Sigils

An idea to incorporate into the game:

There are three types of Sigils each for the express purpose of summoning, binding or banishing. The sigil is used to activate a filactarion containing soul components of its creator. There exists a handbook for creating the sigils. In effect this could form the skeleton of a "rod of many parts" quest: find the secret name, find the filactarion, find the sigil making handbook, make the sigil and summon the ancient queen.

[the more I think about it the more vanilla this feels. Open to suggestions.]

Ghost of an Oamni Woman

In life Pempith was a bonded worker to the Aiolarch clan. Her brutal death was at the hands of the dwarven invaders and of the few words intelligible from her ancient dialect are "pjolifi", dwarf, and "mithna-nok" have mercy. She can be seen fishing for a lost amulet in the river every night. If her amulet is returned to her she attains rest (it is baled up in one of Migimulli's pellets). If she sees Yoik the dwarf she will begin to shriek "pjolifi" extremely loudly. If she has the opportunity she will attempt to posses him. Her withering touch attack is considerably too powerful to put against the party so I intend to drop the to-hit to +3 and the necrotic damage to 3d6, the horrifying visage will remain the same and the possession recharge as well (except I want to up the chance of the possession to 5-6).

The seahorse in section 174 is the amulet  in question. Also the rabbit in 176 is magical ... Tbd how.

Crane Butterbuck's Dream

 Behold, in my dream I saw a wild stag with eight legs, and I had never seen a stag it's equal for ugliness.  His long and ill favoured antlers wound about looking as brittle as winter twigs. And lo, upon his back sat my son, pale and sickly, almost blue.  But upon his head a circlet of gold and around his neck a golden medallion. He was the Winter King and in his hand, the fire nut. A seven pointed star rose behind him and as it did the stag crumpled beneath him. As the stag went down my son levitated in the air for a moment, and as he alighted I began to awake my heart perplexed.

Luminous Adversaries

Having spent most of my writing time on this year's Santicore submission I return to my regularly scheduled game session prep ... After this one last riff on the pudding golem.

An excerpt from Magnapentral Slitter's memoirs: Tales with no morals
A Tale of my days with the mercenary troop Karnë Eloā, not the most halcyon days of my sojourn. We used to fight at night, using it to our advantage being used to the darkness and this tactic had always given us the edge we needed in a tight situation. Not so this time. 

We were marching under the order from some Yaswan bureaucrat to apprehend the Magus Bethmethmah the perspicuous. Approaching the glazed and spandrelized manse from the valley we had intended to surround it, and under the cover of darkness take the sole resident with minimal effort. Before we had ascended a scant quarter-march a murmur rippled across our ranks at what we saw up on the manse-ridge. I was not the only one who, at this point, began to ponder why an entire battalion of marshal rapscallions were tasked with the apprehension of a single dodderel hill-man. Had his aetherial facility been severely under reported? For we saw what one might describe as luminous scare crows bobbing against the night sky between us and the hillcrest where our quarry abode. Tall and glowing faintly their strange gait simultaneously jilted and smooth (as a stilt walker on St Bogə's day) they were closing the gap between us. Then somebody said, "my spear's all dry!" which is one of those things we say when there's too much thinking on the march, and we accelerated toward combat. But we never got to wet our spears. As we loped toward the vile things an odour of mildew and lye increased until many of our number heaved with sick as they ran forward. Then, when we were close enough that the glow of the aberrations lit the faces of our fronters, suddenly, a puffing sound, and, smarting of the eyes, retching, hot pain in the temples, some went down whimpering there. Others, no longer able to discern friend from foe their minds touched deeply by the foul vapours, began to hew at their comrades. When I awoke I was among a dozen living wounded and two score corpses. Since that day, whenever the southwind blows hot, I smell lye and tiny claws seem to be pulling my eyes deeper into my skull until I can taste my own blood and I must soak my throbbing head. Bethmethmah, that old serpent, is rumored to have fled south surviving the purge through his ingenious manipulations.

the polearm pellet

 

Amongst Migimúlli's pellets toward the back of the burrow is one completely compromised of polearm heads. They are all very old looking and rusted beyond use. Except for one, number forty in the image, which is still shiny and new looking. There is a pictogram of a fish embossed in the ferrule. If put upon a haft this becomes the blessed bident carried by the priests of Ula in ancient times. For stats see page 209 in the dmg. It has d3 daily charges of the spell dominate beast (phb 235) applying strictly to piscenes. It is also a +1 weapon applying to both to-hit and damage.

NPC: Melga the myconist

Appearance: young human female, in pretty rough condition, what's left of a quincunx of white mud clings to her face, a black rope is tied round her waist thrice  as a belt and a charm against ghosts. Dressed in the common buckskin breaches of a Torenwœli traveler, her loose linen tunic torn and bloodied.

Background: you know Melga to be a wagoneer whose circuit runs from the north woods to Kōlmo's lumber camp via the shepherds' outposts of the foothills. Her parents are recently deceased and  perhaps were moonberry gatherers.

Behaviour: she keeps mumbling some sort of saying "black streaks on grey, stay away, grey streaks on black, don't look back". As soon as she is able she starts rummaging about for her satchel which is in one of the pellets. Once feeling better she is insistent upon making the party a pot of soup.

Puddings

The words of Magister Fenlaus Klissthistle have come down to us through the aeons in the form of his encyclopedic opus, “a Taxonomy of the Salubrious”. My aim here is to elucidate certain tidbits of the work which may be of use to a student of herbalism and poisonry. An oft neglected section, hidden in the appendix designated as “ill-advised tinctures and pseudomagery”, deals with the practical uses of the various predatory spore based life-forms included in the genus gelata bituminis known as “puddings” in the vernacular. My intent is to summarize and outline the following topics from Klissthistle's research:

Varieties of Gelata Bituminis

Method of gathering and processing the Gelata Bituminis

Uses of the Gelata Bituminis

Risks of their use

Migimúlli

From time to time in the forest people report finding large elongated humanoid footprints. Not often, and often not reliable sources there are few that pay it much heed. This has not prevented the common proliferation of certain legends of Migimúlli....

Appearance: large of body but always hunched over its skin is thick and rough the colour of sun bleached boulders with pale green and red lichens spreading across its back. Tiny red eyes are eager and observant but betray little understanding. The face grotesque with a dominant beak-like nose and wet black lips.

