Trade Routes (d20, p. 176): Players choose how risky and profitable they want the route to be.Make a relevant roll on the trade route table when the heroes create it by completing an initial round trip with a full caravan, and every time they collect profits.

(d20, p. 174) Try to alter the local price of a trade good. -Spend 1 hour and 1d6 cash on coffee and tea: locate a retailer and haggle over one item or sack. Make a relevant test on the negotiation table. -Spend 1 day and 1d6 cash x 10: locate a bulk merchant and negotiate a deal. Have fancy dinner and drinks. Roll. -Spend 1 week and 1d6 cash x 100: locate a big shot merchant and schmooze hard to make a deal happen. Roll with advantage.

(d20, p. 174) Learn how much a trade good is priced in a nearby destination. -Spend 1 day and cash equal to local expenses: learn the local price of a trade good. -Spend 1 week and cash equal to 5x local expenses: learn the local price of a trade good in a chain of 3 destinations.

The grasslands teem with many different peoples. What do they say about each other?

(d20, p. 145) Press “Exposure Level” if heroes are exposed to a source of biomagical corruption to see how many mutations they have, then roll on the tables below to determine those mutations.

UVG CARAVAN GUIDE’S DIGITAL COMPANION

THE VIOLET CITY

i (p. 9) This is the end of the Right Road. Humanity’s dominions wind down in the purple haze that wreathes the sunrises of this western reach. No roads, but caravans brave the Ultraviolet Grassland into the eternal sunset of the Black City. Porcelain Princes and Spectrum Satraps oversee great herds of biomechanical burdenbeasts that bring the odd fruits, black light lotus, indigo ivories, rainbow silks, and sanguine porcelains popular among the meritocrats of the Rainbow Lands. Many voyagers are taken by the Vomes but nobody likes to talk of those lost to the Ultras.

Violet City Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 9) Violet Lands Encounter r i (d6, p. 9) Encounters in the Streets r i (d6, p. 10) Violet City Carousing r i (charisma test, d20, p. 12) Violet City Drugs r i (d8, p. 13) Township Dining r i (d6, p. 14) Potential Henchman r i (d12, p. 15)



THE OLD ROAD AND THE HIGH

i (p. 16) The cratered viaduct of the High Road runs on crumbling pylons of dying dryland coral across the pallid grasses. Beneath the halfpassable testament to the follies of the Long-Long-Ago, the Low Road winds, smeared threads of soil and loam and oil and blood ground into a hard surface by the pounding feet, hooves, wheels and treads of pilgrims, nomads, caravans, and vechs.

Old Road Weather r i (d6, p. 16) Two Roads Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 16) Two Roads Encounter r i (d8, p. 16) Two Roads Discovery r i (d5, p. 17) Gate r i (d10/5d6/d6/d10/d20 aura test, p. 19)



STEPPE OF THE LIME NOMADS

i (p. 20) The Limey Nomads’ lands are harsh and dry, forbidding to travelers. Odd remnants from the misty period referred to as the ‘Best Forgotten’ Ages by the Saffron City’s Opiate Priests dot the plain. In spring the Limeys graze west towards the Grass Colossus, returning east to the Circle Rim for winter.

Lime Steppe Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 20) Lime Steppe Encounter r i (d8, p. 20) Lime Steppe Discovery r i (d5, p. 21)



PORCELAIN CITADEL

i (p. 24) The unmarked white surface of the great citadel, uplifted like an imprecation against the fanciful gods, serves as a reminder that not all that has fallen has died. Four robed figures arrayed before the decayed defense golems turn their faceless glazed masks as one. ‘This stair leads to the High Houses. Only permitted penitents may ascend to serve us there. Stay back, our Pillars of Power remain as potent as in your forgotten Long, Long Ago,’ they speak in an impeccable chorus of disparate voices.

Citadel Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 24) Citadel Encounters r i (d8, p. 24) Places of Polished Porcelain r i (d14, p. 26) Carousing With The Princes r i (charisma test [disadvantage if in debt due to carousing], d20, p. 27)



POTSHERD CRATER

i (p. 28) Scrub. Pallid soils of crushed ceramics. Drifts of porcelain exoskeletons crunch and ring underfoot. The autumn and spring rain showers bring sudden blooms of flowers and tubers, covering the pale landscape in a rainbow of colour. The rim rises pale, like fossilized porcelain ribs, from the dusty soil. Remnants of quarries from before the days of the Porcelain Princes lie abandoned to Vomish lurchers (L3, tough) while the Sanguine Porcelain Prospectors whisper of bat-lion (L2, swooping) caves in the far rims.

