Spirit Chaser

Spirit Chaser is a long hunting spear, eight feet in length. The spear's shaft is made of ashwood, bleached to a pale white color. A fine checkerboard pattern has been etched into the wood's surface, providing a sure grip. Some dark material (blood perhaps) has leached into the grooves of this pattern, creating an irregular hatchmark pattern along the shaft. The spear's head is a narrow, leaf-shaped point made from a silvery metal. Several bands of the same metal affix this point to the shaft. Three large white feathers hang from the point end of the shaft, connected by wire-thin black cord to the base of the blade. The weapon is well balanced for throwing, and stout enough to be used in melee. If examined for magical properties Great enhancement, alteration and divination magic can be detected. A Great test of divination magic will reveal the item's properties:

• Spirit Chaser has a Great bonus to melee and thrown accuracy, and a Good bonus to damage.
• Winged Strike - When this power is invoked Spirit Chaser can be thrown at any target within a quarter-mile, striking with unerring accuracy for double normal damage, then returning to the wielder's hand. The target must be visible when the spear is thrown. This power can be invoked thrice per day.
• Spirit Seeking - The weapon can be attuned to a specific target by exposing it to a personal item owned by the target (clothing, a favorite object) for one day. Once attuned Spirit Chaser's owner can determine the direction and approximate distance to the attuned target by closing their eyes and concentrating for one round with the spear in hand. This power can be invoked at will. Only one target can be attuned at a time.
• An attuned target takes double damage from any attacks carried out using Spirit Chaser.
• Once per day Spirit Chaser can strip an attuned target of any covering illusion or concealing magic, revealing their true nature. The target must be within 100 yards of the wielder when this power is invoked.

Grim Monday: Random Jungle Stuff

I spent the morning picking blueberries (Mmmmm blueberries), so I'm not in much of a Grim Monday mood today. Here's a list of random events I wrote up for a jungle trip in an old campaign instead:

• Snake bite – One party member will be bitten by a snake as they move through the jungle. The snake will be: 1-4 non-poisonous, 5-6 Average poison, 7-8 Good poison
• Insect Swarm – Group stumbles into a swarm of fierce biting flies. Each member takes Poor damage each round while in the swarm. Running will escape the swarm in 1d8 rounds. Animals will be driven mad by the bites and stings. Each person stung has a 10% chance of being stricken with a disease.
• Antelope herd – Group of 2d12 antelope. Party can hunt for food.
• Predator – Encounter with large predator. 1 Tiger, 2 Jaguar, 3 Leopard, 4 Serpent, 5 Crocodile, 6 Carnivorous Apes. Most carnivores will avoid party, but will fight if cornered/pursued.
• Large enraged herbivore – The party has surprised a large herbivore that will attack blindly. 1 Elephant (1-3) 2 Water buffalo (1-6) 3 Great Ape (3-12) 4 Hippo (2-8). Creatures attack until destroyed.
• Ape troupe – The party will be pursued by a group of tree dwelling moneys/apes (10-40) who will throw sticks and branches at the group, scream and generally make the party miserable. Clever parties can probably scare them off. The apes will follow the party for 2d8 hours. Party will always be surprised if being followed.
• Quicksand – Someone has stumbled into quicksand. They will sink in 2d4 rounds (-2 rounds if in metal armor). Must have help to be pulled free.
• Deep stream crossing – The party must carefully work any pack animals across the stream and swim themselves. Any animal panics on a roll of 1 on a D6. Uncontrolled animals lose one carried item per round uncontrolled.
• Dense vines and creepers – The party must hack a way through. Double the party’s normal chance of surprise.
• Large bog – The party encounters a large boggy area. They will take 2d4 hours to travel through it. Each hour of travel there is a 50% chance someone will fall into quicksand.
• Heavy downpour – Party is drenched by rain. Can refill all water skins if desired. There is a 10% chance per person that a random item will be water damaged.
• Deep chasm – A deep crevice crosses the party’s path, impassable to pack animals. It is 60% likely the lair of a predator that will be very aggressive if the party enters. A detour will take 1d4 hours.
• Cliff – A stone face that is impassable to pack animals. Detour will take 1d4 hours. The cliff can be climbed by characters (Climb walls +30%)
• Snare/Deadfall Trap – 1-3 light snare, 4-5 medium snare, 6 heavy snare. Trap will catch a party member. Light snares do no damage, medium snares do 1d3 damage, heavy snares do 1d8 damage.
• Pit Trap – A party member will stumble into a pit trap. Take 1d4 damage from the fall. There is a 30% chance of a large enraged herbivore in the trap, 20% chance of a predator.
• Tribal Marker – The party encounters a tribal marker appropriate to the area.
• Trail – The party discovers a trail paralleling the nearest watercourse. The trail will be 2d4 miles long before petering out.
• Corpse – The party discovers a corpse that is 1-3 animal 4-5 human 6-7 unidentifiable 8 Yuan-ti. The corpse will be picked over and bare.
• Ruin/foundation – The party finds a wood or stone ruin. A search might turn up some remnants of tools or gear. 30% of the found ruins will be dragon statues (Yuan-ti).
• Campsite – The party finds a recently used tribal campsite. Remains of a fire, markings from sleeping pallets and food scraps are evident. 1-4 human, 5 Orc, 6 Yuan-ti.
  

