RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fortune's Delight
This stall is smaller and more plain than other stalls, with only a single sign over the door that bears its name in the language of the reader. The inside of the stall holds only two large cushions for sitting, both of them are very colorful and bear designs that appear to tell a story of some sort.
The owner of the stall is Draxillia, a small woman who is covered head to toe in colorful cloth and whose large ears and nose are the only parts left uncovered. Her eyes are difficult to see behind a veil she wears, and her long, pointed ears bear many, many piercings.
Draxillia tells fortunes through any and every means possible. She tends to tell the fortunes through the way her customer is expecting the most. This could mean that she uses Harrow cards, tea leaves, knuckle bones, the stars, a person's palm, animal intestines, or (if she is meeting with trolls) her own intestines.
Her fortunes and prices vary. If all is needed is something simple like item identification, she takes trade in useful or somewhat valuable items like jewelry, extra potions, or a trade good. If the person asks her to tell her vastly important information, like how they are going to die or who their true love is, she takes something important from her client, like hair, blood, a coveted item, or even their good fortune in a part of their life. If she takes good fortune, the character will have to roll twice and take the worst result for something like a save, a skill check, or type of attack roll for a determined time period or number of rolls. Something vastly important, like the location of a very powerful artifact, might have them sapped of fortune in their most used roll indefinitely.
Draxillia is one of the rare people in the Witchmarket who worship someone other than the Eldest, though she does well to hide that fact. She is the Witchmarket's leader of a cult of Sivanah, and as a result some of her fortunes have been used to please her goddess and use her customers to help complete Sivanah's mysterious goals.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Moon Brothers
This show is only done at night in a small area just on the edge of the market. The area has been hung with black curtains to keep the light of the surrounding stalls from interfering with the show.
The Moon Brothers, Lac and Grak, are both vaguely humanoid with dark skin, but it is difficult to know exactly what they look like because of the darkness they stay in during the show. What is clear is that they are about five feet tall and have slightly longer than normal limbs.
Their show consists of playing with the moon. They may keep it in the sky and have shadows dance across it as they tell a story, or they may pull it from its place and juggle it with stars they grab along with it. Sometimes they play ball games with it, rolling or tossing it around. The whole show is done with a humorous tone, with a mix of banter and slapstick as the brother compete, tease, and harm each other with moon.
The show isn't free, and the brother expect that those watching it will put high quality food, alchemical items, potions, or other similar gear in a large basket as they leave the show. If someone doesn't, they find the moon light to be a bit against them for a time afterwards.
The brother's show can be used to seed plot hooks, give needed information, and just provide entertainment.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Reminds me of the Midnight Market.
Oh my science. This is an amazing thread.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Aggys, The Crone in the Cart
(At least in my game and until Paizo releases more on her.)
Aggys is the oldest and most powerful resident of the market. She is also the leader of the market, and as such she personally handles major disputes and issues that come up within its borders. She is able to look into the future, and often calls people into her cart to solve disputes that haven't happened yet.
Aggys is a Small sized, hunched over woman of impossible age. Her ears, nose, eyes, and hands are larger than a typical human, and her face and arms are wrinkled beyond typical old age. She enjoys wearing clothing of what at first appears to have floral patterns, but upon closer inspection is actually made of flowers, leaves, and grassy meadows on sunny days.
Aggys lives within a odd gypsy cart that on the outside seems too small to live in but on the inside is an impressive home. The bright colors of the cart are matched by the fine carpentry in the designs that decorate the inside and outside of the cart. Lifelike carvings of animals and beasts dance around the outside of the cart, while paintings of the same move about on the ceiling of the interior. Aggys is never seen outside of the cart, but she is happy to stand at the door or any of the windows to call out to passersby and chat for a while. It isn't known why she is never seen out of the cart, but it doesn't stop her from directing it to move about the market.
Aggys has the ability to look into the future, and besides using that ability to run the market she makes her living by offering customers exactly what they are going to need most. A young lover, for example may come to her about meeting his loves family and she will offer him a long lost heirloom to return so he can gain great favor. Or a warrior will come about a battle he about to face and she will give him a trinket that will keep him and his men safe from a necromatic power.