Temperament: shy but curious it has no concept of it's own strength. Long razor sharp claws are used to inspect and dissect whatever grabs its attention. Migimúlli has roughly the intelligence of a raven and therefore no language.

Pellets: Migimúlli lives to weave the dissected bits of its collection into compact pellets, each about the size of a fifty gallon drum, which it stashes in its lair. When Migimúlli has filled one lair it conceals it and moves on to a new burrow. Some example of things comprising the pellets: human hair, strips of linen, hickory wands, snail shells, dwarven remains, antlers, baby teeth, a roll on the random item table in the phb page 160, a roll on treasure tables from the dmg pages 134, 135, 144, 145, a roll on the tools list in the phb page 154, a rusty weapon (glaive, war pick, trident, morningstar), fish bones, the sacred whip of the Milkweed clan,

Smell: the heavy rich tang of a wet dog 

Yoik's Expidition Dossier

Helmet styles from the era of the fish eaters war found in Bérnx' tome of armaments. The helm of silver beard will be in one of these styles the suspicion is probably the central one.

Map of antique Onua found by Yoik amongst the ephemera of the archives. (Watercolours by yours truly)

Excerpt from "Brother Adlada's Misspent Youth", a pedantic travelogue: having lost  our hirelings to a pack of deranged cat people and a stew with the unwise ingredient of red sallow we arrived at a wall of herbage. We had not the inclination to follow where the river plunged into what seemed like a tunnel of writhing vines, thorns and bramble. Also large evil looking fish deterred us from rafting upstream. Therefore we payed homage to our ancestors who had died in the sack of Onua and to Silverbeard's memory at the riverbank before we turned our faces west again. But less than a day had past when the twins had a change of heart and returned to follow the river. That was the last ever seen of them, many times I have felt regretful that I did not despise my life and follow them.

Excerpt from "Pólept's Picaresque": After the flight from the Gnome lord's minions we plunged into the dark woods to the west. Tragically my paramour Alb fell between the mat of roots and disappeared into an apparent void below. Not until I had completed playing a dirge upon peasant-reed flute did I finally hear the rapport of his landing in what must have been a subterranean water source. I spent the next fortnight bargaining with the forest demon Ufikanuguinnan for his soul but to no avail.

Excerpt from "Pilgrims' Skin, The annotated guide to the war of religion": ... A certain shrine was allowed to remain for almost 100 years, in the inhospitable forest of Turnwul. This was not a physical temple but a site that one could access if one paid a certain forest witch to be a guide. She could take you along hidden trails through the forest that sees no light and lower you through a hole in the greenery in a bucket on a rope. She would lower the pilgrim down 100 feet and by the light of the torches dropped down the outline of a city could be seen 100 feet lower. The devout would forge their prayers into silver ingots and toss them from the suspend bucket as an obeisance to those who were exalted in death. This practice ceased when a zealous inquisitor from the conclave slew the witch.

The Lodge of Registered Swordsmiths

During the reign of Bónu the God-King, in the second generation of the first Aeon by dwarven reckoning, it was forbidden that smiths should make swords except those who were registered within the imperial guild. This was for the uncomplicated reason that it reinforced central authority and fostered morale amongst those officials ranked high enough to be allowed to bare a sword. Over time the prestige of being a registered Swordsmith caused certain jewellers and ironworkers who never intended to forge arms to seek registration with the guild. Eventually, after noble families began buying their way into the guild, the badge of a Swordsmith meant less about one's ability to craft a blade and more about social rank. By the third aeon the lodge of registered Swordsmiths is an initiatory system with 180 ranks and four houses. The rites all refer back to the trade and the symbology all speaks of smithing with the use of a heavily layered jargon accrued over 3000 years. 

The meeting halls of the lodge, spread across the land, are known for their abstruse architecture and vivid frescoes.

Also each hall contains nesting chambers layed out for rituals reenacting chapters of the society's mythology: the high prototype is stolen from Mozji, Bónu grants the cornerstone of the grand lodge, the forging of the blade of perfect knowledge, Queen θekil learns how to cut both ways, and of course the cautionary tale of the unregistered blade's failings. The ritual reenacting of these scenes, often graphic, is also the core of the initiation process.

Event dice breakdown

Day
People- afflicted acquaintance, smugglers, foolhardy travelers to find dead later on, deceased fellow adventurers,
Animals- wolves, bears, serpents, cockatrice, all potentially afflicted,
Environmental- muskeg (group challenge), fog (navigator wis check), poison berries/mushrooms (forager survival check, group con save vs poison), crossing the river (group challenge),
Night
Animals- winter wolf, blœtorm, spiders,
Spirits- ghost lights (mm wil-o-the-whisps), nightmares (dc 13 wis save or don't regain hp or spells), Tomntoi,
Nothing- everyone heals and spells are renewed.

Inspiration: Invisible Cities

invisible cities by Italo Calvino has some great fodder for inspiration especially in fantastical city building. A gift from my good friend Cat, she suggested it might give me some DMing ideas.  Indeed, there would be any number of big ideas to populate a campaign. The only trick about it is that it's almost poetry and therefore would need a little transitioning to be usable. An excerpt:

From there, after six days and seven nights, you arrive at Zobeide, the white city, well exposed to the moon, with streets wound about themselves as in a skein. They tell this tale of its foundation: men of various nations had an identical dream. They saw a woman running at night through an unknown city; she was seen from behind, with long hair, and she was naked. They dreamed of pursuing her. As they twisted and turned, each of them lost her. After the dream, they set out in search of that city; they never found it, but they found one another; they decided to build a city like the one in the dream. In laying out the streets, each followed the course of his pursuit; at the spot where they had lost the fugitive's trail, they arranged spaces and walls differently from the dream, so she would be unable to escape again. 

This was the city of Zobeide, where they settled, waiting for that scene to be repeated one night. None of them, asleep or awake, ever saw the woman again. The city's streets were streets where they went to work every day, with no link any more to the dreamed chase. Which, for that matter, had long been forgotten. 

New men arrived from other lands, having had a dream like theirs, and in the city of Zobeide, they recognized something from the streets of the dream, and they changed the positions of arcades and stairways to resemble more closely the path of the pursued woman and so, at the spot where she had vanished, there would remain no avenue of escape. 

The first to arrive could not understand what drew these people to Zobeide, this ugly city, this trap. 

NPC: Crane Butterbuck

Bullfinch's father is a bog-iron and bitumen harvester from the south-eastern part of the forest. Long hard days of hauling, smelting, refining and peddling the products of the muskeg have taken their toll on this man. 

