Monsters of Wander Marsh

 Lantern-Tail:

A large bat-like creature that possesses both hair, and an exoskeleton like an arthropod.  It has a lengthy prehensile tail equipped with a glowing protrusion at the end, shaped like a sea anenome with a flashlight inside.  It lures creatures close in order to overpower them and drink the blood.

Long Necked Steve-Head:

An amphibious creature with a sail upon its back and duck-like feet.  Its head appears to be a fellow named Steve, who is very pleasant and seems to be in some distress.  The Long-Neck will make every effort to be as amiable as possible, and to ingratiate itself to its prey. 

He lures them into deeper swamp.  The long, long neck retracts into fathomless morasses and quickmires, then the creature feeds on the corpses once they have decomposed such as to be masticable. It then dresses its neck in the clothes of its victims, to make a new Steve.

There used to be Short-Necked Steve Heads But they were hunted to extinction

the MOONS of KOS

Kos has five moons.

1. the White Huntress
Largest of the moons.  Unwavering and constant, crowding the horizon.  She lightens the seaward prow, bathes the path to treasure in opalescence, guides the axe-maniac and illuminates the cowering victim.  Wolves pray to her.

2. the Red Moon
Goddess of bats, jackals, drunkards, emperors and all who fancy themselves beyond the reckoning of others.  A viscous, inconstant presence, it waxes and diminishes according to its own inscrutable rhythms.  When the Red Moon waxes, the glowline of the Lunar Empire extends to new regions and the Goddess subjugates new peoples.  As it wanes, so do the fortunes of its adherents.
Strangely, the Red Moon has nothing to do with the God Kos.  His color is also red, but the River Kos is unaffected by the tides of the Red Moon.  Perhaps this is why Red Lunar Priests and Kossick Monks despise one another so much.

3. Piku, the Third Blue Eye
Some say this moon is the Eye of the Iron Lord, but if it is, he has kept it a secret.  It sees all that would be hidden.  Its light shines so that smiths and alchemists might work into the night.

4. the Green Moon
The Green Moon is made of cheese.  It is small and follows a crazed orbit which brings it very close to Kos at times.  Wizards have traveled there with magic and returned, as have Dwarfs in their flying-craft.  the Green Moon is inhabited by the Thrisk, a race of bipedal insects.  They are ruled by egg-laying Kyriarchs, who are attended by Princesses.  The Princesses, in turn, are served by bands of loyal Warriors with which they make war upon one another.  Droves of simple Workers serve each Princess, tending her beetle-like livestock.  Sometimes, the Thrisk also travel to Kos by means of magic Moon-portals.  The Princesses have an unearthly beauty, and the Warriors are many times stronger than a normal man.  They produce white-gold swords, of light weight and astonishing sharpness.  the Warriors wield as many as 6 of these scimitars at once.

5. the Black Moon, of Which We Do Not Speak

ADVENTURE PITCH: The Ruined Pines

A High Level Adventure in Kos

The IRON LORD's tower is in the Ruined Pines.  He is the Giver of Rings.  He alone controls fire, iron, strategies, gemstones, fire, alchemy, and swordplay.  He is the enemy of the Undead.  All secrets are sworn in his name, wilfully or no. 

His forest is the burned pines. Deathlords make their towers tall. The only people who roam the Ruined Pines are known as the Ghost Swords... but they are few, and they are seen seldom.

In ancient times, it was healthy.  But the Lord of Iron went to war with the Solar Empire.  This was a big mistake for both of them.
Sun troops infiltrated the IRON TOWER and placed a beacon atop it, which called in orbital strikes from the Sun.
The Dark Pines were destroyed, and the Iron Lord was horribly burned.  He has never been seen without his armor since.
The Sun Empire celebrated their victory, but 10 years later they were destroyed by a pathogen.  Only  an outpost in Barbarian Prax survived, which is now called Sun County.
Now, nobody goes to the Ruined Pines or the Blackened Tower.

Sure, you could go there, and kill him for his treasured secrets.  But he is also the God of Justice. Will you undo Justice in the broken land of Kos?  Or will you take its place?
Can you bear the burdens of a Death God?

YETIS

Semi-Sapient (?)


The Yeti is a powerful, flesh-hungry creature common to all lands and climes.  They are distinguished by their natural biome, so Forest Yeti, Mountain Yeti, Island Yeti, etc.  Each has different powers associated with them.

RULES

HD: 2x that of Character with most HP
Rend & Tear: 2 attacks
Strangulation: If Both attacks land, auto damage next round
Grotesque Strength: +8 to all strength-related things

"MOUNTAIN YETIS!  PROTECT THE MULES!"- you must make a reflex save when attacked by yetis when in their native territory. DC 15  anybody who doesn't make it is flat-footed for the first round of combat and the yetis appear, travelling fast, very nearby.  If you make it you have time for 1 command & 1 attack before the yetis are upon you...
Magic-Sensitive: Cannot attack if you perform the Ritual of Safe Travel, or the Ritual of Safe Rest




TYPES of YETI
Forest Yeti
Swamp Yeti
Desert Yeti
Mountain Yeti
Cave Yeti
Coastal Yeti - worshiped by swimmers
Tundra Yeti
Road Yeti
Savannah Yeti
The Yeti of the Peninsula - Radioactive, immune to choking/poison
Shadow Yeti - deadliest of all, some serve Maglubiyet the Insane, others the dark lords of the underworld.  They tread lightly the skein of life & death

