April 2021 Revision

An adventure module filled with mapping and navigational challenges. Chart a safe path through a flaming marsh and then map the
flooded tunnels beneath the muck.

WRITING PLAYTESTERS COVER PHOTO

David Schirduan Alexa De Lima, Andrew Shifaaz shamoon on Unsplash
Armstrong, Anton L.C., Ashley FONTS
Beacham, Ben Dutter, Cameron Alegreya Sans, Alegreya
EDITOR Ledbetter, Caley Ziegler,
Clinton Medbery, Dan, Dylan
Keith Mageau
Bomeisler, Ian Greulich, Josh
Moore, Katherine Vaughan, MARSH GOONS
WITH THANKS
Kelsey Roberson, Lori and Scott CREDITS
Gildersleeve, Lucas Smith, Mike Words: Joe Banner, David
Maps made with Hex Kit Hope, Mike Beasley, Nick, Rachel
Tiles by Cecil Howe Schirduan, John Gregory
Slagathor, Ronak Raithatha,
Knave rules by Ben Milton Shannon, Wilhelmina Motley, Design: Joe Banner
Will Swan
Proofreading: Keith Mageau
INSPIRATIONS Artwork: Alex Drummond,
Hot Springs Island
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
ARTWORK Jessica Comstock, Laura Ketcham
Alex Drummond
Time (Water Temple)
Folly Beach, Charleston

LAYOUT
Vault of the Iron Overlord
Telecanter’s table:
recedingrules.blogspot.com/ Joe Banner

All Bone Marshes pages may be printed for personal use. Any other use of printed or digital pages or artwork is prohibited without
express written consent from David Schirduan.

All text is protected under Creative Commons License 4.0.

 CONTENTS
THE JOY OF GETTING LOST......................................................... 5 LOCATIONS................................................................................. 55

WELCOME TO THE MARSHES..................................................... 6 FACTIONS................................................................................... 57

The Druid Knochen................................................................. 59
KNAVE.......................................................................................... 7 The Secrets of Knochen............................................................ 61
Playing the Game.................................................................... 7 Knochen’s Lair.......................................................................62
Creating A Character............................................................... 9
50 Spells............................................................................... 10 FRONTS.......................................................................................63
Background...........................................................................11
Gear.................................................................................... 12 BESTIARY...................................................................................64

PART I: CHARTING THE MARSHES............................................ 13

PART II: RETRIEVE THE VOLTCELL............................................ 15

PART III: HEART OF THE MARSHES .......................................... 16

CAMP INVENTORY..................................................................... 17
Azimech's Supplies................................................................. 17
Other Traders........................................................................ 17

BESTIARY................................................................................... 19
Marsh Creatures.................................................................... 19
Muckers...............................................................................20
Silfer Automatons.................................................................. 21

REGIONS & HEXES.....................................................................23

Forest.................................................................................. 27
Wetlands.............................................................................. 27
Brambles..............................................................................28
Pluffs...................................................................................28
Hexes (A–I)...........................................................................29
Hexes ( J–R)........................................................................... 31
Meadows.............................................................................. 33
Central Spire......................................................................... 35
Sunken Keep......................................................................... 37
Mud Pit................................................................................38
Cavern................................................................................. 39
Lava Maze............................................................................. 41
Vault.................................................................................... 43

LOST THINGS..............................................................................45
Lost Things: Above Ground...................................................... 45
Lost Things : Underground.......................................................46
Lost Things: Alien/Silfer........................................................... 47

CATTAIL BANDITS......................................................................48
10 Bandits.............................................................................48

MARSH GOONS...........................................................................53
How to Play........................................................................... 53

LOOKING FOR CHARACTER SHEETS AND HANDOUTS?

Visit technicalgrimoire.com/bone-marshes to download your character sheets, handouts, and other useful tools!
THE JOY OF GETTING LOST
During one of my first games, my GM suddenly announced: “Ranger, TOUCHSTONES
make a WIS save… Failed huh? Your group is lost in these catacombs.” Like all creative efforts, Bone Marshes is built on the back of a dozen
Everyone else groaned to themselves, but I immediately asked, “How other things. I’ve listed the most prominent ones here. These range
did we get lost? Who was keeping track of the map? Did the tunnels from vague inspirations to shameless theft. If you like Bone Marshes,
change?” chances are you’ll enjoy many of the things on this list.

The GM shrugged it off; turns out the adventure required us to be GAMES:

lost so a new character could show up and move the plot forward. The Knave by Ben Milton. Bone Marshes includes Knave as its primary
experience really bummed me out. After the game, I asked to see the system. I will gush about it more over the next few pages.
map, and it was awesome! Twists, turns, secret doors, etc. We didn’t
see any of that. Hot Springs Island by Jacob Hurst. My first hex-crawl adventure, and
still the best one I’ve played. Brilliant setting, clean layout, evocative
I love beautiful dungeon maps, but most are actually pretty hard to writing… it’s just incredible.
map when you’re the player. Do you start your map in the middle of
the page? Pick a corner? When you run out of space in a certain area, MUSIC:
do you start over?
Coffin Island by DangerMuffin. A local band from my hometown,
The Bone Marshes is my attempt at an adventure filled with mapping their music perfectly encapsulates the lazy salty wonder of the beach
and exploration challenges. Great care and effort have been taken to marshes I grew up in. This song, in particular, is all about loss; a
ease the burden of the GM and provide players with tools and hints to common theme in Bone Marshes.
map complex spaces.
Eastward by Hudson. A beautiful album about someone’s journey
The first part of the adventure is a hex-crawl with a twist. The second to rescue a loved one. I really enjoy how each stage of the journey is
part is a point-crawl exploring the flooding caverns deep beneath represented by different music; the difficult parts are harsh and loud,
the marsh. and the quiet ones are soft and mellow.

I hope you and your group enjoy it. MOVIES:

… Even when they’re lost. Princess Bride by Rob Reiner. Not just for the Fire Swamp scenes,
but the tone of the movie overall is light-hearted while allowing for
… Especially when they’re lost! drama, loss, and darkness. I hope to strike that same balance here.

The Two Towers by Peter Jackson. The Dead Marshes part of the books
PLAYER BUY-IN always bored me to tears, but the movies really made the dread and
This adventure is written for players who enjoy drawing maps and misery of that section come to life. There is this one camera pan that
exploring the unknown. I’ve playtested Bone Marshes with 4 different zooms out and shows the viewer just how meandering, large, and
groups spanning over 14 sessions in total. Only once did I have a group aimless the Dead Marshes are. I always thought about that camera
get frustrated about the mapping. pan while writing Bone Marshes.

“UGH! Where are we? How do we get out of this place? Let’s just pick
random directions and get more frustrated.”

Mapping isn’t for everyone. Make sure you get buy-in from your
group before you start playing. And if they do get frustrated, drop the
mapping stuff. The next path they go down leads to their destination.
Drop obvious hints, re-draw the map so they don’t have to worry
about it.

Just because you and I like maps doesn’t mean your players will. Make
this book work for your group. Keep what you like, ignore what you
don’t, and make this adventure your own.

5
WELCOME TO THE MARSHES
Far from civilisation, but not so far as to be entirely unknown, lie The Two weeks ago: The Guardian of the Marshes is driven mad by the
Bone Marshes. Given their waterlogged nature, we can assume they’re daylight. It discovers a VoltCell in the Spire and uses it to power a
near a coastline. Of course, they might lie anywhere that suits your circular rotation of the marshes, desperately trying to restore the
setting and adventures. normal day-night cycle. This only causes more problems!

Crossing the marshes takes at least a day from one edge to another, Now (Part I): Azimech discovers the burning marshes and summons
likely more given the poor terrain. Generally, people avoid the help (the party, among others). She needs someone to chart safe
crossing, if they can. There are rumours of a unique alien metal called passage through the marshes, so her caravan of scholars and supplies
silfer that only exists there, which draws the odd scholar. The marshes can arrive to help her work on the problem.
are also home to several magical creatures. Prime amongst these is
the so-called guardian who lives in the rocky spire at the marshes’ A few days from now (Part II): Azimech has detected a strong source
centre. of power emanating from the marsh - the VoltCell. It may be related
to the constant daylight and the spinning Meadows. Find the source
Recently, a quake caused an alien vault below the spire - the original of this power and bring it back for study. (It’s a VoltCell).
source of all the silfer in the marshes - to flood. The Vault’s onboard
intelligence, though corroded and de-powered, attempted emergency A few days more (Part III): Azimech now believes the VoltCells - there
meteorological procedures to dry itself. Using mysterious powers it are, she presumes, five in total - are the key to stopping the daylight.
has halted the sun in the sky! The sun no longer sets or moves from The PCs must explore beneath the marshes and find the remaining
its position. While the underground vault isn't affected, the rest of VoltCells. Once she has three, she can disable the alien technology and
the marshes are. The intense, constant heat has evaporated water and return the marshes to normal. Alternatively, the party could do the
killed most of the local wildlife. same by removing the last VoltCell from the Vault underground; or
return all five VoltCells to the Vault, restoring "normal functions."
The guardian of the marshes has gone mad from the never-setting
sun. In an attempt to restore balance, it has caused the very earth
around the spire to churn and spin. The centre of the marsh now I grew up on the marshes of South Carolina, and have vivid memories of
rotates on a 24-hour cycle. This has done nothing for the well-being of exploring those swampy fields. For those who haven’t spent much time in
the marsh. Indeed, it has ripped homes apart and caused more chaos. a marsh:

As the relentless, unmoving sun beats down, more and more Movement is slow going: What looks like solid dirt turns out to be a
marshland has started to burn. Eventually, the sun will turn the slimy hole. Patches of grass float on slick mud. The safest places to
marshes to char and the Vault will dry up, but that could take several walk are the most time consuming: exposed tree roots, trails that spin
weeks. What else would happen if the sun is no longer moving? off in random directions. Solid ground usually takes the form of small
islands rising 5-10ft above the water level.

Pluff Mud sucks: Less like a muddy puddle and more like half-dried
TIMELINE cement. No matter how tightly your shoes are tied, they will be
Long, long ago: The Spire and Vault are built by ancient aliens to store yanked off and sunk. When locals get their boat stuck in pluff mud,
artifacts from across the stars. They live in the Spire, but work in the they just leave it because pluff mud never lets go.
Vault underground.
Salty muck water: Don’t drink it, don’t let it seep into your clothes, or
Before recorded history: The Vault and Spire have been abandoned get into your backpack, or get in your scabbard, or soak your shoes,
for reasons lost to time. The Spire is overgrown; crusted over with or… you get the idea. It’s gross salty ooze that leaves a film of gunk
stone. Changing coastlines turns the region into marshland, and the when it dries.
Vault sinks further into the ground. The five VoltCells - source of the
alien's power - become scattered. Without those, the alien technology Humidity is worse than heat: Heat is harsh, brutal, and deadly. But
starts to break down and malfunction. humidity follows you wherever you go. You can’t escape it with shade,
or cool water, or even sleep. Water and sweat infuses everything,
Two months ago: After centuries of subtle shifts, the underground giving you rashes in nasty places and taking away your peace. It wears
rivers flood the Vault. Emergency environmental procedures are you down over time, like waves on a beach.
initiated, forcing constant daylight above ground. The marshes begin
to dry out. Life and beauty: Despite all the horrors described above, marshes
support more life than any other habitat. Flowering bushes and
One month ago: After centuries of subtle shifts, the underground colorful reeds paint a scene. Camping outside in the cool salty air
rivers flood the Vault. Emergency environmental procedures are while the soft sound of crickets blends with burbling water noises
initiated, halting the sun's progress and keeping it above the Marshes. to lull you to sleep. If the Bone Marshes weren’t being turned into a
The marshes begin to dry out and the rest of the world panics. burning hellscape they might be a nice place to visit.

Welcome to the Marshes 6

 KNAVE
This book includes a ruleset based on Knave by Ben Milton. While Note that it doesn’t matter which side does the rolling since the
these rules are complete, I highly recommend purchasing a copy odds of success remain the same.
of Knave anyway, as it contains terrific advice and additional
content. The next few pages will walk you through Player Character Example: A wizard casts a fireball spell at a goblin, who gets a Saving
(PC) creation and how to play. Print several character sheets from Throw to avoid. This is resolved as an Opposed Save using the wizard’s INT
technicalgrimoire.com/bone-marshes and hand them out to your versus the goblin’s DEX. The goblin may roll plus their DEX bonus, hoping
players. to exceed the wizard’s INT+10 or the wizard may roll plus their INT bonus,
hoping to exceed the goblin’s DEX+10.

PLAYING THE GAME COMBAT

At the start of each combat round, determine Initiative by rolling
ABILITIES a d6. On a 1-3, enemies will act first. On a 4-6, PCs will act first.
STR: Used for melee Attacks and Saves requiring physical power Re-roll initiative each round.
such as lifting gates, bending bars, etc. On their turn, a character may Move their speed (usually 40 ft) and
DEX: Used for Saves requiring poise, speed, and reflexes such as take one Combat Action. This action may be Casting a spell, making
dodging, climbing, sneaking, balancing, etc. a second Move, making an Attack, or any other action deemed
reasonable by the referee.
CON: Used for Saves to resist poison, sickness, cold, etc. The
Constitution bonus is added to healing rolls. A PC’s number of item To make an Attack, roll a d20 and add the character’s STR or
slots is always equal to their CON+10. WIS bonus, depending on whether they are using a melee or
ranged weapon, respectively. If the Attack total is greater than the
INT: Used for Saves requiring concentration and precision, such defender’s armor defense, the attack hits. If not, the Attack misses.
as wielding magic, resisting magical effects, recalling lore, crafting Unarmored creatures have an Armor Defense of 11. Melee weapons
objects, tinkering with machinery, picking pockets, etc. can strike adjacent foes. Ranged weapons cannot be used if the
shooting character is engaged in melee.
WIS: Used for ranged Attacks and Saves requiring perception and
intuition, such as tracking, navigating, searching for secret doors, On a hit, the attacker rolls their weapon’s Damage die to determine
detecting illusions, etc. how many Hit Points (HP) the defender loses.

CHA: Used for Saves to persuade, deceive, interrogate, intimidate, When a character reaches 0 HP, they are unconscious. When they
charm, provoke, etc. reach -1 HP or less, they are dead. Players should roll up a new level
1 PC and should rejoin the party as soon as possible.

SAVING THROWS ADVANTAGE IN COMBAT

If a character attempts something where the outcome is uncertain Characters can gain Advantage in combat by Attacking a target that
and failure has consequences, they make a Saving Throw, or “Save”. is unaware, on lower ground, off balance, disarmed, distracted,
To make a Save, add the bonus of the relevant ability to a d20 roll. If or tactically disadvantaged in any significant way. The referee, as
the total is greater than 15, the character succeeds. If not, they fail. usual, has the final say.

If there are situational factors that make a Save significantly CLIMBING

easier or harder, the referee may grant the roll Advantage or
Disadvantage. If a roll has Advantage, roll 2D20 and use the better Climbing on a secure line does not require a roll unless there is
of the two dice. If it has Disadvantage, roll 2D20 and use the worse a major obstacle (attacks, cave-in, etc). Securing a line, however,
of the two dice. Advantage and Disadvantage may also apply to is tricky. When planning to secure a new line, each PC describes
Damage rolls. how they are helping to secure this line. All PCs that contribute
make a Save, taking the second highest result for the entire group.
If the Save is opposed by another character, then instead of aiming Encourage PCs to come up with new roles: Lead Climber, Spotter,
to exceed 15, the side doing the rolling must get a total greater Catchers, etc. Falling inflicts d6 Damage for every 10ft fallen.
than the opposing character’s ability bonus + 10. If they fail, the
opposing side succeeds. This type of Save is called an Opposed Save.

7
 ITEM SLOTS CAMPING AND HEALING
PCs have a number of item slots equal to their CON+10. Most To make camp each PC must consume a ration and the group must
items, including spellbooks, potions, light weapons, tools and so spend 4 torches to keep the bugs and darkness at bay. Clear all Mud
on take up 1 slot, but particularly heavy or bulky items like armor from slots and refresh all spells. Then each PC may choose how to
or medium and heavy weapons may take up more slots. Groups spend their 8 hours in camp:
of small, identical items may be bundled into the same slot, at
the referee’s discretion. 100 coins can fit in a slot. As a general  Sleep 8 hours. Recover d8+CON HP.
guideline, a slot holds up to 5 pounds of weight.  Nap 4 hours, recover CON HP.
 Examine an item for 4 hours. No roll required. Reveal secrets
MUD or hidden details.
 Take a shift watching for 4 hours. If there is a chunk of time
Whenever the PCs travel from one area to another, each PC must where nobody takes a shift, 50% chance of an encounter.
cover a slot or item with Mud by filling in the mud bubble next to
that slot. That slot or item is unusable until the PCs make camp
or submerge themselves in water. This rule simulates scabbards
filled with mud, soaked boots, mud-caked cloaks, dried dirt in the UNDERWATER
backpack, etc. Submerging themselves in water also clears all Mud from slots, in
addition to the consequences below.

All rolls while underwater suffer Disadvantage, even Damage

MAGIC rolls. Every turn the PC spends under the water fills an empty
To Cast a spell, make an INT Save. If the Save is failed, the spell still slot. If their slots are full (of water or otherwise), then each turn
works, but cannot be used again until you next make camp. Spells underwater causes d6 Damage. Surfacing for air clears all water
are Cast out of spellbooks, which must be held in both hands and from their Slots.
read aloud. Importantly, each spellbook only holds a single spell,
and each spellbook takes up an item slot, so if a PC wants to be
able to Cast a wide variety of spells, they’ll have to fill most of their SILFER
inventory with spellbooks. This mysterious space metal makes up most of the alien technology
PCs are unable to create, copy or transcribe spellbooks. In order in the Marshes. Silfer drains nearby heat and transforms the
to gain new spellbooks, PCs must adventure for them, by either energy into light; a grey glow half as bright as a torch. Contact with
recovering them from dungeons or looting them from other exposed skin numbs the affected limb. Prolonged exposure will
magicians. absorb all the heat from a body; lying naked on a silfer floor will kill
a human in 4 hours. It will freeze the corpse in 12 hours.
If a spell directly affects another creature, the target must roll above
the caster’s INT+10 to avoid or lessen the effects of the spell; roll NUMB: All rolls that involve the numbed limb are at a Disadvantage
d20+DEX against ranged attack spells, CON against life-draining for the next 4 hours.
spells, INT against mind-altering spells, or WIS against Illusions. However, when silfer is immersed in water (or mud) it stops
glowing and heats up like a forge until the water is boiled away.
Then it cools and resumes glowing.

FIRE
During each turn taken near flames, the PC suffers d6-2 Damage.

Large fires have a level. That level is the starting “Health” of the
fire. If the PCs can deal enough “Damage” to the fire it will be put
out. Every round, however, the health of the fire increases by its
level. If a fire ever reaches 50 or more Health, it covers the entire
hex. The hex is now impassable. On all future visits to the hex, use

Knave 8
 the “Burned” narrative description located in the Regions & Hexes
section (pg (Page 27)).
CREATING A CHARACTER
 Roll 3D6. The lowest of those three is the Strength bonus of
FIREFIGHTS your Player Character.

When a PC attempts to douse the flames they deal d6 Damage to  Repeat five more times to determine Dexterity, Constitution,
the fire and the fire Damages them as well (d6-2). Cleverness and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma bonuses, in that order.
expending resources may increase the damage dealt. (These ability bonuses are also known as STR, DEX, CON, INT,
WIS, and CHA).
EXAMPLE FIRE FIGHTING
 Players may swap any two bonuses if they like.
Round 1: A level 6 fire has started, it has 6 Health. A PC deals 4
Damage to the fire and they suffer 2 Damage. The fire has 2 Health  Roll a d8 to find your character’s starting HP. If the number is
remaining. below 4, then set the starting HP to 4.

Round 2: The fire gains 6 Health, it has 8 Health total. A PC uses  All PCs start with 2 days of rations and 2D6X10 coins. Knave
some valuable water from their pack to deal 7 Damage to the fire uses copper pieces, other games use gold, so Bone Marshes will
and they suffer 3 Damage. The fire has 1 Health remaining. just call them “coins”.

Round 4: The fire gains 6 Health, it has 7 Health total. A PC uses  Roll on the Background and Gear tables (overleaf) to
more water from their pack to deal 10 Damage to the fire and they define your character's virtues, vices and other interesting
suffer 0 Damage. The fire is put out. traits. Additional tables for character creation are
available in the handouts. (You can download these
handouts, or use the free character building tool, at
technicalgrimoire.com/bone-marshes.)

OPTIONAL UPGRADES
Knave is a lethal game. Characters must be careful, smart, and
lucky to survive. Bone Marshes is about exploration, mapping, and
navigation.

It’s hard to map an area when the party can be destroyed by some
unlucky dice rolls, but I also think it’s important to keep characters
on their toes. Here are a few upgrades you can grant the PCs to
adjust the game's difficulty:

Give each PC a random spellbook. I like to do this to encourage

creative puzzle solving and give them an edge in combat. Start
them with more spells for even more options!

Give each character an extra level. Normally characters gain a level

by spending [Level] x 200 coins in Old Mire’s Shop (See Caravan
Merchants). To represent more experienced heroes, start the
characters at level 2, or even 3. (You could balance this against the
party starting in debt to Old Mire, perhaps by a few hundred Coin.)

9
 50 SPELLS
“L” is a number equal to the caster’s level. An item is anything able to be lifted with one hand. An object is anything up to human size. Unless otherwise
noted, all spells with ongoing effects last up to L×10 minutes and have a range of up to 40 feet. If a spell directly affects another creature, the creature may
make a Save to avoid it. Success reduces or negates the spell’s effects.

