Monster: Thief-of-Hues

Thief-of-Hues
Armour Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Move: 120' (40')
swim 90' (30')
Attacks: 1 bite
Damage: 2-8
No. Appearing: 1-2
Save As: M4
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: Nil
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 100

The thief-of-hues -- also known as a nijiara or chromatic python -- is a huge serpent that most closely resembles a constrictor in shape, with scales of a dull pearly grey, milky white eyes, and virtually silent movement. A thief-of-hues may be found in virtually any environment; some believe them to be of some elemental strain, or the result of a magic-user's tampering.

In combat a thief-of-hues bites for 2-5 hit points of damage, sinking in hook-like fangs. Instead of venom it drains colour from its victim; if a save vs. poison is failed, roll on the following chart to determine the colour -- and emotion -- that is lost by the victim:

1. red -- anger
2. orange -- courage
3. yellow -- fear
4. green -- happiness
5. blue -- sadness
6. violet -- curiosity
7. indigo -- calmness
8. two colours -- roll twice more, ignoring results of 8

Lost colours may be regained by the intervention of a powerful cleric, or by consuming the ichor of a thief-of-hues -- which may not be the serpent that drained the colour from the victim.

A thief-of-hues bleeds in rivulets containing streams of colour from the entire spectrum. Its ichor is valued by alchemists and sages, even beyond its purpose in restoring lost colours.

Magic Item: Chrysaor, the Sunlit Edge

Chrysaor, the Sunlit Edge: A weapon of relatively recent history, Chrysaor was forged as one component of a Dawn Knight's consecrated regalia. Unfortunately for Dawn's Korvun, he lost his life in battle with a knot of wraiths and the sword was lost; it has subsequently changed hands from one adventuring band and sapient monster to another, all so far unaware of the blade's origin -- or the rewards offered by the House of the Dawn for its safe return.

Finely balanced and sharpened along both edges of the blade, Chrysaor is forged, blade and hilt both, of milky white steel. Chrysaor's grip is wrapped with plaited rough linen and amber-scaled hide; its quillions are simple and recurved, its pommel an unadorned sphere. Most strikingly, both flats of the pale blade are inlaid with flames and vines of delicate golden wire. When wielded, Chrysaor is engulfed in light like warm sunlight.

Chrysaor is a sword +1. When wielded against the undead, its wirework burns brightly golden and the sword inflicts an extra 1-3 hit points of damage. Chrysaor's bearer also gains a +1 to saving throws, when applicable, against attacks from undead creatures.

Monster: K'kithil

K'kithil
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 1-1
Move: 90' (30')
climb 90' (30')
burrow 90' (30')
Attacks: 2 liv or 1 bite
Damage: 1-3/1-3 or 2-5
No. Appearing: 2-12 (20-200)
Save As: Normal Man
Morale: 9 (12)
Treasure Type: F
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 5

Sapient, industrious scarabs some two feet long, k'kithil congregate in massive labyrinthine burrows and dense scalloped towers, building up and filling in space with an orange-gold, translucent resin. Their tools are likewise fashioned of resin, nearly as hard as steel and half the weight. K'kithil chitin is white and black and set off with copper markings that match their eyes; their mandibles are ornately shaped and serrated, and their foremost pair of legs are capable of manipulating objects -- which may be carried concealed beneath their wingcases.

In combat k'kithil bite if pressed, inflicting 2-5 hit points of damage, or rear back on their hind two pairs of legs to allow the throwing of two liv, narrow resin blades, as far as 15' for 1-3 hit points of damage each.

For every ten k'kithil there is one warrior of 1+3 Hit Dice. Warriors attack as 2 Hit Die monsters and inflict 2-8 hit points of damage with their sharpened mandibles. A colony of k'kithil is led by 2-8 fertile Lords and Ladies, who possess 2+2 Hit Dice, an Armour Class of 2, and brilliant jewel-coloured markings. K'kithil fighting to defend their Lords and Ladies possess a morale of 12 rather than 9.

I'm not dead!

.. Just distracted ;3 And with a newish philosophy that I shouldn't push myself to post when something else is on my mind.

