GLOGtober '23 - 3: Catalogue of 1d6 Cursed Items

  GLOGtober '23 prompts can be found here.

 

1d6 Cursed items recovered by The Watchers of Dawn

1. Growing Daggers

By no means a unique item, several of these have been found throughout the Tvidenwald, usually being sold by a traveling merchant. A team has already been dispatched to locate the merchant, who is described as a middle aged man wearing a purple cap calling himself Harthmann. The daggers sold appear normal until they draw blood, at which point the weapon suddenly doubles in size, often driving it deeper into the wound it caused. Thankfully at some point these daggers become rather unwieldy, however the upper limit of this curse is still being explored.

As a standard dagger, however each time it grows increase it gets +1 damage and increase the dice size by one (1d4→1d6→1d8→etc). It will quickly grow too big to yield after 1d12.

2. The Medusa Fountain

Located high in the Hedanthusian mountains, this ancient and ornately carved life sized statue of a medusa covering her face as she weeps mud slurry. Discovered by a team of explorers when the local village went silent. All life in and surrounding the village was found petrified, even down to the spiders in their webs and the growing crops. The petrification process seems to affect all living things near the fountain, turning them to solid stone over the course of twenty four hours. At the recommendation of the Hedanthusian Dawn Captains the statue has been moved to the deepest cellar of the village and a warning perimeter established. For now the statue remains, and thankfully is difficult to transport, keeping it out of the wrathful hands of heretics.

The Medusa Fountain appears as a human sized statue of a weeping medusa sitting on a stone block, carved in a wonderful life like visage. With her face buried in her hands, a continual trickle of mud slurry drips down the statue. The statue weighs just over a thousand pounds. Anything living within 1 mile of the fountain will slowly turn to stone over the course of 24 hours.

3. Intre Carmian, The Poetry Between

Recovered from the unholy city of Visgarmora, this tome defies efforts to study it. The book apparently has a simple dark azure cover with a title in simple silver letters, and the pages full of disjointed writings regarding ‘the storm’. Our inquisitors believe that the book projects an amnesia field, causing any who approach the tome to forget what happened while they were close to it. When one comes around after this forgetful event, they often find they’ve gained some new and strange wound. Researchers believe that the tome is demon infested, creatures of memory who enjoy inflicting pain and confusion. Once a safe method of disposal has been ascertained the book will be destroyed.

Intre Carmian appears as a simple book, with several texts within alluding to releasing ‘the storm’ and ‘opening the self’. Studying them may reveal untold secrets, but is obviously rather difficult to do. Unfortunately anyone who can perceive the book or is too close to it cannot remember such experiences, usually escaping this effect 1d10 minutes later with a few strange wounds. These wounds deal 2d8 – 1d6 damage (minimum 0).

4. Visage Seeds

Captured in the raid on followers of the Marble Made Flesh, a case of several bone postules was found. In examining them one of the inquisitors made the mistake of touching one, which quickly animated and burrowed into his hand. While proper precautions were taking, the man seemed fine save for the obvious entry wound. Upon awakening the next morning in the quarantine cell however it was discovered his entire form had changed to a younger half elf. This process would occur each morning at dawn, and observers could see the vicissitude of his entire body as bones cracked and reshaped. While surgeons were eventually able to find and remove the visage seed, the curse carries on. Due to the fact that the surgeons found a cluster of multiple visage seeds within, the inquisitor is being take to Viilimond for a cleansing blessing or failing that, execution.

Upon contact of bare flesh with a visage seed the small object burrows into them, dealing 1d6 each round. Once it has dealt 6 damage this way it burrows into their flesh, beyond reach. Forevermore each dawn upon waking the body of the cursed individual bends and twists, taking on the appearance of a random person.

5. Drowning Candles

These dark candles are found among followers of The Kraken. Appearing as deep blue or black candles that always seem wet, they can be deadly to those inexperienced with their dark magic. As the candles burn they draw in the aquatic energies of their benthic master, reversing what one needs to breath. This allows his servants that are usually bound to the water to walk among us to sow their destruction without needing to fear asphyxiation. For most people however, being too close to a drowning candle causes them to choke as their ability to breath air is replaced with a need to draw oxygen from water. Numerous commoners and even nobles have been found dead in the same chamber where a drowning candle was burned. While many of these deaths are accidents, it is also a common assassination technique used by heretics of The Kraken.

Drowning candles appear as normal candles made of a dark wax, though are always damp to the touch. Despite this they are easy to ignite and can even burn under water, giving off a cold white flame. Creatures within 20’ of the candle that breath air begin to suffocate as they must now draw in oxygen via immersion in water. Likewise creatures that normally breathe underwater must now draw in air. Creatures unable to get their new source of oxygen begin to suffocate.