1. Adhere: Object is covered in extremely sticky slime. 25. Marble Madness: Your pockets are full of marbles, and will
2. Animate Object: The object obeys your commands as best it refill every round.
can. It can walk 15ft per round. 26. Miniaturize: You and L other touched creatures are reduced to
3. Auditory Illusion: You create illusory sounds that seem to the size of a mouse.
come from a direction of your choice. 27. Mirror Image: L illusory duplicates of yourself appear under
4. Beast Form: You and your possessions transform into a your control.
mundane animal. 28. Multiarm: You gain L extra arms.
5. Befuddle: L creatures of your choice are unable to form new 29. Night Sphere: An L×40ft wide sphere of darkness displaying
short-term memories for the duration of the spell. the night sky appears.
6. Bend Fate: Roll L+1 d20s. Whenever you must roll a d20 after 30. Objectify: You become any inanimate object between the size
casting the spell, you must choose and then discard one of the of a grand piano and an apple.
rolled results until they are all gone. 31. Ooze Form: You become a living jelly.
7. Body Swap: You switch bodies with a creature you touch. If 32. Pacify: L creatures have an aversion to violence.
one body dies, the other dies as well. 33. Psychometry: The referee answers L yes or no questions about
8. Command: A creature obeys a single, three-word command a touched object.
that does not harm it. 34. Raise Dead: L skeletons rise from the ground to serve you.
9. Control Plants: Nearby plants and trees obey you and gain the They are incredibly stupid and can only obey simple orders.
ability to move at 5 feet per round. 35. Repel: L+1 objects are strongly magnetically repelled from
10. Deafen: All nearby creatures are deafened. each other if they come within 10 feet.
11. Disassemble: Any of your body parts may be detached and 36. Shroud: L creatures are invisible until they move.
reattached at will, without causing pain or damage. You can 37. Smoke Form: Your body becomes living smoke.
still control them. 38. Spider Climb: You can climb surfaces like a spider.
12. Displace: An object appears to be up to L×10ft from its actual 39. Swarm: You become a swarm of crows, rats, or piranhas. You
position. only take damage from area effects.
13. Elemental Wall: A straight wall of ice or fire L×40ft long and 40. Telekinesis: You may mentally move L items.
10ft high rises from the ground. 41. Telepathy: L+1 creatures can hear each other’s thoughts, no
14. Frenzy: L creatures erupt in a frenzy of violence. matter how far apart they move.
15. Gravity Shift: You can change the direction of gravity (for 42. Teleport: An object disappears and reappears on the ground
yourself only) up to once per round. in a visible, clear area up to L×40ft away.
16. Haste: Your movement speed is tripled. 43. Thaumaturgic Anchor: Object becomes the target of every
17. Hover: An object hovers, frictionless, 2ft above the ground. It spell cast near it.
can hold up to L humanoids. 44. Thicket: A thicket of trees and dense brush up to L×40ft wide
18. Icy Touch: A thick ice layer spreads across a touched surface, suddenly sprouts up.
up to L×10ft in radius. 45. Time Rush: Time in a 40ft bubble starts moving 10 times
19. Illuminate: A floating light moves as you command. faster.
20. Increase Gravity: The gravity in an area triples. 46. Time Slow: Time in a 40ft bubble slows to 10%.
21. Invisible Tether: Two objects within 10ft of each other cannot 47. Vision: You completely control what a creature sees.
be moved more than 10ft apart. 48. Ward: A silver circle 40ft across appears on the ground.
22. Leap: You can jump up to L×10ft in the air. Choose one thing that cannot cross it: Living creatures, dead
23. Liquid Air: The air around you becomes swimmable. creatures, projectiles or metal.
24. Manse: A sturdy, furnished cottage appears for L×12 hours. 49. Web: Your wrists can shoot thick webbing.
You can permit and forbid entry to it at will. 50. Wizard Mark: Your finger can shoot a stream of ulfire-colored
paint. This paint is only visible to you and can be seen at any
distance, even through solid objects.

Knave 10
 BACKGROUND
VIRTUE HISTORY SMELL
1D20 VIRTUE 1D20 HISTORY 1D20 SMELL
1 Ambitious 1 Alchemist 1 Burned Hair
2 Cautious 2 Beggar 2 "Oregano"
3 Courageous 3 Butcher 3 Citrus
4 Courteous 4 Burglar 4 Salt
5 Curious 5 Charlatan 5 Light Perfume
6 Disciplined 6 Cleric 6 Far too much perfume
7 Focused 7 Cook 7 Wet Dog
8 Generous 8 Cultist 8 Pluff Mud
9 Gregarious 9 Gambler 9 Suspiciously, nothing
10 Honest 10 Herbalist 10 Old meat
11 Honorable 11 Magician 11 Dried blood
12 Humble 12 Mariner 12 Tobacco
13 Idealistic 13 Mercenary 13 Piss and Vinegar
14 Just 14 Merchant 14 Oiled Leather
15 Loyal 15 Outlaw 15 Wet Leaves
16 Merciful 16 Performer 16 Garlic
17 Righteous 17 Pickpocket 17 Asparagus
18 Serene 18 Smuggler 18 Stale Beer
19 Stoic 19 Student 19 Sulphur
20 Tolerant 20 Tracker 20 Can't tell; eyes water

VICE MISFORTUNE ALLERGIES

1D20 VICE 1D20 MISFORTUNE 1D20 ALLERGY
1 Aggressive 1 Abandoned 1 Common food (apples, beer)
2 Arrogant 2 Addicted 2 Someone else's blood
3 Bitter 3 Blackmailed 3 Middle Names
4 Cowardly 4 Condemned 4 Day-old food
5 Cruel 5 Cursed 5 Moss
6 Deceitful 6 Defrauded 6 Old Rainwater
7 Flippant 7 Demoted 7 Spider Webs
8 Gluttonous 8 Discredited 8 Dye
9 Greedy 9 Disowned 9 Wet Shoes
10 Irascible 10 Exiled 10 The last 10 minutes of every day
11 Lazy 11 Framed 11 Gold
12 Nervous 12 Haunted 12 Candle Wax
13 Prejudiced 13 Kidnapped 13 Torch Oil/Leather Oil
14 Reckless 14 Mutilated 14 Wizards
15 Rude 15 Poor 15 Magical Light Sources
16 Suspicious 16 Pursued 16 Sweets/Candies
17 Vain 17 Rejected 17 Objects or People whose names
18 Vengeful 18 Replaced start with a specific letter
19 Wasteful 19 Robbed 18 Magical Healing
20 Whiny 20 Suspected 19 Don't know, GM decides later
20 Roll twice more

11
 GEAR
ARMOR GENERAL GEAR 1 MEMENTOS
1D20 ITEM 1D20 ITEM 1D50 MEMENTO
1-3 No Armor 1 Air bladder 1 Unsent love letter
4-14 Gambeson 2 Bear trap 2 Tip of a broken blade
15-19 Brigandine 3 Shovel 3 Small painted figurine of a man
20 Chainmail 4 Bellows 4 Unopened book
5 Grease 5 Weathered Stamp
6 Saw 6 Bent coin (uncommon currency)
MORE ARMOR 7
8
Bucket
Caltrops
7
8
Unlabeled purple potion
Portable tea set
1D20 ITEM
9 Chisel 9 Stale tobacco
1-13 None
10 Drill 10 A ring that doesn't fit
14-16 Helmet
11 Fishing rod 11 Half-finished ship in bottle
17-19 Shield
12 Marbles 12 Religious symbol (well-worn)
20 Shield & Helmet
13 Glue 13 Ocean-smoothed piece of glass
14 Pick 14 Half-carved piece of driftwood
15 Hourglass 15 Loaded die
16 Net 16 Sketch of someone's face
DUNGEON GEAR 17 Tongs 17 Glove that doesn't fit
1D20 ITEM (ROLL TWICE) 18 Lockpicks 18 An old shoe
1 Rope, 50ft 19 Metal file 19 Complex knot of rope
2 Pulleys 20 Nails 20 Brass key
3 Candles, 5 21 Ribbon around the neck/waist
4 Chain, 10ft 22 Unopened letter from afar
5 Chalk, 10 23 Letter of merchant's credit
6
7
Crowbar
Tinderbox GENERAL GEAR 2 24 Fine Masquerade Mask

8 Grappling hook
1D20 ITEM 25 Ocarina
1 Incense 26 Wooden box, no opening, rattles
9 Hammer 27 Gold Thread
2 Sponge
10 Waterskin 28 Empty birdcage
11 Lantern 3 Lens
4 Perfume 29 Book with all the pages torn out
12 Lamp oil 30 Flask of firewater
13 Padlock 5 Horn
6 Bottle 31 Compass, always points South
14 Manacles 32 Dull straight razor
15 Mirror 7 Soap
8 Spyglass 33 Bloody arrowhead
16 Pole, 10ft 34 Hand drawn map
17 Sack 9 Tar pot
10 Twine 35 Poker chip
18 Tent 36 Bag of candy
19 Spikes, 5 11 Fake jewels
12 Blank book 37 Incomplete deck of cards
20 Torches, 5 38 Jar of Mud
13 Card deck
14 Dice set 39 Particularly fine acorn
15 Cook pots 40 Fake monkey's paw
16 Face paint 41 Small tin of gold teeth
17 Whistle 42 A crumpled note with a long list
18 Instrument of names; some are crossed out.
19 Quill & Ink 43 A ball of bright red yarn
20 Small bell 44 Smelling salts
45 Bag of dog/cat/horse treats
46-50 A random Lost Thing

Knave 12
PART I: CHARTING THE MARSHES
While recovering from your last adventure, a flyer appears from thin air and THE TWIST
sticks itself to a nearby surface with a wet splat. Then another, and another. The Meadows of the marsh slowly rotate around the Central Spire,
Soon, hundreds of flyers cover the nearby walls, furniture and even people! completing a full rotation every 24 hours. Driven mad by the eternal
When every surface is covered, the flyers begin to spread out over the rest of daylight, the Guardian of the Marshes is desperately attempting to set
the area. things right by rotating a section of the marsh.

Show the PCs the Flyer Handout (page 47). Any PC who tears off a The PCs will notice the rotation immediately since the edge of the
piece is transported to Azimech’s camp. Meadows rotates at 6ft per second (a fast walk). A deep groove has
been carved into the earth along the edge of the rotating section.
AZIMECH'S CAMP Like a giant split the earth with a cleaver as far as you can see in both
Azimech greets the party with excitement, exhaustion, and a little directions.
confusion. "Great! You came. I stumbled across this flaming disaster a This is the main challenge of Part I. How can they map a safe and
day or two ago. Or three, I don’t know. I’m trying to stop it, but I need reliable route through a flaming, spinning marsh? Any solution is
supplies and a bath and a copy of Novella Maptera. Where is everyone acceptable as long as Azimech receives detailed instructions that she
else? I thought… " can pass along to caravans traveling through the area.
She explains what's happened to the Marshes, and her own situation. If the PCs can fly/teleport, Azimech should stress that the route
A caravan of supplies is on its way with more scholars to help study they come up with must be useful from a “boots on the ground”
the calamity. But first, she needs a safe route charted through the perspective. “Flying across the marsh” isn’t possible for most traders
marshes for the caravans to follow. She’ll pay extra for notes on threats and scholars.
or valuable resources.

Several other adventurers start to pop into existence as more people GETTING LOST
discover and tear the flyers. She organizes groups and sends them off It will happen. When it does, remind the players that they can see
with various tasks, attempting to take command of the situation. the Spire from any hex; it’s the only landmark that can be seen from
anywhere in the marsh.

GOALS:
 Chart a safe route between [A]zimech’s Camp and
[K]ing’s City (Hexes A through K) and bring it back to Azimech.
 Bring a detailed record of any threats or valuable resources you
discovered. The more detail, the better!

REWARDS:
 200 coins for a safe path.
 30 coins for every recorded threat or detailed note about the hex.

13
AZIMECH muttering, “Where is that book. I know it’s around here
somewhere.”
Azimech was a terrible merchant. Unexpectedly put in charge of her
family’s business, she floundered. She was too “bookish” to maintain 2. Azimech is in her tent, loudly arguing with… no one? “I’m in
all the social connections required; too timid to engage in aggressive charge here! Yes! I’m in charge. You, sir… madam… are NOT in
negotiations; too disinterested to keep up with market trends and charge. I am. So we do it my way.” *Heavy sigh* “No one is going
fluctuations. It didn’t take long for the family name to crumble into to listen to me… ”
obscurity.
3. Azimech is excitedly lighting a fire with one gesture, and
Her only smart business decision was selling everything before she then putting it out with another gesture. “Look at this! I can
ruined it completely. This left her with a sizeable fortune, enough extinguish the flame without water. I just have to remove all the
to live comfortably in the city for the rest of her life. However if she air from-” *She then descends into a choking fit, gasping for air
was intimidated by markets and merchants, she was terrified of and stumbling around.*
mundanity.
4. Azimech is asleep, a book draped over her eyes. The spine is
To leave this life without ever making a mark? Leaving some kind of titled, “How to lead with confidence!”
Legacy? Unbearable. Azimech wanted her name to be remembered;
preferably for something positive and life-changing. Something 5. Azimech is drawing a map of the area out of empty hexes;
unrelated to coins and culture. Something…magical! She’d always preparing it for information. She asks the PCs if they have any
been interested in magic, for it rarely required human interaction and notes they can share. “Have you been here yet? What about this
respect was earned through knowledge, not social (or actual) capital. region?”

Allowing her “bookish” side to take over completely, she hired tutors, 6. She approaches the PCs, looking nervous. “Ummm… is there
purchased rare tomes, and enrolled in magical apprenticeships. much game around here? For food? How am I gonna feed
By the time she was finished she had depleted half her fortune and everyone?!” she asks, on the edge of panic and despair.
almost ALL of the city’s magical knowledge. She purchased a nice
carriage, some scrolls of camouflage, and a book about summoned
steeds. Perhaps in the next city she can use her knowledge and gain CONCLUSION
some recognition. The PCs must give the charted path in the form of directions (turn left
at the big tree, go until you come to the gulch, etc), and Azimech asks
Azimech arrived at the marshes just as the sun stopped setting. questions regarding the various topography and such. She rewards
Curious (and more than a little scared) she set up camp and began to them as promised, but there are consequences if the provided path
study the sun and nearby marshes. She started to form some theories isn't actually safe.
and realized that this is her chance.
The map shows some of the unsafe hexes that a caravan might have
Along the way she saw a pillar of smoke off in the distance. Curious, trouble with. Use your judgment when evaluating the path players
she stupidly wandered towards it, hoping to meet another traveller choose. Some “safe” hexes might have new threats or previous threats
who could provide directions. Instead, she found a spreading inferno removed.
consuming the edge of the marshes. While she searched her books for
some kind of water magic she realized that this could be her chance.  If the path provided goes through 1 unsafe hex, then cross out the
Spellbooks from the Caravan Inventory handout.
If she can prevent these fires, save the marshes, and head an  If it goes through 2 unsafe hexes, cross out the Spellbooks and
expedition… well, who knows where that could lead! Unfortunately, Armor sections.
there was little she could do about the blaze besides hide in her wagon  If it goes through 3 unsafe hexes, cross out the Spellbooks,
and prepare. She tried to sleep on the problem… but night never Armor, and Weapons sections.
came. The sun set and rose as it always has, but the sky never grew any  If it goes through 4 unsafe hexes, cross out everything but the
darker. Something weird is definitely going on. Weird, destructive, “Level Up” and “Selling Magic Items” sections.
and hopefully, magical!

If she can prevent these fires, save the marshes, and restore the sun
to its normal path... well, who knows where that could lead! She PART I AS A ONE-SHOT
refined her teleportation spell and sent out flyers to the last few If you wish to run Part I as a one-shot then:
towns she passed through, hoping to recruit some assistance. For
HER endeavour, that she would lead single-handedly. She could do it.  Do not check Random Encounters.
Almost certainly.  Ignore Mud Rules.
 Azimech gives a three-day time limit. "Don't dawdle!"
WHAT'S AZIMECH UP TO?
1. Digging through a large satchel filled with gold, jewellery,
etc. Oblivious to the flaunting of her wealth, she just keeps

Part I: Charting the Marshes 14

PART II: RETRIEVE THE VOLTCELL

A few days have passed since the end of Part I. Some scholars have teleported
in and some of the caravans have arrived! Hand the players the Caravan CONCLUSION
Inventory page and let the PCs purchase/sell items. After Azimech gets her hands on the VoltCell she and a bunch of
Azimech finds the PCs. “You did well with the charting; I need your help scholars carry it away excitedly and get busy studying it. She pays
again. Our studies have identified a strong source of power in the Marshes them whatever she agreed to.
within the same area you've already mapped. It will probably look like a large “Oh! And don’t go anywhere. Please? This is just the first clue in
gem or crystal of some kind. Find it and retrieve it for me. You will be properly stopping the daylight from burning up the marshes!”
compensated.” (She is referring to the VoltCell in the Meadows, but the PCs
may not have discovered it yet.) The party are free to explore the area. A few days later, Azimech will
catch up to them again (see Part III: Heart of the Marshes.)
If the PCs already have the VoltCell in their possession, she'll detect
it on their person instead! She asks to borrow it for study, promising
she'll return it within a day. If they refuse or haggle, she'll offer up to
300 coins. PART II AS A ONE-SHOT
If you wish to run Part II as a one-shot then use the same flyer-hook
If they still insist on keeping the VoltCell, she gives up with an as in Part I, but when they arrive another group has already helped her
exasperated sigh, but will try again in a couple of days. The longer map a safe path (A–>B–>Wait for safe Meadow hex–>Meadows–>wait
the party hold onto the VoltCell, the worse the marshes get. Every 8 hours–>L–>K). That group left as soon as they had their money, but
time they do, Azimech will attempt to appeal to their logic and ask to Azimech still needs help recovering the first VoltCell.
borrow the cell. Eventually, she will pay someone to steal the Cell from
the party. Although she does not want the party dead, the thieves she Additionally:
hires are of questionable morals and well-paid; they will not hesitate  Do not roll Random Encounters.
to injure or kill the party.  Ignore Mud Rules
 Azimech gives a 2-day time limit on recovering the VoltCell. “Not
GOALS: a moment to lose!”
 Recover the VoltCell from it's resting place in
VoltCell Boulder Half (page 34).
 Continue to map new dangers and discoveries.

REWARDS:
 300 coins for the VoltCell
 30 coins for every new recorded threat or useful resource.

15
PART III: HEART OF THE MARSHES
About a week has passed since the party arrived at the marshes. Azimech and this could be a great way to start a science-fantasy campaign. If
her team have studied one of the VoltCells. They have confirmed the VoltCell not, perhaps the alien race will return someday and thank them.
was the source of the spinning; furthermore, there may be more of the cells Regardless, Azimech rewards the PCs as above. The marshes return
underground. By retrieving another couple of these cells, Azimech believes she to normal, but the spire is gone; in it's place, a churning lake of
can ‘short out’ their power and return the sun to normal. floodwater and leftover silfer scraps remain…

Azimech demonstrates how the silfer works by submerging the VoltCell in a

large barrel of water. It immediately begins to boil. Soon all the water is gone
and the bottom of the barrel is warped and charred. She hands the party a PART III AS A ONE-SHOT
strange widget she claims will help them discover more of the VoltCells. If you wish to run Part III as a one-shot then use the same flyer-hook
as in Part I, but when they arrive someone has already retrieved the
“Take this detector with you. Remember, if you think you’ve found one of the first VoltCell for Azimech. She needs help recovering two more. Skip
VoltCells, immerse it in water, and it should reveal itself! Good luck!” the overland travel and just put them in the Spire, ready to head
deeper.
GOALS:
 Ignore tunnel flooding and random encounters.
 Bring at least 2 more VoltCells back to Azimech. There are a total of  Ignore Mud Rules.
five VoltCells in the marshes, and Azimech presently owns one.
 Continue to map threats and resources in the marshes.

REWARDS: MORE ADVENTURES

Your players have helped Azimech succeed in her campaign. Good
 200 coins per VoltCell recovered. work! The fires are dying, night finally falls on the Marshes, and
 30 coins for every new recorded threat or valuable resource. everything is getting back to normal. But there is still more to do! If
 Teleportation to any place the party care to name. your group wants to keep exploring, here are a few threads to dangle
in front of them.
TWISTS
The underground chambers and tunnels flood with the tides. More  Return all five VoltCells to the Vault. If all five are returned to the
details can be found on Regions & Hexes (page 23). Vault, it launches off to worlds unknown.
 Help Reed re-take the Cattail Bandits. Ever since she left, Jack
has ruled through fear and murder. Under Reed’s leadership the

CONCLUSION Cattails could thrive once again… maybe even team with Azimech
to find a better life on the right side of the law.
The five VoltCells are located at:  Help the Swurmp King. See [K]ing’s City (page 31).
 VoltCell Boulder Half (page 34)  Help the Swurmp Queen. See [Q]ueen’s Pavilion (page 32).
 Mud Pit (page 38)  Join Captain Agnes. See [D]umping Ground (page 29). It will
 Cavern (page 39) be a long journey, but Agnes needs all the help he can get!
 Lava Maze (page 41)  Restore Knochen’s eternal youth. If the rotating section of
 Vault Core (page 44) Marsh stopped out of alignment, Knochen (Page 34) will still
be cursed until things are set right.
If Azimech acquires three VoltCells, she shorts out the alien
technology and the marshes return to normal. She and the PCs might
never know about the Vault! She gives the party their reward, and
offers them a free teleport to anywhere they care to mention.

If the PCs remove the final VoltCell from the Vault Core (page 44),
every item of alien technology powers down. This restores the
marshes, but also floods the vault. Azimech offers 300 coin, plus
more for any information on the (now lost) Vault and its contents. She
would prefer to keep any VoltCells she has; if she has no money, she
will bargain with spells (Page 10) or Lost Things (Page 45).

If the PCs return all five VoltCells to the Vault, it is restored to full
power. The vault will engage thrusters and take off, leaving the PC's
planet behind! If the PCs tag along for the ride (willingly or otherwise)

Part III: Heart of the Marshes 16

CAMP INVENTORY
AZIMECH'S SUPPLIES OTHER TRADERS
"I don't have much left, but here's a list of what I can sell. If you need more, After the party have completed Part I: Charting the Marshes, more
please ask - but don't get your hopes up! As soon as the caravan arrives, we'll traders will begin to appear at the camp:
have more supplies… maybe even some books!"

