky coast and have even seized a lighthouse to misuse and wreck ships. Merchants offer a reward to stop them
8 Smugglers had a secret coast cliff base but something has taken it over and they will pay to find out who. Cave full pf contraband the state would love to seize
9 A gang of wreckers preying on the coast disappeared. All kinds of locals secretly in the gang are missing as are many ship survivors. A reward has been offered for their return and capture
10 Someone is trading weapons for pearls with oyster folk who now have become bold and aggressive when ships pass their coral reef castle
11 Fisherman gathering worms by night on beach for bait seen lights on the reef and heard music
12 A village of pearl divers has disappeared, all of them. Find out why.

Anemone Folk

These brightly coloured fleshy humanoids have thick tentacle hair and live on rocky coastlines and reefs. Some are ethereally beautiful. Their mouth is used to eat and excrete. As they can live on land they no longer depend on stinger cells to catch prey. Some older ones will affix themselves to a reef and develop stingers and become a giant anemone. Some happily cohabit with crab folk and some breeds of fish folk. They often domesticate other giant sea creatures like giant hermit crabs as mounts and use to raid coastal dwellers. They trade with many great undersea kingdoms and are famous for their great balls. Many live in great reef coral castles where they dwell and dance serenely. Mostly they avoid humans and thus seem very exotic to them. In ancient times they used their giant anemone gardens and pets to form great defences for the fish folk empire. Occasionally adventurers stumble across some ancient coastal or undersea ruin anemone folk still guard. As most do not move far from their birthplace they are very stubborn to move and might conflict with humans causing pollution or building on reefs. Anenome folk seem to not just be good at domesticating sea life they seem to be able to alter life at some basic cellular level with their alien science. They used to create giant sea monsters under commission to sea kings and fish cults

d12 Anemone Folk Troubles

1 A lighthouse building crew are being attacked by strange beautiful humanoid creatures riding war crabs and they require adventurers to talk or drive the beings away
2 City garbage scows are being sunk by night and swollen mutilated corpses of their crews are found floating in the water. Nobody knows who or why
3 Sailors have seen strange beautiful women dancing by the reef and want to capture some. Alas some sailors died but others are curious
4 A wizard runs a marine menagerie to study and has a sad anemone person prisoner. Anemone kin know and want to rescue them, kill the wizard and free all the creatures creating havoc in the harbour
5 Fish folk killed a colony of anemone people and now a gigantic anemone has blocked the harbour. Anemone will move it if the killers are brought to them as prisoners
6 A wizard has been spying on nude anemone folk with a crystal ball and wants adventurer guards to escort him as he tries to contact them
7 A colony of clownfish folk have been killed by human authorities enraging anemone allies who choke the harbour with giant anemones and giant kelp
8 A giant kelp barrier has choked an area of the sea and explorers have tried to cross the sargassum. Ancient wrecked ships have been raised by the giant kelp attracting treasure hunters. Anemone folk have been using the area to create some colossal sea beast
9 A major settlement drained the swamp where their sewerage was absorbed and now the waste goes into the sea. Increasing plagues of giant sea lice, stinging jellyfish and wood eating marine termites have been attacking the docklands and some think intelligent beings are behind the plagues
10 Pirates attacked and enslaved anemone folk and in retaliation, a merchant ship has been lifted above the sea by giant kelp. The crew and passengers are trapped aboard and adventurers are sent to free them or negotiate with the anemone folk
11 A foolish noble youth of a sea merchant clan has gone out to the reef to marry a beautiful anemone woman and the family want him back
12 A great sea monster attacked a coastal village and investigators are sent to assess the threat. A cult has paid sea anemone folk to make them a living god to let them take over the coast and sea trade

