[2]
Troll, worshiped by tribe of sadistic goblins. The goblins think he
is a god because they keep shoving metal pins into and under his
skin, but his wounds keep closing. His flesh pushes the metal out,
raining nails onto the floor each night. The goblins even praise him
as he tries to kill them, claiming that this living God is destroying
the weak and slow wicked goblins from their tribe with his holy
wrath. The troll is chained up most of the time and babbles out in
Common, Elvish, and Dwarven every exploration turn; “Get me the
hell out of here!”
[3]
Isolated tribe of orcs obey a sagging, obese demon, permanently
nailed to a throne. It has a terrible smell of death around it, and
the demon demands much of the orc's food. It can speak incantations
in a booming voice; dark magic cast to empower the faithful and to
punish the orcs who doesn't obey. However, it mostly speaks through
its emissary who is a shrunken old human with a chain around his
neck, tied to the base of the demon's throne. The Orcs worship it
somewhat begrudgingly, but have no other option.
The
demon is a fake; animated and cast with several illusion spells. The
head and belly are huge sacs with carved, painted pieces of wood to
appear as limbs. Food tossed into the stomach rots away, feeding a
massive swarm of black maggots. The old man is not a slave, but a
Sorcerer who has tricked the orcs to keep feeding the “demon”; he
harvests some of the maggots for their magical essences. The chain
around his neck is also fake and he can easily free himself with a
simple spell, but must be careful so the orcs never see him freed.
[4]
Tall white tree at the edge of a big and dusty valley. It is planted
atop a small hill with no others nearby and has become a sacred thing
for the marauding gnolls in the area. They once put bone charms and
stained blood on the tree to mark their territory, but the tree kept
shaking them off at night when they weren't watching. As such it has
become a holy site and the tree a minor deity among the Gnolls
bloodthirsty pantheon. They feed the trees parts of the corpses of
beings they slay and slit the throats of their slaves above its roots
for a sacrifice.
The
tree is home to an agitated dryad. She is not a goddess, obviously,
but the Gnolls treat her as one now and she is too afraid to confront
them; they may kill her. The incantations whispered by her
worshippers and the sacrifices have actually been having an effect
and nourishing her roots and spirit with magic and power- she has
become more powerful despite having a long way to go before reaching
some kind of divine status; treat as a Dryad with +2 HD, +1 AC, and
can cast an extra spell once per day. Her morality is also slipping
and she is slightly more aggressive then other Dryads, and may be
more pragmatic or threaten to call the Gnolls if threatened.
[5]
The Arch above and below the city docks. Beyond seeing the
foot-travel of people from around the whole world. There are many
stained stones where people's hands have rubbed the stones for luck-
the cult in the city's underbelly believes the stone itself has
absorbed enough fallen magic and power from the above and gathered
enough support from below that its stones could be used to build a
door into another world where the unwashed will be rich and happy.
The Godly and divine stone-thing representing the heavenly embodiment
of the gateway between here and there.
[6]
Deadly pufferfish just offshore of a tribal tropical island. The
tribe believes it has powers over life and death, as its sting killed
a hunter. After burying the tribesman who was killed, they find their
tomb disturbed, scratches on the walls- the tribesman buried alive.
They fear this thing for its power to revive the dead- in reality it
is just its venom that causes the false death.
[7]
Colorful and clearly supernatural looking regular animal- Bright
green pig, rainbow furred sloth, glowing orbs around the pitch black
parrot, etc. The villagers worship it, as anyone who tries to get
close or kill the beast is annihilated by powerful magic. The beast
is being protected by an invisible Wizard, trying to maneuver the
animal's simple mind into understanding philosophy and reach stunning
insights into the human condition. It is not working.
[8]
Active, bubbling Volcanic pit. The cult nearby sacrifices virgin to
the volcano god, offering their bodies to him in the next life as
heavenly concubines. In return, sometimes chunks of magical obsidian
float to the top of the lava pool; which can be fished out by skilled
hands along with flame-retardant iron-sticks stuck in glacial tubs of
water just before use.