# ITEM $ DESCRIPTION
15 Rations 7 Fit 2 per slot. Food for a day, sealed
OLD MIRE
against mud and water. Required to make A man who is as loud as he is large. Every item comes with a
camp. longwinded, extremely unlikely story. Sells his goods right off the
30 Torches 5 Fit 5 per slot. Each lasts 2 hours. Double as back of a huge turtle with a rickety cabin on top.
insect repellent when burned. Required
to make camp. SELLING ITEMS
2 Adventure 75 Collection of useful items. Takes up 5 When Old Mire sells or buys something (he will buy most items from
Pack slots. When you rummage through the the party) the value of the item is dependent on the name he proposes
pack pick an item from the list below.
it will have. The cost of items is generally made per syllable; the utility
Replace 1 Adventure Pack slot with that
or value of the item is secondary to what to name it.
item. Picking something that isn't on the
list requires GM approval and consumes
Players are encouraged to 'haggle' with Old Mire by proposing
2 uses.
ridiculously long names for items they wish to sell, while the trader
is likely to name it something simple and curt (or vice versa, when
ADVENTURE PACK ITEMS: buying items.)
* Air Bladder * Bear Trap * Bedroll * Bellows * Black Grease (3)
* Block & Tackle * Bottles/vials(2) * Bucket * Bag of Caltrops
* 2 Candles * Chain(10ft) * Chalk (10 pieces) * Chisel * Cookpot ALKINE
* Crowbar * Drill * Face Paint/Makeup * Fishing Rod & Tackle “Everyone needs salt...especially those who don’t think they do!”
* Glass Marbles * Glue (5 Uses) * Grappling Hook * Hammer
* Horn/SmallBell/Whistle * Hourglass * Incense (packet) Covered in layers of colorful cloth, Alkine speaks in a soft monotone.
* Iron Tongs * Ladder (10ft) * Large Sponge * Manacles The only way to get a rise out of Alkine is to waste good salt.
* Metal File * Small Silver Mirror * Nails (12) * Net * Oilskin Bag
* Padlock * Lockpick * 10ft Pole * Quill & Ink * Rope (50ft) * Sack * Saw
* Shovel * Soap * Iron Spike * Tar (Pot) * Personal Tent * Tinderbox BIRDY
* Twine (300ft) * Waterskin (empty, holds 2 days water) Birdy never speaks, but is surrounded by cages of colorful feathered
creatures. Pointing to a bird will elicit a trained description of the
item. Items noted overlead as being sold by birdy are referenced with
LEVELLING UP the appropriate bird the players need to point to; for example, if a
200 x (Current Level) coins player wanted to buy a dagger, they need to point to the Teeny bird.

Both Azimech and Old Mire (see overleaf) will provide PCs with the
means and facilities to level up. When you level up, roll a number of
D8s equal to your new level and keep the highest: this is your new
maximum HP. (If none of your rolls are higher than your current HP,
your maximum HP increases by 1 instead.) Additionally, raise the
bonus scores of 3 different abilities by 1 point each. You may not raise
any single score higher than +10.

A "level up" represents incremental improvements to your equipment

(better clasps, repairs, etc). Purchasing a level-up also demonstrates
that you acquired valuable items, either through guile, cleverness,
luck, or skill. This is simpler and easier than giving a dozen tiny
improvements throughout the course of play.

17
 ITEM FROM COST DETAILS

5 Lost Things Old Mire 25/s* Roll up 5 random lost things.

Spellbook Old Mire 50/s* (200) Minimum cost 200c. Roll a random spell or tell Old Mire what you're
looking for. Requests cost extra!

Packets of Salt Alkine 2 6 packets. Fills 1 slot. Preserves forever.

Rations + Packet of Salt Alkine 5 As Packet of Salt, plus 1 Ration.

Water Barrel + Packet of Salt Alkine 20 As Packet of Salt, plus a barrel of fresh water. Unsalted! Takes up 4
slots. Enough for 2 weeks' travel.

Adventure Pack + Packet of Salt Alkine 62 As Packet of Salt, plus 1 Adventure Pack.

Adventure Item + Packet of Salt Alkine 15 As Packet of Salt, plus 1 item (of your choice) from the Adventure Pack
list.

Nackle + Packet of Salt Alkine 50 As Packet of Salt, plus 1 Nackle: a small leathery creature. Winged but
can't fly higher than 5-6 feet. Loves sleeping on shoulders and eating
salt. (d4 damage, 10hp.)

Shield Birdy (Blue) 40 Armor +1, 1 slot.

Helmet Birdy (Red) 40 Armor +1, 1 slot.

Gambeson Birdy (Spotted) 60 Armor 12, 1 slot.

Brigandine Birdy (Loud) 500 Armor 13, 2 slots.

Chainmail Birdy (Halved) 1200 Armor 14, 3 slots.

Half Plate Birdy (Violet) 4000 Armor 15, 4 slots.

Full Plate Birdy (Huge) 8000 Armor 16, 5 slots.

Dagger/Cudgel/Staff Birdy (Teeny) 5 1d6 damage, 1 slot, 1 hand.

Spear/Sword/Mace/Flail Birdy (Striped) 10 1d8 damage, 2 slots, 1 hand.

Halberd/Warhammer Birdy (Shifting) 20 1d10 damage, 3 slots, 2 hands.

Sling Birdy (Black) 5 1d4 damage, 1 slot, 1 hand.

Bow Birdy 15 1d6 damage, 2 slots, 2 hands.

(Leathery)

Crossbow Birdy (Spiky) 60 1d8 damage, 3 slots, 2 hands.

Quiver of Arrows/Bolts (20) Birdy 5 20 arrows/bolts (buyers choice.)

(Whorled)

* Price is per syllable.

Camp Inventory 18
BESTIARY
MARSH CREATURES FIRE ELEMENTAL
Stats provided are for Knave but should be easy enough to convert to HD 0 (1HP), Armor 20, Damage d6 (plus fire, see below).
your system of choice. Unless noted otherwise, all ability bonuses are Fire Elementals are fierce competitors. When two elementals meet,
+0. Health is (5x)HD or rolling that number of d8s. they try to spread their own color of flames further and faster than
their fellows.

BONE SWARM Each turn spent near them inflicts d6-2 Damage. They are only
HD 2, Armor 12, Damage as current HP, split equally among all targets. vulnerable at their cores: a small golf-ball sized chunk of solid magic.
If struck, the core explodes, dealing d8 Damage to everything nearby,
A swarm of insect husks that feed on bone marrow. Each one is the and starting a large level 10 fire.
size of an acorn; a pinch of meat protected by a thin bone carapace.
SHAPE AND COLOR
“Death finally comes,
The buzzards pay their respects,  Pulsing sphere with dark blue flames.
The worms eat what’s left,  Pyramid of green fire.
And the swarm consumes the rest.”  Cube of red flames.
 Amorphous cloud of purple fire
Each turn they deal damage equal to their current HP split among all  Humanoid shape with grey smokey flames
nearby targets. Each successful attack against a bone swarm deals 1  Takes no form, appears like mundane flames that spread
damage. Cleverness and fire deal 2 damage. extremely quickly.

CATTAIL BANDITS
HD 2, Armor 10, Damage as weapon. STR+2, DEX+2, WIS+2.

“If we don’t bring Jack your water…he’ll take ours. It’s nothing
personal. Come with us quietly, and you won’t suffer.”

Once a thriving community, the Cattail Bandits have fallen on hard

times. The marshes are drying up, animals are fleeing the area,
travelers are rare, and water is scarce. Their newest leader has a
solution, one more terrifying than the original problem. Puddin Jack
has a spell that can extract fresh water from a corpse. He sends out
groups of bandits with a simple task: “Bring back fresh corpses, or I’ll
drain the water from one of you.” Their members can be identified by
the wrinkled skin and desperate thirst in their eyes.

Their cloaks make them invisible when hiding among the cattails.
Always describe them jumping out from a nearby group of cattails.
Bowstrings are unreliable with the humidity of the marshes, and SWURMP
swords spill too much valuable blood. HD 4, Armor 13, Damage d6/seal target.
They are equipped with: Mute Semi-sentient humanoids of mud, grass, and dirt. When left
 3 short spears (d6 Damage, thrown) to their own devices they attempt to imitate human society: creating
 Rope and Nets (trapped for 3 rounds; can be freed by another PC) mud castles, forming communities, domesticating animals, etc.
 Large Marsh Torch. Any missed attacks start a level 3 fire. If killed They want humans who will teach them human things. If refused,
the dropped torch starts a level 5 fire. they get forceful and will try to trap the PCs and carry them to King’s
 Heavy Staff (+2 Attack roll, d6 damage) City. Whenever a swurmp deals maximum Damage, it instead
 Shovel (d4 Damage. On a successful Attack, flings blinding mud) envelopes the PC in a muddy cast, paralyzing them. Another PC can
 Pack full of 3 rations, 3 gallons of water. Will run away and avoid free them on their turn with a successful STR Save.
combat.

19
They cannot speak but communicate with simple images and
emotions telepathically. “Can you help us build?” would look like:
Beavers building a dam, ants digging a tunnel, and two humanoid
figures shaking hands, exchanging money. When encountered
they want:

 Someone to teach them to build a wooden hut.

 To learn how to craft metal weapons.
 To learn how to plant crops and harvest them.
 To learn fighting and combat tactics.
 Help finding the Queen Swurmp.
 Incomprehensible. You have no idea what they want to learn.

TREANT
HD 12, Armor 14, Damage d10+2 (attacks with disadvantage)

Engulfed in flame, this Treant desperately searches for a deep puddle

to jump in. Any Damage it deals is unintentional as it flails around
wildly trying to douse itself. The Treant suffers 5 Damage at the
beginning of its turn.

Every 5 rounds, the Treant will start a level 10 fire unless it is killed or
doused. MUCKER WARRIOR
HD 3, Armor 11, Damage d6. STR+3, DEX+1, WIS-3, INT-3.
Simply getting near it invokes the fire rules (d6-2 Damage each turn).
Some of the first humanoids to be infected; two arms, two legs, a lean
torso… and no head. Where the head would be is instead a gaping

MUCKERS maw ringed with leech-teeth. Their hands have four evenly spaced
fingers with sharp talons. Muckers can sense their targets through
“They say those Muckers were once people. But I think humans were once body heat. Above ground that all have a -2 to Attack rolls because of all
Muckers! Sometimes the sun is so hot that I seriously consider rejoining them the heat. They feed by ripping off chunks of flesh and stuffing them
under the cool swamp.” into their head-hole.
All Muckers serve the Muckfish. They bring it food and infect others to
create more servants. MUCKER SHAMAN
HD 3, Armor 14, Damage d8. STR+1, INT+3.

MUCKFISH Recently infected humanoids. They could pass for fishy people but for
their mouths: always open and ringed with leech-teeth. They use their
The Muckfish is a leviathan-sized eel, swimming in the Cavern under webbed hands to cast several spells:
the marshes. As wide around as a school bus, it has no beginning or
end – the body just goes on forever. Sucker-mouths are studded all  Flood: water drains from nearby to flood the surrounding 40ft.
along its body, each mouth is a Mucker spawn inside the mother. It Creates a bubble of water that can be swum out of and escaped.
prefers to wrap around its meal, allowing the sucker mouths to feed.  Pluff Trap: Sprays thick mud on the target, which slowly hardens
like concrete over the next 3 rounds. Can be dissolved with fresh
water, otherwise like stone.
MUCKER CREATURES  Wave: A thin stream of scummy water spreads out from the
caster. d6 Damage + 15 ft pushback. Additional d6 Damage if
MUCKER SPAWN targets strike a surface.
HD 1, Armor 8, Damage d4.
Any other Attacks are magical in nature and deal d8 Damage. Note
Banana-sized eel bodies with leech sucker-mouths. They burrow these magical attacks don't inflict Mucker Disease (see below.)
through the mud and launch themselves towards PCs.
MUCKER BRUTE
HD 6, Armor 10, Damage d10. STR+3, CON+2.

In another 500 years, this 10ft long slug creature will grow into a
mature Muckfish. It tramples, knocks down, and tries to squeeze

Bestiary 20
 Silfer Automatons were crafted by ancient aliens to perform
simple tasks. Their silfer skeletons are worn and tarnished. Their
programming has decayed to the point of nonsensical tasks repeated
over and over. They are stupid and easily avoided or manipulated.

All the Automatons can be outrun without much difficulty. However,

unless the PCs work to distract or disable the Automatons, they will
eventually catch up. When the PCs flee or avoid an Automaton, write
down the current time. Add 8 hours. When that time comes, the
Automatons catch up in addition to whatever is currently going on.

Silfer Automatons cannot be damaged in the traditional sense.

Instead, they have a number of bones, and each successful Attack
dislodges a bone. When enough bones are dislodged the automaton
no longer functions well enough to be a threat.

targets. When reduced to 10 HP or less it goes berserk, attacking ANOMALO

whatever is nearest. Bones 8, Armor 13, Damage 0.

Roll: rolls through the passage trying to crush everything in its path: Like a large cuttlefish, its many fins aren’t large enough to keep it
d6 Damage to all in line.

Squeeze: tried to wrap up and constrict like a large snake. The initial
attack does no Damage but traps them. Next few turns deal d10
Damage with Advantage. STR/DEX Save to escape.

Berserk: Attack the nearest 3 targets, dealing d10 Damage to each.

MUCKER DISEASE
When a Mucker deals maximum Damage, no Damage is dealt but the airborne, but it floats around just the same. Anomalos attempt to
target is infected with Mucker Disease. The victim slowly mutates into perform scans on nearby living creatures. It scans by attaching to an
a Mucker over the next week or so. It can be cured with magic, or by appendage and broadcasting brief but intense radiation.
spending 4 hours submerged in freshwater. The Queen and Knochen The scan itself deals no damage, but it will apply the NUMB effect of
know of Mucker Disease and the cure. silfer. It only takes one turn to attach itself, scan, and unattach. Once
When a PC is infected, have them begin tracking days on their it scans a target it moves on to the next one. Each Anomalo will scan
character sheet: separately; e.g. a group of 3 will each want their own scans of a PC.

 1 Day: Sweat and breath smell terrible. Gills form behind ears 1. Scans head.
and under armpits. A victim can breathe underwater without 2. Scans right arm.
difficulty. Muckers will not attack them or bother them in 3. Scans left arm.
any way. 4. Scans right leg.
 2 Days: Fingers grow webbing, no penalties underwater. Weird 5. Scans left leg.
dreams of Muckfish, can’t sleep anymore. 6. Attempts to scan one finger (takes 5 rounds, awkward).
 3 Days: Can swim through the mud as easily as a human can
swim through water (penalties included).
 4 Days: Important memories fade.
 5-10 Days: The PC will forget their life entirely and become
consumed with serving the Muckfish.

SILFER AUTOMATONS
“If it glows, don’t touch it. If you can’t run away, just give it what it wants.
If you don’t know what it wants, stop moving, lie still, and hope you survive
whatever happens next.”

21
ARCHEO TRILO
Bones 5, Armor 5, Damage 0 . Bones 4, Armor 15, Damage (see below).

This bird has a silfer skeleton and is covered in artificial feathers. It Shaped like horseshoe crabs, silfer Trilos climb over things using
can be touched without consequence. many tiny hooked feet.

The Archeo seeks to Question and Record. It will follow the party, They are programmed to collect samples using a long silfer scoop
asking probing questions and recording their every moment. It asks that can extend from the center of its shell. Once it samples a target
questions about the character’s habits, motivations, and actions. it moves on to the next one. Each Trilo will sample separately; e.g. a
When asked questions in return it merely pauses for a moment, and group of 3 will each want their own samples from a PC.
then continues with its own interrogations, ignoring the PC.
Roll a d6 for different kinds of Trilos and what they attempt to sample:
Unless protected, it could be damaged in combat or other hazards.
If the PCs already have an Archeo with them, the two birds will 1. Weapon - Carried weapon deals -1 Damage until repaired.
immediately fight to the death. The survivor will continue traveling 2. Armor - reduced by 1 until repaired.
with the PCs as before. 3. Flesh - deals 1 Damage and numbs the affected extremity. Slices
out a marble-sized chunk of flesh.
IF AN ARCHEO IS IN THE PARTY: 4. Blood - Lowers max HP by 1. Recovered when you next sleep.
5. Sweat - No Damage, but will latch on to a PC for 10 rounds until
 PCs may give simple, one-word commands to Humanos that will it has collected enough sweat. If the PCs is active, it only takes 2
be translated and obeyed. rounds. NUMBS the affected extremity.
 PCs may choose what a Trilo samples from them. They MUST 6. Pack - A single, small item is taken (1 coin, 1 candle, etc).
sample something, but some control is possible.
 PCs may instruct an Anomalo which limb to scan. They MUST
scan something, but some control is possible.

| An Archeo will translate any alien messages into common speech. Don’t
{{{

read the text in these boxes unless the group has an Archeo to translate.
}}}

HUMANO
Bones 10, Armor 10, Damage d8 (with disadvantage).

A primitive humanoid form of silfer covered in short hairs. A beast of

burden, it seeks only to carry and serve.

They approach the PCs, hand extended. They won’t leave unless given
something to carry (at least 2 Slots worth, or 10 pounds). If the PCs
refuse to give them anything then the Humanos will try and take
something by force. Resisting them causes Damage each turn and
NUMBS the affected extremity.

Bestiary 22
REGIONS & HEXES
The marshes are made up of two areas: Above Ground split into hexes, and the Underground split into chambers and tunnels. The time-
keeping and travel rules can be a little “board-gamey”, but they exist to provide a framework for players to map and understand the world.
Whenever time passes, move the clock forward and roll for a Random Encounter. Players should keep track of the time openly so everyone
(including you) knows what time it is.

ABOVE GROUND
Time spent above ground is measured in 4-hour chunks. It takes 4 TRAVELLING THROUGH THE MEADOWS
hours to travel from the center of one hex to the center of an adjacent Whenever the PCs travel into or out of the rotating section (Meadows)
hex. For simplicity, assume most of the locations are near the center describe:
of each hex, and random encounters happen at the edges. Each hex is
about 10 miles across.  Deep grooves carved into the earth.
 The ground spinning clockwise, like a carousel, at the pace of a
Hexes are labelled using the first letter of each location. Location "A", fast walk.
for example, refers to Azimech's camp.  The destruction wrought by the split: boulders and trees ripped
in half; creatures' homes destroyed, disturbed water channels.

CAMPING
When the party settle in to camp, each PC must consume a ration and
the group must spend 4 torches to keep the bugs away. Then plan the
following:

1. Clear all mud from your Slots.

2. Refresh all spells.
3. Choose how to spend your 8 hours of camping time:
 Sleep 8 hours, recover 1D8+CON hp.
 Nap 4 hours, recover CON hp.
 Examine an item for 4 hours. No roll required, the GM will tell
you what you need to know about the item.
 Take a 4-hour watch. There's a 50% chance of encounter if nobody
is taking a watch.
4. Advance the clock 8 hours.
WHEN THE PCS TRAVEL TO ANOTHER HEX:
1. Move the Clock 4 hours forward. FIRE
2. Each PC must cover a Slot in Mud.
3. Roll for a random encounter (2D6) in the current area. During each turn taken near flames, a PC suffers 1D6-2 Damage.
Encounters happen on the way to the next hex. Firefighting: When a PC attempts to douse flames, they deal 1D6
4. Find the new hex description in this book, and narrate what damage to the fire and take damage as established. (Clever planning
happens next. (Bear in mind time or circumstances may have or using resources may increase/decrease the damage dealt or taken.)
changed this description; for example, it may already be burned.)
COMBAT
EXAMPLE
Roll 1D6. On a 4+, PCs go before enemies.
It is 4 am. The PCs are in hex “E” above ground. They decide to head down to
hex “I”. The timekeeper die is moved to 8 am. Each PC covers a slot in mud. On their turn, each PC can move up to 40ft and take a single action:
The GM rolls 2D6 and gets a 7. The GM consults the encounter table for the
Wetlands and describes the Mucker Spawn swarming the group. After they  Attack: Roll STR for melee or WIS for ranged. If above your
defeat/escape the awful creatures they continue their journey. The GM describes target's armour, deal damage.
their arrival in the [I]ndigo Flames (page 30) hex.  Cast a spell. Spell goes off as established; If you pass an INT save,
you keep the spell to cast again.
 Move another 40ft.
 Anything else the GM approves.

23
UNDERGROUND
Underground Time is measured in 2-hour chunks. It takes 2 hours SILFER
to travel the tunnels from one chamber to the next. Tunnels are not An alien metal that glows with a soft grey light. Silfer drains heat,
straight; they twist and corkscrew wildly. Flooded tunnels require boils water, and numbs limbs upon skin contact.
several stretches of underwater swimming, but don’t tell the PCs how
much—they won’t know until they take the plunge. Numb: All rolls involving the numbed limb are at disadvantage.
Numbness recedes after 4 hours.

TRAVEL TO ANOTHER CHAMBER

When the PCs decide to take a tunnel to another chamber:

1. Move the Clock 2 hours forward.

2. Each PC must cover a Slot in Mud.
3. Spend a torch.
4. Check the tunnel on the Flooding Chart below. If it’s dry then roll
for a random encounter. If it’s flooded, the PCs will have to swim.

Example: It is midnight, the PCs are in the Mud Pit chamber underground.
They decide to take the DOWN exit, the tunnels that lead down to the Cavern.
The GM advances the clock to 2am and each PC covers a slot in Mud. The GM
describes how the PCs arrive at a flooded section of the tunnel: “Who's ready for
a swim?”

The PCs drop whatever they can and dive in. The GM describes them
UNDERWATER swimming for one, two, three, four, and finally five turns before they break the
Every turn spent underwater fills a Slot. If all slots are filled, suffer surface. All of them had enough empty slots that none took damage. The water
1D6 damage each turn. All actions underwater (except swimming) also cleaned off any mud they might have had. The GM describes them coming
suffer Disadvantage, but going underwater clears all Mud from your to another flooded section. After a bit of groaning and praying, the PCs dive in
Slots when submerged. once again. The GM counts off one, two, three, four... (the players argue about
whether to continue forward or turn back. They decide to continue.) ...five, six,
CLIMBING seven turns, then they emerge from the water.
Climbing on a secure line does not require a roll. To secure a new Two of the PCs took a little damage from full slots, but they made it out mostly
line all PCs save—use the second highest result. Falling inflicts 1D6 unscathed. The GM describes the Cavern they’ve arrived at.
damage for every 10ft fallen.