Starfish Folk

Minions of the ancient marine empire, these creatures can breed rapidly and regenerate wounds making them ideal troops and workers. They also eat anything even living coral. Many varieties exist in various colours and textures of skin. Some are smooth some are covered in spiny thorns. Even if killed and dismembered the separate parts may grow into separate starfish and may even share memories. They are not clever and often are pawns of other races especially evil fish folk clans. Fish folk know their minions are often terrible at following orders and require guidance. The various tribes often act as specialist units with varying skills and weapons. As each tribe is so distinctive they stand out on battlefields. Their demon starfish ancestor is a greedy god and some human cults even worship it keeping starfish folk in pits of sacrifice. The god offers healing for servants which attracts some desperate humans. Terrible wars in ancient times featured hordes of starfish invading the land but it was fire and burning their dead that stopped them Most humans don't know this history. Some say starfish came from the stars, banished for their evil deeds by their celestial kin to the depths of the sea

d12 Starfish Folk Troubles

1 Years ago starfish folk marched from the sea and attacked. Locals defeated them and chopped them up and threw them into the sea. Now there are even more attacking!
2 A fish folk warlock has amassed an army of starfish. Working with a local cult they wish to seize a temple now landlocked in human lands
3 A pirate crew recruited some starfish in their crew. A few years later the whole crew are starfish and menacing the coast with no restraint killing, robbing and eating humans
4 A cult has been breeding starfish in a secret cave, ready for a night they will murder the local people for the demon starfish cult
5 Something by night is coming ashore and breaking into the dried fish sores and smokehouses in the harbour
6 Fishermen drying their nets all disappeared, only a star shaped sign in the sand remained
7 A strange stone spire erupted from a reef. It seems to have star symbols on it and windows. Locals are curious
8 The local reef fisherfolk are dependent on is covered in starfish folk devouring everything. Warriors are needed to kill them when fisher folk can scoop them up
9 Cultists have been seen going to the reef by night and nobody knows what they are up to. The cult wear strange star symbols with a maw in the centre on their purple robes
10 After the last starfish folk cull in the region, alone surviving starfish priest has been raiding the graveyards of the fisherfolk by night to reanimate the dead as zombies.out of revenge. Someone must kill the zombies and catch the priest in the act
11 After the last storm, a stone ruin on the beach was exposed with strange star symbols. Some beachcombers went inside and did not come out. locals are afraid
12 Locals regularly comb the beach after the storms but this year many searchers vanished. Starfish folk have been laying under the sand to grapple and eat people

Walrus Folk
This doughy folk swim in the frozen north on rocky coasts and islands and ice flows. Feed off fish, penguins and shellfish they also hunt whales, act as pirates and adventure in the pre human ruins of the frozen north. They often battle polar bear, penguin, seal and fish folk for supremacy. They also conflict with humans who dare trespass on their territory. Many males driven from their homes wander into human lands. Some end up slaves or pit fighters, but many become pirates, adventurers or mercenaries. They make the best guides in the frozen lands. They also practise handy crafts such as scrimshaw, weaving, leatherwork and carpentry they require to survive. Long ago they helped humankind repel the fish folk conquerors and helped fight necromancers who fled into the frozen wastes. Their ships and sleds are infamous and they value imported wood and metal from the south for whale ivory. Some go viking, raiding south lands for goods they crave like grain and beer. Walrus ivory highly offends them and they claim all as theirs to bury in a funeral rite. Some call them tusk folk. They often laugh at weak and skinny peoples of the sunlit lands. They infamously stoic and tough and can swing from jolly drunks to violent berserkers in moments.

d12 Walrus Folk Trouble

1 A walrus crime lord controls drug smuggling in a town and a rival gang want him gone. Adventurers are hired as extra muscle in a hit using a midnight docklands meeting as a ruse
2 A ship of walrus viking berserks is seen on the horizon, locals in panic
3 A diary and map of a pre human ruined city in the north describing great treasure is found, walrus guides are required to find it
4 Explorers found a block of ice with a thing inside. Returning it to civilisation it thaws out a walrus cursed by his berserker axe, if free and cursed axe removed he will be grateful and helpful
5 A villain robbed a walrus burial ground of ivory offending the walrus spirits and the tribe gather to hunt and kill the criminal and any aiding them
6 A hunter has been selling walrus blubber, skins and ivory actually from murdered walrus folk. Most of the good users are outraged and want hunter punished
7 Walrus folk have guarded a stone age black citadel trapped in the ice for millennia but now they are inviting adventurers and helping them
8 A walrus shaman has found a cursed fur trapper shack in the tundra and says it is a human responsibility to cleanse the haunted place of evil
9 A walrus wizard with crystal tusks has a cursed local area with freezing blizzard winds and undead walrus warriors
10 Walrus warrior maids are having a beauty contest and will force strangers they find to judge, they are vindictive and lusty
11 A great mound of a walrus warrior king has been disturbed by looters, now an angry walrus wight stalks the night murdering locals
12 Nobody had seen walrus folk for generations till a vindictive shaman planted rune encrusted tusks which grew into a band of walrus berserks who now are on a murder spree