Her prices are steep, and often dangerous. The lover will have to give up his ability to produce children or the love his own family has for him. The soldier will have to have to give up his honor and glory, or the very king he is fighting for. She is fair in that she makes it clear what the payment is, and for that she probably one of the least trickiest people to deal with in the market, but she also offers prices that the impulsive, desperate, and dim-witted accept with little thought.
Aggys is very much like a grandmother. She is friendly, stern, good humored, and cares for everyone within the market. She is a bit odd at times, as she isn't always clear on if she is experiencing the past, present, or future. She will offer to feed or help people who seem lost, so long as they help her by cleaning up or running errands, but doesn't stand for those who try to stay for more than a night or two.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
On Prices
It is important to keep in mind certain attributes of the fey when pricing items. They are very much alien in comparison to us, and they cannot be expected to keep the same morals and values that we have. This is mostly because of where they come from, as the First World does not follow the same natural laws or orders. In deed, it is because of the wild nature of the First World that many of the prices seem reasonable to the fey merchants.
First and foremost, for the fey of the First World death is not permanent nor feared. When a fey dies in the first world it reforms elsewhere in that plane and starts life all over again. In time they have the same memories from the previous life, and in many cases they are able to pick up right where they left off before. Their bodies may also reform as they were before, but some areas, conditions, and powers may cause there to be changes. Some of them are very subtle while others can turn a reforming fey into a completely different creature. This all means that death is not the worst thing that can happen to a fey, and in fact some fey rulers use it as a type of punishment quite often. Besides, it is only a minor setback to the deceased.
This lack of death being permanent also means that most of the fey merchants of the Witchmarket do not understand that residents of the Material plane die permanently. To them, the fear that mankind has concerning death is humorous, trivial, and even odd.
A lack of death isn't the only major difference between the two planes. The First World does not follow the same laws of nature, and is even shifting and changing in various ways. While we joke that love is the secret ingredient of a well prepared meal, love can literally be an ingredient in the First World. Such concepts as love, hate, justice, mercy, apathy, annoyance, and courage can become physical in the First World. In fact, the intangible is often made tangible there. There are many uses for them as well, and the wealthiest fey are the ones who have the largest collections of items impossible in our world.
For example, a collection of bottled sunlight, each bottle from a different event or day, could be considered a great treasure. The laughs of a child in a bag or a box full of spider whispers are also real and possible in the First World. Coin currency doesn't exist in the same sense either, there may be those that collect coin and bank notes but even they don't consider them a type of currency in that world. In fact, if they already have a gold piece from a certain region they won't take another and certainly won't accept a bag of them as trade for an item or service. However, if you have that one ancient coin from an age long past that they missed out on adding to their collection they may trade you nearly anything for it.
Additionally, because physical nature of the First World is odd it is possible to have things like trees that have puppy dog tails for leaves, or roses made of maiden's lips. Nothing is truly permanent in the First World so these oddities don't often last and some fey make a living hunting down and harvesting them. They then become part of the plane's currency, and are traded around until someone finds a use for them or they end up in a personal collection. The puppy tails may end up in a tea, for example, while the lips are used to enchant an item.
Lastly, services are not uncommonly traded there as well, though not the type of services that we would expect nor with the terms that could be considered reasonable here. For example, standing on your head just to see if your face really will turn blue if you do it for too long or watching a pot so it won't boil while they run out to grab an ingredient they need before it does. They may be silly and trivial to us, but these are serious things to them.
All this together means that the payments requested for Witchmarket items are not purposefully meant to be harmful, silly, trivial, obscure, or odd. To those fey merchants they are very reasonable and it is the buyer who refuses who is being unreasonable. They often are asking for things that are either rare and sought after in the First World too, believing that their wares are valuable enough in the Material plane for them to ask those prices. They are not purposefully trying to harm, curse, or bring ruin to mortals because they know just as much as about us as we do of them. They gave away a portion of their ability to love for a meal last week, expecting that it will regrow or return in time. They don't understand that mortals are not like them, that we could die, that we could easily regain lost limbs, or that our world is fixed and immutable in comparison to theirs.