In
truth, each person thrown is just disturbing the lava pool and
cooling it off by fractions of a degree, and as such the lava has a
few chunks that condense beneath and float to the surface. The
obsidian is actually magical though, as the volcano has innate magic,
and the chunks can be made into all sorts of useful tools, weapons,
and broken into small flint fire-starters that start flames with
animal minds.
[9]
The Ship called
Brewing Storm.
It has never lost a battle. Its hull is known as being almost
impenetrable, and its cannons are unerring. All of its captains have
been giants among men; the most infamous pirates and navies have used
it to great effect, only being captured by subterfuge or great magic,
never in battle. Currently moored in the docks of a famous city and
well watched, a small cult of worshippers swim to the ship to touch
it, braving the coral reefs and the dangerous fish just to do so. The
ship is merely a famous and well designed vessel, with a double hull
that keeps out water and attacks, and all of its crew and captains
have simply been extraordinary, no special qualities of its own make
it so powerful.
[10]
Grossly exaggerated stories of both the abilities and philanthropy of
a wealthy noble folk hero who lived about a hundred years ago in the
area. Shrines to her are starting to pop up everywhere, despite no
supernatural powers or anointed Clerics proving any divinity.
[11]
The last Lord of the Arena. The gladiator reached the status of
legend after defeating every single foe that came his way, including
a chained dragon and several powerful free men who fought because
they believed themselves to be best. The Lord of the Arena fought
them all and one, and finally retired from his position.
All around the bloodchannels underneath the arena, the
animal cages, the slave wards where thralls are forced to fight and
in the streets around the arena he is praised as a mythical demigod.
Some even say his symbol, a curved sword and short iron bar- (for
parries and blocks, as per arena rules he wasn't allowed a shield
with his magic sword); has even given protection to the fighters who
fight for their lives in the arena today.
Truthfully, the Arena champion was just a man, and while extremely skilled and powerful, he's also become frail and slow in his old age. He lives in an old folks' home in the city, long since squandered all his winnings and fame, and is now content to just stare out the window at the street.
Truthfully, the Arena champion was just a man, and while extremely skilled and powerful, he's also become frail and slow in his old age. He lives in an old folks' home in the city, long since squandered all his winnings and fame, and is now content to just stare out the window at the street.
[12]
The Dragon. It's being worshiped by kobolds, which is normal. It has
a big ego, that's normal too. What's not normal is that Cleric spells
have started to stop working in a 20 ft radius around the spiky
calloused end of its tail, and the dragon believes this to be a sure
sign of its divine aura becoming real in the world. He will soon
anoint the oldest and best groveler among the kobolds to be his high
priest, who will be a level 1 Cleric.
[13]
Magic Mushroom. Within a deep chamber; fungus eating goblins have
begun to worship this massive fungal colony. They glow blue in the
dark and the mycelium is so thick it's like a carpet and tapestry on
the floors and walls. They worship the mushroom as it has begun to
respond to wishes; conjuring items from its flowering heads upon many
chants and praises from its goblin followers; so far it has created
swords without rust, which might as well be magic weapons to goblins,
spiked collars for their war-spiders, the skull of a dwarf, and even
a bag of holding. The mushroom is magic and is actually conjuring
these items, but only because the goblins have been feeding the
mushrooms their dead for decades; it takes a long time for enough
energy to build up for the mushrooms to conjure an item, most of it
is spent slowly growing new fungal colonies and spores. The mushrooms
only understand 'gob and won't grant more then a minor wish a week.
Anyone who severs and eats one of the fruiting sporecaps would get a
first level spell slot recharged from the magic energies, or a daily
power in equivalence.
[14]
Lord Agreen. He is a necromancer of incredible power, and has long
since become a lich and mastered his own mortality. His delusions of
Godhood are not as far fetched as they may seem. He has three close
servants that he revives in different bodies whenever they die; each
one of them is a skilled killer. Lord Agreen seems to be
assassinating several prominent local figures, disturbing the lands
of the dead with their deaths in just the right way to garner more
power to himself, and potentially lining himself up for an ascension
into some sort of death God.
