Posted on March 24, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Places on the Mathien Plateau all have some elements in common.
Noticeable Lack of Encounters: Animals are few and far between in any areas that were once settled or inhabited by humans.
span class=”know-info”> DC 15 > Perception + Zoology
Encounters: It has the encounters common to all Places on the Mathien Plateau.
Normal Daytime Encounters: 1-2 on d6 per hour > Assuming weather and environs are normal, encounters will be of strange winds, and animals that seem aggressive, but will veer off attacks/charges/displays at the last moment. Elemental manifestations – terrain becomes difficult in an area, water seeps out of the ground trapping characters, zephyrs blow out fires and knock over equipment and characters, and fires that expand, funnel, or jump to burnable items.
Normal Nighttime Encounters: 1 on d6 per hour > Same as day time.
span class=”know-info”> DC 20 > Perception + Zoology
Each location and the Plateau in general will have a chance of a character being possessed by a momentary vision in the daylight hours. These are the results of the evil brought forth in CY 8801 and 8802, directly clashing with the forces of nature summoned by the druids. While these are terrible, the one that comes in the nightmares after sundown are worse – may even permanently mentally scar a victim.
Daytime Encounters: 1-2 on d6 per 4 hours of light – it will happen at least once while crossing the plateau.
Nighttime Encounters: 1-5 on d6 overnight (in sleep); Sanity check or Nightmares interrupt rest – Dire Result = Lasts d4 weeks, Disastrous result = Permanent.
Common Preceding Experience: Mists swirl around you, and you hear muffled screams all around you. One moment things were normal, now there is a whooshing sound and you feel like you are falling towards a fire. Smoke fills your nostrils and the screams get louder…
Vision 1:
Up against the base of the hill, the redoubt allows you to withstand one final assault. The bodies pile up, sweat stings in your eyes, and you can taste blood from a cut on your scalp – your helmet is gone somewhere. Screams of agony fill the air, and after hours the walls and your defenses hold and the dozens of citizens in the stone box are saved – the dawn is coming. The Orrish quickly move off of the battlefield. You breathe raggedly with several of your fellow soldiers, out of breath and exhausted. No one will move until the sun comes fully into view – that will be a painful stretch between the false dawn and then. After several minutes of waiting, you can see the wreckage of the village – it can be rebuilt. A count has begun of the survivors when the avalanche comes. One final act by the Orrish sappers above you… you feel and hear it as your reach towards the first rays of light… Then all goes dark, and you wonder your fate – pulverized to death or buried alive.
Vision 2:
You find yourself bound and gagged, being pulled by your hair by a large figure as Orrish dark in the darkness around you. Your shoulder is dislocated, and blood covers your right eye. You are dumped in the midst of goblins… all of them hold you down and pull your clothes off… they pull your legs apart as you writhe and twist trying to get away, you feel white hot pain in your groin… then things go dark.
Vision 3:
You are hiding in the shadows. There are fires around you, screams fill the air. From under the porch, you see your father cut down a pair of goblins with a spear, before they swarm over him and cut him to pieces. They flay pieces off while he is dying, stuffing their mouths full of bloody chunks. Suddenly, a guttural laugh is next to you and a goblin’s face snarls at you. You try and roll away, but they are grabbing you from multiple sides. Screaming, they pull you out, two of them hold your small child’s frame by the legs. Confusion reigns and you look to your left and see the flash of a blade and feel a warmth on your chin and you know you are dying. The last you hear is their laughter.
Vision 4:
To your right a swarm of goblins pulls down your comrade. He claws at the multiple daggers in his chest, though he took three down before they took him. You hear a snarl behind you and dodge out of the way of a massive ork that swung a maul. The goblins roll through your space, tripping you. They are on your back, jeering and screaming as the ork ignores them, but brings the maul down on you, caving in the skull of one at the same time. You can feel the bones in your back break and you cannot scream. The smoke creates a haze over everything, but suddenly you are on your feet. You dont know how, but you are willing your body up. You rise even higher up, trying to warn another comrade nearby, but no words come. Then you turn around and stare into the eyes of the ork… and realize your head has come away from your body and these are your last thoughts…
Vision 5:
Cowering under the house in a hidden pit, you hear the screams and wails of the pillaging going on. The air is hot and heavy, smoke is drifting down. You pray to the Light Bringers to deliver you through till dawn. Suddenly there is light all around you, an answer to your prayers. But you are deceived when you realize the floor above you is fully engulfed in flames……there is no light, there will be no dawn. You scream as your flesh begins to boil, but thankfully the smoke fills your lungs before you feel the flames deeply. The last thing you hear is the jeering and laughter of the Orrish…
Vision 6:
Your warband has been fighting all night. The fires burn at the mine entrance, reflecting off the polished bronze and illuminating the area. Inside, miners and villagers are safe – the tunnel slab dropped to prevent the Orrish from coming up the mine passages. The bodies of Orrish, locals, and soldiers of the Riverlord are strewn all around. Three orks slain and dozens of goblins and the same off-spawn. The druids are trying to fix the wounded with their magics, but so many fall so fast. The smell of burnt flesh is everywhere – swarms of creatures sent to overrun you, met by swarms conjured by the druids and then set alight by the radiance of the priestess of light who keeps the beacons lit. The Orrish back off for a moment, and in the midst of the growing quiet, the light is snuffed out. Above you and to your left, a goblin dark priest savagely cast magic, his followers shielding him from the arrows that fly. A retributive bolt comes from the darkness and his chest explodes – but the distraction was enough and a murderous spider of Go-zen scuttles into the foray and kills one of the druids providing cover with a swarm of bats. The slingers, the air now cleared, swarm the priestess and as you hear her dying wail you lose hope, The braziers go dark one by one around you as you fall to your knees, lost in your own thoughts of self pity and hate. You barely notice as your body is pierced several times, disassociating until you feel as if it is all a dream… then the night sky is above you. And all is cold and still…
Posted on March 24, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Twisted Colossi of the Orrish are enslaved by the Orrish to sometimes provide cloud cover from the Sun bane. Through corrupted elemental magics, captured Stone Giants of the Steel Realms , and Orrish breeding and unholy sacrifices by priests of Sun Stealer, there are more of the Twisted Colossi (formorians, formori) than there should be in the Dark Lands.
Part of the Bestiary of the Steel Realms
These creatures are bound strongly to earth and water, and are known to be able to control or influence weather on locales where they are. They have been known to bring forth the remains of those destroyed in elemental/natural disasters.
They are loners and difficult to control. They are perpetually in pain, and angry, and when they focus their anger, the violence of the environment and their physical wrath is terrifying.
Powerful places with natural anima founts are places that soothe their eternal agony of existence.
Posted on March 17, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Blackhounds are the creatures summoned from the dark depths of hell by the priests and warlocks of Everdark; These creatures take the form of dogs. They are used as guardians of sacred Places, clergy, and altars of the dark god. At times, they are summoned to take part in raids into the lands of light.
Part of the Bestiary of the Steel Realms > Creatures of the Dark Lands
Stats per Hell Hound
Posted on March 16, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Bentwillow Cross is the capital of the Bentwillow Barony in the Earldom of Bar-Innis within the Grand Duchy of Dunstrand. Several hamlets are located around it that are part of the fiefdom. It is a major stop on the east-west trade route between the Riverdans and the Earldom, and north-south through the Earldom to the Twin Rivers to the north and Saelish, Umbak, and county Faer to the south and SE.
Posted on March 16, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Bentwillow Barony is a small barony of the Earldom of Bar-Innis within the Grand Duchy of Dunstrand. It consists of a major town (its capitol) and crossroads, as well as several hamlets.