Crater Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 28) Crater Encounters r i (d8, p. 28) Crater Discoveries r i (d4, p. 29) GLASS HOUSE OF A DEAD PRINCE

Dig for Information r i (d8, p. 30) Clues r i (d12, p. 30) Locations and Treasures r i (d30, p. 31)

GLASS HOUSE OF A DEAD PRINCE

TRAIL OF VOMISH DREAMS

i (p. 32) The grass grows high, sparkling and lush. Rumors say it is watered by sacrifice and an ancient Source Fac. Nomad Clans come here when grazing fails elsewhere, but cluster in thornstone enclosures close to the trail, driven to cooperation by the deadly machine-infested giant beasts that regularly traverse the steppe.

Trail Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 32) Trail Encounter r i (d8, p. 32) Trail Discoveries r i (d4, p. 33) Source Code Corruption r i (endurance test, d20, p. 33) Vome Nest Objectives r i (d6, p. 34) Nest Vomes r i (d10, p. 34) VOMES! r i (6d6, p. 34)



THE GRASS COLOSSUS

i (p. 36) Crossing a last purple ridge, the wide vale promises relative respite from the harsh grassland. Trees dot the courses of two rivers and, at their juncture, prehistoric ramparts of pitted ceramic, traces of pre-wizard spell-arms on their ancient shellac surface. Inside, on one of two hillocks, a great wicker-man of woven grasses, vines and thorn bushes. Shamans of many clans make their meets here, teach their memory chants, and welcome the Clan Mothers once a year for the festival of the Circle of Grass.

Colossus Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p.36) Colossus Encounter r i (d8, p.36) Clansfolk, Madsfolk r i (d8, p.37) Colossus Celebration r i (d6, p.37)



THE LAST SERAI

i (p. 38) Three days out, you sight it. A metallic stepped tower, glinting in the daylight, glowing a ghostly, coppery green by night. Two days out, you smell it. Soft and seductive like cocoa. A day out, you hear it. Drumming out a rhythmless, rumbling staccato. Closing in on the tower you see three buildings, like hunched old men, clustered in the lee of a cinder dune. Around the tower itself is a circle of gentle dust floating in a massive static charge. Nothing living grows within that circle but the Last Serai’s grand old harmonic rods draw energy from that magical field, powering the great hold of the Porcelain Princes, and selling power to the last trading house of the Violet City and the final embassy of the Spectrum Satraps.

Serai Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p.38) Serai Encounter r i (d8, p.39) Weird Rooms r i (d12, p.39)



THE WAYSTONE GRAVEYARD

i (p. 42) Larger by far than the Ignored Tower in the Last Serai, a crumbling verdigris obelisk rises from the bare bedrock, exposed by millennial storms lashing the tired earth. Surrounded by wrinkled iron husks and a veritable graveyard of Long Long Ago machine creatures.

Waystone Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 42) Waystone Encounter r i (d6, p. 42) Waystone Discoveries r i (d7, p. 43)



THE DEATH-FACING PASSAGE

i (p. 44) A sharp, artificial canyon runs rough but true North-West towards the Grass Colossus. The rough crags and cinder dunes, lit from behind by the glare of static ghosts (L0, glowing), are littered with reminders to not turn back: the flickering soul-echoes of travelers seduced by the siren song of the Ignored Tower’s Face of Death. Travelers say not every look at the tower from this angle brings death but most prefer not to try. Four or five days along the passage, past a landslide, the Face is mercifully obscured. The upland above the canyon is a pandemonium of shattered rock and odd twists of stuckforce coated in millennia of dirt and grime. Sages stroke their beards but cannot agree on the origin of this hellish scape. Warning: the Death-Facing Passage is lethal and many travelers journey with great hoods or safety hats so they cannot glance above the horizon and catch sight of the Face of Death.

Passage Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 44) Passage Encounters r i (d8, p. 44) Passage Discoveries r i (d3, p. 45)



THE SOUTH-FACING PASSAGE

i (p. 46) Rough, high steppe country, torn by the tracks of prehistoric Behemoths, but relatively safe. The journey from the Grass Colossus to the Behemoth Shell will interest every gentle-person naturalist. Due west the rounded humps of great cedar-shaded hills rise, but the caravan trails bypass them.

