James A.'s Winning Contest Entry

Within the Fecund Garden of a Thousand Nightmares

What waits in the darkness of the walled garden for our young heroine Lehrling Blume?

Who walks among the rain soaked leaves and the storm-lit paths?

How has our petite Lehrling Blume gotten herself in this peril and what will she do to survive?

Why is the garden walled off from the world, with such a sweet scent on the night air, it should be paradise?

Deep within the abandoned sunken city there is a walled garden sealed from the outside with only a windowless tower seen above the wall. The environment around is lush swamp formed from years of decay. Lerhrling Blume is in desperate need of a special item from within the walled garden and has hired or charmed your group of adventures to help her.  She has gotten herself in a desperate pact with a Demon and needs your help (see NPC for details)

Rumours about the Garden that either Lehrling Blume will know or can be given out by locals

(random table)

1. Strange flying creatures have been seen fluttering about and over the wall at night
2. The garden smells of sweet flowers after a rainfall, the smell is said to make a man mad
3. red roses used to grow over the walls, now they are only white
4. It is said a gorgon was imprisoned there at one time
5. strange walking crocodiles with glowing white scales guard the walls (false)
6. There are great riches buried in the garden (true sorta)
7. There are flowers in the garden that will make a human's heart race  (sorta)
8. A thief once climbed over the wall never to be heard from again
9. only at night do the flowers bloom
10. the tower is a crypt of a powerful vampire (false)
11. The stars are different around the garden, they shine oddly (false)
12. The Mist around the tops of the garden walls is poisonous (false)

Lehrling started life as a street urching working her way into petty crime and scam jobs. Several years ago she was working with a roof gang doing break-ins. One night a few years ago  and an ill-fated night for Lehrling Blume she broke into the wrong house on the wrong night

The Summoner Silak was at the end of a long and hard fought ritual to summon the Demon Assparaz`gal, bender of shadows and giver of gloom.  The summoning was almost complete as she slipped in the tower window, distracting Silak at just the wrong moment as disrupting the binding part of the ritual. Assparaz`gal quickly killed the summoner and inhabited his body while Lehrling Blume watched in horror.

He has kept her as his plaything and pseudo-apprentice for several years now while he has gone on in the assumed form of the old summoner. Since Assparaz`gal can not go out in sunlight as it would  corrupt his illusionary guise, he has found it useful to teach her some magic as he sends her out to do his biddings

Our little Lehrling hasn't just been learning magic and doing the bidding of a demon all these years, she has been actively researching how to rid herself of this unintended problem, and she seems to have found it.  Her research has given a glimmer of hope in her world of shadow, it seems that deep in the swampy sunken city there are some shards of a magical mirror which could banish her demon. Inside the windowless tower of the walled garden is where she must go, she has assembled a team of adventures in desperation, and she has been on the run for three days

Lehrling Blume
Thief 3 Illusionist 3
STR 9 DEX 16 INT 15 CON 9 WIS 10 CHR 13

Dark haired and alabaster complexion , dressed in green velvet dress with matching hooded overcloak

spell book with darkness globe, refraction, detect magic
Silvered Throwing Dagger X 7, 50ft silk rope, grappling hook, rabbits foot, mirror, parchments, quill, ink, black velvet bag with partial Deck of mystical wounding  (stolen, though she knows the ritual and will teach it to those that help her, she has assisted in creating this deck by doing shovel work for the demon)

Deck of Mystical Wounding  (magic Item)

A Deck of Projections is a normal deck of playing cards that has been infused with magic during a ritual (following) so that when a card is drawn and flipped, thrown at a target a random (depending on card) type of damage is dealt on a hit along with that cards value in damage

Using a deck is fairly simple, the player will use a normal deck of cards and shuffle them each game, they will then roll to hit as normal with a missile weapon (range 50 feet) if they hit they will take the card off the top of the deck, if they miss they will take a card off the bottom and discard it

Spades 2-10 necrotic damage by card value, J 1d8 Q 2d10 K 3d12 ACE summon 1d6 skeletons

Clubs  2-10 subdual damage J blindness temporary Q deafness temporary K paralyzation temporary  ACE stun explosion centered on target 40 feet, all need to save (flashbang)

Diamonds 2-10 cold damage J 1d8 Q 2d10 K 3d12 ACE target frozen in large block of ice

Hearts 2-10 mental/psychic damage J charm target Q sleep target  K confusion ACE teleports target to somewhere else (gm discretion )

A deck is never complete when found or created, only 5d10 cards will survive the creation of a deck

