The Serpent of Bsaraal's Palace (An Encounter in the Poison Isles)

 Using the Monster-Making d666 I made with Garamondia. 

On the island of Idaeg (not that far from the prosperous port of Uran Aeg) lies a gigantic old-world ruin, nowadays called Bsaraal’s Palace. For a time it was home to Bsaraal Tkift, the She-Wolf of Aeg, or so they called her. She was a warlord, pirate, mass-murderer, dabbling sorcerer, expert engineer, and died choking on a dumpling, near on a hundred years ago, now. Uran Aeg’s brief surge in dominance had come about with her, and it went with her, and these days it has returned to place as Uran Bael’s chief vassal. 

Before she ruled from the Palace, it was a dangerous tomb, replete with relics, wild beasts, and abominations of Chaos and Law. She and a team of thugs and adventurers cleared it out over the course of two painstaking years, converting it into a base and rising to prominence over the island. The Bishop of Aeg even moved here to appease her, which incensed the heads of the Arc Church back in Bael. 

Of course, she died, and left no heirs - in the fighting, old-world explosives tore out much of the finely appointed apartments (deliberately or otherwise), and multiple floors and outer walls collapsed. Now the structure’s a labyrinth of sheer-walled roofless monolith pits, and sea-flooded tunnels. 

Haunting them is a gigantic serpent which came up from the depths of the churning cold sea. 

The Palace Serpent

10HD (60HP), AC18 (Thick Scales)

 Scaly, multicoloured, long frilly back-fin, wider at the front end. Long flexible mouthparts project from the front, curving at the back in a manner oddly reminiscent of a smile. Disturbingly humanlike eyes. 

No. Appearing: Unique 

Movement: As gigantic sea-snake. 

Senses: Dull sight, excellent hearing, excellent taste, senses magnetism and electricity, detects alignment. 

Morality: Cruel, dumb, hungry. 

Intelligence: Not very bright. Speaks in rumbling monosyllabic Chaotic. 

Alignment: Chaotic  

Attacks: Bite, then Thrash, then Crush 

• Bite - +10 to Hit - 3d6+6 damage. Any roll of a 6 indicates that the target must save or be swallowed whole, taking 2d4 acid damage a round while stuck in the Serpent’s gullet. 

• Thrash - Everyone in melee range of the Serpent suffers 2d4 bludgeoning damage, no save. 

• Crush - One target saves or takes 5d6 damage and is pinned under the serpent’s bulk.

Blinding Cloud - Digesting metallic elements, the Serpent can hurl up a reeking mass of black “ink” which rapidly lets off a thick, obscuring smoke. This fills an area roughly 200’ in radius rapidly, and allows the Serpent to hunt via detecting the Alignment of those it wants to eat (naturally, the Neutral are protected from this).  It can do this once, then needs to eat ~100g of treasure to recharge. It knows this, which is why the treasure in the ruins of Bsaraal’s Palace is stacked into haphazard ~100g caches. 

Smooth Lower Scales - Attacking the Serpent’s underbelly, you need to hit only AC10. 

Sated or Hungry? - Upon approaching Bsaraal’s Palace, roll a reaction - positive indicates the Serpent is well-fed on whale and hydrurga, and is thus fairly immobile. Neutral indicates peckishness and curious roving. Negative indicates significant hunger and active search. 

Pica - If the Serpent dies, it will vomit up 3345g worth of surviving treasures swallowed from the ruins of Bsaraal’s Palace. All the books and fine textiles have been destroyed by its stomach acid, but the gold remains. 

Examination:

The Serpent’s internal organs are nonsensical, a hallmark of Chaotic creatures. Given its nature and origin, the priests of Tekessa (Chaos Lord of Water) in Uran Bael would pay 500g for a relic from the Serpent to enshrine at their dockside temple. Chaotic temples do not generally mind the manner in which a relic was acquired. 

The d666 gave me: 

FORM - SERPENTINE

DANGER - BLINDNESS 

MIEN - SUN-WARMED 

HABITAT - ROYAL PALACE

DRIVE - HUNGER

WEAKNESS - STUPIDITY 

Glass-Eyed Knights (An Encounter in the Poison Isles)

 Using the Monster-Making d666 I made with Garamondia. 

Great old Uran Bael, the city of liars, is the capital of the Poison Isles, and between the western continent and the eastern, it is the only anchorage with sailable seas, drinkable water and breathable air year round. All the rest lack one of those, or the locals aren’t conducive to intracontinental shipping. 

The small island of Kihta sits rit in the path of the main shipping lane headed west, towards the chaos-worshipping cities of the Agonite League. It has deep wells protected from the sea, and deep in the wind-swaying harakeke, you can find monolithic buildings of the old world. It’d be the site of a prosperous town, if not for the island’s inhabitants. 

Glass-Eyed Knight 

3HD(15HP), AC16 (Stamped Steel), Morale 10 (Zeal)

Huge, broad-shouldered figures wearing bulky, angled armour of burnished steel, and the massive helmets from which they derive their monikers. They wield ancient weaponry and ride monstrous mounts. 

No. Appearing: 2d6 (All riding their own Kihtan Horses. Rolls of 1 indicate a Radist) 

Movement: As a highly athletic human. 

Senses: Excellent sight (protected from glare by helmet), excellent smell, good sense of direction, poor hearing (design flaw). Can hear orders radioed by Radists or on other channels. 

Morality: Extremely territorial of Kihta, aggressive, constantly referencing long out-of-date orders.