What did he find in the bog?

What will he do for those who rescued his son?

What did he dream about last night?

Apīlaus the Golden

The stuff of legends, some histories have Apīlaus as a powermad monarch of a decadent society, others paint him as the victim of tragic events, a sensitive soul acquainted with magic. Amongst the forest dwellers there are ancient tales of this the last ruler of the Oamnoi. A mysterious figure, he was said by some to have the power to change into a golden sturgeon, when the moon was darkened, to go and cavort with the river Goddess. In these tales he is portrayed as a benevolent priest-king. The dwarves, on the other hand, have no fondness for Apīlaus in their stories from what they call the fish eaters war. From their perspective he was a tyrant whom they were morally obligated to depose. The fact that they slaughtered most of his subjects in the process strangely doesn't seem to bother them much. What all the stories can agree on is that at the last minute Apīlaus disapeared along with golden splendors of the θenga, the dynastic hoard of the aeon. One story posits that when the king saw that the city of Onua was lost he dumped the hoard into the dark waters of the Shulla and with sorcery turned the gold into fishes. Another legend has him taking the guise of a salt merchant and smuggling the gold off to the north where he would found the nomadic Dzalarat. It is an interesting fact that unlike many famous figures from the history of the Torenwœl Forest, Apīlaus's ghost is not venerated with a summer feast because there was never a sufficient evidence of his death.

Traveling 1.2

I've been thinking that the survival check of increasing difficulty for traveling in the forest might be replaced with a slightly more complex procedure. What I'm thinking would be a combination of random event rolls inter-relating with division of labour tasks. So, there would be three tasks navigation, foraging, and scouting each with it's own DC of increasing difficulty as one goes deeper into the forest. The navigation check would allow travel to continue in the direction desired and if failed would send the players to a random adjacent hex (just roll a d6 for the direction). The foraging check would be required to avoid taking a level of exhaustion (goodberry spell might be able to fudge this one). The scouting check would allow the party to not be surprised by whatever comes up on the event die. 

Event die once in the day and once each night a d6 is rolled. Day: 1, humanoid interaction, 2,3,4, animal interaction, 5,6, wilderness challenge. Night: 1,2, beasts, 3,4, spirits, 5,6, nothing.

Noble family's mausoleum

In life the Aiolarch family were well respected landowners in their time, and their indentured tenants erected a memorial in their honour. This memorial consists of a pool for reflection, The earthly remains of eight adults, funerary "foods", and an attendant for the journey.

The antechamber with the pool contains a mural depicting scenes from the lives of the deceased, despite being extremely faded one can identify agrarian tableau. A close inspection will reveal crude dwarven graffiti written in block runic. Off in a corner a dwarven skeleton lies in a heap, his cause of death apparent upon inspection. With the body lie a greataxe and a haversack of tiny green and red gems and an iron dirk. Everything is coated in a thick layer of dust. On the left is the outline of a door in the stone wall but no apparent latch or keyhole. Though an opening where a wooden door once hung a smaller chamber containing alcoves for clay urns stands off to the right. in this room, at the far end, there is a brass chalice full of ash sitting on a basalt slab. On the wall behind the chalice, a faded fresco of leaping flames. Though the niches are obviously meant to house clay urns most of them are knocked over or broken. On the floor is a pile of silver figurines of fish engraved with a lightning bolt symbol. upon closer observation the fine dust covering them also contains shards of charred bone.

Lizardfolk hunting triad tactics

Šlxhikštw red-egg, wields the ubiquitous "swamp razor".

The basic working unit of the lizard folk is that of the Triad. So tasks are broken up into a three-way division of labor whether that be hunting, gathering, or work about the community. For example, a hunting Triad would have one lizardfolk to scare up to the quarry one to stalk and track, and a third to dispatch it. 

So how does this factor into party dynamics through game mechanics? it is understood that one lizardfolk is with the main party while his or her two companions are sneakily following along just out of sight in the brush. Should an encounter ensue The two hidden lizardfolk will join the fray but not immediately. How fast they will be able to join the combat relies on their dexterity, a dex mod of 1 waits 1d8 rounds to join, a dex mod of 2 waits 1d6, and 3 waits d4. To compensate for their late position in the initiative they will have an opportunity to enter combat stealthily [a stealth check versus best enemy passive perception].  If successfully stealthy, the wingmen may have their first attack at advantage and may add an extra d6 damage dice to their attack.

This is intended for when all the lizardfolk are controlled by one player otherwise having to potentially wait 8 rounds before joining combat would be a real buzzkill.

The wind readers

Torenœli lore has three types of divination: stag dreams, wind reading and egg shells. The most interesting of these would be the wind readers. It is not often that a person is recognized as having the innate ability to understand the voices of the four winds. But certain people seem to be able to discern unique characters in the wind. For example, it is understood that the prevailing West wind which brings the storms in from the coast is a spirit trying to woo the river goddess for the ocean king. It is also generally known that the soft southers coming off the blood-plains carries the faint echoes of departed ancestors. Though it rarely happens low-pressure systems coming from the mountains seem to reverberate grand mysteries and extra planer chatter. While the winds coming down from the Thorn valleys are said to carry more mundane secular and political rumors on its wings. So when a person claims to understand the voices carried in the air it is not considered lightly. On average it seems that a wind reader only comes around once in a generation. 

Diety: Glæness barb-tooth

Halfling lord of the vanquished

Once a ghost bound as a slave to magister Ferrule, Glæness barb-tooth is now worshipped covertly by underdog  halflings. His legend has him slowly, over hundreds of years of slavery, filing his teeth with his long rough tongue into barbs. When he finally attacked his owner Glæness could not bite hard enough to kill Ferrule but the barbs kept him firmly latched for a week until the magister was weakened enough by the blood loss to be dispatched.

The halflings that venerate Glæness are very secretive about it, they believe that their rites will strengthen them in the domains of patience, vengeance, cruelty and vindication.

NPC: the worshipful Nanaçī

As a young lizardfolk Nanaçī  was appointed as arbiter of the south swamp after bringing a giant petrified chrysalis back from a venture into the penumbra. After serving a ten year term he passed his hemlock staff onto a younger candidate. His illustrious decade of evenhanded judgment gained him the title worshipful, and in his retirement he maintains a high degree of respect among his tribe. Nanaçī acts as something of a diplomat on behalf of the swamp when he is called upon, as in this situation where he represents the tribe at the fire nut Festival. 