Urchin Folk

These hard chitinous skinned folk are covered in spiny and spikes and their frightful five toothed sphincters like orifices disgust most onlookers. They are omnivorous eating seaweed, vegetable matter and any dead flesh they can scavenge. They dwell in fortified reef forts and have aggressive defensive mindsets forming phalanx walls if threatened. Every tribe has vastly different colours, spine appearance and personalities. Some with larger blunt spines may have sponges or algae growing on them. Smaller tentacles around their mouths with suckers feed off tiny often water born organisms. The very young lack spines and many do not recognise as urchins. Some develop stinging spines or might have colonies of smaller creatures living in between their spines and might defend their host.
Many served the undersea empire of the fish folk as heavy infantry and helped invade the surface world. Some tribes still raid ashore seeking food when their numbers every few generations grow and their colonies need to expand. They do tend to feud with crab folk who delight in eating them. Otter folk and starfish folk are ancient enemies also. Colonies build coral reef forts but smaller groups and lovers find a crevice or dig a hole to lair inside. Those that use magic favour protective spells. The often herd giant amphibious urchins as pets and for defence. They will trade but humans find them hideous and often fear them

d12 Urchin Folk Trouble

1 Clan of urchin warriors march ashore and terrorise fisher folk and docklands for some reason
2 Horrible humanoids from the deep come from the sea and make strange gestures alarming locals. Someone needs to meet them and determine if they are friend or foe
3 A fish folk wizard with his urchin warriors have taken over a lighthouse and people have heard strange chants from their since
4 Crab men and urchins have been battling over the reef scaring fisher folk. Both species have made crude alien attempts to seek aid from humans who don't like either breed
5 Urchin pirates have been raiding the coast and recently took a small human village and took prisoners as slaves to gather algae and seaweed from rock pools while urchins get drunk
6 A friendly sea otter merchant seeks help capturing hideous urchin folk to take to otter land
7 A wounded sea elf washed ashore tells of how a fish folk warlock with his urchin warriors has been waging war on the undersea peoples of the area and the surface will be raided next
8 A cowardly tako octopus fairy seeks adventurers to help her rob a lair of urchin folk of their pearls from their giant oyster garden. She also likes to eat their children but won't mention that
9 Dead urchin folk wash ashore, dozens of them, locals are alarmed at the hideous corpses
10 After a storm where a ship was lost bodies and survivors wash ashore where hungry urchins try to eat dead and wounded unable to move, locals want to help but are afraid
11 An urchin merchant comes ashore seeking humans to help round up his sea goblin slaves who escaped. He offers exotic fish folk gold jewellery to any who help
12 A sea urchin princess has been kidnapped by crab folk who plans to feast on her next full moon. Her page servant seeks helpers to rescue the beautiful princess and the urchin king surely will reward them. The crabs live in a coral reef fortified tower

