20 Random Rumors

20 Random Rumors for Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder or any fantasy type rpg. You can roll 1d20 or just simply select what you fancy. Whether these rumors are true or not is up to you.

Roll 1d20

1. One of those holy warriors has been seen drowning his sorrows at the local pub. Someone said he was some Paladin type fellow. Piss off his God. Now he just drinks away his time.

2. Don't drink the Red Ale from the Cornish Hen Tavern. Old lady Miller drank so much one night she turned into a weasel. Yes, a weasel. No I'm not drunk man I'm telling ya the truth.

3. This little fat fella came into town two days ago. Hit up the General Store and bought up all the rations. Says he needs the food just in case some bad stuff goes down. I don't know seems a bit suspicious I say.

4. Hey you know the town was built over a cemetery. Yeah they removed the tombstones and started building right upon graves. Very strange indeed.

5. We don't bury our dead. No we burn'em and keep them in urns. They say if your body is not burned within a days time it rises. Yep, some zombie type thing. So just in case any of you die make sure you got a source of fire handy.

6. You heard about our well. Yeah it's been dry for years now. We lost a bunch of kids a few years back. Someone said a tentacle reach out and drag them to their death. Ever since no one goes by that damn well.

7. Don't give that damn half-orc Urgron any money. All he does is smoke it away. Says he needs the money for some exotic pipe weed. Problem is once he smokes it he runs around town naked. Not a pretty sight my friend.

8. Stay off the road north at night. They say a man without head rides a horse up and down the road. They say he is looking for the right head to replace his own. Keep your head man and stay off the road!

9. I heard about a group young girls knocking on people doors. They sing a nursery rhyme to anyone who opens up. Strange thing is these girl don't even live in the town.

10. Edgrin the halfling is looking for investments. Yeah he needs a 1,000gp to fund his expedition. Says he's hunting Dragons. Last time someone funded his expedition they lost all their money.

11. Tally May house is north of the town. Yeah she's collect cats. Lots of cats. The place smells like urine and half the cats are dead. Someone once told me that those dead cats can move.

12. Mo got hit by lightning last year. Tragic indeed. Now he slurs his speech and speaks in third person. He claims that he is Mo the Lighting God. His mom says all he needs is to get hit by lightning again to reverse his condition.

13. Remember that statue you passed when you came into town. The one with those gemstone eyes. Well I hear they record your movement. The Mayor who is held up in his manor uses them to spy on the folks round here.

14. You know what's strange? Not a single women has given birth in five years. Must be something in the water.

15. Graffiti everywhere. The last few weeks someone been painting a goat skull on houses throughout town. We've been trying to remove the paint but it simply won't wash off.

16. There an abandoned mine south of here. Rumor has it the miners hit a passage that they shouldn't of have. They never returned. My good friend told me they stumbled upon a Goblin City.

17. We are waiting on a supply caravan to hit town. Problem is it was suppose to be here last week. Wonder what the delay is.

18. Father Zabrin is a strange guy. He collects holy symbols. Also every year he switches his allegiances to a new god. Charlatan I tell you.

19. You know about Mallak the Bard? Yeah someone told me he died two years ago in a freak accident. Then out of nowhere he strolled into town a few days back. He looks good for a dead guy.

20. Exactly at Midnight every dog in town begins to howl. This horrible cacophony rattles my nerves. I always wonder why it happens every night at the same time.

Session 7: Remnants of a Fallen Kingdom

Recap of our last session of AD&D 2nd Edition: Remnants of a Fallen Kingdom. Played on 3/4/15 on Roll20 and Google Hangouts.

Session Recap written by Anna

Players:

Danica: 2nd level 1/2 Elf Ranger Dead
Azurith: 2nd level Elven Cleric: Couldn't make Session
Taurnil: 2/1st level Elven Thief/Mage
Rin: 2nd level Human Paladin Couldn't make Session
Shnozola: 2nd level Gnome Druid

Lysander: 1st level Wizard Dead

After having a cave roof collapse on him Azurith decides to head back to the beginning of the cave with Rin as an escort. Taurnil hears a shuffling sound coming from the south west, so the group decides to investigate it staying as hidden and quiet as possible. The Adventurers come across a room piled high with refuse and a pair of legs sticking out of it. Taurnil pulls on the legs and finds a partially conscious human man lying without any gear, weapons, or armor.

 His name is Lysander and he claimed to be knocked unconscious and thrown into the trash by a witch that he was tracking in the woods. Hearing a scream the group rushes to the north to find a large set of wooden double doors with a three eyed dragon on it. After Lysander exams it more closely he tell the rest of the group that it is the holy symbol for a demon named Lamashtu and that she was known for her portfolio over fertility through sacrifices. Bursting open the door the adventurers find what looks like a temple to the demon goddess and a women tied up to a throne on the far side of the temple.

