Playthings of Mad Gods

The Red Island

made for Archipelago

Introduction and the feel of the area

It is said that the sands of this island are red because of all the blood that fell upon them. Regardless of it being true, they do seem to have high rust contents, leading to the presence of iron-working among the local human tribes. The local inhabitants are divided among two main groups: humans and monsters. Both are humanoid, but humans are the ones who hold the secrets of ironworking, while monsters hold the secrets of Shifting - a magical ability that allows them to briefly change their shape and capacities depending on masks they wear.

Human culture is more conservative, focused on technology as slow alteration of the surrounding world, while the monster culture is in constant flux, seeing technology as altering themselves.

Random Encounters (1d10):

  1. A patrol of 2d6 Monster Soldiers (2 HD, leather armor, armed with spear. Can transform into an animal of GM's choice, gaining its capacities and stats for 1d6 rounds (for the cost of being stunned after the transformation ends for the same number of rounds)).
  2. A patrol of 2d6 Human Soldiers (1 HD, AC as Chainmail, armed with pike).
  3. Giant Spider (at the start of encounter, all members of the vanguard have to save or be engulfed by translucent webs, unless the party is moving slowly and carefully - locals are always presumed to be doing that, due to the threat). (5 HD, AC as Leather, Attack as Dagger (when hit, save or be paralyzed for 1d4 hours after 1d4 rounds from being damaged)). They have a pattern that looks like human faces on their backs, with larger spiders having more of them.
  4. 1d6+1 Monster Hunters (1 HD, leather armor, armed with claws (as sword) and blowpipes (1 damage + save or take 2d6 poison damage after 10 seconds, they can teach you to take the poison from local frogs))
  5. 1d6+1 Human Hunters (1 HD, leather armor, armed with bows and spears)
  6. Herd (3d10+5) of Runners (1 HD, AC as Leather, damage as unarmed) - small insectoid herbivores that are able to move faster than horses, using 20 legs. Quite tasty - if brought to other continents and islands they would first be useful for their meat, then after 1d4 months they will flee and become invasive species.
  7. Rocker (3 HD, AC as Plate+Shield, damage as Giant's Mace. Slow as a Snail) - a slowly rolling ball of red rocks, combined around a core of a crab-like creature, with its shell made out of brittle crystal. If you can get the shell intact, it will be worth ~500 GP to a jeweller. If shattered, the pieces are worth only ~50 GP. The meat is seen as a delicacy by the local people.
  8. The Exile (4 HD, AC as Chainmail, armed with spear and bow. Can shift into an animal of GM's choice and back, at will). She was born a child of a monster father and a human mother, a tale of forbidden romance as old as time. After they were found, she was already 5 year old - she had to watch her mother killed, but the village's elder could not bring himself to kill a child. Thus, she was cast out, having grown to hate both the groups equally. She regularily stages attack against them, and has grown to be a fearsome warrior, waging a one-person guirella campaign. If killed, replace with something else.

Hexes themselves

023.016 Human Village

220 people call this place home. They are organised into 4 clans, each claiming impossibly ancient traditions, each holding a secret of an essential technology. These technologies are:

022.020 Monster Village

170 people call this place home. They rear their children collectively, teaching them mask-making and hunting and the secret words that make plants drop their fruit. They have no leaders, but they do sometimes follow the will of one another, only for a moment, usually depending on skill and respect. They can teach you their secrets if you earn their respect, usually by killing their enemies. A character who spent a month under their touterage can make a mask out of the face of a living animal (it is dead at the end of the process) and change their body just like the other monsters can. They can also reshape your body permanently, adding features from captured animals in a week of work for a large favour.

020.020 The Nest of Spiders

8 Giant Spiders have made their nest here, with a swarm of 43 young ones having just hatched (the size of tarantulas). Among the cocoons, you may find:

022.018 Iron Man

A body in full plate armor lies on the ground, surrounded by a small patch of dead plants. If inspected, one may find that it has fused completely to the armor - if even a single drop of blood, tears or sweat falls on it, it reawakens, becoming a 6!(supernatural) HD undead creature. Both tribes know to avoid him, as he is thought of as an unholy creature. He remembers the truth about the warring tribes of the islands, and how they came from a single group of people who used to coexist in harmony. He remembers the schism clearly, even if his other memories are fragmented. He wants to mend it. He will fly into rages at the slightest mention of any group being intrinsically better than the other. This can not end well without an intervention.

021.018 Large Hole In The Ground

A crater lies in the ground here, as if a large object has fallen here before. If the ground is searched, one may find pieces of gems and strange metals. This site is sacred to the monsters.

024.018 Healing Geyser

An unexpected geyser (usually more of a warm spring) rises up, its waters a mixture of red, yellow, blue and green. If one immerses themselves in them, they will not feel joint nor muscle pains for the next 1d4 weeks. Those who drink them find themselves removing most parasites hiding in their body - it is not a pleasant process, but it is helpful. Both the tribes know of the geyser and like to use it.

Post Scriptum: Maybe the real monster was inside us all along?

#Archipelago