FLOODING CHART
ROUTE 12 2 & 10 4&8 6
From the Spire to the Mud Pit 5 turns underwater Random Encounter

From the Sunken Keep to the Cavern 7 underwater, 5 underwater Random Encounter

From the Mud Pit to the Lava Maze 8 underwater Random Encounter

From the Mud Pit to the Cavern 5 underwater, 7 underwater Random Encounter

From the Lava Maze to the Vault 6 underwater Random Encounter

From the Cavern to the Vault 8 underwater, 9 underwater Random Encounter

Regions & Hexes 24

THE MARSHES, IN DETAIL:
A. [A]zimech’s Camp (page 29)
B. [B]aumgarten (page 29)
C. [C]attail Grove (page 29)
D. [D]umping Ground (page 29)
E. [E]dgewaters (page 30)
F. [F]laming Boat (page 30)
G. [G]eode Half (page 30)
H. [H]otBox (page 30)
I. [I]ndigo Flames (page 30)
J. [J]igsaw Tiles (page 31)
K. [K]ing’s City (page 31)
L. [L]anding Platform (page 31)
M. [M]oldy Skeleton (page 31)
N. [N]itric Lily Pads (page 31)
O. [O]il Fields (page 32)
P. [P]lentiful Painful Parasites (page 32)
Q. [Q]ueen’s Pavilion (page 32)
R. [R]iver Hills (page 32)

THE MEADOWS, CENTRE

Clockwise, from top-left:

 Knochen’s Home (page 34)

 Damp Cave (page 33)
 VoltCell Boulder Half (page 34)
 Dried Lake (page 33)
 Sunken Keep (page 33)
 Inferno (page 34)

CENTRE
The Central Spire (page 34) containing:

 Bleached Bones (page 35)

 Underground River (page 35) leading to the
Vault (page 43)
 Hole (page 35)
 Main Shaft (page 35)
 Pods (20ft) (page 35)
 Simulacrum (40ft) (page 35)
 Map room (60ft) (page 36)
 Containment (80ft) (page 36)
 Operations Center (100Ft) (page 36)
FOREST WETLANDS
IMPRESSIONS IMPRESSIONS
 Charred oak trees  Dried creek, loose wet mud and stones
 Thick smoke obscuring the ground  Wide rivers and lakes (1-6 feet)
 Tangle of exposed roots  Scattered islands of dirt (5-10ft above water level, 50 square feet)
 Yellow flowers on a white tree  Tall yellow reeds breaking above the murky water
 Packed dirt, solid ground  Clumps of cattails, charred and dry
 Occasional puddle, river  Submerged mossy logs, break apart when stepped on
 The leaves rustle from a dry warm breeze  Mosquitoes buzz and swarm
 Shade protects from the heat  Razor-sharp oyster beds glistening in the sun, and more hidden
 Bright blue sky beneath the mud.
 A burning tree (level 6 fire)

ENCOUNTERS
ENCOUNTERS After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick
After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick another encounter or make up your own.
another encounter or make up your own.
2D6 ENCOUNTER
2D6 ENCOUNTER A submerged stone foundation with a cellar trapdoor.
A green Archeo flits through the trees, asking questions. 2-3 When opened the water floods into the cellar, destroying 3
2-3 This Archeo asks questions about their daily habits. “What is spellbooks and covering 4 Lost Things.
that book you’re reading? Why do you sleep in a cloth cage?” A Mucker Brute launches from the shallow water like a
A level 9 blaze has started in a small clearing. A nearby river
4 dolphin, ambushing the players.
4 offers easy access to water. A “solid” patch of ground gives way, dumping all PCs into the
Five Bandits dragging a Mucker Brute corpse along the 5 water. A vulnerable item is damaged and 3 slots are covered
ground. They try to convince the PCs to join them for “trade with mud.
5 and friendship!” They are not looking for a fight and will A group of d8 Bandits appear from a nearby group of
continue on their way if the PCs refuse.
6 cattails, assaulting the PCs. In the knee-deep water, all
There are eight Bandits sleeping under a weeping willow. A movement speed is halved.
6 smoldering campfire has just started a level 2 fire. D10 Mucker Spawn attack the PCs. They leap from under a
A nearby tree catches fire, and it gets up and begins to lurch dried patch of mud in an attempt to latch on to the players.
7 around. A Treant.
7 If they miss, they tunnel down through the mud only to leap
again.
Two fire elementals are rushing through a grove of trees,
trying to light more trees than their competitor. When the A doused Fire Elemental crawls from the water. With its last
8 PCs arrive, there are three level 2 fires burning in addition to flicker, it asks the PCs to toss its core in a large fire. Rewards
the two elementals.
8 with a fire-related spell. Azimech will also pay handsomely
for a core.
Three Trilos scatter from the branches above and drop down
9 onto the PCs. A broken Humano stands in a shallow lake. The water
nearby boils, the heat ignites cattails, and a cloud of smoke
Two Swurmps have trapped a Bone Swarm in a large dome 9
10 of mud. They want help taming these creatures.
and steam obscures the area. The Humano is carrying a
large Silfer Lost Thing.
A Lost scholar teleports into the area. Asks for directions. “I
A bed of oysters submerged under the loose mud. Deals
11-12 can pay you to escort me safely!” Will award the group with
d6 Damage to any who walk through it. No matter which
two random spellbooks.
10 direction the PCs go from here, they will encounter three
more beds unless they travel slowly and carefully (adding 4
hours to the clock).
A small silfer box is submerged under a foot of water. Boils
11-12 and bubbles like a forge. Contains two Lost Things.

27
BRAMBLES PLUFFS
IMPRESSIONS IMPRESSIONS
 Clouds of floating ash swirl into mouths and eyes  Thick salty humidity
 Burning shrubs and grass  Long expanses of nothing but mud and shallow grass
 Wild thorny brambles, charred and barren  Short, dry, yellow grass catches fire easily, spreads quickly
 Occasional muddy puddles keep the flames at bay  Dried cracked tile surface with 3-4 feet of soft pluff mud below
 Patches of bare earth covered in ash or short brown grass  Scorched earth, burned grass, muddy ash
 Very little shade, wide open spaces  Occasional barren tree or small island
 High visibility; ambushes are difficult

ENCOUNTERS
After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick ENCOUNTERS
another encounter or make up your own. After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick
another encounter or make up your own.
2D6 ENCOUNTER
Three Swurmp work together to try and make a large tower, 2D6 ENCOUNTER
2-3 but it keeps falling over. They want help making it higher A small fire has started (level 7.) It spreads quickly among
than 20ft. 2-3 the grass, and the mud is so dry it’s nearly dirt.
A burning Treant tries to douse itself in mud, but the mud is D8 Bandits arguing about who Pudding Jack will sacrifice
4 already too dry. 4 next. When they see the PCs they are relieved. “Maybe we
D6 Bandits fleeing Puddin Jack’s wrath. When they meet found some water after all… ”
the PCs they beg for help and water, honest in their desire A group of five Bandits (AC: 11, HP: 10, Dam: 1d6) is fleeing
5 to leave. In the middle of their pleas d8 hostile bandits 5 a large Bone Swarm (HP: 20). They run to the PCs and ask
ambush the PCs and the “traitors”. for fire.
Maze of Brambles. The PCs have gotten into a tangle of A bed of oysters submerged under the muddy water. Deals
6 thorns. They can carefully retrace their steps, costing them d6 Damage to any who walk through it. No matter which
another 4 hours, or suffer d6 Damage pushing through. 6 direction the PCs go from here, they will encounter three
D8 Bandits arguing about who Pudding Jack will sacrifice more beds unless they travel slowly (add 4 hours to the
7 next. When they see the PCs, they are relieved. “Maybe we clock).
found some water after all… ” Three Swurmps (AC: 16 HP: 45 Dam: d8) have trapped a
Six Mucker Warriors flee two Anomalos. Half of the Muckers 7 group of four Bandits in mud, and want to know how to best
8 are numbed from the Anomalo. carry them back to the King’s City.
Four Bandits are standing perfectly still in a clearing while Six Mucker Warriors and one Shaman battle a Fire
8
9 two Anamolos and two Trilos crawl over them doing scans. Elemental. Despite the humidity, a level 7 fire burns bright.
“Don’t move fellas, better to just suffer their gaze.” Three Swurmp are lost. They want help finding their way to
A small watertight trunk covered in thick, thorny branches.
9 the King’s City.
10 Contains six rations, a random spellbook, and an incorrect Two Fire Elementals stand atop a 10ft column of hardened
map of the surrounding area. 10 mud. They are competing to bake the mud into stone. Two
Three Fire Elementals trying to create a simple structure of level 3 fires have started.
wood. They keep stacking up wood and accidentally setting The Last Heron [large, majestic, white silver, slight glow]
11-12 it on fire, leading to groans and jeers from the others. Three Blesses the oldest PC. That character immediately knows
level 4 fires have started. 11-12 about all surrounding hexes, but can’t talk for the next 24
hours. It flies away, never to return.

Bestiary 28
 HEXES (A–I)
[ AZIMECH’S CAMP
]
AT MIDNIGHT
Wagon [small, packed with supplies, shoddy] Halved Weeping Willow [split from top to bottom, bright pink leaves,
Faded tent [simple, in disrepair, overflowing with papers and books] shade brings cool breeze]
Large flat stone in clearing [covered in maps, notes and books] Bright foliage [green grass, lemon trees, berry bushes]
Azimech [well-worn clothes, grey hair in disarray, singed eyebrows, Fresh garden [well-tended]
frantically running from one side to the other checking notes, moving At Midnight this hex and Knochen’s Hut connect, completing his
books, never stops moving] garden. Anything that comes from the garden is ripe and fresh
She has a few supplies for sale and will help the PCs however she can. between Midnight and 4 am. At any other time, it is rotted and foul.

CAMP CONFLICT BURNED

By default, the camp is the closest thing to civilization the PCs will Charred Willow [Still glows with embers, burned garden remains]
find in the Bone Marshes. It makes sense that this should be a safe, The spell has been warped and twisted by the flames. Anything carried
quiet place to rest and resupply. away re-ignites with flames between midnight and 4 am.
But if you want to make things a little messier, here are some conflict- At Midnight, the flames emerge again. The entire hex is consumed
ridden encounters for when the PCs return to camp: with raging bonfires.
 Azimech has lost an important book. Everyone in the camp is
ordered to help search; no trade or rest until the book is found!
Grumbling and complaining ensue, especially when it turns out [ CATTAIL GROVE
]

it's in the satchel she's wearing. Cattails [tall fuzzy reeds, grouped close and thick, rising 4 feet above
the warm water]
 A group of heavily armed mercenaries argue with her about their
pay. "We want it all up front! That's only fair!" Azimech refuses to A grove of cattails covers most of this hex. This is a favorite ambush
pay them anything at all until the work is done. Things are about spot of the Cattail Bandits since their cloaks make them invisible
to get nasty. among the drifting cattails. An ambush always occurs whenever the
PCs pass through here. The cattails are also quite dry; fire spreads
 Another group returns to camp, one of their own badly burned. more quickly here than most places. Double the starting health of
Azimech clears a bunch of books off a large table and starts any fires.
shouting orders, trying to create a makeshift infirmary. She's
obviously out of her depth and doesn't really know how to help. BURNED
 Azimech mentions that she has "plenty of gold to pay everyone" Cattail Stems [the rest have burned away] Scattered Puddles [rest has
rather loudly during a private conversation. Rumors spread, and evaporated] Still-burning Fires [especially near groups of cattails]
by the time the PCs arrive several people have decided to just take
what they want. With the cattails burned away, all ambushes are ineptly executed.
Bandits can be seen trying to slink through short burned stalks,
 A group captures a Cattail Bandit. The bandit looks around in crouching awkwardly and exposed among a charred landscape. Some
disbelief at all the water-fat victims in the camp, not to mention have even gathered cattails from elsewhere, trying to piece together a
the money and supplies. She will say whatever Azimech wants to laughably ineffective camouflage.
hear in order to escape and report to Puddin Jack.

 Another scholar loudly insults Azimech to her face and claims

that HE should be the leader. A few members of the camp voice [ DUMPING GROUND
]

their support for the loud-mouthed nerd. Division spreads. Abandoned Boats [dozens of boats, all shapes and sizes, scattered
hundreds of feet apart, some metal, some rotted wood, a few that look
like skeletons, all cracked or broken]

[ BAUMGARTEN
]

A loud rushing noise fills the air, like a waterfall. A portal opens about
Halved Rotting Willow [split from top to bottom, bare bone-white 50 feet in the air, dumping tons of water, fish, and a large wooden
branches, long dead] galley. It crashes into the earth, splitting in half and spilling cargo and
Abandoned garden [thorn bushes, overgrown stone walkway, broken crew in every direction.
statues, rotted fruit trees]
Captain Agnes is a blowhard and a fop, but his crew tolerates him
Anything that comes from the island is ripe and fresh between because he’s good in a fight and doesn’t take a cut of their earnings
Midnight and 4 am. Any other time, it is rotted and foul. (he’s already rich). He asks the PCs for directions to “a decent place to

29
sleep”, treating them like peasants the entire time. He also demands This half of the boulder does not contain the VoltCell. The other half is
that they safely escort him and his crew. He offers to reward them in the Meadows (Page 33). At midnight the two halves connect and
with something from his cargo (fine rugs, spices, tea, and citrus the cycle starts again.
fruits). Eventually, he takes most of his crew and heads off to toward
Azimech’s camp, leaving about eight men to guard the ship and BURNED
supplies. The flames have mostly receded. Ashes and smoke fill the air, small
scattered fires still burn. The runes on the boulder are burned away
BURNED and smudged.
Burned Boats [some still burning, thick wood glows hot]

The wet ship was mostly protected from the flames, but much of
Agnes’ crew is burned and injured. They decide to abandon the ship, [ HOTBOX
]

grab whatever they can carry, and head off towards Azimech’s Camp. Large Silfer Container [size of a bus, overgrown, half sunk into mud]
They will catch a ride back to civilization with one of the caravans. Small Opening [a couple of feet wide, darkness inside]

The remaining supplies are mostly good, several hundred pounds of

valuables. Azimech wouldn’t care, but some of the merchants at camp
| Welcome Strangers/tourists/merchants. Please avoid this box and do not
{{{

listen/obey/heed to anything the VEXKTNED has to say. Do not feed the

might pay for it (as would the Cattail Bandits.) VEXKTNED. }}}

Trapped inside this box is an ancient creature that feeds on darkness

and death. The sunlight has starved the VEXKTNED. It is hungry, and
[ EDGEWATERS
]

death is much easier to come by these days. It uses its voice to lure
Saltwater Shoreline [the Great River heads off in both directions] creatures nearby so they will kill one another.

An empty canoe can be seen floating down the river, towards the PCs. Every time the PCs pass by, the VEXKTNED has summoned four
It’s on the far side of the bank (75 ft away), and moving steadily. If Bandits, five Mucker Warriors, or a Bone Swarm. If the VEXKTNED is
recovered, contains a Lost Thing and a two Trilos desperate to sample freed it immediately flees to the Spire to seek darkness, and kills the
something. Guardian.

BURNED BURNED
Burned Beach [Fires ran right up to the edge of the shoreline] Four Flames and heat have finally killed the creature within. If the PCs can
Bandits [searching the shoreline] somehow break open the box they find three Lost Things (page 45).

The Lost Thing in the canoe belonged to one of the Bandits. If the PCs
agree to hand it over the Bandits reward them with two other Lost
Things, otherwise they continue searching. [ INDIGO FLAMES
]

Bubbling Mud [stench, hissing noise of gas escaping]

Bursts of Blue Flame [Set off by torches, heat from the sun]

[ FLAMING BOAT
]

The bursts of flame in this area are avoidable providing torches are
Abandoned Boat [pale dried wood, dirty mainsails burn bright, the doused and the PCs take care to move slowly. Traveling safely through
deck of the ship gives off thick black smoke] Dry Grass [for miles in this hex take 8 hours instead of 4, otherwise, they suffer 3D6-6
each direction around the boat, water is scarcer here than the rest of Damage during the journey.
the wetlands]
BURNED
The large blaze is just beginning to spread, level 15. If PCs can put it
out, two Lost Things inside. A huge explosion has destroyed most of this hex, leading a smoking
crater of noxious fumes and scattered fires. Impassable.
BURNED
Boat Ashes [only the suggestion of a boat remains]
Burned Grass, Dried Mud [much of the water has evaporated]

[ GEODE HALF
]

Large Boulder [split in two from top to bottom, hollow center

contains purple crystals]
Strange Runes [primitive map, circles, sun imagery]

Bestiary 30
 HEXES (J–R)
[ JIGSAW TILES
]
did its job admirably. It’s hardened like a rock and will take several
hours of digging to penetrate.
Dried Mud Tiles [various shapes and sizes, scattered like icebergs]
Islands of Grass and Cattails [solid to stand on, spread between
the tiles]
[ LANDING PLATFORM
]

The sun has baked the top layer of mud into a mostly-solid surface. If Silfer Platform [almost as large as the entire hex, covered in thin layer
the PCs keep moving at a quick pace and stay spread out the ground of mud, some parts reflect brightly]
will hold them. If the PCs stop for any reason (to rest, fight, consult
the map) the top layer cracks, spilling them into the soft layer below. The PCs may not realize what they are standing on until someone falls
Cover 5 slots with mud. or is knocked over. At which point the numbing will take effect.

There are scattered islands of grass that are safe for resting. BURNED
The flames have dried up most of the mud, leaving the gleaming
BURNED metal surface brightly reflecting the sun. Difficult to see through the
Fire rolled over this hex, whipping and hardening the mud into sharp blinding light, and normal silfer rules apply.
spikes, drops, and hectic landscapes. No mud rules when traveling
through this hex, instead simply deal 2D6 Damage to the PCs (this
damage cannot reduce them below 3HP). [ MOLDY SKELETON
]

Silfer Skeleton [dull silfer bones, a huge ancient water dinosaur

skeleton, half submerged in mud and algae]
KING’S CITY
A long fin/hand moves slightly, rotating around. It always points
[ ]

Several Dozen Small Mud Domes [piles of mud hollowed out and
hardened] toward the Geode Other Half.
Dozens of Smaller Swurmps [Piling mud for new huts, digging
channels, wandering around aimlessly] BURNED
Vendors [pies, mud weapons, a bustling marketplace of mud, they The flames have mostly receded. Ashes and smoke fill the air, small
sell everything listed on the Caravan Inventory, but it’s made of solid scattered fires still burn. The skeleton is purified by the flames and
mud, and they only take mud coins] sparkles brightly. Cleansed of the gunk and the algae it lifts free of
King Swurmp [Sitting on a throne in the center square, humanoid the ground and begins to burrow through the mud below. Draw a
mud ooze, oyster-mail armor, crown of tall cattails, cape of moss, staff new tunnel from this hex leading directly down to the Vault. It never
of bone-white tree branch] floods, but use the Vault encounter table.

This is the Hex the party need to chart a passage from for
Part II: Retrieve the VoltCell.

The King Swurmp paces back and forth nervously. “She’s gonna get
herself killed! How could she do this to me?” He seems to meld with
the mud, and then separate again with each step. The King explains
to the PCs that the Queen has grown frustrated with his failed
attempts to stop the daylight. “I thought for sure the Squirrel Force
would succeed. Please find my Queen and help her get back safely. I’m
worried that she may be lost and frightened.”

If the PCs have convinced the Queen to return, he thanks them and
rewards each one with a random spellbook, soggy but functional. If
the Queen refuses to return, he gives them each a Lost Thing for their
effort and vows to save the marshes without her help. “I must restore [ NITRIC LILY PADS
]

my throne. Can you bring me the Guardian? Alive or dead is fine. It’s a Large Lily Pads [each hundreds of feet across, scattered around the
shadowy beast with flaming claws. You can’t miss it.” entire hex, like a dangerous, invisible maze]

BURNED These lily pads have sucked all the oxygen out of the surrounding air,
A large dome of mud was erected to protect the King’s City. leaving only nitrogen. Torches go out, smaller creatures perish, etc.
Everything around it burned and broken by the flames, but the dome

31
Crossing each lily pad hex takes several minutes at a dead run and As above, but half of the mosquitoes are on fire and still somehow
fills 3 slots as the PCs lose oxygen. Slots empty when they enter a alive. 2 Damage for every hour spent in this hex.
non-lily hex.

BURNED [ QUEEN’S PAVILION

]

The grass and area nearby it burned, but the fires went out when they Large Mud Pavilion [half-finished, roof of yellow grass, white flowers
got close to the pads from lack of oxygen. growing out of the walls, clean solid mud floor]
Dozens of Animals [small birds, raccoons, rats, lizards, all help build
and decorate the pavilion]
OIL FIELDS Queen Swurmp [crown of cattails, robe of red mushroom caps, vest of
white flowers, a single ruby embedded in her forehead]
[ ]

Pools of Water [numerous small pools of water, some dark black]

Rainbow Reflection [surface of the dark black water] The Queen immediately begins giving orders and making requests
While most of the pools are salty muckwater, some are mixed with of the players. She is friendly but assumes compliance. “Hand me
the large oil deposits underground. Not only would this be a valuable that stick, would you? Also, I need a bundle of reeds for this section
resource to Azimech, but Jack would also find a use for all of this oil. of roof.” She will keep giving orders as long as the PCs follow them.
Some of the pools are darker than others, and following the darker If they object or interrupt, she slumps down and sits, tired and
pools will lead to the primary oil vein. frustrated.

The Queen orders the players to find the source of this constant
BURNED daylight. The king doesn’t have any idea what to do, and Jack’s
All the oil has burned away. The heat and intensity turned this entire methods are distasteful.
hex into a charred, flat plane of mud.
If the PCs bring her a VoltCell she can examine it and move the
adventure forward just as Azimech would. She pays in Lost Things.