This is all worth understanding when playing out the Witchmarket. Very few of the residents really understand the nature of mortals and naively believe that our world shares some of the same traits as theirs. They rarely leave the market to visit, and because they visit places all over the world, and are ageless beings that have lived for hundreds or thousands of years, they have experienced many civilizations and peoples. A few may even not understand that two civilizations from two different times are not the same people and believe that mortals can change just like they do.
dot
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Price: Your most cherished hobby (everytime you start to do it, something will interrupt you)
This thread deserves more dotting!
Such great stuff...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
OK, first, wow this thread is full of win! Excellent work to Caleb in particular for starting this but also everyone who contributed there's lots of good ideas here.
Drabsolem's silk emporium
This stall is shaped like a home sized apple and its means of transport is hardly apparent. The doors are like those of a saloon and a trickle of sweet smelling smoke trickles out.
Within you'll find an enormous (24 ft long) silk worm with a human head and torso, indulging in a hookah. His rear end is in another room entirely and he seems to be able to move about the room just fine. Throughout the room are fantastic capes, shirts, hats, and all manner of clothing some quite distinctly not intended for humanoids.
The proprietor Drabsolem will not trade anything ready made, each item on display is a special order. He is happy to take a special order from visitors but they will to collect special ingredients fro him to consume based on the effect they want the clothing to have. He can eat anything including metal magic items. The magic passes thru his system and can be reshaped into any number of items.
If a PC sneaks off to look behind the privacy curtain a creature that resembles a spider but with 12 limbs 2 of which end in human hands quickly weaves the strands of silk sometimes adding some of her own. The spider like being is presumably female because she wears a white knit cap and is entirely pink.
Generally he charges by having PCs harvest materials from dangerous plants (to use as materiel for his special silks or smoke.) If offered a particularly nice apple he tends to be friendlier and charge more reasonable rates.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Jareth Handy: Tinkerer and fixer of broken things
Standing tall as a human with a slight greenish cast to his skin, sharp teeth, a huge nose and large pointy ears and redish eyes is Jareth Handy. Sharp observers notice a painting of a gnomish woman and a goblin man in a romantic pose (DC18 perception.) He's dressed in a dashing manner and has a fast and ready smile (read high charisma.) His stall is a tent with an enormous amount of space within where all manner of tools are carefully arranged on various work tables while in contrast other areas are rather largish piles of junk.
His hands never stop moving and working to fix various things even if he appears to be engaged in conversation with a customer. Perhaps more disturbing are his assistants which are various crawling hands.
There's also a sign that guarantees he can repair any item magical or mundane or his life is forfeit. Of course there's no guarantee on time. His favorite prices are interesting items that need repair as well as of course hands. They do need to be severed freshly (within 24hrs) but he otherwise doesn't care where they come from. Though sometimes he will be willing to bargain more cheaply if the PCs are willing to collect on a delinquent payment.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Idlewild orchestra
In the band you find the following musicians:
-A Large blue ogre with four arms and a top hat is playing a cello like a violin with one pair of arms and a strange glass instrument that to modern eyes would appear to be a saxophone but makes sounds like a wood wind instrument.
-A purple Monkey is singing with the voice of a opera soprano as it paces with its hat for collections.
-A centaur playing a harpsichord attached to a chariot which he clearly hitches and pulls himself.
-A Brownie playing the saw
The music these 4 make is like that of an otherworldly orchestra, but the sound is sometimes too much for mortal minds to bear. Roll 1D20 on this table to determine effect.
1-5 Confused condition
6-10 Dazed condition
11-15 Entranced condition
16-20 Heroism effect will linger for 24hrs
A second monkey will sometimes pick pockets though what is stolen is jsut as often a ball of lint or some other useless item.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Maeva's cauldron Baths
Here's where Fey creatures do things like bath in the blood of innocence lost or the tears of an unfortunate child or the laughter of a madman. PCs feeling adventurous can order off the menu but beware that such baths can leave traces (fun way to do this use the point system for creating advanced races and add 2-3 point trait.)