Features: large watery eyes, mottled grey  skin, a breathy erudite manner of speaking, and he carries a piece of the petrified chrysalis around his neck on a chain.

What he knows: the extent of this years bad luck including water levels, predators, and weather.

Monster: chthonic apioids

Much larger than their above ground cousins the chthapi produce their nectar from spores of the söpplungr. At one time they were venerated by the Oamnoi as a psychopomp, and housed in subterranean shrine adjacent to the catacombs north of 'Onua. After the fall of the high river dynasty though they spread unchecked through the ruins of the city.

AC 13

HP 13

Speed flying- 50ft

Bonuses- +3 to dex saves 

Attack +3 attack sting does 2d6 piercing damage and a dc 13 con save vs poison or be paralyzed for 1 day

Special feature the Chthapi die on a successful deployment of their stinger

Extra Wild Animals

When a humanoid creature is subject to the wild touch of the Tomntoi they Become beastial and vacant but when already wild beasts are touched they become aggressive and unpredictable.

mechanically this is reflected in a recharge ability (5-6) similar to a barbarian rage. On a five or six the beast gains advantage on attack rolls and an increased crit range (18-20), and similar to the reckless attack, rolls against them are also at an advantage. Creatures vulnerable to the wild touch within Torenwœl are as follows: winter wolf (mm340), swarm of snakes (mm338), giant spider (mm328), giant badger (mm323), elk (mm322), boar (mm319), brown bear (mm319), constrictor snake (mm320), strong beak (eagle mm324),

Monster: bearded simian

The "clay apes" created over an aeon ago by civic minded mages to serve and protect the interests of the elite of the day. Nowadays they pop up only rarely guarding perhaps an aristocrat's tomb or some crumbled storehouse. Essentially automatons, the bearded simians are supposedly powered by black mercury enabled by crystals in adjacent areas.

Stats
A/C - 13
HP - 3d10+5
Speed - 30 ft, climb 30 ft,
Str +2, Dex +2, Con +2,
Athletics +5, Perception +3
damage resistance - magical attacks
Language - ancient Oamnic
Attack - 2 fist attacks +5 to hit 3d6+2 bludgeoning damage
Recharge 6 - horrifying shriek, wis save 12 or become frightened for one minute.

When killed the bearded simian will leach black mercury a very poisonous substance...

Magic item: the arbiter's signet

This legendary item was said to belong to the arbiters of the Oamnoi as a sign of the office. Term to term it was passed on throughout the years considered a source of insight granting authority to its wearer. A ritual was performed daily over the ring where in it was fed a small spoon of honey so as to make judgment sweet. 

Mechanically, the ring, when attuned, grants the wearer "detect thoughts" (phb 231) once a day provided it has been fed its honey. To attune the ring the intended arbiter must place one of his or her teeth into the chamber of the ring. 

Ūla the river giver

A forgotten goddess of the high River dynasty, Ula may have been an ancient river troll or perhaps a powerful naiad. What little is known of her worship is contained in the linguistic remnants hidden within the names of the two arms of the river which flow out from the umbra of Torenwœl, Sh'ulla, which runs west through Vali to the sea, and Tulla, which goes south terminating in the swamplands of the lizard folk. There are also a handful of short inscriptions that seem to provide a list of possible epithets: the river giver, sister of the west wind, protector of Uama, mother of the sturgeons, guarantor of sacred vows.

NPC: breeder of the east-woods

 

Short enough to be mistaken for a halfling, Yushek is a bit of a recluse. A breeder of guard dogs, his customers must travel through the treacherous penumbra of Torenwœl to do business with him. He has a reputation as a knower of secrets, a healer, and walker of invisible paths. One must be truly desperate to risk the journey to his door but once a year he attends the fire-nut festival with his best stock. Rumour has it that he has a collection of antique books.

Player improvised battle terrain

Often, Especially in the theater of the mind, in combat a player will ask something like, "is there a barrel in the corner for me to hide behind?" And the game master Will say something like, "yes and you receive three quarters cover." In an even better scenario the player might asks, "can I push over the barrel so that the monster slips on the pickle juice?" And the game master will say something like, "Give me a strength check to topple it over, and if anybody moves through the pickle zone they must do a dex check or fall prone." While this is fun and dynamic play often, I imagine, players will be either too shy to ask or too set in their ways to improvise and think outside the box. If there was a simple mechanic or convention to encourage this type of on-the-fly Battlemap generation I think it would be good. For example, maybe directly after rolling initiative one player in the rotation would be encouraged to put something on the map, with whatever limitations or lack thereof the game master desires (maybe the person who's last in initiative order as a consolation prize). Or maybe this could be tied in to the inspiration mechanic as a way to spend your inspiration point from last encounter. At first I considered going around the circle and having each person put one thing on the map but, after a little thought, I wonder if that would bog down the progress of the encounter too much. The main drawback with using a solidified rule that I foresee is having players be intimidated to be ad hoc about things. Not sure how this will play out, just some food for thought.

Idea: reward system

After listening to the most recent design games podcast episode about reward cycles and reward systems I began thinking about applying some thought to houseruling the inspiration mechanic in 5E DND.The inspiration rule is written fairly open and laconic, essentially, "if the DM thinks you did something cool you get advantage on a roll sometime soon." This is a nice little side system that doesn't interfere with the primary reward mechanic in the game, xp/ levelling. Since I don't usually play with xp anyway inspiration might be a convenient way for me to reward specific behaviours at the table. One idea I had was to open up the table briefly before the session to set out narrative themes which if touched will give the players inspiration. For example, somebody says they want to see the theme of "cleverness beating strength" while someone else wants to see "forbidden knowledge leading to complication." The only major difference from conventional inspiration would be that the inspiration would be awarded before rather than after the roll in question. That is, the roll which furthers the story in the direction agreed upon before hand gets a little boost. 