Intelligence: Very high, but artificially limited in certain places. Unable to question orders, unable to mutiny, lacks creative impulse. 

Attacks: Unarmed Knights attack with knife-hands to windpipes, kidney hits and kicks in the genitals (+3 to hit, as light weapon). Otherwise, Knights are equipped with at most two of the following weapons:

• Combat Knife - +4 to Hit  - +1 Light Weapon (Masterwork)

• Sidearm - +3 to Hit, 2d6* - Large, ugly ceramic-shelled revolver with a blocky barrel. Ammo’s limited, so they try not to overuse it. Pierces most armour. 

• Telescoping Lance - +4 to Hit - +1 Heavy Weapon (Masterwork). Expands from the size of a slot to a full lance at the push of a button, requires a lot of strength to compress back down. Automatic crit on a horse charge, naturally. 

• Long Rifle - +3 to Hit, 2d8* - Large, ugly ceramic-shelled rifle with a blocky barrel and a folding stock. Ammo’s limited, so they try not to overuse it. Pierces everything but plate armour. 

• Grenade Belt - Contains three grenades, as standard - two frags and a smoke. The latter fills a 20’ radius sphere with blue smoke, the former fills a 20’ with 4d6* of deadly shrapnel (-1d6* per 5’ from the blast-point). Also limited, so they try not to overuse them. 

• Raycaster - Autohit, 3d8* - Only 1-in-6 Knights have Raycasters, and are only armed with such plus a knife, due to the weight of the generator backpack and attendant gear. Ammo for this is not limited, and the Raycaster knights fucking love to blast with it, drawing glyphs into the cliffs with lines of hot white light. 

The Crackle - Engaging in a round of melee combat with a Glass-Eyed Knight causes you to gain 1d3 Irradiation. When Irradiation exceeds CON, you get ARS. 

The Language - The Knights only speak a very weird dialect of Old Seithan, laden with unfamiliar words, terms of art, and in-group slang. 

Original Programming - A person who convincingly appears to be a magistrate of the pre-cataclysmic world can command the Knights while the deception holds. Knights are unable to disagree with their unit if their decision is overruled (i.e., if 5 Knights are present, 3 want to kill you, and 2 don’t, all five of them try to kill you). 

Examination
Under their armour, the Knights wear full body jumpsuits with a jagged pattern of blues, greys and greens that blends excellently into the flora of the Isles. On the right arm, there’s a large patch depicting a pair of blue-green sharks. If someone can read Old Seithan, the patch reads 2ND SEITHAN MARINES on the top, and OPERATIONAL RESPONSE COMMAND on the bottom. 

Under their jumpsuits, Knights resemble human beings, except they’re huge, white-blonde, disturbingly pale, and covered all over with integrated machines and biometallic reinforcements. The upper part of their face, forehead and eyes are replaced with a mechanical interface with the interior of their helmets. 

Glass-Eyed Radist 

Physically smaller, but stockier, than other knights, with a complicated ticking rig of radio-gear attached in parts around their armour. A tall antennae like a sashimono sticks up behind a shoulder.

Stats are otherwise as Glass-Eyed Knight, but:

No. Appearing: Never more than 1 per group of Knights. Two Radists in a pair are an unarmed survey expedition, and are patient and friendly. 

Human Terrain - Unlike the Knights, the Radists speak perfect modern Uranish. There’s a [level]-in-20 chance they’ve already heard of you when you meet them. 

Original Programming - A person who convincingly appears to be a magistrate of the pre-cataclysmic world can command the Radist while the deception holds. However, Radists will immediately radio their command-star to receive confirmation of your position. When, inevitably, nobody responds, they may become aggressive. However, 

The Radist is, uniquely, able to exit the groupthink of the unit. This dissenting voice was one purpose they originally served. 

Examination
Under their armour, Radists wear full-body jumpsuits made of a dull orange cloth, with the Old Seithan word for RADIO on the back in big white letters. They have an arm-patch, which has a little drawing of a man holding his hand to his ear, labelled 1ST SEITH RADIOCOMMS. It is also labelled OPERATIONAL RESPONSE COMMAND.

Under their jumpsuits, Radists resemble human beings, except they are paper-white, black-blooded, stocky in frame, and have most of their spinal cord and heads replaced with superceramic-plated old-world machinery.

Kihtan Horses 

4HD (20HP), AC  Morale 13 (No Other Purpose) 

Gigantic, ‘orrible drab-green hairless things, about in the shape of an overlarge warhorse, or maybe an overlarge dog. The process of creating them went a bit wrong, but the Knights don’t mind the results. A ceramic-shelled array of ticking mechanical parts is integrated into the back of their necks.
No. Appearing: 1 per Knight. 

Movement: As a monstrously athletic horse. 

Senses: Dim sight, incredible sense of smell, incredible hearing. Always know where their bonded knight is. 

Morality: Loyal to their bonded Knight unto death. If their Knight dies, they lie down in place and never move again. 

Intelligence: As a particularly smart horse. 

Attacks: Kick (+4, 1d8+3), then Bite (+4, 1d6). 

No Pain - Kihtan Horses don’t die until the round after you drop them to 0HP. They feel no pain and fear nothing. 

There are around 234 Knights and 25 Radists on Kihta. 

The d666 gave me: 

FORM - EQUESTRIAN

DANGER - RADIOACTIVITY 

MIEN - MILITARISTIC

HABITAT - ISLAND 

DRIVE - REVENGE

WEAKNESS - BULLYING