Dolphin Folk

These folk are often well regarded by humans and some come ashore to work on ships and coastlines. Colours can vary from grey to blue or green or even pink. River breeds can be quite small and are known as dolphinlings. They tend to live in nomadic clans who hunt together. They are cheeky, playful and can be friendly. Some of the loners that come ashore are dangerous and insane, sexually assaulting and murdering for fun. Some are charlatans playing on how humans think well of them. Some claim they have healing abilities or lead cults of gullible humans. The more useful ones often work as pilots to guide ships through reefs and other marine hazards. Compared to many beast folk dolphins are acceptable and non threatening. Dolphins adapt well to trade and money making and are willing to cheat, hustle and lie to make more. It is hard to tell if their squeaks for joy are just from being happy or laughter at human fools. While they are excellent liars they can be good friends with humans. Many live on islands hunting and fishing. some human fishermen fear the competence of dolphins and some have massacred them out of rivalry. Dolphins remember this and remain wary of humans even friendly ones. Most of all they hate shark and fish folk and they aided humans fighting them long ago.

d12 Dolphin Folk Troubles

1 A dolphin peddler comes to town in a rowboat and is selling unicorn horns, cursed fish folk gold, colourful fake healing potions and treasure maps, quick to move on as has more suckers customers to visit
2 Dolphins come seeking help as viking fishermen came to their village and murdered half their tribe
3 A peg-legged dolphin pirate needs help finding his treasure he buried on skeleton island or was it mermaid island or seahag island? One of those anyway
4 A dolphin is pretending to drop treasure maps in adventurer taverns, actually lead to lairs of his people's enemies
5 A dolphin wants revenge on a sailor who ate his dead brother's corpse. The man is now a church leader who tells of how the gods sent him the corpse when he was starving
6 Dolphins have set up a seaside carnival with gambling, sideshows, freaks from the sea in cages and athletic diving feats to amaze the crowd
7 A dolphin seeks help as fish folk with shark folk mercenaries have reoccupied a ruin on the coast for some evil purpose
8 The fine finny friends are a dolphin brotherhood who offers eternal friendship to any who aid them in destroying a fish cult rampant on the coastline. Many of the cult are respectable civic leaders and dolphins don't want to get blamed if things go wrong
9 Dolphins have come demanding sea tax from a local village and threaten to sink any fishing boats launched unless they get 10% of the catch
10 A scarred dolphin warrior wants to die gloriously on one more heist. He knows where a fish folk fortress is hidden on a reef and wants humans to help him sack the place and kill the fishy bastards
11 Dolphins have come to shore to warn of a cult of manta ray folk who worship a sea demon have moved into the area and seek to sacrifice dolphins and humans like the old days
12 A dolphin wizard offers magical seaweed of water breathing if they help him plunder the garden of a sea nymph

Octopus Folk

These humanoids octopus folk are feared by coastal folk and even disliked by tako octopus fairies. They are voracious servants of chaos with octopus heads and tentacle arms, the greater ones have more arms. While tako are civilized and cautious, these brutes are fearless savages who worship sea demons and chaos gods. Long ago they serve fish god cults but they turned on fish folk when their empire collapsed. They work with squid cults too. Octopus folk live in caves on coasts or reefs and raid enemies on land or the sea. Ever hungry and greedy for treasure and slaves they are constantly at war. Some evil powers employ them but must not show the weakness of the cunning octopus folk will turn on their masters. Often the ambush ships and sacrifice most of the crew and eat them. The unlucky ones are taken to their caves as servants and playthings. They often fight naked to intimidate their foes and often stop in the battle to eat a fallen enemy rather than chase any who flee. Most undersea races fear and mistrust them.