Here are some examples of narrative themes:

"Lose the battle to win the war "

"Poetic justice "

"Sacrifice for the team"

"irony"
"the brink of disaster" 
"super cool mega heros save the day"
"don't trust respectable advisers"

"Trespass social norms to follow your heart "

"Redeem your past actions through selflessness "

Boxed text

After an exhausting day climbing through the mess of roots, vines and convoluted herbage your unlikely collection of adventurers finds something of note. The skeleton of a lizardfolk clutching a large silver bell. Further investigation reveals facts about the bell and the lizardfolk' demise and an adventurers' pack can befound mouldering a ways off. Close by, a clay structure can be found no bigger than an outhouse but obviously made in the immaculate style of the high river dynasty. There is no door but there are three symbols carved into the hard baked clay substrate: 🌗⚡️🔔 

Monster: Blœtorm

A giant slug that latches on and sucks your blood. These slimy black fellas can weigh up to 150 lbs and are remarkably fast for considering that their locomotion is limited to sliding on their own slime (speed 30 ft). Str save 12 to shake it off once it is latched on, 1d4 damage per round it's attached. Though not much of a formidable foe (15) the Blœtorm's purpose in the game is twofold. One, to leave exsanguinated corpses in the forest upping the creep factor. Two, their slime trail could make battlefield layout more interesting: dex save or fall prone when crossing it. The only other thing that I'm not sure I should add is a poison aspect, either a save vs poison when latched on or when contact is made with the slime.

The shape of things

Light green: circle of Torenwœl (travel speed 1d4 hexes per day)

Dark green: penumbra (1 hex per day dc10 survival or take on a level of exhaustion)

Grey: umbra (one hex per day dc15 survival or take on a level of exhaustion)

The fire-nut festival

Throughout the summer there are many festivals and gatherings. These usually follow a full moon and celebrate a successful moon-berry harvest. The fire nut festival on the other hand is held four days before the first full moon of autumn, in anticipation of the harvest of the bright red "fire nuts". In contrast to the other summer festivals this one is celebrated jointly by all the forest denizens together. Each year it is hosted by a different group. The festivities include a nut hunt by the children, feats of strength, speeches by community leaders reflecting on the past year, and a friendship dance expressing goodwill between variant groups. This is when a dwarven delegate makes a symbolic assertion of Delver dominance over the region by announcing any new laws or variant rulings made in Vali. The dwarven  presence at the festival tends to be somewhat aloof and is usually limited to a couple from the lumber camp, a delegate from the city, and a representative from the shrine of Bogomaš. The general feeling that pervades the event is that of a last hurrah of summer before the long isolation of the winter months.

Vows in the forest

A holdover from the elder Oamnoi is the peculiar blood oath practice found among all three main societies in Torenwœl. The vow is made upon the head of a sacrificial creature who's lifespan corresponds to the term of the oath. For example, a betrothal is a one year oath made on the head of a goose. A vengeance vow is a five year term made on either a boar or a hunting dog. Longer vows may have a ten to twenty year terms and have sacrificial beasts of greater prestige such as the golden sturgeon or the splendour stag. 

The sacrificial beasts are allowed to live until the vow is fulfilled when they are slaughtered, a festive meal is eaten of the the meat, and the blood is poured on a witness pillar. When the vow is first made the animal is marked with some item of gold, usually a ring in either the ear or nose, or a collar in the case of birds.

The witness pillars are of unknown age and are found on the banks of the river in a couple locations. It is postulated that vows were originally tied to the river god  but most information about the cult of the river has been lost. There is a clue to this tie in the  name of the piscine predator sagar-jalaipon or the "oath-blood drinker-fish", a fish large enough to have been known to pull under deer who are drinking at the water's edge.

Flavours of the forest

Gooseloaf 

Congealed  goose fat with boiled buckwheat berries and quarted goose eggs suspended in it. It is set in long loaf forms and sliced cold, being served on the mornings and afternoons of the summer festivals in Torenwœl.

Beggar Hats

A pastry made of wild parsnip and nut paste marinated in honey and bergamot. This is considered a festive but not fancy treat.

Ugly babies

Curds and rehydrated poultry wrapped in  a bitter leaf and served in onion gravy. This delicacy is a remnant of leaner times but is still a favourite amongst the elders.

Hunter's weakness

Smoked soft sheeps' cheese. Usually the ball of cheese is rolled in herbs and allowed to form a crust on the outside edges. This is considered a traveling provision.

Copper coins 

This ubiquitous side dish is simply medallions of yellow tapioca root blanched and then seared in animal fat.

Camels' milk

Not actually camels' milk. The cloudy high proof liquor bought from the nomads in the valley north of Torenwœl is infused with the tiny yellow apples that grow wild in the forest. Later the booze soaked apples are drizzled in honey and cultured cream and served as the holy-day dessert, camel stones (a humorous reference to testes).

One year soup

Mushroom caps from various mushrooms are gathered at different seasons throughout the year and combined in a savoury broth. This is often served at anniversaries and is eaten  with reverence and in a reflective mood as one looks back on the year. It is customary for toasts to be made during the soup course at communal events delivered in the drawn out low oratory style. At funerals the soup often has a mild hallucinogen added to it to heighten the grieving rites.

Relic: helm of silverbeard

Aka the liars helm. The dwarves of Vali believe this lost artifact to have given their patriarch invincibility in the fish eaters war but little do they know the true power of this magic item which was tossed aside by silverbeard so many years ago.

NPC: Hailec priestess of Bogomaš

Devotee of the trickster saint, this bearded cleric is also a hobbyist mycolog. As is the custom among Bogošme she always greets travellers with two truths and a lie. A jovial and slightly unpredictable attitude pervades all Bogošme rites and this is the persona expected to be adopted by their priests.

Hailec is a skilled healer, learned scholar (at least in the party line theology of bogomaš), and a gentle soul under her jocularity.

What she knows

Cool stuff about mushrooms I.e. söpplungr and how to identify hallucinogenic ones.

What she wants

A relic for the shrine.

What happens to her

Either wild-touch, lunagrub or exsanguination.

Wild touch victims

When a Tomnt successfully touches a victim at the base of the neck that person or creature is afflicted with the wild mind.

The best way to discover about the wild mind is to meet someone in the throws of it. From the time they are touched until they turn fully feral is 2d6+1 days. First thing to go is the ability to concentrate this is accompanied by vacant stares and  the feeling of having lost ones train of thought this stage also sees grooming habits go out the window. The next manifestation is physical, either hair has started to grow on unusual parts of the body or scales, nails become thick and claw like, this stage is accompanied by a penchant for eating unusually things. At the third stage speech is lost and the ability to make meaningful communication follows close after. This whole process can take between 3 days and 2 weeks. A lucky person has enough time to find a magical healer who has the ability to remove curses. The less lucky person reaches full wildness and condition becomes permanent. Optionally players can make a saving throw to slow down the process: a con save of 12 can double the time the curse will take before fully going into affect.

