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Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

There is one ruin of the Sakyss that is located in the Seldus Mountains. It seems to have been uncovered by the huldra elves. It is described as some sort of pyramid with an entrance at the base although most of it is burried from the sands of time. It seems that a wicked huldra scholar-wizard was trying to decipher the language of the Sakyss to learn of their ancient magics. The only reason this story was known was that a terrified and haggard young huldra came knocking at the gates of the Citadel of Paralon, an outpost of paladins, begging for help. The young huldra described that a horrible thing was released when his leader read an ancient text. This entity devoured all of the other huldras and that he was the only one to escape.

The paladins quickly dispatched a force and summoned many great mages to defeat this evil. Nothing was known of the battle other than the fact that most of the paladins and mages were slain and afterwards none would mention the unspeakable evil within the ruins. The surviving paladins and mages did, however, return later to place holy and magical barriors so that none could enter the ruin again.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Sages who have traveled with the caravans of House Chrysanthemum to the lands of spice and silk, far beyond the Sea of Dust, sometimes tell of a cyclopean ruin of basaltic rock which bears thousands of ancient texts and symbols in several dozens obscure languages and dialects.
This ruin lies at the edge of a vast swamp and one of the few translateable texts tells parts of a story about a great war the Sakyss fought against terrible beings "from between the stars". In that war the Sakyss were forced to adapt the alien magic of the invaders, so they could use it against them.
Apparently this allowed the Sakyss to win this war - but only at the price of their own sanity and civilization. And even that bitter victory was incomplete: the entities known today as mindwarpers, formerly part of the invading force, survived and remained on this world...

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The Wild Jungles of Kutumba

These jungles occupy almost an entire continent. They are inhabited by dinosaurs and jungle creatures of immense size. The Hsaing and reptilemen thrive here as do the Simil (Ape-men) and numerous human tribes. There are two distinct ethnic groups in the jungles, the Zabkuni and the Mbantan. The Zabkuni are described as having tan skin and long straight black hair, while the Mbatan have black skin and very curly hair. These two ethnic groups often war but they also trade. There is another ethnic group called the Basero but these are thought to be intermixes of the Zabkuni and Mbantan as their apearance seems to reflect this. Both of these ethnic groups worship nature spirits and usually settle in small camps. There are some kingdoms, however, and they are rumored to be overflowing with gold and gems.

Jungle Elves

These elves normally have deep brownish-green skin and hair color but they have the ability alter their skin color to camouflague themselves just like chameleons. They are masters of making potions from magical jungle plants and are fierce warriors. They live in houses in the trees and often use blow pipes and bows tipped with poison to defend their territories. They know many secrets of the jungle but will only share them with trusted persons.

Jungle Trolls

These are similar to normal trolls except they are covered with coarse hair. This hair is often covered with moss and sometimes even small plants sprout from within it. They live in nests built high in the tree canopy made from plant leaves. They only come forth at night, often raiding food from villages or settlements.

Simil

These are Ape-men who live in the jungle. They are decent beings, albeit somewhat brutish. They are excellent at climbing and stealth and often can become bards. There are some witch-doctors who can be quite fearsome and they seem to know some strange rituals that contact horrible entities.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Elf Elves

These Elves have adapted themselves to live on the bodies of other Elves, including other Elf Elves. They make their homes and weapons out of pieces of the elves they live on.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Forgotten Ones

Whenever any soul dies alone, forgotten and ignored, and his body lays unburied for 24 hours without any sunlight touching it, a forgotten one can be born. This normally only happens in big cities with large homeless populations or prisoners of large dungeons.

Forgotten ones are shadow creatures, with 8 radial arms, no head and no legs. They are generally 1 yd wide (SM -2). They can cling to walls, and sunlight harms them.

They attack by grappling from behind, draining the identities of those they touch. Treat this as 3 HP of dmg per turn, and a save vs (Will - accumulated damage) to not develop partial amnesia until the wound is fully healed.

Forgotten ones are only half in our world, so halve all damage done to them from non-light sources. If you are attacking one clinging to an ally, apply the other half of the damage to your ally, this can be avoided by taking an additional -2 penalty for attacking into close combat.

Uttering the christened name of the Forgotten one will instantly destroy it.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Artifacts of the Sakyss

Wand of Keserak

This wand was found by the archmage Xugben. It is described as a wand of platinum incribed with many runes. Upon one end there are intricately placed gem stones aranged in a circular pattern, one the other end was a power crystal. This power crystal was damaged when it was found so Xugben used a power stone instead even though it didn't have enough power. Through careful study he was able to find out 3 functions. The first function was to shoot forth a bolt of magical energy.

Damage 3d burn, Acc 6, Range 100/250, RoF 4, Shots 30 (must recharge power stone), Rcl 1

The second function is to create a sphere exactly like an utter dome. This sphere keeps a constant temperature and breathable air. It can also move as the use wills even to very high speeds.

The third function is to teleport. This power can only be used where the sphere is engaged.

Xuben found a partial text along with the wand. In the text it gave some instruction as to how to use the wand. The text also had some star maps.

