Grotto of the Ape-Men

 So, my PCs' next dungeon crawl will be into a grotto populated with eight Ape-men that guard a copy of the Necronomicon, which Kadoz the Fishwife will buy from them for a dozen slaves and ownership of the old watchtower. The Ape-men are a set encounter in The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, Kadoz is a semi-random NPC. 

I will confess that I am a bit worried about this one: the PCs expect, from the description, the same things they slaughtered in the ancient ruins in 013. They are decidedly not. In fact, when I reviewed The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence for Welcome to the Deathtrap this encounter prompted me to talk about just how extreme some of these encounters can be.

If my PCs fight eight of these all at once, that's this project over. So, I am going to give them a fighting chance. I am going to spread the Apes over a dungeon. I hit DonJon up for a random map made to equate to a 4th level dungeon. Here is the map:

Generated using Donjon

On a skim I have noted that there are a few monsters worth keeping in here, but also a lot of monster & trap free rooms: 17 of them. So I am going to build a new pair of random tables. One will cover random encounters and one will be random room dressing.

Setting: Broken Cliff

Broken Cliff was an early attempt to colonize the Purple Islands. In its original form, it was a set of long docks placed at the base have a sheer bluff. A stone watchtower was placed at the peak where its master could both watch the ships coming in from the sea, and the farmsteads on the gentle hill on its land wards side. Cranes and lifts were rigged from the Tower to lift cargo up to the Farms above. Several sea caves that now sit high above sea level were converted into Inns and warehouses to accommodate visiting crews.

II was an ambitious project created by Theocrats from the land of Garold, nd the only structure more elaborately built was the cathedral to the holy chorus built at the centre of the village. Tragically, most of the colonists were not as devout as the governor or the priests. Many went native swiftly and joined either the cult of Zygax-Xith, or The Cult of K'tulu. The priests, furious, began purges, and fiery sermons attempting to bring people back to the Gods of Light and Order.

On the Purple Isles, however, blaspheming the Great Old Ones comes with consequences and those who truly embraced the jungle were able to call it to their aid. The town was consumed by vines and monsters

The remaining colonists, divided, went their separate ways. Many willingly went to a Cult of Zygax-Xith, and many fence-sitters became slaves in the Cult's pleasure pits. Others went deep into a grotto where lay ruins from the primordial age of the snake men and important secrets about the great K'tulu, and there they stayed degenerating, and mutating into the tentacles ape-men that now stalk Kravian.

The supports of wharf remained; it was the work of Dwarven stonemasons. Seventy years later, when a group of pirates were looking for a place to establish a free port on the Purple Islands, it was easy to rebuild the docks and reclaim the caves. The Pirates are wiser in the way of the Islands than the Colonists, and have been hesitant to build inland. Instead, they have built a town of permanently docked ships, houseboats, and stilted huts on the seashore. 

Both the Unity of Western kingdoms and the great Magrocracies of the South have officially claimed Broken Cliff, while doing nothing to govern it: having a place where gokd and silver currency can be exchanged for goods and import /export is driven by the smugglers' mercantile ecunen is too convenient to disrupt. Instead it is watched with a studiously blind eye.

The town is ruled over by a Thing of Pirates. Smugglers, warriors, slavers, and a Mercenary company called the Violet Claw. It's clear leader is a woman called Kadoz the Fishwife, a Monk with deep-one blood who runs a shrine to Mother Hydra and gains knowledge of the weather and the deeps from her monstrous kin.

Kadoz has been looking for a figurehead that can serve as a decoy for trouble as civilized governments begin to take more interest. She has had the tower rebuilt as a big "kick me" sign for a brave patsy to take. The promise of the tower and some slaves to fill it has caused more than one troublemaker to take on suicide missions at her behest.

Behind the Screen: The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence does not include a home base per se. Several of the factions like the Cult of Zygax-Xith you could possibly serve that function. But, approaching them is a great risk; they are just as likely to drag the player characters off to the dungeon to humiliate and torture them as they are to give them the time of day.

I needed that place their player characters could spend some gold and get some supplies that was potentially corrupt, but not likely to be openly hostile. I chose its location on Kravian through as several random dice rolls, which seemed to dovetail very nicely with the K'tulu Cult plot that I had randomly generated.

Just by the basis of the location and the plot I've already rolled, I was able to derive the idea that there would be a representative of the deep ones in this town, and that they would be interested in hiring the PCS to steal the Necronomicon from The Grotto of the K'tulu-worshipping ape-men located in the same hex..

The reward, a fortress and slaves was rolled on the Oracle and gave me a lot more to work with.

I also rolled for an explosive acid splash trap to be hit in the Hex when the PCs arrived. That gave me the idea that there have been recent hostilities between the village and Ape-men that cause Ines to be set up, and the PCs are just caught in the crossfire.

That will be in the next play report.

Rather than use the list prices for items in the Rule Cyclopedia, I decided to use the random gear price rolling system from Low Fantasy Gaming . Most things, I'm rolling price with disadvantage, to represent the fact that the pieces are buying from Smugglers, gold isn't worth very much on the islands, and beggars can't be choosers. There aren't exactly a lot of craftsmen in broken cliff, and those that there are work at a premium, or they are slaves.