 

The rangers' tower contains a victim which can serve as an opportunity to freak the PCs out. Alternatively I can make them tell the table about a person they know and then bring that person into the story as a victim of wild mind that they run into wandering aimlessly in the wild.

 

NPC: overseer Kolmo

The logging camp on the western edge of the circle of Torenwœl is run by Kolmo. After years of operating the camp for his brothers Kolmo's city manners have been mostly forgotten. Spurning social niceties he's a rough fellow and fiercely practical. For example, though he is neither a scholar or a cleric he wears his beard short, a practice that would have him  ostracized in the city.

The lumber camp is a penal institution meant to provide a way for debtors to restore their place in society. Ever practical, the delvers would balk at the colossal waste of resources inherent in prisons and the dishonour of working with wood makes a term in the lumber camp a suitable deterrent. 

In a way Kolmo's own post at the lumber camp was originally a punishment but his lack of concern for honour and dishonour has made him thrive in the isolated context that would be hell for most delvers.

Yushek's library (continued)

Reflections on Mummery in the great woods- mummery was a dramatic art form predating the urbanization of Torenwœl. A set of repeating archetypal characters would get into one of approximately a dozen scenarios divided into humorous tableaux and spiritually uplifting moralistic skits. This book provides, in an albeit terse academic tone, the most common narrative tropes of this artform. A few examples of theses tropes include: Child finds parents having sex outdoors (spiritual allegory), Doctor accidentally kills patient (comedy), Traveller takes a wrong turn and saves the day (moralistic fable), Country person outwits city person  (high symbolic drama), sisters work together to outwit a talking animal (comedy), a wiley aristocrat is unsuccessful at securing good marriages for their offspring (tragedy).

Magus in the Hedgerows 

This work is a country witch's recipe book for agrarian spells etcetera. 

Chapter one wards for livestock .

Chapter two how to appease faekind.

Chapter three hexes against landowners.

Chapter four wards for hunters.

Chapter five/six the acquisition and maintenance of humunculi 

Recipes for salubrious tinctures 

With this book one may brew potions such as: barkskin, Cure light wounds, bear's strength, a love potion of dubious efficacy and a paralyzing agent for hunters to put on their arrowheads. In the forest there is a 70% chance of finding all necessary ingredients within four hours. Of note is the need for cockatrice gizzard in the barkskin potion, the egg of a lizardfolk female in the love potion, and the spores of the Söpplungr's less intense cousin the dholungr in the paralyzing agent.

Druidry of the four directions 

Unlike the current prevalent pseudodruidry primal druidry is built with a symbolic language based around the four directions. This manuscript was penned by the erudite Father Lanobuck in the prewar generation. Though it is only a cursory work it is a dense read and provides a basic metaphysical underpinning for Oamnic thought in general. The benefit of reading this tome is unclear as of yet.

Possession: a guide

How to trade your agency for favours from ghosts. This work is written in dwarven and has been mostly defaced. The first readable page is about halfway in and contains nonsensical onomatopoeia written in block runic. If a hapless individual stumbles upon this book and reads this page they will experience the indwelling spirit of baroness Glitzbein, one of the original invaders of the third aeon.

Untoward allegories

A series of peculiar tales meant to illustrate the true nature of creation. (Contains no useful information)

Quoth the riddle-man

A gnomish riddle book

Transmigrations of the Inner Soul 

Mystical mantras meant to stimulate past life regressions. This type of book was popular among the dwarven elite late in the third aeon which was partially responsible for a flare up of ecstatic practice which in turn sparked the first dwarven war of religion. These mantra books were outlawed but are highly sought after among the extremely devout.

Monsters: Söpplungr

These uncanny fungal colonies have the bizarre ability to apparently reanimate corpses. For stats of skeletal fungus slaves use the monster manual entry for myconid spores combined with npc stats in the back of the book for bandits.

The spore slaves must only be employed in furthering the interests of the fungal colony, and these are fairly simple. In order to thrive moisture must be provided to the sovereign, as well as crystalline matter and rotting matter. A healthy colony of söpplungr will support a sovereign "Söpp" which is constantly gassing off clouds of entheogenic spores. At the centre of the Söpp sovereign is the heart of the colony, which is a large stone conglomerated as a byproduct of the gassing off and the crystalline matter. This stone is highly valued and few are extant... But beware, to breath the spores and meet the gods may be more than a mind can handle.

Votive breastplates of the devout

Among the dwarven folk the most devout venerators of the ancestors wear votive breastplates hung around the neck. The respective motifs of these breastplates correspond to which figure the wearer has devoted their worship.

Silverbeard devotees wear a plate made of silver often emblazoned with either a bearded face or a shaggy dog or, rarely, Oak leaves. Poor devotees may not be able to afford a silver plate and must use steel instead, for some this is asource of great embarrassment. It would not be uncommon for one of these poorer practitioners to spend a lot of time polishing their breast plate in order to not bring dishonor to the silverbeard name.

Bogomash's emblem is the dragonfly but any flying insect immediately signals his cultus. Bogomashian breastplates tend to be made of the more "flamboyant" alloys such as brass. Bogomash is known as the resourceful, a quick witted prankster whose tales all conclude in irony or surprise.

Gerdagûli is the matron saint of tinkers and is often esteemed by lower class and worker dwarves.  These breastplates tend to be of the less noble materials tin,  pewter, and aluminum. Any sort of tool depicted on a breastplate indicates Gerdagûli.

Méoythr's followers tend to be solemn and contemplative and their breastplates reflect this made of dull zinc without imagery other than a simple rune or two.

The many followers of the more general cult of the council of ancients wear a golden breastplate shaped as a heavenly body. This cult is favoured by merchants and its adherents are not restricted by genealogy. 

 These five groups encompass a large amount of the devout Valeans. There are other groups but only with very small adherence.

Flavour text for Torenwœl

The circle

The circle is the inhabited part of the forest. It is mostly coniferous long needle pines without much underbrush. The ground  is covered in a thick layer of needles which makes for soft quiet pathways. The tree branches don't start until about ten or fifteen feet off the ground making visibility relatively good. The forest has a dry resinous smell and is often permeated by the swishing sound of branches in the wind. Much of the wildlife is of the burrowing variety, large brown badgers, needle-worms and the like. The outer edge of the forest has the odd preditorial dahrérv (a variety of horned wolf) venturing in from the blood plains, but they rarely hunt prey other than the splendour-elk a beast held sacred by the berry pickers of the northern quadrant. 

