Above the Infernal Hand of Asphidonkhelon

Somewhere far to the east lies the Kingdom of Mytikas.

8th Seat of the Council

A kingdom ruled by a council of 7 men and 1 demon. Bound by cyclopean sigils and ancient pact, the 8th member of the ruling council is the Great Demon King Asphidonkhelon. Duke of the Salamanders, Prince of each Wound Clockwork, Marquis of All Lemures, Asphidokhelon rules over the great burning abscess below the kingdom. Married every two decades to a royal princess, his armies emerge from the earth. From gaping wounds adorned in green metal, great flying ships set out across the sky leaving devastation in their wake.

The people of Mytikas fear no enemy, fewer even conceive fighting for their own nation. Rather than spilling the blood of her own citizens, the kingdom of Mytikas is protected by the vast throng bound to serve Asphidonkhelon. Many-eyed Salamanders, laboring clock-work constructs, the reanimated dead and the secret of gunpowder stand at the ready to bring ruin on behalf of the princess. In ages past, when there were still a great many other demons crawling out from beneath Mytikas Asphidonkhelon was wed to the royal princess. Her brothers, one a builder another an exorcist, seeking to safeguard their people offered her to Asphidonkhelon in exchange for his aide. He instead demanded a bride till his deathbed and so the ancient covenant was struck.

Asphidonkhelon when he was young Art by  Seb McKinnon

The Builder crafted vast bulwarks and ramparts against the other demons, The Exorcist expelled them from their hiding places into the light, and Asphidonkhelon feasted on the flesh of his brothers. Great earthworks spread across the kingdom of Mytikas each abjured against foul monster by divine sigil until only Asphidonkhelon remained. An amalgam of each demon he feasted on, he was not the same demon who the brothers made contract with. Instead he was Aspidonkhelon the Great Demon King, the ruler of the burning hell below Mytikas. From the remains of what was once his brothers he made servants to wage war with, though the contract remained. Every twenty years a new princess became his bride, and his servants waged war for the kingdom of Mytikas.

The Ascendent Order of the Astral Guillotine

When the demons first crawled out from beneath the earth it was thought that the old gods of Mytikas had abandoned her people. Churches became desolate and their bells rang hollow; monks abandoned their vows and holy texts by the wayside. Apostasy turned to apathy as cities were pulled beneath the earth and the countryside turned to ash.

In the midst of such slaughter, there were two brothers. Their home burnt, eyes full of tears, they set out upon the roads. The older brother carrying his crying sibling through the smog and ruin, and so they continued on until another tragedy struck. One night, the younger stopped breathing. Clutching his chest, clawing at his brother for air, his eyes filled with tears. In blind panic, the older struck him in the chest and watched his younger brother cease his gasping, his eyes rolled back into his head. The eldest shedding tears over his brother's corpse begged for his brother to return. Perhaps some fickle angel heard and so descended from his opal throne to heed the boy's cries.  A flash of pale light and then both brothers awakened illuminated. The Older stood as wide as two men, his skin rippling with muscle, a shimmering mace in his left hand. The younger awakened to a halo adorning his brow, his mind filled with each eldritch sigil of the celestial script. Each held his gaze skyward, the mysteries of the Astral Guillotine known to both.

The two then waged war to reclaim Mytikas, maiming the demons with but a single gesture. The Older churned the earth so that it would abjure each soul in Mytikas while the younger evoked celestial song to banish each demon back into it's hole. In time they would make contract with the Great Demon King to slaughter the demons in their own hell-scape and in time both would fade as the dew of morning. Before they passed, they taught a portion of their art to the next generation which would defend Mytikas.

Wall Mural of Mytikas showing the Ascendant Order and the Demon Below

Each generation taught further generation and art was codified into monastic tradition. The mysteries of the Astral Guillotine prepared as last measure against worst betrayal. The monks sit in their stylite pillars contemplating the ascent of all reality into singular blade, fasting and preparing for their execution of Aspidonkhelon.

Botanical Wonders of Mytikas

Before the ruination from beneath, strange fruits grew from the soil. Most were lost though a few, cultivated in the imperial gardens of the capital remain. Botanical Knights breed and guard these treasures seeking to preserve some of the ancient Mytikasian mysteries. Thieves have described the following remaining wonders before being beheaded in the public square.

Five-Point Rose - A pink and yellow rose composed of 5 petals all intertwined and quivering. These roses bloom in the starlight and grow in the shape of constellations. It is said that if one imbibes a dried rose one may change their shape to that which they most desire.

