Pelts For XP - Hex Collection 2

Gustave Moreau

The fields in this hex are surrounded by fences made from densely-woven spider silk. A few groves of web-covered trees provide shade for ten Tarantellas (OSE), domesticated herding spiders that maintain the barriers and deter predators with their dancing venom.

Among the fields is a collection of strange buildings made from silk, along with some traditional timber houses. The ranch is run by eighteen Drow (OSE Adv) led by a matriarch, the gregarious businesswoman Antimache (Level 6 Drow), who carries a Displacer Cloak, Cream of Sunlight Resistance and Staff of Power with 17 charges.

Locked in treasure chests trapped with Purple Worm venom, the Deep Elves have 6,000 GP in mixed coinage (silk bills, golden trade tokens, Dwarven Royals etc.), along with:

• +1 Kopis Of The Undersun (as Sunblade).
• Potion of Giant Strength.
  
• Scrolls of Cause Serious Wounds, Detect Evil, Neutralise Poison, Resist Fire, Spider Charm.
• Scrolls of Haste, Hold Person, Lightning Bolt, Protection From Normal Missiles, Wizard Lock.

The Deep Elves are rearing Thracian Mares (stats as War Horse with D8 bite attack and ML 11, OSE), carnivorous destriers that make excellent war mounts. 

Antimache comes from a long line of proud demon-worshippers. Though the surface-dwelling family now disavows human sacrifice for legal reasons, they still own a breeding pair of Nightmares (OSE Adv) created during their blood magic days. Unfortunately, their convicts collaborated with the Fatharvest Gang to steal most the herd - including their demonic stud.

The ranchhands are miserable, forced to perform daylight duties with comically large sunhats alongside their remaining workforce of fifteen human convicts. They were supposed to fulfil a contract with Southfur's Briarcoats, but without Last Sunset they can't recoup their losses. 

The Drow have twenty seven Thracian Mares left. They're happy to sell the nine they don't use for ranching duties, charging 750 GP each. Their remaining Nightmare, Empty Sunrise, never leaves Antimache's sight. If Last Sunset is returned to the ranch, the grateful matriarch lets the players choose a reward from her treasure horde.

Kaj Hagström

This hex of boulder strewn grassland is the territory of the Fat Grubs, a cult of worm-worshipping Goblins (OSE) whose twenty nine members ride a mixture of stolen cattle dogs, wolves and mongrels (stats as Wolf, OSE). The little bastards are experts at rustling livestock, sometimes acting as mercenaries for the Water Centaurs or Fatharvest Gang.

The hex's boulders hide the entrance to a small karst cave, where the goblins herd stolen livestock into the waiting maw of a chronically obese Caecilia (OSE). The thieving cultists wholeheartedly believe the overweight worm will ascend into godhood if fed enough meat. The fact that their leader, Gutworm (Chaotic Level 3 Cleric) recently gained magical powers might lend credence to this belief.

The cult's treasure horde is found in the cave, strewn among piles of stinking refuse. Along with 5,110 GP in filthy coins, there's some badly stained scrolls of Infravision, Polymorph Self, Read Languages, Teleport, Wall of Stone and a +2 Sword of Vengeance. 

Michigan Carbon Works, 1892

This mountain pass was a mammoth graveyard in prehistory, where the noble beasts were slaughtered en-masse by the Serpentmen. In recent years, the long-dead titans have began to reanimate and roam the Bloody Glades.

These gigantic eidolons (stats as undead Mastodons, OSE Adv) seek out corpses, especially the mass graves of fur-bearing animals now ubiquitous thanks to the predations of longhunters. They extract their skeletons and take them back to the valley, laying them into immense piles of bone and ivory.

Unfortunately for travellers, the gravewardens are fiercely territorial. Stop them taking a skeleton, even if its from a fresh kill you're trying to dress, and they'll crush you. Enter their mountain pass, and D4 school-bus sized skeletons immediately animate to see you off.

For those brave or stupid enough to try it, every Turn spent looting the graveyard generates the equivalent of a Valuable Pelt in ivory (e.g. 250 GP). But the gravewardens don't give up easily, with a 2-in-6 chance per Turn that D4 more reanimate until you're dead or gone.

Disco Elysium

This hex's hills of charred grass is populated by the occasional dead tree, the sole survivors of a bushfire that deforested everything else. A flock of seven Vulbats (CC1) lazily circle above a particularly large tree, where the immense corpse of a Cyclops hangs.

The big man hasn't been dead for long, the carrion birds are patiently waiting for him to decompose. A large boulder is toppled over below his dangling feet, kicked away by the giant as he choked.

The corpse is secured to the tree's thickest branch with a cord of tightly-woven metal. It's incredibly strong and pulled taught, making it nearly impossible to cut through. The Vulbats roost on the same branch, swooping and clawing at anyone approaching their meal ticket.

Managing to get the golden cable down can salvage 5,000 GP in filaments of white gold, plus a Rope Of Climbing woven into the centre of the cord.