Pelts For XP - Hex Collection 6

William Tylee Ranney

With the playtest well underway, it's time to finish the last few hexes. I've also got a few outstanding minidungeons to complete, which should be done in the coming days. 

MEDUSA'S MANSE

This swamp hex has gravel paths made from hundreds of petrified bugs and rodents. They converge on a macabre stone hut of piled earth and calcified animals stacked upon one another. In front of the house is four "statues" of Plated Gator-Rats (CC2), caught mid-snarl.

The hut is 30x30' in size, with no windows and a crude door of driftwood and hides. The interior is 10' deeper than ground level, filled with statues of petrified humans, Orcs, Voormi, Blue-Tongues etc. Unsurprisingly it's the lair of a Medusa (OSE). The monsterwoman is unique insofar as she can undo her petrification, which she abuses to unleash the trapped Gator-Rats on trespassers.

Her stone gaze is also undone if she is killed, causing the hut to suddenly revert into a writhing mass of wild animals. Anyone inside the structure must Save vs Breath Weapon to escape, lest they take 2D10 DMG as they are crushed beneath the tide of screaming meat.

Aside from the alchemical value of her corpse, the Medusa also has a pile of magic items taken from her victims: +1 Chainmail of Silence 10', Elven Cloak and Boots, Wand of Lightning Bolts (16 charges), Potion of Gaseous Form and spell scrolls of (find traps, bless (blight), create water, cure serious wounds (cause serious wounds), remove fear (cause fear)).

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: The Medusa, wandering the woods.

MEATCAMP

This river hex has a large butchering operation and tannery along its shores. The meatcamp is staffed by a tribe of 29 Orcs (OSE) suborned by the Druid Mafia. The greenmen were originally mercenaries, then conquerors, then subjects of House Attis. After the Mafia became ascendent in the Marches, they moved to evict the hogs from their ancestral hill fort.

When the Orcs refused to leave, the Druids massacred them and labelled the survivors "bandits". They're now exploited as convict labour, used to process the monster corpses hauled in by longhunters. The greenmen work downstream of the THAUMATURGE TRAPHOUSE, so are increasingly stricken with mutations.

Whitehair the 4HD thegn and his four 2HD hearthweru keep order in the camp. They're not convicts, the Druids elevated them to their position after killing the original warchief. The collaborators have an easy job, given Druids started lacing the Orcs' drinking water with Charm Person potions.

The lumpen greenmen follow the Knacker thanks to the proselytizing of Madam Anastasia. Her followers beg her to cure their mutations, but she's purposefully withholding healing. She plans to let the Orcs turn into Mutoids, so person-tagged effects won't work on them. Once the mutations have reached critical mass, she'll instigate a revolt to disrupt the Mafia's potion operation.

The meatcamp contains 4,800 GP in alchemical components. Whitehair also carries a Potion of Growth for emergencies, a gift from his Druidic overlords.

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: 2D4 Orcs/Mutoids, transporting butchered monster organs.

Lovis Corinth

RABBIT DEN

This hex of rolling hills is the territory of a Wererabbit clan (CC1). The original lycanthropes were the Chipolatas, a Halfling homesteading family struck down by Serpentman plagues. But since scalphunters and fur-trappers started picking them off, the angry rabbits began indiscriminately spreading their curse by shooting travelers with contaminated arrowheads.

The resulting plague of lycanthropes has spread like wildfire, having the desired effect of drawing attention away from the Halflings' underground home. Their feral progeny have kept up the tradition of infecting others, smearing their weapons with their feces.

A franchise of Mimblewimble Arms recently made contact with the Chipolotas. The foolhardy Dwarves bribed the outlaws with fresh carrots and began digging for treasure in the nearby hills. 

Use the TUNNEL UNDER THE TUNDRA per The Rogues Wallet. Remove references to permafrost, increase number of Wererabbits to nine. Add a plothook of Mimblewimble Arms asking the players to investigate the vanished miners. They can't go to the Mafia about it, collaborating with lycanthropes is a hanging offence.

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: 2D4 Chipolatas wandering the hills, saner than than most, but still with a sadistic streak. Or a Bogglin Beast, looking for slow-moving prey.

Dwarf Fortress

STONE CIRCLE

This forest hex has dirt trails leading to a circle of megaliths. The stones were carved by Flintmen with permanent castings of Comprehend Languages, Speak With Animals and Read Magic. The Grugs used it as a meeting ground between tribes and for communicating with forest animals.

Now it's used by the beasts of BRANCH AND BONE and the Dryads of the EVERGREEN GLADE to negotiate weapons shipments and coordinate raids. There's a 3-in-6 chance that 2D4 Giant Beavers is delivering enchanted wood to a Dryad inside a Wood Golem (OSE). 

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: As above.

EVERGREEN GLADE

This forest hex contains the sacred grove of six Chaotic Dryads (OSE). Once allies of the Flintmen, the nature spirits have been corrupted into hateful wraiths by dark forces. Their holy trees are all defaced with strange carvings of many-eyed horrors and toothy maws.

The insane treewomen command the beasts of BRANCH AND BONE to supply them with magical lumber, which they convert into Wood Golems (OSE). These surrogate trees let them to bypass their movement restrictions. Their favourite tactic is to wrestle people and forcibly meld them into trees.

The Dryads end goal is creating an artificial Treant (OSE). With this warmachine, they'll bring ruin to the doorstep of Fort Southfur alongside auxiliaries from BRANCH AND BONE. The attack is likely to fail in the face of cannonfire and industrial magic, unless aided by outside forces.

Hidden among the sacred grove's roots is the bones and belongings of the Dryads' victims: 9,350 GP, +2 Trident of Warning, +1 Shield of Breaching (cast Knock 2/day) and a Potion of Fire Resistance.

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: D4 Dryads in their Wood Golems.

Thomas Pennant

VALLEY OF THE VOORMI

This hex's forested valley is the domain of the Voormi (OSE as Troglodyte). These degenerate apemen were a servitor race created by the Serpentmen. They still serve the Empire to this day, stalking the Bloody Marches and sourcing human sacrifices for the remaining snake redoubts.

There's 28 Voormi in the tribe, led by four elders blessed by the snakes with undeath (OSE as Ghast). The Empire also armed the apemen with half-a-dozen "Pain Rifles", laser weapons that deal damage as +2 Muskets but don't reload and paralyse targets instead of killing them. The tribe also has five Snigers (CC2), fearsome chimeras bred as warmounts.

The Voormi flay the victims of Serpentman blood sacrifices, a deliberate mockery of the fur-trapping practiced by civilised men. Skinned victims are resurrected with dark magic, then strung up around the valley as human Shriekers (OSE) to alert the Voormi of interlopers. The skin is repurposed into a giant sheet of undead flesh. This Lurker Above (OSE Adv) flies between the tree tops, swooping down and enveloping trespassers when alerted by the Shriekers.

Littered among the apemen's hovels and dank caves is: 22,170 GP, +2 Axe of the Lumberjack (triple damage to wood, fells tree in one strike), Helm of Mind-Reading and a Staff of Cloudkill (7 charges). The magic items frequently change owners as the Voormi trade them for food or sex.

LOCAL ENCOUNTER: 2D4 Voormi (OSE as Troglodyte), manhunting. Led by a Ghast (OSE), accompanied by a Sniger (CC2). D4-1 pain rifles between them. Capture anyone they paralyse. Or the Lurker Above, flying overhead in search of prey.

Frank Frazetta