Do you have any quests for us?

in all cases just adjust to roughly align with PC's numbers and skill

PILGRIM'S PASSING

1.  You could prove yourself of great worth by the slaying of beasts.  We would appreciate your slaying (or capture) of a colossal werewolf/rogue automaton/mutant tiger-dog/mongrelman pack
2. Disbanded mercenaries threaten our supplies and breeding adults.  Protect us by gathering an altruistic band of misfit soldiers.  In return, we will reward you with all the food and breeding tokens you could ever want.
3. A group of predatory White Apes / bandits / disbanded mercenaries / Crocodile Folk demands ransom.  Bring them the treasure, or else kill them all, but above all bring us the hostage
4. We have a ghost problem.  Banish the ghost from a local barn, and we'll reward you with citizenship/foolish footlings longing for a leader/all the fresh food you can eat for 3 days.
5. Insane decrepit with claw scars informs you of something stealing bodies from graves... from beneath.
6. LAMPREY-BIRDS!  RRRRRRRRUN
7. Implicit with our hospitality has been the assumption that you will gather a bushel of the Spase Bush / Moon Radishes / Electric Ferrets
8. Well, there is one small thing you could do.  I need wood, so go beseech some from the Wood-Tribe.  You can stack it by the sauna, there.
9. Egads!  Get these ghastly Wretches from my stoop and back to Wretchtown where they belong, I shan't touch them!
10. A cocky Bird Folk mercenary is intentionally starting fights and then claiming the possessions of those he beats.  It might be best if you killed him.

The Fisher Kings

The Fisher Kings once ruled over the Great Graveyard, a fantastically dangerous place bordered by an upland marsh.  The Fisher-Folk were first to discover iron, and became master blacksmiths.

The marshes are inhabited by the Cat-Birds, numerous & prolific predators known to feed on Slimes, Jellies, Glow-Bugs, The Worm Which Flies, and aught else which comes to tooth.  They are unafraid of humans & will latch onto the face in order to suck the blood.

Bagi stride between the man-high tussocks, exhuding a soporific musk.  They are the Gentle Beasts of the Marsh, harmless eaters of pollen and strangle-ferns.  Their blood is nutritious if cooked.

So, too, do Yard-Long Crawlers move among the marsh, breeding where the brackish water meets the waving sea.  Their more dire cousins, the Death Crawlers, wend black & glistening through the water.

Where the sea verges on the sphagnum moss may be found crustacean and mollusk of every description, from the noble Nautilus to the loathsome Lophiiform.

The Tomb of the Fisher Kings is at the center of the Great Graveyard, which is North of the Upland Marsh.  It is beneath a blue slab stone in the center of an austere henge which summits a ridge.  An old woman can often be found nearby.  Nobody knows who she is, or how she is able to avoid or repel the many lurking monsters of the graves and hill-holes.  She is cryptic and knowing and kind and will always heal you.  her eyes are blue.  She is accompanied by 3 Lanterns which shed no light.  What purpose they serve is unknown, although she sometimes talks to them.  She can often be found laying white flowers on the great Tomb.

Many a Moth and worse wander through and under the graves.  A few insane, atavistic monsterfolk dwell in the hollows amidst the hills, and near the Tomb of the Fisher Kings are several freakish entities wrenched free from the Otherworld.

What lies within the Great Tomb of the Fisher-Kings, none alive may say.

ADVENTURE LOCATION SKETCH: the PHLOGISTON WEEP

the PHLOGISTON WEEP

A Pukel Stone has toppled in the middle of a Pukel Ring, creating a Phlogiston Weep.  Slithely energy has pooled in a basin
in the center of the circle, fractally dissolving all who come in contact.  Its unseemly radiance has also likely attracted
inimical beings, such as Vampires, Yrexils, Scourges, or Moths.

The stone must be righted.  In addition, 1 Pukel Pole has fallen and a further two have fallen into the Weep and been disintegrated.

To fully repair the Circle, the Slithe Seep must be banished or somehow diverted or destroyed.  The Stone must be righted,
and the proper abeyances observed.  The toppled Pole must be righted, in the correct position.  And 2 more Poles must be carved and planted.

A Pole must be made of Green Ash, and carved with a knife of carbide.  Pikel the Smith might be able to forge such a blade,
but will require ore from the Crook-Back Stoop.  It must be dipped in the River Kos, then rubbed with ochre, rust, and red blood.
All craftsmanship must be of the highest quality.

Once the circle is repaired, a Pukel Man will animate (before, he appears only to be a half-buried white boulder.)
He will defend the circle from Bleed-Throughs, Free Energy, Entropists and such, and will work to keep the circle neat and
maintained.

If a Character is a Priest of Kos or else a Mechanist/Archaist who can properly activate the runes of the Pukel Stone,
the Pukel Man will become loyal and will follow you around, helping you in any way it can until destroyed.

Pukel Man (Stone Automaton, mindless, sacred to god Kos)
Armor: 22
HP: 53
Attack: 2 Fists +3, 2d6+3 damage each