Prices vary, Meave's favorite cost is to borrow a spell (lose a spell slot for 1D4 months for wizards spell know for sorcs.)
HEre's a place to borrow ideas or lyrics.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ok these prices are a little rude...
-Your Name: you sign away your name, immediately on leaving the market no one recognizes you anymore. Your identity still exists (in fact some jackass NPC has it he bought it for something else) but your friends no longert recognize you for you they think he is you.
-Your Resolve: Take a -3 on will saves, remove curse doesn't do anything
-Your Voice for 1 day (hint this will be used later to lure your friends into a trap)
-Your Teeth- eating is now more difficult until you get wooden teeth, oh and those teeth are part of you for spell focus purposes.
i love first world stuff and thanks to all who contributed this is an awesome display of creativity. i look forward to seeing how my players interact with some of these npc's.
Dot.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Beautiful thread. Would be right at home alongside Kobold Press' Courts of the Shadowfey or as a location in KPs Dark Roads and Golden Hells.
Two Prices:
Truth Character can never tell the truth. Must always obfuscate, dissemble, color or outright lie in response to any question. Makes for fantastic RP fun.
Laugh Saw this once in a foreign/non-English TV series set in modern times where a boy trades his ability to laugh for the ability to have everything he says will happen come true. He soon realised that a) not being able to laugh is not very funny, and b) the one thing he couldn't make true was getting the deal reversed.
One Sale:
Munificent Pockets Again, inspired by a foreign/non-English TV series set in modern times in which a boy finds magical pants (I think they were corduroy) that always had money in the pockets. Only problem was, the money had to come from somewhere - local banks were losing their money mysteriously and traced it to the boys sudden splash of larhesse and filthy lucre.
- Riffing on this idea further, perhaps one vendor sells very recently stolen goods - the enraged victims see their items dangling from the PCs hands/pockets/packs...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just want to say, you guys are amazing,and I want to thank you all!
I've been thinking about these things, and I have linked some to oracle's curses or spells or something similar. What helpen me greatly was combining all your work, and putting it in a GDoc.
Now, let me share it with you. It's not much to look at, but it's a whole lot easier to print out and work with :)
You can find the Google Document right here!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You are very welcome, Caleb. It's the least I can do, after I have stolen so much from you ;)
When I have to time I'll try to sift through them some more, and sort them out some more. For now I'm content, and I can't wait to use this for either the Witchmarket, or "The Puck" as Orthos proposed.
It provides many hooks, and I love it!
this deserves a bump
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nice work rickmeister! Well done everybody - let's see more prices, more sales, more locations/stalls/traders and NPCs!!
There must be a fey/eldritch protection racket trying to muscle in???
NPCs: A triumvirate of dark, archaic spiky armored women wearing featureless half-helms known as the Doomcoiners occasionally manifest in the Witchmarket, always accompanied by three large equally spiked headless sub-automatons named Spikes armed with large falchions; these wheezing, steaming behemoths are held on adamantine chains - docilely following their mistress' direction.
Strangely most stallholders aren't particularly scared of these organized-crime mavens - as if some prior arrangement has been entered into or the threats made are somehow empty. Rumors persist: the Doomcoiners are shae magi; that they take prices instead of protection monies; have their own sales; or the Doomcoiners OR the Spikes are themselves victims of an ancient misconstrued price...
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hmm... Not sure a mob style protection racket is something I would have in my game's Witchmarket. Too many of the stall owners would be too dangerous or well armed to make that viable. Certainly Aggys wouldn't put up with it, and she isn't someone to mess with.
But nothing says you can't have that in your game.
Bumper and Thumper
These two brothers are thin, angry looking men whose tattoos make them look green and the bushy, deep purple beards make them appear larger then they really are. They only stand about two feet tall, but they have the strength of giants, the speed of gazelles, and enough fight in them for a whole army. They speak in an odd way, mixing Sylvan, Common, and a couple unknown languages with heavy accents and a good dose of slang they seem to make up as they go.