South Passage Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 46) South Passage Encounters r i (d8, p. 46) South Passage Discoveries r i (d4, p. 47)



FALLEN UMBER

i (p. 48) Beyond the Way Stone the steppe continues, flat, tasteless, tonedeaf. The caravan trails have carved a route down to the bedrock and the long-dry gully buttresses of gently crumbling livingstone attest to the long-lost land of Umber, once rich from local deposits of titanic biomatter which supported a thriving chitin-cap agroindustrial aristocracy.

Fallen Umber Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p.48) Fallen Umber Encounters r i (d8, p. 48) Fallen Umber EDiscoveries r i (d4, p. 49) Remote Oasis Encounters r i (d8, p. 50) Dessication r i (d6, p. 51) Devolution r i (d6, p. 51) Despair r i (d4, p. 51)



LONG RIDGE

i (p. 52) On the way to the Serpent’s Stone the grasslands fold back and forth on themselves like sinuous serpents undulating under the coating of ash-white grasses waving in the gentle breezes. Little steppe rodents peer into air, great eagles circle overhead, and for once, little trace of the disgusting remnants of the Long Long Ago are seen.

Long Ridge Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 52) Long Ridge Encounter r i (d8, p. 52) Long Ridge Discoveries r i (d5, p. 53)



BEHEMOTH SHELL

i (p. 54) What were these things? These mountain-sized calcite encrusted creatures that suspended themselves on levitation lenses and drifted and dragged themselves along the surface? Sages speculate demiurges might have used them to sculpt the world, to deiform it closer to some divine ideal. Most are gone. The logarithmically multi-spiralled shell of the greatest of their kind slumps here, a lumpy, curling mountain like a cross between a sea urchin and a conch. The Satraps may claim it but, truly, it belongs to the Great Folk who live upon and in it, scurrying like lice within its ageless bulk.

Behemoth Shell Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 54) Behemoth Shell Encounter r i (d8, p. 54) Behemoth Shell Discoveries r i (d3, p. 55) It is spoken of the great folk… r i (d12, p.55)



SERPENT STONE MARKER

i (p. 56) Beyond the Long Ridge the steppe flattens out and becomes a flat ocean of white grass. From horizon to horizon, the world spreads flat and still. In its depth lies a great stone marker; smooth, rising a foot above the soil, and five hundred paces across. The entire surface shifts in curiously fractal serpent patterns of chocolate and amber. Compasses and guidestones swirl madly, then point themselves towards the stone, helping voyagers in this swirling place. Smaller stone markers dot the entirety of the white grass steppe, gently eroding and being reclaimed, pointless memorials from the Long Long Ago.

Serpent Stone Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 56) Serpent Stone Encounter r i (d8, p. 56) Serpent Stone Discoveries r i (d4, p. 57)



MOON-FACING FORD

i (p. 58) The expanse of the steppe seems endless, from north to south the flat land rolls on under the sky dome. The slow stars and the fast glitter, icy and cold, and voyagers from the four corners approach the Moon River with exaggerated care. The great shallows of the Moon-Facing Ford mark the easiest passage between the light grasslands and the dark. Weaker caravans – or those with something to hide – seek other, far deadlier crossings. Why Moon-Facing? Because as visitors approach the ford their mouths go slack and their faces rise to gaze upon the Near Moon, suspended incongruously above the plain, half-concealed by the curve of the world.

Moon Ford Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 58) Moon Fort Encounter r i (d8, p. 59) Kraal! r i (Relevant Test, d20, p. 60) Moon Fort Discoveries r i (d3, p. 64) Bardstone Content r i (Aura Test, d20, p. 60)



THE NEAR MOON

i (p. 62) Whispers only came to the Violet City of this oddity – a spherical moon come to Earth, suspended less than a bow-shot above the ashen soil of the Grassland. The mile-high sphere, dusty and cratered, mocks astounded travelers. In the noon-daylight the Near Moon looms ash-grey, the colour of a ghost’s ghost, but come sunset or if sunrise could pierce the thick haze of the grasslands, it would burn with the colours of a funeral pyre. Skyscrapers and towers and stairs of a half-dozen fallen cultures slither out of the dank bogs beneath the Near Moon, peopled by hermits, hardy soldiers, and ka-zombie keeping Moon-Lings of quaint disposition. They bridge the airy void, coming within a ten-foot of the Near Moon and its strange gravity. A ladder is enough to ascend upon the surface of this orb, and many tourists have. Tour guides always remind visitors to the Near Moon surface to use tethers and anchors. Though the feeble gravity makes it possible to hop and crawl along (-d to all Agility tests), jump too far and the normal gravity of the Ultraviolet Grasslands will reassert itself. Small impact craters mark where over-eager tourists have swiftly come down to earth. On the skyward side this danger is reduced, though high jumps still end up with visitors accelerating back into the Near Moon with some force. Sport spear hunters of the odd moon creatures call it the ‘skypiercer move’ when they use the natural gravity to leap and give their spear thrust an assist.