Art by Vapeur

Herb of Rebirth - A single bundle of green orbs atop thin filaments, this is the most well known of all the Botanical Wonders of Mytikas. Growing only once every 11 years in undisturbed shadows it is said that this herb may cure any disease and restore youth to the old.

Lunar Cap - Only visible under the darkness of a new moon, it glows with three bright mint green points of light. If shredded and brewed into a tea it may restore the maimed and injured to full vigor.

Ashen Droplet - A grey flower from which thick red sap seeps, the ashen droplet was only mentioned by one thief. It is said that even gazing upon one burns and the flower grows straight out of stone.

Opaque Morel -  Thieves have been said to shrink as they approach this rather meager growth its stem hanging over them until they touch it. Thought to have mystical properties, no thief has been able to remove one from the imperial garden walls.

Imagine this twice your height

Next Post will detail the Monsters under the control of Asphidonkhelon, and at some point I'll post a class write up of a Monk of the Ascendent Order of the Astral Guillotine.

Save Your Father From the Whale's Belly

In this Post, I finally describe those Moby-Dick dungeons

Except way more Treasure and Monsters

In order to enter a Sea-Beast one must first find one and there are generally two methods to do so. Summoning a Sea-Beast: By dropping 100 silver worth of blood/entrails and 1000 silver worth of treasure into sea near the whirling straight a Sea-Beast is summoned in 1d4 turns. Entering the Whirling Straight: Make a massive cave complex and populate it with sea monsters, about 2 levels down start flooding it, 3 levels down where you would normally place a dragon/lich/other super high dangerous encounter start placing Sea-Beasts.

Once in the presence of such a creature one either becomes Swallowed by the Sea-Beast or Cuts into the Sea-Beast's flesh making an entrance. If one is swallowed, they enter the Sea-Beast through it's mouth which can be exited out of again. By Cutting into the Sea-Beast's flesh, one enters into a random organ and the musculature plugs the whole in after them.

Sea-Beast Maps/Physiology

Every Sea-Beast has a base structure composed of 8 organs (rooms which the PC's can travel through). There is the Bloody Path and the Bile Path. The Bloody Path is a one-way series of 4 organs which loop back into one another. The Bile Path is a linear series of organs. There are always 3 intersections in the Bloody and Bile Paths. The Throat and Gills have a passage between them, and the Veins have passages to both the Stomach and Bowels. The graphic below should help make things clear.

If the Party chooses to become swallowed by the Sea-Beast, they start in the Mouth, otherwise randomly select a room that isn't a Mouth or Gills Organ and they start there. Once the party is inside, the Sea-Beast simply becomes a dungeon to be plundered. However, the Sea-Beast is not simply a series of 8 rooms, there are more organs.

Creating the Sea-Beast Dungeon

Each Sea-Beast has 1d10 (or more) spare organs/rooms. When creating your Moby-Dick dungeon, you figure out how many extra organs the sea-beast has and then roll on the chart below for what type of organ it is. If the extra organ is a bowel, you attach it to another Bowel Room, otherwise just attach it to a room at random.

Roll	Organ
1-5	Extra Bowels
6	Spare Heart
7	Extra Gills
8	Extra Veins
9	Egg Cavity
10	Air Bladder

For our example lets say we rolled a 5, so we have 5 extra organs. We roll 5d10 and learn our sea-beast has 3 Extra Bowels, 1 Spare Heart, and 1 set of Extra Gills. Below is a graphic showing where we have placed them. And further each room is now numbered as it would be in a normal dungeon map. Now it should be looking a bit more familiar, it's not to scale what so ever though. Room size is listed below, the passage length between adjacent organs is 30ft.

Sea-Beast Organ Contents/Dungeon Room Population

The contents of each room are based on the table below and what kind of organ it is. For each room roll a 1d10 for the contents and then modify based on the organ type.

Roll	Result
1-6	Empty/re-roll (a room is only empty if it is rolled as empty twice)
7-8	Monster
9	Guarded Treasure
10	Treasure

Mouth - Entrance to the Dungeon. Filled with massive teeth, parasites within the beast's maw, and corpses stuck in between the fangs. 25% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 20x20 feet.

Throat - Filled with howling wind, dripping slime, and flotsam stuck in the soft flesh of the throat. 25% chance of the Sea-Beast intelligently communicating with the party. 50% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 20x40 feet.