Creation of a deck of mystical wounding
(ritual, spell)

Ingredients needed
One corpse of a freshly hanged criminal
One  dug up coffin or sarcophagus of a Noble, petty or high matters not
One  newly lightning struck tree that is dying but not dead
knowledge to cast the spells colorspray or psychic based attack, magic missile or any non elemental attack spell, chill touch or other cold based attack spell  and lightning bolt or another electrical based attack of some kind and the spell animate dead
One finely crafted deck of cards (at least 150gp worth)
a cats whisker, a bat's wing, a serpent's tooth, a rabbits foot
a diamond, a ruby, a sapphire, a onyx  (of any value)
A ritual dagger
the spell create deck of mystical wounding (3rd level spell)

On a moonless night the corpse of the criminal must be buried in the Nobles coffin at the base of the lightning struck tree, the whisker, wing, foot, tooth, and gems must be sewn into the chest cavity of the corpse along with the deck of cards.   on the next moonless night the coffin must be
dug up and one of the attack spells, electric, cold, psychic, normal damage, must be cast into the opened coffin into the corpse, the coffin must then be reburied at another compass point of the tree. this is repeated for a total of four times and compass points at each moonless night. The fifth burying will be at the original compass point of the tree and on the fifth moonless night animate dead will be cast on the corpse and the corpse killed with the ritual dagger and what cards of the deck remain will be a deck of projections 5d10 cards. the deck can be cut four ways and the cards go to different people but each cut will have a cumulative 20% chance of not working negating any magic held in those cards

MothMyrmidon of the Walled Garden (New Monster)

The moth myrmidon inhabit the inside of the tower in the garden except at night when they flutter about in search of warm blooded prey to feed the vampiric roses

No Enc 2d12
Alignment Chaotic
Movement 60’ Fly 120’ clumsy erratic
AC 5
HD 2+ 4  ( 6-20 hps)
Atks 2, 1d6 sword 1d4shield bash and special
Save T3
Morale 10
Treasure, always a random gem or 10% chance random magic item, no coins
XP 55

Special attacks
if in melee will fight with sword and shield and second attack will be shield bash ,  will always attempt to grapple and fly off to drop less armoured PC’s into vampiric roses on a swoop attack or knock off walls

Vampiric roses (trap/monster)

Vampiric roses are a jumble of overgrown roses that will attempt to grab any warm blooded creature near them and prick them with their thorns. they have white flowers which will turn red when they feed. they will be any of 4 sizes (HD) small, med, large, lush. they will be withered and weak in daylight


No Enc . as planted but always at least two next to each other
Alignment Chaotic
Movement none but 10 foot reach
AC 9
Hit dice 1d4 as size of bush
Attacks 1d4 as per HD grap each round, 1d6 thorny blood letting, half of damage dealt will heal vampiric rose or provide temporary hit points for bush
Save W1d4 as HD
Treasure random mixed coins buried in roots
XP 10, 15, 20, 25 as per HD

Maps and Adventure Sketch

The Garden can be approached through the Sunken City from any direction, there are no doors into the garden for ease of map use in the south is the statue garden (1)  to the east is the rose garden  (2, 3 , 6)  to the west is the towers section (6, 7)  to the north is the observation garden (4, 5).

Approaching the garden from any side requires wading in the waters of the Sunken City or a flat bottom boat

random encounters roll as needed
Day

1. snakes small and poisonous drop from above structure or trees 1d4
2. stirges 1d12
3. scavenging thieves 50% chance friendly
4. giant vulture looking for a meal
5. lizardmen hunting party 1d6
6. lost pilgrims  50% chance chaos cultists in disguise

Night

1. swamp zombies with spore attack from the lichens growing on them 1d12
2. shadow hound pack 1d4
3. thieves 1d6 returning to hideout elsewhere
4. giant bats hunting flying moth myrmidon 1d4
5. 1d6 moth myrmidon
6. necromancer with 1d4 gravediggers assistants looking for dead to animate

The adventures will be hired or charmed to help our heroine Lehrling Blume and she will lead them to the walled garden however  they wish to go, she will request that they go at night as the magic is strongest in the mirror shards she seeks, but if they insist going in the day she says they can just wait till nighttime once they arrive

The walls are 30 feet high and are of smooth white stone, no vegetation grows on the walls and it is slick and cold to the touch. either day or night there will be a thick fog coming from over the walls, describe this like the fog from dry ice in water, it will obscure the view from above of the garden.