Don't worry, I'm not gone forever ;3

Magic Item: Green Fire Wraith

Green Fire Wraith: A marvel of magitech, the Green Fire Wraith is a construct of steel and brass and glittering green glass as hard as adamant, of smooth bulbous glassy panels and magnificent clockwork limbs. The Wraith is a monstrous beautiful wasp; and it carries its passengers and cargo within it as it flies on wings of slim golden veining and films of pure arcane energies.

The Wraith is a unique clockwork airship large enough to carry up to six human-sized passengers in its thorax and abdomen in relative comfort. Its limbs are jointed and hooked like those of the insect it is modeled after, capable of landing on most any surface and clinging there stubbornly; the Wraith may also venture underwater, though its ability to function there is poor. The Wraith can achieve a land speed of 210' (70') and a stunning maximum flight speed of 450' (150'), but its submerged movement is only 120' (40').

The Wraith is armed with adamant-lined steel mandibles that can inflict 5-50 hit points of damage per bite; but its ability to bite man-sized targets is small, inflicting a -6 penalty to the to-hit roll of the controlling individual. More efficient is the Wraith's sting, a massive needle-like vane of brass and crystal that can cast an 8-Hit Dice lightning bolt every five rounds. The Wraith functions as if possessing 20 Hit Dice and an Armour Class of -4.


Wars and revolutions have been fought over the Wraith, petty kingdoms rising like shoots and falling like leaves in its wake. More fearsome still are the rumours that tell of a series of such constructs -- some with other forms of armaments, or mesmerizing patterns cast by their scintillating wings -- that rest within a mountain rebout waiting to be found.

Magic Item: Scribe's Whisper

Scribe's Whisper: A crystal inkpen a foot and better in length, the Scribe's Whisper is gently sculpted in smooth lines and subtle swellings to accomodate the miniscule golden gears, tiny coral clockworks and pearly mageries that twist in constant motion within its shaft. The nib of the Scribe's Whisper is of frosted steel etched in cinnabar; the thumb- and finger-rests directly above the nib are of gold and cinnabar, smooth to the casual touch but unfolding tiny metallic claspers to cradle the fingers and gently adhere the skin. While in use, the mageries within Scribe's Whisper tint a soft pink.

Attuned to the writer by the connection-point and fueled by magic and the writer's intent, Scribe's Whisper need only be drawn across any surface suitable for inscription and the inkpen will do so in a distinctive red-black script. The Whisper draws the words directly from the writer's mind; it will inscribe in any language the writer knows, switching between languages as required or needed.

Magic Item: Hyuu's Eyes

Hyuu's Eyes: This collection of painstakingly polished lenses -- of crystal, amber and other more rarified things, mounted in thin rings of cinnabar and orichalcum -- is commonly found in one of two forms. Both versions of Hyuu's Eyes mount the bevy of lenses on delicate articulated arms, to be swung before the wearer's eye as needed; but one carries them on reinforced brass and cinnabar spectacles, where the other mounts the arms and their lenses to a smooth metal ovoid that attaches to the owner's temple with the sacrifice of a drop of blood.

The various combinations of lenses in Hyuu's Eyes produce different unworldly enhancements to vision. Most versions have 2-6 different functions, each usable once per day, though arcanesmiths do love to customize; for skinmounted arrays, for example, further functions may sometimes be fueled by the sacrifice of hit points.

Some possible functions include:

1. Detect magic, as the spell
2. Read magic, as the spell
3. Sense the weakness: gain a +1 to to-hit rolls after studying a target for 1 round
4. Detect alignment of single target
5. Identify substance after 1-4 rounds of study
6. Fatal flaw: gain a +2 bonus to damage against a construct or object after studying for 1 round
8. Sharpened awareness: gain a +1 to rolls for finding secret or hidden doors for 1-10 turns

Hyuu's Eyes are named for the secretive young magic-user Hyuu Thunderwing, who was the first to create such an artifact. There is a certain amount of gentle irony in the fact that, even years after Thunderwing's disappearance in the Splintered Peaks, tales circulate that he never required the Eyes to begin with and may not have even been mortal.

