The Wreckers
On a wooded hammock (obscured by Okiep trees and
Ghost Breath moss) only half a mile north from where the Inkemba River meets
the sea, is the skuilplek (hideout) of
the Wreckers. On moonless nights when
storms prowl the waters, they lure unsuspecting ships onto the rocks by means
of false lights. They can have a foundering vessel gutted in under an hour, and
be back in their skuilplek to drink,
carouse, and revel, before the boat is even at the bottom of the Skerpion Trench. Besides being
inveterate looters and ne’er-do-wells, they are also cannibals, who feast heartily on the flesh the boats bring.
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| Their god, Wraak, doing his thing. |
The Wreckers have lived in this part of the swamp
for generations and are a solitary people. They do not mix with the other of
the inhabitants of the swamps, preferring their own company. They have no use
for the gold and jewels they sometimes find in the holds of the ships either,
preferring medicines, clothing, tools, weaponry, and chief among all, rot-gut
spirits; and so, with no need for currency, gems, jewellery and piles of coins,
they are left lying around their camp (amongst the bones of their victims) for
the dogs and the children to play with.
Their leader,
Rooi Jan (Red Jan), has limited
powers of creation. Once per month he can sculpt a Modder (Mud), or Dryfsand (Quicksand)
Golem, using materials found just outside his front door. These Golems will
follow his basic commands and will last until midnight of that evening, whereby
they will collapse to the ground. (Statistics
on these below.)
The Wreckers have a ceremony every seven-day, where
they give thanks to their god Wrack for
the bounty he bestows upon them. It is on this day that they are at their
weakest because of the nature of their intoxicating worship. They imbibe the extremely
hallucinatory mushroom called the ‘Ilumbo
Ikhowe’ and dance with wild abandon until the sparks of their bonfires join
the stars in the night sky. There are
approximately 80 tribe members at any given time. The exact split according to
sex and age is up to the DM; just ensure that you have enough males to be able
to put up some resistance if attacked. They utilise basic swords, clubs,
cudgels and spears. They do not use bows of any kind and possess very little
armour. Their leader, Rooi Jan, has a fiendishly sharp Panga (machete) that deals (1d8 +1) that
he carries with him at all times. He even sleeps with it and takes it to the
toilet.
Rooi Jan has a fondness for drunkenness, and when
the captured liquor runs out he resorts to brewing his own, following an old
family recipe passed down from his Wrecker forefathers. The tribe call it Wit Blits (White Lightning) because it
is see-through and extremely potent. Just a fifty
ml measure consumed, will act as a restorative of 1d6 Hit Points. This can
be done just once a day, anymore will lead to extreme drunkenness and loss of
Dexterity etc. The morning after the night before will lead to severe penalties
vs. Constitution... This doesn’t apply to the Wreckers though, they seem almost
immune to its extreme effects, and consume gallons of the stuff when available.
The Huts (made from wattle and daub) are laid out in
a circular fashion surrounding a large bonfire area where a badly banked fire
burns constantly to keep away mosquitoes. Guards are posted every night, and dogs are kept
chained outside the perimeter of the village to warn against possible attack
from PC’s as well as swamp creatures.
Use S&W
Random Treasure generator to determine just what baubles have been left lying
around. On the whole, I think the Wreckers would best be bargained with instead
of assaulted. Players could possibly hire their services to take them up river
if they wished. But remember that they do consume human flesh, so the PC’s
might want to keep one eye open at all times. (Insert any number of cannibal jokes here.)
As mentioned earlier, Rooi Jan can create either a Modder Golem, or a Dryfsand Golem once per month and just tweak to suit your fiendish tastes.
I
do however suggest that all bashin’ type
weapons (maces- the flat of a spade etc) do slightly more damage to the Golems,
and that the Dryfsand can move 12 over actual quicksand, and that it tries to
drown whomever it hits successfully (possibly Save vs. Dex to avoid?)
The Heks of Hex
19.17
A dilapidated oil field lies half an hour’s march
north of the Wreckers camp. Hundreds of
years ago this area was dry and above sea level, but now the silent pumpjacks
and derelict derricks rust idly in what is known as the Blighted Bog.
Sea-water has mixed with the subsurface water tables
forcing pockets of oil, methane gas, and tar to the surface. Old vents still
remove as much of this deadly gas (methane) as possible , but occasionally,
especially after particularly violent lightning storms , huge gouts of flame go
tearing up many feet into the sky and burn uncontrollably for years on
end. The fauna and flora found in the Blighted Bog is twisted, deformed, and
follows the left-handed path of chaos. Hybrid plants of a carnivorous nature abound,
and it is here, amongst all the misshapen glory of the poisoned earth you will
find the ‘Heks’, or the Triumvirate
as she calls herself, as she was born with three heads: one fair, one foul, one
somewhere south of heaven.