Near Moon Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 63) Near Moon Encounter r i (d6, p. 63) Odd Tide Effects r i (d6, p. 63) Near Moon Discoveries r i (d6, p. 63) Outlandish Creatures r i (d10, p. 65) Strange Fossils r i (d8, p. 67) Alien Crust Passages r i (d20, p. 67) Discoveries in the Crust r i (d4, p. 67) Encounters in the Warm Mantle r i (d8, p. 68) Warm Mantle Passages r i (d20, p.68) Warm Mantle Common Chambers r i (d20, p.68) Discoveries in the Warm Mantle r i (d6, p. 69) Crystallized Artifacts r i (d8, p. 70) Crystal Core Passages r i (d20, p. 70) Crystal Core Common Chambers r i (d20, p. 70) Discoveries in the Crystal Core r i (d6, p. 71) Unmooring the Near Moon r i (d6, p. 72) Detonating r i (d6, p. 72) Flying the Near Moon r i (d4, p. 72)



GLASS BRIDGE

i (p. 73) The High Moon Steppe and the High Horse Steppe are sliced asunder one from the other by the deep valley of the Old River, the turbulent outflow from the cold, deep Three Sticks Lake. Both steppes are as cold and as cruel as their names suggest, studded with mesas, splinters, boulders, and craters left over from the near cosmic forces that created the Cantilevered Rim. Past the amalgamated skyscraper of Red Bear Village the valley bursts open to the astounding sight of Glass Bridge: a cathedral of glass that sparkles in the daylight and phosphoresces in the ultraviolet mornings.

Glass Bridge Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 73) Glass Bridge Encounter r i (d10, p. 73) It is said of the villagers… r i (d10, p. 75) Three Sticks Carousing r i (d20, p. 75) Glass Bridge Discoveries r i (d9, p. 76-77)



THREE-STICKS LAKE

i (p. 78) Three ragged villages cling to the steep shores of the cold, deep lake, built on layers of older settlements from the Long Long Ago. Caravans drag themselves around the harsh coastline, while smaller groups cross on the improvised and salvaged ferries of the Stick Folk. The lake itself is cold and full of fish, its bed – so it seems – thick with waterlogged Vomes (L2, grappling) ready to emerge and drag careless bathers into the ultramarine depths. Is there much to add? It is one of the deepest and darkest lakes known to the Steppelanders, a vital source of water and, even if one compromises comfort, respite in the Three Living Villages.

Three Sticks Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 78) Three Sticks Encounters r i (d10, p. 78) Red River Discoveries r i (d6, p. 80) Cholan Wood Discoveries r i (d4, p. 81) Half Human Great Screen r i (Aura Test, d20, p. 81)



THE GALL GRASS

i (p. 82) A wide, high and dry valley, decked in pungent yellow stalks and interwoven galls of the slow-dreaming distributed sentience of the modified grasses holds sway here. The Gall Grass mind (L14, postconscious) absorbs all moisture here and keeps the Hair Woods to the south and the Higher Spinewood to the north at bay. Little survives in the Gall Grass – thirst a constant danger but the mildly empathic grass mind also keeps most predators at bay.

Gall Grass Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 82) Gall Grass Encounter r i (d8, p. 82) Gall Grass Discoveries r i (d5, p. 83) Three Sticks Weather r i (d6, p. 84) Three Sticks Ruin Discoveries r i (d3, p. 85) Machine Humans r i (d6, p. 85) Every Third Day r i (d6, p. 86) Copper Hull Time Distortion r i (d20, p. 87) Wine River Discoveries r i (d3, p. 85)



SPECTRUM CROSSING

i (p. 89) Fires of prismatic sentience gone mad light the crystal excrescences that mark old Satrap experiments and settlements. Whether the crystals are successes or failures, the Satraps do not tell. Black glyphs mark the trails of nomads and adventurers from the Circle Sea, while the Satraps follow light shows of bold, avant-garde design through the pancake-flat terrain. A frosting of metallic salts kills the grasses in great rings around the eerily unrusted corpses of grand traveling machines from Long Ago.