d12 Octopus Folk Troubles

1 A pirate had his crew eaten and his treasure stolen and seeks adventurers to help recover the remains
2 A chaos octopus gladiator has been eating mutants thrown into his fighting pit by humans and has gained new mutations. Using her new abilities she escapes into the markets to kill as many as possible and escape if she can into the sea
3 Octopus warriors have raided a village seizing all the women while the fishermen were at sea. A church offers funds to rescue the women before they are eaten or worse
4 A man covered in sucker wounds washes up on the shore and when revived tells of an offshore cave where octopus folk force human slaves to mine gold from the seafloor using strange apparatus made by fish folk wizards long ago. The man dies of the bends shortly after.
5 An octopus cult has been sacrificing gold and victims to a sea linked sinkhole for generations. Locals want the cult stopped and their false god killed. In the tidal flooded sinkhole, a kraken and his octopus minions come every full moon for treasure and victims
6 An octopus wizard keeps sending a water elemental to kidnap victims from a coastal town daily and a huge reward is offered for the fiend
7 A village troubled by octopus folk have caught an innocent tako they caught visiting fisherman's wives while washing clothes on the rocks by the sea. The villages plan to cook and eat him but he claims to know where the octopus folk lair is and tells of a great treasure hidden there from the old fish folk kingdom
8 A great octopus warrior with obsidian weapons has come ashore and will not let fishermen enter the sea unless they defeat him or give him a dozen human babies to eat
9 Sea elves come ashore seeking humans to fight octopus folk servants of an evil sea hag who wants their handsome prince to marry her
10 Strange chanting from the reef by night has been alarming locals and the tide has been rising higher than ever before. Next full moon high tide approaches and locals dread what will happen next
11 A fisherman killed a selkie who would not be his lover and now the sea king sends octopus folk to punish the humans until the villain is surrendered to him. The culprit knows why the fiend's attack but the village has no idea
12 An evil fish folk sorcerer has been kidnapping humans to turn into octopus folk servants. Predictably they have begun to attack humans when the master is not watching them, drawing attention to his evil schemes against the sea king

Penguin FolkOily flightless bird folk often living in frozen sea islands or rocky coasts. The smallest breeds are penguinlings and most think they are harmless and inoffensive other than their fishy smell. The larger breeds are often sailors and explorers joining human crews and working docks for fish. They have colonies worldwide and trade exotic seafood their preferred currency. Fish folk hate them with a passion for eating their children in their sacred spawning grounds. Some penguin folk seasonally live deeper inland to breed and some came to dwell in ruined prehuman fortresses of alien gods from pre human times. These have become dangerous albino cultists who now guard these ruins from humans. Some penguin magicians have learned the art of making iceberg citadels that wander the world and never melt. Some bring chilling blizzards with them to keep intruders away.

d12 Penguin Folk Troubles

1 A iceberg citadel of penguin folk ruled by a prehuman sorcerer in service to the evil elemental cold demon lords has been attacking coastal shipping and destroying villagers. The kingdom has offered a reward for stopping the frozen juggernaut 
2 A penguin pirate knows the way to the prehuman ruins of Ultima Thule and offers humans join him in his quest for money and forbidden lore that wizards will pay for gladly
3 A penguinling colony has grown and the curious pests now wander the streets, stinking up the place and bringing their odd customs. Locals want someone to drive off the pint sized penguin folk. If bothered they are shocked they are unwelcome and call their larger cousins to aid them
4 A penguin offer maps of far off lands unknown to humans in return for helping her get revenge on shark folk who ate her family
5 A penguin hero in magical ice armour with snow golem minions demands all fishing rights in the area belong to their race, not humans. Locals hire adventures and lie to make this penguin paladin seem less sympathetic
6 A demon whale has been eating penguins fishing in their island waters and they seek humans to kill the weird beast
7 A penguin family had children eaten by walrus folk and they want revenge. Calling on an evil relic from the deep they call a tsunami to hit the walrus colony. A minor sea deity learns of the plan and warns the local humans
8 Savage penguin chaos pirates have been seen off coast spreading mass panic
9 A penguin long lost from home has become a well liked local, somebody has kidnapped it and locals worried
10 Slavers captured the local penguin colony preventing them, from performing ancient rituals that kept a chaos kraken away from the region, now it is tearing up villages and ships
11 Penguinlings were brutally set on by dogs and rendered for oil by horrible humans. They seek killers to avenge their tribe offering to pay with pearls and treasure maps
12 A penguin islander hero comes to civilised port to find athletes for island games and they seek human contestants. Offer gold and pearls to come. The events include kraken hunting, fighting demons and avoiding the deathtraps on their island while seeking a great relic for the natives

Pelican Folk
These gruff but admirable sea folk travel seas and are experts at fishing and smuggling. Many come from Island tribes and join ship crews where they excel in all climates. Many prate crews also have them as crewmen. Occasionally get up to tricks with beaks like hiding goods, snatch severed hands on a battlefield or trip someone up with hook on the beak. Pelican corsairs roam some coastlines living like pirates, some also taken as slaves or conscripted by visiting ships. Pelicans have aided several undersea civilisations for better or for worse of various alignments. There are smaller pelicanlings too but they are more like fish scroungers or sidekicks.