Gemstones aren't going to get their precise value, either. At best, while Neela is in the party her skill as a jeweler will let her make sure they can get a stack of gear that can round to the nearest 500gp increment in value. 

The Voidwarped Class

 Holden has had a very bad session. He was essentially dead for a minute there, and in the worst way possible. Now Khord has saved him... But to what end?

I certainly am not going to keep Holden as a Cleric. All of this started as a crisis of faith. I think I will create a custom class for him based on the vibe of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence. So here is what I am thinking:

Voidwarped

Prime Requisite: Wisdom
Experience Bonus: 5% for Wis 13-15, 10% for Wisdom 16-18
Hit Dice: 1d6 per level up to 9th level
Armor: Any, Shields Allowed
Weapons: Any
Attacks as: Cleric

Transformed by exposure to the void between worlds, the Voidwarped are a conduit for alien powers that bend reality itself. They come at a cost, however, as these powers corrupt from within causing Hideous mutations. 

Day 4-6: The Vortex and the Djinni

 Content Note: Sex, Possession, Eye injuries; Pushing the R-Rating

Hex 013

Day 4, First Watch

---

Benne considered the purple stains across her breasts as she soaked herself in the Spring-fed pool that Mord and Alil had discovered the previous night. It was going to be days before they were back to her usual color. She smirked and turned the page of her new book. It was a small price to pay.

Before her were the secrets to unlock the Universe.: the scrawled notes of a dead mage called Maythe. In an ornate hand with woodcut-like illuminations. The mage had known only a few spells, to bend others' will and to project his voice... It mattered little. With it she could finally master the Art of fixing a spell in her mind, and the releasing it. Here, on this island, there were plenty of spells to be found. And that fool Jonas had just given it to her. Pretty soon, he would be wrapped around her fingers

The first time they had made love, she had done it to distract him from her attempt to steal this very book. He must've been a sad and lonely man back home to be so easily distracted. But then... Ever since she'd been arrested, she had found men were easily controlled by a woman who knew how to play the frightened ingenue or the eager tavern girl in the right measures at the right time.

One late-night night tussle, and Jonas practically threw his knowledge at her. He was too shy to say what he hoped the terms of her apprenticeship would be. Which is why it had to be her to sneak him away to the entrance to the ruin yesterday evening as they waited for the Great Horror to fly away.  She could get everything she needed to master magic well enough from him. In fact, she now knew she could control him because Jonas... 

Day 3: That Which Rots

 Content Note: Sex & Violence. A mild R-Rating

Hex 014

Day 3, First Watch

---

Chaos Knight Slimed by the Purple Putresence 
By JLHB, © 2014 Kort'thalis Publishing 

Korl watched the sky over the sea with apprehension. He was so still that he could be taken for a statue.

Behind him the camp was a flurry of activity. Jonas explained his morning meditative practices and the elaborate diagrams in his Spellbook to Benne as she wrapped her arms around him. Mord joked brightly with Neela, Alil, and Sarra as they tidied the campsite. Wene and Jamart packed away the remains of the breakfast they had made from rations and local fruits and mushrooms. In spite of what little they had to work with, breakfast had been delicious. He just hoped it had not been his last.

"Does something trouble you, Korl?" The skinny, hatchet-faced knight-priest Tarrant stepped up beside him and fixed hi eyes on the same thing: the great twisting cloud of purple sludge in the sky not far off the coast.

"The Thing that Rots is close to shore. I am afraid that our paths will cross."

"What will happen, should we cross its path?"

"Have you not heard the stories, my firend? Some go mad looking at it, so it is said. It often just grabs people and eats them. It is known that the slime that drips out of it is a potent drug. But often deadly. It is also said that It's blood, should it be wounded, transforms a man into an ooze, and then petrifies him. All you can do about The Thing that Rots is to hide under shelter and wait for it to pass." We will go slow today. At best, we will get around this cove. I must always look for shelter."

"Am I to take it that if we wish to cover ground, we must get moving?"

The Sherpa nodded.

Day 2: Swordplay, Singularities, and Seduction

Content note: Sex, Gore, Slavery, Torture; Def. R Rated

Hex 002

Day 2, First Watch

---

They awoke chilled. A cool wind blew across the purple Sands. White caps could be seen just a short distance from shore. Jonas hug himself and tried to warm up. His clothes have been filled with holes and his tunic ruined when he was struck by the piercer only a day before. He marveled at this lately Violet stained skin, where his allies prayers had mended his tissue. And then looks down at his hand. One, two, Three, Four... His middle finger was gone. A stump of purplish scarred flesh set just above the knuckle. The spells of the priests closed the bloody wound, but I could not regrow the lost digit.

"Will you be all right?" That was the loud and hardy voice of Holden. The ginger-haired priest agree to the sun with prayer. Praising his goddess for hiding the stars that none may fully know their fate.

"I am grateful to you. And your goddess. Better my finger than my life  from what I understand, I have fate to thank for not turning me inside out yesterday."