[15]
Lady Morthin. She is a dark figure, consorting with the powers of the
fairie. Beyond her ridiculous taxes, which include the fallen teeth
of all children in her realm, she also forces her subjects to further
the powers of the wild forest; letting the realms of the fae
encroaches closer to their villages and disallowing them from posting
horseshoes and other iron wards. She wishes to gain the favor of the
fairy courts and join them as an immortal queen, before age comes to
takes her waning beauty away from her.
[16]
The Fallen Stars. Appeared after a meteor shower. Group of 1d6+1
Fallen Star people. They appear as humans with translucent skin and
have 17 AC and 3 HD each from their innate power. The females glow,
and can focus their light to stun their foes if they fail a save, and
the males can touch things to imbue them with a light of madness or a
light of calming. This light makes animals who gaze at the glow act
crazed or calm and docile respectively. This also works on humans,
and other races, for members who have a -2 Int modifier or less.
The Fallen Star people claim to be Gods from another
world, and are asking for the greatest sages and tinkerers in the
land to build a ship so they can return to their world. Truthfully,
they are merely stars that have fallen out of the sky in human form,
not true divines, and they know there is no way they can return to
the sky. Instead, they wish to build a weapon to destroy the stars
that exiled their group and then repopulate on Earth, ruling over the
lesser beings as Gods among men.
[17]
Black skinned ebony elf from a far away land. He smells of volcanic
ash and of freshly spilled blood, and claims to be a God of war from
a foreign culture. He is demanding noble warriors and those seeking a
free pass to the afterlife join him on a religious crusade to reclaim
the holy land.
He is actually a “God” culturally from his people,
who believe their rulers to be living Gods, though he is not an
actual God in power. He is quite a powerful warrior though, and knows
several hidden blade arts granting control over terrain and of fire.
Any character who joins on the crusade will not be returning home;
the land is too far and the civil war too perilous for any one of you
to return from it. There is a 1 in 6 chance the next character the
player players gets a letter from the old one, along with an volcanic
gemstone packaged within worth 10,000 coins.
[18]
Great green snake of the forest. It has swallowed several great
spirit-beasts like the massive boars and elk-spirits. Local hunters
say prayers to the beast to keep it sated and away from them before
they enter the forest, despite it not caring for or answering any
human prayers. The snake has stats as a normal snake, but on a missed
attack a spirit-beast charges out of its open mouth and harries any
magic user or character with high Wisdom. The spirits serve the snake
even as their remains digest inside the snake's body.
[19]
Great standing stone, surrounded by a flock of followers and guards.
It is said to heal the sick, and anyone who touches it finds their
wounds miraculously healed. The guards keep away those looking to
profit from the stone, and only allow those who are truly faithful or
who donate generously to the growing faith are allowed to touch it,
and only once. The stone's power are real but all of its magic is
from an ancient healer who gave the last of his healing magic to the
stone before his death. The standing stone can only heal 2d20 more
people before it runs out of power permanently, at which point the
faith will disband.
[20]
The Last Hero of Mozz. This prophet is a green-feathered flightless
avian person from an ancient, thought to be dead race. He claims to
serve the highest God of the Mozz and is both a holy man as well as
powerful warrior. He rides a speckled horse with a hundred hand
prints naturally showing on its coarse fur; anyone can tell the horse
is clearly supernatural. The prophet proves his abilities by making
objects under sheets disappear or having his horse count numbers by
tapping its foot. It isn't much smarter then a normal horse but has a
magic hide, granting it +3 AC, and seems to know many things from its
long memory and many experiences. The horse is also still youthful,
despite carrying its rider with elegance for many ages. Anyone
fighting on the horse fights as a Fighter of one level higher, as the
horse jostles them into advantageous positions over their foes while
mounted or fighting from its back.
The truth is that the Mozz died out because their Gods
died, and none are left. The prophet's powers are all illusions with
powdered smoke and mirrors. The last hero of Mozz is wandering the
Earth to find both a nice place to die and a good person to grant his
immortal magic horse to.
These are good!
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