 The room was mostly filled with water with a deeper pit in the center. Danica and Taurnil examine the throne and the binds that are wrapped around the women. They find thick chains holding the lady and that the throne has skulls on it. The women claims to be from Greenspur and that a goblin with red eyes left her here as a sacrifice to a creature that would be coming out of the deeper pit of water any moment. She also tells that the goblin had been traveling with a few skeletons. Taurnil tries to pick the lock but as he does the eyes of the skulls on the throne glow red and a bloody symbol appears in the deeper pool.

 After a few seconds 6 purple dire leaches slink their way out of the pool. After taking some serious damage the group finally manages to take down the leaches. Examining the lock the group finds no way to free the women without a key, so they tell her they will come back as soon as they can. Exploring around to try to find the red eyed goblin and the key to free the women the adventures find an alchemist lab with a body on the table.

Examining the body and the books that are around the room Lysander determines that the lab was meant to create flesh golems. Leaving the room and continuing down the hall the group comes across a room with two feet of water, some skeletons, and a red pearl in the middle of the room. Just as the group decides to stay away from the pearl Rin runs out of the back of the room wearing no armor. He calls for help and claims he has found the women and the red eyed goblin. He says he needs help and run around a corner.

Following Rin, Taurnil finds Rin slashing a women’s throat then throwing her body over the red pearl in the water. The water around the body begins to bubble immediately and a large bloody skeleton with tendrils hanging down around him emerges from the water. Rin runs off further into the room while Taurnil, Danica, and Shnoz all engage with the skeleton. Once they are wrapped up the skeleton tendrils Lysander ran further into the room and was confronted with a Rin who was apparently a Doppleganger.

After taking some hits and taking down the skeleton Danica and Lysander fall unconscious in the water; Taurnil and Shnoz retreat from the room. Danica and Lysander drown in the water. The rest of the group decides to retreat. The Doppleganger kills all the kidnapped women. The remnants of the group decide to return to Tarnwood to finish their original assignment of being guards at a wedding ceremony. 

Necroplasm

These foul undead consist of a few bones and an envelope of ectoplasm. They appear as a skull and a pair of skeletal hands wrapped in a vaguely humanoid blob of slime. Its lower half is a column of ectoplasm that leaves a trail as it slithers along. 

Source: D&D Ghostwalk 3.0

     Necroplasms are undead creatures created by Necromancers. These magic users deal in Ectomancy. Ectomancy takes raw ectoplasm(the substance that ghost are made of) to create these creatures. Necroplasms slither about leaving trails of ectoplasm as they travel. If an adventurer encounters this trail within 10 minutes of a Necroplasm passing they can easily track this creature. If more then ten minutes go by the ectoplasm fades away.

     Necroplasms are semi-intelligent undead who hunt in gangs of 2 to 5. They seek out living creatures so they can drain their bodily fluids and create new Necroplasms. They attack victims by attempting to grab them so they can begin draining their fluids. Once engage with a target they don't let go unless destroyed.

Combat: Necroplasms are medium undead. They are Challenge Rating of 3.

Drain Fluids: Once grappling a foe they automatically drain 1d2 points of constitution. The ectoplasm that surrounds their body turns the color of the fluid being drained. For example if they are draining a human they turn a deep red.

Create Spawn: Once a victim has been slain the Necroplasm vomits ectoplasm over their body. After one minute the victim turns into a Necroplasm.

Improved Grab: If a Necroplasm claw attack hits its opponent it automatically attempts to grapple them. As long as they maintain the grapple the victim takes automatic claw damage and fluid drain.

Misc Traits: Fast Healing 2, Turn Resistance +2, Undead traits.

Adventure Seed:

-The group encounters a Ghost who is slowly fading away. His ghostly substance has been diseased and he needs raw ectoplasm to continue his ghostly existence. Unfortunately the ectoplasm lies in a hidden vault guarded by Necroplasms.

Session 6: Remnants of a Fallen Kingdom

Session 6 of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Campaign
Played on: 2/25/15
Session Log written by Anna(Our Ranger)

Players:
Danice: 2nd level 1/2 Elf Ranger
Azurith: 2nd level Elven Cleric: 
Taurnil: 2/1st level Elven Thief/Mage
Rin: 2nd level Human Paladin
Shnozola: 2nd level Gnome Druid

After finally being joined by Azruith the group gets much needed rest and healing. They search the bodies that are lying around out front of the monastery. They turn out to be goblin bodies with exploded heads. Once we enter the ruins Azruith finds that it was once a temple devoted to Wellisa, a petty goddess of love, lust, and unwanted children. 