"This is a good and wise way to think of things my friend." That was Koral, their Sherpa. "On this Isle, to mourn is a gift and a luxury. When we get to Broken Cliff settlement, I will show you how to move on in the way of an Islander. But, for now we must be strong for we have many days of travel."

Jonas fished through his backpack. Of all of them, he was the one with spare clothing. He got the feeling it would all be rags before all was said and done.

"How far to this... settlement?"  That was Tarrant. He smoking a pinched nasal voice of a western aristocrat. His god, the god of retribution and order; it had to be difficult for him to go to pirates for help. 

"From here? Perhaps thirty miles. No, my friend, do -- not smile. For us this is nearly a week's journey. The jungle clings at your legs and boots and hides your path. The beaches wind and curl. And we must walk through the barbed grass when the tide is high. You are not properly prepared for the jungle, and so the coast will be our path. You cannot get lost if you follow it."

Jonas was surprised when Mord handed him a bundle. You ruined your cloak back there. This should do you better. In the man's arms was a set of robes, high collared in yellow and red. The last he saw them was on the willow Sorcerer Golmore, before Neela killed him.

"I'm not sure..." he cast a glance at Neela.

"Neela Expresses Herself"
Made w/ Hero Forge, used
in accordance w/ their EUKA

Mord's big blue eyes glittered. "She's no cherry blossom. If you spend your time worrying about the delicate sensibilities of women, you will wind up a bigger ass than the ones who don't care at all. You should be so lucky as to have a woman like that want you to take off what you are wearing."

Neela, feeling eyes upon her, made a crass gesture in Mord's direction.

"No, never mind, I'm wrong. Never has there been a more delicate flower."

Jonas chuckled, and then pulled the robe on.

When they struck out an hour later, Neela took the time to place a hand on Jonas' shoulder. "It looks better on you."

Hex 014

Day 2, First Watch

---

The purple sands  were easy terrain, but Kravian's souther shore was jagged, full of inlets and places where blades of obsidian jutted up, creating patches where a misstep could cut tissue. They kept the jungle to their left. It reeked of meat, rotting vegetation, and flowers. It's leaves a tempest of violet, green, and ashen grey. Everyone could feel eyes upon them from there. Expectant. Questioning. Each of them felt the question in their head:

Are you the one?

Holden's Legacy

 While I was rolling up big campaign questions, I also wanted to see where this deed Holden holds to land on the Islands was. I rolled a d120 for a location, re-rolling if it was underwater. I got Hex 97. Holden will eventually want to reach that Hex and try to clear it. 

What Do the Islands Want?

At the beginning of every campaign of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, GMs are given an opportunity to roll for what the Islands themselves want, as they possess a certain consciousness. Actions that agree with the Islands' goal might get occasional boosts. Those that oppose it, a potential penalty.

For this campaign, I rolled that the Islands are waiting for a Messiah that will tip the scales absolutely toward Law or Chaos. And (thanks to an Oracle roll), the Islands suspect it could be any of my PCs.

I determined that the Islands would test the party. And the form of the test would be determined by a roll on the campaign hooks table.

It came up with: "The Cultists of K'tulu are planning on forcing a Deep One Princess to be K'tulu's bride and bear his spawn. If that happens, the sea will swallow the Islands." it is a good thing to want to avoid.

So, if the possibility arises of my PCs opposing K'tulu and asserting our own power, then I will be sure to have fate nudge the PCs there. 

The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence: Attempt 2

 

"Jonas" created using Hero Forge. Used
here in accordance with their EULA 

Originally, I wrote this piece as a Novella. It was about 22,000 words with illustrations and all. Unfortunately, blogger does this thing where, for a split second, it replaces the content of your article with the string listng your tags. Normally not a problem. It puts it all back. But if you have an error where it switches your WiFi network at the wrong time, it will automatically save it in that state. So, I lost a book's worth of "Tale of the Manticore" inspired fiction.

It is not all gone. I have 70% of the book in garbled, out-of-order voice dictation notes that require hours of editing to translate what my phone heard into what I said. I am not yet sure if I want to spend the time.

But I still wanted to share this, because I am having fun.

Oh... And mildly NSFW art ahead.

Overview

I am playing Venger Satanis' weird, pulpy, oversexed The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence as a solo D&D experiment. I am using BECMI Dungeons & Dragons played straight out of the Rules Cyclopedia that I have had since I was 12. Mixed with The Dozen Dooms. By Baldrage for simpler experience and encumbrance, and using most of the recommended house rules in 'Purple.

I am using Dungeon Crawl Solo from Parts Per Million as my tool for making GM systems and developing the campaign..

After the brutal TPK I suffered the last time I played, I decided to give my PCs a fighting chance by having full gear, a five person party, and starting them in a low level dungeon.

Once free of the dungeon, it will be a Hex crawl to find a town where they can resupply and start pursuing emergent goals. Using the character background generating tools in Purple is great for having built-in hooks without taking forever to generate. Adding in a DCC RPG occupation table writes the character for me.