The brothers are not often seen outside of the drinking establishments, where they are given free drinks and food. This is payment to the brothers by the whole market to act as bouncers and protectors. All any of the merchants of the market have to do is whistle a tune and the brothers show up quickly, ready for a fight.
To date, no one has bested them in combat. They don't kill though, just rough up and toss out. They also have a good memory, and if they see or smell someone they previously threw out they immediately show up and beat up the trespasser, strip them of everything they have on them, and toss them out a second time naked. Several tricksters have tried all manner of methods to sneak past them and as of yet nothing has worked.
Their services can be bought by outsiders if they can be found and paid. Generally, it is meals and alcohol they want. If someone doesn't want to purchase food at the market for them, which in this case would be very expensive, they can agree to let the brothers stop by their homes for meals. The brothers never say how many visits will pay them, and they are terrible and sometimes expensive guests to have.
There must be a fey/eldritch protection racket trying to muscle in???
NPCs: A triumvirate of dark, archaic spiky armored women wearing featureless half-helms known as the Doomcoiners occasionally manifest in the Witchmarket, always accompanied by three large equally spiked headless sub-automatons named Spikes armed with large falchions; these wheezing, steaming behemoths are held on adamantine chains - docilely following their mistress' direction.
Strangely most stallholders aren't particularly scared of these organized-crime mavens - as if some prior arrangement has been entered into or the threats made are somehow empty. Rumors persist: the Doomcoiners are shae magi; that they take prices instead of protection monies; have their own sales; or the Doomcoiners OR the Spikes are themselves victims of an ancient misconstrued price...
[Emphasis mine] There you go Caleb, that might make the concept slighlty more palatable - regardless I was extremely pleased by the visual I created AND the rumors surrounding the Doomcoiners. Each to their own...for your various considerations, if we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended... ;p
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
Sorry. I didn't mean say that I didn't like your Doomcoiners, only that I couldn't really see a protection racket in the market. I actually like them.
Everyone who has contributed to this thread has done great work, and it has been very fun to see what everyone comes up with.
No worries Caleb - I agree not everything here will work for everybody, but the ideas presented in the thread are legion and awesome...
I see the Doomcoiners more as a threat/interaction point to/for outsiders (i.e. PC's) - they could even be thralls or underlings of Aggys, though the upstart/maverick angle also intrigues me...
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Anyone with computer cartography skills want to touch this up?
Map by me. Feel free to use it guys. Once it is touched up and properly labeled I will be starting to do posts on some of those bigger, more interesting tents you see there.
The big long one with eight paths leading to it is a large drinking and dancing hall.
The one that looks like a three leaf clover is something of a stage/circus/freak show.
The small one in the middle of the large clearing with trees is a dreaded Gazebo.
Anyone spot Aggys' cart?
I am slowly working away on a short adventure that takes place in the Witchmarket that I plan on inserting into Kingmaker. Once I have most of it finished I will post links to it here.
Love love love the map! And I spotted her cart. :)
If you don't mind sending me a higher quality file/scan I'd be happy to at least colorize it for you.
My email:
camlo.alban@gmail.com
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
(If not already mentioned in the thread) Also the market scene from Hellboy II The Golden Army...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Caleb, if you PM me your e-mail I can make sure you can edit the google file, might be easy.
I love it already, I'm just waiting for the correct level to put my characters into it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh this requires a dot. And a lot of further consideration.
I will say one thing though, I plan on keeping this info away from one of my friends. The things he would do to his players with it would be terrifying... we're talking about a guy who managed to run a body horror game so well that one of his players actually started to freak out and had to take a break. From memory, I think that particular session was based on The Binding of Isaac.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Caleb, if you PM me your e-mail I can make sure you can edit the google file, might be easy.
I love it already, I'm just waiting for the correct level to put my characters into it.