There are more bodies with exploded heads and a large stone fountain that seems to be draining to the side of the room leading out to the ocean.As the adventurers explored the room the fountain began to bubble and three mud men emerged. Backing out of the temple to get away from the water we defeat the first two mud men and the third one kamikaze’s himself on Azruith. Upon re-entering the temple the group finds that the fountain is draining faster and that there seems to be a way to climb down the into the fountain. Exploring around Rin, Azruith, and Shnoz find a room torn apart that leads onto a cliff ledge that has an altar sitting on the edge.

As they get closer to the altar Shnoz’s satchel that his dog companion was carrying burst into flames. At the same time a bowl of bones on the alter sparks and lights on fire. Azruith examines the altar closer and finds a secret panel. Taurnil checks the secret door for traps and finds that if it were to be opened all of the way that it would blow up. He also finds gallons and gallons of lantern oil below the altar. Taurnil notices a brief beam of light coming from the east as if there was a light house, but can't see it through all of the fog. 

Rin finds a room off to the side and explores it to find a bag of holding. Heading back to the fountain the group finds the area completely drained and that there is a cavernous entrance in the fountain. Once everyone made it down into the entrance with a few bumps and bruises they find a large stream with a statue of an earth elemental across the stream, and they decide to avoid it. 

Going southward the stream eventually leads to another open cavern area with a man trapped in a wooden cage. He warns us not to come close to him and that he has a disease and can't be saved. After giving him some food and water the man coughs up some green liquid. He asks Rin to end his life so that he can top suffering. We light the cage ablaze with a fiery arrow. Along with the screaming of the man we hear something inhuman screaming along with him. And a worm like creature bursts from the man’s body. 

We follow some tracks heading northward into another cave walkway and find a room with something shinny buried in the corner. Many of the group tries to free what was buried, but only Azruith manages to free what turned out to be a key chain with several religious pendants on it. The door slammed shut on the adventures and they started to feel week as their names were being written on the walls in blood.

 After trying several different things Azruith finds that healing magic hurts the room. Rin, Azurith, and Shnoz start hurting the room with all of the positive energy they can muster and the group finally manages to break out of the room, but not before the celling collapses on Azruith trapping him and wounding him badly.

Skin Kite

A knot of flaccidly flapping membranes kites through the air, now drifting with the currents, now stooping swiftly through the air towards you.

Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead for D&D 3.5

     Skin Kites are undead creature made up of stolen skin. This undead has no body only a massive wingspan of flesh which is about five feet. Also it only weigh 5lbs so riding the currents is a breeze(pun intended). The Skin Kite constantly needs new skin to replace it's rotting flesh and to procreate.

     The only way to make more Skin Kites is to steal a whole bunch of your skin and then fly off and give birth. The special ability for this is called launching a kite. Very amusing. The Skin Kite is constantly craving skin and it's diet is dependent on it. If it doesn't get enough skin to replenish its body it ceases to exist.

Combat: The Skin Kite is a small undead and a challenge rating of 3.

-Meld: If the Skin Kite hits a small or larger creature with a melee touch attack it melds with the opponent. The attached Skin Kite is essentially grappling the victim and get a +12 bonus to its grapple check. You can attempt to rip it off you with a grapple check but success means you also take 1d6 points of damage.

-Steal Skin: Each round that the Skin Kite is melded onto a victim they take 1d4 points of Charisma damage. Once it has dealt four points of Charisma damage it detaches and flies off to give birth.

-Launch Kite: So when the Skin Kite has absorbed four points of Charisma it finds a safe hiding spot and launches a kite! Which means it give birth to a new Skin Kite to join the family of skin stealing kites.

     I can only imagine that having your skin ripped off your body would be rather painful and will probably disfigure you but in D&D 3.5 you only lose Charisma points. Then after a few days you get them all recovered and your skin grows back. Pretty miraculous I must say. If you want to give a more gruesome option I would say that you are physically deformed until a regeneration spell is cast upon you.

Encounters:

-Your off in the woods and a flock of Skin Kites are following you up above. They come and go from your sight every few hours. They are waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Instead of engaging in full melee they target one PC for a couple of rounds and fly off to give birth. They use these hit and run tactics until defeated or evaded.

-Spies I say! Maybe a more powerful undead like a vampire or lich is using the Skin Kites to spy on the PCs. The undead mastermind keeps a flock of skin kites at his beck and call. The group must find the aerie and kill off the Skin Kites to avoid being spied upon.