Gills - Exit out of the Dungeon. Massive bleeding slits from which the outside ocean can be momentarily seen. 0% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 20x20 feet.

Lungs - If torches are lit here, there is a 1d6 + 1 per minute per exposed torch chance of the Sea-Beast violently coughing and spasming. Party takes 1d6 damage and each member must save or be shunted out into the throat of the beast. 100% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 30x30 feet.

Heart - Beating irregularly this amalgam of misshapen tumors sends out a pressure wave to those who stand nearby. All those in a heart room take 1d6 Non-lethal damage every 3 rounds. 0% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 30x30 feet.

Veins - Filled with fluid that snuffs out torches. Speed is reduced to half here. 0% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 100x5 feet.

Basically This Level From Super Mario Land 2

Egg Cavity - Home of a sleeping Fetal Sea-Beast which will fight the party. 50% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 40x40 feet.

Air Bladder - Always empty. 100% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 40x40 feet.

Stomach - Filled with acidic waters which will erode PC possessions. If a PC spends more than 1 turn inside a stomach they must save vs possessions being destroyed. On a successful save only 1 possession lost, while on a failure 1d6+1 possessions are lost. If the PC has less possessions than what is listed they instead take the difference in damage. There is a 25% chance of this organ containing a ship. 25% chance of oxygen inside and roughly 40x60 feet.

Bowels - Rather large and surprisingly dry, these massive caverns are filled with the accumulated debris that the Sea-Beast has consumed over the course of the past years. There will always be treasure inside a bowels organ alongside what ever is rolled on the Room Content Table. There is a 33% chance of this organ containing a ruined ship 50% chance of oxygen inside Roughly 60x90 feet.

*Torches can only be lit in rooms with oxygen and when moving to a room without oxygen, the torch snuffs out in 1d4 minutes.

Monsters in a Room of a Sea-Beast

Roll	Result
1	2d6 Crazed Sailors/Pirates
2	1d4 Giant Tapeworms
3	1d6 Spider/Crab/Crustaceans
4	3d10 Giant Isopods
5	Half-Dead Berserk Whale
6	Dead version of one of the above

Wandering Monsters of a Sea-Beast

Roll	Result
1	Crawling Mechanized Shark
2	Crazed Gyre Islander Trapped
3	Marauding Party of 1d8 Atavistic Merfolk Raiders
4	Swarm of 1d4 Winged Squids
5	2d4 Echindaspawn
6	Ningen Wanderer Trapped Inside

Types of Guarded Treasure in a Sea-Beast

Roll	Result
1-3	Monster Squatting above the Treasure
4	Treasure is CURSED!!! (use your favorite curse table)
5	Treasure is trapped (save or damage/poison)
6	Treasure is wanted by someone else

Types of Monster Squatting above the Treasure

Roll	Result
1	Giant Sea Snake/Eel/Lamprey
2	3d4 Undead Sailors
3	Treasure Chest Mimic
4	Half-Dead Giant Squid
5	4d8 Giant Isopods
6	Ghost

Treasure Within a Sea-Beast

Roll	Result
1-4	Bullion + Jewelry
5-6	Trade-Goods
7	Weapons/Armor
8	Historic Artifacts

Ships: Micro-dungeon filled with 1d2+1 Treasures and are a set of linear rooms equal to the number of treasures+1.

Ruined-Ships: Micro-dungeon filled with 1d4+1 Guarded Treasures and 1 Monster from the Monsters in a Room of a Sea-Beast Table and are a set of linear rooms equal to the number of treasures+1.

Art by Roberto Innocenti

Beastiary

Crazed Sailors/Pirates
HD 1, Def 2, MV 12, Dam 1d6, SV 6, Mo 13

Giant Tapeworms
HD 3, Def 3, MV 6, Dam 1d6+Suction, SV 8, Mo 10

Spider/Crabs/Crustacean
HD 2, Def 5, MV 10, Dam 1d6 x2, SV 6, Mo 8

Giant Isopods
HD 0, Def 1, MV 8, Dam 1d4(as group), SV 5, Mo 12 *when taking damage, roll to see how many die