** spoiler omitted **
Sounds Awesome, I'll do that. I may not have time to work on that for a bit, but it would be helpful.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've put together a player-friendly document for my own use that others might find useful. It has some campaign-specific parts (such as the symbol on Aggys' cart), but it should be fairly useful for a number of people. I've taken out most of the "secrets" about each stall and presented them all for player consumption. Additionally, a colored map is included with tags for locations.
Enjoy!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Is there a stall selling not yet written books, or books featuring your childhood imaginary heroes? I'd pay anything for such a text. ^^
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey! That is amazing Whirling Dervish!
I haven't admitably worked on this too much in the last couple of months because we decided to go with the Rushlight tournament and put off another Witchmarket adventure until later in the Kingmaker game. But, I have a couple things I could add to your document. I'll try to post them tomorrow.
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Is there a stall selling not yet written books, or books featuring your childhood imaginary heroes? I'd pay anything for such a text. ^^
Sure is!
Words Unwritten
This tent appears from a distance to be an upside down book, its pages spread open to shelter the small stall under it. It can be decerned up close that that the tent is made of regular material but created to look like a book. The name of the store and its owner are on one side of the tent in a gold design, much like how a title may be on the front of a book and therefore both are sideways and at an awkward angle to read.
Paruss, a short and roundish woman with glasses larger than her head but which magnify her eyes to that they take up the entirety of each lens, owns the store. She often is seen reading through very well worn books, which she hides away in one of her many pockets when dealing with a customer. She specifically sells very pristine first editions, first printings of books that have not yet been written. They range in a large variety of genres, length, and language, but all of them are fiction. She sells them for you life story, which could mean sitting down and telling it to her (she has the time,) or, for particularly rare and important books that could mean that no one but her is allowed to write it down or say it (and thus you are to live in obscurity.)
Heroes Real and Imaginary
This rather dull book stall has no tent and is ran by one of the most dull and melancholy men you will ever meet. He is of average height for a human, but is hunched over in a depressed slouch, has horrible acne, a huge nose, and a distracting overbite. He wears a bow tie, but not a shirt that works well with one. When asked his name he claims no one likes it and that it isn't exciting, and only with insistence does he admit that it is Fred.
He sells books of fiction filled with wild adventures where the main character is the reader's childhood imaginary friend or hero. The stories are wildly entertaining and fun to read, and Fred claims to have written them himself but believes they aren't any good. He asks for new adventure ideas in exchange for a book, and is pretty certain he couldn't have come up with anything better. If a lady with exposed legs is at his stall his nose bleeds and he gives away a book without any payment.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ok, Fred and Paruss - I'll take everything with hot sauce! And make it double! ^^
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dot
Just found this today and my reign of winter game is tonight...I think the PCs are in for a suprise on the way to whitethrone. I think at least one of them is going to bargin away all of his shoe strings and possiably all of his hair.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Glad you like it, Caleb!
I changed a few shop names here and there to suit my campaign, and added in some shopkeeps, but it should be a good framework for anyone wishing to adapt it. In my campaign (also Kingmaker), it appeared near the Ghost Stone after the party completed a ritual there (planar boundaries wearing thin and all that).
|
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
“It is odd that so much area would be left open by the market, with sylvan trees and wild overgrowth choking out any attempt to reach the middle. There is a large clear path around perimeter of the the clearing, where store fronts, tents, and stalls are not nearly as frequent and numerous as other areas of the market.”
The area is a small glade of trees, each of which is different from the next in type, species, and appearance. There are cherry trees next to big redwoods and gnarly oak trees. The undergrowth is just as odd, with all manner of shrubs, grass, and plants growing up and around the trees in a thick tangle. Some of the plants are far out of context, like several varieties of cacti growing next to wet swamp reeds.
Because everything grows so thickly the undergrowth blocks vision past ten feet and gives total concealment to everything beyond that. The area of undergrowth is considered difficult terrain. What is worse is that dangerous plants grow hidden next to benign ones. Anytime a character moves more than 10 feet they take 1d4 points of damage and must succeed on a DC 18 Fortitude save or become sickened.
