Duchy of Saint Albus: 20 Rumors

Inspired by Jeff's Gameblog, below are rumors circulating the Duchy. 

Fair warning: Some of these may be true.

Roll a d20 or pick one: 

1) Duke Gruber Bant's family has traded their eldest children to devils for generations. It is the origin of their lands, title, and wealth.

2) There is a treant in the Forest of Kurn named Wand who has mentored the druids that serve Shorwald County (which includes the Duchy).

3) Luvelda Mor, Mayor of Spartanville, has slain two dragons.  

4) Willy Dung was the brightest student of magic the Hexenschule had seen in over a century. Unfortunately, a single night in the dreaded Scholomanse on Lake Thane left him mute and prone to seizures.

5) The Green Wraith that haunts the Wraithwood was Duke Gruber Bant's older brother, Evard. Gruber murdered him so he could become Duke.

6) Morkin's Comet will bring doom when it arrives on the Summer Solstice.

7) Naomi Volstang hates wizards because her twin brother, Nester, died while attending the Hexenschule.

8) The Green Wraith that haunts the Wraithwood is an elf druid who has turned her back on Obad-Hai and now frolics with the Black Goat during the full moon. 

9) Duke Gruber Bant has taken Tsarina Tetlaunna IX of Yurik as a lover.

10) A werewolf prowls the moors east of the Hexenschule. It has claimed seven victims in the last three years.

11) Golden Hall is a staging ground for azers to invade the Duchy.

12) The wood elves of the Forest of Kurn have taken to eating humans.

13) Rangers stationed at Fort Buckler say it is haunted.

14) A teenage girl in the village of Oakhurst was kidnapped from her bed two nights ago.

15) Old Scratch, an ancient wyvern, is nesting in the ruins on Parliament Hill.

16) Clerics at Glyph Abbey have begun charging more for their services because they have lost favor with Ioune.

17) Katarina Malifaux, a member of the Crimson Steel adventuring band, purchased the Lummock family farm to spy on Duke Bant for her older sister, Belladonna, who is the Jarl of Jarlsburg.

18) Grimm, a prize pig raised by Neville Breck of Brighten, is said to be fluent in seven languages and has taken over running the Breck farm. 

19) The ground has been trembling to the west of Golden Hall, close to Blunder's Pit.

20) The Brotherhood of Bones and Teeth has returned to St. Albus after 50 years. Fishermen say to stay away from caves on the shore of Lake Thane.

Monster Monday: Jade Giants for Shadowdark

JADE GIANTS for Shadowdark

You can download a PDF here.

According to Abu Engg, Marquis of Byth and First Librarian of Thu Q’en, the jade giants arrived from beyond the stars about four months after the mantisfolk landed aboard the Envoy. Zek’tune, the Sorcerer of the Pinnacle, made first contact with them and gifted them the Iron Forest. For well over a century they kept to themselves and were mostly forgotten until the sky started following along the edges of their homeland. Fire and smoke rose like a devouring monster and within a month the Iron Forest and the Pinnacle were no more and in their place huge, silk yurts dotted the region and every man, woman, and child within the jade giant's ranks began to prepare for war.

AC 14 (chain), HP 29, ATK 2 longswords +4 (2d6), MV double near, S +4, D +1, C +2, I +1, 

W +0, Ch +0, AL C, LV 6

Fury. If they take damage they have ADV on their next attack roll with melee weapons.

Spell Resistance. Hostile spells targeting them are DC 15 to cast.

Monster Monday: Icemen for Shadowdark

Icemen for Shadowdark

You can download a PDF here.

Loki is a cold and unforgiving deity who sends forth long nights, blasting winds, and a cold that can seep into one's soul as easily as their bones. Ever vigilant, Loki listens for the cries of the dying and offers them an alternative to a lonely death. Those who accept his whispered offering find their very skin hardening into transparent ice that no longer feels the wind or the cold as they follow his clarion call to join him in his realm. Once there, they wait to be unleashed upon his enemies.

AC 15, HP 6, ATK 1 spear (close/near) +1 (1d6),
MV near, S +1, D +0, C +1, I +0, W +1, Ch -2, 

AL C, LV 1

Hopeless. Immune to morale checks. 

Impervious. Cold immune.

Invulnerable. Immune to critical hits with weapons.

