Long long ago, before the UVG (post 60)

While I’m working on wrapping up the UVG, I’ve also been working on an adjacent project. It’s still only a codename and hints of pictures I’ve released in the past on G+ and other social media, but where the UVG is broad and long, this one is sharp and focused on the conquest and looting of an ancient city.

In the picture: Catburner Skirt, Kamini treasure hunter extraordinaire and currently a deserter, waits for an Iksan white-bone walker to pass behind the Lord Administerial tomb.

And here is an excerpt from the beginning …

Prologue — the City Burns

“City of the Hundred Gates, Mistress of the River of Life, City of the Living God, fallen to the hordes of Iks the Ninth, Ruler of the River of Death from Across the Poison Sea. Woe is become our name!” —words of (?)prophecy scrawled on the Lime Wall of the Temple of the Everliving Cat by a nameless Ebéteen Oppressor-Priest in its own blood.

The soldiers or mercenaries of Ix the Ninth have accomplished the impossible. The conquest is done. The Living God Great House lies smashed at the foot of the Ten Hundred Year Palace-tower. It is open season on the thousand year city.

Table 1: in medias res — the heroes can only intervene in one situation. The strong will destroy the weak elsewhere. (d5)

  1. Tscholnari warriors (AC 14, HD 1+1, water) throw themselves upon a family of defenseless Vampire merchants (AC 11, HD 1, dust) crying out for mercy [a cargo of heal-leeches (200 shekels) and somantic wine (160 shekels), they hide emeralds and sunstones (500 shekels)].
  2. Iksan legionnaires (AC 17, HD 1+3, iron) have trapped three Ebéteen child-priests (AC 13, HD 3, death, sun) in a gilded toad carriage [they have two pieces a dog key and a toad of truth].
  3. An Ebéteen lifemaker (AC 19, HD 5+5, stone) in malachite golem armor devastates a troop of Strupeni mercenaries (AC 12, HD 1+1, wood) [they have many mercenary friends and know the ways of the poison tree].
  4. Twitching flesh of the living god Great House (AC 8, HD 8+8, life, death, sun) crawls towards a group of shackleminded Ebéteen dog-feeders (AC 11, HD 1, sun) [they are fools, but know the sign of the dog friend].
  5. A hive-mind of temple cats (AC 14, HD 3+3, swarm) savages seven Mornian comfortwives [they have nothing but a longing for the seas of home].

—/—

Hope you enjoyed that! If you want to support the UVG, and my other writing, drawing, and gaming efforts, I suggest you visit my Patreon page — or pick up the free introduction to the Ultraviolet Grasslands from DrivethruRPG.