The Penumbra 

The penumbra is considered the part of the forest which is safe enough for a capable adult to traverse through during the day but ideally it is avoided to spend the night there. The flora of the penumbra is much thicker with brambles and large leafed ferns. The penumbra contains most of the moon berry groves and the Torenwœli berry harvesters will venture out into it at night but only on the full moon and with great trepidation. The primary fear of the penumbra stems from the difficulty of navigation there combined with the large amount of predators.  Bears and strongbeak swarms wander the penumbra by night and the elusive cockatrice is also known to avail itself of this shady region. Often these beasts become afflicted by the moon beetle larva making them unpredictable and even more dangerous. The lizard folk of the south western quadrant are also known to venture into the penumbra in their hunting triads to harvest eggs orother quarry. And while on friendly terms with the human berry pickers they don't often interact with each other.

The Umbra

People don't venture into the Umbra. This is mostly because the foliage is so thick and the vines so congested that it is not feasible to make passage. Here the ferns of the penumbra grow bigger and taller [some as tall as trees] and their large leaves block out any light from above. Legend has it that there are far worse and more mysterious predators within the Umbra but first-hand accounts are hard to come by.

Creatures of the Penumbra

Within the penumbra there are plenty of unpleasant beasties to discourage travel through its shadowy passages. They are mostly natural beasts but often they have been touched by incursions of the Tomntoi or have eaten Lunagrub larvae and have the rage or the wild-mind. 

Monsters: Tomntoi

When wild land is first broken the spirits of that land which are disturbed in the process must be appeased. These spirits  are called Tomntoi and unless they are acknowledged by the landowner and given small obeisences they cause mishaps and mischief on a scale relative to their power. Often this practice ceases to be necessary when a region adopts a dominant religion and a degree of urbanization. Nevertheless if that structure then falls away the Tomntoi return slowly with increasing power over time. 

Each Tomnt is unique, with varying characteristics and power levels and each with their own name. Stats wise they are similar to the faerie dragon in the 5e mm. This leaves them at about a 2nd level cr with usually one spell slot and a low power attack. They are not evil creatures but definitely mischievous their modus operandi being to rewild further the feral lands.

Another defining characteristic of these creatures is that each one has a secret name which gives a person advantage over them. There may be a list of names somewhere tucked into an old book or under a shelf in a forgotten library which gives the names of some of them. Unfortunately though the list is in an undecipherable script from ancient times, even older than the fisheaters society.

Obeisances: shiny objects, meat, music, the colour red, fast motion, scary faces, milk, salt, bells, fire, alcohol 

The following books contain information about Tomntoi:

Magus in The Hedgerows, contains information about Tomntoi names.

Mummers of the old Woods: contains information about Tomntoi obeisences.

Missives of a Salt merchant: contains information about their spell effects and temperament 

Treatises on the root of two: contains a Rosetta Stone to transliterated the names found in Magus In the Hedgerows

Special attack, wild touch: when the Tomnt touches a creature at the base of the neck they may inflict "wild-mind" upon the creature. To successfully do this there is an opposed check (either strength v. Dex or whatever makes sense) to see if the touch is made and then a con save (cr 18) to see if the victim can resist the attack. If the Tomnt succeeds on its attack the victim animalizes over the course of several weeks until they become fully feral.

Effects of eating Lunagrub larvae

Those who accidentally consume the larva of the Lunagrub (known to infest the salubrious moonberries of the deciduous coastal forests especially dark Torenwœl) dance with doom on this random table:

3D8 are rolled, One for effect and one for duration and one for symptoms.

D8 Duration:

1 instant, lasts d4 minute

2 instant, lasts 4d4 minutes 

3 instant, lasts d10 hours

4 instant, lasts d6 day

5 instant, lasts d4 weeks

6 delayed d4 minutes, lasts 2d10 minutes, 

7 delayed d4 hours, lasts 2d10 hours,

8 delayed 2d10 hours, lasts 2d6 days,

D8 effects 

1 advantage on physical skill rolls disadvantage on mental ones.

2 one level of exhaustion 

3 every four hours suffer a seizure & make a dc 12 con save or lose 2d6 hp until cured.

4 start making death saves.

5 lose the ability to speak

6 paralysis 

7 blindness

8 feebleness, make a dc 10 con save before any move or fall prone

D8 Symptoms

1 bleeding ears

2 black bile

3 face starts to peel

4 golf ball sized scabs

5 itchiness 

6 puss under fingernails 

7 teeth fall out 

8 hair falls out

 

Exploding dice: if you get doubles roll again and suffer further, if you get triples do it twice more.

Zuziax & Naryam pseudodruids

East of the pseudodruid settlements on the threshold of the penumbra dwell the brothers Zuziax & Naryam. They eke their living by venturing out into the penumbra and gathering various components for resale in the settlements. A variety of entheogenic spores and wild ungulate mites that they can harvest at certain times fetch a pretty penny from aspiring magic users.

Description:

An odd looking pair Zuziax is a tall muscular fellow with a grey bristling beard and a vacant stare, Naryam on the other hand is short with a long moustache, a pronounced overbite and darting eyes. They wear long linen tunics tied about the waist thrice with a black cord according to the custom of superstitious woodlanders. On their heads, close fitting raw-hide caps trimmed with ermine (which is also thought to be lucky.) 

Hook:

One of the brothers has been injured and their guard dog has been killed by a flock of predatory strongbeaks. In exchange for the service of picking up their new guard dog from Yushek the breeder while they heal up, they offer the PCs information about survival in the Penumbra.

Sumptuary laws among the dwarven-folk

"A people whose mode of dress instantly communicates rank, status, position and place may spend their efforts on the matter at hand rather than idly jockeying  with introductions and banter" - Melba Magustus magnate of Kêllčeir

The Valean sumptuary laws are too complex for an outsider to fully grasp, they themselves have a difficult time remembering them all. And when one cannot remember the precept it is best to take a cautionary approach, is the commonly held belief. This philosophy of social timidity has effectively created a secondary set of social mores expanding beyond the codified ones. 

Here are a set of very basic guidelines:

The taller the hat the younger the wife in relation to the wearer.

The wider the hat's brim the more husbands.

A sword is only carried by one who us literate.

The colour red is only worn by those in debt.