If it is night, moth myrmidon will swoop attack any characters attempting to climb , fly or levitate over the walls 1d4

Areas

1. this is a walled in garden area separated from the main garden with a set of brass doors that are simply locked.  Inside there is a large nook in the wall in which a purple leaved tree grows and seven statues.  from the door side there are 3 statues of guardsmen two with spears and one with a short sword frozen in a terrifying battle pose as though they are attacking something on the other side of the door. beside them is a statue of a bricklayer working on the wall from the inside. the south western statue is of a young nobleman holding what looks to be flowers, and huddled in the corner is what looks to be a priest reading from a great stone book in his hands with a young boy in robes frozen in mid swing with a censor of some kind. All have frightened looks on their faces and look to have been moved here in some form of memorial. There is a small brass plaque on the wall near the tree (search to find) that says “To those that imprisoned the beast Maderia”
2. This area looks to be overgrown with rose bushes long in need of a pruning  (vampiric roses, seperate bushes for what you need for party level) they will attack any warm blooded creature approaching them, digging them up will find their treasure, crafty players could dig them up live and sell them to others
3. This is a fountain with a small statue of a blue winged demon “pissing” into the water that makes the obscuring fog that rises above the wall, characters touching the water will take damage as chill touch, crafty players could bottle the water somehow for a freezing water attack like holy water.
4. This is a large brass telescope on a revolving stone disk, it has dials for adjusting the lens arrangement and elevation, if a character looks into the eyepiece and it is night have them make a save for madness random, as they have seen the unseen. If characters try to move the telescope there is a 4 in 6 chance it will fall apart, it does radiate magic if detected . The flowerbeds are normal but contain some valuable random herbs if searched
5. around the corner in this nook is a guardian prayer tree of the very chaotic kind, careful players will notice it is chained to the wall with a great silver chain 150gp worth and it is old and has grown into the chain. (TotGaD vol 1 page 70) It is angry and will attack any creature in its range with the branch attack and any attacking creatures with a magic scroll attack . the flower beds here are normal but contain valuable poisonous herbs if searched
6. The doors to tower. the tower is 90 feet high and smooth and featureless like the walls, the roof is slightly curved. the doors are not locked and there is a 4 in 6 chance of moth myrmidon  exiting them if at night. during the day they will be closed securely and characters listening will hear fluttering of the moth wings
7. there is a rotted rope ladder hanging over wall in this area from the outside. at the bottom is a rotted leather bag with rusty thieves tools and random bottle from my wine list for santicore https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X7mP2yiUWfLgWJi2tMJQe6LUURyqZtYqp-6Iw0oTTd4/edit  1d24 or gm random potion  (consider this the gothic easter egg)

Inside the Tower
Day 2d12 moth Myrmidon flutter around the Mirrored Spheres. Night 1d12 inside as the other Moth Myrmidons will be out hunting for the roses  (see special effect of room)

upon opening the doors a blinding (save negates) flashing light will be seen (perhaps) from 4 mirrored spheres floating about the room. The Moth Myrmidon will be flying around them and surprised as no one has ever entered their lair.

(Special Effect for room) The walls, ceiling and floor are also covered in mirrored tiles so that anyone entering or in the room has the effect of mirror image 1d4 on them, moths and players.

In the north west corner is a very large statue obscured by the husks of old man sized cocoons from the moths and some filled with larva. Once the room is cleared if they are removed the players will find that the statute is that of winged snake tailed gorgon like creature shielding her eyes from the spheres and cowering in the corner. She has been stone for a very long time
there are stairs in the south alcove that lead up to a rotten wooden scaffolding that was not taken down after construction (chance of falling if more than one character walks on them) It is obvious that the tower was a repurposed structure mirrored for imprisoning the gorgon and that they Moth Myrmidon worshiped the statue and the light balls after they made it their lair.

The Mirrored Spheres

These 4 differently sized spheres float around the room giving off and refracting light from there center. Detect magic will discover that each has one shard of a magical mirror on the ball, these are the pieces that Lehrling Blume needs. A thief or other might discover that they are trapped, any trying to pry off the magical pieces or random damage to them in a fight with the moths will set off a color spray spell like effect in a full circle radius possibly causing them to fall off the stairs or scaffolding or become magically blind (gm discretion) . They are VERY fragile so keep that in mind for random missile misses and fighting around them. magic users will find the equivalent spells light, levitation, and color spray scribed on the inside of the spheres if they take them apart . the smaller two spheres could be taken out of the doors intact as a curiosity item 300 gp worth, Lehrling Blume needs only one shard of the magical mirror to complete her spell of imprisonment

Imprisoning the demon, well thats another adventure waiting to be told