Zombie, Radiation (OSRIC)

Zombie, Radiation

(turned as type 3)

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Encountered: 3d4
Size: Man-sized
Move: 60ft
Armour Class: 8
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8
Special Attacks: Radioactive Aura
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Lair Probability: Nil
Intelligence: Non-
Alignment: Neutral
Level/XP: 3/65 + 2/hp

Sometimes when highly radiated meteor crashes into the Earth it can cause the dead to rise and become radioactive. Most meteors crash harmlessly but on a rare occasion it has been reported that a large meteor will impact directly on a village or town killing all that reside their. This horrid event will trigger the recently slain to raise up as zombies with radiation flowing through their body.


Radiation Zombies have an aura of radiation. Each living creature within 30ft of a Radiation Zombie must save vs. poison or be drain of 1 point of Constitution. If there are multiple Radiation Zombies then a save is needed for each aura. If reduced to zero Constitution the victim will die and rise as a Radiation Zombie the following round. If the Radiation Zombie is slain in combat their radiation aura has a diminished intensity and will only require a save vs poison once per day. Constitution damage from Radiation will return at a rate of 1 per day.

Radiation Zombies are extremely slow and always goes last in melee combat. They are immune to enchantment, hold spells, and damage from cold. Radiation Zombies are mindless and will attack any living target on sight and will never retreat from combat. Radiation Zombies can be turned by Cleric as a Type 3 undead.



     I am hoping to create a new or variant monster once per month. I am planning to commission artwork for each creature. Hopefully after a couple of years I'll be able to compile them into a pdf and create a hardcover monster book. If you are curious to see how this progresses follow my blog for future updates.

Artwork by Joanna Ballendorf
Owned by Steven Marella

Solesik

This pink-grey worm creature has a segmented body dotted with short horn-like nubs. Its head is dominated by a circular, tooth-ringed mouth, which is surrounded by three flailing tentacles covered in tube feet like the arms of a starfish.

Source: Book of Fiends D&D 3.5 by Green Ronin Publishing

The Solesik is a chaotic evil outsider hailing from the Abyss. This creature is the bane of wizards, sages, and scholars. This fiend feeds upon languages and seeks out any language from written to the spoken form. The Solesik can bite a victim and drain languages from it.

The Books of Fiends actually has very little information on this monster. Only one paragraph which I paraphrased above. This creature caught my attention because it has two interesting mechanics that alter or affects speech. It has a garble field ability which creates language instability and it has the ability to drain languages. I found it unique that languages was used as a resource to be targeted and it kinda made sense. If you can't communicate you are at a severe disadvantage and those who use verbal triggers for spells(clerics/wizards) are effected the most.

Combat: The Solesik is a medium outsider and it is classified as a Challenge Rating 8.

-Garble Field: The Solesik radiates a aura of language instability within a 60ft radius. This aura has a number of effects as listed:

*Any speech or communication requires a partial action instead of a free action. Longer communication requires a standard action. The short communication I interpret as costing a swift action.
*Spells with verbal components require an extra round to cast. Most spell can be cast in one round while in this aura you are spending a second round to get a spell off.
*Intelligence based skills and checks are at -4.

Language Drain: A Solesik drains language from a foe with a successful bite attack. The opponent has to make a Wisdom save vs DC 15 using intelligence as the modifier rather then Wisdom. Failure drains 1d2 languages. If you have multiple languages I assume you roll them randomly to see which ones are drained. For every language drained the Solesik gains a temporary level which last one hours. Adventurers who have had their languages drained can only have them recovered through a restoration spell.

-Spell-like Abilites: At will-command, erase, mage hand, suggestion. 1/day blasphemy, power word stun, word of recall

-Misc. Abilities: Fly, Improved Grab, Demon Traits, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18, Telepathy 100ft, Damage Reduction 10/good, etc

In combat you can typically see the Solesik casting power word stun as its first action. Move towards the caster and start working on draining their languages. The Solesik is drawn to those who have the highest number of language slots which typically would be a wizard or intelligence based character.

Encounters:

1. You can use the Solesik as the mastermind behind kidnappings around the city. Scholars, Sages, Wizards, Cleric, etc are beginning to disappears. The Solesik hunger for languages has no bounds. You can drop clues at the seen of various crimes and have the PCs solve the puzzle leading to the Solesik lair.

2. An Academy for upper learning is sacked by the Solesik and a gang of minor demons. The students and the teachers are taken to the basement of the school. The group has to dodge through the university corridors to help liberate the students and end the Solesik reign of terror.