1 A crew of pelicans have adopted a tavern and the owner cant dislodge them. Will pay you in free beer if you can get rid of them
2 A rocky outcrop is a base for smugglers some say but they are working with a huge network of pelican folk and a few fight with them
3 An elderly pelican man with a wooden leg tells stories and sings shanties for beer knows of lots of strange treasure islands to the south. Longs to go back with explorers and speaks islander folk languages
4 A local pelican fisher comes into market warning all about signs of the fish cult in town, almost immediately some fishy fellows follow him
5 A pelican offers a ride for hire on his golem powered tug boat he found in distant ruins on an island
6 Pelicans erected idol where they conjure a sea elemental and talk to mermaids, locals suspicious of their cult and want pelicans gone and to grab their property
7 A pelican fishing boat captain saw strange haunted treasure ship exposed on the reef in a storm in full moon and he is sure conditions will be same tonight for a fee
8 Pelican fisherman has seen a strange stone barge underwater and some stuff that looks like ruins
9 Old pelican in pub gossips about local criminal gangs and their activities around the harbour, for a few coins will name names but if the mob find out the pelican will be found dead next day
10 A gang of pelican folk have been hunting for fish men cults earnestly. Will inspect visitors to town to check for fishy friends or their finny friends. Occupationally are convinced by some trivia some poor person is a fish cultist who needs interrogating and possibly burning
11 A wicked chaos pelican sect have been holding rituals on the reef at night summoning fish to eat and ancient sea demon minions
12 A pelican wizard has erected a coral tower and has declared keep out to all locals and the law. Local tax man wants him issued with a legal summons by hand

Stingray Folk
These sinister folk from the deep served greater armies of fish folk long ago. They are notorious necromancers and evil priests dedicated to marine devils which there are plenty. They often build an underwater entrance to a reef based hidden fort or temple. Many also live in the seas of hell and thus many are called devil-rays. They are reluctant to talk o humans who killed many of their greatest tribes long ago. Some live in marine districts of cities but they often end up working as bounty hunters, smugglers, kidnappers and assassins. Sometimes they start bloodthirsty cults and try to restore the ancient terror days when all gave them offerings out of fear. They like to use spike clubs often with poison, tridents and nets. Smaller ones are shy and hide on distant islands who often don't survive meeting other races. Some are seen gliding over the sea

1 Robed cultists are seen making for the coast with a screaming person, when they reach the beach stingray folk carry them across the low tide to a rocky island with a hidden stingray tentacle to their vampire demon god
2 Missing beachcombers had local search revealing strange rock carvings of stingray folk receiving human captives from humans
3 Recently local smugglers disappeared making quality grog hard to find but then an armed band of taxmen disappeared on patrol too, nobody knows how or why
4 Lighthouse keepers report cloaked creatures running about the lighthouse rocks by night
5 Travellers near the sea find cowled creature hiding in the water peeking and following them
6 On rainy nights some cult has been seen on coast holding strange ceremonies. Once a body was found swollen and purple, punctured with thousands of tiny puncture wounds and broken bones but no blood
7 A man saw ghost like figures swimming in and out of flooded caves
8 A ship came ashore with all crew gone and the hand of a strange creature was found
9 Lights from a rock at sea have been spotted and town elders want adventurers to lead night watch to find out what is going on. Some heard some strange sounds like stone working
10 A stone circle half submerged on the coast has been seen since a big storm and some say sinister robed figures were wading around the rocks
11 Local art in the temple shows long ago strange folk from the sea lived here but were driven off into coastal caves. Stingray folk tribe are very angry and will call on their evil god and fight to the death with everything
12 A dried up devil-ray hangs from shop ceiling and owner comments they used to live here but all were killed. Mentions a bay with an underwater cave. There is a sea devil idol onshore

