The burly, onyx-scaled lizardfolk took a deep breath of the hot, gritty air, his crimson crest and frills extending as he savored the sensation as one would a fine tobacco. The boom of a volcano erupting in the distance added another dimension to the simple pleasure. Gnav smiled as he exhaled.
He didn’t need to look behind him to know that his charges were averting their gazes and shifting their feet. The sudden, sweet inflection of their scents was as good as them telling their Cinderscale guide that they were uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because of him. How could he pause to enjoy a place that was the spitting image of the hells portrayed in the holy books of so many faiths?
The three men wouldn’t say anything, though. They were laborers from the town of Osmen Slough, a once-prosperous mining settlement that was now steadily buckling from senescence and stagnation ever since the ore dried up. Age had already etched its first lines on the men’s faces, put bags under their eyes and shortened their breaths. They had left Osmen Slough in search of better prospects before they were no longer able to.
And right now, Gnav of the Razor Skulls was the key to those better prospects. He continued on the rough defile that cut between two jagged mountains, and he didn’t look back. The crunch of boots on gravel told him that his charges were keeping up. The jaunty pattern of their steps told him that they were desperately eager to be done with the journey. Eager to see whether all of the talk about Ironfire was fire or merely smoke.
Since slaying the red dragon Arvothaxx, most of Gnav’s jobs had consisted of escorting travelers to and from the City of Steel. The travelers felt protected, if not at ease, in the presence of a dragonslayer. That suited Gnav just fine. It meant quiet journeys with few questions and plenty of time to enjoy the ambiance, especially on this journey.
Gnav and his charges had already been on the road for two days, and they would be on the road for at least three more. The Razor Skull had had to cross through the heart of the Dragonsbreath Mountains to meet the laborers, of whom he had received word from a relative of theirs living in Ironfire. Even for a seasoned native like Gnav, the journey had not been easy, and he took petty pleasure in the fact that they would have to go back through the heart of the mountains. Home sweet home to him. Volatile hellscape to them.
The laborers’ breathing was getting ragged, and the day was barely half over, but Gnav didn’t slow down. He knew that he was doing them and Ironfire a service. If they couldn’t handle the heat, rock and smoke now, they would never make it in the city. And Gnav knew just the place to test his charges’ tolerance for heat, rock, and smoke…
The laborers shared a drink from a shriveled waterskin. Gnav quickened his pace. Lava rumbled off in the distance.
About an hour later, the defile yielded to a towering volcano. Gnav and his charges were like insects before it. The rumbling lava had grown louder, too. The laborers gasped with nervous awe and sweat sweetened their scent. Gnav smiled, a gesture that was partly mischievous and partly predatory.
“Rest soon,” the Razor Skull rasped.
The laborers gulped and nodded. Gnav knew that they were trying to convince themselves that this, whatever this was, was still better than Osmen Slough. For their sake, Gnav hoped that they were successful.
He led his charges around the volcano, and as they passed into its lee, the laborers’ eyes widened as a lake of lava came into view. In loose crescents radiating from the banks of the bright lake stood clusters of buildings of black rock with scaly, red roofs, roads winding between them. A foreboding cavern loomed at the back of the town, due south from where Gnav and his charges stood. The Cinderscale paused to take another deep breath, savoring it more than the last now that the air was more heat than grit.
“Are we there?” one of the laborers dared to ask. “Have we reached Ironfire?”
Gnav chuckled, a throaty, entirely inhuman noise. “No.” He looked back at his charges. They were standing closer together and gripping their hiking staves tightly. Their faces, clothes and hands were smudged with dirt. “This is Desire’s Fall,” Gnav said, “We will rest here and restock our rations before continuing on to Fireheart. After that, we will go to Thousand Step Gorge, and then we will be at Ironfire.”
One of the laborers frowned. “Why so many stops? Wouldn’t it be better to go through the mountains as quickly as possible?”
“These mountains are dangerous. We must meet them on their terms,” Gnav replied matter-of-factly. “That means that when they offer us one of the treasures they hold, we graciously accept.”
“So why is it called Desire’s Fall, then?” another of the laborers asked.
Gnav smiled. “You’ll have to follow me if you want to find out…”
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Defeated enemies have pockets, and What Has He Got in His Pockets? 100 Items for Cyberpunk Businessfolk has 100 items that could be found in the pockets, or other location, of a cyberpunk business type. They range from junk through odd to having use.