[ PLENTIFUL PAINFUL PARASITES

]

If the daylight is stopped, she rewards them with Lost Things and has
Dry Salty Marsh [tall grass, no wind, thick salt smell] Hungry several other tasks to assign them:
Cloud of Mosquitoes [size of peanuts, PCs can’t rest, the bugs get
everywhere]  Drive out the bandits from the keep.
 Find a way to restore the Guardian.
The parasites–mosquitoes and similar–are particularly vicious. They  Collapse the Mucker tunnels.
cloud around the PCs and resist being dispersed by the usual methods
(fire, magic, etc). Any exposed skin is vulnerable. Every hour spent BURNED
here inflicts a single point of Damage. Charred Mud Pavilion [broken columns and roof]
Burned Mud Box [about 10ft high, 10ft wide, no opening]
THIRD VISIT Muffled Crying [coming from the box]
On their third trek through the trail of mosquitoes becomes obvious.
It’s clear they are coming from a central source. Following the trail The Queen trapped herself in the Mud Box to avoid the flames, but
takes another 2 hours, eventually they arrive at: the mud has turned hard as stone. If freed, she is extremely grateful
and begs for water. She drops her authority and bearing, asking the
Mud Pool [50ft wide, waste deep] PCs in desperation what she can do to help. Azimech would definitely
Eggs [size of apples, grey, floating on the water] welcome her assistance and knowledge of the marshes.
Mucker Shaman [5 eyes, twice as tall, four hands]

This Shaman is breeding mosquitoes that obey its commands. As soon

as it notices the PCs the eggs hatch and the air is filled with hundreds [ RIVER HILLS
]

of angry bugs. The Shaman has stats and abilities as a standard Green grass, green trees [just starting to yellow]
Mucker Shaman (Page 20) but the PCs additionally suffer 1 Damage Almost Dry Rivers [small streams, evidence of larger rivers in past]
from the stinging bugs every round until they find a way to destroy or
distract the insects for good. BURNED
Burned grass, trees [Smoke and ash]
When the Shaman is killed, the mosquitoes scatter, effectively Dry Rivers [cracked mud bed]
eliminating them as a threat.

BURNED
Cooked Pluff Mud [burned, rotten smell]
Thick Smoke [no wind, low visibility, hard to breathe]

Bestiary 32
MEADOWS

SUNKEN KEEP
The Sunken Keep (Page 37) is where Puddin Jacks' Bandits have
made their home.
IMPRESSIONS
 The entire Meadows rotate at a brisk walking pace. Trees along BURNED
the edge shudder and shake Roaring fires [scattered throughout the fortress]
 A deep groove carved into the earth between the Meadows and Running Bandits [scattered, yelling, tossing water]
the rest of the marshes. (Highlight this every time they pass by.)
 A strong warm breeze throughout, thanks to the rotation. Puddin Jack has formed a smaller version of the castle out of mud,
 Spinning and shifting shadows. and stomps around furiously, angry they are wasting water fighting
 Elements from all areas blended together. Stretches of mud the flames. He threatens to drain their water if they can’t get the
mixed with clumps of trees, interspersed with dried rivers and flames under control. Orders the PCs to help as well.
burning bushes.

ENCOUNTERS
After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick
another encounter or make up your own.

2D6 ENCOUNTER DRIED LAKE

'Dead' Crocodile [40 feet long, ridges above mud, stench]
A yellow Archeo hovers above the grasses, asking questions.
Shallow Lake [mostly dried, mud still soft]
2-3 This Archeo asks questions about the world and its history.
“Who rules here? Where is the closest city? What is it like?”
Despite appearances, this crocodile is very much alive. It waits,
Three Humanos approach carrying three small silfer boxes. completely still until players approach, then attacks.
4 Each box contains a Lost Item.
“Dead” Crocodile: HD 13 (65HP), Armour 10, Damage 1D10-2
A level 9 blaze has started up, three burned Mucker Corpses
5 nearby and a single Anomalo.
Giant crocodile, as long as a school bus. Can thrash and Attack
Two Trilos skitter along the ground, looking for something to multiple targets. Attacks quickly, travels slowly.
6 sample.
A recently dead Treant has left a level 8 blaze behind. A bone BURNED
7 swarm is also nearby but avoids the fire. The lake has dried up. The crocodile is actually dead - the skin is clearly
Two Anomalos attach themselves to a submerged tree in charred and burned off in places.
the middle of a river. When they attach to the wet branches
8 the silfer heats up and the tree bursts into flames. It tries to
shake off the Anomalos, but only douses them in more water,
heating things up further.
A single Mucker Shaman swims in a deep river. It summons 20
9 Mucker Spawn from the river to Attack the PCs and launches
spells from the safety of the water.
A Mucker Shaman is healing a Warrior with parts from several DAMP CAVE
10 mucker corpses. The resulting Frankenstein creation (35HP, 8 Charred Marsh [ash crunch, glowing stumps]
AC d10 Damage) moves at half speed. Tunnel [side of hill, damp, cool air, dark],
A trail of flaming footprints leads towards the central spire, Pool of Water [cool clean, about d100 gallons of fresh water]
11-12 and into the top of it.
BURNED
This hex was already burned recently. Ash can’t burn.

33
 BURNED
The Guardian stands outside the entrance. It successfully defended
the Spire from the blaze, but its shadow is filled with holes and it
looks weak. It dissolves into ash.

VOLTCELL BOULDER HALF

Boulder [halved, purple crystals]
Strange Runes [primitive map, rings, sun imagery]
Shadowy Field [VoltCell sealed inside the boulder]

The VoltCell - source of the marshes' rotation and the goal of KNOCHEN’S HOME
Azimech's second quest (Part II: Retrieve the VoltCell) lies here. It can Hut [dilapidated, falling apart, charred walls]
be removed with fire or help from a more powerful party (perhaps Rotting Willow [split from top to bottom, bone-white, long dead]
Azimech, the Queen, or the Guardian.) As soon as the VoltCell is Rotting Garden [yellow grass, barren trees, thorn bushes]
removed, the rotation stops. Old Druid [AKA Knochen; gaunt and pale]
The second half of the boulder is in Geode Half (Page 30). When the Knochen moves slowly and carefully as if he could die at any moment.
boulder halves connect at midnight, the rotation begins anew with a In broken English, he speaks “Please young saplings, though the
flash of pale light. marshes burn there is still hope.” He gives them a small blue stone.
“Toss this into a body of water, and I can draw from it to protect my
BURNED home.”
Fire has dissipated the field protecting the VoltCell. It can be
removed without difficulty. As soon as the VoltCell is removed, the Knochen used to have a spell over this hex and the Baumgarten
rotation stops. (Page 29) that kept both himself and the plants young, ripe and
beautiful.

While he is old he acts kindly, but when young he reverts to his cruel,
mean self. He only cares about connecting his garden and stopping
the spinning so he can renew his enchantment.

AT MIDNIGHT
Halved Weeping Willow [shades area, bright pink leaves]
Bright Foliage [green grass, lemon trees, berry bushes]
INFERNO Young Druid [AKA Knochen; young and cruel]
Raging Flames [tall, hot, impassable]
At midnight this hex and Knochen’s Hut connect. He turns back into a
This entire hex has been burning for weeks but never seems to die cruel, young man, and his garden ripens once again.
down. If they can somehow get to the center of the hex, they find an
open portal to the plane of fire, spilling out flames and elementals. BURNED
If the PCs have left the gem in a water source, Knochen's spell works
and he can keep the flames from spreading. He will offer his thanks
and a random spellbook as a reward.

Otherwise, the tree and hut are both ablaze and Knochen is missing.
The hex is impassable.

CENTRAL SPIRE
Rock Spire [towering, misshapen stone]
Cave Opening [leads into the spire]

The Central Spire (Page 35) can be seen from any high ground.

Bestiary 34
CENTRAL SPIRE PODS (20FT)
The crusted overgrown top-half of an ancient alien structure. Can be Dark Room [contrasts with the bright lights everywhere else]
seen from anywhere in the Marshes. Several Dozen Pods [7ft long, Packed tightly along the walls, most are
still closed with dim, flickering lights]

BLEACHED BONES All the pods save one are sealed tight. The last is closed, but unlocked.
The frozen corpse of a 7' tall, five winged humanoid covered in grey
Bones [picked clean, bright white, carefully arranged in bizarre feathers lies within the unsealed one. A small silfer datapad blinks
shapes and piles] with a red glow. When it comes in contact with bare skin, it NUMBS
Flaming Footprints [leading deeper] it, then plays this message:
The Guardian Spirit has collected the bones it finds in the marsh and
brought them to the entrance. Memorial or collection? It's hard to say. | The wings/engines/fins of the structure are broken. We will not join our
{{{

brethren and fly the stars. The others will never realize my failure, and will
die with peace. I am not so lucky. Powering down. }}}

UNDERGROUND RIVER
Ripples [noisy, splashing] SIMULACRUM (40FT)
Pools [shallow] Flickering Blue Field [covering the entrance, glimpses of trees inside
The underground river is shallow, but strong. The current leads down between flickers]
to the Mud Pit (page 38).
| Present your identification/pad/tablet to enter the recreation simulation.
{{{ }}}

Please enjoy your stay. If you have any queries, please call for assistance.

HOLE If the PCs carry the silfer pad from Pods, they will be able to pass
Exposed Silfer Bulkhead [tarnished, dusty, cold to touch] through the Flickering Field. Otherwise, they will have to time their
Cut Hole [burned, melted along edges, narrow] jump through the field just right (DEX Save) or the field knocks them
backward into the main shaft. The fall is at least 40 feet, unless a party
A hole has been dug into the ceiling exposing a silfer surface. The hole member catches them.
continues past the bulkhead deep into a large silfer cavern.
Inside the room is a perfect simulation of what the Marshes looked
like millions of years ago: lush green trees, huge ferns, beautiful skies,

MAIN SHAFT and so on. The simulation is so perfect that any marsh denizen could
live here happily.
Silfer Floors [smooth, cold, dusty, numbing effect]
Vertical Shaft [100 feet, few handholds, smooth surfaces] As soon as they get more than five feet from the entrance, it vanishes.
Scorched Footprints [clawmarks, burns, melted, leading up] It can only be summoned by an Archeo translating their pleas, or if
Muddy Prints [webbed feet, from a dozen or so creatures leading up] someone from the outside activates the door. (If you want to go easy
Rubber-coated Things [Like sideways benches every 10 feet scattered on your players, then you can say the door opens for 5 minutes once a
up the sides of the shaft] day at random intervals.) The PCs will have to survive here for a while.
Five Open Rooms [each 20 feet higher along sides of the shaft] A few creatures they can bump into:
Engravings [stars and bird-like creatures, move and shift across
the walls] 4 FlapLeathers (HD 2, Armor 14, Damage d4+2). A gigantic cross
between a mosquito and a pterodactyl. Absolutely terrified of fire,
Each room is actually a pocket dimension much larger than normal won’t come near it. Otherwise, it can use its long beak to spear
space would allow. through armor and flesh to drink the warm blood beneath.

The map of this section shows a cut-away of the main shaft. Use the Scaled Mountains (HD 15, Armor 20, Damage d10-2). A herd of
Climbing rules to reach the rooms higher up the shaft. Things get two dozen house-sized behemoths come charging through the
more difficult to climb the higher you go. underbrush; each with 100 tiny legs moving in a blur. Climbing a tall
tree or being quick/lucky is the best way to survive. Making any loud
noises will draw them towards you as they charge past.

ReedChaser (HD 5, Armor 10, Damage None). A circular body supported

by 6 multi-jointed legs standing 4-5 feet high. Each leg is hollow, and
when it steps down on grass it sucks it up through its legs. Can’t see or
hear; just navigates randomly to the next patch of grass.

35
MAP ROOM (60FT) OPERATIONS CENTER (100FT)
Screens Mounted 15 Feet Up [flickering displays, strange directions] Theater Room [half-globe shape, center raised platform]
Three Trilos [one broken and burned. Two still function, but slowly] Scorched Footprints [clawmarks, burns, melted]
Guardian [long flickering shadow-beast with 9 legs, flaming claws]
The screens show an extremely outdated map of the building. The map
indicates there were once three more towers, all connected by several Four Mucker Warriors and a Mucker Shaman are harassing the
bridges; a large underground warehouse with several entrances above weakened guardian. Several burned mucker corpses lie around the
the earth; and a huge floating landing pad for passing ships. room. Once the Muckers are dealt with the Guardian collapses, weak,
semi-corporeal, doesn’t hear questions.
A large red dot is blinking from somewhere in the lower levels of the
complex. “Take me to the cool and calm. I set the Marsh to dancing and sought the
moon. But she rejected me… ”

| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists. WARNING! There is a breach/hole/

{{{

leak in the Vault, and power is running extremely low. Please replace the The Guardian knows everything about the Marshes, anything
VoltCells in the Vault Core below.}}} above-ground, that is. If dipped in the Underground River, recovers
its strength. Will answer questions, and even can give simple
hex-descriptions of each location. Grants all PCs its spell:
CONTAINMENT (80FT) Flaming Hands: For 4 hours the user’s hands are covered in flame.
Obstacle Course [various shapes made of silfer, floating hoops] These flames won’t hurt their hands, but otherwise, act just like
Large Creature [center of the room, frozen in motion, thick exterior normal fire. Allows the user to touch anything silfer without being
clamshell with tentacles extending from holes, each one 50-60ft long, numbed.
as thick as a hose]

| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists. The demonstration will begin.

{{{

Today’s passcode is RTAECHGURANX. When your studies are complete,

use the passcode to end the demonstration/battle/suffering.
}}}

After 30 seconds the Clamshell monster comes to life and begins to try
and grab PCs and drag them into its maw. It’s made up of the central
Clamshell, and 12 tentacles.

Clamshell: HD 20, Armor 10, Damage 2D10 (if PC is eaten)

The Clamshell can’t move, but tentacles attempt to grab and drop prey
into its maw

Tentacles: HD 2, Armor: 12, Damage d4.

Long and flexible, made of cold rubbery metal. Whenever it

deals 4 Damage, it instead deals no Damage but grabs the PC. It
takes 2 more turns to drag a PC into the Clamshell maw. On their
turn the PC can make a STR or DEX Save to escape or continue
dealing Damage.

Bestiary 36
SUNKEN KEEP PUDDIN’ JACK
Most of the keep has sunk into the marsh leaving only the ramparts Rampart [covered, cool, fine furniture covered in mud]
rising 20ft above the ground. The Cattail Bandits have taken up Stone Throne [faded tapestries and mud-soaked cushions]
residence here. Unless otherwise alerted the Bandits are slack Puddin’ Jack [Swurmp, wears bandit finery, stiff and caked with mud]
watchmen. All have dry, wrinkled, leathery skin, appearing 10-20
years older than they really are. If they are roused they will try to “Welcome to the future of the Marshes! Give me a reason why I
capture the PCs, but they’re usually distracted by something. If any shouldn’t drain your water?”
negotiations happen, the Bandits will lead the PCs to Jack. Proud, confident, and convinced he can save the marshes, Puddin’
If the PCs kill all the Bandits in the keep, then pick three random Jack has taken command of the bandits. He has a spell to drain the
encounters from other places and place them in various rooms within water from plants, animals, and enemies and uses this to recruit
the keep. bandits and desperate people. He has become one of the most
successful Swurmps in history: He rules over real humans.

He wants the PCs to find the Throne of the King Swurmp. “With the
BLOODY ENTRANCE power of the throne, I could drain water from miles away! But not
Blood [pools in stone cracks] from you of course…”
Dried Corpses [wrinkled and pale, skin is flaky and dry]
4 Bandits [carrying corpses to the edge and tossing them over the SECOND VISIT
side, arguing about who Jack will drain next] If they haven’t found the Throne, he declared them a waste of time and
2 Barrels of Water [barrels have a cattail symbol burned into them] summons 2D6 Bandits to kill them.
This is where most fights happen, and where Jack drains the water Otherwise, he jumps to his feet with a cheer. Rewards the PCs with
from corpses. The Bandits use this as their entrance and have made an multiple copies of the spellbook “Lifewater”.
easy walkway leading up to the keep.
Lifewater: Drain all the water from a recently dead body. Every 5HP of
the corpse fills a nearby container with a gallon of water. Failure burns
WATCH CAMP the corpse to ashes.
Sleeping Bags [tattered]
Curtains [thick, dark] MUCH LATER
5 Bandits [4 sleeping, 1 cooking] If the Throne was found, Puddin Jack has taken the throne and used
Crates [filled with 10 rations and three Adventure Packs] his spell to drain the water from everything within 10 miles. The
surrounding hexes become barren and dead. Eventually, Jack moves
A good place to get some rest while others keep watch. on to another area, bringing the throne and the spell with him.

TUNNELS
20ft Ladder [shaky, leads down]
Tunnel [recently excavated, leads DOWN to the Cavern]
Six Working Bandits [digging, sweaty, exhausted.]

The workers will try to keep working at all costs, including not
fighting: “Jack won’t drain our water while we’re working…”

STAIRS
Stairs [dry, dusty, worn, 10ft down]

Leads down to the interior rooms sunk beneath the mud. Some of the
rooms have collapsed, others are still liveable. It’s where most of the
Bandits rest/recover from their journeys aboveground.

37
MUD PIT DRY
Mud Pit [top is 20ft below ceiling, bottom is 50ft below ceiling, curved
EXITS walls like a bowl, bottom covered with mud, stones, corpses, and junk]
Stone Rim [20 feet below ceiling, surrounds the pit]
 UP. Opening along the slope of the ceiling.
Leads to UP Central Spire, Underground River. The VoltCell is lost among the detritus in the bottom of the pit. If the
 WEST. 20ft below ceiling, near rim of the pit/pool. PCs were here when it flooded, then it’s easy to find (southern edge).
Leads DOWN to Lava Maze. Otherwise, if they search blindly, roll a d10:
 DOWN. 60ft below the ceiling, bottom of the pit/pool.
Leads DOWN to Cavern. 1. Nothing!
2. A sword hilt, buried in the mud.
3. A mostly dead Mucker bursts from the mud screaming and

ENCOUNTERS flailing its one remaining arm. It dies quickly, but not before
summoning 3 Mucker Warriors with its shouts.
After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick 4. Nothing.
another encounter or make up your own. 5. A razor-sharp piece of metal slices the finger of a PC. Save or lose
the finger and 1 Damage.
2D6 ENCOUNTER
6. A group of d6 disturbed Mucker Spawn attack the warm bodies
A grey Archeo missing all of its feathers blends in with that disturbed it.
the rock. Its questions echo, making it difficult to locate. It
2-3 asks questions about Past Adventures. “What was your last
7. Nothing.
8. A Lost Thing (Page 45)
adventure like? Has anyone left the group? Why?”
9. A large bubble of air that pops loudly, spraying them all with
A steep 50ft drop along the way. Five hungry, lost Bandits lie
4-5 in wait at the bottom.
clumps of mud. Cover 3 slots each in Mud.
10. The VoltCell buried in the muck.
Shallow, slick mud covers this stretch of tunnel. PCs can
6 either cover 4 Slots in mud to make good time or travel FIRST VISIT
slowly and avoid all mud (4 hours).
Three Bandits and four Mucker Warriors are fighting amidst the mud
A 20ft wide puddle of mud contains 2d6 hibernating
7 Muckfish Spawn. If disturbed, they Attack.
and the wreckage. They are all near death. If left alone, they will kill
one another.
8 A Mucker Brute emerges from the ceiling and continues
burrowing into the floor beneath. Won’t Attack unless THIRD VISIT
provoked.
A group of five Bandits is sifting through the bottom, looking for
9-10 The path behind has collapsed if they want to return, they valuables. They will attempt to shake the PCs down for whatever they
must dig a new path. Requires 4 successful Saves to dig a
found in the tunnels. If a fight breaks out, three Mucker Warriors and
new path. Each failed Save advances the clock 2 hours.
a Brute soon come to investigate and join the fray.
11-12 A Lost Thing (Page 45) pokes out from the mud.

WET
Muddy Pool [20 feet below ceiling, murky water 30ft deep, 50ft wide]
Stone Rim [20 feet below ceiling, surrounds the pool]
Steaming Bubble [rising from VoltCell lying on the South Corner floor
of the pool]

FIRST VISIT
After a few moments, two Mucker Warriors emerge from the pool
with badly burned hands, gesturing towards the bubbles coming from
the VoltCell. They flee from the PCs.

THIRD VISIT
4 Mucker Warriors emerge from the lake to Attack, while a Shaman
remains underneath it, casting spells from beneath the water.

Bestiary 38
CAVERN FIRST VISIT
Three Mucker Warriors jump along the stones away from the PCs
EXITS
to the opposite shore. One slips and falls in, dragged under by a
 EAST. Outcropping. 50ft below ceiling. Goes UP to Mud Pit slimy shape.
 WEST. Outcropping. 50ft below ceiling. Goes DOWN to Vault
Middle Entrance THIRD VISIT
 NORTH. Lower Outcropping. 70ft below ceiling. Goes UP to
Sunken Keep Six Mucker Warriors swim just under the surface, throwing rocks and
jumping onto the columns; attempting to knock PCs into the water
(where the Muckfish waits hungrily).

ENCOUNTERS WHEN DRY:

After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick
another encounter or make up your own. (Water level 70ft below ceiling)

Cavern [large enough that whispers echo, occasional splashing]

2D6 ENCOUNTER
Small Lake [70ft below ceiling, calm as death]
A red Archeo is covered in Mucker blood. It asks questions Eastern and Western Outcroppings [50ft below ceiling,
2-3 about pain and death. “How did you get that scare? Does it 100 feet apart, 20ft above the water]
still hurt? When do you think you will die?”
Pockmarked Columns [a dozen, towering
Loud Mucker noises up ahead, performing some kind of 20ft above the water, 15ft wide, like beheaded
4-5 ritual. It involves three Mucker Warriors and one Brute. They stalactites.]
are all intensely focused on the ritual. Lower Outcropping [70ft below ceiling, just
Sounds of Muckers just up ahead. They are gone by the time above the water level]
6 the PCs arrive.
The columns tower 20ft above the water level,
The smell of rotting fish is intense and disgusting. Turn
7 back, or CON Save to avoid throwing up (d4 Damage)
precarious stepping stones between the
Eastern and Western outcroppings. Wedged
8 The screams of a Bandit echo through the tunnels. She is into the top of one of the columns is a VoltCell,
being dragged towards the Cavern by two Mucker Warriors
easily found if the PCs were here when the
and a Shaman.
chamber was Wet, or if the PCs carefully search
9-10 A VERY hungry and lost Bone Swarm (HP:16) leaves several every column.
Mucker corpses and pursues the PCs.
The Muckfish swims below, ready to eat
11-12 Three Lost Things buried in a box. The corner pokes out
anything that falls in.
from the mud.