Gloomwall

Gloomwall is a tower shield of black iron, fitted with three columns of twelve small silver bosses. An abstract pattern of swirling clouds is visible on the shield's face, while the back of the shield is painted gray. The edges of the shield are wrapped in silver wire. The heavy arm straps are fashioned from black leather trimmed with silver wire. Gloomwall radiates Superb protective, weather and enchantment magic. A Great test of divination magic will reveal its attributes:

• Gloomwall provides the bearer with a Great defensive bonus versus melee attack and an Epic defensive bonus versus missile weapons.
• When carried into battle, the bearer and all allies within a 100' radius are surrounded by an obscuring black mist shot through with silvery flickers of light. Any foe facing those so enchanted suffers an Good morale penalty.
• Thrice per day the bearer can summon a vast cloud of obscuring mist, 100 yards in diameter, effectively hiding anyone within from mundane sight. Anyone entering the mist with hostile intent has a Great chance of losing their direction and becoming lost. The bearer's allies are unaffected by the mist.
• Once per day the bearer can cause Gloomwall to darken the skies in a 1 mile radius. Low black clouds roar in from all directions, forming a rapidly swirling wall overhead in three rounds. This wall obscures the sun and blocks all mundane vision. Once the wall is in place the bearer can call down a vortex of swirling winds upon a chosen target within the covered area doing Great damage to all within a 10' radius. This power lasts 12 rounds once established, and a new vortex can be summoned each round.

Molder's Clay

This substance can be created from the dust that remains when Clay of Perfection dries out and crumbles to dust. It appears as a grayish, malleable solid with a slick, greasy surface. Much like its source, Molder's Clay radiates alteration magic, though its potency is only Great. Unlike Clay of Perfection, Molder's Clay does not dry out and requires no special handling to use. Creating this substance is a Superb test of artifice, and requires a quantity of dried out Clay of Perfection, a tiny amount of Lagra, and mundane clay.

Molder's Clay can be used to create temporary objects. Any non-animate object can be shaped from the clay, and when a command word is spoken the object assumes the characteristics of the modeled object. The quality and duration of the object created depends upon the creator's artistic skill. An Average or Fair artist will create a mundane object with normal characteristics. Good or Great artistry will produce an enhanced item, and so forth. A shaped object lasts one to six hours, again depending on the artist's skill. When an object expires it reverts to Molder's Clay and can be used to shape a new object. If an object shaped from the clay is destroyed, the clay used to shape it is destroyed as well.

Thorn

Thorn is a stabbing dagger shaped from a single massive thorn from some gigantic bramble. The broad base of the original thorn has been cut down to form a needle-sharp, slightly curved blade, a flared oval guard inscribed with a pattern of vines and flowers, and a slim textured hilt. If Thorn is tested for magical properties it radiates Great combat magic and Good necromantic magic. A Great test of divination magic will reveal its powers:

• Thorn's blade is a sharp as a fine steel needle and almost unbreakable. It has a Great accuracy bonus, and easily finds its way past the toughest armor (ignoring armor bonuses).
• The wounds inflicted by Thorn bleed for Average damage each round until treated or cured.
• Entangling Strike - Any successful melee attack made by Thorn while this power is active causes strong, thorn-covered brambles to spring from the wound, completely enveloping the target in one round. These brambles cause Average damage each round and affect the target with a Good penalty on all actions for the duration. Flame applied to the original wound causes the brambles to wither and die. This power can be invoked thrice per day and lasts six rounds. Created brambles last six rounds.
• Wall of Thorns - Once per day the wielder can inscribe a line upon the ground, causing a wall of dense brambles, ten feet high and wide, to spring forth. The wall can be up to 60 feet long and in any arrangement the wielder desired. Inscribing the line takes one round per 20 feet of length.