Monster: Brassbound

Brassbound
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 5***
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks: 2 or special
Damage: 1-8/1-8 or special
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: C6
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: F
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 550

Sometimes an arcanesmith pushes their work just a little too far. The magic frays and snaps; the wire coils like a mad serpent, the metals flow, the clockworks spring out of array. And sometimes all of the above comes down on the hapless creator's head and burns their life away until they become something else. A brassbound is the undead aftermath of such a misfire, a charred and corroded corpse shot through with the wires and clockworks, metal plates and crystal lenses of their living craft. Some continue on, some lash out -- most do both.

In combat a brassbound attacks either by striking with ragged gears pulled from the body or lashing out at range -- up to 20' -- with coils of razor-sharp wire. In either case the attack inflicts 1-8 hit points of damage. If faced with multiple attackers or surrounded (or simply because) a brassbound will release a scalding mist of necrotic, burning acid, causing 2-12 hit points of damage for two rounds to all caught within a 25' radius; though this cloud of filth may only be produced once a day, it forces a save vs. poison or the victim's physical attributes are halved for 1-4 days. This condition may be alleviated by the brassbound -- if the creature is permitted to perform the required magitech procedures on the victim.

Brassbound are immune to non-magical weapons and to fire. All possess the abilities of a magic-user, generally varying between levels 2-16. Maddeningly enough, one half of brassbound are especially vulnerable to electricity, taking half-damage; the other half are healed by it.

Magic Item: Brri'ku

Brri'ku (Scarlet Centipede): A bizarre combination of personal defense and personal offense, a brri'ku -- commonly so named after the pet-name given to the first of its type by the eccentic noblewoman who commissioned it -- is a construct of delicate golden gears and wireworks, cinnabar clockworks and finely jointed copper legs.

Made up of anywhere from ten to a hundred bright scarlet-enamelled segments, a brri'ku crawls and roams freely about the body of its owner; or perhaps coils about the throat like an elaborate necklace, attuned by a drop of blood. Any daring to physically strike an individual "wearing" a brii'ku will be struck at by the centipede which seeks to sink its cinnabar fangs into the aggressor. This bite is poisonous, causing a loss of 1 point of Constitution and paralysis for 2-8 turns if a save vs. poison is failed.

Alternately the wearer of the brii'ku may pull free a scarlet segment and throw it as if a dagger; upon contact the segment explodes into razor-sharp shards and clinging, burning fluid, inflicting 1-6 hit points of damage on the first round and 1-4 hit points on the second. Segments may be crafted to replace those lost; but if a scarlet centipede loses all segments, reduced to clockwork frame, the enchantment is lost.

Scarlet Centipede: [AC 1, HD 1+2, hp 10, move 60'(30'), Att: 1 bite, Dam: 0 + poison, Sv F2, Mrl 12]

Magic Item: Keshti, the Brazen Wings

Keshti, the Brazen Wings: A wonder of deceptively delicate craftsmanship, Keshti at rest or in default is a clockwork eagle with wingspan of eight feet or better. Feathered in copper and brass and intricately detailed, the Brazen Wings boasts eyes of rosy pearl, claws of crystal, a beak of cinnabar-stained ivory and internal workings of gold and glass and silvered steel.

Attuned by a drop of its owner's blood, the Brazen Wings may function as an enchanted mechanical [AC 2, HD 3, hp 24, move 60'(30') fly 180'(60'), Att: 2 claws + 1 bite, Dam: 1-4/1-4/1-6, Sv F3, Mrl 12] clever enough to carry messages or objects to specified individuals or to act as a scout.

When commanded, however, Keshti's clockwork and plates shift configuration; attaching to its owner's shoulders and flanks with claws and beak (causing 1-8 hit points of damage that cannot be healed until Keshti is removed), the Brazen Wings molds to the torso and extend those selfsame wings -- now under the direct control of Keshti's owner, who may fly as if born with the ability.

In either shape the Brazen Wings may only be active for six hours out of twenty-four.


Originally a creation of the Lapis Vizirs, Keshti has travelled far from its desert home in the Shining Sands over the intervening centuries; the legends of the shining bird are exceeded only by the tales of brazen-winged heroes and killers who -- despite their shining trademark -- all seem to disappear without a trace.