FIRST VISIT
WHEN WET: The dark form of the Muckfish
(Water level 50ft below ceiling) can be seen swimming below.
Cavern [large enough that whispers echo, occasional splashing] Several other smaller shapes
Small Lake [50ft below ceiling, calm as death] swim beside it, occasionally
Eastern and Western Shorelines [50ft below ceiling, 100 feet apart, surfacing to reveal their large
inches above the water] Mucker eyes.
Hidden Columns [a dozen, tops just underwater, 15ft wide, like
beheaded stalactites.] THIRD VISIT
Steaming Bubbles [coming from the center of the lake] The Muckfish is agitated. It begins to
knock over a number of the columns. It
Just beneath the water are the tops of a dozen or so columns 15 feet destroys so many that jumping from one to
wide. They are spaced 5-15 feet apart, scattered between the two the next is much more difficult. The largest gap is
shorelines like hidden stepping stones. PCs could jump along the tops 25ft, smallest is 15ft.
to the other shoreline (DEX Saves).

Wedged into a crack at the top of one of the columns is a VoltCell,

boiling and bubbling just under the water. The Muckfish swims below,
ready to eat anything that falls in.

If the PCs enter from the Sunken Keep the tunnel will be flooded, and
they will have to swim through it (10 turns), into the main lake, past
the Muckfish, and climb onto a column or a shoreline.

39
If a PC falls into the water, they can make a Save to swim away, then a
Save to climb up the columns. A failure on either of these dumps them
back into the water with the Muckfish.

Muckfish deals d4 Damage the first turn, increasing the die type
each turn after that (up to d12). If the PCs can deal 50 Damage the
Muckfish lets them go and will stay at the bottom of the Cavern for the
next 24 hours while it recovers.

Bestiary 40
LAVA MAZE All the chambers are filled with water. It takes a full turn to get from
one Chamber to the next.
EXITS
 UP. Upper Passage. Goes UP to Mud Pit (page 38) Following the bubbles will lead to the VoltCell: E –> Down –> 1 –>
 DOWN. chamber 5. Goes DOWN to Vault (page 43) West –> 4 –> Down –> 3 –> North –> 3 –> 5 –> North –> V.

This is not the fastest way, but the bubbles make it the most obvious.

ENCOUNTERS WHEN DRY:

After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick Small Entrance Chamber [20ft long, 10ft high]
another encounter or make up your own. Two Openings [lead deeper into the maze]
2D6 ENCOUNTER The tunnels and chambers are dry, but climbing them can be perilous!
2-3 A rainbow Archeo with bright colorful feathers. It asks
E – Entrance Chamber
questions about joy and celebrations. “What makes you
happy? What do you do for fun? Why aren’t you doing that 1 - Muckfish skeleton [2 Lost Things lying among the bones]
right now?” 2 – Empty, non-descript chamber. (indistinguishable from other
non-descript chambers) .
4-5 A small cache of Mucker supplies badly hidden in the mud.
3 - Huge chamber. Takes a turn to discover each exit.
Four gross but edible rations, One Lost Thing, thick rope
made from algae. 4 - Empty, non-descript chamber. (indistinguishable from other
non-descript chambers).
6 Someone or something fractured the obsidian walls of this
5 - Flooded: Strong current of water forcing any swimmers North.
tunnel, covering the next 100 ft in razor-sharp stones.
Save to resist. Dry: no current, easy sloping paths.
7 Two Fire Elementals are working together to melt away rock 6 - Criss-crossing stalactites. Difficult to pass through unless carrying
and expose a lava flow. If allowed to finish, in 2 hours this less than 7 Slots of stuff.
tunnel will be blocked with several feet of hot lava flow.
Cell - VoltCell tightly wedged 10ft down into a crevice.
8 A Humano trying to lift a large stone and failing. Ignores the V – Leads to the Vault.
PCs unless directly interacted with.

9-10 Two Trilos huddle protectively over a large silfer box,

unlocked. If given samples, the Trilos will leave. The box
contains three Lost Things.

11-12 A Mucker Brute flails around violently, trying to shake off

three floating Anamolos.

WHEN WET:
Small Entrance Chamber [20ft long, 10ft high]
Two Openings [lead deeper into the maze]
Bubbles [coming from the west]

41
Bestiary 42
VAULT WHEN WET:
A collection of labs and storage rooms of a long-gone race. A pocket Gateway [shimmering blue field across opening, ripples]
dimension that seems to go on forever. Once there were suspended Silfer Tube [200ft, extends into the tunnel, walls boiling and hot]
storage rooms and labs connected by vast walkways. Now, most It takes 6 rounds of swimming to reach the shimmering gateway. Wet
walkways have decayed and the rooms drift in an aimless abyss. creatures suffer 1 point of damage as they pass through the field and
Far below the floating debris is a miniature sun providing light have the water scraped from them. The entrance tunnel is always filled
without heat. Everything inside is made of silfer; walkways, rooms, with a few inches of water that the field can't keep out. It's hot and
and robots. If the party has an Archeo they can translate the steamy in here, and the floor is constantly boiling water.
announcements and signs. There is a soft light coming from the middle of the tunnel.

EXITS
 East Entrance: Goes UP to Lava Maze (page 41) NEXUS QUEEN
 West Entrance: Goes UP to Cavern (page 39) Dangling Queen [many spindly jointed arms, one large spotlight eye
dangles down]
Huge Empty Room [only light comes from the large eye, rest of the
ENCOUNTERS room is black as space]
After an encounter is rolled, cross it out. If it is rolled again, pick
another encounter or make up your own.
| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists . Hold your special/silfer/magic item
{{{

aloft. Once deposited you may continue. }}}

2D6 ENCOUNTER
The Queen takes the offered item, puts it in a silfer metal box that
2-3 A broken Archeo with a nearly shattered skeleton asks quiet seals itself shut, and gives the box back to the players. Then shines
questions. Tried to follow the party with great difficulty. It her light on the door to Deposit. The door to the Labs is open, but
asks impossible questions. “Why can’t you fly? Can you move
never lit.
the stars? Take me back home!”

4-5 Three Shamans hold a Humano in a cage of magical mud. If they try to leave without offering an item, she brands them as
They are studying it as it batters and tries to break free. invaders and summons a dozen Trilos/Anomalos/Humanos to prevent
their entrance.
6 Two Trilos are crawling along the ceiling of the tunnel.
Unless avoided they will drop onto the PCs.

7 Recent flooding has revealed a long stretch of the tunnel

that is smooth silfer. Extremely difficult to climb up, and DEPOSIT
easy to slide down. A Dozen Slots Along the Wall [for various sized boxes, strong suction,
boxes go to Processing]
8 A Mucker Brute grapples with a Humano. The Humano is
just trying to pick up a nearby bag of Mucker Spawn. Pile of Boxes [some broken, others still sealed]

9-10 Mucker Shaman and three Warriors try to dislodge a piece

of silfer. Their hands keep getting stuck to the cold metal.
Underneath are three Lost Things
| Please deposit at least one box in the slots provided. Continue to Lab A for
{{{

perfunctory assessment and assignment.

The door to the next room won’t open until at least one box is
11-12 Three Anamolos emerge from the mud unexpectedly and
ambush the group. deposited.

PROCESSING
EAST/WEST ENTRANCES Multi-level Sloping Catwalks [5-10 stories high, no staircases]
WHEN DRY: Line of Boxes [all shapes and sizes, being carried by Trilos along the
Gateway [shimmering blue field across opening, ripples] ground and Anomalos in the air]
Silfer Tube [200ft, extends into the tunnel] Sorting Bot [dozens of arms, special box-opener ends, moving with
great speed]
The entrances are dry, and PCs may pass through the shimmering
field without issue. It's humid but cool inside. There is a soft light
coming from the middle of the tunnel.
| Enjoy the efficiency/magic on display. It’s a beautiful/shiny sorting
{{{

process.}}}

Lines of carried boxes criss-cross the entire space. The Sorting Bot
picks up boxes, opens them, moves the contents to another box, and
then re-seals them. It’s the only time the contents of the boxes are
vulnerable to theft.

43
STORAGE IF ALL FIVE VOLTCELLS ARE RETURNED
Shelves of Boxes [leading up higher than the eye can see]
Humanos Lifting/Moving [100 Humanos try to lift a box the size of a
| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists. Power to the shields, structural
{{{

repair, and thrusters/wings/engines have been restored. Departing for

building, others move smaller boxes one at a time] home in 20 minutes. }}}

As long as the PCs don’t waste time they can reach the exit and
| Please be advised: dangerous/uninteresting/known things are stored here
{{{

for your benefit/amusement/protection. leave before the ship takes off. They see bulkheads being repaired,
lights coming back on, and new chambers being re-grown. It looks
PCs can take as many silfer boxes as they can carry… but they’re all more and more like a ship than a Vault. Once the PCs leave the ship
sealed tight. engages engines and teleports to the surface, where it blasts off
leaving a big crater where the Spire once was.

LAB
Ruined Lab [broken containers, overturned tables, 5 bird-creature
corpses frozen to the floor, broken Humanos]
Floating Mercury Bubbles [floating around, bouncing off of surfaces,
looks like some kind of liquid metal]
Several Lost Things [scattered on lab tables, being studied]

| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists. This area is under quarantine.

{{{

Please use the alternative entrance from the Nexus. }}}

The globs of liquid metal float randomly around the room. Anything
that makes contact begins to age rapidly; 5 years for every second
in contact. Sticks rot away, metal rusts, PCs die. Only silfer items/
surfaces are immune.

VAULT CORE
Small Room [cramped pipes, display, fallen tools, dull metal]
Flashing Lights [blink rapidly, making it hard to see]
Crawlspace [20-30ft long, requires hands and needs to traverse]

| Welcome donators/visitors/scientists. This room is for authorized

{{{

engineer/personal/friends only. Tampering with the power systems is not

recommended. Please return to the lab to help catalog new secrets/items/
finds. }}}

Along the crawlspace are 5 slots for VoltCells. Only one has a VoltCell,
the rest are empty.

IF THE LAST VOLTCELL IS REMOVED

The entire structure powers down, all the lights cut off, the energy
barriers fail, and a huge explosion rocks the structure as the tiny sun
explodes.

 Storage is completely locked down, but the path to the Lab is

stable and the best means of escape.

 If it is 6 O’clock than they can exit safely. Otherwise they need to

swim against the surging floodwaters for 6 consecutive turns.
That assumes they take the fastest exit. If they dilly dally then it
will be much more difficult.

Bestiary 44
LOST THINGS
LOST THINGS: ABOVE GROUND
Whenever the PCs uncover something (search a body, open a ROLL RESULT
container, trip over something in the mud) roll on the appropriate 23 Book of Necrotic Oysters. Soaked and warped, this book
list(s). Words in italics are secrets that can be uncovered with describes a simple method for turning normal oysters into
experimentation or while camping. throwing weapons. These oysters deal d4 Damage, and when
retrieved and eaten after inflicting damage restore d4 health.
ROLL RESULT 24 Wood boots. Only fits smallest PC. Uncomfortable. Any liquid
2 Broken compass, the needle is stuck. If repaired, always points the user steps on turns into a cube of floating wood.
to the nearest source of fresh water (probably Damp Cave).
25 Nightbloom flower, 3d6+2 small delicate petals. Eating 1
3 Small pack of field rations. All spoiled. petal grants life-vision for 4 hours. You can see everything living
4 Sealed backpack. Filled with wood and rocks. within 100ft, even through walls. If two or more petals are eaten
at once, roll 1d6. If you roll equal or under the petals eaten, you
5 Cracked bottles held together with wire. become addicted.
6 Stone block with a metal rod poking out. Stats as a poor- 26 One Size Fits All Hat. When thrown onto an enemy and given
quality hammer (d4). the correct command, the hat envelopes the targets head, blinding
7 Greenish brown-colored cloak with a faded Cattail symbol and choking them (d4 Damage per round).
on the back. Wearer is Invisible among clumps of cattails. 27 Wooden canoe burned and warped by flames. It floats
8 Bag of 5 rations and several days of water. about 6 inches above the ground and can carry 2-3 people or an
9 Pack of dried fruit. 2 rations. equivalent amount of stuff. Movement is about as difficult as
paddling/pushing a normal canoe through the water.
10 A recently cooked pig, slightly eaten. Careful carving results
in 4 rations. 28 Crystal armband of engraved fire. The wearer can absorb
flames and release them later. Every 5 health of flame absorbed
11 Bundle of 5 wooden spears. D6 Damage, thrown. fills a Slot. Can be released at will.
12 40 feet of waxed twine rope. 29 Human skeleton covered in runes. Follows commands as
13 d100 coins. best as its bones will allow. Each word of a given command will
14 Bag of gems worth 100 coins. consume the next largest bone. After is loses 20 or more bones it
will be extremely limited in what tasks it can accomplish.
15 Wooden spear with masterwork carvings telling an epic tale.
1d20x4 coins to a collector like Old Mire. 30 Small clay cup with a single rune messily carved in the
bottom. Pouring clean water into this chalice creates a magical
16 Ruby Ring, registers as magic. It's magic has faded, but still field that repels all insects. The field extends far enough to
valuable. d20x5 coins. encompass 5-6 people.
17 Esoteric formula. The formula is for a cloth dye in earth tones. It's
worth d20x4 coins to the right person.
18 Beautiful hand-carved flute. A unique tone. Worth d20x3 coins
to a musician.
19 Sealed can of Mud-paint. 10 application's worth. When applied,
it protects one slot permanently from all water and weather
damage.
20 Bag of heavy winter clothing. When all the clothes are worn,
the surrounding 100ft around the wearer grows colder and colder
until the clothes are taken off. It gets cold enough that nearby
water freezes after an hour.
21 Spellbook of Water Barrel. Summon a barrels-worth of
saltwater.
22 An old sealed jar filled with a gallon of yellow sandy mud.
This mud takes whatever form the user commands, and hardens
like steel. If it is ever immersed in water it dissolves permanently.

45
LOST THINGS : UNDERGROUND
ROLL RESULT ROLL RESULT
2 Grimy handkerchief of tiny bones. 26 A small shriveled piece of meat with some stringy veins still
3 Bag of engraved fish bones. When submerged in water, they attached. A dried Muckfish brain! Acts like a spellbook: Give [L]
connect and swim around like a fish. Mucker Warriors/Brutes one-word commands.

4 Rusted cooking pan. 27-28 Hood made of fish-skin and mold. Usually worn by Mucker
Shamans. +0 armour; while worn, grants access to the Pluff Trap
5 Large Geode. Looks valuable! A thin layer of crystal over normal spell (see Mucker Shaman)
rock; worthless.
29 Staff of fishbones and Mucker spine. Usually held by Mucker
6 Wet and frayed string buried in a clump of mud. If carefully Shamans. D6-1 Damage. Grants access to the Wave spell (see
untangled, you’ll find a nice rock at the other end. Mucker Shaman)
7 Pile of moist algae. Changes colour with the time of day. 30 Filmy Green egg with a soft, chewy shell. When consumed,
8 Sword made from the spine of a Mucker. D10 damage, 2 slots, you can command any mass of insects smaller than yourself. Lasts
1-handed. Breaks on a critical success or failure. until you next eat.
9 Bag of 5 glowing leeches. Cures any disease or infection when
applied to the skin, but also lowers maximum HP by 1.
10 Bag of invisible mushrooms. Poisonous to eat, permanently
invisible, otherwise mundane. Could be cultivated.
11 A live, squirming fish. Its belly contains 2d20 coin.
12 Sharp piece of obsidian. D6+2 damage, 1 Slot, 1-handed. Breaks
on a critical success or failure.
13 Bag of fresh fish (4-rations’ worth.)
14 Barrel of freshwater. Cattail bandits symbol branded into the
side. 4 slots.
15 Dried ball of mud. Contains a tarnished wedding ring with some
simple etchings. D100 coin.
16 Rusted jewellery box. All the metal has rusted away. The rubies
locked inside are worth D100 coin.
17 Bag of many different coins - all sizes, shapes and
denominations. Worth D100 coins, or D100x5 to a collector.
18 Child-size wooden sword. D6 damage, 1 slot. The wood is
Ironoake, worth D100x2 coin to a mage or craftsman.
19 Muckerfish bone inscribed with random scratches and
markings. Anyone infected with Mucker Disease can translate.
Describes how infected can lie under the mud to double their
healing.
20 Soft-skin pouch of blue maggots. Maggots absorb the sound of
anyone who holds one. After a day, the maggots explode, releasing
all the pent-up noise they’ve collected.
21 D20+3 blue fleshy marbles. Eating one will grant the user 6
turns of underwater breathing.
22 12 stone berries in a pouch. When planted or tossed onto a
surface, a large pointed stalagmite bursts from the ground, D100
feet tall.
23 Muckerfish bone inscribed with strange markings. Anyone
infected with Mucker Disease can translate. It’s a map of the
underground tunnels; using these instructions, PC can choose to
avoid odd-numbered encounters in the tunnels.
24 Clear, foul-smelling goo. When applied to bare skin, the target
becomes invisible while underwater. 10 uses. Each use can coat 1
humanoid for 1 hour.
25 Pile of bright Glowshroom buds. Glow as bright as a torch
when struck for about 20 minutes. Immediately destroyed if
exposed to sunlight.

Lost Things 46
LOST THINGS: ALIEN/SILFER
ROLL RESULT ROLL RESULT
2 Silfer coin. The faces shift and change in different lights. 24 Dormant Humano. Worth d100x8 coin to a mage or scholar.

3 Pile of multi-coloured Archeo feathers. 25 Metal hexagon with small holes. When someone speaks into
the hexagon, they are teleported above ground to the hex (see
4 Small Silfer box with the top torn off (empty.) map) corresponding to the first letter of the first word they said.
If no hex matches the first letter, it will use the second, and so on.
5 Broken Trilo, futilely trying to take samples.
26 Two silfer cubes stuck together. The cubes separate when
6 Buried chunk of Silfer. The more you try to dig it out, the more
immersed in water. After both cubes are removed from water,
you realise there is of it. It's like digging up a buried pyramid!
they propel towards each other at intense speed, smashing
7 Matchbox-sized book. Opens when squeezed. The reader through solid rock if necessary.
is shrunk down to approx. 6” tall to best read the alien text: A
27 Metal spike with a dark black head. When embedded into an
rather tedious diatribe on multiversal species, long dead. The
object, that object becomes weightless.
shrunk character is restored after 2 hours.
28 Small crystal triangle. When swallowed, target suffers D20
8 5ft square sheet of silfer. Immovable unless grasped with bare
damage. If they survive, they immediately gain +1d6 maximum
fingers.
HP.
9 Strange fruit. Tastes like cheese. 1 Ration. Re-grows every
29 Small silfer globe. If kept warm and in skin-contact for 3
morning from the inedible seed in it’s core. If consumed more
days, the globe hatches. The loyal and friendly Archeo will obey
than 3 days in a row, the victim becomes addicted.
commands from its ‘mother’.
10 40ft loop of thin wire. Undoes any knot after 5 turns.
30 A VoltCell! (Page 15). The VoltCell has no power left, but
Unbreakable.
Azimech will still accept it (see Part III.)
11 Silfer implement. Medical tool? Ice cream scoop?

12 Hard rubber tube with a stopper. Sloshing liquid can be

heard inside. The liquid is a powerful acid that can eat through
any known material, save the container or stopper.

13 Thin rod, 5ft long. Grows an inch longer every day.

14 Silfer bird, like a child’s toy. Can be activated by pressing the

beak. When activated, it flies around the user’s head for an hour.
1d8 charges.

15 20 silfer pills in a lead container. When consumed, the entire

body is numbed and relaxed for 1d4 hours.

16 Beautiful silfer-flower in a pitcher with small, charred holes

around the rim. Requires weekly exposure to intense flames or
it will wither and die.

17 Vial of silfer dust. Worth d100x3 coins to a blacksmith. Fatal if

inhaled.

18 Flexible square of interconnected silfer plates, 6” wide.

19 Four large silfer wings. The bearer can use them to glide short
distances.

20 Small silfer pin with a wide head. Turns bone into more silfer.
If inserted into a living creature human-sized or smaller, target’s
flesh slowly peels away leaving a silfer-bone automaton. The
automaton will respond to Archeo-translated commands, or act
like a Humano (see Bestiary) otherwise.

21 Dormant Trilo. Worth d100x5 coin to a mage or scholar.

22 Dormant Archeo. Worth d100x6 coin to a mage or scholar.

23 Dormant Anomalo. Worth d100x7 coin to a mage or scholar.

47
CATTAIL BANDITS
D20 NAMES FEATURES VINDIGO
1 Bertran Broken Nose A scout who Puddin trusts with his dirty work. Strikingly handsome
2 Eyler Mismatched Eyes woman with long dark hair. Bold, cunning and ruthless. Wears pair of
3 Gerran Webbed Fingers scimitars. Raised among the bandits, and knows nothing better.
4 Jingel Weird Tattoo
5 Lothel Burns On Face RONT
6 Neyel Six Fingers The kind of person who enjoys torturing small animals. Occasionally
7 Tont Always Sweating assists Puddin Jack will interrogations. Good at thinking outside of
8 Rothcilt No Earlobes the box. Prominent pox-scarring on face. Occasionally trusted to go
9 Usur Gold Tooth out with his two muscular cronies, Albert and Dessica.
10 Yulian Deaf
11 Coyer Usually Drunk EBERT
12 Dessica Weird Facial Jewellery A lecherous monk, adored by the other bandits for his skill at brewing
13 Fellia Suspiciously Clean Teeth booze from swamp water and rotting vegetation. Fled the monetary
14 Jenrich Conspicuously Mismatched Boots after "the incident". Was seconds away from desiccation less than a
15 Lilin Poxed Limb, Wrapped Bandages month ago, so will now do anything Puddin Jack commands out of
16 Monsa Talks To Themselves pure fear.
17 Oipil Never Speaks Above A Whisper
18 Rerri Broken Jawbone
DYSON
19 Vorie Exotic Accent A lute-wielding bard with fair hair and a sardonic wit, who keeps
20 Wae Fidgeting Fingers morale at the Sunken Keep higher than it might otherwise be with
jaunty songs and good stories. She thought banditry would be a
lot more romantic than it turned out to be. Will desert to join the
WEAPONS adventurers if given the opportunity. Jack doesn't trust her, and is
1. Three short spears (d6, thrown) eyeing her up for execution. He would have done this long ago, but
2. Rope and Nets (trapped 3 rounds; can be freed) recognizes she is good for morale.
3. Large Marsh Torch. (When dropped, starts level 5 fire.)
4. Heavy Staff (+2 Atk roll, d6 damage) YULIA
5. Shovel (d4 Damage. On a successful Attack, flings blinding mud) An older woman who still remembers when Reed was in charge. Keen
6. Full Pack (3 rations, 3 gallons of water). Avoids combat. shot with a longbow, knows the Marches better than almost anymore.
Too valuable for Puddin Jack to execute. Doesn't speak much, but
NORMAL BANDIT STATS clearly very capable.
STR+2, DEX+2, WIS+2
HD 2, Armor 10, Damage as weapon. WINTOR
Well muscled, clean shaven. Carries a smith's hammer from his failed
career. Morally conflicted by working for Puddin Jack, and will rebel if
10 BANDITS the opportunity presents itself. Puddin is not aware of this.