6. Ranelalina, Idol of Lelandandril

One of the many cursed idols that makes their way out of the moon shadowed lands of Lelandandril, idols of Ranelalina are seeds of corruption that must be rooted out. As with all Lelandandrite idols it is possessed by one of their demons, Ranelalina. Touching such idols always curses the trespasser and allows the demon to worm their way into their mind. While the idols themselves are not able to cause much change in the world themselves they quickly turn those who touch them into puppets for their dark ends. It is documented that Ranelalina has a fascination with rot, and her shrines are often adorned with the putrid carcasses of her enemies. Often worshipers will fill her well with rotting flesh and drawing in such foul sickness into their own bodies, claiming that she will bless them. This is not unfounded as her devotees have been witnessed striking an inquisitor and causing their arm to rot off in minutes.

The idol of Ranelalina is made of a dark stone and is the size of a lantern, appearing as a vulture with the head of a jackal. When you touch the idol of Ranelalina a connection is made that only potent purifying magic or Ranelalina may end. Those connected to Ranelalina feel their reflexes slow as atrophy sets in, losing 2 dexterity as long as they are connected. However while holding the idol their body can adapt to overcome rot and disease, gaining 2 constitution. As well, Ranelalina may speak into the mind of the connected, giving them whatever dark advice she holds. Thrice per day they can touch a corpse causing it to rot into a putrid mess as it leaks diseased fluids, reducing all incoming damage by 2. It is said that by making proper offerings to Ranelalina she may grant more power, however she always has a cost.

 

GLOGtober '23 - 1: Lord of The Deep - The Kraken

Since it's October that means it's GLOGtober! You can find the prompts here.

 

 Lord of The Deep - The Kraken

To many surface dwellers, when they think of the frigid waves and dark depths they think only of The Kraken, the terrible Tyrant Sire, the Sun Drowner, the Lord of Rusted Chains. They know little of the mysteries that lie in those benthic depths, for even fewer can make the journey to report on such a remote and deadly locale.

The Kraken’s Brood

One cannot say that the depths are not home to the children of The Kraken, twisted creatures that swim in waters from the surfaces waves to the abyssal trenches. Here we will not concern ourselves with these monsters of the higher depths, but rather those that reside in the pitch darkness.

Most famous of all is The Imperator Trench, the legendary home of that great demon, The Kraken himself. An immense creature, this wound in the rock is the bed upon which he rests, from which his will is enacted.

Few mortals are invited to visit, making reports of the location vague and contradictory. Many refer to it as “The Garden”, with tales of great forests of tube worms, mosaics of mussels, forests of coral, all illuminated by great swirling bioluminescent spawn of their master. While the ocean basin is often a desert, The Imperator Trench is an oasis in this benthic wasteland.

The Wives

Perhaps the most famous of his brood as The Wives, those surface dwellers who swear themselves to his will. Scholars and storytellers are often know the first stages of this tale, of a man who swears himself to The Lord of Rusted Chains in exchange for revenge. Slowly he hears the call of the sea until he cannot separate from it, eventually disappearing into the crashing. What they know not of is the metamorphosis that occurs as they swim to join their master in the inky darkness below.

To survive in his garden they must adapt to swim in that yawning black abyss, as their eyes stretch and widen, growing into milky dishes to better see their prey. Teeth and nails sharpen as their diet must shift, a raw hunger to consume others fills them, joined by an equal desire to simply cause harm. Not only must they contend with a lack of air, but they must eventually learn to do so under the crushing pressure of the waves. While gills are quick to form out of necessity, as the long journey down begins the lungs themselves begin to atrophy, a vestigial reminder of what once was.

Eventually they will reach their master, called to their new home by his cruel song. In his presence they will twist and change further, taking another step on the path of metamorphosis. For some their eyes will grow out on great stalks as their hands split down the middle as bone emerges, forming great pincers as chitin encases them. Many slowly let their bones slide out of their skin, allowing for a plethora of new possibilities. Some will slowly drift down to the ocean vents, planting themselves in the stone and on the silt, encasing themselves in a long tube of bone as their new tubular form filters nutrients from the water. Others follow in the footsteps of their master, taking his visage of his children as their limbs multiply and beaks form.

Yet in time they will all join with The Lord of Rusted Chains, fusing themselves to his hide as he takes their last offering to his glory. Drained of their soul they are finally freed of service, fulfilling his last commandment. For eons he has continued this horrid cycle, and those who know the dark secret reckon he must be greater than the mountains themselves for all he has taken.

 

Krakenfall

The abominations of The Tyrant Sire are many, in a multitude of twisting shapes of those horrors from beneath. While many are of his lineage, there are also those twisted to his cause. To eat the flesh of The Lord of Rusted Chains or his brood is to invite his wicked power into your heart and soul. Thus when one of his brood fall a seed of evil is planted in an event known as a Krakenfall.

When one of those creatures named after their father and their related ilk are slain their fresh corpse becomes a vile feast for the hungry creatures of the sea. It isn’t long before the sea life around a Krakenfall twist into vicious creatures, a final retribution against those hoping to clear their waters. Many a desperate village has slain a lesser kraken in their bay, only to be overrun by waves of monstrous sea life in the coming months. Professional kraken hunters know better and make sure to slay their quarry over the deep sea, where the body may sink into the quiet abyss below.