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| art by Lius Lasahido |
Kioz is tunnels. It glints like mica, hums like an electrical transformer.
Kioz is from the future. This is known because of the Library of Kioz, which was memorized by the eternal slugs and then eaten. Some adventurers who visit Kioz peacefully are given personalized messages.
Kioz is a dungeon, but it is very hard one to raid. Unless a group of adventurer's can find a non-deterministic way to determine when/where they will raid Kioz, they will find an overwhelming ambush early on, because of course the slugs knew you were coming.
Kioz is a living slug, who will one day go on to become the eternal snail. It is not known which slug will become Kioz in the distant future.
Eternal Slug
HD 7 AC 10 Bite 1d6 + swallow
Crawl slow Int 14 Mor 4
*Swallow: If its bite does an even amount of damage, the target must make a Str or Dex check (target's choice) to avoid being swallowed.
*Slow Zone: All creatures within 100' must save or be affected as if with a slow spell.
Eternal slugs are immortal. Some eternal slugs can cast spells.
Green People of Kioz
The green people of Kioz are gendered (they are male or female) but lack genitals entirely. They "mate" by fusing together, in an extreme form of monogamy. The resultant creature is an eternal slug.
Eternal slugs, being full of fertilized gametes, can choose to become pregnant whenever they like, and give birth to a green baby after 9 months.
Egg of Kioz
HD 4 AC 16 Lash 1d6/1d6
Fly slow Int 12 Mor 6
*When an Egg of Kioz uses its lash attacks, it needs to open up. This causes it to get -4 AC until its next turn.
*Eggs can jump forward through time three times per day. This lets them move three times as fast in a single round. The movement is nearly instantaneous, so it does not provoke attacks of opportunity. However, it is not teleportation, though it appears to be.
*Eggs have either the Time Cage ability or the Juvenation Beam.
The eggs look like chrome-plated chicken eggs the size of a small child. They float down hallways with the small end of the egg pointing forward.
Time Cage
Target must save or be trapped in a time cage, about the size of a small phone booth. Time cage lasts for 1 minute or until the Egg has been slain. While trapped in a time cage, the target's time is accelerated, so that one round (6 seconds) is actually one day inside the cage. On the plus side, the target is free to spend hours sharpening their blades and/or binding their wounds. On the downside, they'll usually die of dehydration inside the cage after a few rounds (days).
Juvenation Beam
On a failed save, target takes 2d8 damage and their hair and fingernails grow backwards. Any chronic injuries or missing limbs have a good chance of being healed. If they are reduced to 0 HP by this damage, they die and spawn a Remnant under the control of the player.
Remnants
Remnants are what is left when a person is rejuvenated back down to a youthful state. Rejuvenated bodies are always accompanied by a rejuvenated mind, and the fragmentation of a mind is always traumatic. The resultant creature is NOT just a version of the original with a younger body, nor is it a younger body without any of the more recent memories. A remnant is something new.
In game terms, it's a brand-new level 1 character, of the same class as the dead one, with a randomly determined personality and a predisposition towards nightmares. If the dead character was at least level 2, the remnant gains XP 10% faster.
Each remnant has a new, strange instinct. Roll a d6:
- Love and respect for all living things, except enemies.
- Hatred and contempt for all living things, except friends.
- Strong dislike of being alone.
- Strong need to record things as they happen. Will keep a journal.
- Love and trust of gastropods (including snails and slugs).
- Always hungry. Always skinny.
Lock Boxes
One service that the slugs provide: lock boxes. For a hefty fee, you can open a lock box before you put something in it.
These are lockboxes that are sent to yourself from the future. Each one is the size of a shoebox and contains the exact item that you want it to have. Usually.
In game terms, this means that you open the box whenever you want, and roll a d6. On a 1, it's the most useful minor magical item (potion or scroll) that the DM can think of. On a 2-5, it's the most useful mundane item that the DM can think of. On a 6, something went wrong, and the item inside is not suited for the situation at hand.
This is DM-level prescience, not player-level, so if you are fighting some ghouls and unwrap your box expecting a potion of undead control, you might be disappointed and confused when you find a potion of fire resistance instead. But of course, the DM (and future you) know that the dragon in the next room is what you really need help overcoming, not these ghouls.
This is paradox resistant. If you are killed by the dragon mentioned in the last paragraph, then it is your companions or great-nephews who are storing items in Kioz's lockboxes, hoping to rescue you from the past.
Sometimes the contents of the Lock Box aren't helpful at all. In fact...
ReplyDeleteIt is said some remnants are so miserable they want to kill themselves, but some innate self-preservation mechanism prevents this. The only way to achieve it is to kill the person they were before the rejuvenation. But of course that person is already dead. The only solution is to kill them before they die.
Enjoy your Lock Box.
That is utterly awesome!
DeleteThis is really cool. I could imagine a campaign where your future self is trying to kill you. Realizing that, and then wondering why would be fascinatimg, even a borderline moral dillemma. If you know you from the future wants to kill you, should you kill yourself? What happens to make your life so terrible?
Delete