Seahorse FolkThese creatures are flighty and wary of strangers but are also boastful and like to sound noble and important. They like to think they are more like dragons than horses and some breeds resemble vegetation they live amongst. Some are covered in algae making them hard to see. Other are more colourful and vain holding parties and courtly games. They invite other fish to show how much better they are. Male seahorse folk mostly care for and protect babies while women go exploring and have adventures. When they gather to discus various things they fled from heroically. Smaller breeds were hunted for dried ornaments

1 Seahorse folk are being eaten by a marine dinosaur and need help or they will always perish
3 Someone is catching baby seahorse folk as pets in the city where most die, seahorse elders, need help
4 A sea druid has a location of a secret seahorse dancing place and seeks helpers to meet them. They all sobbed about a giant chaos sea turtle which the tearful druids announce you will fight it
5 A seahorse tattoo artist working on docks has been forced to ally with a thieves guild. Needs some adventurers he can dupe into starting a fight with a rival gang
6 A seahorse bard wishes to study surface adventure then go tour the undersea faerie land with new songs about funny landlubbers
7 A seahorse huckster with his burly lobster folk guards is offering money to who can beat his slave crab man in a fight. He would sell the slave for a good offer
8 A seahorse wizard has come to study the unnatural child rearing practices of the feckless surface folk
9 A seahorse man stranded with a bunch of his children living in an overturned fishing boat need food and help
10 Dazed seahorse children wash up on shore and locals grab them and put them in cages to sell to freak shows and menageries. Under the sea seahorse, villagers are preparing to attack bu night
11 A band of seahorse women adventurers would like to see some monsters up close and offer pearls for safe confrontation with monsters of the surface. They will scream in shrill voices and heroically flee until they are exhausted
12  A seahorse gladiator wants freedom and asks if adventurers could buy him and he could earn cash faster, he desperately wants to get home to his babies separated from him years ago

Manatee FolkThese placid grazers of seaweed are kin to dugongs and sea cows and other similar mammals, some now rare. They are peaceful and kind and happy grazing on weed, some labour in underwater fairyland pulling ploughs for nymphs or seagrass spirit folk. Some come ashore and work on docks using great strength and endurance. Some try and sell milk but with less success but do get be wet nurses for orphan sailors. Deluded humans sometimes mistake them for mermaids or try and eat them or worse so they avoid places humans live mostly. They are quite friendly, calm and jolly when fed and content but produce huge tears when they cry. Manatee make good sailors and wharf crew but don't really like violence mostly

1 A noble wizard likes to run down manatee in his magical boat then has his servants collect the body and spitroast them. Some locals think this could be wrong
2 A peaceful islander knows of a dugong temple where local tribe threw pearls in the sea
3 A great floating raft populated by manatee folk has been seen offshore and they trade goods and welcome strangers
4 A matinee wizard from the underwater fairyland comes to trade drugs with the surface world, offers free sea wine and kelp beer drinks to new customers, locals shocked
5 A giant castle of kelp has grown in the harbour. An evil manatee wizard and his royal guards defend it from intruders while a manatee princess in the top tower calls out for help
6 A slaver has manatees gathering pearls by holding babies hostage, boasts about it in town
7 Manatee folk are swimming around having a sing and humans with harpoons are sneaking up to them
8 A manatee barbarian is hunting humans that killed his family but in meantime needs beer money and fights
9 Sailors have found an island rocky outcrop sea castle of a manatee clan and seek warriors to help them rob the magic brutes
10 A manatee wizard uses illusions to make her sea cow gang seem like attractive maidens. They kidnap people and polymorph the most charismatic into manatee folk to be husbands forever in undersea faerie land
11 A thieves guild of manatee drug smugglers have been crashing drug prices and local guilds need someone to find who. Manatee mostly lay about with hookahs and eating seagrass and dancing
12 Manatee offers magic seagrass that lets surface folk breathe water and a chance to explore a shark infested wreck full of a treasure chest from far away