Half-Dead Berserk Whale
HD 8, Def 4, MV 7, Dam 2d6, SV 10, Mo 12

Crawling Mechanized Shark
HD 3, Def 3, MV 15, Dam 1d10, SV 11, Mo 20

Art by Kainsword

Crazed Gyre Islander
HD 1d4+2, Def 3, MV 12, Dam 1d10, SV 6+HD, Mo 18

Atavistic Merfolk Raiders
HD 2, Def 2, MV 10, Dam 1d6, SV 8, Mo 14

Winged Squids
HD 1, Def 2, MV 16, Dam 1d6, SV 6, Mo 10

Echindaspawn
HD 2, Def 5, MV 5, Dam 1d6, SV 11, Mo 12

Ningen Wanderer
HD 4, Def 1, MV 12, Dam 1d4, SV 10, Mo 6 *pacifist and wants to get out

Art By Sergey Kolesov

Giant Sea Snake/Eel/Lamprey
HD 4, Def 2, MV 12, Dam 1d8+Grapple, SV 6, Mo 12

Undead Sailors
HD 1, Def 2, MV 12, Dam 1d6, SV 6, Mo 20

Treasure Chest Mimic
HD 4, Def 4, MV 12, Dam 1d8, SV 8, Mo 20

Half-Dead Giant Squid
HD 8, Def 2, MV 3, Dam 1d6 x8, SV 7, Mo 6

Ghost
HD 2, Def 0, MV 0, Dam 1d4+100xp drain, SV 9, Mo 20

Fetal Sea-Beast
HD 10, Def 3, MV 9, Dam 1d8, SV 6, Mo 20

Art by Kentaro Miura

Sea-Beast
HP100, Atk 5, Def 2, MV 12, Dam Swallow Whole 1d4 Sailors, SV 13, Mo 20 *regeneration 10/round

Sea-Beast Heart
HD 5, Def 1, MV 0, Dam 0, SV 12, Mo 20 *if a Sea-Beast has no heart it begins to sink to the bottom of the ocean at a rate of 100 ft/minute

Unified Downtime Mechanic for Settlements

Once a party reaches a Settlement, they receive a number of opportunities to interact with the settlement (Either by Referee Discretion {Probably Party Member #+2} or other an exploration Mechanic) outside of buying dungeoneering supplies. The purpose of the limited opportunities is two fold. First, it reduces the amount of time spent waiting for PC's do some obnoxious thing while the rest of the party sits in silence by placing a limit of what can be done. Second, it implies a need for pro activity, the time constraints force the party to do "important" things rather than silly ones.

The following list should be accessible for the Players so they know their options in each settlement. Likewise the Referee portion of the downtime mechanic would be settlement specific. I know that when I made settlements based on this mechanic, rather than on "world-building" I was able to make them much more player focused and because it really focused on what the players can interact with. Once in a settlement and after resupplying, the party gains a number of opportunities to interact with the settlement based on the following list. The players must choose who engages in what downtime activity as the more members who do an action the more likely it is beneficial.

Art by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

1. Discover What Lies Past (This Settlement)

Researching information about traveling away from civilization is very important. A character doing this is able to ask about how far away another settlement is (in terms of days of travel), what kind of menaces lie in what direction (both monster and terrain), or even the site of a dungeon filled with treasures. (Previous thoughts on maps here)

2. Make Friends

A character who chooses to go out and make friends has the opportunity to make a charisma check in order to obtain hirelings and a 25% chance to meet a friendly NPC.

3. Carousing

By spending at least 100 silver (or another arbitrary value choice by the Referee), a character gains (silver spent/100)^2 * 100Xp for going out and socializing/drinking and must make a charisma check to avoid a mishap. (I use this mishap table)

4. Find Rumors

This is where you feed your player's plot-hooks. A character receives 1 + their Charisma Modifier in rumors

5. Sight-see/Relax

A character choosing to relax or sight-see reduces his trauma by one point, gains an extra 1HP until the end of the next combat, and gets to have the Referee describe some part of the settlement/surrounding area to him and give him some lore about the area.

6. Go Shopping

A Character choosing to go shopping may either purchase location unique items (such as gunpowder) or spend silver on frivolous things (such as an obnoxious hat) at a rate of 2 silver for 1 XP.

7. Rest and Recover

By choosing to engage in recovery a character gains an extra 1HP per level until the end of the next combat, further they are allowed a new save against any condition or disease that they have.

8. Research/Find a Scholar

By successfully making an intelligence check, a character is able to ask the Referee 1d3 questions (which are to be answered truthfully as the knowledge would be known in setting). Otherwise they may spend 100 silver to consult a scholar and ask the Referee a single question.