Mages and wizards can perform magical experiments and 100 Magical Experiments to Find (5E) has 100 such for labs and towers. They range from the odd to the dangerous. This is a conversion of the original supplement to 5th Edition.
Characters may come across rumours when asking around and 100 Hooks and Rumours for the Impossible Lands V has 100 such for them to hear. They can be used as adventure hooks, misinformation or background colour.
Map – City 4 is a hand drawn map of a city at 300dpi resolution in eight versions that can be used for personal and commercial use.
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The Halloween Sale is now live on itch.io and all of our paid supplements have 40% off. Alternatively, all the supplements can be bought in a bundle with 50% off. Click here to see them.
In this video, a grot tank for use with Warhammer 40K is made from primarily cardboard. As the turret rotates, it could also be used as a tonk for Tonks.
The Strange is a game published by Monte Cook Games. It is, at least in part, set in the normal world, but there are other worlds out there, in the Strange. This list has ten rumours for that setting, similar to the various different adventure hooks in the books, and these can be used as adventure hooks or simple misinformation.
Every month the Schule der Archäologie loses one or two research acolytes to various things, such as curses, leaking spells and psychic residue. It’s rumoured that, despite the definite dangers of the things the Schule is dealing with, some of the acolyte losses are those sacrificed by the curators to further their goals.
Reichsführer Himmler, leader of the SS, is known to have no loyalties to anyone but the Führer. However, it’s rumoured that not even this loyalty is genuine, and that Himmler’s only real loyalty is to himself; his apparent loyalty to the Führer is simply because the existence of the latter means that Himmler has a figurehead to hide behind.
Rittmeister “Dakota” Hanssen is the man charged with discovering the secrets of the Holy Grail, and he is one of those who ascended; no longer needing sleep meant he was able to accelerate his research on the Grail and some other artefacts, and it’s rumoured that the Rittmeister has since made more discoveries, some of which he has neglected to inform anyone else about.
The Armor of Karna supposedly protects the wearer from both mundane and supernatural attacks, and this has proven the case for those wearing the armour; however, when one by an officer of the Reich, said officer perishes. It’s said that the duration before they die increases with each sacrifice, and it’s rumoured that the Schule der Archäologie is looking for a specific something to sacrifice to the armour.
The library of the Eleventh Reich’s Schule der Archäologie stores many different books, including many on subjects that, by the strict terms of the Reich, would be banned and should have been burned. It’s said that some of the more fanatical still seek to get these forbidden books destroyed.
The Reich’s Schule der Archäologie is reputed to have many mythological objects stored there, although some believe these numbers to be exaggerated. It’s rumoured, though, that the Schule has some relics that are not listed in any of their catalogues; though there are very few of these, they are said to be very dangerous, and dangerous to the Reich itself.
The SS is known to have captured at least two recursors, and there are rumours that a special group within it has been set up by Reichsführer Himmler, one whose main purpose is to track all such recursors, with the aim of capturing them and stripping them of any useful items.
There are a large number of zombies housed by the Schule der Archäologie, thanks to experiments with the Holy Grail, and there are rumours about these zombies, ranging from them being deliberately made from the Schule’s enemies, to them being an army the Schule is building, to there having been a number of incidents where the zombies escaped and attacked anyone they encountered.
Those of the Reich who touch the Spear of Longinus are turned into a burning pillar of flame, and it’s rumoured that the Schule der Archäologie has been collecting the charred remains of these officers, perhaps with the belief that they may have properties all of their own.
Waffen-SS soldiers are the largest part of the SS and its armed soldiers, serving as both military and police units in the Reich. It’s rumoured that some of the Waffen-SS are soldiers who are never seen without face-covering gas masks, and that these masks are not to protect the wearers from gas but to hide the fact that’s what’s beneath them isn’t human.
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Solar systems have their own features and 100 Solar System Features has 100 such for making a system stand out from others, ranging from the odd to the dangerous.
The lizardfolk of Sundara can be found in the Dragonsbreath Mountains and beyond. 100 Lizardfolk of Sundara has 100 such named and described.
Characters can gain information from a variety of sources and 100 Hooks and Rumours for the Crucible III has 100 things for them to hear. These can be used as background colour or as potential adventure hooks.
Filler Art – Fruit Door is a piece of hand drawn black and white stock art. It comes in two versions, one png, one tiff. The image can be used for personal and commercial uses.
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