A veteran of war wears no gold or silver adornment.

A landowner does not go barefoot.

Elaborately styled facial hair is only for  administrators.

One who spends much time underground may display prominent tattoos.

Devotion to ancestors is often displayed on an ornamental breast plate, the breast plate should serve no other purpose.

NPC: Yoik Bluegranite, Valean archivist

Here's a GM character that will serve as a story hook carrier in an upcoming adventure:

Yoik has the unfortunate place in society of, what is ironically referred to as, a "first love". This is the role of a husband whose spouse has subsequently married more men (polyandry is the norm among the middle and higher class denizens) who outrank him considerably. It is a position of marked disgrace  and effectively caps off further social advancement. Not uncommon for a "first love" Yoik has become very devout in the ancestor veneration which makes up the biggest official civic religion in Vali. The ancestor which he has chosen as his patron is none other than the founder of the Delvers' Dominion, known to all the dwarves simply as Silverbeard. Silverbeard's era was the first generation of the third Aeon which is a time shrouded in much speculation and wonder among the Valeans.

Yoik's profession is archivist for the Academy of Dwarven Cosmology. If his career path hadn't been stunted by lessened esteem due to being a first love he would have eventually become an historian. As it stands he will likely spend the rest of his working days in clerical drudgery unless he can distinguish himself through some deed of significance. This is his highest aim: to set himself apart not only in the academy but in the community of Silverbeard venerators by reclaiming a lost relic of the third Aeon. 

The Map: Yoik has aquired a palimpsest of a Oamnic map pulled from an ancient vellum. The map depicts a city called  Onua and Yoik has deduced that it must be the capital city of the Oamnoi from before the fish eaters' war.  According to delver legend this would correspond with the forest city that Silverbeard's troops routed in an epic siege which was the coup de grace of the war. 

The Relic: in the battle, legend has it,  Silverbeard lost his brass helm (rumoured to be a blessed item forged by a devil) when it was knocked from his head as he lead the first charge. When the battle was over his attendants wanted to search the the field to find the precious item but Silverbeard forbade them saying that no dwarf should have any need to wear a helm of any sort from this point forward. Of course, this was only true for twenty odd years before a vicious religious war broke out among the delver clans. If Yoik could recover the brass helm of Silverbeard he feels that all his dreams would be realized.

Wild magic sorcerer variant: astro-mage

As much as the idea of the wild magic sorcerer really got me excited when I read the 5E PHB, I found the D100 list of Random effects to be not quite what I was looking for. I'm not sure if it was just not quite thematic enough for me or if some of the effects were just too off-the-wall. So when one of my players chose the class I made up a d100 list of my own themed around a fantasy zodiac. The idea was that the caster is born under a particular astrological sign which allows them access at random times to bursts of cosmic energy. There are ten signs each with ten effects which are as follows:

The Ram

1,2, glowing horns appear on your head for d6 rounds doing d10+2 bludgeoning damage, attack with proficiency 

3,4, you can see invisible creatures for 10 minutes 

5,6, a bright light shines out from your mouth in a 20' cone doing 3d6 radiant damage, save for half 

7,8,9, you hear a deafening rumble of hooves, everyone save versus thunder or take d10+caster level damage 

10, A star appears in your hand throw it at an enemy to blind them, range 80'

The Fence

11,12, for the next minute at a wall of smoke pops up around you to block any magical attack

13,14, you find yourself able to speak and understand any language for one hour

15,16, healing surge, 5 hp regain for 5 rounds

17,18,19, advantage on saving throws against spells, manifested through a twinkle in the eye

20, you are able to imbue an Ally with advantage on saving throws for three rounds

The Boat

21,22, Time seems to slow down, double your move speed

23,24, all your spells with a casting time of one action become bonus actions

25,26, teleport up to 60 feet provided you can see the destination

27,28,29, you become a fluid like water, interpret this as you will

30,  you become immune to poison, fire, cold and lightning for 10 minutes

The Beast

31,32, you appear to grow fangs, your next hit is a crit 

33,34, take advantage on strength-based ability checks for 10 minutes

35,36, your voice takes on a demonic Growl [advantage on intimidation]

37,38,39, you grow a barbed tail which does 2d6 piercing damage , Save versus poison

40, A shaggy Fox with unaturally long legs and glowing eyes does your bidding [speed 40, bite +5, D8 damage, eight HP]

The Sage

The Crown

The Tree

The Jug

The Mountain

The Serpent 

The library of Yushek the breeder

Treatises on the square root of two and dynamic wickednesses 

-This Tome uses mathematical proofs to bolster chaotic evil philosophies. Every day the book is read from the reader must make an opposed intelligence check versus the book (the book has a +2  int modifier). On a failed save the reader is sucked further into the arguments extolling willful wickedness. this may manifest in a change in the character's personality or it may be treated as a intelligence drain reducing a point of int per failed check. 

Missives from a salt merchant

-The missives are a series of letters written during the high River dynasty detailing a salt merchant's passage through the District. It includes tidbits of information about the fish eaters' culture as well as hints to secret smugglers' routes and perhaps clues to the location of a buried treasure.

Bestiary of the high river dynasty 

-this work contains information about a number of beasts and monsters native to the area including, myconids, cockatrice, nothics among others.

Imprecatory melodies 

-This series of short songs serve as curses which may be sung out at any time, but if the spell level exceeds that of the caster a cr of 10+spell level save must be passed or the caster must take on a level of exhaustion.

Poems by an anonymous slave

-The forward explains the erotic nature of the poems within to be an astrological allegory. Throughout the work there are marginal notes scrawled in gnomish if translated they turn out to be mostly rude. If some actual text is needed use this: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/sol005.htm

Tractate Oamn: Primitive religion among the Oamnoi

-the first chapter outlines the basic structure of the Tritheistic faith of yore. The next three chapters detail the cultus of each god, Pern the thunderer, Ulla the river source, and Melmag the sea-king. The rest of the work explores the priestly task of balancing the three forces.

Magnetism of the hidden moon

-"like a ghost, the dark moon passes through the five houses. She dances in the manner of a buckwheat queen at harvest with her suitors both drawn to and afraid of her majesty."

This ancient tome suggests that whosoever might divine the position of the hidden moon might tap into its supernal current.

Spores of truculence: the roots of fungal aggression 

-Everything you ever wanted to know about sentient mushrooms, sinister slimes and evil oozes including identification resistance and use thereof.