Spectrum Crossing Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 89) Spectrum Crossing Encounter r i (d8, p. 89) Spectrum Crossing Discoveries r i (d4, p. 90-91) Find The Way Out r i (Thought Test, d20, p. 90) Find the way out of the Maze of Light… Unhealthy Compulsion r i (d12, p. 90) Many voyagers return from the Maze of Light with an unhealthy compulsion…



REFRACTING TREES

i (p. 92) Light bends oddly here, the bark of the trees coated in a slimy sheen. Long ago mad experiments created tree-silicon symbionts and now most voyagers are cautioned to wear neutral-density eyewear lest the strange geometries scald their minds. Distances break with confusing abandon and smart voyagers stick to the ditch roads left by centuries of heavy vechs. Fools wander off and are lost in the broken planes of light. Nomads prefer to avoid these wooded, stream-carved lands altogether.

Refracting Trees Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 92) Refracting Trees Encounter r i (d8, p. 92) Refracting Trees Discoveries r i (d3, p. 93)



RIBS OF THE FATHER

i (p. 94) A bone formation the size of a small mountain range erupts from the ground, creating a landmark visible for a week and more in each direction. The old, eroded bone range, garlanded in ancient longneedle pines, is usually capped by snow-heavy clouds. The Satraps mutter uneasily of the swift-breeding Marmotfolk that live upon and within its bulk.

Ribs Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 94) Ribs Encounter r i (d8, p. 94) Ribs Discoveries r i (d3, p. 95) Melted Shrine r i (Thought Test, d20, p. 95) Marmotfolk Rumors r i (d10, p. 96) Marmotfolk Discoveries r i (d10, p. 96)



THE CAGE RUN

i (p. 98) A great avenue of fused terranova runs due north from the Ribs, passing by the Spectrum Palace and disappearing into the Elfhaunted north. The terranova road surface is a wondrous artifact of Long Ago, a ruddy artificial stone that resists both weather and vehicles. Rows of ritualistic metal trees were once arrayed along the length of the road. Many have been removed and reused since the road was abandoned by its builders, but hundreds remain, most decked with Satrap cages holding the bones of Marmotfolk and other interlopers who threatened Satrap dominance.

Cage Run Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 98) Cage Run Encounter r i (d10, p. 98) Cage Run Discoveries r i (d3, p. 99) On the Dragon Roads r i (Thought Test, d20, p. 99)



SPECTRUM PALACE

i (p. 100) The palace of the powerful Spectrum Satraps is surprisingly small: a drum-shaped thing of dull metal and rivets, thirty meters lengthwise and across, and a hundred meters around, in the shallow saddle between two unremarkable hills. A single doorway of pitch black looms ominous upon its southern face. Every night full-spectrum localized aurorae light the sky above the palace – hence its name. Memories of grander vistas and more imposing architecture seem to linger in the corner of the eye, but never show themselves to the naked gaze.

Spectrum Palace Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 100) Spectrum Palace Encounter r i (d10, p. 100) Spectrum Myth r i (d10, p. 101) Secret Empress r i (d8, p. 102) Determine the characteristics of the Secret Empress Places Ruled Over r i (d12, p. 102) Determine the Domains of the Empress Spectrum Palace Discoveries r i (d3, p. 103)



THE IRON ROAD

i (p. 104) Striking out due west from the Ribs, the Iron Road is a series of mammoth skeletal iron towers, red and rusting, like an army of giants marching into the sunset. They continue for more than a week’s walking and Spectrum scholars claim that in the Long Ago cable wagons flew from one tower to the next, simulating the flight of an eagle or golden sky barge. At irregular intervals grand arcologies in once-livingstone erupt from the deep steppe, like immense geometric termite mounds. Dew and earth saps collect in them, and hardy trees form eerie vertical forests in the southern reaches of the Ivory Steppe.

Iron Road Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 104) Iron Road Encounter r i (d8, p. 104) Iron Road Discoveries r i (d3, p. 105)



THE IVORY PLAIN

i (p. 106) The trackless deep plain is a sea of ivory grass that glows palely in the dark. Great herds of grazing beasts and their predators make their way across this plain in stately procession under the harsh ultraviolet radiation raining down from the hazy sky. Eroded livingstone stubs and glassy patches scored upon the ground are all that remains of some older time, like long-healed scars on a mild-mannered old warrior.