TORREL KENGO
Creepy looking gaunt fellow. Speaks with a lisp. Wears desiccated
hands around his neck. Chased out of his village by witch hunters. An enthusiastic, almost sycophantic minion of Puddin Jack's. A
Accompanied by two water-sapped zombies with pet names, viscous, scrawny whelp with a mean streak. Fights with a meat hook
presumably a married couple. on a pole. Resented by other bandits, but gets by because of Puddin's
favoritism.
SIR PETER HENG
KULL AND CUTHBERT
Wear muddied plate armor. Has sharp gray eyes and a shaven head.
Clipped, educated accent. Fallen knight and religious fanatic, expelled Kull is tall, brutish giant who barely speaks. He is always
from order for taking bribes. Enjoys brigandry and murder more than accompanied by Cuthbert, a weaselly man who never knows when to
he cares to admit. shut up. Both are foreign, and are fleeing substantial gambling debts.
Cuthbert loves telling that story, but it changes every time.

Written by Jelly Muppet https://www.soulmuppet.co.uk/

 WHY MARSH GOONS?
I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise, but: I really enjoy working with David. Bone Marshes was our
biggest joint project to date, and it was really fun going back and forth on the ideas for the project:
design, themes, mechanics, the lot.

Nate Treme’s Tunnel Goons came out around the time we were working on Bone Marshes. Tunnel
Goons is simple, fast and to-the-point: everything you’d want in a one-page RPG. A glut of cool
spinoffs appeared pretty quickly, and I had my own ideas. Eventually, I struck on linking your
inventory to your health, and linking mud to inventory. It seemed like a great fit for the Marshes
- hence, Marsh Goons!

The rest came pretty naturally. Myself, David and John G had a few ideas that didn’t fit into the
original book, or that we thought of after the release. We had a blast working on those, going
back and forth on Discord and fleshing out a ‘post-event’ scenario to continue the Bone Marshes
storyline.

The final product came out pretty ad-hoc; more a collection of gameable ideas for you to pick and
choose than a true expansion. When David asked me whether I wanted to combine Marsh Goons
into Bone Marshes, I said yes; it’s nice to have everything under one roof.

Marsh Goons isn’t there to outright replace Bone Marshes. It’s more of a closer look at some of the
individual factions and characters; what might happen to happen to them after the players have
been around for a while. Plus, a bonus rules system in case you fancy mixing things up.

Enjoy!

Joe B

February 2021

51
 A Personal Account by Schynbald Morion

Yeah, I remember the day the spire left.

I was in the pluffs — knee-deep in mud as hard as concrete. Trying to get my sword outta the stuff before
some Mucker could turn me into more marsh food. Sweatin’ like you wouldn’t believe - there hadn’t been
a night in the marsh for three months. Everything was dry like tinder, you’d look round and another
brushfire’d started. And the marshes moved! They’d spin round like a top. They said some big critter in the
spire went mad and made ‘em like that.

So anyway, there I was, sweating my butt off, dizzy from the spinnin’ and the heat, and I hear this noise.
Well, it was more like I felt it - deep under the earth, like an earthquake, but smaller - more concentrated. It
was coming from the centre of the marsh. See, for all the spinning and shaking, the spire was the one thing
that never moved. And here it was, juddering and shaking. At first, I thought it was the heat-haze, then I
realised the whole damn thing was comin’ apart. Great chunks of grey rock, spinning and flaking off like
mud off ya boots.

Back at camp - Azimech’s ain’t just a camp anymore, of course, but that’s all it was then - I’d heard about
some other knave fools going after something called a VoltCell. Some kind of outer-space magic that could fix
all the problems, or maybe it was causing them, I could never work out which it was. I figured maybe they’d
found what they were looking for, and maybe that wasn’t such a good thing for ’em.

Swear to them you call holy, the whole marsh HEAVED, like a buck shakin’ a rider. The ground splits in half
around me and all of a sudden I’m in water up to my waist. Everything goes dark, and there’s a roaring in
m’ears like a dragon with a nail in its paw. By the time I right myself, everything’s changed. It’s DARK, and
it’s COLD - blacker’n’colder than I can remember feelin’ in weeks. The air’s glitterin’ with motes of silver, like
dust in sunshine. You can still see ‘em, those little silver bits, when the sun goes down. The spire’s gone, just
gone. There’s a plume of silver-salt smoke where it used to be, arcin’ into the night air like a fire lit big enough
under it to get to the moon.

I’m takin’ it all in, don’t know what to say or do or think, and all of a sudden there’s a splash to my right. I
spin round, and my sword’s just bobbin there, free as you like. Clean as the day I stole it.

Well, all I could do was laugh. Don’t think I stopped laughing all night.

Cattail Bandits 52
It's been nearly a year since the strange, alien spire and all its somehow. Again, the GM has the final say on what that great effect
mysteries blasted off and brought relative peace to the Bone Marshes. looks like.
By day, the flooded swamplands hide all manner of strange elements,
torn from the deep by the sudden departure of the spire. By night, HEALTH, ARMOUR, AND INVENTORY
silver motes hang in the air like tiny jewels, and weirder creatures You start with 2D6+4 Health Points (HP). You may also choose to
abound in search of food - and stranger tastes. take armour, such as leathers or hides (it’s not practical to wear
The alien spire, source of the VoltCells and other alien arcana, has not anything heavier in the marshes). While wearing armour, you gain an
been seen since. The adventurers who managed the deed are missing, additional 3 HP.
assumed lost or dead. Day and night have returned to the marshes, Your total HP also doubles as the number of items you can carry. For
softening the concrete-hard muck and cooling the charred ashes. each item you are carrying, subtract 1 from your maximum HP. When
With the disappearance of the Spire’s Guardian, the physics-defying you take damage, you can choose to discard an item and regain the
spinning has also stopped. point of HP carrying the item cost. You may discard as many items as
The factions that remain clash over the now changed environment, you like every time you take damage.
even as new arrivals stake their claims on the flooded plains. Some items are permanently lost if discarded. Others, the GM may
say are lost or destroyed upon discarding (discarding a shield, for
WHAT DOES PLAY LOOK LIKE? example, implies it is broken by the enemy.) For everything else, roll
One player, the Game Master (GM), controls and describes the world 1D6 when you and your party are in relative safety. On a 2+ the item
to the other players. The others each control a single character and is still usable. On a 1 the item is covered in mud and ruined, discard it
describe how they act (and react) to the events, threats, and situations permanently.
in the world.
MARSH MUD!
Keep 1D6 aside next to your character sheet - this is your mud die. If
HOW TO PLAY the GM says you’re muddy, roll the mud die. You count as carrying that
many item’s worth of mud, and your HP is reduced accordingly.
RISKY ACTIONS AND MAKING SAVES
When attempting something risky or uncertain, roll 2D6. Add points The only way you can ‘drop’ the mud is by cleaning it off. (How easy it
from a relevant stat (Power, Instinct or Knowledge) plus a point if you is to clean mud off is left to the GM.) If you’re already muddy and you
have any equipment that can help. become muddy again, re-roll the mud die.

If the task is Simple, you succeed on an 8+. If it’s Intermediate, you TAKING/DEALING HARM
succeed on a 10+. If it’s Difficult, you succeed on a 12+. It’s up to the
GM to decide how difficult a task is. Enemies and monsters have an associated DC (difficulty): usually 8, 10
or 12. A creatures’ DC doubles as their health.
Additionally, if the total is 12+ (regardless of what you needed to roll)
you succeed with great effect: you learn something extra, find yourself If you might take harm as the result of an action you suffer “damage
in an advantageous position, or make your target more vulnerable as established”; if it’s not clear how much damage you’ll suffer, you
take 1 damage for every point equal to or less than the difficulty.

53
Likewise, if you’re trying to deal damage, you deal 1 damage for every
point your total exceeds the difficulty.
CHARACTER CREATION
Name and describe your character (Bright/Dark? Gaunt/Hearty?
EXAMPLES Haunted/Jovial? Bellicose/Sanguine? Or whatever adjectives you like.)

Morion wants to slash the Silfer monster (DC 10 creature) in half. The GM You start with 2D6+4 Health Points (HP).
states he risks taking damage from the creature. He has Power +1, and a Melee
Weapon (Sword), so he gets a +2 bonus to his roll. If Morion’s player were to roll Distribute 3 points between these stats. No stat may be higher
a 10, the total would be 12, meaning he’d deal (2 over 10) 2 damage. If the roll than +2.
was a 3, he’d get a total of 5 - he’d suffer 5 (5 equal/under 10) damage.  Power: Good at smacking things, feats of strength
(Player-Character (PC): “I pick up the Silfer cylinder with my bare  Instinct: Good at sneaking, aiming, balancing
hands.”  Knowledge: Good at reading, perception, speaking
(GM:) “OK, you take 2 damage.” You may choose to take Armour (+3 HP) and 2 Starting Items; or
(PC:) “What? I don’t get a roll?” 3 Starting Items. You may take the same item more than once if
(GM:) “You get a roll when the “outcome is uncertain”. I’m telling you you wish.
now, in case it wasn’t clear before, picking up Silfer with your bare
hands is toxic and dangerous.”  Dagger, Sword, Axe, Mace or Lance
(PC:) “OK. I rip a generous chunk of cloth off my jacket, wrap it up in  Pistol, Bow, or Crossbow (plus ammo)
that first.”  Rations (10)*
(GM:) “Cool! OK, that’s going to be Instinct to handle this delicately -  Torches (10)*
you have a +1 in that - plus I’ll give you 1 for using your equipment.”  Ten-foot pole
(PC:) “Alright, I rolled… a 2.”  Coin (100)*
(GM:) “Oh dear. You take 2 damage. You can drop the cylinder back in  Flint and Steel
the water right now, or keep hold of it and take 1 damage periodically.”  Pen and Paper
 Skin of freshwater
DEATH & HEALING  Bottle of fine wine (3)*
Note your damage and HP are tracked separately. If your total damage  Fine instrument (define)
(plus any mud from your Mud die) is ever higher than your HP, you’re  Faithful Pet (name, describe)**
in serious trouble. Seek immediate aid or die within the day, hour or  Fancy clothes (describe)**
minute, at the GM’s discretion.  Spell Rune (Random Spell)***

Regain lost Health Points by spending the night in a safe spot. *Use up to uses listed, then discarded.

** Permanently lost if ever discarded.

WHAT HAPPENED TO KNAVE?
If you played The Bone Marshes, you’ll be familiar with the excellent *** Generate a random spell for each rune carried.
Knave system by Questing Beast. You can definitely continue to use
Knave if you prefer, or even a completely different system entirely.
ADVANCEMENT
This system - based on the short and sweet Tunnel Goons, by Nate Level up at the end of a game session. Raise a stat score by 1 and raise
Treme - came out after we’d finished Bone Marshes. When I read them, either your Health or Inventory Score by 1.
the light rules, and my ideas for mixing inventory with health (and
how that could work for the mud) were part of my inspiration for
writing this supplement.

If converting this book to use with Knave, you can use the stats
provided in Bone Marshes for many of the creatures (like Swurmps and
Knochen.) Knaves’ list of d100 spells is also a great resource regardless
of the system.

Marsh Goons 54
LOCATIONS
AZIMECH’S TOWER HOCHWASSER (FLOODWATER) KEEP
Azimech, a reclusive wizard, built this tower on the north-west border To the south-west, the ramparts of this sunken keep rise above the
of the marsh. It is technically outside the marshes proper, on solid waterline. These ruins are the only surviving evidence of a past
ground, and perhaps the last point of civilistion before venturing into civilisation in the marshes. Whoever built this keep has been lost to
the muck. Azimech herself rarely leaves the tower or interacts with time, though it is unlikely they were especially lauded for their work,
the other factions, but has been known to trade and offer magical seeing as no-one remembers a time the castle wasn’t half-sunken into
support from time to time. the muck. The connection, if any, between the Coraltouched elves and
this building remains unsubstantiated.
Surrounding the tower are the remnants of Azimech’s camp–where
she and her explorers stayed before the tower was built. There is little Since the Spire’s disappearance, the resultant tidewaters have flooded
of value left here, save a dry and clear place to rest. and battered the sunken keep to the extent that there is little dry
land left. Nevertheless, the ruins remain one of the few points of
See Azimech for more details. man-made stability in the entire marsh. It is a notorious home for
thieves and cutpurses, eager to ambush anyone foolish enough to
KNOCHEN’S ISLAND wander through their territory.
An island of fine soil and pleasant overgrowth stands in stark contrast
to the foul swamp muck around it. This is Knochen the druid’s island, Bandit attacks come as either an unsubtle raiding party, or a solitary
kept dry and clean through his ancient magics. A pair of intertwined hunter looking to ambush the party. When the players encounter
weeping willow trees sit in the centre of the island, and knochen lives Hochwasser Bandits, decide in advance which format makes more
in the hollowed-out caverns below. sense, and plan accordingly.

See Knochen for more details. Most bandits have spent far too much time in the swamp. If the
party spot or hear the bandits coming, describe their ill-sounding,
THE SWURMP KING’S DOME wheezing breath and hacking coughs. There is a 1-in-6 chance a
solitary bandit (groups will refuse to partner with anyone too infected)
A weather-worn dome of dried mud as big as a house. The mud is an is in the early stages of Mucker Disease. Bandits ignore any penalties
inch thick and tough as concrete. Sheltered from the elements and for being covered in mud, the filthy buggers that they are. Conversely,
hibernating inside are the Swurmp King - a bigger, slightly smarter, they make almost no noise travelling through marshland, and
and more imperious Swurmp - and his retinue. frequently disguise themselves with cattails and other plants to hide
See Swurmps for more details. their approach.

THE HUGE RIBCAGE

An immense tarnished-silver ribcage, rising from the muck. Where
it makes contact with the water, the water hisses and bubbles. Water
contaminated by silfer is like water with mercury in it - poisonous and
oily. When the party arrives here, roll 1D6; on a 1, 2 or 3, there are that
many humanoid silfer creatures here attempting to free the skeleton
even as the water hisses and burns around it. On a 4+, the skeleton is
abandoned for the moment.

THE CORALTOUCHED CHITON RANCH

A dry and clean farmstead clear of the surrounding muck. The
owners, the Chiton family, are Coraltouched - elves with strange
skin markings. Although little grows in the silfer-corrupted water,
the Chitons have worked hard to clear their plot of the worst of the
strange metal’s effects. They grow a little wheat, a few vegetables,
and ranch a small herd of cows on an area of dry pasture. The
Coraltouched are the frequent targets of the Hochwasser bandits.
Despite petitioning Azimech for aid, they’ve not gotten any help
so far.

See The Coraltouched for more details.

55
THE GEYSER
At the centre of the marshes, where the spire used to be, is a great grey watery grave–that when the waters calm, we’ll really be in trouble, as it
lake. The water glimmers with an oily sheen and waves of heat radiate means the Muckfish will be ready to rise up once more.
off it. It is possible, although highly dangerous, to cast a boat on it;
as the name suggests, thick spouts of heavy water spurt upwards at Despite their differences, Azimech and Knochen agree this is
frequent intervals, without warning. unlikely. Azimech believes the geysers and poisoned water are a
simple scientific occurrence brought on by sulphuric deposits from
In the centre, the water constantly hisses and bubbles. The water is deep underground. Knochen believes it is the sizzling, esoteric silfer
heavily acidic. It will, within a day, scar and begin to eat away at boat substance that causes the water to act the way it does. (The truth is,
hulls; any living creature swimming in the lakewater or consuming it they’re both right.)
is liable to become poisoned and suffer an uncomfortable death.

The depth of the lake has never been calculated. It’s believed to flow
down into the flooded chambers underneath the marshes, leading
to catacombs made of the volatile silfer material, forgotten alien
creatures, and worse.

Mucker Disease victims who enter their final stages will often come
here, seemingly immune to the water’s effects. It’s this strange
migration that gave rise to the rumours that the Muckfish is still alive,
calling to its ‘children’ to swim down and join it in the roiling depths.
They say the geysers are caused by the Muckfish’s coils thrashing in its

Locations 56
FACTIONS
AZIMECH
Azimech is a reclusive scholar and hedge wizard living in a tower on Swurmp Queen and would like to know what happened to her. She
the north-western border of the marshes. Her camp was a prominent believes Knochen is a danger to the marshes’ ecosystem, and would
staging ground during the months of the original strangeness. She rather he is driven away or returned to his powerless state. She will
made a point of recruiting adventurers to chart safe passage through pay well for one or more of his blue stones, which she believes she can
the shifting morass and to discover a means of returning the marshes reverse-engineer to turn his spells against him.
to their prior state. When the spire left and some degree of normalcy
returned, Azimech received the lion’s share of the acclaim. She feels for the plight of the Coraltouched, but isn’t sure what she
can do to help—after all, she’s a scholar, not a fighter. Despite her
And yet Azimech still had questions. What really happened to the reservations in getting involved in the affairs of the marsh, she would
spire? What was the nature of the strange silver metal that fizzed and be delighted if a passing adventuring party were willing to head to the
burned in water? What became of the spire’s strange Guardian? For Chiton ranch and help out.
that matter, what happened to the adventurers she sent to investigate
the spire before it’s departure? Azimech knows the following spells, among others:

Azimech’s guilt over the fate of the spire and her place in it has left her  Cure Mucker Disease (Reduces Mucker Disease by
reclusive. She spent the last of her families’ fortune building a modest 1 step; or D3 steps if cast immediately before
wizard’s tower on the edge of the marsh. She rarely leaves, working the victim takes a 6+ hour rest.)
with retainers and passers-by to get what she needs. She spends her  Summon Fresh Water
days in quiet contemplation, improving her wizarding craft and,  Create Vacuum
when the mood strikes, sending reports back to the cities of her  Translate Archeo language
findings. These sporadic reports bring plenty of visitors, but Azimech  Flaming Hands
is a lot less welcoming than she used to be. (Better they discover their
own fate than she be responsible for more stranger’s lives, she
supposes.)

Azimech is a wizard of moderate ability, with significant

knowledge of the marshes’ history and the surrounding
region. In exchange for basic supplies (adventuring gear,
food, or wizarding supplies like ink) or fresh knowledge of the
goings-on within the marsh, she can supply:

 Information about the marsh, its history, and some of its

mysteries;
 Coin - up to 100s for particularly useful knowledge
or items;
 Transcribed spells for magic-users to learn, or cast from
a scroll (or similar);
 A chance to rest and recuperate in the tower’s lower
levels, provided they do not disturb her studies.

She has a pet bird, Archeomedes, made of Silfer. It has pale

silver limbs and iridescent plumage. It seems content
to flit around the tower, blurting out broken phrases
in common and other languages. Any exposed skin
Archeomedes comes into contact with (e.g. your
outstretched arm) will immediately begin to grow
cold and numb (1 damage; automatically heals
after 1D4 hours.) If Azimech likes you, she’ll warn
you about this in advance.

She believes the Muckfish to be dead, though

lacks evidence. She claims to have once met the

57
CORALTOUCHED ELVES
Before the marshes were what they are now, they were a place of exile than most and have grown up listening to tales of their forebears’
for elves. The civilised folk, having heard too many tales of redcaps persecution and survival.
and faery folk, grew suspicious of the elves in their midst. Distrust
turned to hatred and fear. Before long, the other races — humans in The Chiton family, a clan of Coraltouched farmers and settlers,
particular — had forced the elves from their homes and into filthy moved into the Bone Marshes shortly after the spire incident. They
camps in swamps like these. have, through hard work, cleared a region of dry, fertile land and
clean water. The family are friendly to outsiders, but not stupid; they
It was a dark period of society. Many elves died. The swamps bred know the swamp is home to bandits and worse who would covet or
foulness and misery, and the survivors found themselves afflicted ruin their hard work. Indeed, handfuls of Hochwasser Bandits have
with a curse, or disease, that manifested as coral-like markings across already begun snooping around their lands. The elves have petitioned
their skin. (Decades later, scholars would learn these markings are Azimech for support, but so far, she’s not responded.
ultimately harmless, akin to eczema in humans.) The elves’ children
often inheirited the markings of their parents, and so the ‘curse’ The elf family consists of an elderly patriarch; his two sons; his elder
continued for generations. son’s wife and his twin grandchildren. The patriarch is called Chiton
and remembers first-hand the persecution of his kind. His two
In time, the coral symbol became a rallying cry for the imprisoned. sons are Arcidae and Tethys; Arcidae’s wife is Valvia, and their twin
As with all who use inequality and racial injustice to rule, the human children (Chiton’s grandchildren) are Abalone and Cowrie. Tethys lives
leaders were overthrown. on his own, coming back to the ranch occasionally to trade and catch
up; he is more prone to wild and chaotic action than Arcidae, and a
The Coraltouched revolted, and when they took their revenge, there bad influence on young Abalone.
was a great amount of misery and bloodshed on
both sides.