One head always tells the truth, one head always lies... and the third head tells
the future. Roll 1d4 to determine how
many hours she can see ahead...but you are likely never to find out as she
controls an Efreeti that she will summon to help her if anyone becomes hostile.
She stores the soul of the Efreeti in a silver lantern that is buried under an
old road sign for Highway 69.
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| One fair, one foul, one somewhere south of heaven. |
The Heks lives in the trunk of a hollowed out tree and has
done so for years, but if you try and engage her in conversation, it will be
hard to get a word in edge-ways, as the three heads are constantly chatting.
Due to the highly combustible nature of the area, she is immune to fire damage;
in fact she thrives on it. If someone would deal her flame damage, she converts
those potential damage points to hit points instead. Minimal Treasure to be
found here, maybe some foul concoctions that turn out to have restorative
powers? I will leave that for the DM to decide.
Things of
interest: Oil
and Tar, and lots of it. There are several tar pits dotted around her dwelling.
If you were of a mind too, you could try and excavate some of them for bones. There
is rumoured to be a Scaled mammoth skeleton in one of them; if found, it would
be of massive interest to the Apothecaries, and Potion Wranglers of Tenkar’s
Landing...not to mention it would be worth a few bob too.
Junkyard Dogs...from Hell.
Once a junkyard but now an
overgrown labyrinth of moss and vine smothered cars, it is home to a ferocious
Minotaur, called Inkuazi, and his two Junkyard Hell hounds. The walls of the labyrinth are high, many stories
high, and made up of crushed cars and trucks. Obviously over time, certain sections
of wall have collapsed, choking off the hundreds of pathways that criss-cross
the junkyard, but for the most part they are intact and climbable, and offer a
Crow’s Road peek at the rest of the swamp.
In the centre of the Junkyard Labyrinth is where Inkuazi and his hounds call home. An old water proof freight container (now a grassy cave), is their abode. Just outside the cave is the moss covered hulk of a Buick 8, which for all intents and purposes is as good as a tomb.
In the centre of the Junkyard Labyrinth is where Inkuazi and his hounds call home. An old water proof freight container (now a grassy cave), is their abode. Just outside the cave is the moss covered hulk of a Buick 8, which for all intents and purposes is as good as a tomb.
If the party where to examine the car, they would find:
1) A
skeleton in the boot (trunk, whatever)
of the vehicle, alongside a rotted canvas tote bag filled with bags of white
powder.
2) In
the glove compartment (glove box, jockey
box, cubby-hole...man, we really ARE an international community on Tenkar’s Isle)
they will find a two spell books. One written by Stephen King, called ‘The
Stand’, and the other being number thirteen in the ‘Song of Fire and Ice’ saga,
titled ‘Reign in Blood’.
3) In
the back seat are several 8-tracks and LP’s. One being the ‘White Album’ by the Beatles, another
being the ‘Black Album’ by the
Nazgul. There is also a melted single of (Baby can you dig your man?)by an
artist called Larry Underwood.
4) A
scroll of ‘The Washington Post’ with a headline that reads, ‘Peace in our
time.’
5) In
the ignition, a set of keys attached to a white rabbit’s foot that will bless
the owner with one re-roll of ANY dice per day.
6) And
a map of what the isle used to look like, hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
The Minotaur patrols the
Labyrinth with his two hounds. The bleached skulls of trespassers are left in a
pile outside the entrance to the labyrinth in the vain hope that it will
dissuade people from entering. There is
a warp here, in the junkyard, a warp in the weft between the worlds, and this
splinter in one of the cosmic eyes, allows the hounds to operate in this
demesne and not be confined to the lower guts of hell.
The Minotaur has
trapped the Labyrinth extensively. Tripwires are attached to huge piles of
teetering cars, and deep pit traps, (filled with spikes and other metallic
detritus) litter the pathways. A huge magnet, once used to raise vehicles off
the ground hangs at the exit of the labyrinth.
This may cause players to be pulled upward, depending on how much metal
you have on you. Sheathed swords and daggers will be the first to go, and if
you are wearing chain, or plate mail...well, you’d best get used to hanging around. The Minotaur will use his knowledge of the Labyrinth to his
advantage, leading people into dead-ends or areas that are heavily trapped.
Once the party are stuck between a dead-end and a trap, he will release the
hounds and fight alongside them to rid his precious Labyrinth of invaders.
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