Monster Monday: Void Shaman for Shadowdark

VOID SHAMAN for Shadowdark

You can download a PDF here

Chod’Xoth, the Unending Night, the End of All, the Nightmare Primeval, recruits their servants from those suffering from lifelong night terrors, slowly but surely alienating them from any loved ones they may have and shattering their sanity night after night after night. A Void Shaman is a pitiful creature, their mind and body warped and their corruption total and complete. The only thing left to them is loyalty to the monster that hollowed them out.

AC 14, HP 22, ATK 1 spell +4 or 1 whip +1 (1d4), MV near, S +0, D +0, C +0, I +1, W +4, Ch +2, AL C, LV 5

Blind/Deafen (WIS Spell). DC 12. Near creature has DIS on appropriate sense for 5 rounds.

Command (WIS Spell). DC 13. Issues a verbal command to a Far creature they must obey for 3 rounds. If it harms the creature, they may make a DC 12 charisma check to end the spell.

Ghostwalk. 1/day, turns incorporeal for 3 rounds.

Holy Weapon (WIS Spell). DC 11. Target weapon becomes magic gains +1 to attack and damage rolls for 5 rounds.

Smite (WIS Spell). DC 12. Near creature takes 1d6 damage.

Spiderwalk. Crawls on walls and shear surfaces.

Wraithsight. Hidden and invisible creatures can be seen.

Monster Monday: Death Knight for Shadowdark

Art by James Shields 

http://jeshields.com/wp/

Death Knight for Shadowdark

You download the PDF here.

Ardrik Arn, the King in Shadow, slaughtered the Knights of the Silver Star as they defended Empress Marvana of Urik outside of Red Moon Keep. The moment the last of them fell Arn’s sorcery spirited away their remains while ordering his army to retreat. Unbeknownst to all the King had unearthed the Kakodex, a supremely evil tome translated by Ogdu of Vol-Tak a thousand years ago. The King in Shadow used one of its spells to resurrect all fourteen Knights into his Heeku’Drom—his Death Knights.

AC 18, HP 44, ATK 3 long sword +6 (1d10), MV near, S +4, D +2, C +3, I +1, W +2, Ch 0+1, AL C, LV 9 

Deathbringer. Critical hits deal triple damage.

Death’s Mantle. 1/day, immune to a spell.

Invisibility. 1/day, invisible for 3 rounds.

Fearless. Immune to morale checks.

Greater Undead. Has advantage on charisma checks to be turned.

Pillar Of Salt. 1/day, near target of LV 5 or less becomes statue of salt for 3 rounds.

Smite (WIS spell). DC 12. Far target takes 1d6 damage.

Shadowstep. 1/day, teleport double near.

Weapon Properties for Shadowdark is On Sale Now!

A few weeks ago, Jeff Kraykovic brought up the idea of importing 5.24's Weapon Mastery into Shadowdark in the Facebook group and this is what I worked up. It uses luck tokens to power properties a weapon has for a special affect in combat. Additionally, I have optional rules to use them in Pulp Mode.

You can purchase it exclusively here (it is an affiliate link).

A to Z of the Polyverse: A is for And then there was light! (A to Z Blog Challenge 2025)

This is the A to Z of the Polyverse.

What is it? Glad you asked.

The Polyverse is what I call the setting of the various DnD campaigns I have run stretching back to the early 90s starting with ADnD 2E's Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. It was the first module I ever ran and my first time running ADnD 2E. I made a ton of mistakes. A. Frickin. Ton.

I had read the Avatar Trilogy and stupidly had Lolth tempt a player who wholeheartedly tried to kill the rest of the party. As they chased him out of Eveningstar he set fire to some grasslands to cover his tracks.

Those actions created a group of Elven terrorists who are plotting to take back their homeland known as the Kinn'A'Nacht.

From there a high level Wizard named Dunwich began recruiting for a secret society known as the Circle of Fire with the ultimate goal being to kill the Gods and replace them with him and his fellow members.

Then I didn't run much DnD for a long time. 

However, when 5E came out I started making up for all of that lost time. The Polyverse saw the murder of Tiamat and the ascension of Ashardalon as the God of Chromatic Dragons. 

Then Saint Cuthbert was trapped in the Demiplane of Dread known as Ravenloft.  The last group who tried to rescue him wiped each other out when one of the PCs found the Hand of Vecna.

The City-State of Jarlsburg and Duchy of Saint Cuthbert/Saint Albus both became major areas for my games. 

In my most recent game the city of Greenway and its Hexenschule came into focus and a plot by the Elves to murder Lolth and replace her with her brother Vulkoor was revealed. And Dunwich and his secret society began to set things into motion in the open by recruiting the PCs...it just took me over 30 years to get there.

Things are very much afoot.