Chambers of the Sakyss

These look like small rooms carved out a rock. They have a doorway and many runes on the inside. There are two known to exist. One was found within a mine near the town of Bardon and the other was found in a field in the village of Canthus which is 500 miles apart. Through luck, one person was able to touch the runes in a sequence and was teleported from the mine to the fields near Canthus. Many others have tried to use the sequence and it has been successful, but all other sequences used make the operator disappear and never return. Many mages have tried to uncover the secrets but so far none have been successful

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The Doom of Thomarra

According to the local folk lore there once was a great city somewhere in the area now known as the Whispermarsh. The city was called Thomarra and it was home to many merchant families of fabulous wealth.
However, the Thomarrans were as cold-hearted as they were greedy, and they banned all the poor and homeless - men, women, and children - to dwell forever in the catacombs and sewers beneath the city, so that their pitiable sight could not insult the noble eyes of the high and mighty. Only at night were they allowed to step on the marble streets of the city - so they could gather the offal and refuse from the gutters, and collect the trash from the market places and back alleys.
But then, during a terrible heatwave, a plague broke out below the city streets, killing the outcasts and have-nots by the score - to die alone in some dark hole in the ground. The trash began to pile up in the streets, its stink reaching into the mansions and villas of the rich - but no one cared for the dying poor.
Then, on a sweltering moonless night, the city that already smelled like a giant corpse died: Thousands of Forgotten Ones, vile undead shadows of the deceased, rose from below the streets, slaughtering all of the "better" inhabitants of Thomarra in their sleep. During that last night a great fire broke out and consumed large parts of the city. The fire burned for untold hours, and the smoke from the fire sheltered the city from the sun for all of the following day.
The next night saw the unholy birth of many thousands new Forgotten Ones, now to dwell together below their city for all eternity...

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The Seldus Mountains separate the southern-most parts of Otamia from the Dhactylean Peninsula, known for its myriad of small bays, deep fjords, and tiny islands. A land of many independent city-states where "the weather is warm, the temper runs hot, and halflings are ****in' everywhere!"

The Seldus Mountains themselves, however, are almost empty of civilized settlements, and the few mountain passes are dangerous to travel. Several valleys in the mountain range are covered by thick dark witchwoods, crawling with goblin-kin - including the dreaded duende - and the nastier types of elves, and some mountains are said to contain whole cities of huldra elves.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The human barbarians of the tundra beyond the northern inland sea known as the Graumaer tend to show an unusual, albeit grudging, respect for certain goblin-kin, especially orcs, half-orcs and even hobgoblins!
Some say that this is based on the perceived "toughness" of these races, and also due to the fact that "up there" you need to accept potential allies no matter what they look like - especially when all parties involved know that even further north live the ruthless ice elves, harbingers of eternal frost.

On the other hand the barbarians on the coast of the Everwinter Sea have a much more friendly disposition to the ice elves living to the north of them. These ice elves seem to belong to a different faction than their brethren to the east side of the Faery Forest's northern reaches.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Adventure Setting

The PCs are approached by three armed men and asked if they could help a small town with a problem. The tell the PCs that the lord of the town has offered to give the PCs anything they they want in his treasure vault if they can solve the problem. If the PCs agree, then the armed men will take them to meet Lord Telon who is a man in his thirties. Lord Telon will explain to the party that almost all of the people in the town are sick and quite a few of them have died. He says that he thinks the people in the town are being poisoned. Lord Telon will explain that he will reward them well if they can get to the bottom of this situation.

If the PCs agree to try to figure out this problem then they will notice that the crops and live stock are poisonous. The cows look weak and give poisonous milk and the pumpkins are toxic. If there is a scout in the party, the scout has a chance of finding tracks leading to a woods. This trail ends at a pond. If the PCs go into the pond they will see a huge bubble at the bottom of it. Within this bubble are 12 poison elves, one is a 200 point mage. The leader has a pet giant snake that is poisonous and two pet water spiders. If combat goes against the elves, they will break the bubble and attempt to flee.

These elves decided to come to this town to sicken some people just for fun as they are quite evil. They will move on to other towns once this town gets boring.

If the PCs defeat the elves or cause them to flee, the lord will keep his word and take the PCs to his vault below the manor. There is a powerful vault door which the ord opens and within the vault are piles of gold coins, gems and jewlery. There are many works of art as well. The lord will give the PCs boxes and huge sacks with which to load the treasure. The Lord will go upstairs and let the PCs count their loot.

As the PCs count their loot, the vault door will slam shut and the vault will grow unnaturally dark. A nosferatu vampire will seep into the vault from a small hole in the wall of the vault. He will try to sneak up from behind the PCs and attack using his great stealth and strength. This vampire is Vawn, an ancient vampire who controls this town. He has Lord Telon under complete control and he is very hungry. Most of the people in the town that he usually feeds upon have somewhat poisonous blood and the taste does not appeal to him. He will gladly slake his thirst with the fresh blood of the PCs. Vawn is also very selfish and has no wish to give his treasure to anyone. If combat goes against Vawn, he will seep to another location and command the armed men and Lord Telon to use crossbows to shoot the PCs as they come up the stairs. Vawn will stay hidden unless the armed men can weaken the PCs enough to give him a chance to kill them. Vawn is patient and a coward, he has little wish to die as he will be able to aquire more treasure later if the PCs take what is in the vault.