Today, the stigma persists. Those elves

with “the coral touch” remain on
the outskirts of society, shunned
and feared by others, even their
fellow elves. They are a reminder
to many of a darker time in
history, when persecution and
suspicion ruled the land.

Coraltouched are really no

different to any other elves.
History has left them less
inclined to magical study, more
inclined to hard work and simple
toil. Their skin is thicker than
most elves, figuratively and
literally; the coral markings
are less prone to scrapes and
bruising. Most live off the
land, ekeing an existence from
the swamps they have spent
generations cultivating.

Coraltouched lack a central

culture as such, generally
consisting of isolated families.
While some families welcome
outsiders, others remain
suspicions, remembering the
past. It’s rare for a Coraltouched
to be unable to defend
themselves, as they are hardier

Factions 58
SWURMPS THE DRUID KNOCHEN
“Long ago in a distant land, a wizard mistook some mud for a man…” A short walk east from Azimech’s home, you’ll find the Druid,
-Nursery Rhyme, Anon Knochen. You’ll know when you’ve found Knochen’s island: the filthy
waters recede, revealing lush grass and gentle lapping shores. The
A Swurmp will DEMAND YOU HELP IT BE MORE HUMAN. It will boughs of a weeping willow tree, verdant and beautiful, gently caress
do this by flooding your brainstem with images representing what it the clear shores. In his wild garden grow fruits of every shape and
wants, and possibly broken speech (if you’re lucky). If you refuse, it colour. Another pair of weeping willows crest the island’s highest
will CONSTRICT YOU WITH LIVING MUD and take you prisoner. If point. Their boughs are intertwined, forming a roof of Celtic knots.
the mud isn’t tight enough to break your bones and kill you outright, This is Knochen’s home, where he spends his days in thought. Glowing
a Swurmp will return to its captives after roughly a day. Swumps have blue stones lurk in his beard and spin in shaky patterns around his
no concept of food, living entirely off water and sunlight; if captured, head, echoing the patterns weaved in the willow’s boughs. More blue
you are likely to contract a disease from being force-fed filthy swamp stones can be spotted half-buried around the island and embedded in
water. Or, you will starve. the trees. (Taking one without permission is liable to send Knochen
Their telepathy only works while you’re muddy. If your skin is into a rage.)
clean, the Swurmps are just these weird, moaning blobs of barely Knochen’s chief desire is to expand his domain. The most effective
sentient mud. way to do this is to plant one of his little blue stones, which will render
Marsh veterans will tell you (with varying degrees of sincerity) there is the surrounding area lush and clean - and utterly under Knochen’s
a Swurmp King and a Swurmp Queen. The Queen left the King when control. (These same blue stones can be embedded into living
the marshes burned. The King, in his grief, buried himself under a creatures, turning them into Knochen’s eyes and ears beyond his
foot-thick dome of sun-baked mud. They say the dome is still out island. He is cautious to reveal this aspect, though there are multiple
there, waiting to be cracked... rumours of blue-eyed owls and similar creatures spying on camps.)

He is cruel and capricious, flaunting his youth and power, caring

SWURMP DEMANDS (BROADCASTED AS little for anything unless it threatens his territory. When the Bone
FILTHY MIND-IMAGES:) Marshes burned, he was cursed to spend all but the midnight hour as
“Mek me like yu.” (A woman, writhing and melting like ice cream on a an old man, useless and dependent on others. His arrogance masks
hot day.) a fear that the spire - and its Guardian, the creature responsible for
the curse - will return. He is also afraid of fire (specifically, of being
“Whur Kynge? Whurr Quiin?” (A pair of vacant thrones carved from burned to death; he won’t recoil from a torch or campfire.) He will not
baked mud-clay. They are wonderfully ornate and beautiful, despite the crude abide a fire in his domain, offering the glow of the blue stones if he
material.) considers it necessary.
“Trade dis fur dat.” (A ring of gold and silver shards, spinning around at He knows about the Mucker ecosystem in great detail and possesses
dizzying speeds.) the fastest and most painless cure for Mucker Disease in the entire
“Freidns?” (You and the swurmp, sitting on identical mud-covered thrones, swamp. He refuses to believe the Swurmps are anything more than
smiling at each other.) mindless aberrations; any Swurmp brought into his ‘clean’ territory
will immediately begin to break down and die. There is no love lost
“Taek me yur hhoym!” (The swurmp, exiting a victorian-style horse-drawn between Knochen and Azimech; in his arrogance, he does not see his
carriage, to thunderous applause.) erstwhile neighbour as a threat.

“Fynd Mountin. Fynd SILFER.” (Your vision expands and pans upwards, If attacked, Knochen has a range of means to defend his territory:
revealing a birds-eye view of the marsh. Your vision zooms out further,
revealing stars, planets, and all the glory of the cosmos. Your gaze is drawn  Revive Statue: A terracotta golem is created with orders to defend
towards a distant patch of starless dark. There, in the darkness, a pair of silver Knochen.
arms reach out towards you. Their touch burns your skin off.)  Control Creature: 8+ to resist; If the target is smeared with blue
pigment, 10+. If the target is also embedded with a gem, 12+.
 Purify Mud: Touch instantly destroys Swumrps, sanitizes mud,
and dispels 1 Mud Magic spell.
 Spells: Knows 1D3 Silfermancy spells, though he finds their use
distasteful.

KNOCHEN’S PIGMENTS
Knochen finds the mud and muck of the Bone Marshes distasteful,
but his powers give him insight into some of the Deep Magics of the
mud beyond mere Silfermancy. He has learned to process and refine
certain muds into strange magical pigments.

59
Absolute Ultraviolet: The color of unmanifested spirits and the Wisp’light: Cause all mud in a 30ft radius (including any mud on you
darkness behind your eyelids. This color not only renders something or others) to glow as bright as a candle for the next 30 minutes.
invisible to normal perception but shifts whatever it is painted with
into a liminal world between life and death. Anything painted with Muckers’ole: Create a pit of soft mud as deep as you are and 10ft wide
Absolute Ultraviolet is able to physically interact with spirits but anywhere in a 60ft radius. (If you are muddy, double the depth of
phases through any normal matter. Unlike other pigments on this the hole.)
list, Absolute Ultraviolet is next to impossible to scrub off making Mold Mould: Make a 5ft x 5ft patch of mould sprouts on a nearby area.
it unwise to coat a living creature in this unless it plans to starve to The mould is quite voracious and will render whatever surface it is
death. cast on soft and rotten unless treated or burned away.
Nightshade Violet: Like the dark bruises left on a deadman, Mudlark: Any items buried in the mud within a 100ft radius work
Nightshade Violet brings to mind suffering and pain long past their way to the surface. Note they are not entirely freed from the
healing. This color remembers tragedy, suffering, and death that it muck; the spell lasts about a minute, during which time any precious
witnessed. If a light source is shone onto a wall coated in Nightshade items will work their way to the surface.
Violet, shadows will flicker across its surface and replay those tragic
events in pantomime.

Lord’s Lapis: A deep vivid azure, the idealized color of open sky and
clear water. This pigment is Knochen’s favorite, what he uses to purify
and control the lands around him. By mixing the powdered pigment
with his spit (it would work with any body fluid) he is able to expand
the reach of his druidic powers. Anything painted with this pigment
counts as within personal reach for the purposes of spells and senses.
Knochen has used this to extend the range of his purifying and
controlling magic, but others can potentially make use of it in other
ways. Only clean, pure water can wash it off. Pure crystals of Lord’s
Lapis extend the radius and intensity of control.

Will O’ Wisp Yellow: Somewhere between a pale sickly green and a

sulphurous yellow, this color is the same as the natural color of a Will
O’ Wisp. This color has a hypnotic effect on the living and any seeing
it must make a Knowledge Save or be compelled to follow it. Only
outside interference can break this trance once entered.

Cicada Husk Orange: The color of rinds and husks and autumn
leaves. This is the color of transformation, where liminal states are
crossed and new forms are achieved. Objects coated in Cicada
Husk Orange can be freely molded as though it were clay. A
living creature coated with it may be similarly affected but can
have devastating consequences. The process is not painful
but extremely uncomfortable and disconcerting. Simple
surface changes require no save, but complex changes
require a Difficult Knowledge check or deal the difference in
permanent HP damage to the target.

Dawn Dusk Red: The red that sailors both fear and
delight in, Dawn Dusk Red is the color of beginnings
and endings, the meat-red color of mortality. Anything
completely coated with Dawn Dusk Red will come (or
return) to life for a single day, from Dawn until Dusk.
It can never be used on the same thing twice, so
choose wisely.

SILFERMANCY SPELLS
Salt Scour: Clean all mud from your inventory,
but suffer 1 damage.

Factions 60
THE SECRETS OF KNOCHEN THE DOOMS OF KNOCHEN
Barring the titanic Muckfish, Knochen is perhaps the oldest creature If Knochen is defeated, the tunnels throughout the marshes will
in the swamp today. collapse in upon themselves without the druid’s maintaining magics.
All of the enthralled animals and people regain their minds. The magic
Once, there was a thriving settlement in the Bone Marshes. (This of the Marshes flourishes. If the Willows remain intact, another may
settlement is responsible for many of the sunken ruins now scattered seek the power of immortality that they bestow.
throughout the swamp.) The settlement grew strong through the use
of Silfer, the strange element throughout the area, and the natural If the party ignores Knochen, his power is likely to expand over
magics that bloomed. They were the first to encounter the Muckfish’s time. Soon, the borders of his territories will begin to encroach upon
disease and developed countermeasures for it. Azimech’s tower and the Hochwasser Keep, among others. He will
come into direct conflict with all other inhabitants as he continues his
This society, however, “dug too deep.” They sought to use, not increasingly aggressive expansion.
understand the magic of the mud. The ruler of this land was able
to bind their very life to the two willow trees that are connected to If the party helps Knochen, he will be able to pull the magic directly
the heart of the marsh’s magic. This brought Youth and Power to the out of the marsh. The druid will gain his dream of becoming a true
ruling family, but with dire consequences. The people of this society immortal, and, at long last, leave the Marshes. Over time, the magic
were cursed and devolved into Swurmps. of the marshes will fade. The Swurmps will die en masse as a result.
Although the marshes will be rendered mundane, the leftover Silfer
The King and Queen, in their efforts to save their people, sacrificed tech will continue to poison the land. Within a generation, the
their humanity and left the kingdom itself to sink back into “poison’d swamps” will be little more than a radioactive wasteland.
the swamp.

Knochen was an inhabitant of this society, a criminal whose acts were

considered cruel enough that he was bound to the Willows to serve
an eternal life sentence. With the rest of the society gone, he now
controls the whole of the Willows’ power.

Knochen cannot leave the Marshes - or indeed, far beyond the Willows
- without rapidly aging and withering. Therefore, he has been trying
to expand the reach of the Willow’s magic, by any means necessary.

If Knochen is able to siphon the Willows’ power, he would have both

his immortality and his mobility. Knochen believes the clay beneath
the Willows’ roots - the prime ingredient in his magical pigments - is
the source of this power.

61
KNOCHEN’S LAIR PROCESSING
Between the two willows that crest his island home, a trap door leads Formerly the Great Hall, this spacious room has been converted into
into an ancient fortification-turned barrow that makes up the interior a huge assembly line/distillery. Dozens of goblin-sized raccoons
of the island. Once belonging to one of the earlier colonizing forces of flit back and forth between massive vats of bubbling, colored mud.
the Marshes, Knochen has exploited the resources within. Most of the vats are blue, but a Difficult Knowledge check (or several
minutes of risky searching) will reveal a small station with Dawn Dusk
ATTIC/TURRET Red being processed.

The top layer below the soil. Knochen primarily uses this space for Racoons covered in blue pigment roll barrels and fill them with
storage. The bricks of the walls are plastered over several times to pigment. The racoons, wielding hammers and hooks, act similarly to
keep the mud from seeping in. Under ragged tarps and sheets lie goblins or other smaller species.
2D6 barrels containing fresh water and pickled food. There is a door
into the tower covered with an old tapestry decorated with symbols NURSERY
reminiscent of the VoltCells. A room for seedlings and plants to be grown before being brought to
Simple Knowledge Check: 1D6 hidden Blue Powder Barrels, Lord’s the surface. An artificial light cast from a brilliant orange crystal in
Lapis pigment, not as powerful as a pure gem. the ceiling provides warmth and light to the plants and also bathes
everything in the power of Cicada Husk Orange. Giant centipedes
Difficult Knowledge Check: A minuscule blue eyed skink keeps watch with dozens of human hands tend the nursery. These centipedes
here and informs Knochen of invaders. attack by smearing Cicada Husk Orange on their targets, attempting
to mold their flesh like clay.
TOWER
The plants being grown here are either rare, mutant, or magical but
A long winding stair into the depths of the barrow, lit a sickly yellow- none are native to the Marshes. Plants are being grown in pigment-
green by phosphorescent pigments and crystals. Staring directly at rich mud and may contain potion-like effects.
one of the crystals invokes a check; failing, the character is drawn off
the side of the stairs to fall through the open tower. The bottom has Blue honey bees pollinate the plants and rise in a swarm to defend
a spiked pit full of skeletons. Blue-eyed simians clear out the pit and them if tampered with. They sting and leave thick streaks of Lord’s
retrieve valuables seeking to steal valuables before attacking. Lapis pigment on a hit.

GUARD ROOM “BUG OUT” ROOM

Off of the bottom of the tower, a small room where the blue-eyed Knochen will barricade himself in this well-stocked room if (when!)
simians collect their goods and wait for orders. Adventuring gear and things go wrong. Rows of terracotta figures wielding huge clay swords
skins of water line the shelves, stolen from dead travellers. and clubs line the walls - Knochen can bring them to life with Dawn-
Dusk Red. The willow tree's huge roots fill the back of the room and
MENAGERIE surround an aged throne. If forced into a fight here, Knochen keeps
Dozens of animals smeared in blue pigment stand in orderly rows his distance and uses ranged silfermancy and pigment magic.
waiting for "deployment". If Knochen hasn’t been alerted, the Animals If the tide turns against him, Knochen flees into a hidden tunnel
stand in orderly lines by size. There's a large bear and a few alligators behind the Throne - better to be old than dead!
on one end, a swarm of mice and several hummingbirds on the other.

Numerous cages and animal traps line the walls of this room. If TUNNELS
Knochen has been alerted, the animals are spread throughout the lair The tunnels lead out to various parts of the marshes, offering safe and
- except for the Bear, who waits here to fight the intruders. If Knochen fast travel both to Knochen and his spies. A host of captured humans
is defeated, the animals will go wild and out of control. and simians man pumps to keep them dry. If Knochen is defeated and
these pumpers escape, the tunnels will flood within a day or so.
MINING AREA
Creatures standing at unnatural positions and glazed-eyed humans
using mining tools to harvest colored mud from where the Willow
roots have broken through the walls. The humans are all former
Bandits and the animals are various former marsh inhabitants. They
will not fight back unless directly ordered by Knochen. Mining picks,
candle-helmets, and wheelbarrows are plentiful. Mining alongside
the creatures will go unnoticed.

Factions 62
FRONTS
It’s undeniable the Marshes remain a strange and dangerous place. KNOCHEN'S TERRITORY GROWS
But how are they strange? When you, the GM, need to up the ante and Knochen is kept in check to a degree by his respect (or fear) of the
put the players in a bind, how are you going to do that? other factions in the marshes. But what if that were to change? The
Fronts (a device from the Apocalypse World games) are a way for the removal of one of these groups (Azimech, in particular) might be
GM to keep the various threats, dooms and dangers the party may enough to convince Knochen to expand his territory. This would
encounter straight. When the party chooses not to act, or attempts mean, among other things, the annihilation of the swurmps and other
something and fails, one or more Fronts are liable to escalate - that is, natural occurrences, and the ousting of other characters or factions
get worse. Eventually, if the party did nothing at all, it would be a race (like the Coraltouched).
to see which Front reached a conclusion first, with all the negative
consequences that entails.
THE MUCKFISH RISES
Fronts don’t have to mean the ultimate doom of the marshes, but the It’s generally believed that the titanic, eel-like Muckfish - if it ever
consequence of a Front reaching its conclusion should be objectively existed - died when the Spire disappeared. But what if it didn’t? What
bad for the party - an escalation of power for one of their enemies, or if, as the rumours state, the mucker disease victims are travelling
the death/disappearance of a trusted ally, for example. through the geyser to the monster’s great underground lair, to
somehow feed or empower it? If so, how long until the monster is
ready to burst free and truly claim the marshes for itself? How might
TETHYS GOES ROGUE it increase the infection potential of its mucker ‘children’ during and
Tethys, the black sheep of the Coraltouched family, is liable to do after its return?
something stupid sooner or later. Maybe he gets infected by muckers;
maybe he gets caught stealing from Hochwasser keep. Either way, his
family is liable to want him back safe, if at all possible.

On the other hand, maybe Tethys approaches the players about doing
something bold and dangerous (like killing the bandits) to protect his
family’s future, knowing that his passive brother Arcidae is unlikely
to do so.

THE BANDITS FIND SOMETHING

The geyser’s frequent explosions offer an opportunity to uncover all
kinds of long-forgotten deep artefacts. The bandits, being closest to
the geyser in their flooded keep, would be most likely to claim these
artefacts first.

AZIMECH GOES MISSING

Azimech rarely leaves the relative safety of her tower, but that’s not to
say she never does. What if she is kidnapped by a rival, or simply stuck
in the mud? Who might task the players with coming to her aid? (Her
pet archeo-bird, maybe?) Who or what might grow stronger in her
absence?

63
BESTIARY
Hochwasser Bandits: Rogue wanderers living out of the partially- MUCKER DISEASE
flooded Hochwasser Keep. They prey on other travellers for freshwater There is a disgusting disease you can catch in the marshes. Locals
and supplies. Damage as established, +1 for every 2 bandits in the encounter call it the leech, or mucker’s curse; the vectors are the titular Muckers,
(6-7 bandits will deal +3 damage). a species of red eel with leech-like sucker mouths. It’s believed they
come from the Muckfish, a titanic beast that lived in the flooded caves
Sea-bear: Huge, semi-hairless creature living in the most foetid parts below the swamp. Whether it survived the disappearance of the spire
of the swamp. Damage as established +1. is unknown (it would put peoples’ minds at ease to know.) To date, any
Fly Swarm: Will distract and entangle, leading party members into brave or foolish enough to try and find out haven’t come back.
dangerous parts of the swamp. 1D6 HP per swarm. Deals no damage by If you are already muddy and bitten by a Mucker, roll a D6. Add 1 for each
themselves but will deal +1 if attacking in concert with other creatures. item’s worth of mud you’re ‘carrying’. If the result is 7 or more, you’re
Marsh Vulture: Flying scavengers. Tend to operate in twos and threes. infected with Mucker Disease. The Mucker will latch on, leech-like,
Will only prey on the weak and vulnerable. and regurgitate the virus into the victim’s bloodstream.

Swurmp: Poorly-constructed mud creature with childlike intelligence. The disease has 5 stages. If the victim is not treated and remains
Damage as established, plus can constrict and bind with mud (see later). muddy, the disease will progress at roughly 1 stage/day. Staying
clean will halt the disease, but not cure it. Azimech has a spell that
Silfer Zombie: Partially animated silvery humanoid, like a poor man’s takes a day and reduces the disease by one step; they say the Swurmp
terminator. Hisses and bubbles in water. Damage as established, plus Queen and Knochen have better cures. The Hochwasser Bandits are
direct skin contact with Silfer material numbs bare flesh. frequently infected by muckers; late-stage infected bandits are the
largest vector of the disease, after the creatures themselves.
Muckers: Zombie-like creatures with leech heads. Damage as
established, plus may catch Mucker Disease (see later). Stage 1: Sweating, nausea, bad breath; involuntary muscle twitches
and clenching in the extremities. The symptoms get worse if the
Muckfish: Titanic eel-sized elder abomination. Defies stats. victim is clean (but will break after a few hours, leaving the victim
D6 RANDOM SWAMP ENCOUNTER with a regular fever but otherwise cured.)
1 Hochwasser Bandit (single Scout) Stage 2: Clenching gets worse; almost impossible to straighten hands
2 Hochwasser Bandit (pair of Hunters) or feet. (By the end of day 2, it’s difficult for the victim to walk.) Smell
3 Hochwasser Bandit (D6+1 strong Warband) gets worse. Can’t eat meat. Blurry vision. Victim dreams of the titanic
4 Sea-bear Muckfish, swimming eternal beneath the world’s feet.
5 Fly Swarm
Stage 3: Teeth start falling out. Eyesight gets worse. A filmy webbing
6 Marsh Vulture
starts forming over the extremities, binding fingers and toes together.
Victim becomes adept at slithering through mud and swamp water.
NUMBER APPEARING
Stage 4: Victim will struggle to remember important facts about their
Roll 3D6. If you’re near to the centre of the marshes, roll 2D6 instead; life; starts to believe they have always lived in the swamp. By the end
if you’re closer to the outskirts of the marsh, re-roll any ones. (If you’re of this stage, the victim will begin to have seizures. (Once the seizures
not sure, just roll 3D6.) Generally, higher numbers represent more begin, the victim becomes an NPC.)
civilised results and lower numbers are more monstrous encounters.
Stage 5: Jawbone breaks; the victim’s mouth lolls wide open like a
3D6 RESULT snake’s. Tongue falls out. Mouth is filled with leech-like suckers.
2 Muckfish or titanic marsh-beast Victim can no longer talk or eat by conventional means. Eyes film
3-4 Muckers over allowing underwater and low-light vision. Facial features begin
5 Silfer Zombie to atrophy. Extremities resemble webbed fins. Months or weeks from
6-8 Swurmps now, the head will come to resemble a leech-mouth.
9 Tethys, Coraltouched elf hermit
10-12 Random Swamp Creature, roll again*
13-14 Influence of Knochen (wildlife with gem-blue eyes: spying,
ambushing or otherwise fulfilling Knochen’s will.)
15 Azimech Ally (Her Archeo, spell effects, etc.)
16 Wandering Coraltouch Farmer
17+ No encounter

Bestiary 64