Creatures
The normal plants are accompanied by many plant creatures, but they are often kept complacent and do not attempt to leave the glade. There is a 25% chance of running into one.
The most formidable foe is the Dreaded Gazebo, which rests in the center of the glade within a clearing twenty feet in diameter. It appears to be a normal, white washed gazebo of fine craftsmanship, resting upon the top of a small hill. It is patient and only attacks when someone walks into its center. At that point, it comes alive and reveals itself for what it truly is: a giant mimic.
The Dreaded Gazebo CR 13
XP 25600
Advanced Mimic
N Huge Aberration (shapechanger)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +28
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 21, touch 9, flat-footed 20 (+1 Dex, -2 size, +12 natural)
hp 253 (7d8+150)
Fort +15, Ref +8, Will +13
Immune acid
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 10 ft.
Melee Constrict (Advanced Mimic) +25 (4d6+24/x2) and
. . Slam (Advanced Mimic) +26 (3d6+24/x2)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
--------------------
TACTICS
--------------------
Before Combat The gazebo uses its Mimic Object special ability to appear to be a normal gazebo. It takes a DC 50 Perception check to recongize it as a mimic.
During Combat The Dreaded Gazebo waits until someone is standing inside of it to attack. At that point, it uses a slam attack and its Adhesive ability in a surprise round. It continues to constrict and use its slam attacks on one target until that target is dead and then moves on to another.
Morale When the Dreaded Gazebo reaches 100 hp or below it flees into the surrounding trees and turns into one so that it can hide from the attackers. If pursued and further attacked, it defends itself until dead.
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 42, Dex 12, Con 30, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 14
Base Atk +11; CMB +29; CMD 40 (can't be Tripped)
Feats Ability Focus (Adhesive), Improved Constriction, Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes (1/day), Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack -3/+6, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (Slam)
Skills Acrobatics +1 (-7 jump), Climb +26, Disguise +20 (+40 to imitate an object), Fly -3, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +13, Knowledge (nature) +17, Perception +28, Spellcraft +20, Stealth +11
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ adhesive (dc 35), mimic object
Other Gear You have no money!
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Adhesive (DC 35) (Ex) A mimic exudes a thick slime that acts as a powerful adhesive, holding fast any creatures or items that touch it. An adhesive-covered mimic automatically grapples any creature it hits with its slam attack. Opponents so grappled cannot get free while
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Immunity to Acid You are immune to acid damage.
Improved Constriction The creature's constriction attack is deadlier than normal.
Improved Lightning Reflexes (1/day) Can re-roll a Ref save, but must take the second result.
Mimic Object (Ex) A mimic can assume the general shape of any Medium object, such as a massive chest, a stout bed, or a door. The creature cannot substantially alter its size, though. A mimic's body is hard and has a rough texture, no matter what appearance it might p
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Hero Lab® and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.
Treasure
The Dreaded Gazebo is used to hide all manner of treasure in a stone vault underneath it. There is a special command only a few of the Witchmarket fey know that has the Dreaded Gazebo move away from it. The vault is further warded by magic that makes its small stone door weigh over a ton unless a rope made from the laughs of children is used to move it. Without the rope it takes a DC 40 Strength check to move the stone. With it, it only takes a DC 15 Strength check.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hello everyone! I found this thread recently and got inspired to work up a more realized map of the Witchmarket. It's still a work in progress, but you can see what I'm doing over at the Cartographer's Guild HERE.
neat stuff
My party got a serious kick when I ran this for them. Was a total blast!
Dotting this so hard. If I ever come up with something to contribute, I'll be sure to do so!
I like everything about this thread. I'm at work now but when I have a free moment I'm going to try and contribute. I run a fey-themed homebrew and this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I wanted. I ended up putting in the Junkmanglers - a bunch of humanoids and fey and such that take junk and turn it into treasures for a price.
If I take that and jam it together with the Witchmarket I think I might be able to come up with something cool hopefully. Thanks everyone for your contributions in this thread so far.
dotting