Ivory Plain Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 106) Ivory Plain Encounter r i (d10, p. 106) Ivory Plain Discoveries r i (d3, p. 107)



THE DEAD BRIDGE

i (p. 108) Glazed gravel crunches under the great wagon’s wheels and the band climbs onto the con tower to gaze at the sight of the eroded towers lining the lip of the Chasm like so many shattered teeth. The Chasm, forty miles wide, marks the western extremity of the Ultraviolet Grasslands. Its depths are shrouded by a noxic haze. The projectors of glittering force bridges rust on the precipices of the chasm, and only one single archaic bridge of livingstone and dryland coral remains. It stumbles from organiform pier to organiform pier, overgrown and distended into a riot of towers and walkways. The old power generators are long dead and the lights long gone, but the Dead Bridge still teems with life – only now, instead of the engineer aesthetes of the Glittering Heavenly Republic, it is degenerate Quarter-Lings and crawling subhumans.

Dead Bridge Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 108) Dead Bridge Encounter r i (d8, p. 108) These Quarterlings Are r i (d8/d8/d8/d8, p. 109) Dead Bridge Discoveries r i (d3, p. 110) DOWN IN THE CHASM

Climbing Down r i (d8, p. 111) In the Noxic Layers r i (d8, p. 111) Crossing the River Wo r i (d8, p. 111) Climbing Up r i (d8, p. 111)

DOWN IN THE CHASM

DARK LIGHT PATH

i (p. 122) At its northern edge the Chasm branches and breaks out into canyons, craters, and calderas. Many cultures have built staircases, tunnels, hanging bridges, and cableways across the chaotic terrain. All in disrepair, but travelers still descend them into the eternal twilight of the Dark Light Path: a series of parallel grooves cut east to west through the mesas and ridges, as though the fine-grained stone were soft clay. The depths of the Chasm are forever shrouded in a noxic haze, obscuring the passage of the sun, but they are not dark – the passage walls glitter with phosphorescent shock gemstones and sparkling thermovores move like stately half-floating crabs through the thick, soupy air.

Dark Light Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 112) Dark Light Encounter r i (d10, p. 112) Dark Light Discoveries r i (d4, p. 113)



THE ENDLESS HOUSES

i (p. 114) Beyond the Dead Bridge lays endless ruinland. For over a week the landscape marches, a mind-numbing grid-work of abandoned houses, towers, palaces, monuments, aqueducts, and roads. Slowgrowing ivy struggles to choke the dead buildings and vacantmouthed ghouls (L2, hollow) chase radiation ghosts (L1, glowing) dwell in this hollow place. Old death lies over the gently collapsing land like a comforting blanket, keeping out change, exhausting volition, tiring the rain itself. Deep ravines have chiseled apart antique roads and blocks over uncounted years.

Endless Houses Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 114) Endless Houses Encounter r i (d10, p. 114) More Urban Features r i Quarters or Building r i (2d6, p. 115) This Place Is r i (5d6, p. 115) Cursory Search r i (2d12, p. 115) Endless Houses Discoveries r i (d5, p. 117)



THE FOREST OF MEAT

i (p. 118) Long ago somebody, somewhere thought it would be a great idea if easily harvested protein grew on trees. Animals would no longer be slaughtered for their life-giving flesh. Packaging and delivery would be simplified. Whole industries and cultures would be disrupted and innovation would create a thriving new proteinomic class. Then somebody, probably a mad druid, thought exploiting trees for their meat was cruel and gave them teeth, claws, and venom-laced root lances. If it sounds like the Forest of Meat is a bad place to be, you might be right. The carnibotanic disaster zone of the Forest of Meat creeps up on the traveler slowly. The trees grow thicker and fleshier, leaves begin to leer, birds fall silent, shrubberies click thorns like teeth, soil runs red with slime, mushroom eyes open in sudden clearings and, by night, howls of willow wolves (L3, fleet-rooted) echo across drinking bogs.

Meat Forest Misfortune r i (charisma test, d20, p. 118) Meat Forest Encounter r i (d10, p. 118) The Ecological Role r i (d4/d6/d8/d10/d12, p.) Meat Forest Discoveries r i (d3, p. 120)



THE BLACK CITY